The Thiruvananthapuram Swadeshi Festival organised by the Gandhi Centre for Rural Development and Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi is beginning here on Friday.
Health Minister V S Sivakumar will inaugurate the festival at Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud at 10.30 am. N Radhakrishnan, working chairman of Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, will preside over. P Gopinathan Nair, chairman of All-India Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, will deliver the Swadeshi message. T Mathew Philip and E Shamsudeen will offer felicitations.
Jacob Pulickan, director of Gandhi Centre for Rural Development, will welcome the gathering and Murukkumpuzha C Rajendran, general convenor of Gandhi Darshan, will propose the vote of thanks.
An 11-day-long exhibition of Swadeshi products will be held. Training programmes in homemade products and seminars on various aspects of Swadeshi are also part of the festival. On Monday, the soap-making training will commence and a seminar on ‘Annu Uppu, Ennu Soap’ will be held. The seminar series on ‘Swadeshi and Sustainable Development’ will begin on October 18.
Training in food processing and a seminar on ‘Swadeshi and Modern Lifestyle’ will be held on October 19. Experts will handle the sessions. The festival will come to a close on October 21.