Article by Rakhshanda Jalil, August 2011, Himal Mag: Can culture become a catalyst for development? Can a living culture – that spans seven centuries – be transformed into an engine of growth and regeneration? Can a blend of music, ritual, food, crafts and local traditions be harnessed to improve the quality of life? Can a local community that has, despite occupying the beating heart of a much-venerated spiritual space, be made to shed some of its isolation? Can the effects of long years of disempowerment and disenfranchisement be remedied through confidence-building and inclusive growth plans? Going by preservation and resuscitation work currently taking place in the Basti Nizamuddin area of New Delhi, such goals seem to be entirely possible. A slew of recent initiatives in the vicinity of the Nizamuddin dargah has shown that cultural revival and urban renewal can become two sides of the same coin of development.
Ismailimail 