A potpourri of craft, culture & cuisine at the Saras fair

Noida: Farzana Parveen, 44, hails from Gill Patti village Bathinda, Punjab. Till a few years back, the mother of four daughters and a son could not muster Rs 100 for daily expenses. But today, Farzana has not only completed the education of her daughters to the postgraduate level, but her son is on his way to becoming a doctor, having enrolled in an MBBS course.
Once her son becomes an MD, she plans to open a hospital in Bathinda. She managed to traverse the road from an income of Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 a day with the help of self-help groups associated with Saras Aajeevika Mela that offered her a platform for her wooden handicrafts, kitchenware, and stitching clothes. Her fortune turned after a bulk order of Rs 10 lakh recently to stitch school uniforms for govt schools in Bathinda.
Apart from traditional arts, crafts, and culture, the 5th edition of the Saras Fair will bring similar spirits of 400 craftswomen from rural India across 31 states. A total of 200 stalls will be set up at Noida Haat in the 18-day fair that begins on Feb 21. The fair will also have 25 food stalls, each highlighting the local cuisines of different states. It will conclude on March 10.
"Today, my eldest daughter has done an MA, BEd, my second daughter completed her MA, B'Com, and my third one is pursuing a two-year diploma course in elementary teacher training. My only son has enrolled in MBBS and will soon become a doctor. All this was possible with the help of the Saras Fair. My first big break was a Rs 2 lakh order for stitching school uniforms a few years ago. I topped that with a bulk order of Rs 10 lakh for school uniforms for govt schools in Bathinda," said Farzana who now trains other women in her village.
"If I continue to get support from this fair, one day I plan to open a big hospital in Bathinda where my son will treat the poor for free and charge the rich to run the operations," she told TOI.
Organised by the ministry of rural development (MoRD) and supported by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), the theme for this year's fair is 'vocal for local'.
Swati Sharma, joint secretary MoRD, told TOI that the focus of the fair would be to provide practical ground training to the rural craftswomen, some of whom earn up to Rs 20 lakh per annum and are now called the 'lakhpati didis'.
"A big focus will be on the online sales of the rural crafts of these didis. While we do 34 physical fairs across the country, we also provide platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Jio Mart to the craftswomen. Our eSARAS portal aims to promote the marketing of authentic handicrafts and handlooms made by women of SHGs and support the livelihood of rural people. The ultimate aim is to make the Saras fair a global marketing platform," she said, adding that Women's Day will be celebrated on March 8 with fanfare as an ode to women's empowerment.
The fair saw sales of Rs 14 crore last year, nearly four times the sales of Rs 3.8 cr in 2021 when Noida hosted the fair for the first time. The second edition in 2022 grossed Rs 5.3 crore, followed by Rs 9.21crore in 2023. The MoRD expects sales of Rs 20 crore this year.