13th Sikkim Sale of Articles of Rural Artisans Society (SARAS) Trade Fair, 2024, concludes

Namchi, Jan 24 (IPR): The 13th Sikkim Sale of Articles of Rural Artisans Society (SARAS) Trade Fair, 2024, concluded today. The fair had commenced at the opening day of Jorethang Maghey Sankranti Mela 2024.
The trade fair was organised by Sikkim Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), Rural Development Department, Government of Sikkim and sponsored by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, starting from 15th January till 24th January 2024.
The closing ceremony was graced by Mrs Subha Mukhia, Chief Executive Officer, Sikkim Rural Livelihood Mission, Rural Development Department, Government of Sikkim as the Chief Guest and was accompanied by Officers and staff members of Rural Development Department, Government of Sikkim.
The CEO in her address thanked and appreciated the hardwork and participation of each SHG members and also of the team of SRLM that organised the fair. She further urged all the participants to work more harder and develop their networking skills in further days to come. She also highlighted that the awards were presented to encourage the participants to work harder and achieve success and active participation in the state and national levels.
Additionally, she urged each and every participant to present feedback to the concerned department and officials so that the SARAS trade fair can be upgraded more in the days to come and therefore the participants themselves can accquire the benefits. She also pointed that SARAS trade fair will be organised again in the state.
The fair showcased exhibitions cum sale of products like handlooms, handicrafts, organic products and much more, all crafted and produced by Self Help Groups (SHGs) of Sikkim and from other states.
Approximately 114 SHGs from Sikkim and other states took part in the exhibition cum trade fair and approximately a total of 40 Lakhs and above worth of sales were recorded by the organising committee.
Awards were also presented to the best performing SHGs, which were selected through various scrutiny, based on marketing skills of the participants, packaging of the products, display of the products and their daily sales report.
Best performing BDS was awarded to Soreng block with a cash prize of Rs 15,000 and the Outstanding Block was awarded to Martam with a cash prize of Rs 5000.
Accordingly, Best Performing Stall was awarded to Grace Hill/Lotus SHG from Ravangla, with Jyoti SHG from Namthang at the second place and Sion SHG from Kaluk at the third place. Likewise, awards were also presented to the SHGs from outer states and accordingly Basuri SHG from Tripura bagged the first place, Anitet and Ghaichul SHG from Nagaland at the second place and Saraswati Sang SHG from Bihar at the third place.
The programme also witnessed distribution of certificates and mementos to the participanting SHG members.