Govt. to set up Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission, Portal

Crowd of volunteers with all the enthusiasm rearing to go for the Dandi March

The Government has decided to set up a Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission, that will preserve and develop all sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi, as well as a portal on the Internet that will serve as an electronic library of his life and teachings.

"The central objective of the portal is to preserve and perpetuate his invaluable heritage with proper research, in an authentic manner," an official press release said.

The setting up of the Mission and the portal was suggested by the Gandhi Heritage Sites (GHS) Panel, comprising eminent Gandhians, constituted by the Government in 2006.

The panel was chaired by then West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who is a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Other members included Ms Nirmala Deshpande, Mr B R Nanda, Mr Narayan Desai, Mr Ranesh Ray and Mr Ramachandra Guha along with some officials.

The panel had recommended that the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission should have five zonal centres.

The Gandhi Heritage Sites Portal will be set up by the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) in Ahmedabad. The Government will provide Rs 8 crore for the project. A corpus fund is being set up, for which Rs 4 crore will be released to the SAPMT this month, the release said.

Gandhi Ji with his followers on the March to Dandi in March 12, 1930

The panel noted that the Ashram contained by far the largest collection of carefully preserved manuscripts of Gandhiji’s writings during his stay in Sabarmati. The Library and Archives at Sabarmati consist of 34,111 letters - either to Gandhiji or from him; original as well as photostat copies. These letters have been microfilmed and entered into Register which are also on Computer Files.

According to the release, all documents related to Gandhiji in India and abroad will be compiled in the portal. It will be regularly updated by the SAPMT to ensure that all relevant details on Gandhiji are incorporated in one site which will be unique in more senses than one.

"It will be interactive and provide a virtual walk–through to an incomparably distinguished leader, whom the nation and the entire international community looks up to with reverence, admiration and gratitude," the release said.

The Government has also decided to set up the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission with a total outlay of Rs. 42 crores during a five-year period. The mandate to the Mission will be to develop the Gandhi Heritage Sites according to the comprehensive list prepared by the Panel of Gandhi Heritage Sites.

The Mission will be assisted by the existing Zonal Cultural Centers – South Zonal Cultural Centre, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), North Central Cultural Zonal Centre, Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh), South East Zonal Cultural Centre, Nagpur (Maharashtra), East Zone Cultural Centre, Kolkata (West Bengal) and West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur (Rajasthan). They will be provided additional offiers and a fixed budget outlay.

The Mission will be headed by a Chairperson who will be an eminent Gandhian and the Director of the Mission will be an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary.

Mahatma Gandhi is seen picking up the salt

The Mission will initiate conservation, restoration and preservation of Gandhi Heritage Sites which will be an ongoing exercise. The Panel has recommended 39 Core Sites which include Porbandar and Rajkot sites of the childhood period, Tilak Ghat, Chennai, Mani Bhavan, Mumbai, Beliaghata, Kolkata, the venue in Madurai where Gandhiji took to the loin-cloth, the prison cell in Yeravda Jail, Pune, and the prison room in Aga Khan Palace (Pune).

"Gandhi Heritage Sites" refers to two indivisible yet distinct forms of "heritage" - the tangible heritage in terms of structures and sites on the one hand, and the legacy and of texts and visuals on the other, consisting of published and unpublished documents, non-text photographs and audio-visual footage. The list of Gandhi Heritage Sites has covered almost every single place visited and associated with Gandhiji from 1869 to 1948, in India, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Mauritius, Burma (Myanmar), Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and venues in what now form parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Comprehensive Master List is being published by the Publications Division of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry with support worth Rs 21.55 Lakhs from the Ministry of Culture, the release added.

NNN