Drabu looks to revive Pandit culture, traditions

The state government Sunday announced to set up a model ethnographic village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district for Kashmiri Pandits to bring to life their culture and tradition in the valley.
While presenting his maiden budget in the Assembly, Minister for Finance and Culture, Haseeb Drabu proposed to lay focus on construction of model ethnographic villages to showcase the intrinsic cultural and heritage.
Under this proposal, the first pilot cultural village would be set up in Hawal (pronounced as Haal by locals) village of Pulwama district which was inhabited by Kashmiri Pandits, Drabu told the House.
“It will be re-built to recreate aspects relating to the tradition and culture of Kashmiri Pandits.”
Hawal used to be a prosperous village once but after Kashmiri Pandits left the valley, the village has been in ruins with the traditional brown brick houses crumbling in the midst of green walnut trees.
Drabu said this budget comes from the heart and not head.
“I know I have not included much in the budget for culture but it is something which needs thinking space. We got portfolios in the second week of this month… So I hardly got 13-14 days to prepare budget. But in years to come I will focus more on culture. I am in fact more excited to be the minister for culture than finance,” Drabu said while addressing a press conference later.
He said he has planned the first model village portraying the age old cultural heritage of Kashmiri Pandits to be set up in Hawal. It falls between South Kashmir’s twin towns Pulwama and Shopian.
Drabu who hails from Shopian won his first-time election from the nearby Rajpora constituency last year.