Quick Start Guide

7 Every Division of INTACH has made important contribution spreading the knowledge and work of conservation and the importance of community involvement in protecting its heritage by taking up not only projects but using these projects for demonstration and awareness creation. As a point in case the Natural Heritage Division has taken up the documentation of baolies, traditional water structures and lakes of Rajasthan to draw attention of the State Government to include this very important heritage of the State to re-generate these baolies for the purpose of water conservation. 100 structures have been taken up by Government of Rajasthan for conservation work including 28 from the Shekhawati Region. INTACH is happy that its work has resulted in Government’s initiative in taking up these water structures for conservation and tourism purposes. Similarly projects and the documentation of sacred lakes in the Himalayas such as: Manimahesh (H.P.), Dodital (Uttarakhand), Vasuki (Uttarakhand), Deoria (Uttarakhand) which are associated with religious legends and are of significant pilgrimage destination have been documented and recommended for conservation to the respective State Governments. A unique project on the documentation and study of the Rudraksha Tree which is of religious significance has resulted in Rudraprayag Panchayat permitting INTACH to afforest its land with 1000 Rudraksh Trees on the fragile slopes of the district. A creative project on the conservation of agriculture and training in traditional and sustainable agriculture has been taken up in Central Madhya Pradesh with the aim of bringing the community of farmers to the traditional farming practices which will benefit the soil and water quality in the region. The Geo-Heritage Monuments of India have received very little attention in the past and INTACH has taken up the initiative to document the Geo Heritage Monuments of India and is bringing the attention of State Governments to this important resource which can be used for tourism purposes. A project for the revival of the Old Pilgrim Routes to Kedarnath is being researched and documented so that it can be used for evacuation in case of natural disaster and also facilitate eco-tourism activities. It am happy to report that the Bassian Kothi restoration project was completed and inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Punjab on the 24 th May, 2015 and is open to the public as the Maharaja Duleep Singh Memorial Museum. An important initiative on the preparation of the ‘State of Built Heritage of India’ (SoBHI) with a pan-India focus on the unprotected built heritage of the country has been taken up and the primary survey is complete. It is hoped that this study will be seminal work on the state of unprotected built heritage of India as on date. Under the ‘Relief, Rescue and Restoration Scheme’ set up by INTACH, wherein INTACH would take up small but critical projects which require attention, an endangered site in Rajasthan, the 600 year old Laxminath Temple in Jolpa was taken up for restoration with the shramdan and support of the village people. Some prestigious work in Rashtrapati Bhawan was taken up by the Art and Material Heritage Division to conserve 9 wall paintings, 2 textile paintings and some paper work on a turn-key basis for the new museum which was to be inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. The results of these conservation works were excellent. Similarly a collection of paintings were conserved in the Cathedral Church of Redemption located to the east of Parliament House in New Delhi. An important development was the setting TACH