Context: On the auspicious occasion of Nuakhai Juhar Prime Minister has greeted the farmer of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and areas of neighbouring states.
Historical Background

• It is believed to have been adopted from the tribal communities of western Odisha.
• As the preparations reveal elements of both tribal origins and the Hindu rituals.
• Nuakhai festival traces its origin to the Vedic period in Panchyajna. One among them was Pralambana yajna which means the cutting of new crops and offering them to the mother goddess.
• Oral tradition of this festival dates back to the 12th century A.D. when this festival was celebrated by Chauvan Raja Ramai Deo, Bolangir district of Odisha.

About Nuakhai Juhar

• It an important social festival of Western Odisha and adjoining areas of Simdega in Jharkhand.
• It is an agricultural festival which is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. The word nua means new and khai means food.
• It is observed on the fifth day of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhaadra (August–September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
• Nuakhai is understood to have nine colours and as a consequence nine sets of rituals are followed as a prelude to the actual day of celebration.
• People offer the newly harvested crop called Nabanha to their respective presiding deities. After offering the Nabanha, people relish different types of delicacies prepared from the newly harvested crop.