Nehru Memorial to execute mega project on India's borders ( Exclusive)

The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in New Delhi has been selected as the nodal agency to execute a project to compile the history of India's borders.

In a meeting on Wednesday with various government agencies, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally approved the project, which is pegged to cost around Rs 1.5 crore.

The project mooted to provide better understanding of the borders to the public in general and officials in particular has been conceived by the Defence Ministry.

According to a senior official of the NMML, an autonomous body under the Union Culture Ministry, the project is at present planned to be brought out in book format.

"The project belongs to the Defence Ministry which will also provide its funding. The budgetary estimates are being worked out. The objective behind the project is to make citizens living in cities and hinterland areas about the culture, history and ethnography of border areas.

"Basic work on the project has already commenced. Research on archival material and on ground studies will be conducted," the official told .

As per sources, apart from NMML representatives, eminent personalities of the Indian Council of Historical Research, as well as officials from the Home, External Affairs and Defence were also present during the meeting that was held at South Block in New Delhi.

"It is proposed that the work will cover various aspects of borders including tracing its making; making & unmaking and shifting of borders; role of security forces; role of borderland people encompassing their ethnicity, culture and socio-economic aspects of their lives," the Defence Ministry tweeted.

(Ayaskant Das can be contacted at ayaskant.d@.in)

( With inputs from IANS )