"15"
                                                                                    pib.nic.in

                            PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
                              GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
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       FINANCE MINISTER PRANAB MUKHERJEE RELEASES BOOKS
PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE COMMEMORATION OF 150TH BIRTH
ANNIVERSARY OF GURUDEV RABINDRANATH TAGORE

                                                              New Delhi: March 24, 2012


                The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee today chaired the
meeting of the National Implementation Committee (NIC) in order to review the progress of
the programmes and activities already undertaken and those to be taken-up in the year ahead
for the commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and
Swami Vivekanand. The meetings was also attended by the Union Human Resource
Development (HRD) Minister Shri Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister for Health and Family
Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Swami Prabhananda & Swami Suvivananda from
Ramakishan Mission, CEO Prasar Bharti Shri Jawhar Sircar, Secretary (Expenditure) Shri
Sumit Bose, the Culture Secretary Ms Sangita Gairola, West Bengal Resident Commissioner
Shri Bhaskar Kulbe and Shri T.S.Randhava among others.

         The National Committee (NC) under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister was
constituted on 27th April, 2010 to consider policies and lay down guidelines for the
commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Thereafter,
a National Implementation Committee (NIC) was constituted under the Chairmanship of the
Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee for chalking-out the programmes and
activities for implementing the decisions of the National Committee. The NIC has held three
meetings till date and the fourth meeting of the NIC was held today.

     After the meeting of the NIC, the Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab
Mukherjee released the following publications:

   1. Rabindranath Tagore 150th Birth Anniversary : Documentation of National
      Commemoration - By Eicher Goodearth Publications

       In view of its vast experience of working in the field of culture and heritage, Eicher
Goodearth Publications was engaged by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India for
doing a complete documentation of the Tagore commemoration related activities undertaken
by the Ministry since 2010. The documentation was envisaged to be a rich archival resource
and was meant for a wide interested readership. Its conceptualization, scale and
implementation could serve as a model for other commemorations organized by the
Government.
        The publication contains details like the composition of various Committees, minutes
of important meetings, mentions about various projects/proposals, Schemes etc. with textual
and visual records and is interspersed aesthetically with photographs, paintings, doodles and
write-ups on Tagore, also extracts of Tagore's works for enhancing the content's quality. The
publication will be distributed on complimentary basis to the Indian Missions abroad, the
state governments, universities, cultural institutions, libraries, Tagore experts etc.

   2. Translations of Tagore Songs And Audio CD Set - By Random House India

        Random House India has published a book of Prof. Sugata Bose's translations of 100
Tagore songs along with the accompanying 5 audio CD set containing readings of
translations and performances in the Bengali original of 50 of the songs. The poetic
translations of the songs have been done by Prof. Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of History,
Harvard University, USA who is an eminent Tagore expert, and the singer is Ms. Pramita
Mallick .
        The uniqueness of the publication lies in the fact that poetic translations are the best
way to convey the beauty of Tagore's lyrics to non-Bengali readers and audiences and will
contribute to a new appreciation of Tagore's music worldwide. This publication is a
beautiful souvenir to mark Tagore's birth sesqui-centenary. Additionally, it is an appropriate
gift item for dissemination of "Tagoreana" to different parts of the country and overseas, in a
contemporary and interesting format. Copies of the book and the accompanying 5 audio CD
set will be distributed to all Indian Missions abroad, through the Publicity Division, MEA.

   3. RABINDRA CHITRAVALI

        The paintings of Rabindranath Tagore are in the possession of various organizations ­
the largest collection is with Visva Bharati, the National Gallery of Modern Art (Delhi and
Bangalore), Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, Indian Museum, Kolkata and the Academy
of Fine Arts, Kolkata. The Rabindra Chitravali project of Ministry of Culture,Government of
India envisaged that all these organizations would share the high quality images of the
paintings in their possession to enable creation of a multi-volume publication named
"Rabindra Chitravali", with over 2,000 high resolution images of Rabindranath Tagore's
paintings published on the best quality paper. The project would be the first digital
reunification of all the works of an artist, anywhere in the world.
        This project was approved on 14th July, 2010 by the NIC for the Tagore
commemoration. For bringing out the four volume "Rabindra Chitravali", Visva Bharati
entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the publisher - Pratikshan, Kolkata. Bulk
of the financial assistance for this project was provided by the Ministry of Culture. Rabindra
Chitravali has been published and it was released by Chairperson, UPA during the inaugural
function of the Tagore commemoration at New Delhi on 7th May, 2011. A limited quantity
has been released for sale in the market. Shri Priyabrata Deb of Pratikshan presented all the
volumes of the publication to the Union Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee on the occasion. In
addition, Shri Deb also presented the following two books published by Pratikshan ­
"Rabindranather Lekhar Chhobi" and "Bichitrita".
   4. Facsimile Edition of the Original Manuscript of Gitanjali

        In pursuance of the recommendation of the National Implementation Committee,
Ministry of Culture, Government of India decided to publish a Special Edition of the original
draft manuscript of "Gitanjali" (for which Tagore was awarded Noble Prize in 1913), as
close to the original as technically feasible, as a collector's item. It is a notebook in English
and Bengali, bound in blue roan and is part of the Rothenstein Collection, preserved in the
Houghton Library, Harvard University, USA. It is inscribed by Sir William Rothenstein thus
- "Original Mss, which the poet brought me from India on his initial visit to us at Oak Hill
Park". Houghton Library, Harvard University had given its consent to Ministry of Culture to
partner in the project, for which it will be given due credit in the publication. 5,000 copies are
being printed in the first phase for distribution as complimentary copies in India and
overseas. Raja Ram Mohun Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata had been entrusted the
responsibility of coordination for this project.

       The book was released on 4th February 2012 by the Union Finance Minister, Shri
Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of several Tagore scholars and academics at the Asiatic
Society, Kolkata.

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       DSM/SS