India, Bangladesh to jointly celebrate Tagore's birth anniversary

Kolkata, Jan 16 : India and Bangladesh would jointly celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in May 2011, Prime Minister Manmohan SIngh said here on Saturday.

"Last week I agreed with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to oversee the joint celebrations of the event in a befitting manner. We will work to rekindle international interest in the works of one of the world's greatest poets," Singh said at the Science City.

Stating that the Centre is working to preserve Shantiniketan's cultural properties, Singh said, "Over the next four years we expect to restore many of its priceless paintings, sculptures and murals and the hand-written manuscripts of the poet laureate. We hope to take up the modernization of both the Rabindra Bhavan and the Kala Bhavan."

"I am told that there is a possibility of displaying, for the first time since the 1930s, exhibitions of the gemsfrom Tagore's art works in Paris and other important cities. We are also assisting in fulfilling two long-standing needs: the publication of a Rabindra Chitraa-vali depicting the genius of Tagore's paintings and a comprehensive edition of Tagore's literary works," he added.

According to Singh. Kolkata is the best place to contemplate how India's cultural landscape can be reshaped. "It is time for winds of change to blow through our institutions, our museums, our libraries and our academies. We need to introduce modern technology and management to preserve our vast historical and archaeological wealth and to promote the wealth of our talent in the literary, visual and performing arts," he said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the priority of the Ministry of Culture is to oversee the professionalization of the management of India's cultural resources and institutions and added that bureaucratization tends to negate cultural expression and preservation. "As a decisive first step, we have liberalized the rules for recruiting the executive heads of eight national level cultural institutions. We are going to make appointments of outstanding professionals to head the Archaeological Survey of India and other institutions very soon," he said.

Stating that the manner in which India preserves and displays its artifacts, both cultural and historical, has fallen behind contemporary world standards, Singh said, "There is no reason why the Indian Museum or our other premier museums should not be on par with the Smithsonian, the Hermitage or the British Museum."

"The Ministry of Culture has taken up the revamp of our museums on a priority basis. I have also asked the Central Advisory Board on Culture, which has some of our most distinguished professionals in the field, to suggest a plan of action to make our museums world class. We will have to draw upon the best expertise available in conservation, multi-media display, design, lighting, narration and communication so that visits to our museums become experiences to remember," Singh said.

The PM said that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has written to him proposing the setting up of a Kolkata Museum of Modern Art through a public-private partnership. "We are examining this proposal. We are also keen to convert the Acharya Bhawan of India's great scientist J.C. Bose into a science heritage museum and we have taken steps for improving the Sir Jadunath Sarkar Archives and Museum," he said.

"The Ministry of Culture will also assist in the revival of other historic cultural institutions of Kolkata like the Academy of Fine Arts and the Government College of Art," he added.