Industrial Heritage in India: challenges as well as issues in its identification, protection and management

  • Divay Gupta School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37558/gec.v24i1.1267
Keywords: Indian Industrial Heritage, Mumbai Mills, Railway Heritage, Conservation, Heritage Management

Abstract

This article explores the concept of Industrial Heritage and its relevance within the Indian context. Conservation in India has unique challenges arising out of the limited protection framework, the complexity of heritage resources and limited awareness and priority. The main issues confronting the preservation of Industrial Heritage sites in India are related to its lack of identification as a cultural resource and lack of awareness in local communities due to their perception and attitudes towards it. But the question has remained as to how to generate public opinion towards the need to preserve and promote our industrial heritage in a holistic manner, for its conservation as a cultural legacy and part of our identities in this globalizing world. This article explores the challenges in documenting, protecting, restoring, and managing Industrial Heritage sites in India, drawing upon personal experience of the last 27 years in attempting to conserve them.

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Author Biography

Divay Gupta, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Divay Gupta is a conservation architect and headed the Architectural Heritage Division of INTACH, New Delhi til March 2023. An Alumni of ICCROM, University of Birmingham & School of Planning & Architecture he has been striving to help better manage and conserve the cultural resources in his country for more than 25 years. He has had the privilege and opportunity to be part of a number of prestigious projects in the UK, USA, India, Afghanistan, Nepal and Cambodia and has participated in joint UNESCO & ICOMOS missions to World Heritage sites as a conservation expert. His restoration projects in Ladakh have won the South Asia UNESCO awards of Merit & Excellence. He is an Ad Hoc expert on the International Conservation Committee (ICC) for the world heritage site of Preah Vihear in Cambodia. He was a member of National Culture Fund and serves on advisory committee to Government of India on World Heritage Matters. He is also a visiting faculty and a member on the board of studies of Department of Architecture Conservation at School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) New Delhi. He is presently pursuing his private practice and PhD at Deprt of Conservation, SPA, New Delhi
Divay Gupta (he/him) (Professor of Practice)
https://www.design.upenn.edu/people/divay-gupta

References

D’MONTE, D. (2005). Ripping the Fabric: The decline of Mumbai and its Mills. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

D’MONTE, D. (2007). Mills for Sale, The Way Ahead. Mumbai: Marg Foundation.

FARNIE D.A. and HENDERSON W.O. eds, (1999). Industry & Innovation: Selected Essays by W.H. Chaloner. London: Frank Cass. (99-120)

GUPTA, D. (2004). “The state of Industrial Heritage in India”. TICCIH Bulletin [Summer] 25: 1-8. Available at https://ticcih.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/B25.pdf. (accessed on 25.5.23)

INTACH. (2020). State of Built Heritage In India: case of the unprotected. New Delhi: INTACH.

JOSHI, M. (2017), “An introduction to Industrial Heritage in India and the inventory of Industrial Heritage of India”. In: Industrial Heritage in India: Knowledge Condition and Significance Seminar. New Delhi, ICOMOS India & TICCIH Sweden. 4-7. https://smartnet.niua.org/content/fe889cb5-ae00-47a7-8a10-6fda1b211d6c

KRISHNAN, S. (2005). “Of Cogs and Wheels, of Mills and Machines”, Art India, Heritage Issues, X (2): 35-37. https://www.artindiamag.com/wp-content/themes/art-india/archives-files/2005/Vol-10-Issue-2/mobile/index.html (accessed on: 28.5.2023)

TIPNIS, A and SINGH, M. (2021). “Defining Industrial Heritage in the Indian Context”, Journal of Heritage Management, 6 (2): 120-139.

YADAV, K. (2006). ‘When Industry is Heritage’, The Financial Express (daily newspaper) 23rd April, New Delhi Edition.

Published
2023-12-15
How to Cite
Gupta, D. (2023). Industrial Heritage in India: challenges as well as issues in its identification, protection and management . Ge-Conservacion, 24(1), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.37558/gec.v24i1.1267
Issue
Vol. 24 No. 1 (2023): Ge-conservación Nº24
Section
Suplemento
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