E-auction of mementos, gifts given to PM starts tomorrow

The funds raised through the auction will be contributed to the Namami Gange Programme, the flagship project that seeks to conserve and rejuvenate the Ganga river.

Arun Yogiraj along with a team of artisans had sculpted the monolithic 28-ft statue of Netaji which was recently unveiled by Modi at India Gate, and had in April gifted the PM a model statue of Bose. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

The e-auction of around 1,200 mementos and gifts presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins Saturday, and will go on till October 2. This is the fourth edition of the e-auction organised by the Ministry of Culture, said Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy Friday.

Giving more details, Reddy said, “Mementos in the auction include paintings, sculptures, handicrafts and folk artefacts. Several of these are items customarily offered as gifts, such as traditional angavastrams, shawls, headgears, and ceremonial swords. Other memorabilia of interest include replicas and models of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. We also have an exciting section of sports memorabilia”.

Models of the upcoming Ram temple at Ayodhya and the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, will also be part of the e-auction of gifts and mementoes given to prime minister, proceeds of which will go to the Namami Gange Mission. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

In the wake of India’s performance at the Commonwealth Games 2022, the Deaflympics 2022 and Thomas Cup Championship 2022, also on auction are the memorabilia presented by the teams and winners of the sporting events. There are 25 new sports memorabilia in this edition of the auction, the minister added.

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Sporting memorabilia gifted to the prime Minister by several sportspersons will be part of the auction. A ministry official said 25 new sporting memorabilia will be part of the auction. This picture shows boxing gloves used by India’s boxers in the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships 2022. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

The funds raised through the auction will be contributed to the Namami Gange Programme, the flagship project that seeks to conserve and rejuvenate the Ganga river.

At the exhibition, guided tours in sign language for hearing impaired visitors have also been arranged. Catalogues in braille will also be made available for the visually challenged.

In 2019, the mementos were auctioned by open bidding, when 1,805 gifts were put on auction. In the second round, 2,772 items were put on auction. In 2021, an e-auction was held in September wherein 1,348 items were on auction. This year, approximately 1,200 mementos and gift items have been put up for e-auction. A display of the items has been arranged at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, while the items can also be viewed on the website https://pmmementos.gov.in.

Divya A

Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More

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