Yogi govt's global push for ODOP scheme

Lucknow, Sep 10 (IANS) The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will organise a five-day international virtual exhibition in October to provide a global market for its 'one district-one product' (ODOP) scheme.

Additional Chief Secretary (MSME) Navneet Sehgal said that this is the first of its kind ODOP promotional event which will take place online and more than 50 countries will be linked with this exhibition.

"The five-day long exhibition will bring together buyers and sellers in a B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) format with 25,000 online stalls available. Buyers will be able to directly contact sellers and artisans. The exhibition will also be open to retail buyers," he said.

The event will be organised with assistance from the FICCI and Handicraft Export Promotion Council. Sehgal has directed officials to link the maximum number of ODOP vendors and artisans with this exhibition.

Sehgal, who interacted with artisans and vendors directly on Wednesday to encourage them to participate in the exhibition, said that footwear from Agra and Kanpur, chikan work from Lucknow, "ittar" from Kannauj, terracotta from Gorakhpur, silk from Varanasi and carpets from Bhadohi, along with several other products, will be promoted strongly through the exhibition.

The ODOP scheme is a flagship programme of the Yogi Adityanath government and is designed to provide employment to the youth in their own homes and also promote locally made handicrafts.