Bastar Pandum 2026 to Celebrate Bastar’s Rich Folk and Tribal Heritage

Raipur, December 31

Preparations have begun for the organization of Bastar Pandum 2026 with the objective of giving national recognition to the folk culture, traditions and heritage of the tribal-dominated Bastar division, following directions of Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Deo Sai. Chhattisgarh government’s Culture Department is set to organize Bastar Pandum 2026 in a competitive format at the block, district and divisional levels during 2026. The festival aims to serve as a grand platform for the conservation and promotion of Bastar’s folk art, crafts, dance, music, traditional cuisine, dialects, costumes, jewelry, musical instruments, theatre and tribal ways of life.

The state government has issued directions to organize the festival with wide public participation across all seven districts of the Bastar division including Bastar, Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur, Kanker, Kondagaon and Narayanpur. Competitions covering 12 cultural disciplines will be held at 32 block headquarters linked to 1,885 gram panchayats in the Bastar division. Folk artists and cultural troupes selected at the gram panchayat level will be invited to participate in block-level competitions through both online and offline registration, free of cost.

In the first phase, block-level competitions are scheduled to be held between January 10 and January 20, 2026. One winning troupe will be selected in each discipline, with each receiving an incentive award of ₹10,000. For organizing the block-level events, a budget allocation of ₹5 lakh has been made to each Janpad panchayat.

The second phase will comprise district-level competitions, to be held from January 24 to January 29, 2026. At the district level, the winning troupe in each discipline will be awarded an incentive amount of ₹20,000. A budget of ₹10 lakh has been allocated to each district for this stage.

The final phase—the divisional-level competition—will be organized in Jagdalpur, Bastar district, from February 2 to February 6, 2026. A total of 84 winning troupes selected from the seven districts will participate at this level. At the divisional stage, the first prize will carry ₹50,000, the second prize ₹30,000, the third prize ₹20,000, while the remaining 48 participating troupes will receive incentive awards of ₹10,000 each.

A distinctive feature of the festival is that participation will be limited to artists who are native residents of the Bastar division and are actively engaged in tribal folk art traditions. Alongside senior artists who have earned recognition through their work in villages and towns, the platform will also be open to emerging artists.

At every stage, winning troupes will be honored with prize money along with certificates and mementoes in the form of photo frames. To give the event the feel of a people’s festival, community leaders, senior citizens, tribal heads, public representatives and culture enthusiasts will be invited as guests. Extensive publicity will be given through print, electronic and social media to ensure wide public participation.

For the overall conduct of the festival, the Directorate of Culture and Official Language has been designated as the nodal department. Shri Yugal Tiwari from the Culture Department has been appointed as the nodal officer and programme coordinator (Mobile: 94063-98080). For coordination, Shri Prashant Dubey (Mobile: 75093-62263) and Shri Bhavin Rathore (Mobile: 99071-41307) have been nominated. All districts have been directed to appoint nodal officers at their respective levels and inform the department accordingly.

The state government has instructed all concerned officials to accord the highest priority to Bastar Pandum 2026 and ensure that it is organized in a timely, well-coordinated and dignified manner, so that the authentic identity of Bastar’s folk culture is preserved and effectively passed on to the younger generation.