My City My History

Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage is organizing a nation wide competition in collaboration with FOX History Channel for its programme My City My History. The competition is open to the school students of the classes VI- IX. The students are required to write in 750 words (English or Hindi) an untold story about their city. The could be about a monument or a little known building, fort, natural feature, craft, festival, mela, custom, person, or a place of worship. For example, The foundation stone of Shri Harimandir Sahib(Golden Temple) was laid by a Muslim Saint Mian Mir at the request of the 5th Guru, Guru Arjun Dev ji. This is a very special place of one religion where a person from another faith was given the supreme privilege of laying the foundation stone.
The story in English or Hindi may be supported by a photograph, painting or drawing but this is optional. The last date of submission of entries is December 31st 2009.
The 5 winners of this all India Competition will get an opportunity to present their stories on FOX History and entertainment Television Channel. Every participant will receive a prize and a certificate of participation.
INTACH will be organizing heritage walks for school & college students and citizens. He appealed the schools to encourage their students to in the walks. He said that the schools and students should take pride in participating in the walks rather than doing it as a formality or a routine exercise.

Seminar on Preservation of Heritage

In collaboration with Adesh Institute of Engineering & Technology Faridkot, the INTACH chapter Faridkot organised a seminar on Preservation of Heritage on 28th August 2009. The one day seminar was inaugurated by Dr. Daljeet Singh, Director, Doordarshan Kendra Jallandhar and presided over by Dr. Sukhdev Singh, Punjab State Convener, Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage.

Mr. M. Farooqi (IPS), Director, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur participated in the seminar as the guest of honour. Dr. Braham Jagdish Singh, a known Punjabi Critic & writer, Principal Gopal Singh spoke at length on the different aspects of heriatge & culture. Besides the dhadis & theatre artists & members of Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Principal, Students & Teachers of Adesh Institute of Engineering & Technology participated in the seminar. Mr. Amrit Lal Mannan coordinator INTACH heritage shool clubs Amritsar Chapter, Col. Balbir Singh, Kheva Ji Mehrawal Fort Trust & other dignitiaries of the city participated in the seminar.

The neem trees were also planted on this occasion

INTACH Heritage clubs Amritsar

A meeting of INTACH Heritage clubs in schools in Amritsar was held on 26TH August 2009.

Workshop on Cultural Heritage & Media

The workshop was organized on 8.8.09 at the Seminar Hall, DAV Public School, Lawrence Road Amritsar. More than sixty persons which included the speakers, organizing committee, forty working journalists, twelve students of the dept. of Media & Mass Communication, BBK DAV College Amritsar, five teachers participated in the workshop.
The workshop opened with the welcome address & introduction to the workshop by Er. Hira Singh , Co-convener Amritsar Chapter. The first session was chaired by Mr. Jasbir Singh Patti, President, Chandigarh- Punjab Journalists’ Union, Mr. Kuldip Singh Maan, Senior Special Correspondent, Hindustan Times, & Ms. Rashmi Talwar, Correspondent, Pioneer. In this session, Dr. Sukhdev Singh Punjab State Convener, INTACH spoke about the concept & philosophy Cultural Heritage & Conservation . He used power point slides to illustrate the notions of tangible & intangible heritage, heritage zones, sites & products etc. The second presentation was by Mr. Dharminder Rataul, Senior Special Correspondent, Indian Express. He spoke at length about the role of Media in Promotion of Cultural Heritage. He gave examples how media could help the cause of cultural heritage.
Each of the three members of the presidium made pertinent comments on the presentations & spoke about problems and limitations of Media. They discussed the importance of the cultural heritage & the workshop.
The second session was chaired by Ms. Neera Sharma, Principal, DAV Public School, Lawrence Road Amritsar. Ar. P.S. Mahoora, Professor of Architecture & Member INTACH Amritsar Chapter spoke on evolution of the walled city of Amritsar. He also explained some measures to save the architectural heritage of the walled city. Dr. Sukhdev Singh, Punjab State Convener, INTACH described the origin, organizational structure, role and philosophy of INTACH. Ms. Neera Sharma, Principal, DAV Public School, Lawrence Road Amritsar praised INTACH as the only organization working so extensively for the grass root level to the top level.
In the third session a panel discussion was organized. The panelists were Mr. Deepak Sharma, Zee TV, Mr. Shiv Raj Dhrupad, Dainik Bhaskar and Mr. Surinder Kochhar, a Social Activist. Mr. Ravinder Singh Robin, ANI TV was the moderator. The panelists critically and forcefully discussed the role, limitations & problems of media in performing their duty toward cultural heritage. They pointed out that some times the journalists have no proper knowledge about the significance, methodology, and appropriate vocabulary to report the matters of cultural heritage. Sometimes the journalists are in hurry to prepare a story for the next day; sometimes there are problems of space; and sometime there are difference of opinion at the higher level whether a local issue is important enough to be reported and how much space can be given to such a matter.
However all of them praised INTACH Amritsar Chapter for organizing such an event where the working journalists at the local level were invited to listen to the other people and also invited to discuss the important issue of cultural heritage.

Hira Singh
Co- Convener
Amritsar Chapter
INTACH

Heritage Walk

A group of students from the Oxford University and UNITED SIKHS volunteers went on the Amritsar heritage walk with the members of INTACH Amritsar Chapter.

World Environment Day

O n the world Environment Day , 5th June 5, 2009, Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage Amritsar Chapter organized a seminar on Climatic Changes at the department of Foreign Languages, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. The seminar was presided over by Ms. Anvant Kaur, Dr. Bikram Singh Ghuman, fromer Dean of GNDU Amritsar, Dr. P.S. Sharma, Head Dept. of Foreign Languages, GNDU Amritsar.
The main speaker in the seminar, Mr. Manpreet Singh Bhatti of the Deaprtment of Botanical Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, described in detail about the threatening climatic changes. Elaborating the concept, he said, “Climatic fluctuations can be in the form of severe temperature, erratic precipitations, strong dry wind, and shrinkage in coastal areas or ice glaciers”. Major causes of climatic change, he said, “are industry, automobiles, agriculture, forestry and modern life style”. Supporting his argument with data, he suggested more efficient industrial technologies, efficient fuel burning and blending of biofuels, fuel efficient vehicles, reliance on cycle ways and walkways etc. as measures to check climatic change and environment pollution.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Sukhdev Singh Punjab State Convener INTACH said: “Clean environment is the part of our natural heritage. Although development is necessary and can not be and need not be stopped, we have to understand that the development policies are environment and man friendly. We should not follow the development blindly and greedily”.
In her presidential remarks, Ms. Anvant Kaur, renowned poet and editor of Punjabi literary magazine, Kanwal, emphasized the need of change in our lifestyle and day to day habits for preserving our planet from polluting. Lauding the efforts of INTACH, she said: “The scholars, academics, artists, and social activists should enhance their out reach to the common people to give their ideas and efforts a practical shape”. She emphasized the practice of traditional modes of living as a check on climatic change.
Participating in the discussion Er. Harkanwaljeet Singh, emphasized the need of changing crop pattern and check on depletion of water. Er. Hira Singh, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Dr. Neena, Er. & poet Kirat Singh actively participated in the discussion and raised many significant issues. Presenting vote of thanks, Dr. P.S. Sharma appreciated the lecture and follow up discussion. He also appealed all the participants to spread the ideas discussed in the seminar.

Upkeep of Jallian wala bagh

In a statement to the press, Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage(INTACH), Punjab state convener, Dr. Sukhdev Singh emphasized the need of consensus on preservation of sites like Jallian wala bagh and such work must be carried out with sensitivity and knowledge matching the significance and historicity of the site. Jallian wala bagh has a unique place in the history of freedom struggle and it is unfortunate that for long we could not pay proper attention to the site inspite of the fact that the chairperson of the national committee on the site is Prime Minister of India, and when we have risen from slumber, we have controversies, he said. INTACH was the first national body which drew attention of the Indian government in 1990s toward the proper upkeep of this pious historical site. Now when the government of India has earmarked some money for its upkeep, we must see that this money may not become the enemy of the site becoming an instrument to damage its originality and the character. Its upkeep must mean preservation of the originality with some additions which remind us of the sacrifices of martyrs, the condition of the masses, and the brutality of the imperial rule; upkeep should not mean its beautification in the modern popular sense, explained Dr. Sukhdev Singh.
Considering the recent incident of controversy around the site unfortunate, he said the management of the bagh could have invited the suggestions of various organizations and individuals who have show their concern with the bagh so vehemently. Moreover there was the necessity of appointing an expert committee to oversee the work who could explain to the people the logic of doing all the activity in the historic bagh. Showing unawareness if any such committee has been constituted, he said, the management could have involved Archaeological Survey of India or the state department or any other national organization like INTACH in this work. The committee can not act like the owner of the bagh; the committee is only the custodian on behalf of the people of India.
He suggested that even now the views of different people should be accommodated and a consensus should be developed rather than making anything a matter of ego, prestige or party politics. “The work in the bagh is not being carried out with the required expertise and sensitivity; it is sure” he said. Citing as an example, he said, the use of incorrect Punjabi to write signage and information maps is a mockery and an act of irresponsibility. Even a primary school student will write all that in a better manner. How could you expect seriousness in other matters which are of more technical nature, he said.
A committee of the architects, engineers, social scientists and language experts constituted by the Amritsar chapter of INTACH visited the bagh to assess the situation. The committee found many glaring drawbacks in the work. Although it is in good spirit to provide the civic amenities like toilets and drinking water, we can not convert the bagh into a site for this purpose by creating seven star toilet and bathroom facilities in every corner of this small place, said Mr. Mannan, a member of the team, a simple but clean bathroom on both sides of the bagh is more relevant. It is not in the right spirit if we continue to raise so many structures at the site which originally was a vacant piece of land. By building one after the other new structures, the original character of the site is being changed, said Mr. P.S. Mahoora. “Why do we have create a boundary wall of nanakshahi bricks when it was not actually there and that was not the time of exclusively nanakshahi bricks. Moreover why do we need toilets of nanakshahi bricks; why should we use the red stone for the pavements when the stone and brick pavements were already there?” asked the members of the team. “The bagh should not be used for entertainment of the people; people should visit the bagh for paying homage”, said Er. Harkamaljeet Singh, a member of the INTACH team. Er. Hira Singh, co convener of INTACH Amritsar chapter said, the work on the bagh should create goodwill rather than controversy. Spending money if it has been sanctioned should not be aim. It should be used for better upkeep than for changing it into a shahi garden”. The intach team rued that there are no proper plans for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage.
The INTACH is of the view that conservation and maintenance of historical and cultural sites and monuments should be handled with care and consensus.