12th Sikkim SARAS TRADE FAIR 2023

Namchi, 15th January 2023 (IPR): Sale of Articles of Rural Artisan (SARAS) trade fair held at SNT Complex Jorethang as part of Maghey Sankranti Mela celebration was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Sikkim Shri. Prem Singh Tamang, today.
The trade fair is being organised by Sikkim Rural Livelihood Mission,Rural Management and Development Department,Govt. of Sikkim.
During the inaugural ceremony, the Chief Minister was accompanied by his spouse Smt. Krishna Rai, Deputy Speaker (SLA) Shri. Sangay Lepcha, Cabinet Ministers, Area MLA Smt. Sunita Gajmer, Political Secretary to HCM Shri Jacob Khaling, Press Secretary to HCM Shri Bikash Basnet along with Advisors, Chairmen, Special Secretary cum CEO SRLM RDD Kaelon & HoDs from the line departments.
The SARAS Trade Fair is organised to facilitate mass sale of products made by the Self Help Groups of Sikkim and other states of the country. At the trade fair, various products of rural artisans including handicrafts,handlooms,organic products etc are on exhibition sale at their respective stalls.
The fair is being held from 15th January to 24th January. A total of 120 stalls have been put up by different SHGs of Sikkim and other States including Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Gujarat,Assam,Manipur,Nagaland,Tripura,Uttar Pradesh,Jammu & Kashmir,Haryana and Meghalaya .
It may be mentioned here that DIGIPAY SAKHIS under Digital India initiative has also put up a stall.This initiative is to provide the facility of door to door banking and digital services to the people belonging to the remote areas. DIGIPAY also provides a mobile application that works on both Android & windows platform.
The Chief Minister during his visit at the stall extended his warm wishes on the auspicious occasion of Maghey Sankranti and highlighted the importance of the fair which is associated with our rich culture and heritage and has been a melting point for cultural affairs since time immemorial.