Prime Minister Modi today visited the ‘Hunar Haat’ exhibition in New Delhi organised by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. The ‘Hunar Haats’ are a way to provide employment and income generation opportunities with platforms to craftsmen and artisans belonging to minority community.
Hunar Haat is popularly understood as something which is exclusively for Muslims.
Not if my poor Hindu artisans are kept out of it!
What is their fault?
That they are Hindus? https://t.co/1U5FPN3JpH— UP Police Roxx??? (@visaradah) February 19, 2020
‘All = Only minorities’ here. ….Sir, what sins Hindus have done, to be excluded. #HunarHaat is a blatantly discriminatory scheme benefiting only minority artisans. https://t.co/K3iZZ6ENyy
— VADIRAJ C S ?? (@vschanna) February 19, 2020
But some also noticed that not all participants were Muslims or Sikhs.
From pictures it does not seem that Hunar Haat is only for minorities. Why was it projected that way by RW? https://t.co/eouoWlEveR
— Divya (@divya_16_) February 19, 2020
Is Hunar Haat only for Muslims? Can Hindus also take part? Here is the truth.
Hunar Haat exhibitions are organised under under the USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
As per the USTTAD guidelines [pdf], the trainees under the USTTAD scheme will be from minority community (viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains). However, about 25% of the beneficiaries could also be from other community who belong to the BPL (below poverty line) families.
Hence, ‘Hunar Haat’ while provides support and employment opportunity to artisans and craftsmen from minority communities, people from non-minority community who fall under the BPL category also benefit from the same.
