INSTITUTIONAL DISTINCTIVENESS
Preservation and Promotion of Chhattisgarh's Unique Tradition, Knowledge, Literature, Values, Folk Art & Culture For the future Generation to Encourage the Strength of Local for Vocal.
Since its inception, the University (CVRU) has been committed to preserving, promoting and connecting its students and the young generation of the state with the excellent folk tradition, folk art and culture, literature of Chhattisgarh State. The University has been making constant efforts to provide a platform to the Indian Art & Culture and thereby to the day-by-day getting extinct of Chhattisgarhi art and culture of the State and to link it with the holistic development of the students through value education. In the year 2010, the Faculty of Arts was established and various departments were started with the aim of making students aware of the cultural, art and archaeological wealth of the region, the state and thereby of India. Undergraduate and postgraduate programs started and classes began to run with rich cultural, moral and literal emphasis in these departments. In view of the artistic trends of the students and their attachment to folk art in the overall Chhattisgarhi festivals held annually in the university, as "Chhattisgarh’s Folk Art and Culture Center" “Chhattisgarhi Lok Kala Kendra, Shodh Evam Shrijan Peeth” as the Chair was established in the university along with "Rabindranath Tagore International Centre for Art and Culture". Thereafter, CVRU also established its Chhattisgarhi Museum named “SANJOHI” to preserve the Chhattisgarhi old Traditions and traditional-resources.
The university has fixed the month of November for Chhattisgarhi Folk Arts Festival, (RAMAN LOK KALA MAHOTSAV) which is the foundation month of the state and the university. Since 2019, a national level "Raman Folk Arts Festival" has been organized every year to give a platform to the art and cultural talent of the students, staff and thereby of the nearby regional Artists. In order to make Chhattisgarhi language from the language of the people to the language of local communication in academia and administration, to make it the 2nd official language, to enrich the vocabulary, to promote research and creativity in Chhattisgarhi language and to preserve and promote the folk literature of Chhattisgarh, and Chhattisgarhi research and creation and chair the many literary activities through its established Chair vi. Vanamali Srijanpeeth which was established ab-initio. Furthermore, the "Department of Social Science under the Faculty of Arts also started the branch of Performing and Fine Arts" and "Raigad Kathak Kendra" for the cultural growth and spreading the education of art and culture.
There is a tendency towards Chhattisgarhi folk art and culture among the young generation and students of the university, but the young generation lacks knowledge of the cultural symbols of Chhattisgarh, art-culture and folk traditions, in view of which Chhattisgarhi Folk Arts and Culture Center was established in the university campus. In order to promote research and creativity of the students, Chhattisgarhi Folk Arts and Culture Center has been developed as a center of excellence by displaying information about all the folk arts, folk culture, folk music, folk traditions of Chhattisgarh. "Chhattisgarhi Sanjohi" was established in the university campus with the aim of preserving the symbols of art, culture and Chhattisgarhi lifestyle of Chhattisgarh and connecting the future generation with it . The role of the students in compiling the heritage of folk art and culture and symbols of Chhattisgarhi lifestyle in Chhattisgarhi Sanjohi has been remarkable. At present, the "Chhattisgarhi Centre for Folk Arts and Culture" and "Chhattisgarhi Sanjohi" of the University are functioning as centres of excellence for students preparing for research and competitive exams.
The Rural Technology Department of the University is connecting the students with the traditional food processing technology and many herbal products of Chhattisgarh and motivating them to become self-reliant by teaching and training them. The University has also been entrusted with the task of documentation of traditional medicine knowledge of Baiga tribals by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, which continues continuously.
In order to preserve and promote chhattisgarh's special knowledge tradition, folk culture, folk art, folk literature and its transfer to the future generation and to achieve the set goals, many projects have been developed in the university as follows:
Community Radio Raman 90.4 -"Radio Raman 90.4" was established in the university in the year 2011 with permission from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It was formally inaugurated by the Then Governor of the State Hon'ble Shri Shekhar Dutt. Radio Raman broadcasts programmes related to folk art and culture every day to about 1 lakh population of 200 villages within its radius of 15 km along with information testing, education test, awareness program on contemporary and immediate issues. More than 1000 radios have been distributed by the University in the tribal villages of Radio Raman. Through Radio Raman 90.4, the University is working to preserve and promote chhattisgarh's unique knowledge tradition, folk culture, folk art, folk tradition and transfer it to the future generation. Under this, many genres of chhattisgarh's extinct singing, playing, folk drama, folk saga are being recorded. Among them, bamboo songs, marriage songs, Bharthari singing, Rahas, Pandwani, folk sagas of Alha Udal etc. are prominent. Radio Raman is providing a platform to budding artists of the extinct genre and interviews of eminent scholars of all the regions of Chhattisgarh are being recorded. So far, more than 600 folk artists from 22 folk art groups have been encouraged. Such students of the university who are interested in folk art and culture are also being given opportunities.
