Mussoorie / New Delhi (The Hawk): Under the auspices of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the Digital District Repository (DDR) on 27 June 2022 in the premises of prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie.
Around 400 officer trainees (OTs) participated in the celebrations which comprised paying tributes at busts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, virtual inauguration by the CM of Exhibition on the Digital District Repository (DDR) at Indira Bhawan (LBSNAA) ,Seminar on DDR at Sampoornanand Auditorium, Cultural evening by the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC)
The event encouraged the OTs to contribute stories from the districts where they shall be posted. The Digital District Repository (DDR) is an attempt to discover and document stories of India at the ‘micro level’ of district. It 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
Shri Govind Mohan, Secretary, Culture during his presentation, said “Local History often resides amongst us in the form of stories, anecdotes, fading memories ,etc. And unless we make an effort to document them over time they are often Lost Forever”. He further talked about the prison cells in IIT, where freedom fighters Santosh Kumar Mitra and Tarakeswar Sen Gupta were martyred.
He talked about Godavari Parulekar (then Gokhale), another lesser-known freedom fighter born in Pune. She participated in individual Satyagrahas and was imprisoned for that in the year 1932. She was the first female member of the Servants of India Society. It was further informed that the Sordar of Nongkhlaw (local village Head) in Eastern West Khasi Hills District is leading the efforts to preserve the imprints of the Meghalaya Braveheart & his band of courageous followers, who kept the much better armed British at bay for nearly 5 years from these “ krem Tirot “ (Tirot Singh Caves). A 5 minutes’ video on the Digital District Repository (DDR) was also played so as to make the OTs aware of the project and thereby, contribute in it. Secretary (Culture) shed light on the Har Ghar Tiranga programme under AKAM, wherein hoisting of the Tiranga shall take place at home and at work. The rationale behind the initiative is to foster the spirit of patriotism, bind the country together celebrating the AAN, BAAN, SHAAN of the Tiranga, and in 75th year of independence commit to nation building collectively by working towards India@2047. Lastly, he requested everyone to pay their tribute to the bravehearts who laid their lives for the cause of the nation, through the medium of Digital Jyot at: https://digitaltribute.in/
The evening concluded with a cultural show organized by the NZCC. The DDR Exhibition inaugurated at the Indira Bhawan, LBSNAA, Mussoorie will be open for the public till 3 July 2022. It has special attractions such as the digital interactive panels and rare photographs from the archives.