Indian Council for Cultural Relations

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India’s external cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their peoples. It was founded on 9 April 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of independent India.

The ICCR Headquarters are situated in Azad Bhavan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi, with regional offices in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cuttack, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Shillong, Thiruvananthapuram & Varanasi. The council also operates missions internationally, with established cultural centres in Georgetown, Paramaribo,^[1] Port Louis, Jakarta, Moscow, Berlin, Cairo, London, Tashkent, Almaty, Johannesburg, Durban, Port of Spain and Colombo. ICCR has opened new cultural centers in Dhaka, Thimpu, Sao Paulo, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.^[2][3]

Activities

Copy of the Hindu figurine of Shiva Nataraja, donation to the Museum of Asian Art of Corfu, Greece

The Council addresses its mandate of cultural diplomacy through a broad range of activities. In addition to organising cultural festivals in India and overseas, the ICCR financially supports a number of cultural institutions across India, and sponsors individual performers in dance, music, photography, theatre, and the visual arts. It also administers the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding established by the Government of India, in 1965.^[4]

Empanelment of performing artists

To showcase the best of Indian performing and visual arts, the Council empanels performing artists who are proficient in their field. Empanelled artistes are added to a reference list, and may receive sponsorship from the Council when they perform internationally.

Sponsorships

The ICCR offers 1804 scholarships every year, on behalf of the Government of India, to international students who choose to study various artistic and cultural disciplines in India. Undergraduate and Postgraduate students from over 70 countries have benefited from this scheme.

Exhibitions

Promoting India’s rich cultural heritage overseas is a central role of the Council. To this end, it sponsors exhibitions of India’s contemporary, and traditional arts, in major events worldwide. Under various cultural exchange programmes, the ICCR also sponsors exhibitions of Indian art and crafts in foreign countries, and hosts return exhibitions from overseas.

Publications

The ICCR has an ambitious publication programme.

Six quarterly journals, are published in five different languages:

In addition the Council has published a wide range of books, covering a variety of culturally oriented subjects. Published works include the writings of eminent Indian statesmen and philosophers like Mohandas K. Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru and Abanindranath Tagore.

The ICCR's Publication Programme, focusses on books relating to Indian culture, philosophy and mythology, traditional music, dance, and theatre. Translation of Sanskrit classics into foreign languages (including French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and English) and translating works of World Literature into Hindi and other Indian languages is central to the ICCR philosophy of cultural exchange and diversity.

References

1. ↑ http://iccsur.org/pages.php?id=2
2. ↑ ICCR Tripod Site
3. ↑ ICCR Regional office Jaipur facebook fanpage
4. ↑ Jawaharlal Nehru Award, webpage ICCR.

External links

• Official ICCR Website
• ICCR Regional office Jaipur Official facebook fanpage