The government on Monday said it has taken several steps to commemorate the 150th birth anniversaries of Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore and iconic spiritual figure Swami Vivekananda.
A series of national events to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore were launched in May last year while the four-year-long celebrations to be held across the country to observe 150th year of Vivekananda’s birth were inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 12.
“I am happy to inform you that my government has taken a series of steps to commemorate the 150th birth anniversaries of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda in a befitting manner,” President Pratibha Patil said in her address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
The government has constituted national committees under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister for commemorating the events and a series of programmes, including exhibitions and symposia were being held as part of the celebrations.
The Prime Minister had earlier said a commemorative event is being planned in Chicago where Vivekananda had earned accolades for his discourse on Hinduism at the Congress of world religions in 1893.
