The new Campus of the National Museum Institute was inaugurated by Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, in the presence of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture & Chancellor of the National Museum Institute (NMI), at A-19, Sector 62, NOIDA (Institutional Area), today. Shri D.S. Gangwar, Addl. Secretary, Ministry of Culture; Dr. B.R. Mani, Director General, National Museum; Alok Tandon, Chairman, Noida Authority and Dr. Pradyuman Sharma, Registrar, NMI were among the other dignitaries present.Speaking at the inauguration, the Chief Guest Shri Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Human Resource Development said that that there is a huge scope for the courses offered by the Institute like history of arts, conservation, museology among others. He said these subjects and experts in these subjects are the need of the hour to protect and conserve our rich culture and heritage. He also said that Ministry of Culture has taken very good initiatives for the preservation and systematic functioning of museums. He also proposed that Ministry of Culture should consider setting up a national museum of educational history so that the future generations could understand the evolution of education.
Thanking the HRD Minister, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/c) for Culture congratulated the efforts of the team for making it possible to complete the campus in a timely manner (foundation stone was laid on 31.01.2015) and also said that Noida would carry the pride of having country's first Museum Institute.Delivering welcome address, Dr. B.R. Mani, DG, National Museum said National Museum Institute was working from the first floor of the National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi. For its independent campus, a land of approx. three acres was allotted at NOIDA by the NOIDA Development Authority. With a total budget of Rs.90.40 crores (including 10% escalation charges) the project was completed by CPWD in a span of about 4 years. Four new courses i.e. (i) Archaeology; (ii) Palaeography, Epigraphy and Numismatics; (iii) Structural Conservation and (iv) Cultural & Heritage Management, are expected to be commenced. In addition to these regular courses, short-term courses of five-months duration i.e. Art Appreciation and Bhartiya Kalanidhi (Hindi), which are very popular, are also conducted by the Institute to disseminate the knowledge about the country’s tangible and intangible heritage.