The Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister, Punjab, S. Navjot Singh Sidhu today underlined the importance of getting youth hooked to the great cultural and historical heritage of the state so as to make sure that they do not remain oblivious to their enormously rich legacy and instead take pride in it. He said that it is the vision of the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh to have a robust cultural policy focusing on vibrant culture, tradition and customs of the state.Presiding over a marathon meeting of the experts hailing from art, literary, academic and cultural spheres to fine-tune the proposed cultural policy of Punjab, the minister said that the policy would be finalized by the end of this month but before that an exercise would be undertaken in which people would be deployed to have interactions with the youth across the state regarding their views in about the policy. The minister said that the views expressed by the youth and their ideas would be incorporated in the policy because the percentage of youth in the state stands at 56 percent which makes it imperative to ascertain their viewpoint before formulating any measure.
The minister further elaborated that a robust and clearly defined cultural policy would not only be vastly helpful in strengthening of the economic infrastructure of Punjab but it would also play a pivotal role in generating jobs.
Going further, he said that great emphasis would also be laid on forming a cultural parliament with a multi-layered structure with a Chairman and 15 members under him besides having an organized mechanism in place at the District, Tehsil and Village level.Coming to another important aspect, Mr. Sidhu said that specialized steps would be undertaken to bring the children of NRIs closer to their culture and traditions and helping them connect with their Punjabi roots.Terming the proposed policy as a catalyst for Cultural Revolution, Mr. Sidhu made it clear that requisite finances would be made available to ensure that the policy do not derails and keeps on moving forward with an aim to make Punjab a numero uno tourist as well as cultural destination in the world. The minister also underlined the fact that this aim can be achieved with proper marketing of the vast number of tourist destinations in the state which have exceptional historic and cultural value for e.g.- Kalanaur (where 13 year old Akbar was crowned mughal king), the spot of where Maharaja Ranjit Singh a treaty with the English in Ropar and many more such spots.
Terming the policy as an engine to take Punjab forward, Mr. Sidhu also dwelled at length about the importance of internet in the popularizing of the glorious heritage of Punjab as in today's technology driven age, internet is the most potent tool to carry forward and propagate an idea and according it the shape of a movement with the passage of time.On the occasion, respected names from art, literary, academic and cultural fields put forth their views which were given a very patient hearing by the minister. The experts included Surjit Patar, Pammi Bai, Satinder Satti, Sukhi Brar, Ninder Ghugianvi, Manmohan Singh (Filmmaker), Deppak Manmohan Singh, Harjap Singh Aujla, Dr. Ishwar Dayal Gaur, Gurmeet Bawa, Sunita Dhir, Darshan Aulakh, Prof. Rajpal, Diwan Manna, Karamjit Sra, Kewal Dhaliwal, Manpal Tiwana, and Jung Bahadur Goyal.Among others present on the occasion included Advisor to the Tourism and Cultural Affairs Department Dr. Amar Singh, Principal Secretary Mr. Jaspal Singh and Director Mr. Shivdular Singh Dhillon.