The Hindu Business Line : Panel wants setting up of Tagore heritage institute

The Uttarayan complex in Santiniketan, along with Bichitra (archive, museum and library), form the setting for Rabindra Bhavan, which was set up by Rabindranath Tagore's son — Rathindranath — as a research centre for Tagore Studies in 1941, the year of the poet's death.

A high-level committee (headed by the Governor of West Bengal, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi) set up to study the affairs of Visva-Bharathi University in its recent report has recommended the setting up of a Tagore heritage institute comprising the Uttarayan complex, the Ashram and Rabindra Bhavan.

The committee describes Rabindra Bhavan as "the `still-centre' of Santiniketan," adding, "It is its memory, its mind and aesthetic conscience, all combined. It is also its sanctum where Visva-Bharathi's initiator becomes a palpable presence, his memorabilia being the tangible representatives of his legacy."

Free from bureaucracy

The committee has recommended that Rabindra Bhavan should be freed from the bureaucratic procedures of Visva-Bharathi, as well as from the funding constraints that mark any central university, which receives assistance from the University Grants Commission. Given the non-teaching characteristics of Rabindra Bhavan, there should be no problem with this `de-linking', which would enable it to become "a centre for the wider dissemination of arts and literature grounded in the Tagore heritage, (as) distinct from what is being done at Visva-Bharathi".

The committee has said that the library of Rabindra Bhavan, the archive and museum "can form a tripod for serious research on humanistic studies, re-defining humanism for our present needs in a manner that Tagore would have appreciated".

According to the committee, Rabindra Bhavan can be converted into a "state-of-the-art institution for conserving the written and art works of Tagore and into a resource centre for those researching Tagore". As for funding, it has been suggested that private donors could be tapped to meet the requirements.

`Heritage zone'

The committee has also recommended that the Tagore heritage in Santiniketan be separated from Visva-Bharathi University and be treated as a "heritage zone" to be looked after by Union Ministry of Culture. It may formally be called Tagore Memorial Institute and would be headed by the Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharathi.

Its funding would be independent of the university and it would be run by a board or a council. The committee feels that there will be reservations on the proposal but it is of the view that, with time, even the most sceptical "will appreciate its rationale" in this particular regard.

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