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Artistic
depiction of millennium development goals
10/31/2007 03:36:22 PM
IST
New Delhi, Oct 25
- It's a painting on wood of a traditional Rajasthani haveli, instantly
recognisable by those familiar with the miniature school of Indian art. But
there's a difference - a depiction of the world on top of the house.
That is how Dwarka Prasad Jangid visualises a global partnership for
development - the world overarching his experiences as shown in the panels
he painted to symbolise this Millennium Development Goal (MDG). He unveiled
his artwork Wednesday to an admiring crowd at the front lawn of the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office here on the occasion of the
United Nations Day.
Apart from the haveli - depicting a happy family, modern healthcare and a
partnership of people - at the centre of the panel, Jangid's panels show how
soldiers defend the country, how people cope with droughts and floods, the
way towards communal harmony, factories, the effects of cutting trees down
and irrigation.
The paintings are stylised, beautiful but not pretty in a hap-hap-happy way.
They are real in a way this artist from Bassi - in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh
district - sees the direction being taken by his world. And he tells the
viewer the direction it can take through a global partnership better than
any speech on MDGs can.
What are these eight MDGs all about? According to Maxine Olson, head of UNDP
in India, they are meant to ensure 'a quality of life that everyone has a
right to expect'. When the UN declared the MDGs in 2000, it set 2015 as the
deadline to achieve them.
It is not at all sure if the deadline will be met in this country for any of
the eight MDGs, but Olson was happy with the way the government of India was
working towards them.
So was Bhagwan Singh Rajput. The expert weaver of durries had spread on a
frame a durry with a dark brown background. On it were small squares, moving
upwards from brown to light brown to cream. Rajput was depicting the move
towards eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, the first MDG.
The second MDG is to achieve universal primary education. Zohra Bi and son
Shariq - traditional embroidery workers from Delhi - had worked the letters
of the alphabet in various languages on a quilt and a schoolbag that looked
far too delicate to actually take to school.
A whole group of craftspeople from Chhattisgarh had visualised the third MDG
- to promote gender equality and empower women - in a way that combined the
old and the new. They had cast traditional metal figures - one man, one
woman. But they had also cast a computer monitor, mouse and keyboard, with
the woman's hands on the keyboard and mouse.
There was more tradition in the way Satya Narin Lal Karn - originally from
Mithila in Bihar and now director of the art department in the capital's Bal
Bhavan - had visualised the fourth MDG, which is to reduce child mortality.
His work in typical Mithila style showed how animal mothers protect their
young.
What about improving maternal health, the fifth MDG? Megiben Meriya from
Kutch in Gujarat used patchwork, applique, mirror work and thread work to
show how quick, scientific and frequent healthcare bring maternal mortality
rates down.
A group of women from Jharkhand also used applique, this time to depict the
steps needed to keep infection at bay and achieve the sixth MDG - combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
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