Darohar- A three Day Workshop organized by Department of History to commemorate World Heritage Day

Chandigarh, April 21, 2023: The Department of History organized ‘Dharohar- a Three Day Workshop’ on imbibing skills towards sustainable and holistic Development: a historical approach, held from 18th-20th April to commemorate World Heritage Day, the International Day for Monuments and Sites. The inaugural ceremony of the workshop began with the welcome address by Dr. Jasbir Singh, the organizing secretary of the workshop. The distinguished guest of honour, Prof. Anju Suri, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, presided over the ceremony and expressed her pride and happiness over the workshop's combination of academic and vocational components. She emphasized the value of water conservation and provided the participants with information on water management strategies as a component of the natural heritage. Dr. Ashish Kumar, during his technical session gave insights on relevance of pottery in India’s Ancient past, followed by another session by Prof. Paru Bal Sidhu, Chairperson, Department of AIHC&A, who discussed on pottery types. Later on, along with Dr. Priyatosh Sharma, the workshop director, and Dr. Ashish Kumar, the workshop convener, the participants engaged in hands-on pottery-making during the practical session.

The workshop's second day began with Dr. Priyatosh Sharma, chairperson Department of History, as the featured speaker who spoke on “the Mughal and Rajput Paintings”, followed by the practical session on recreating historic paintings on pottery.

The third day of the workshop, themed- ecology and environment traditions, was graced by the presence of esteemed guest, Prof. Suman Mor, Department of Environment Studies. She emphasized the importance of environmental care and spoke on various environment traditions in India. The keynote speaker of the session, Prof. Renu Thakur, threw light on the designing and minting of coins in ancient India. The academic session was followed by the plantation drive to celebrate natural heritage, hosted in collaboration with the respected guest Mr. Anil Thakur, Divisional Engineer (Hort.).

Finally, the workshop concluded with the Naghma Khayalon Ka- a cultural programme. The special guest Prof. Ashok Kumar, Department of Hindi and Dr. Jasbir Singh, Department of History spoke about the literature as heritage. The students from various departments of the University and colleges of Chandigarh participated and performed songs, poetry, shayari etc. in ‘Naghma’ to mark the end of the three day workshop- Dharohar.