I 4 No, 2 S rin 1992 PRACTICING ANTHROPOLOGY HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA By Kelly D. Alley T his paper discusses the role a voluntary organization plays in the spatial definition and material conservation of cultural heritage in late twentieth century India. Voluntary organizations work in a broad range of fields in India, but the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) may be of particular interest to applied anthropologists because of its creative uses of anthropological concepts and methods. In addition, since the concept of culture is not confined to academic discourse today, anthropologists may find it worthwhile to learn about other public and private ways culture is defined and cultural analysis is carried out. The concern for culture and a holistic method for debating and representing the human condition are the corner- stones of anthropology. However, while anthropologists generally seek to portray the authenticity of culture, government and business agencies more often project representations of culture for political and commercial purposes. In India, governmental departments, tourism trade agents, and to a lesser extent, media agencies project culture as a national asset. For example, the Department of Culture (DOC) of the Government of India has defined culture groups on the basis of religion and lifestyle in order to organize their support of handicraft artisans and performing artists. The "tribal village" exhibitions and "zonal handicraft centers" on the domestic front, and the Festival of India orga- nized for international audiences are all sponsored by the DOC. The Archaeo- logical Survey of India also defines material heritage in India in terms of "protected monuments" that are maintained for pilgrimage and tourism. Media agencies like Doordarshan, Kelly Alley With a Pilgrim government-sponsored television, direct the visual documentation of religious rituals, subsistence strategies, and artistic practices of culture groups. The ideal of building a national unity upon the foundation of cultural diversity underscores these activities. Tourism trade agents also promote this ideal of cultural diversity by marketing physical structures, performing artists, handicraft artisans and their work, pilgrimage ritual, and festivals as cultural attrac- tions for tourists. As a nongovernmental organization, INTACH participates in this politics of representing culture in India but claims to be opposed to the modernist bases of government and corporate agendas. The aim of the organization is to develop and direct a public understanding of both the authenticity and the politics of culture. Established in 1984 with a grant from the Charles Wallace Fund of England and matching grants from the Central Government of India, INTACH calls itself a watchdog agency that promotes researched alternatives for urban planning and municipal services across India. Its aim is to counter threats posed by planning authorities to the character of urban historic areas. Stressing the necessity to conserve what it demarcates as "heritage zones," its alternative approaches advocate greater attention to the upgrading of municipal facilities and services in the olde'r sections of cities, neighborhoods often neglected for the development of newer complexes. In order to carry out its objectives, INTACH provides consulta- tion in research, planning, and what the government calls "development." My involvement with INTACH began several years ago while pursuing research on the use of public resources in India's tourism trade. I submitted a paper to the organization focusing on the impact of tourist activities on the Dal Lake, an important water body fed by the Kashmir Himalayas in northern India. To my delight, I found INTACH's administrative staff in Delhi very open