imbibe the ideals laid down by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and
"rise above the desert sands of dreary habits". On the
poet-philosopher's 150th birth anniversary, he also announced a Rs.95
crore grant to restore Visva-Bharati.
Addressing an elite gathering at Vigyan Bhavan here to mark the
opening ceremony of the 150th birth anniversary commemorations of
Tagore, the prime minister announced a special project to restore
Visva-Bharati, the university set up by Tagore in Santiniketan in West
Bengal, to its former glory and conserve the poet's legacy of "books,
paintings and manuscripts". The prime minister is chancellor of
Visva-Bharati.
He said the "government was working with the Archaeological Survey of
India to preserve Santiniketan and 27 heritage buildings have been
restored".
"In commemorating Gurudev's birth anniversary, I hope we can inspire
each one of us to a moment of quiet reflection of his ideals and an
urge to rise above the desert sands of dreary habits in the immortal
words of the poet," he said, from the poet's "Where the Mind is
Without Fear".
The function was attended by a 59-member delegation from Bangladesh
led by the country's Planning Minister A.K. Khandkar. The 150th birth
anniversary commemorations are a joint endeavor by India and
Bangladesh.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was the guest of honor at the function.
In an effort to perpetuate the ideals of Tagore, the prime minister
said a special international prize has been instituted "in the name of
Rabindranath Tagore to recognize every distinguished contribution
towards the promotion of international brotherhood and fraternity". It
will awarded at the end of the commemoration year.
The prime minister said, "The commemoration events planned over the
next year are intended to rekindle interest in Rabindranath Tagore's
thoughts and teachings as much as in his verses, his paintings and his
music".
"The audience has gathered here (Vigyan Bhavan) to salute and
celebrate the life and work of a multi-facetted genius who was a poet,
painter, philosopher; but above all a humanist who inspired and
elevated his fellow and women."
"The Great Sentinel, as Mahatma Gandhi called him - was a moral force
behind our freedom struggle and one who gave a vivid and expressive
voice to the depressed soul of India.
Reading Tagore's sublime poetry or masterly prose, one wonders if
humankind today has lost some of the finer sensibilities that inspired
his works - the intimacy with nature, the quest for inner truth, the
sense of solidarity and community that transcends borders and breaks
presumed barriers of religion, race or language," Manmohan Singh said.
"A wide range of projects are being undertaken as part of the
commemorations to make Rabindranath Tagore's works more accessible to
a wider audience and to preserve his work for posterity. A digital
collection of his paintings, entitled the 'Rabindra Chitravali' (in
four volumes), released today, was put together for the first time
with great effort and with the support of our government," he added.
He said "Visva-Bharati should rightfully be one of the crown jewels of
our academic world. But a lot of work needs to be done to restore this
institution to its former glory and for it to live up to the true
ideals of its founder."
Besides Sonia Gandhi, the others at the event were External Affairs
Minister S.M. Krishna, Culture Minister Kumari Selja, Information and
Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Communications Minister Kapil
Sibal, ICCR president Karan Singh, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. IANS
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment