The district administration in Od🌠isha’s Ganjam has roped in folk🌳 artists to dispel hesitancy of Covid vaccination among people, particularly in the rural areas, an official said.
Folk dance groups, with limited artists, stage their performance𝓡s in villages across the district raising awareness among the people and appealing to them to follow the Covid-appropriate behaviour.
As many as 278 folk dance groups have staged their performances in different panchayats in the district with the direction of the block development officers. The awareness drive will continue for some more days, the officiaꦺl said.
Popular folk dances like Dasakathia, Pala, Prahallad Natak, Bꩵharat Leela, Jodi Sankha, Pasu Nurtya (Animal Dance), ꦏKandhei Nata (puppetry) have been performed to encourage the people for vaccination and educate them about its benefits.
“As folk dance is a vital medium to educate the people to𒀰 change💜 the mindset, as well as to entertain the rural people, we have roped in folk artists to create awareness on vaccination drive and Covid-appropriate behaviours,” Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said.
The folk artists, who have lost thei🌸r livelihood due to the pandemic, will get an opportunity to earn some money with this awarenes𒁃s drive, district culture officer Akshaya Kumar Sethi said.
He said that folk artists would get their remuneration on performance thr꧃ough the block development officers after submitting their bills.
"Due to the Covid lockdown, the livelihood of hundreds of folk artists was severely hi♍t," said Prasant Kumar Padhy, the vice president of the Zilla Kala Sanskruti Sangh, an apex body of folk dance groups.
"We are happy as the district administration entrusted us with the ☂job to create awareness," he said.
Through the dances, the artists try to get rid of the hesitancy caused by fear of vaccin🐲es or misapprehensions regarding them.
They also stage their performance by abiding the guidelinesꦚ, which restricted maximum five artists in a group, he added.
"On the eve of the vaccination of a village, we educate the people, through a dance performance of around an hour, of the benefits and encourage them to take their jabs," said Bala Krushna Mishra, a Dasakathi ꦿartist in Sheragad.
"Besides, people are told about the right way to wear masks, wash hands and the im🦂portance of maintaining social distance," said Alok Bisoi, a Ghuduki artist in Digapahandi.
(PTI inputs)
