Delhi will have more cultural hubs - Tejendra Khanna

The Delhi Administration is contemplating creating more multi-cultural hubs like India International Centre (IIC) and India Habitat Centre (IHC) in different parts of National Capital Region (NCR) to showcase the cultural diversity of the country to ththee generation next.

Mr Tejendra Khanna, Lt Governor of Delhi, disclosed this while interfacing with the members of the PHD Chamber yesterday in the evening in Delhi. He said that the Delhi Administration has received a number of requests from civil society for setting up such hubs. The Government can consider giving land for creating institutions, which should help the citizeofns express creatively. Such hubs, which should be run by Board of Trustees –like in the case IIC or IHC-should present the cultural and artistic diversity of the Nation. Since creation of such institutions of excellence requires a very high degree of artistic and cultural awareness and insight, organizations like DDA would not be able to meet up with the challenges involved in running and maintaining them. He called upon the PHD Chamber to draw up a Master Plan to replicate the cultural hubs in different places with the help of the civil society. He concurred with the suggestions from the panelists and the floor that there should be a strong synergy among art, culture and business to help the new generation imbibe the cultural ethos of the country.

Mr Khanna observed that Delhi being the hub for many institutions of excellence and higher learning, should take a lead in heralding the knowledge revolution in the country. He agreed that the knowledge industry is the key driver that catapulted India to the global arena like textiles to UK and manufacturing to the US. “ We have to create resources and capabilities in institutions that can beckon and nurture new talents. For this, we have to bring about attitudinal changes among the cross section of the society, particularly the young people to pursue careers that they can excel and necessarily the one that can earn them higher monetary return,” he said.

Lt Governor however observed that the recent tendency among the meritorious students to abandon the pure sciences streams as a discipline of their choice was a serious concern. At all levels-undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral-this tendency is very visible and can be reversed only thorough a carefully drawn up plan for rewarding and recognizing intellectual capacities and scholastic pursuits. He wanted the business community to address the issue of instilling interests among the students in pure sciences. Selection of the right faculty and creation of enabling infrastructure for research and development comparable to the global standards are some of the strategies that can be thought of in this regard. He also concurred with the idea floated by Dr Balakrishan of Delhi IIT that there should be greater degree of flexibility and freedom in academic pursuits. Students should be allowed to attend classes in different institutions spread across the country and not necessarily the institution that they have enrolled.

The other points that have emerged at the discussion included greater focus on management of institutions that are created for civil society, creating bicycle paths, particularly for students, holding periodic contests by the chambers and industry to enhance the skill sets of the students, enhancing the general quality of the higher education etc.

Dr K K Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University said that India is the world's largest brain power and is thus enabled for the largest revolution ever-Grey Revolution. This calls for a change in attitude, increasing quality, quantity and relevance of institutions of excellence. He also suggested two shift system for all institutions and called upon the Chambers of Commerce to strengthen synergy between academics and industry.

Mr O P Jain, founder Chairman, Sanskriti and Mr R M S Liberhan, Director, India Habitat Centre were of the opinion that the various community centres be re-developed as cultural hubs. Excellence is a product of knowledge and culture. The Chambers of Commerce should encourage the corporate to include Cultural Responsibility alongwith the Social Responsibility. This is not a big agenda as the problems are only managerial and not conceptual in nature. There is also need for crafting the legacy of infrastructure that is being created for Commonwealth Games 2010.