Rabindranath Tagore

Assam govt renames Karimganj district to Sribhumi; CM Sarma justifies move

The Assam government on Thursday changed the name of Karimganj district in the Barak Valley to Sribhumi, according to an official notification. The district headquarters Karimganj town has also been renamed Sribhumi town. "The Governor of Assam is pleased to rename the Karimganj district as Sribhumi district and Karimganj town as Sribhumi town," General Administration Department Principal Secretary Mukesh Chandra Sahu said in the notification. The changes will be applicable with immediate effect, it said. The Assam cabinet had on Tuesday decided to rename Karimganj district to Sribhumi. "Over 100 years ago, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore had described modern-day Karimganj district in Assam as Sribhumi - the land of Maa Lakshmi. Today, the Assam cabinet has fulfilled this long-standing demand of our people," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said after the cabinet meeting. The decision to rename the district will reflect the expectations and aspirations of the people of the ...

Blinken quotes Tagore at Diwali reception, hails South Asian contributions

Blinken emphasised the significance of South Asian culture in the United States, highlighting that the country derives strength from its diversity

Rabindranath Tagore's 83rd Death Anniversary: All about the Bard of Bengal

Today, August 7, 2024, marks Rabindranath Tagore's 83rd Death Anniversary. The world remembers him as a poet, painter, composer, playwright, and social reformer

Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2024: Are banks closed today? Check details

Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2024: On May 8, 2024, banks remain closed in West Bengal due to the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2024: Date, celebration, quotes and more

Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2024: Tagore was a great poet, writer, philosopher, novelist and more. Here's all you need to know about the Nobel laureate

Jaishankar visits school named after Rabindranath Tagore in Russia

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday visited a school named after Rabindranath Tagore in St Petersburg city in Russia and paid homage to the Nobel laureate. Posting a video clip of his visit to the school on X, Jaishankar, currently on a five-day visit to Russia, wrote, "Their passion for India was truly moving. See for yourself." "Delighted to visit the School #653 named after Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in St. Petersburg," he said. In the video, the minister was seen being welcomed by the students dressed in both Indian and Russian traditional attire. He was also offered a traditional delicacy. Jaishankar paid homage to a statue of Tagore installed in the school. A cultural programme was also organised for the event. Tagore had spent a significant amount of time in Russia, where he was influenced by its culture and literary traditions. His book 'Letters on Russia', written during his travels, vividly describes the details of the Soviet Russian scene of that time. I

Committee formed to prepare Bengali plaque on Unesco honour to Santiniketan

Visva Bharati University on Monday said a committee has been formed to finalise the new Bengali plaque in place of the earlier one on UNESCO recognition to Santiniketan as a heritage site. The committee will also look through the already prepared Hindi and English texts of the new plaque to see that it is according to the instructions of the union education ministry, spokesperson of the central university, Mahua Banerjee said in an official statement. She said the acting Vice-chancellor Sanjoy Kumar Mallick has been advised that the installation of the official text of the UNESCO statement recognizing Santiniketan as a heritage site is of "immediate priority" and the ministry was assured that the university has no intention for unnecessary delay in carrying out the work. The ministry was informed that soon after the receipt of the draft statement, a committee was formed to finalise the Bengali version of the text of the plaque and to look through the texts for those in Hindi and ...

Centre tells Visva Bharati to replace controversial plaques at Santiniketan

The Centre has asked Visva Bharati University to replace the controversial plaques commemorating UNESCO's award of World Heritage Site to Santiniketan, a varsity source said on Thursday. The Union education ministry has told the university to remove the plaques and replace them with ones having Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's name, the source added. Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Bandyopadhyay told PTI, "We cannot confirm anything about the plaques unless we have a written communique from the Union education ministry." Days after Santiniketan got the UNESCO tag on September 17, three plaques commemorating the honour came up in different parts of the campus having the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former VB vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty but did not mention Tagore's name, the founder of Santiniketan and Visva Bharati. This triggered an uproar from students, faculty and political parties. On October 26, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked Visva ..

Bidyut Chakraborty retires as Visva-Bharati VC after controversial tenure

Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty, whose five-year tenure in the central university was riddled with controversies including the land row with economist Amartya Sen and the UNESCO plaque issue, retired on Wednesday. In a notification, the varsity said that Prof Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, the principal of Kala Bhavana (Institute of Fine Arts), was appointed as the officiating vice-chancellor. Mallik will perform the duties of the vice-chancellor with effect from forenoon of November 9 until a new vice-chancellor assumes office or until further orders of the Ministry of Education, the notification said. The tenure of Chakarborty, who became the university's VC in 2018, was full of controversies that often took political turns and landed in courts. The varsity in April this year directed Amartya Sen to vacate 1.38 acres of land on the Santiniketan campus claiming he is enjoying it unauthorisedly. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took the side of the Nobel Laureate and personall

Many plaques installed earlier did not bear Tagore's name: Visva Bharati

Visva-Bharati said many plaques installed on the campus in the past did not bear the name of Rabindranath Tagore, the university's founder, like the recent ones erected after Santiniketan was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The statement came amid controversy over three recent plaques that did not bear the name of the Nobel laureate, who had founded the institute over a century ago. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier urged the Centre to remove the plaques as they bear the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ex-officio Chancellor, and the VC but not that of Tagore. As no action was taken in this regard, workers of her party, the Trinamool Congress, staged a sit-in near the campus. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP had also called upon Visva-Bharati authorities to set right the omission of Tagore's name in the plaque as it involved the sentiments of millions of Bengalis. In a statement on Monday, Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua ...

Tagore is an emotion, his memory cannot be obliterated: WB Governor

Maintaining that Rabindranath Tagore was an emotion, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Wednesday said that the Nobel laureate's memory cannot be obliterated or ignored. Bose made the comment when asked by reporters about the row over the plaques installed at the Visva-Bharati, founded by Tagore, to mark the UNESCO world heritage tag. The plaques installed at the central varsity's campus in Birbhum district's Santiniketan do not have Tagore's name, but those of PM Narendra Modi, who is the chancellor, and vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty. "Tagore is a feeling, an emotion felt in the blood and heart of Indians. There cannot be any instance where Gurudev's memory is obliterated or ignored. Gurudev enjoys the highest respect in the minds of all Indians," said Bose, who is also the rector of the varsity, on the sidelines of a programme. Santiniketan, where Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in September. The Trinamool ..

Visva-Bharati V-C accuses protesting TMC leaders of threatening to kill him

Visva-Bharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty has lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that he received life threats from Trinamool Congress leaders who have been protesting outside the central varsity's campus in Santiniketan over the plaque row, a senior officer said on Tuesday. The VC emailed his complaint to the Santiniketan Police Station in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Monday, he said. Since October 27, workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress have been protesting outside the university campus, demanding the removal of the plaques on UNESCO World Heritage site status to Santiniketan for not bearing the name of Visva-Bharati founder Rabindranath Tagore. "The VC has sent a letter to us alleging that he has received life threats from some people who are staging a protest outside the university campus. We are looking into his complaint," the officer told PTI. Chakrabarty, in his complaint, has accused TMC leaders of threatening to kill him and he is scared about h

After plaque row, Visva Bharati says it was a temporary structure

Visva Bharati University on Wednesday said the plaque, which triggered a row to mark the UNESCO heritage status to Santiniketan, was just a temporary structure to demarcate the heritage site. The plaque set up at several places in the sprawling campus of the central university bore the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is ex-officio Chancellor of the university, and Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, but does not have any mention of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who set up the varsity. Reacting to this, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar had earlier said, "UNESCO specifically said they are honouring Rabindranath Tagore and his unique legacy by declaring Santiniketan as a World Heritage Site. A megalomaniac V-C and his boss seem to think UNESCO is honouring them!!," A section of ashramites and left-leaning student activists had also objected to the move. When contacted, Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Bandyopadhyay told PTI, "It was a purely temporary structure raised to ...

EAM Jaishankar unveils Rabindranath Tagore's bust in Bac Ninh, Vietnam

India and Vietnam share profound historical connections dating back almost 2,000 years which are rooted in Buddhism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday as he inaugurated a bust of Nobel Laureate writer-poet Rabindranath Tagore in Bac Ninh city. Jaishankar extended his gratitude to the leadership of Bac Ninh province, which lies to the east of Hanoi, for their support for installing Tagore's bust. "India and Vietnam have profound historical connections dating back almost 2000 years, which are rooted in the legacy of Buddhism. Bac Ninh province is also a part of this ancient tradition. Historical records validate Indian monks played a significant role in introducing Buddhism to Vietnam," he said. "Today marks the addition of a remarkable memorial honouring an exceptional Indian personality Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, himself a renowned painter, educator, humanist, music composer and a very profound thinker," he said at the inaugural ceremony. Jaishankar said he fe

Santiniketan chronicles: Unesco heritage status adorns the idyllic haven

A functioning educational institute, it will have to navigate the challenges the heritage label presents

Understanding UNESCO World Heritage List, selection and global impact

With the addition of Santiniketan, India now has 41 official world heritage sites. Italy has the highest number of heritage sites at 58

Rabindranath Tagore's 82nd death anniversary: Facts you didn't know

Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, also popular as "Gurudev" and the "Bard of Bengal," died at the age of 80 on August 7 in 1941 and today is his 82nd death anniversary

Anupam Kher plays Tagore in his next project, movie sparks controversy

Anupam Kher plays Robi Thakur (Rabindranath Tagore) in his upcoming movie. The actor shared his look for the movie that sparked controversy, netizens expressed concern and anger

No bar to performance of havans at Kolkata's Rabindra Sarobar, says NGT

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said that its earlier order prohibiting puja in and around Rabindra Sarobar in Kolkata did not bar the performance of havans at the lake. The NGT was hearing an application seeking clarification on whether the tribunal's earlier directions in the order dated November 15, 2017, prohibited the performance of havans at Rabindra Sarobar. Noting the NGT's earlier order, a bench of chairperson Justice A K Goel said that the tribunal had dealt with the issue of environmental protection of Rabindra Sarobar lake against the dumping of waste and it did not prohibit a havan, which cannot, in any manner, affect the lake or its water quality. While any activity, including performing of puja, in and around the lake which may adversely affect the environment or water quality stands strictly prohibited in terms of order of the tribunal, there is no bar to performance of a havan which does not cause any damage to the water quality of the lake, the bench, also ..

Santiniketan recommended for inclusion in UNESCO world heritage list

Santiniketan -- the abode of Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore -- has been recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List by an international advisory body, Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy said. India has been striving for long to get a UNESCO tag for this cultural site in West Bengal's Birbhum district. "Great news for India on the Jayanti of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Santiniketan in West Bengal has been recommended for inscription to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS, the advisory body to UNESCO World Heritage Centre," Reddy said in a late-night tweet on Tuesday. The France-based International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is an international non-governmental organisation that comprises professionals, experts, representatives from local authorities, companies and heritage organisations and is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of the architectural and landscape heritage around the world. "This furthers the vision of PM Narendra Mod