Minister of State for Kannada and Culture and Women and Child Development Umashree called upon people to protect indigenous cultural traditions by following them in their daily lives.
Ms. Umashree was addressing public meeting after flagging off the second day events of Mungaru Samskritika Raichur Habba at Rajendra Gunj here on Tuesday. The annual sports and cultural festival was organised by Munnuru Kaapu community to celebrate “Kara Hunnime” in Kharif sowing season.
The Minister appreciated the organisers for consistently organising the annual event for the last more than a decade with a special focus on rural sports and cultural practices closely associated with the farming community.
“We need to put conscious and consistent efforts to protect our native sport and cultural traditions. It is a continuous process. Organising such annual events would definitely encourage younger generations to develop interest towards our rich culture and traditions. They strengthen cordial relationships between different communities and ensure harmony in society,” she said. She called upon the people to join hands with the Government in its efforts to protect and develop native cultural traditions.
P.C. Mohan, member of Lok Sabha from Bengaluru Central constituency, who participated as a chief guest, commended A. Papareddy, the chief organiser of the event, for designing the entire event as rural-culture-centric.
“Kushti (Indian wrestling) and traditional weightlifting competition such as sandbag-lifting and stone-lifting, boulder-pulling by bullocks and other such cultural and sport forms that are closely related to peasant community and toiling masses in rural areas are fast disappearing. Such events play an important role in protecting and developing them,” he said.
Former MLA and leader of Munnuru Kaapu community A. Papareddy presided over the meetin. Bellam Narasareddy, Jayavanth Rao Patange, G. Shivamurthy, K. Shantappa, Kadagol Anjaneya, R. Timmayya and other leaders were present.
