Assam Jonbeel
Representative image.

Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who visited the Jonbeel Mela in the Morigaon district of Assam on Friday announced that the state government is planning to allot 20 bighas of permanent land for the fair.

Talking to media persons on the sidelines of the mela, Sarma said, “Organizers of the Jonbeel mela need a plot of land of their own to hold the fair in a proper way so we have decided to allot a plot of land for holding the fair.  

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The organizers of the Queer fair have been expressing that the fair needs a permanent land of its own so that the centuries-old tradition can be kept alive and continue for many centuries to come.

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The fair is held in Jagiroad, some 60 kilometres from Assam’s capital Guwahati. It’s here that you can buy the products of hills brought by the tribe of the Tiwa community in exchange for your own. No weights, no scales and most importantly no money. Everything is based on strong trust, belief and mutual consent.

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The world’s oldest system of trade is kept alive by the Tiwas, a tribe of Central Assam and neighbouring Meghalaya in the fair. A few days before the fair which falls on the Makar Sankranti, members of Tiwa, Karbi, Khasi and Jaintia tribes, come down from the neighbouring hills with various products.

The products usually traded during the fair include ginger, bamboo shoots, turmeric, pumpkin, medicinal herbs, dried fish and ‘pithas’ (rice cakes). The tribal barter their products with salt, oil, clothes utensils and other items which Mother Nature does not bestow on them. Fair transactions defy all laws of business economics