Thiruvananthapuram: Over 300 varieties of home-made products are on display at the ongoing Swadeshi festival at YMCA Hall.The festival is organized by Gandhi Centre for Rural Development (GCRD), in association with Swadeshi Trust.Soaps, cleaning lotions, detergent powders, dishwash powders, car wash that can remove road tar stains, herbal shampoos etc. are the most sought after products.A string of training programmes will be held, where tips for making various products at home will be offered to interested participants.A wide range of unique products from squashes made of passion fruit, mint, fig, asokha flower, jackfruit to products with medicinal value like nutmeg (jaathika), mixtures made up of ayurveda ingredients like Indian sarasaparilla (narunandi), hibiscus, brahmi, banana stem, krishnathualsi, sathavari, amla, ginger etc. are on display at the exhibition.Director of GCRD Jacob Pulickan and Kozhikode regional co-ordinator Viniraj C K are leading the training sessions.Jayakumari K, a participant, who has been attending the yearly programme for about 17 years now, said, “The training programme here has helped me a lot in manufacturing products from home itself. The programme also acts as a platform to showcase our products and most of the products you see in the exhibition are made by people like me. Everything from manufacturing to packaging is taught here.”Suresh S, who came to attend the programme for the first time said, “Nobody here provides such a training programme that is useful to everyone. Even though we don’t value the programme, I have seen people from Tamil Nadu, Jalandhar and even Chhattisgarh visit the capital to attend the training sessions.”The exhibition and training programme will come to a close on July 28. Public can visit exhibition from 10am to 6pm.

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