Refurbished Janpath building for Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts was inaugurated by Minister of State(I/C) for Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahalad Singh Patel and Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, in New Delhi today. Rajya Sabha MP and Indira Gandhi Kala Kendra Trust member – Dr Sonal Mansingh; Rajya Sabha MP, and President ICCR Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe attended the function. Secretary, Culture Shri Raghvendra Singh; Secretary (MoHUA), Shri Durga Shankar Mishra; President IGNCA, Shri Ram Bahadur Rai; Member Secretary IGNCA, Shri Sachidanand Joshi; trustees of IGNCA, senior officers of both the Ministries and CPWD were also among those present at today’s function.Speaking on the occasion, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel expressed his happiness that the process for future development of the IGNCA has finally taken off. He said that our grand plans for preserving and conserving the culture of our country have been taken up under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The development of IGNCA as a great cultural centre will help in the growth of art and culture in a rightful manner. For the artist, his art is his sadhna, and we have to create right environment for it to grow, the Minister added. Giving the example of Pushpak Vimana, the Minister further said that it is important to document the techniques and methodologies to preserve and carry forward the legacy for use and understanding by posterity. We are working to ensure that the great Indian culture outshines in the world, Sh Patel added.
Hardeep Singh Puri said that as we have already entered into the celebrations of 75 years of Independence, I would like to say that India is a young country but a very old and great civilisation. Art and culture form the essential component that defines great civilisation. The renovated Janpath Hotel will function as a major resource centre for arts as well as research & public activities. It will provide a forum for continued creative pursuits & critical dialogue between & amongst the diverse traditional & contemporary arts. There was a need for modern infrastructure & better service integration including improved facilities for labs, archival rooms, special storage for archival material, documents, manuscripts, valuable art etc for a long time, the Minister explained.Minister Puri further said that as somebody who has spent a lifetime visiting centers of performing art and museums throughout the world, he always found it a constraint that we are not able to open up the immense and enormous richness of our culture to our public because of basic limitations. Shri Puri further explained that today, the IGNCA has already found a more welcoming and a much broader space for its activities but this is only the first step. When the IGNCA moves to its final location at the Jamnagar House, it will be a world-class facility and that will earn appreciation throughout the world.The proceedings of the inauguration of a new temporary home for IGNCA at the newly refurbished Janpath Hotel began with a soulful rendition of Mangalacharan by renowned singer and ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ awardee Smt Sudha Raghuraman Ji who was accompanied by Sh Gopal Raghuraman Ji on flute.Till the time the permanent building of IGNCA is constructed, the center has been temporarily shifted to the Janpath Hotel building.
3 lakh books, 30 lakh manuscripts preserved in micro films, 1 lakh 8 thousand pictures of various aspects of Indian culture in digital medium, 16 thousand shooting tapes, including hundreds of oil paintings, sculptures, masks and other materials have been shifted in a systematic and professional manner to the temporary building at IGNCA. The temporary campus is a 5-storey state-of-the-art office has been built at Hotel Janpath, in which adequate space and facilities for the members of the institute, along with modern equipment, auditorium, studio and amphi- theater have also been established. The work has been done effectively by the Central Public Works Department. The permanent campus of IGNCA will come up at Jamnagar House on C-Hexagon or the India Gate circle in New Delhi.Indira Gandhi National Center (IGNCA) for the Arts is home to invaluable collections of artifacts, manuscripts, books, paintings, sculptures, and all that reflect the heritage of Indian culture. The IGNCA was conceived as a center encompassing the study and experience of all arts—where each form is complete in itself.Here in the arts written and oral, creative and critical literature; all the elaborate visual arts ranging from architecture, sculpture, painting, and graphics; performing arts in their broadest sense as music, dance and theatre; and includes fairs, festivals and all those components of lifestyle which have an artistic dimension. Since its inception, the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, to its dignity and prestige, was looking forward to a world-class campus. Central Vista redevelopment which has been planned by the central government, in which the IGNCA has been given its prestige and dignity.