What is the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)?

About Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR):

• It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, involved in India’s external cultural relations through cultural exchange with other countries and their people.
• It promotes, through its network of cultural centres, Indian culture abroad.
• ICCR was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister. 
• Objectives:
  • to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s external cultural relations;
  • to foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries;
  • to promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people;
• It administers various scholarship programs annually and awards about 3000+ scholarships under 21 different schemes to foreign students from about 180 countries.
  • Amongst these 21 schemes, six are funded by ICCR from its grant, and others are administered on behalf of MEA and the Ministry of Ayush.
  • The scholarships offer studies in a variety of courses from undergraduate to postdoctoral level in different leading universities and educational institutions spread all over India.

Q1: What is Pali language?

Paali is a member of the Indo-European family of languages, together with most languages of Europe, Iran and northern India. Inside this family it belongs to so-called Middle Indo-Aryan languages. This group is also called Prakrits in Indian linguistic works. Paali can be considered as one of the oldest surviving Prakrits. It is the language of the texts of Theravāda Buddhism.

News: ICCR organises conference on Pali as classical language in Colombo

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