It has been independent India’s intellectual fountainhead for the last six decades, and it has now received a formal ‘stamp’ of approval.
President Pratibha Patil on Thursday released a commemorative stamp to celebrate the golden jubilee of India International Centre (IIC) at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan. Hindustan Times, too, had identified it as one of the 100 icons and mentioned it in the ‘New Delhi 100’ series last year.
The centre completed 60 years on January 22.
Calling it a unique institution, Kapila Vatsyayan, scholar and exponent of classical Indian dance forms, had fondly acknowledged the work of founders Jawaharlal Nehru, S Radhakrishnan, and John D Rockefeller III.
“Also, thanks to the vision of CD Deshmukh (former finance minister) and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya (social reformer), it has evolved as an institution where dialogue can be exchanged in different domains by civil society,” the former IIC president said.
Rockefeller III had mooted the idea for the centre and suggested setting up of an international house on the model of Tokyo’s International House of Japan. Joseph Allen Stein designed the building located on 4.76 acres of land adjacent to Lodi Road.