Arunachal govt working to preserve, promote cultural heritage: Minister

The Arunachal Pradesh government is working towards preservation, promotion and documentation of the rich cultural heritage of various tribes of the state through a proper cultural policy, Cultural Affairs Minister Tabe Tedir said.

Inaugurating the Arunachal chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) here on Saturday, the minister said the state is a treasure trove with as many as 26 major tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes with diverse culture and traditions of their own.

He said that research works for preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage would greatly benefit the state.

Expressing his happiness on inaugurating the INTACH Arunachal chapter, the minister said that government is taking various steps for proper documentation of all tangible and intangible cultural heritages of all major tribes.

The Cultural Affairs minister all the museums in the state would be digitized very shortly.

”In order to preserve the local dialects, the state government has introduced dialects of twelve tribes as third language in schools curriculum up to class 8,” he said and urged INTACH to take specific steps to preserve those dialects which are on verge of extinction.

Tedir said all necessary support have been provided to include the Thembang village in West Kameng district and Apatani Cultural Landscape, Ziro in UNESCO world heritage sites and many more including, Bhalukpong Fort at Paya and Tameshwari Temple Bhismak Nagar are in offing to get enlisted in the world heritage site list.

INTACH Director Capt (Retd) Arvind Shukla said INTACH, set up in 1984 is India’s premier heritage conservation organisation, dedicated to preserve and conserve the environment to revitalise India’s intangible heritage, besides fostering awareness and appreciation of its vast multi-faceted cultural heritage.

He said involvement of citizen towards cultural conservation is pertinent, as government alone cannot protect the heritage and expressed the need to strengthen the Arunachal chapter, in the state through collaboration with various stakeholders for comprehensive documentation of oral traditions, cultural designs, culturally significant sites.