The Vivekananda Cultural Centre, aimed at offering courses for youth in personality development, youth empowerment, was declared open by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa through video conferencing on Tuesday.
Located on the campus of the Vivekanandar Illam in Ice House in Chennai, the centre, established by the Ramakrishna Math, will also conduct workshops for professionals; impart language skills in Tamil, Sanskrit, English and Hindi; undertake studies on religion, culture, history and sociology and organise lectures on subjects such as meditation, positive thinking and time management. A building, spread over 8000 sq. ft., has come up to house the Centre. An e-library and a bookstore also form part of the centre.
The Chief Minister, who laid the foundation stone in February last year for the centre during the 150th birth anniversary celebration of Swami Vivekananda, had ordered the sanction of Rs. two crore for the institution, according to an official release issued on Wednesday.
She had agreed to the Math’s request for a long-time lease of the land in which the Vivekanandar Illam had been constructed as well as an adjoining plot. Apart from providing the land on a 99-year-long lease, she had also directed the officials to determine the lease rent at a nominal rate.
Swami Sukadevananda of the Math and Chief Secretary Mohan Verghese Chunkath were among those present on the occasion.
