1-Oct-2019: HRD Minister chairs the Meeting of the Executive Board of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language
Union Minister for Human Resource Development Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chaired a Meeting of the Executive Board of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language to discuss various issues concerning the Council, particularly for the Promotion of Urdu Language inside and outside the country in New Delhi.
During the meeting, Union HRD Minister inaugurated the new website of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language. A presentation of the activities of the NCPUL and a Vision Document relating to the activities to be carried out by the Council in the next five years was also presented before the Minister. During the meeting, the Minister emphasized that the grants that are given to the NGOs for the promotion of Urdu Language should be utilized fully. He also advised the Members to make random inspections of the NGOs to ensure that the grants issued are utilized in a transparent manner. He also suggested to the Members to work closely with the Director and Vice Chairman to chart out activities of the Council and to ensure that the message reaches the general public that the Government is committed to the promotion of Urdu Language.
The HRD Minister announced that there is an increase in funding of the Urdu Council. He said that the funding of Urdu Council has been increased from Rs. 45 crores in the year 2013-14 to Rs. 84 Crores in the year 2019-20. The increase in 45% funding in five years is phenomenal. The Minister said that effective steps should be taken to utilize the increased amount.
The decision for extension of ‘The Paper Maché scheme’ which is currently implemented through Kashmir University has also been taken in the meeting. In this scheme Rs. 15 Lakhs is spent every year for training Kashmiri Youths in making Paper Maché products which has got a high demand in market. The Vision document and other Agenda items were also adopted during the meeting.
22-Aug-2018: ICOMOS launches initiative to save cultural heritage damaged in Kerala during floods
The ICOMOS, a global monument conservation body, has launched an initiative to assess the damage to the rich cultural and built heritage in flood-devastated Kerala and set up an emergency response platform.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is a prestigious non-government organisation dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology and scientific techniques for conservation of architectural and archaeological heritage across the world.
While in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, rescue and relief are the utmost priority, it is also important to start preparations for assessing the damage and risks to the rich tangible, intangible, movable and immovable heritage that has been adversely affected by these floods, including monuments, historic buildings, museum collections and artefacts of significance to the community.
As per the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, cultural heritage and its protection "helps build resilience" and enhances the ability of the affected population to participate in its own recovery.
ICOMOS has also approached various organisation seeking funds to carry out multiple activities as envisioned.
One of the works includes creation of a rapid response team for heritage consisting of architects, engineers, conservators, historians, and all those who are concerned about heritage and willing to give a helping hand.
The ICOMOS has also approached the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) to partner in the post-disaster work. Rome-based ICCROM is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide through training, information, research, cooperation and advocacy programmes.
ICOMOS is also an advisory body to the UNESCO for cultural heritage, in particular for implementation of the World Heritage Convention.
26-May-2018: Gyetongba, a compendium in Tibetan script, is being restored at a Darjeeling monastery.
The Buddha said his teachings should be evaluated as rigorously as people would gold. Now, they can be read in gold. A trove of more than 600 pages of rare Tibetan manuscripts with his teachings written in gold letters has been restored at a 100-year-old monastery in Alubari in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.
Restoration of the gold-inlaid manuscripts in two volumes at the Mak Dhog Monastery started earlier this year. The manuscripts contain the ancient Tibetan text called Gyetongba, which contains teachings of Buddhism. The manuscripts are in the Tibetan script Sambhota, named after its inventor.
While the Yolmawa Buddhist Association of India could restore the damage suffered by the monastery in the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake, external help was required to restore the manuscripts, which are centuries older than the monastery itself.
The restoration work is being done by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Experts came across the manuscripts while assessing the damage caused by earthquake. The trust has provided over ₹10 lakh to INTACH for the project.
Experts who worked on the restoration said that while one volume contained 322 pages, the other had 296 pages. They fumigated using anti-fungal chemicals, stitched and used adhesives on the frayed pages.
Both the volumes are similar and a few pages are missing from the 296-page volume. Each volume contains 8,000 verses. They were brought to Darjeeling from Helambu in Nepal in the early 18th century. When the monastery was built in 1914 to foster peace, the manuscripts were kept here.
Gyetongba is as important to Tibetans as the Gita is to Hindus.
15-Jan-2018: INTACH to document heritage sites along Mahanadi river
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) launched a programme for documentation of the tangible and intangible heritage sites along both sides of Mahanadi river.
Seven teams of culture enthusiasts will cover nearly 1000 kilometres on both side of the river Mahanadi under the project. The tangible and intangible heritage along the river will be documented and the important heritage structures will be photographed and video-graphed. It will be a road map for the conservation workers, historians, students and researchers.
While the tangible and intangible heritages along the course of Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh will be documented by the team of INTACH there, teams from Odisha INTACH will list and document the heritage along it in Odisha.
Civilisation thrived on the banks of the river and the teams will document them so that the community is benefitted. The teams will collect data, which will be documented after being scrutinized, in prescribed format.
Around 50 per cent of the total course of the river flows in the state of Odisha. The INTACH teams will cover around six to seven districts for the cultural mapping in the state. All the major settlements in the state have come up along Mahanadi and there are numerous tangible heritages like temples, palaces, forts dot it.
Moreover, intangible heritage like folklore, songs and dances, tribal art and craft have also thrived along the river.