Annual report - Ministry Of Culture

40 MINISTRY OF CULTURE
• The International Museums Day, 2010 was
celebrated with a day-long Sit and Draw
competition involving 500 school children
from all over West Bengal. The programme
was conducted by Shri Niranjan Pradhan,
Shri Debabrata Chakraborty and Shri Dwijen
Gupta on May 17, 2010 at VMH.
The Treasure Hunt competition for the museum
visitors was also held on May 18, 2010. Around
800 visitors participated in the competition. There
was also a panel discussion on “Museums for
Social Harmony” on May 18, 2010 at VMH.
Professor Amalendu De and Dr. Shekhar
Bhowmick were the panelists.
• World Environment Day was observed on
June 5, 2010. Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata
and West Bengal Federation of United Nations
associations in collaboration with Friends of
Victoria Memorial Hall organized a special talk
delivered by Shri Sitaram Sharma, Honorary
Consul of Belarus in Kolkata followed by
plantation of saplings in VMH garden.
Shri Utpal Chatterjee, Sheriff of Kolkata
inaugurated the programme in presence of
Shri S.K. Todi, Vice President of Friends of
Victoria Memorial Hall.
An in-house lecture titled “Controlling the
Environmental Pollution” was also delivered by
Professor Arunava Mazumdar, retired Professor,
All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health,
Kolkata at VMH.
A special lecture titled “Museums and Tourism’’
was delivered by Dr. Alok Chowdhury, formerly
Director, Department of Tourism, Government
of India on September 27, 2010 on the occasion
of World Tourism Day, 2010 at VMH. Professor
C. Panda, Secretary and Curator chaired the
lecture session.
Spot quiz on environment and film show on the
occasion of Children’s Day in collaboration with
British Council was also held on November 14,
2010 at VMH.
• World Heritage Week was celebrated on
November 19 – 25, 2010 where a a special
lecture on “Aesthetics in Indian Heritage
Sculptures” was delivered by Professor Pradip
Kr. Bhattacharya in collaboration with Government
College of Art & Craft on November 22, 2010.
Shri Shankar Ghosh, noted sculptor chaired the
lecture session. A symposium on “Reinventing
Crafts for the 21 st Century” in collaboration with
Crafts Council of West Bengal was organized
on November 23, 2010
A special lecture on “Conservation of Heritage:
Whose responsibility?” was delivered by
Dr. O.P. Agrawal, Director-General, Indian
Council of Conservation Institutes, Lucknow on
November 24, 2010. Professor Samir Rakshit
chaired the lecture session.
An illustrated talk on “Conserve and Revive
Calcutta’s Built Heritage” was delivered
by Shri Manish Chakraborti, Director,
M/s Continuity, Conservation & Architectural
Design Practice on November 25, 2010.
• “World Disability Day” was observed with
the children of AHEAD on December 3, 2010
at VMH with Gallery visit, fancy dress, and
Puppet show.
• On the occasion of 106 th Foundation Day of
the Memorial, a special talk on “Bauls and
Fakirs of Bengal” was delivered by a member
of Baul Fakir Sangha. Shri Goutam Ghose,
renowned filmmaker shared his thoughts on the
Bauls and live demonstration / performance by
members of the Baul Fakir Sangha was
performed on January 3, 2011 at VMH. A
special lecture on “The British Presence and
Social Change in 19 th Century Bengal: Causal
Links” delivered by Professor Tapan
Raychaudhuri on January 4, 2011. Professor
Suranjan Das and Dr. Rudrangshu Mukherjee
conversed with Professor Raychaudhuri.
Shri Goutam Ghose screened his documentary
film on Raja Rammohan Roy titled “In Search
of the Rajah” (2009, 40 minutes).