MUMBAI & SRINAGAR: Government of Jammu & Kashmir and JSW Foundation, the social development arm of US$ 13 billion JSW Group today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the conservation, restoration & maintenance of the Mughal Gardens of Kashmir located at Shalimar Bagh & Nishat Bagh.
Government of Jammu & Kashmir in collaboration with JSW Foundation will jointly undertake an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to restore these historic Gardens beginning with Shalimar Bagh site followed by Nishat Bagh site.
According to the MOU, JSW Foundation shall extend Technical & Financial support towards Conservation, Restoration and Maintenance of the Mughal Gardens of Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh in Kashmir. The Government of Jammu & Kashmir will provide assistance and continue to provide funding for the project through support resources and other infrastructure.
Commenting on its MOU with Government of Jammu & Kashmir, Sangita Jindal, Chairperson of JSW Foundation said, “JSW Foundation has championed the cause of Conservation of India’s cultural legacy by restoring some of India’s architecturally renowned and historically important monuments. Today, in continuation of our commitment for conserving India’s cultural legacy, I take great pride in extending our support for the restoration of Mughal Gardens at Shalimar Bagh & Nishat Bagh in Kashmir. These two sites are a hallmark of the Mughal empire’s landscape design. We will be collaborating with India’s most-respected Heritage & Conservation Architect Ms Abha Narain Lambah for this project. Through our MOU with Government of Jammu & Kashmir, I am pleased to formalize JSW Foundation’s commitment to restoring the breathtaking beauty of these gardens.”
The Mughal Gardens of Kashmir are an outstanding examples of the great paradise garden traditions of the world. In the valley of Kashmir, these sites have become the archetypes of the Timurid-Mughal garden tradition. The six imperial gardens of Kashmir are proposed to be Nominated to UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Among them, the gardens of Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh, (1619-1635 CE), built during the reigns of Emperor Jahangir and Shahjahan, epitomize the mastery of Mughal gardeners and engineers.
The JSW Foundation
JSW Foundation is the social development arm of the US$ 13 billion JSW Group, one of India’s leading business houses. It has a long track record and a rich legacy of empowering rural communities to enrich their lives since the last three decades. The Foundation’s focus areas are Education, Health & Nutrition, Skill Development, Rural BPO, Environment & Water, Sports and Art & Heritage. Through a strong field presence, it operates across 22 rural locations in 11 Indian States with priority on communities around JSW’s plant & port locations. JSW Foundation also reaches out to communities beyond these locations to contribute towards India’s social development in a meaningful way. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation supported various communities & families by providing food and healthcare facilities across all these locations.
JSW Foundation’s holistic life-cycle based interventions have positively impacted more than a million underprivileged people across India. It operates two multi-specialty hospitals in Karnataka & Maharashtra with outpatient potential of 100,000 annually. Its educational interventions have positively impacted more than 130,000 under-privileged children in rural locations while its Agriculture, Women SHG & Rural BPO initiatives have created new livelihood sources for more than 16,000 farmers and 10,000 rural women.
The Foundation has provided access to sanitation by constructing more than 7500 community toilets in rural villages. It has also helped more than 200,000 needy individuals access Government welfare schemes. JSW Foundation’s work in Art & Heritage is focussed on restoring India’s monuments such as Chandramauleshwar Temple in Hampi, Kenneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai among others. These restorations have been recognized globally and won prestigious international awards.
