Bilal Bashir Bhat
Jammu and Kashmir had a landmark success in celebration as the Union Territory welcomed its first-ever Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) Regional Centre at Jammu. The regional center is a major move to advance art and culture in the region, was inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha.
At the inauguration, Lieutenant Governor Sinha extended his congratulations to IGNCA, artists, writers, researchers, art enthusiasts, innovators, and students. He also thanked Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and IGNCA President Shri Ram Bahadur Rai for dedicating the Regional Centre to Jammu.
“The folk traditions of Jammu have been the cornerstone of values and ideals that have preserved society through the ages. This IGNCA Regional Centre will nurture these cultural virtues, fostering the preservation of our rich artistic heritage and enhancing the quality of life,” said the Lieutenant Governor.
The center seeks to promote and preserve the diverse art forms, traditional wisdom, and knowledge of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lieutenant Governor appealed to the intelligentsia to join hands with organizations like IGNCA and propagate the region’s rich artistic heritage and safeguard the Vedic oral traditions in the region.
The Lieutenant Governor felt optimistic that the new Centre of IGNCA would make further efforts to develop and enrich folk traditions, the resurgence of which, during Prime Minister Modi’s period, he was keen on bringing into the forefront of cultural development. He suggested that the artistic mind would have to be inducted into the youth as a tool to impact other spheres of society.
The Lieutenant Governor also appealed for greater efforts to popularize the works of literary and cultural icons such as Yogini Lalleshwari, Nund Rishi, Habba Khatoon, Parmanand, and Padma Sachdev among the younger generation. He emphasized the need to make regional literature, folk music, drama, and Pahari art a part of the household in the UT.
He lauded the initiatives of the IGNCA and the J&K Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) like the Toycathon that encourages grassroot innovation among students. The event was a testament to toys inspired by the local cultural ethos and regional heroes’ lives, for which the Lieutenant Governor felicitated students who emerged as winners in the District and School-level competitions under Toycathon 2024.
The Lieutenant Governor appreciated the revolution in the educational sector of Jammu and Kashmir, proudly citing the leadership in the National Education Policy 2020.
Dignitaries on the occasion included Ms. Sakina Ittoo, Minister for Education and Social Welfare; Dr. Sachidanand Joshi, Member Secretary IGNCA; and senior officials from the education and cultural sectors. Vice Chancellors, Heads of educational institutions, artists, and students attended the event.
Under the dynamic leadership of its regional director, Shruti Awasthi, IGNCA has had the good fortune of managing a variety of cultural programs in Jammu and Kashmir, like Kulgam Literary Festival, Tawi Sahitya Lok Utsav, SCERT J&K Toycathon, webinars on Kashmir’s Sufism and Rishism, among others.
This new regional center has served as a turning point in Jammu and Kashmir-a return to its art forms that would preserve their historical culture but also a jump forward to innovation and knowledge.
