Tai Tagak Extends Support to Proposed UWATCH During RIWATCH Visit
MP highlights need to document indigenous knowledge, languages and traditions while creating new avenues for higher learning and livelihoods for Arunachal’s youth.
ROING- RajyaSabha Member of Parliament Tai Tagak visited RIWATCH in Roing on Monday and expressed his support and solidarity for the proposed establishment of the University of World’s Ancient Traditions, Cultures and Heritage (UWATCH).
During his visit, Tagak interacted with 10 Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) aspirants attending coaching classes jointly initiated by RIWATCH and Jnana Prabodhini, Pune. He advised the aspirants to remain focused and disciplined in their preparation and appreciated the initiative to provide accessible guidance to young people from the region.
The MP also interacted with RIWATCH’s research staff, who briefed him about the institute’s ongoing research activities. He appreciated its research work, community outreach programmes and publications.
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Tagak subsequently visited the RIWATCH Museum, where he observed its collection and development. He commended the institute’s efforts to document and preserve the cultural heritage of Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast India, as well as the heritage of tribal communities from different parts of the world.
The proposed UWATCH was a key focus of the visit. Tagak underlined the need for a dedicated institution of higher learning focused on the study, documentation and promotion of indigenous knowledge systems, traditions and cultures.
He said Arunachal Pradesh and the wider Northeast possess extensive oral traditions, customary practices, indigenous sciences, languages and belief systems. According to Tagak, systematic documentation and academic research could help preserve knowledge that remains largely unrecorded and may otherwise be lost over generations.
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He further said that a university dedicated to these areas could provide a formal academic framework for research while creating new avenues of learning and livelihood for young people by treating indigenous heritage as a field of serious scholarship.
Tagak also highlighted the potential for the proposed institution to have an international dimension. He said an institution rooted in Arunachal Pradesh but global in its scope could create links between the tribal and ancient traditions of India and those of communities elsewhere in the world, potentially positioning the State within the broader field of heritage studies.
The MP commended RIWATCH for conceiving the UWATCH proposal and for the groundwork undertaken through its research, museum and outreach activities. He also assured the institute of his full support in taking the proposal forward.
