ANNUAL REPORT
2006-2007

 

CULTURAL AFFAIRS & HERITAGE DEPARTMENT
GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM
GANGTOK

 

The basic responsibility of the Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department is promotion of art & culture of the State of Sikkim. Its activities are spread over three sections - the Song & Drama Unit, the Archive & Archaeology, and the State Libraries. The Song and Drama Unit is responsible for the promotion of performing art (particularly the folk songs & dances, dramatics, etc.) The Archive & Archaeology section as the name suggests, deals with preservation of institution and other monuments having archaic importance & conservation of the historical records and documents. The Library section, is responsible for managing the public libraries at the state, district and sub-divisional level, and catering to the reading requirements of the public. The Department, besides its routine activities, is also responsible for establishment of new Community Centres, running the old ones, as well as establishment of cultural centres. As the terms art and culture connotes a very wide area, the departmental activities often extend beyond the broad meaning of the term.

The principle activities of the Department undertaken in 2005-2006 are highlighted below:
1. Archives and Archaeology:
  I)

A six day in-service workshop-cum-training course, specially meant for the personnel of museums of the North Eastern States of India, organized by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sanghralaya - was attended by Mr.Anil Prakash Rai (Deputy Secretary), Mr.D.K.Singh (Inspector), Mr.L.N.Sharma (Museum Assistant) and Mr.Neelam Neopany -from 8th to 13th August 2005. Shri Ganesh Pradhan, from the private Museum was also sponsored by the Department to attend the course.

  ii) The archives section has obtained an institutional membership of Association of Indian Archivists, New Delhi.
  iii)

A very functional & useful laboratory is established to treat the old documents. Required numbers of fumigation chambers together with the chemicals, have been purchased.

  iv)

Twenty six students from Temi Senior Secondary School participated in the “National Balrang” festival organized by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahlaya, in Bhopal from 12th-13th January 2006. The students were exposed to the culture of all the States. Their participation was sponsored by the Department.

  v)

The Regional Museum of Natural History sponsored twenty students to Sikkim, for summer nature study camp from the 26th to 29th May in 2005. The students were selected from state level Science.
Olympiad comprising of 19 educational institution circles and 30 districts of Orissa.
The students were taken to different places of Sikkim for their study by this Department.

  vi) Internet connectivity on board is established at Archives Section.
  vii)

A two day seminar on Cultural Syncretism in the Eastern Himalayas, was organized at Gangtok on 23rd – 24th September 2005, in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahlaya. Three scholars from Sikkim presented paper in the Seminar.

  viii) On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the historic “Dandi Yatra”, two major exhibitions were organized at Gangtok and Namchi, based on rare archival material of the Salt Satyagrah and great Historic March of 1930. The exhibitions were organized with the Archival material support of the Natural Archives of India, New Delhi. The exhibition was quite successful and a large number of students, teachers and parents benefited.
     
           
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