In The News

Toronto will soon be home to one of the world's largest--if not the largest--international Indian cultural center. According to India's External Affairs Ministry, the center will showcase the country's rich cultural heritage and will host regular dance and music performances.

"[Toronto's centre] will rival, if not outshine, the Nehru Centre in London,'' said a top official of the Indian ministry of external affairs, who was in Toronto to participate in last week's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas � a gathering of people of Indian origin in North America and the Caribbean."

"The new cultural centre will be ready by next year to cater to the North America Indian diaspora,'' said Sangeeta Bahadur, deputy director at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, an autonomous wing of the ministry. It also runs cultural centres in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Berlin, Cairo, Colombo, Durban, Georgetown, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Moscow, Paramaribo (Suriname), Port Louis (Mauritius), Port of Spain and Tashkent (Uzbekistan), besides London ."

"We are looking for a suitable location in Toronto and once we find it, the centre will come up quickly,'' Ms. Bahadur said. "The proposed centre will showcase India's rich old heritage and traditions to the Indian diaspora and mainstream Canadians. It will regularly host Indian dance and music performances.''

"She said the centre is part of India's thrust to use culture as a tool of its foreign policy. "We want to use our rich cultural heritage to build bridges with the diaspora and Canada and the whole North American region. The Indian diaspora is our biggest asset and we want to use this asset to project India.''

read full story here
original source Globe & Mail