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July 29, 2011
Inauguration of a course on Indian Culture by the
CCRT for St.Stephen’s College
St.Stephen’s College, in collaboration with the CCRT (Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training), an autonomous organization under
the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, has introduced a
course for its students, ‘Introduction to the Arts and Cultures of
India’, with a view to fostering “an informed interest in the
cultural heritage of India within the framework of liberal
education.” The co-ordinators of the course are- Miss Yeshaswini
Chandra, CCRT and Dr. Natasha Vashisht, St.Stephen’s College. The
course for St.Stephen’s is being treated as the CCRT’s pilot
project, which, if successful, will be extended in the next few
years to the other colleges of the University of Delhi and other
universities across the country.
The course was inaugurated on the 29th of July, 2011 in
the presence of distinguished figures like Mr. P.C.Sen, Chairman,
CCRT, Mr. Surendra Kaul, Director General, CCRT and Rev. Dr. Valson
Thampu, Pricipal, St.Stephen’s College. The inaugural lecture titled
‘Why Culture?’ was delivered by none other than Mr. Ashok Vajpeyi,
distinguished alumnus of the college and currently Chairman, Lalit
Kala Akademi.
Mr. S. Kaul briefed the gathering on the role of CCRT and introduced
the students to the course while Mr. Sen expressed high hopes in the
new endeavour taken up with the view to expose students to the
richness and relevance of Indian culture. This was followed by Mr.
Vajpeyi who talked at length on the need to realize and rejoice in
the cultural plurality of India. He expressed his concerns about the
new mantra of ‘excess and transgression’ where values have been
replaced by a commodity culture and real knowledge has been lost in
the accumulation of information. His talk on India as a civilization
and not just a country, with diverse philosophies and communities
enthralled all.
Rev. Dr. Thampu, in his vote of thanks, talked about the uniqueness
of the course in being the first of its kind to include students
from all three years and all courses. While talking about the need
to link education with culture, he expressed his hope that the
course will have an enriching impact on the life in college and the
search for such a linkage will subsequently spread to other
institutions in the academia.
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