Minutes of the Meeting ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 12th June 2020
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 Date: 12thJune, 2020 | Start Time: 8.30 am End time : 3.20 pm Venue:Zoom Platform link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4896452070?pwd=bnJROUdnaUVMbHNsYUhoS3c5TkZ6QT09
AGENDA FOR THE MEETING: 1. Approval of Agenda 2. Appointment of Chair 3. Approval of Rapporteur, Minutes of previous AGM and Apologies for Absence 4. Introduction of Returning Officer/Returning Officer/ICLAFI Observer 5. Presentation of the Annual Report 2019-2020 by President 6. Presentation of Expenditure & Audited Accounts (2019-2020) by Treasurer 7. Presentation of Budget (2020-2021) by Treasurer 8. Appointment of CA & Auditor for FY 2020-21 by Treasurer 9. Presentation of Draft Strategic Plan 10. Updates on Zonal activities for 2019-2020 by Zonal Representatives 11. Updates on NSC Activities/Presentation on Amendments on SoPG, Matters of NSC & IPR 12. Updates from Working Groups Coordinators 13. National and International Collaborations 14. Result of the Elections for the Executive Committee (2020-2023) 15. Address by Outgoing President 16. Thank you Note by Secretary
COMOS INDIA MEMBERS PRESENT: A. Members of Executive Committee 1. Kiran Joshi, President (In Chair) 2. Gurmeet Rai, Vice President 3. Shalini Dasgupta, Secretary 4. Sangeeta Bais, Treasurer 5. SV Suryanarayana Murthy Gullapali, South Zone Representative 6. Poonam Trambadia, West Zone Representative 7. Ananya Bhattacharya, East Zone Representative 8. Radhika Dhumal, North Zone Representative 9. Vidhu Gandhi, Institutional Member Representative
B. The Voting Members 1. A.G.Krishna Menon 7. Anshika Jain 2. AishwaryaTipnis 8. Antara Sharma 3. Ajaydeep Singh Jamwal 9. Aparna Tandon 4. Amit Tandon 10. Archana Deshmukh 5. Ananya Bhattacharya 11. Arun Menon 6. Annabel Lopez 12. Ashish Trambadia
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Minutes of the Meeting ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 12th June 2020
13. Benny Kuriakose 48. Priyanka Singh 14. Bikramjit Chakraborty 49. Radhika Dhumal 15. Chirashree Thakkar 50. Rahul Subberwal 16. Dhriti Ray 51. Rakhi Mariam Johnson 17. Gauri Pramod Joshi 52. Rana P.B. Singh 18. Geetika Kalha 53. Ratish Nanda 19. Gitanjali Rao 54. Richa Agarwal (Bansal) 20. Gurmeet Rai 55. Rima Hooja 21. Jatin Hashmukh Bhai Ambani 56. Ritika Khanna 22. Jigna Desai 57. Rohit Jigyasu 23. Jyoti Rohilla Rana 58. Sangeeta Bais 24. Kamalika Bose 59. Sanghamitra Basu 25. Khushi Shah 60. Saranya Darshini Karunanithi 26. Kiran Joshi 61. Saumya Tripathi 27. Kirtida Unwalla 62. Sekharakurup Girikumar 28. Komal Mohan Potdar 63. Shalini Dasgupta 29. Lakshmi Priya T 64. Shikha Jain 30. Madhu Vottery 65. Shilpa Jain 31. Mahesh Rameshwar Bangad 66. Shubhada Kamlapurkar 32. Moulshri Joshi 67. Shuchita Singh 33. Mrinalini Atrey 68. Siddhajan Roy Chaudhuri 34. Munish Pandit 69. Smita Makhija 35. Nalini Thakur 70. Somya Johri 36. Navin Piplani 71. Sonal Karanjikar Chitnis 37. Nishant Upadhyay 72. Sourabh Dhananjay Marathe 38. Nitin Sinha 73. Sukanya Mitra 39. Nityaa Iyer 74. SV Suryanarayana Murthy 40. Niyati Jigyasu Gullapalli 41. Noopur Baghel 75. Tapan Mittal Deshpande 42. Nupur Bhatnagar 76. Vaishali Prasad Latkar 43. Nupur Prothi Khanna 77. Venugopal B 44. Poonam Trambadia 78. Vidhu Gandhi 45. Poonam Verma Mascarenhas 79. Xavier Benedict 46. Poorva Jayant Patil 80. Yash Pratap Singh Shekhawat 47. Priyanka S Talreja
C. The Non-Voting Members 1. Abantika Mukherjee 8. Apoorva D Goyal 2. Abhishek Suresh Ranka 9. Ashna Patel 3. Aditi Rai 10. Avani Sunil Lodha 4. Aditya Machhindra Malkar 11. Bashobi Banerjee 5. Aishwarya Pradeep Jain 12. Dheeraj Kumar 6. Amruta Shrikant Uplekar 13. Dilip Changkakoty 7. Anuradha Chaturvedi 14. Ibynta Bakmen Tiewsoh
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Minutes of the Meeting ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 12th June 2020
15. Lakshmi R 39. Ritika Ravindra Jharia 16. Lavina Ashish Ahuja 40. Ritu Bammi 17. Lohit Jain 41. Ritu Gulati 18. Madhura Dutta 42. Saatvika Pancholi 19. Manikonda Vedakumar 43. Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti 20. Megha Kedar Shah 44. Shaista Perveen 21. Mrudula Manohar Mane 45. Sheetal Gandhi 22. Mukul Agarwal 46. Shilpa Sadanand Apte 23. Muziris Projects Limited 47. Shivangi Shukla 24. Nandini Mukhopadhyay 48. Shreejita Maity 25. Narayanan Thirunavukkarasu 49. Shubhru Gupta 26. Nidhi Madan 50. Siva Rama Krishna Pisipaty 27. Nigar G.Shaikh 51. Smita Mukund Babar 28. Nikita Desai 52. Somya Jolly 29. Nirmal Jayant Kulkarni 53. Srinivas Murthy G 30. Nitya Khendry 54. Sukrit Sen 31. Nowshad PM 55. Sunanda Kapoor 32. Priya Gosain 56. Suramya Bansal 33. Priyaleen Singh 57. Tejaswini Jagadish Aphale 34. Priyanka Naresh Gorasia 58. Ujjwala Anand Palsuley 35. Puja Bhowmik 59. Vaibhavi Vinayak Dhote 36. Rajdeep Routh 60. Vasudha Saraogi 37. Rama R Subrahmanian 61. Vertika Sharma 38. Ramesh B 62. Zarna Surendra Shah
ASCERTAINING THE QUORUM: As per the RR 10 of the Memorandum of Association of the Society, the quorum for the meeting, i.e., 25% of the total members and 55% of the voting members must be present at the start of the meeting. The Society has a total 354 members. Accordingly 89 members (25%) in total and 76 voting members, i.e., 55% of the total 137 voting members, must be present. The Secretary ascertained the attendance. A total 142 members, including 80 voting members were present. Since both the conditions of attendance had been met, she declared the quorum to be present and, thus, the meeting validly constituted to proceed to discuss the agenda for the day.
SPECIAL INVITEES: 1. Ms. Pranav Kumar, Alacrity Corporate Solutions Pvt Ltd Accounting Service Provider 2. Mr Vinay Pandey, Vinay Pandey & Co. Auditor 3. Mr Manikonda Vedakumar Returning Officer 4. Dr Manoj Kumar Kini Election Officer 5. Mr Nitin Sinha ICLAFI Observer
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AGM PROCEEDINGS: As per the Agenda, the following items were discussed and decided as detailed below: 1. APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR: As per the RR 10 (V), COMOS India President Prof. Kiran Joshi was authorized to chair and preside over the Annual General Meeting for the year 2020. The President welcomed all the members present in the AGM.
2. APPOINTMENT OF RAPPORTEUR, APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AGM 2019 AND APOLOGIES OF ABSENCE: The Executive Committee appointed Ms. Lakshmi Ravikumar as the Rapporteur of the AGM. Approval of the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on 21st& 22nd June, 2019 at Sunbeam School, Bhagwanpur, Varanasi was proposed by Ms. Shalini Dasgupta, Secretary COMOS India, and unanimously approved by all members present. The approved minutes are enclosed as Annexure 01. The Secretary read out the apologies of absence received by email.
3. INTRODUCTION OF RETURNING OFFICER, ELECTION OFFICER AND OBSERVER: Ms. Shalini Dasgupta introduced the Returning Officer Mr. Manikonda Veda Kumar, the Election Officer Dr. Manoj Kumar Kini and, the ICLAFl Observer, Mr. Nitin Sinha.
4. PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020: The President, Prof. Kiran Joshi presented the Annual Report for 2019-2020, covering its six sections in a phased manner. a. Section One, “COMOS India and its Expanding Network”, presented the Society’s Objectives and its brief history, highlights of the completed term 2017-2020 and introduced the Society’s overall structure, its Executive Committee, National Scientific Committees and Working Groups. The Membership Analysis also highlighted the quantum increase of members from 243 in the year 2018-19 to 354 members in the year 2019-20 as well as the founding of the North-east Zone. b. Section Two, “Report from the Secretariat”, put across the ‘behind the scene’ works, organizing & coordinating various national events, elections 2019 and 2020, establishment of Working Groups, management of the membership cycles, and all work related to finance necessary for smooth operational management of the organization. This section was later elaborated by the Treasurer, Sangeeta Bais. c. Section Three, “News from the Zones,” covering various zonal activities organized during the year, was presented later by Zonal representatives. d. Section Four, “Scientific Activities,” showcased the planning, organisation and proceedings of the Scientific Symposium 2019, “Interfacing Sacred Heritage, Cultural Landscapes and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Exploring Reciprocity among Tangible and Intangible Heritage in Context of Sacredscapes,” and the National Scientific Conclave 2019. Reports on activities of Working Groups and other deliberations held during the Conclave and were detailed out later by Coordinators of Working Groups and the National Scientific Counselor respectively.
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e. Section Five, “Outreach and Collaborations”, explained the outreach activities undertaken on occasions of the “International Day on Monuments and Sites” on 18th April 2019 and the “World Heritage Week” observed during 19th-25th November 2019. The President specially complimented the newly formed Emerging Professionals Working Group for their contribution to the latter event. The Section also reported on various lectures and workshops organized for the purposes of public engagement and capacity building of students, and collaborative projects, further details of which were given in later presentations. f. Taking note of the various reports received by COMOS of threats faced by India’s heritage, Section Six, “Protecting Our Heritage”, explained COMOS’ plans for setting up a formal system of Heritage Alerts. Details were given of the action taken by COMOS with regard to the “Vishvanatha Dham Corridor Project” at Varanasi, and the proposed demolition of the “Esplanade Mansion” in Mumbai. The 6 case studies submitted by the National Committee of COMOS and its NSC20C for the forthcoming ICOMOS international publication “Heritage@Risk 2016-2019”
The President ended the Annual Report Presentation with a mention of the Strategic Plan 2025 and thanked all members for their contribution towards all activities mentioned in the Annual Report. The Annual Report is also available on the website at https://www.icomosindia.com/upload/library/1591541081Annual_Report_2019-20.pdf
Suggestions from Mr. Nitin Sinha, ICLAFI Representative: Mr. Nitin Sinha advised that following the process of voting for adoption for all propositions / resolutions / reports, accounts, documents, etc., which would be duly proposed and seconded by members during the AGM . He also advised that such procedures should be laid out in advance.
Approval of the Annual Report was proposed by Ms. Poonam Verma Mascarehas and seconded by Prof. Arun Menon. The below resolution was adopted by majority vote of 102 members in favour, with no opposition vote.
RESOLVED THAT the Annual Report for the financial year 2019-2020 presented before the meeting is hereby approved and adopted by majority.
5. PRESENTATION OF AUDITED ACCOUNTS: The Treasurer, Ms. Sangeeta Bais, presented COMOS India’s audited accounts for FY 2019- 2020, which (along with the Annual Report 2019-2020) were circulated through listserv to all members and uploaded on the COMOS website on 6th June, 2020. She presented a summary overview of the income and expenditure during the Financial Year 2019-2020. It was informed that the total approved budgeted amount was Rs.28,59,436/-. The actual expenditure incurred during FY 2019-2020 was Rs.30,70,189/-. The income generated from the membership fee was Rs.13,65,500/-. Other income sources were donations amounting to Rs.1,65,000/- and interest from Bank accounts. As of 31stMarch, 2020, the total balance in COMOS bank account was 8,690,701.79/-.
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Suggestion from Mr. Munish Pandit: COMOS can have quarterly audit to reduce load at the year end. The suggestion was endorsed upon by Mr. Srinivas Murthy.
The Chairperson invited queries from members, which were duly replied to by the Treasurer. Having considered all inputs and suggestions, the Chairperson proposed to pass the resolution for the adoption of the Audited Annual Accounts FY 2019-2020. The resolution was proposed by Mr. Munish Pandit and seconded by Mr. Srinivas Murthy, following which the Chairperson requested members to cast their vote. A total 103 votes were cast in favour with no opposition vote. Thus, the Chairperson declared the resolution passed unanimously as below:
RESOLVED that the Annual Audited Accounts of COMOS India for the Financial Year ending 31st March 2020 be and are hereby approved and adopted.
6. PRESENTATION OF THE PROPOSED BUDGET 2020-2021: The Treasurer stated that the expenditure budget for the FY 2020-2021 was proposed at Rs. 3,242,800/- This was calculated on the basis of the actual expenditure, including Capital Expenditure, Salaries, Consultancies, Office Expenses and Membership Fees and other expenses incurred during FY 2019-20. She also explained that the Action plan (2020-21), as detailed out in the Strategic Plan 2025, was the basis for other expense heads such as “ICOMOS India Research Grant”, “Training and Capacity Building”, “Zonal Advocacy and Outreach Fund”, “Annual NSC Coordinators Conclave”, “AGM – Annual General Meeting”, “EPWG Events”, “Working Groups” and “Virtual Platform for Webinars” proposed under the broad category of “Knowledge Building”. The successes and failures of scientific activity undertaken during the previous year were reviewed thoroughly before formulating the road map for the scientific work, events and activities proposed in the Draft 5-year Strategic Plan.
The following questions/suggestions were raised/made in the Q&A session: a. Ms. Aishwarya Tipnis enquired about the process for disbursement of funds allocated for the NSC Projects as, during her term as Treasurer in FY 2018-2019, NSC Coordinators had reservations regarding transfer of NSC funds into their personal accounts. In response, the Treasurer explained that the process is under discussion between the NSC Counselor, Chartered Accountant and the Auditor, and necessary steps would be taken to ensure that the money disbursed is properly accounted for. b. Mr. Munish Pandit stated that a budget must be based on both the income and the expenditure and, thus what is presented by the Treasurer cannot be approved in the AGM as a ‘Budget’ and would only be called as ‘Proposed Expenditure’. c. Mr. Pranav Kumar from Alacrity Corporate Solutions Pvt Ltd suggested that the income part of the budget can be proposed by circulating to all members and an interim meeting after the AGM can be announced for passing the resolution for its adoption. d. Mr. Munish Pandit also enquired about the duration for which the corpus fund, which was generated during the General Assembly 2017, could be utilized and also
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asked for a detailed report to be presented on how the surplus and the regular income will be used. e. Mr. Pranav Kumar clarified that the extension for the utilization of the funds was already applied for and approved by the Income Tax Department during the last Financial Year and that, as per the terms of approval by the Income Tax Department, COMOS India has a period of three more years to apply the funds for objectives of the society. f. Ms. Gurmeet Rai asked if the Carry Forward of the Funds raised in GA 2017 through the sponsorships can be used as an income within the framework outlined in the Delhi Declaration. g. Mr. Srinivas Murthy suggested that the funds received under specific conditions for a specific purpose can be further used as funds for expenditure and the Executive Committee can pass a Board Resolution for utilization of the funds for general expenditure of the organization or present it for approval in AGM. In the Income Statement, COMOS India can show that the surplus funds available from the previous year would be utilized as one of the sources of income for the current year. The strategy of the income has to be approved in the AGM or in a Special General Meeting. h. Ms Smita Datta Makhija suggested that the compliance matter of allocation of GA surplus funds and its utilization will need to be spelt out by the Chartered Accounts based on a vision created by the Executive Committee. COMOS should set up a participatory process / procedure for effective utilization of these funds within the period mandated by law. i. Ms Geetika Kalha suggested that the proposed budget for 2020-2021 should be re- made with more clarity on the sources of income and expenditure, tax conditions on the surplus income, etc. This should be circulated and discussed for adoption in another Special General Meeting.
After considering the above suggestions, the Chairperson declared that a Special General Meeting shall be convened at the earliest to adopt the budget for the year 2020-2021. Till then the adoption of the proposed budget adoption would be kept on hold.
7. APPOINTMENT OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT AND AUDITOR: The Treasurer reported that Executive Committee had appointed M/s Vinay Pandey & Co of Delhi to conduct the Audit of Accounts of COMOS India for the financial year 2019-2020 which assignment was duly completed by the Auditors. The Executive Committee proposed continuation of the services of M/s Vinay Pandey & Co to conduct the audit for the current financial year 2020-2021. She also reported that the Executive Committee had appointed M/S Alacrity Corporate Solutions Pvt Ltd of Ghaziabad as the Accounts and Compliance Advisor for COMOS in 2019-2020. The Executive Committee also proposed continuation of the services of M/S Alacrity Corporate Solutions Pvt Ltd for the current FY 2020-2021.
The Chairperson opened the floor for passing the resolution for the adoption of the appointment of CA & Auditor. This was proposed by Dr. Rohit Jigyasu and seconded by
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Ms.Smita Datta Makhija. The Chairperson put the resolution to vote and the same was voted for in favour by 102 votes with no opposition, thus she declared the resolution passed unanimously as below:
RESOLVED that M/s Vinay Pandey & Co of Delhi, as Auditor be and is hereby appointed to conduct the Audit of Accounts for the current financial year 2020-2021.
Also RESOLVED that M/S Alacrity Corporate Solutions Pvt Ltd of Ghaziabad be and is hereby appointed as the Accounts and Compliance Advisor for the current financial year 2020-2021.
8. PRESENTATION OF DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN 2020-2025: Ms. Poonam Trambadia and Ms. Shalini Dasgupta jointly presented the Draft Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. They explained that the Strategic Plan for the coming five years outlines the vision of the organization, recognizes the critical thrust areas, enumerates both the long term and short term goals and, identifies the priority actions for COMOS India to move towards realizing its vision. It determines the direction in which human and financial resources of the organization will be deployed in the coming five years.
Members appreciated the initiative and the efforts put in by the drafting committee but also suggested further deliberation, including comments from the new Executive Committee members. A meeting to further discuss the Strategic Plan shall be announced in due course to revise, finalise and adopt the document.
10. UPDATES FROM THE ZONAL REPRESENTATIVES: Respective zonal reported on activities organized by their zones during the FY 2019-2020: a. Central Zone: Since Dr. Sarvesh Kumar, Central Zone Representative, was unable to attend the meeting, Prof. Kiran Joshi, President, presented the Central Zone activities on his behalf. The Central Zone reported a change of guard during the year 2019- 2020. Activities organised included the Annual General Meeting –cum- Scientific Symposium 2019. The two events were held in city of Varanasi and hosted by COMOS sustaining member, Sunbeam School. The zone also celebrated the World Heritage Week at the WH site in Khajuraho, and participated in the International Symposium organized by Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University and ACLA (Asian Cultural Landscape Association) at Kushinagar. b. East Zone: Ananya Bhattacharya, East Zone Representative, explained that the Zone had identified building awareness and community participation, especially youth engagement, in safeguarding and conserving heritage as priorities. They organized five public talks and roundtables, one exhibition and two youth programs that covered various aspects like design in historic urban landscapes, valorization of heritage and, heritage education. Members also participated in the City Exhibition at Metcalfe Hall, programmes at the Scottish Cemetery, Indian Museum, partnering with Calcutta Heritage Collective, Alliance Francaise du Bengale and, educational institutions for wider outreach.
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c. North Zone: Radhika Dhumal, North Zone Representative stated that the North Zone has the largest membership. The special focus adopted by the Zone was on involving educational institutions in various outreach activities. Collaborative events were held on the theme of “Rural Landscapes / Rural Heritage” on 18th April, International Day for Monuments and Sites 2019, with Sushant School of Art & Architecture, Gurugram and Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh. Other activities included a lecture by Vice Chair of ICORP Dr Zeynep Gul Unal and, a condolence meeting for Dr. Roland Silva. d. North East Zone: A brief report on the newly constituted North-east Zone was presented by Prof. Kiran Joshi, President, who explained that though small in number, the group members present rich experience in various domains and have the capacity to engage in potential research projects, including documentation of the rich repository of historic structures, traditional art forms and cultural practices of unexplored region. e. South Zone: GSV Suryanarayana Murthy, South Zone Representative, reported an almost 120% increase in its membership during 2019- 2020. The Zone made special efforts were made to forge alliances with other organisations and institutions. Activities undertaken by the Zone and its members during the year include organisation of visits for ‘Observers for World Heritage Nomination of Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana’ for ICOMOS International, ‘Planning for the Scientific Symposium 2020’ in collaboration with IIT Madras, ‘Heritage Education: Building Awareness of the Heritage of Hyderabad’, ‘Promoting and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of Kerala’, and a ‘Workshop On Condition Assessment And Conservation Of Historic Structures’ in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad. f. West Zone: Poonam Trambadia, West Zone Representative, informed that the West Zone includes members from the states of Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, including stalwarts, professionals, enthusiasts and students from various backgrounds. Events and activities held by the Zone were ‘Celebrating The International Day For Monuments and Sites’ in April 2019, ‘National Scientific Conclave 2019, Mumbai’, ‘Celebrating the Heritage Week 2019 at Ahmedabad’ and, special initiatives such as cases of ‘Heritage@Risk’ for ‘Heritage Gate and Walls at Gita Mandir Bus Stop’ and ‘Esplanade Mansion, Mumbai.’
Suggestions by Audience: i. Poonam Verma Mascarenhas suggested that Zonal work should be included in the quarterly newsletter proposed in the Strategic Plan, that Zonal Representatives should work towards creating more working groups within the zones, especially geographically large zones like the West Zone and, that he COMOS website should also show the cities in which zonal members reside. ii. Ananya Bhattacharya proposed that a representative of North-east Zone should be elected / nominated and included in the Executive Committee at the earliest.
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11. UPDATES ON NSC ACTIVITIES, PRESENTATION ON AMENDMENTS ON SOPG, MATTERS OF NSC & IPR DISCUSSED DURING THE NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONCLAVE 2019: Dr. Jigna Desai, National Scientific Counselor, apprised the members regarding the progress of the two research grants sanctioned during the last financial year. She introduced the present status of NSC Coordinators, as elected/re-elected in February- March 2020. Outlining plans for the upcoming year, she identified the need for preparing a White Paper by all NSCs, stating their role and objectives as well as an objective alignment of the NSCs with the corresponding ISCs. She further reported the deliberations on Intellectual Property Rights of members contributing to NSC and other COMOS Projects, as well as the proposed amendment (already circulated via Listserv to all members) of copyright regulations in the SoPG for better alignment with established copyright laws and for ensuring healthier collaborations between individuals, institutions and other funders.
Suggestions from Audience: a. Several members expressed the need for further deliberations before adopting the proposed amendments. Dr. Desai requested for a Special General Meeting for adoption of the proposed amendments of Annexure 7 and Annexure 14 of the SoPG. b. GSV Suryanarayana Murthy suggested the adoption of a credible process for acknowledging the already completed work on the two NSC Research Projects so that the information generated is not lost. c. Dr. Rohit Jigyasu advised out that though the number of COMOS India members in ISCs was increasing, COMOS should ensure that each NSC must have representatives in corresponding ISCs for exchange of ideas and knowledge. The objective should be to persuade each COMOS India member to obtain membership of at least one ISC. He further recommended that the COMOS Executive Committee should actively liaison with ISC bureaus to achieve this objective.
12. UPDATES FROM WORKING GROUPS (WGs): While the Information on Working Groups was presented within the Annual Report, Nodal Persons of each Working Group presented detailed reports as under: a. Rights Based Approaches in Heritage Management Working Group: Gurmeet Rai, Coordinator, elaborated the formation of the Working Group in India, the area of work undertaken by the OCDI-RBA International Working Group and its success in achieving amendments related to rights of communities in the Operational Guidelines of the World Heritage Convention. b. Emerging Professionals Working Group: Ritika Khanna, National Representative, presented the formation and objectives of COMOS India’s EPWG that was formed in October 2019 with a vision to create a transparent and accessible platform to channelize a progressive, uplifting and enabling environment for EPs in the field of heritage and culture. She introduced the various Zonal Representatives and also detailed out the numerous events, including webinars and heritage walks,
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organised by the EPWG in various zones during the year. Currently the group has 56 members. c. Water and Heritage Working Group: Priyanka Singh, Co-coordinator, presented updates on this WG which was formed in 2018. The objectives of the Group are to build recognition, integrate Water and Heritage into policy development and planning processes and, to integrate Water and Heritage with global Frameworks. She also reported on the programmes and activities undertaken during the year, including creation of an online repository of work / literature related to water heritage, mapping of water heritage through geo-tagged maps and, creation of an inventory for documenting and assessing water heritage of India. d. Climate Change and Heritage Working Group: Shalini Dasgupta, Coordinator, explained that the task team of this newly created working group aims to develop the ‘COMOS India Resolution on Climate Change and Cultural Heritage’ and develop a road map which will feed into the larger objectives and framework of ICOMOS CCHWG.
13. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS: Updates were presented by Ms. Gurmeet Rai, Vice President, on collaborations at National and International level as under: a. ‘ICORP ON THE ROAD’. Episode 6- India: “Kartarpur Corridor- Collective memories of Connected histories’organised by ISC-ICORP Turkey & ICOMOS India 2020. b. Partnership between COMOS India and O.P. Jindal Global University on ‘Building Capacity to Support Rights Based Approaches in Heritage Management. c. ICOMOS AUSTRALIA Diaspora Event - COMOS India proposed to explore expressions of tradition and heritage within the Indian communities in Australia, engaging with Indian origin communities groups in Sydney.
14. RESULT OF THE ELECTIONS FOR THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (2020-2023): After successful completion of the three year term of the last Executive Committee, elections were conducted for the term 2020-2023 for all the posts of Executive Committee.
Shalini Dasgupta, Secretary, reported that as per Rule 12 of the MoA of COMOS, Mr. Manikonda Veda Kumar was appointed as the Returning Officer. Dr. Manoj Kumar Kini was appointed as the Election Officer. Because of the problems reported during 2019 elections, the ICOMOS Secretariat suggested the inclusion of an International Observer in the Election Committee. The name of Mr. Nitin Sinha, Vice President ICLAFI, was recommended by ICOMOS and accepted by the COMOS Executive Committee. The 2019 Election Committee’s recommendation of ‘Secret Ballot’ was incorporated by proposing the new ‘e-voting’ platform, adopted for the first time for COMOS India.
The Report from the Election Committee, submitted on behalf of all three members by Returning Officer, Mr. Manikonda Veda Kumar, is reproduced below:
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“As Returning Officer, I want to share the following details of the Election Process held during elections. A separate email ID [email protected] has been created for conducting the elections, which is accessed by the Returning Officer, the Election Officer and the Observer to communicate and to attend any queries related to the election process by the members. ● Executive Committee of COMOS, announced the Election Schedule on 20th March, 2020 by appointing Returning Officer, Election Officer & Observer for the Elections on the same day. ● On 21st March, 2020, circulated the Notice for Election & Election Schedule and AGM Notice along with Voters List through email and also same had been kept on the Elections Section of Website of COMOS India. ● On 22nd March, 2020, the Nomination Form for the candidates was circulated by email as well kept on the Website asking the contesting members to send the filled Nomination Forms by 10.04.2020. We have received all the Nomination Forms as per the schedule given to the candidates for the Posts of EC Committee of COMOS, India. After reviewing all the received nomination list from 22nd March - 13th April, 2020 (as declared in the schedule), the First List of Candidates was circulated to the members and kept on the website on 14.4.2020. ● From 15th - 21st April, 2020 Filing of appeals/objections were taken and Disposal of appeals/objections were done from 22nd - 28th April, 2020. ● After the last date for withdrawal of nominations i.e. 29th April 2020, the final list was prepared and circulated to the members & kept on the website on 30th April 2020 by Notifying of Procedure for e-voting by Returning Officer along with a small note introducing all the candidates with their objective / agendas were published on the website. ● On 3rd May,2020: Voting, including e-voting, started at 10.00 a.m. and voting process was ended on 19th May,2020 at 18.00 p.m.
As all of you know due to COVID - 19 Pandemic the initially scheduled AGM for 21st May 2020 at IIT Chennai was postponed, and it was decided to conduct Online AGM on 12th June, 2020 (today) to present the Annual Report, Audited Annual Accounts and the budget of the council by the Executive Committee along with the announcement of the Results of Elections. The Elections have been conducted and went smoothly and today I am going to announce the Results of the Elections on this platform for the Executive Committee of ICOMOS India for 2020-2023, as per the guidelines of MoA which includes the following posts.
The following Single Contestants were elected for the below mentioned posts
POONAM TRAMBADIA– IND 21688 West Zone ANANYA BHATTACHARYA - IND 21942 East Zone SMITA MAKHIJA - IND 15959 North Zone SV SURYANARAYANA MURTHY GULLAPALLI - IND 21894 South Zone NISHANT UPADHYAY - IND 34888 Central Zone For the Post of Treasurer: PRIYANKA SINGH - IND 18833 For the Post of Secretary: SHALINI DASGUPTA - IND 21213
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The following is the result for the Contested Candidates for the below mentioned Two Contested Posts, on the basis of the votes polled through E-voting for the candidates.
For the Post of VICE PRESIDENT: 1. RIMA HOOJA - IND 21936 - 96/130 (74%) (Elected) 2. R.C. AGARWAL - IND 21841 - 34/130 (26%)
For the Post of PRESIDENT: 1. NAVIN PIPLANI - IND 28657 - 70/130 (54%) (Elected) 2. GURMEET RAI - IND 21852 - 60/130 (46%)”
The above report by the Returning Officer is also uploaded on the website at https://www.icomosindia.com/upload/election/pdf_file_20200612195056.pdf
The Chairperson requested the Returning Officer to submit a detailed report on the Election Process to be forwarded to the ICOMOS Secretariat in Paris.
15. REMARKS BY OUTGOING PRESIDENT: The meeting ended with complimentary remarks by the Chairperson, also the outgoing President, who thanked the General Body, the Executive Committee, the Secretarial staff and all members present at the AGM. Congratulating and welcoming the newly elected Executive Committee, she stated ‘It is very important in any organization where you have a large number of members from diverse cultural backgrounds and professional domains, to be inclusive and transparent, and adhere to the rules and regulations contained in the Society’s MoA.” The other suggestions made by her included (i) strengthening membership from under-represented zones, states and cities and, (ii) amendment of existing Rules and Regulations to align with the latest ICOMOS International Statutes of 2018.
16. THANK YOU NOTE BY SECRETARY The Meeting ended with a vote of thanks by the Secretary.
Place: Virtual Meeting Kiran Joshi Date: 12.06.2020 Chairperson, AGM 2020, COMOS India
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