From temple to tech: Govt plans new ‘intellectual heritage’ project

The outline of this project was laid out in a letter dated June 28 and sent by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to several Central ministries and departments seeking their participation.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

4 min readNew DelhiJul 15, 2022 07:01 AM IST First published on: Jul 15, 2022 at 03:29 AM IST

From the restoration of “historical sites”, such as the Ram temple and the Somnath temple, and paying tribute to freedom fighters at Jallianwala Bagh Samarak; from economic policies such as GST to the National Education Mission, the digital mission and scholarships for sportspersons; from unique IDs for persons with disability to the heroes and histories of India’s tribal community.

These are some of the key themes around which the Union Education Ministry is planning to create an “Intellectual Heritage in Development” — a dialogue, documentation and research programme on the Modi Government’s initiatives.

The outline of this project was laid out in a letter dated June 28 and sent by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to several Central ministries and departments seeking their participation.

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“We propose to create an ‘Intellectual Heritage’ in Development, Knowledge Resource and making New India, based on these initiatives. A few of the themes based on these initiatives of various Ministries/ Departments of the Government have been identified…Dialogues, documentation, research and publication will be planned and organized in various academic institutions in the next 3 months beginning the first week of July 2022 on these themes,” Pradhan wrote.

According to the letter, the plan is to hold about 100 conferences across the country on 100 themes during these three months, where research papers based on secondary data and sources available in ministries or elsewhere will be presented.

Researchers belonging to reputed Higher Education Institutions will contribute to these papers, which will eventually be published in a book.

Some of the focus areas identified in the letter are:

“Economic Reforms and Emerging Global Economy”: The Finance Ministry and related ministries to focus on India becoming the fastest growing economy, expanding markets beyond borders, a record-breaking export year, GST, making India an investment-friendly destination, transparency in procurement, Atmarnirbhar Bharat, etc.

“India’s great cultural heritage: Bhavyata and Divyata”: The Culture Ministry to focus on “bringing our culture history back home”, “tribute to India’s great freedom fighters”, Statue of Unity, Kranti Mandir (Red Fort), Jallianwala Bagh Samarak and the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The letter also refers to restoring historical sites, including Ram Janmabhoomi temple and Somnath temple, among others.

“Tech-Powered India: Transforming Work, Empowering People”: The IT Ministry to conduct research on ‘Harnessing IT for Good Governance’ and ‘Jeevan Parmaan Patra’, ‘Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission’, Atma Nirbhar India through Unified Payment Interface’ (UPI), and UMANG (Unified Mobile App for New age Governance).

The Education Ministry’s initiatives to be highlighted include the National Education Policy, Samagra Shiksha (National Education Mission), NIPUN Bharat/ National Achievement Survey (NAS), Higher Education Financing Agency, National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA), Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS), Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) and PM-eVidya.

And the focus in sports will be on Sports Ministry programmes such as Fit India and SPOT Scholarships.

The letter also asks the Social Justice Ministry to focus on “Empowering Divyangs UDID (Unique ID for Persons with Disability)’ and the Tribal Affairs Ministry to highlight “Restoring Janjatiya Gourav through Heroes, Histories”, “Eklavya Model Residential School” and scholarships.

In his letter, Pradhan wrote: “These conferences will be conducted in the HEIs where participation of your good-self as well as your senior officers/ experts/practitioners would be solicited. I request you to kindly ask your Ministry to go through the themes listed in t Annexure and add/modify/delete the same. I would also request you to please consider supporting this academic activity, as the output of the research will be handed over to you for use in your Ministry.”

# Dharmendra Pradhan