A three-day Vadnagar International Conference started yesterday and has become a massive platform to promote the culture and heritage of this city through out the world. This is already an amazing achievement, but Gujarat will soon have something bigger to celebrate. According to the information received from the conference, Government of India will nominate the Gujarati Garba folklore to UNESCO as an intangible heritage that needs to be safeguarded and promoted. This will be a submission to the 20th UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the year 2023.
Gujarat is the state with the highest number of World Heritage inscriptions in India. Historical-cultural heritage sites like Champaner, Rani’s Vav, Ahmedabad and Dholavira are a source of pride for the state. Gujarat’s identity is likely to be included in the world’s most valuable cultural heritage by UNESCO. The Government of India has initiated efforts to include Garba in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
At the Vadnagar Conference in Gandhinagar, Eric Falt, UNESCO’s Director for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, urged that Gujarat’s Garba be included in the heritage.
Union Minister of State for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi has announced that the Tanariri Festival in Vadnagar will now be celebrated as a national and international festival by the Central Government. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that Vadnagar would be developed as a Landmark Heritage Tourism Destination to present its glorious history and cultural heritage to the world.
