Srinagar, Oct 13: In a bid to conserve and promote cultural activities in the Valley, prestigious Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has opened its Kashmir chapter by starting operations in the City while prominent poet and writer Ayaz Rasool Nazki has been appointed as the Regional Director.
 Nazki said the organization would go a long way in conservation and promotion of cultural activities in Kashmir and Ladakh regions.
 He said the Kashmir chapter like other Regional Offices would provide artists a platform to showcase their talent within the country and abroad.
 Founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, country’s first Education Minister, the ICCR “helps formulate and implement policies pertaining to India’s external cultural relations, to foster mutual understanding between India and other countries and to promote cultural exchanges with other peoples.”
 Nazki said the Regional Offices are “key to the fulfillment of ICCR's mandate.” “It is only with their active involvement that the ICCR ensures that the whole of  the country interacts culturally with the rest of the world,” he added.
 As per the council’s officials: “India’s performing and fine arts, its literature and architecture, whether tribal, folk or classical, evolved either as subtle representations of a greater quest, through a great desire to absorb and integrate talents and expressions outside its own realm, or as popular forms of entertainment.”
 “Naturally, transformations have emerged in their rendition and depiction. Their inherent openness has enriched them, kept them alive,” they said adding “While tradition has allowed the precision and purity of the classical arts to flourish, it has also encouraged an interaction among different art forms thus crafting novel idioms.”    “The ICCR is in and about this universe,” they added.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:00:00 IST