Dedicated kids' section soon at National Gandhi Museum

 A dedicated section for children and facilities for physically challenged people are being planned at the National Gandhi Museum (NGM) in Delhi and they are expected to be ready by January 30, according to its officials. The museum at Rajghat sees an average footfall of around a thousand children daily with a lot of them coming from various schools, NGM Director A Annamalai said.

"There is a lot of literature, audio and visual aids, memorabilia related to Mahatma Gandhi which attracts people from all parts of India and globally. But somehow, we have felt the need for a dedicated section for children where they can be introduced to the life and lessons of Gandhi," he said.

"Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar into a well-to-do family that had a three-storey house but eventually he moved into ashrams in South Africa and then lived a simpler life upon returning to India. Children will learn that material accumulation and building big houses should not be the goal but a life dedicated to the service of others should be," he told PTI.

The museum is planning to have interactive models like Gandhi's native home and subsequent chapters from his life installed in a dedicated section and it is expected to be unveiled by January 30, Annamalai said.

He added that facilities for Divyangs are also being planned at the two-storey museum, located opposite Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat, in order to facilitate their movement across all sections of the building.

"We are working towards making movement of wheelchairs easier and install a lift within the main building in order to make the sections accessible for all. Work on this would also be completed soon," the NGM director said. January 30 is observed as Martyrs' Day to pay homage to the father of the nation, who was assassinated on this day in 1948.