New ‘intellectual heritage’ project

The Union Education Ministry is planning to create an “Intellectual Heritage in Development” — a dialogue, documentation and research programme on the Government’s initiatives.

What is the proposed ‘Intellectual Heritage in Development’ project?

• The project aims to create an ‘Intellectual Heritage’ in Development, Knowledge Resource and making New India, based on the government’s initiatives.
• Under this project, few of the themes based on the initiatives of various Ministries/ Departments of the Government have been identified.
• On these themes, dialogues, documentation, research and publication will be planned and organised in various academic institutions.

Key features –

• The plan is to hold about 100 conferences across the country on 100 themes during the three months.
• In these conferences, research papers based on secondary data and sources available in ministries or elsewhere will be presented.
• Researchers belonging to reputed Higher Education Institutions will contribute to these papers, which will eventually be published in a book.

Some of the focus areas identified by the ministry –

• Economic Reforms and Emerging Global Economy —
  • The Finance Ministry and related ministries to focus on –
    • India becoming the fastest growing economy, expanding markets beyond borders,
    • a record-breaking export year, GST, making India an investment-friendly destination, transparency in procurement, Atmarnirbhar Bharat, etc.
• India’s great cultural heritage: Bhavyata and Divyata —
  • The Culture Ministry to focus on
    • bringing our culture history back home,
    • tribute to India’s great freedom fighters,
    • Statue of Unity, Kranti Mandir (Red Fort),
    • Jallianwala Bagh Samarak and
    • the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
  • The project also refers to restoring historical sites, including Ram Janmabhoomi temple and Somnath temple, among others.
• Tech-Powered India: Transforming Work, Empowering People —
  • The IT Ministry to conduct research on –
    • Harnessing IT for Good Governance’ and ‘Jeevan Parmaan Patra’,
    • ‘Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission’,
    • Atma Nirbhar India through Unified Payment Interface’ (UPI), and
    • UMANG (Unified Mobile App for New age Governance).
• Education Ministry’s initiatives to be highlighted —
  • The Education Ministry’s initiatives to be highlighted include –
    • the National Education Policy,
    • Samagra Shiksha (National Education Mission),
    • NIPUN Bharat/ National Achievement Survey (NAS),
    • Higher Education Financing Agency,
    • National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA),
    • Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS),
    • Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) and PM-eVidya.
• Initiatives of Sports Ministry, Social Justice Ministry and Tribal Affairs Ministry —
  • The Social Justice Ministry is to focus on “Empowering Divyangs UDID (Unique ID for Persons with Disability).
  • The Tribal Affairs Ministry is to highlight “Restoring Janjatiya Gourav through Heroes, Histories”, “Eklavya Model Residential School” and scholarships.
  • The focus in sports will be on Sports Ministry programmes such as Fit India and SPOT Scholarships.