Dhaka: Traditional Kite Festival ‘Shakrain’ Celebrated

The traditional Kite festival or Shakrain festival was celebrated in several parts of Dhaka, Bangladesh on January 15.

Key Points

• People celebrated the festival by engaging themselves in kite flying, fireworks, and other events like DJ Party.
• In Dhaka, the festival is celebrated by organizing a kite flying competition. This competition is followed by a winter cake festival called pithapuli.
• During the winter cake festival, people eat rice cake.
• The celebration of the Shakrain festival is an old tradition in various parts of Bangladesh. The festival is celebrated on the last day of the Bengali month of Paush.
• As per reports, people in the Laxmibazar, old Dhaka city of Shakhari Bazar, Sutrapur, and Bangshal celebrated the festival.
• This year, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) organized the Shakrain festival for the first time.
• The slogan of this year’s festival was ‘Let’s Fly a kite, Cherish Tradition’.
• The festival was inaugurated by DSCC Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and was held in all the 75 wards of DSCC.
• Shakrain festival will be celebrated on a large scale by the city corporation every year from now.

India-Bangladesh Recent Agreements

In December 2020, India-Bangladesh inaugurated Haldibari-Chilahati Rail Link after 55 years of its closing. This rail link was earlier operational till 1965.

Both the countries have also signed various agreements in the areas of agriculture and textiles, hydrocarbons sector, high impact community development projects to be carried out by India, the supply of equipment for improving garbage disposal in Bangladesh’s Barishal city, trans-border elephant conservation, and creation of a CEOs Forum.