Indian Council for Cultural Relations

Not to be confused with Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations
AbbreviationICCR
Formation9 April 1950; 74 years ago (1950-04-09)
TypeGovernmental organization
HeadquartersAzad Bhawan, I. P Estate, New Delhi - 110002
Region served
Worldwide
President
Vacant
Director General
Kumar Tuhin
Main organ
Governing Body
Parent organisation
Government of India
AffiliationsMinistry of External Affairs
Websiteiccr.gov.in

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

The ICCR Headquarter is situated at 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 and Varanasi. The council also operates missions internationally, with established cultural centres in Georgetown, Paramaribo,[1] Port Louis, Jakarta, Moscow, Valladolid, Berlin, Cairo, London (Nehru Centre, London), Tashkent, Almaty, Johannesburg, Durban, Port of Spain and Colombo. ICCR has opened new cultural centers in Dhaka, Thimphu, São Paulo, Kathmandu,[2] Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.[3][4]

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, whose last award was in 2009.[5]

Publications

Six quarterly journals, are published in five different languages:

Journal Language
Indian Horizons English
Africa Quarterly English
Gagananchal Hindi
Papeles de la India Spanish
Rencontre Avec I’ Inde French
Thaqafat-ul-Hind Arabic

References

  1. ^ "Welcome to Indian Cultural Centre, Embassy of India, Paramaribo". iccsur.org. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  2. ^ Bimalendra Kumar"Buddha's attitude towards the caste system as available in Pāli texts", Classical Buddhism, Neo-Buddhism and the Question of Caste, Routledge India, pp. 29–39, 26 August 2020, ISBN 978-1-003-04509-0, retrieved 15 August 2024
  3. ^ "Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR): about the organisation". iccr.tripod.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Indian Council for Cultural Relations Jaipur". facebook.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Nehru Award Recipients". Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Government of India. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indian Council for Cultural Relations.