LITTLE India is upping the ante to draw more crowds to the ethnic quarter with a new heritage centre, better service and more colourful events.

Work on the new $20-million Indian Heritage Centre to be built in Campbell Lane - which will showcase the history of Singapore Indians - begins soon.

Over the next six months, a sub-committee that is gathering content for the centre will speak with community groups to piece together 'an inventory of ideas' and collect 'an inventory of artefacts', Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Balaji Sadasivan told The Straits Times on Sunday.

The centre will help Singaporean Indians find out more about their identity, as well as give tourists a better overview of the community, he said.

The chairman of the centre's steering committee gave more details of the project, on the sidelines of a free street concert held in an open field along Serangoon Road last night to celebrate the Tamil New Year.

Two other initiatives to draw more crowds to the streets of Little India were unveiled.

From next week, about 1,000 shopkeepers will go for training under the Workforce Development Authority's (WDA) Gems service programme.

The Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association's chairman Raj Kumar Chandra said that 'with the downturn, it's even more important to give good service'.

Previously, shopkeepers tried to send their employees for training but many were older workers who could not participate fully in the WDA's English-only course.

The association is now working with the WDA to teach the course in Tamil and break the course into more manageable chunks, Mr Raj Kumar said.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.