“Allahabad museum to document flora, fauna of Ganga-Yamuna belt” by Indian Express, Prashant Pandey

Pandey, P. “Allahabad museum to document flora, fauna of Ganga-Yamuna belt.” Indian Express. 2 October 2011.

Allahabad museum to document flora, fauna of Ganga-Yamuna belt

By Prashant Pandey

October 2, 2011

Allahabad Museum, which is one of the four national museums in the country, has undertaken an exercise to document the existing flora and fauna in the Ganga and Yamuna river belt.

The findings will then be compared with the existence of these varieties in the past and used to send a message, through interactive means, about the importance of preserving the rich natural heritage.

Museum director Rajesh Purohit tol The Indian Express that the exercise has just begun. “We have just begun the documentation. The information will be put up on the official website of Allahabad Museum. As and when this exercise is completed, we will get the experts to evaluate what all have changed through the years and why preserving the existing natural heritage is necessary,” said Purohit.

He added that the Ganga and Yamuna river belts are still very rich in biodiversity. “The available information will be utilised to disseminate a message about conservation of environment,” said Purohit.

The initiative is part of a new concept, around which museums in the country are taking up activities to integrate the existing milieu with historical facts, arts, artifacts and other such things to make them more relevant to the common man, particularly on the issue of environment.

“Preserving and conserving natural heritage is now a major focus area for the museums, as they have realised that museums cannot simply remain repositories of artifacts. We are trying to learn from British museums, which constantly take up activities on existing issues, integrating them with the history and heritage they have preserved,” said Sunil Gupta, assistant curator, who has been with Allahabad Museum for long.

Other activities associated with the new approach will include training nearly 100 teachers from across municipal and other schools on keeping the Ganga clean and avoiding polythene. “Teachers, students, all will be integrated into this programme. We will be preparing two documentaries and distributing them free to spread the message,” said Purohit.

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