'Hornbill Festival' has broken all records of footfall: Minister Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the ongoing 'Hornbill Festival' has broken all previous records of footfall and one lakh people are visiting the ethnic Naga cultural event every day.

Attending the 'Hornbill Festival', a major annual function showcasing the culture, arts, artefacts, handicrafts and food of Nagaland, Singh said participation of such a large number of people has not only boosted the economy, but also enthused young Start-Up groups from across India to explore avenues of entrepreneurship and livelihood in this region.

"All previous records stand broken this year at the famous Hornbill festival. A record foot-fall of over one lakh per day within the first few days has been registered and the visiting crowds comprise of people from every part of India and abroad," he said.

The Hornbill Festival is held every year from December 1 to 10.

The Minister made this comment after visiting the highly-crowded venue of the event and interacting with artists, dancers, musicians and cultural groups representing different tribes and states of the Northeastern region.

Attributing the huge success of the event to the personal outreach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "who had brought Northeast to national focus in the last five years", Singh said there is a craving and craze for people living in other parts of India to get acquainted and familiar with the Northeastern way of living and its traditional culture.

This, he said, is unprecedented and was never seen in the earlier decades after independence.

Singh said because of the Prime Minister's personal indulgence and personal outreach, northeastern culture, food, dance and music have reached every part of the country.

Singh, the Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region hoped that Nagaland through the Hornbill festival will become the "torchbearer" of the new cultural journey of North East.

He also congratulated the Nagaland government for successfully hosting the festival for 20 years.

The minister said he was delighted to see visitors from other states and even some westerners.

Singh said he was happy to see that the air connectivity to Dimapur facilitated youngsters from far off regions including Karnataka, Punjab and Delhi to attend the festival.

Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju who also visited the festival ground on Saturday said the festival depicted the rich cultural heritage of Naga people.

"People across the world have started to study the Hornbill festival," he said, adding that the Hornbill festival is a rare occasion where everyone can enjoy the ethnicity of the Nagas at one place.

The Union Sports minister said his ministry will promote adventure activity in Nagaland as the state has the potential to become an adventure hub which will generate employment for the youths.

Rijiju said his ministry would promote tribal sports culture in North East, as the tribal community have various indigenous sports.