New Delhi
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations will soon start online courses, aspring to disseminate traditional Indian knowledge, about its art, architecture, timeless epics and Vedas, among the world community. They will also be launching a dedicated portal for the same in April. This was stated by the ICCR president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe on Monday.
Addressing a press conference at Azad Bhawan to share details about the Ministry of External Affairs’ (MEA) plans to hold celebrations under the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, he also said that a three-day crafts fair ‘Coalescence’, will be hosted in the city from February 23-25, wherein artists and craftspersons from 11 states will showcase traditional art forms.
The MEA has already hosted events like ‘GenNext Democracy Network Programme’ (in November 2021) and many more programmes are lined up as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations, to which delegates from various democratic countries have been invited, he said.
Due to COVID-19, the schedule was impacted, but by early April, the situation is expected to be better, he said. During the ongoing celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s Independence, “We are also going to start Universalisation of Traditional Indian Knowledge System or UTIKS, as part of which people living in foreign countries will be able to learn about traditional knowledge of our country through online courses, and appreciate our art, culture and epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana,” Sahasrabuddhe said.
When asked about the courses to be offered, Sahasrabuddhe, also a Rajya Sabha member, said, “This will be our own way of running an edX or a Coursera on traditional Indian knowledge.” “There will be short-term and long-term online courses, ranging from four hours to 40 hours, about the Indian culture. The academic partner for this programme is Savitribai Phule Pune University, he added. “Other institutions may join later, but to begin with, Savitribai Phule Pune University is our partner. This permanent course is open to all, and there is no bar on age or anything else.
