To mark the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17, the Ministry of Culture is conducting an e-auction of gifts and mementos received by the PM.
There are 1,300 items on the block, including the javelin thrown by Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, which he recently presented to the PM. Culture ministry sources have said that the base price of the javelin is expected to be around Rs 75 lakh, and they are expecting to bring it above crores.
The T-shirt worn by Avni Lakhera has a base price of Rs 15 lakh, while the javelin thrown by Sumit Antil and Chopra has a base price of Rs 1 crore. The base price of Lovlina Borgohain’s boxing gloves is Rs 80 lakh while the stole signed by Tokyo Olympic players has a base price of Rs 90 lakh.
The mementos also include sports gear and equipment of other medal-winning Olympians and Paralympians, a replica of Ayodhya Ram temple presented to the PM by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a wooden replica of Chardham presented by Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj. .
.@MinOfCultureGoI Conducting e-auction of gifts and mementos received by the Prime Minister aranendramodi, from 17 September.
To participate in the e-auction visit https://t.co/WsovnD8Pon Between September 17 and October 7, 2021
Reading: https://t.co/motK6O345e pic.twitter.com/Dtja3uubUi
— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 16, 2021
The proceeds from the e-auction will go to the Namami Gange Mission, which aims to conserve and rejuvenate the Ganga. There are also other models of important buildings, sculptures, paintings and mementos that the Prime Minister received during the last two years from dignitaries and important functions.
In the last such auction held in September 2019, 2,770 items including paintings, sculptures, shawls, jackets and traditional musical instruments went under the hammer. The amount received from the auction was also donated to Namami Gange Mission.
Even as a limited number of items were on physical display at the National Gallery of Modern Art in 2019, officials say the auction is completely virtual this time around, even though it is being managed by the NGMA .
Individuals and organizations can participate through the website: https://pmmementos.gov.in Between 17 September to 7 October. After the auction is over, the ministry will notify the highest bidders via email.
Officials said that the upper limit of each bid has also been fixed to prevent any bogus bidding. In 2019, the silver urn gifted to the PM had received an exaggerated bid of Rs 1 crore, and was later put back by the ministry for fresh bids “to avoid unnecessary controversy”.
Since Modi became PM in 2014, three such auctions have been conducted by the Ministry of Culture in February 2015, January 27 to April 1, 2019 and September 14 to October 24, 2019.
In answer to a question in Rajya Sabha in December 2019 BJP On whether the auction of souvenirs, gifts etc. presented to the PM from country and abroad has been done, MP Rakesh Sinha had said that a total of Rs 15.13 crore has been received from the auction of souvenirs, gifts etc. Adi presented to the PM from home.
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