A resurgent India is synonymous with the greater participation of youth in this process.
‘Vande Mataram’, spearheaded by AnanthKumar between December 1999 and 12th Jan 2000, was a programme that reached out to youth all over the country. It was launched in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu on the eve of the Birth anniversary of the fire brand poet Shri Subramanya Bharati & concluded with the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. This was indeed a novel way of ushering in the New Millennium.
Youth all over the nation, in the true spirit of Bharath, took up constructive voluntary work in 21 fields ranging from water & sanitation to environment.
Swami Vivekananda rightly emphasized that countries that lacked culture have been destroyed in course of time. Pride in our strong cultural and traditional heritage, defines us.
AnanthKumar came to the Ministry of Culture like a breath of fresh air. A lot of new initiatives were taken up.
The New Millenium & 50 years of India being a Republic, both fell in the year 2000. The nation got treat of a series of programs to imbibe the spirit of Indian Culture & tradition.
1 The Sindhu Darshan in Leh.
2 Golden Jubilee of Our Independence: The first-ever National Theatre Festival christened as 'Bharat Rang Mahotsav' was organized, involving 70 theatre groups representing the entire spectrum of theatre from entire country.
3 A series of birth centenary celebrations of eminent personalities, was the grand finale of the year-long celebrations-300 years of the birth of the Khalsa, Tirthankar Mahavira’s 2600th birth anniversary …
4 Digitization of major works of nine contemporary artists including Rabindernath Tagore, Nandlal Bose, Amrita Shergil, Nicholas Roerich etc. have been taken up. Efforts are on to make the national catalogue of all the antiquities and art objects available on CD also. Virtual walk-through CD’s for heritage sites like Hampi, Taj Mahal, Khajuraho, Konark, Someshwara from Karnataka have been created for the benefit of Tourists
5 The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) took up more than 500 monuments for conservation and structural repairs, chemical preservation and environmental development in the year 2000. Mind - boggling discoveries, which can rewrite Indian history, itself, have been found at Rakhigarhi, Gulbarga, Lothal, Hampi, Purana Killa, Kurukshetra among others.
6 Cultural Exchanges: At present India has signed agreement of regular time-bound programs of cultural exchanges with 76 countries. The first-ever-Cultural Cooperation Programs have been signed with Cambodia and Croatia.
7 A magnificent view of the Mahabharata, was recreated in Kurukshetra, by creating the Panorama of Mahabharata in 34 feet high painting, 400 feet long circular structure, which is unique in India
8 He reconstituted the Indira Gandhi National center for Arts [IGNCA] in 2000 inviting highly accomplished members to its board
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