In a recent event coinciding with Vishwakarma Jayanti on 17 September, the Ministry of Culture, through the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), celebrated the Foundation Day of its Conservation and Cultural Archives Division. Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary of IGNCA, said, “A program like Mann Ki Baat is perhaps unique in the world. Through this initiative, the prime minister connects directly with the people of the country, inspiring citizens and fostering community engagement.” He added that the first 100 episodes have been heard by over 100 crore people and that even children today are teaching others about cleanliness, reflecting Gandhian inspiration.
Before this recent milestone, the Conservation and Cultural Archives Division had already been engaged in preservation work across India. It had been building capacity both technically and institutionally: employing conservators, engaging in landmark conservation projects, and establishing archives of cultural materials. These earlier efforts laid the groundwork for combining heritage preservation with inclusion and innovation.
Now, the Division is functioning with over 150 conservators. It is executing projects not only in traditional heritage centers such as Orchha, Vadodara, Lalbagh (Indore), Patna Museum, Albert Hall Museum (Jaipur), Bharatpur, and Ladakh, but also as part of newer high-visibility initiatives like the installation of the world’s largest Nataraja at Bharat Mandapam. An all-women team working in Ladakh is one example of its effort to bring inclusivity into conservation work.
The division is also making the archives more accessible and relevant. Alongside the conservation work, IGNCA continues initiatives such as the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ Painting Exhibition, the discussion of the book Igniting Collective Goodness, and editing volumes of speeches to preserve voice, memory, and cultural narratives. These efforts are part of how archives are not just repositories but tools for shared memory and public engagement.
Going forward, the work of IGNCA’s Conservation and Cultural Archives Division matters not only for monuments and artifacts but also for how a society remembers itself. By carrying out preservation across diverse regions, investing in capacity building (including women), and weaving heritage into public culture and dialogue, IGNCA provides a model of heritage work that balances conservation with community, scale with inclusion, and legacy with contemporary relevance.