By: SUREKHA DHALETA

Utsav India 2006, a first of its kind three day trade expo and two-day seminar on differently children starts today in Shimla. The seminar cum expo will be inaugurated by Governor of Himachal Pradesh, V S Kokje at 3 pm today.

The seminar is being organised by Medinmark, a Panchkula based public relayions firm in association with Udaan – a Shimla based NGO for differently abled children, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and the Department of Social Welfare. Himvani.com and Indian Express are the media partners for the seminar cum trade expo.

With the help of trade exposition Medinmark is trying to create a unique platform and an opportunity for the entrepreneurs from the field of IT, education, finance and artists of international fame, where they can exhibit their products, concepts and services.

Utsav 2006, would also showcase works of artists like Inderjit Gupta, Gautum, Pandey and many more from the Lalit Kala Academy Chandigarh. As a public relation concept the trade exposition would create good opportunity for branding. Various branding, collateral include a tremendous brand (event) positioning and aggressive direct marketing, along with several other PR tools working together in alliance.

The two-day seminar on differently-abled children is one of the biggest ever platform in the history of the state. It is an attempt to bring in together the Disability Commissioner of India, Chairperson National Trust, New-Delhi; Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and various NGOs and Parents Groups on a common platform. The seminar is facilitating and encouraging a rare dialogue between the policy makers, resource persons, researchers and severely affected disabled community of Himachal.

The congregation attempts to look at the role of technologies in disability and take up issues like medical care, rehabilitation, education / vocational training, corporate and community involvement, job opportunities. Representing Himvani.com would be Ms Saroj Thakur, a renowned teacher of communications at National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur. She’ll be speaking on the topic – “Role of technology in helping differently-abled children” – on October 1, 2006 at 12:30 pm.

As for the trade-expo, it’s a first of its kind for Himachal, and considering that India Today recently in its annual State of the States rated Himachal as the fastest mover in consumer markets, the event holds quite a lot importance. Some of the exhibitors participating in the expo are State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of India (mutual funds), Punjab Technical University, UTI Mutual Fund, LENOVO, Bhutti Weavers Co-operative Society (Kullu), Tata Tele services, Bajaj Allianz, IFB, Onida, HCL, ICAIL, INTEX, Hughes Escorts Communications Limited, and many other educational institutions, etc.

It’s certainly an event not to be missed.