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Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya 279 rituals. As you perhaps know, I started a folk dance festival in the same spirit. Unfortunately, none of these had been followed up as vigorously as they should have been. Consequently, we have already lost a good deal. The suggestions you have made on the last page are good ones. I think, it should be persuaded. The only difficulty is that this year is one of the great financial stringency when every programme is being cut to the very bone. However, the setting up a committee of knowledgeable people will not need immediate finance, and can be considered. These are my first thoughts. I shall write to you later on this. (Mrs. Indira Gandhi) July 2, 1974 On the advice of the Prime Minister, the Department of Culture, Government of India, had asked the Anthropological Survey of India (An. S.I) to work on the project since 1975 onwards and a nucleus Office was started from New Delhi in March, 1977 for the project. During the same period a preliminary Plan Outline of the proposed new Museum was published, after a series of meetings by experts. The Plan-Outline was critical of the biasness of the existing conventional museums in India. It said that the existing art and archaeological museums in the country highlighted artistic traditions of India, and didn’t tell the story of evolution of Indian civilization and about the varieties of cultural life in contemporary India. The other types of museums dealing with natural history, science and industry convey basic principles of their subjects, but tell very little of the man who has created and developed civilizations. Therefore, the idea behind the ‘Museum of Man’, would be to present an integrated vision of human life, not segmented pictures determined by artificial disciplinary boundaries. After a series of searches and deliberations at various levels, it was decided, in 1978, to set up the ‘National Museum of Man’ (NMM) at Bhopal, the central province of India. A site of about 200 acres offered by the State government of Madhya Pradesh, at the ‘Shamla hills’, overlooking the main Bhopal lake, was accepted and some portion of the site was occupied by early 1979. The Foundation Stone of the new Museum was laid on 21 st April, 1979, by the then Union Minister, Dr. P.C. Chunder. By March 1985, the organization was renamed as ‘Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (RMS). Again in 1993, it was re-christened as ‘Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), considering the seminal contributions and involvement of the late Prime Minister in developing the Museum. The museum-site at ‘Shamla hills’, is a very important geographical territory. It is one of the chains of 31 hills in the Vindhyan range, infested with a large number rock caves with evidence of pre-historic human settlements. The site was once on a 30 mile long stretch of water, created by joining the streams of river Kaliasot and Betwa, a water body which was drained in 30 years, after the 11 th century dam constructed for creating it, was cut, in course of one of the warlike engagements in the 16 th century. Today Shamla hills is an oasis of heritage related action and research initiatives. About a dozen cultural centres have come
280 Multiple Heritage: Role of Specialised Museums in India up after the IGRMS began establishing. These include the renowned Bharat Bhawan Multi-art complex, All India Radio and Doordarshan, the State Museum of Madhya Pradesh, a Tribal Museum, Regional Museum of the National Council of Science Museum and a large number of other educational institutions managed by several NGOs. Museum Infrastructure Development of infrastructure for the new Museum was a major challenge. It required heavy financial investments and manpower, dedicated scholars and visionaries who could interpret the cultural bonds of the country. An Advisory Committee set up in 1981, recommended that the Institution should be converted into an Autonomous Body, to be managed by a group of subject experts from different disciplines and representative officials of different ministerial organizations. The recommendations were accepted by the Cabinet Secretariat of Government of India and the Autonomous Society named ‘Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya Samiti’ was registered under Registration of Societies Act, 1860, in March, 1985, with the following major objectives to: (a) Present, through exhibitions and educational programmes, an integrated story of bio-cultural evolution of man with special reference to India, highlighting the richness and diversity of its cultural patterns and the underlying unity; (b) Promote national integration; (c) Take steps to salvage and preserve the fast vanishing aspects of Indian culture; (d) Act as a centre of research and training in museology of appropriate kind and generate a new museum movement in different regions of India to present and preserve variety of cultural life. Individual experts from the fields of anthropology, archaeology, museology, folk art etc. were nominated to the governing councils of the Museum for specified durations, and representative officials of the central government in the ministries of Culture, Home Affairs, Tribal Development, Environment, as also from the State Government of Madhya Pradesh were inducted. The main source of funding for infrastructure development and education activities were to come from the central Ministry of Culture, and the Minister-in-Charge of the Ministry of Culture designated as the President (ex-officio) of the Governing Samiti. The Secretary to the Ministry of Culture, GOI would act as ex-officio Chairman of its Executive Council. When the Site was occupied for infrastructure development, the landscape was barren, rocky and devoid of any vegetation. There was no water sources in the campus, nor any link road to approach the public ways outside. The campus was to be landscaped within these constraints. Development of Infrastructure
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Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (National ... - IGRMS

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