Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday inaugurated Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) Regional Centre at Jammu.

In his address, he congratulated IGNCA, artists, writers, researchers, art lovers, innovators and students on the occasion. He expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Ram Bahadur Rai, President IGNCA, for dedicating IGNCA’s Regional Centre to Jammu.

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“The folk tradition of Jammu has been the source of values and ideals that have sustained the society through the ages and I believe the IGNCA’s regional centre will create a framework for nurturing the virtues of culture for enhancing quality of life. This centre will foster the promotion and preservation of our rich art and cultural heritage and help the growth of time-tested traditional wisdom and knowledge,” he said.

He called upon the intelligentsia to work with organisations like IGNCA for promotion of J&K’s rich artistic heritage and also preserving and propagating Vedic oral tradition. “Our civilisational heritage represents a culture that is all-embracing and based on the concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, the world as one family. This Mantra continues to be of great significance to the world even today,” he said.

The Lt. Governor highlighted that under the leadership of Mr Modi, Jammu Kashmir is witnessing a cultural resurgence. He said in the future, the IGNCA Centre will further strengthen government’s efforts for the promotion, development and enrichment of folk traditions.

Emphasising the role of enlightened citizens and stakeholders to develop artistic mindset in the new generation, Sinha said the creative potential of the youth will benefit other sectors of the society. He called for committed efforts for dissemination of works of great thinkers and writers like Yogini Lalleshwari, Nund Rishi, Habba Khatoon, Parmanand, Dattu, Thakur Raghunath Singh, Pandit Hardutt, Gangaram, Padma Sachdev, especially to the younger generation.

In this era of rapid change, it is also our collective responsibility to ensure that the articles, monographs, books on regional literature, folk music, drama genre and Pahari art become a part of every household, he added.

The Lt. Governor also applauded the IGNCA and J&K Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) for organising Toycathon. He said the Toycathon provides an opportunity to our youngsters to participate in grassroot innovation and lead them to design and develop toys based on local cultural ethos and life of local heroes.

He also spoke on the revolution taking place in UT of J&K in education sector in the past few years. “I am proud that Jammu Kashmir is leading the country in implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020”, he said.

On the occasion, he felicitated the students who excelled during the District/School level competitions under Toycathon 2024. He also released several publications of IGNCA, and visited the stalls put up by different school students exhibiting innovative and creative toy designs, and clay models prepared by artists from various states.