Tribune News Service
New Delhi, 21st December
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high-level 53-member committee set up by the government on Tuesday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo.
The committee has among members former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda apart from ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Hardeep Puri, GK reddy and Anurag Thakur.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Gujarat counterpart Bhupendra Patel, Tamil Nadu MK Stalin and Puducherry N Rangaswamy are also part of the panel along with actor Rajinikanth.
Besides music composer Ilaiyaraaja, spiritual gurus Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev and Jaggi Vasudev as well as Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Karan Singh and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have also been roped in.
“The terms of reference of the committee are to provide policy directions and guidelines for the preparation of programs to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo at the national and international level. The tenure of the committee commences immediately,” the notification of the Ministry of Culture said. .
Sri Aurobindo was born on August 15, 1872 in Kolkata.