Day 1 : Digital District Repository(DDR) Project Under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav(AKAM)
A great architect clothes his well spatial structure with a form of beauty, not an extraneous superimposed beauty but inherent in all the structure, in every part, making the whole. The “dominance” of the sculptural mode in India is due to the Indian propensity, stronger than that of any other culture, for carving sculptural caves and temples out of the living rock, of mountain escarpment or outcropping. Also in ancient India, the arts were not separated as they unfortunately are today the architect; the sculptor and the painter were often one man. Sculptures were invariably painted in colour and the sculpture generally was not free-standing, but formed part of the temple structure. In this way architecture, sculpture and painting were in fact, much more intimately connected than they are today and much of this was a happy combination. CCRT has been entrusted with the task of implementing the prestigious Digital District Repository (DDR) projectc under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), Ministry of Culture (MoC). The project is an attempt to discover and document stories related to India’s freedom struggle at the ‘micro level’ of district. On 11th October, CCRT started the Project with a workshop for her District Resource Persons ( DRPs ), trained teachers, artists, officials of RCs who have joined from various parts of the country – from Kashmir to Kerala, from Meghalaya to Gujarat. According to Shri Rishi Vashist, Director, CCRT “in the 75th year of India’s independence, the DDR project is an opportunity to express our gratitude to those who fought for our freedom. Our Freedom is not an outcome of one war, one event or one moment in time. Many micro events led up to 15th August,1947. We are happy that 100 participants from 26 different States / Uts are attending this Workshop in offline & online modes”. On Day 1, Shri S C Barmma, Advisor, DDR project at Ministry of Culture , along with Dr. Divya Sethi- Consultant DDR project, interacted and guided the participants about various aspects of the project. Said Dr. Barmma, “Big stories often make the headlines of our historical narratives, but history is not only about landmark events. There are important local stories and events linked to our freedom struggle that at times remain unknown to others not connected to that region or place. Digital District Repository is an attempt to spotlight local stories at national level.” The project is divided into four categories – people and personalities, events and happenings, living traditions and art forms, hidden treasures in accordance with the contribution to our freedom struggle. At the end, there was an interactive and feedback session, where participants shared their stories written by them and sorted out their queries.