The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, will soon start their regional centre in Puducherry.
Speaking after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) here on Wednesday, Anurag Trivedi, Director (Admin), IGNCA, said the regional centre would start functioning from next month.
They had been allotted a place in Arts and Crafts Village in Murungapakkam for the time being till they find a permanent place for their office. “At least 12 or 13 staff, including the regional director, will start working from next month,” he said.
With Puducherry centre mandated to focus on epigraphy and archaeology, the institute will collaborate with the IFP to work on specific projects. IFP Director Frederic Landy said a broad agreement had been signed, which would act as a spring board to collaborate on other specific projects. “This five-year agreement will allow researchers from both the institutions to collaborate and work on joint projects. It is a great initiative to contribute to the world knowledge,” he said.
Panel meeting
Mr. Trivedi said a meeting of programme advisory committee comprising eminent academicians and artists from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Puducherry will be held on August 13 to decide on the course of work.
Ganesan T., Head of the Department of Indology, said research work on textual studies, temple iconography, and comparative studies would be taken up.
Kr. Sanjay Jha, Deputy Archivist, Janapadasampada Division, Nodal officer, IGNCA Regional Centre, Puducherry, explained that this would be an opportunity to explore the Tamil culture.
IGNCA has regional centres in Bengaluru, Guwahati, Ranchi and Varanasi. They regional centres in Goa and Thrissur would start from next month and the one in Srinagar and Jammu centre would start functioning in two months.
