Delhi Confidential: Donning Heritage

On the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first edition of the Indian Art, Architecture and Design Biennale at the Red Fort, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi made a statement with her saree. Dressed in an indigo-white saree, Lekhi explained that its design is 400 years old and was discovered recently during an excavation in Denmark. Fascinated by the exquisite design, one of the researchers from the team dig some more into its history and learnt that it came from India through traders. He then visited India and realised that the design still exists here and he could get it from Coimbatore. In the Design Biennale, there is a special stall to showcase this particular heritage and the influence of Indian textiles and designs on Europeans. Lekhi said she got the design done on six metres of textile to drape it as a saree.

New Milestones

The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, which was launched on November 15, has recorded the participation of over one crore citizens. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to interact with its beneficiaries in New Delhi on Saturday. Union Minister of State for External affairs and Culture Meenakashi Lekhi will also join the event at Vivekanand Camp, Chanakyapuri, at 11am. Till December 7, the yatra had reached over 36,000 gram panchayats, according to data captured on the customised portal developed by MEITY.