Why in news? Government has identified and documented distinctive features of more than one lakh villages across the country under Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar Survey.

Highlights:

• By whom – Ministry of Culture and Common Services Centres (CSC), under the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MEITY)
• Exercise is conducted under the Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar (My Village My Heritage) programme of the National Mission for Cultural Mapping (NMCM).
• Who is doing the survey – Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA)
• Why is the survey taken –
  • To develop a comprehensive database of art forms, artists and other resources across the country
  • The survey seeks to document the cultural identity at the village level by involving citizens to share their village, block, or district unique.

How the villages are mapped ?

• Villages may be those
  • Which produce a famous textile or product
  • Connected to some historical or mythological events such as the Independence struggle or epics like the Mahabharata.
  • Ecological category, for example, includes the Bishnoi village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan, which is a case study for living in harmony with nature, and Uttarakhand’s Raini village, which is famous for the Chipko movement
  • Villages of developmental importance like Modhera in Gujarat, which is the first solar-powered village in India
• Suketi in Himachal Pradesh, Asia’s oldest fossil park, and Pandrethan in Kashmir, the village of Shaivite mystic Lal Ded, are also classified for their historical importance