Abbreviation YfHF Headquarters New Delhi | Founder Vikramjit Singh Rooprai | |
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Formation 26 January 2014; 3 years ago (2014-01-26) Purpose Heritage Awareness and Promotion Website Youth for Heritage Foundation Type of business Non-governmental organization | ||
The Youth for Heritage Foundation (YfHF) is a Non-Profit NGO registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It was started as a hobby project in October 2009 and became popular over time.
Contents
History
In October 2009, Vikramjit Singh Rooprai, an IT Consultant and Social Media guru went on a personal site-seeing trip to monuments in Delhi. He found many sites, for which, there was no reference available online. He launched a project named Didar-i-Dilli and started gathering information about Delhi's Heritage. The information was made public via his website monumentsofdelhi.com later that year.
In October 2010, Vikramjit formed an online club named Delhi Heritage Awareness Club. This club started Heritage Walks with a small group of people. Upon suggestions from members, the club was renamed to The Heritage Photography Club. In less than 7 years, the club crossed the mark of 21,000 members on Facebook and became one of the largest repository of photographs of monuments from across India.
In 2013, the The Heritage Photography Club started organizing Heritage Talks at monuments. These talks were branded as Heritage Durbars. Initially, these Durbars (Sessions) were held at various monuments in Delhi. In 2014, the club was invited by India Habitat Centre to conduct these sessions at one of their auditoriums. In 2014, the body was registered under the Societies Registration Act as Youth for Heritage Foundation. Vikramjit Singh Rooprai became the Founding Chairman.
Activities
Youth for Heritage Foundation is involved in Heritage Promotion and Awareness across Educations Institutes, Corporates and Individuals.
The Heritage Photography Club
The largest arm of Youth for Heritage Foundation is the Delhi Heritage Photography Club. In December 2016, the club was renamed to The Heritage Photography Club. Regular Heritage Photo-walks are organized at monuments across India. Focus remains on educating people about the lesser known aspects, architecture and history of the site.
Heritage Durbars
Youth for Heritage Foundation started Heritage Talks in 2013. First talk was held at Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli on Sufism. Since 2014, these talks are being organized in Casuarina and Gulmohar Hall of India Habitat Centre. Every month, a new speaker is identified and a new topic is presented to audience. Personalities like Pushpesh Pant, KK Muhammed, Raza Rumi, Feisal Alkazi, Sohail Hashmi, R.V. Smith, Dr. Sharif Hussain Qasemi and D. N. Chaudhuri have already spoken through this platform.
Heritage Photography Contests & Exhibitions
Youth for Heritage Foundation, under the banner of Delhi Heritage Photography Club organizes annual Exhibitions. A contest is organized for the selection of Images and winning shots are exhibited at the venue. Following exhibitions were organized by the club:
Heritage Ambassadors
The foundation constituted a panel to identify heritage lovers operating within their geographic regions, promoting or protecting Heritage. First Heritage Ambassador award was given on World Heritage Day, 18 April 2015 to Abdul Aziz Rajput of Bijapur for his service to community.
Monument Protection
Youth for Heritage Foundation has been instrumental in protecting the endangered heritage sites. The group was contributed in saving the historic Lal Mahal in Nizamuddin Basti with their #SaveLalMahal campaign. This structure is said to be the oldest structure in India having a True Dome and a Taikhana. The structure was being demolished by its owners. Youth for Heritage Foundation raised petition and upon intervention from different government bodies, the demolition was stopped.