Quick Start Guide

up of the ‘Lime Testing Unit’ at the Lucknow Centre to undertake scientific research on lime and its properties. During the year a major initiative was taken to prepare a ‘Directory of Wall Paintings’ in India which are disappearing at a fast pace due to neglect. This mammoth task was undertaken by appointing surveyors in different states under the guidance of a central team. The ultimate objective is to document, digitize and to do emergency conservation and research on these wall paintings. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Division conducted a four-day conference on ‘Oral Traditions: Continuity and Transformations, North East and South East Asia’ in February 2016 at Shillong. The conference brought together fifty scholars from five countries namely India, Thailand, Malaysia, UK and the Netherlands, along with heritage activists and museum curators belonging to local communities from the region. Delegates for the conference comprised senior academicians, researchers and artists and practitioners from the field of cultural heritage. The deliberations and discussions held at the conference put forth multiple suggestions for project interventions, recommendations for safeguarding, preserving and promoting the intangible cultural heritage of northeast India, as well as maintaining the inter-linkages and other exchange systems between Northeast India and Southeast Asia, that have contributed to the vitality of intangible cultural heritage in these regions. The INTACH Heritage Academy brought out its first Journal on ‘Approaches to Conservation in India’. The Journal aims to encourage critical thinking and debate over the meaning of heritage and its relevance for society at large. It is an interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed journal which has been received exceedingly well. Besides the numerous training programmes which the IHA conducted for Chapters to build their capacity, a Teachers Training Programme in collaboration with National Institute of Advanced Studies in Architecture (NIASA) was conducted as a part of the MoU between INTACH and the Council of Architecture. Heritage Awards for Excellence in ‘Documentation of Unprotected Heritage’ was also initiated in collaboration with the Council of Architecture to bring in the students in the ambit of understanding conservation and heritage. INTACH offered Research Scholarship to U.K. citizens to enable them to travel to India and to follow any course of study or research in the field of art and cultural heritage which will be beneficial to either or both countries. 3 scholarships were awarded during the year and 12 scholarship grants were awarded to individuals in India to under- take advanced and interdisciplinary research that demonstrates potential impact on conservation philosophy, practice and policy. The 19 th Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) Summer University Programme was held in August 2016 on ‘Sustainable Urbanization in Heritage Cities’ which was co-hosted by INTACH in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, Asia Europe Foundation and Symbiosis International University. INTACH was a Knowledge Partner for the Workshop where 48 participants from ASEM countries attended the Workshop for about a week in Pune. The Heritage Tourism Division has completed its DPR on the Heritage Village of Nirmand in Himachal Pradesh and submitted it to the State Government for endorsement 8 TACH