Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Marginalized group of 100 students received Microscholarship at the MCD Primary School in New Delhi. The award was given by US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer under the English Access Microschoralship Programme. The two-year programme is an initiative of the U.S. Embassy in cooperation with the Aga Khan Foundation. The Foundation began implementing the English Access Microscholarship Programme in 2010 for 100 students residing in the Nizamuddin Basti. Students of 14-18-year olds are eligible under the scheme.

“This program gives students, who might otherwise not have the opportunity, the chance to acquire basic English language skills that lead to jobs!"

Hazir Imam and Mrs. Gandhi Inaugurate Centre in New DelhiMowlana Hazir Imam was the guest of honor at the inauguration of the All India Women's Conference Building by Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, on the 26th March 1980 in New Delhi. The ceremony was held to coincide with the All Womens' Conferences' 48th annual session. This session wad formally opened by Begum Salimah in their newly constructed Conference Hall which they had decided to name 'Aga Khan Hall'.

Between February 2-14, 1989 Mawlana Hazar Imam visited India as a guest of the Indian Government. The visit, primarily to meet the Jamat of Gujurat, also included visits to Bombay and New Delhi. In Gujarat Mawlana Hazar Imam met the Jamat in Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Sidhpur and Malia Hatina.

The Petronas Towers and a project to revitalise Old Jerusalem were among seven architectural achievements named as winners of the 2004 Aga Khan award for architecture.The prizes were presented by the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, yesterday.

Mughal emperor Humayun's mausoleum here, said to be the Indian subcontinent's first garden tomb, reopens Tuesday after a $650,000 (Rs 31 million) facelift that has added scintillating lights, refreshed fountains and made the tourist site disabled-friendly.
The 16th century monument was renovated under a programme taken up jointly by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Aga Khan Foundation for Culture and the Oberoi Group of Hotels.

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, began a six-day official visit to India Monday during which he will meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Abdul Kalam, officials said.It is his first visit to India in 11 years. He will meet Kalam and Vajpayee later Monday and is also expected to meet deputy premier Lal Krishna Advani and Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, an Indian government official said.

L'Aga Khan était en Inde pour un séjour de six jours. ? son arrivée à New Delhi, le prince, qui est le chef spirituel des Ismaéliens, la secte musulmane indienne et pakistannaise créée en 1880 par Hassan Ali shah, a rencontré Vinod Khanna, le ministre indien des Affaires étrangères.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/index.html
Zee News
Dlhi April 17, 2003

Aga Khan discusses scope of developmental network with Sinha

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for evolving more public and private partnerships for maintaining India?s heritage and termed the first privately-funded restoration of a world heritage site here ?an unqualified success?, reports our correspondent.Singh was speaking at a ceremony to announce the seven winners of the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture ? a triennial prize fund of $500,000. The ceremony was held this evening on the gardens of Humayun?s Tomb complex, whose waterways and fountains were restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

HUMAYUN'S TOMB, one of the 23 heritage sites in India, has come alive - at a cost of Rs.3 crore thanks to the Aga Khan - with dormant fountains playing again, old forgotten wells being redug and lights illuminating the mausoleum whose garden, in which tobacco was given till 1915, has been redesigned.

The Aga Khan Tuesday lamented the loss of Iraqi cultural treasures amid widespread looting and warned that much of the world's heritage was at risk.The billionaire spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims also called for greater tolerance between cultures.
'The need for better understanding across cultures has never been greater in what is clearly a defining moment in world history,' he said.

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, today discussed with President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee possibilities of his development network working together with India in education, health, rural development and other areas.On his first visit to India in 11 years, Aga Khan spoke about the potential for cooperation also in areas like healthcare, micro credit, financial services, humanitarian assistance and in the promotion of non-governmental organisations.

Whether through neglect or wilful destruction, the disappearance of physical traces of the past deprives us of more than memories. Spaces that embody historic realities remind us of the lessons of the past.
This was stated by the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, while speaking at the inauguration on Wednesday of the restored gardens that surround the tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun.

A centuries-old marvel will come to life on Tuesday evening. The numerous fountains and water channels in the 16th century Humayun?s Tomb will have water flowing in them after 400 years. The gardens have been restored to their pristine and original Mughal glory, thus erasing the colonial character it had wrongly acquired since 1860s.

As the Humayun tomb glowed like a jewel, the 9th Aga Khan Architecture Awards were presented by the Aga Khan in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.During early dusk, the cacophony of the birds trying to find their perch for the night almost drowned out the Aga Khan?s speech. Behind him, the serried arches of warmly lit red sandstone stretched and deepened.
The tomb rose to etch its domed silhouette against the sky. It was the perfect backdrop for the content of the Aga Khan?s speech which dwelt on the motivation behind the award and what it has achieved.

Prime Minister,Excellencies,Distinguished Guests,Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, today discussed with President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee possibilities of his development network working together with India in education, health, rural development and other areas.On his first visit to India in 11 years, the Aga Khan spoke about the potential for cooperation also in areas like healthcare, microcredit, financial services, humanitarian assistance and in the promotion of non-governmental organisations.

The Aga Khan, spiritual head of the world's 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, said on Saturday survival of an interdependent globe hinged on people showing tolerance of the cultures, values and faiths of others.Prince Karim Aga Khan, speaking to Reuters in an interview in the aftermath of the Iraq war, said the need for better cross-cultural understanding had never been greater at what he called a 'clearly a defining moment in world history.'

Former Finance Commission chairman A M Khusro, who died in New Delhi on Sunday night, was a distinguished academic, scholar and a towering personality.
Besides heading the 11th Finance Commission, he was the chairman of the Aga Khan Foundation, president of the Federation of Indo-German Societies and chairman of the Institute of Economic Growth.

Khusro, who died at the age of 78 after a recent bye-pass surgery, had served the Planning Commission as a member and was also a consulting editor of the Financial Express and director of the Indian Express (Mumbai).

At the historical Humayun?s Tomb, His Highness the Aga Khan, hereditary spiritual leader (Imam) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) together with India?s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh today announced the seven recipients of the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The announcement marked the completion of the ninth cycle of the programme. The Award, which has a triennial prize fund of US$ 500,000, is the world?s largest architectural award. The seven projects selected by the 2004 Award Master Jury are: ??