“Gandhi-raga”, displaying a new notational pattern in Indian music, has been evolved by the noted maestro, Kumar Gandharva of Dewas, to mark the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation. Initiated jointly by Mr. Balkavi Bairagi, Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Information, who is himself a well-known composer, and Mr. Subba Rao, Secretary of the Mass Contact Committee of the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, the move has also received the approval of Mr. R.R. Diwakar, Secretary of the National Celebrations Committee. Mr. Bairagi told the Press yesterday [September 11] that recordings of the new raga, named after Mahatma Gandhi would now be released for public listening on October 2, the Gandhi Jayanti Day. A star - Deneb on the Northern Cross – was formally named in Ahmedabad on Thursday as “Gandhi Tarak” at a meeting of Gandhian thinkers, educationists and prominent public men who had assembled at the Gujarat Vidyapith. Kaka Kalelkar, an eminent Gandhian who presided, said the proposal symbolised the people’s reverence for the Mahatma. Mr. Umashankar Joshi, Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat University, who moved the resolution on the naming of the star, described the gesture as poetic. Mr. Thakorebhai Desai, Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, describing the memorial as “divine” hoped the world would welcome the proposal.
