Considered one of India’s premier cultural institutions, the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi is celebrating its diamond jubilee currently.

The celebrations were inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on 18 April when he delivered a speech at the IIC recalling its history and contribution to the exchange of ideas by hosting various events.

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Widely regarded as a place where statesmen, diplomats, policymakers, intellectuals, jurists, writers, artists, and members of civil society exchange ideas and knowledge in a spirit of international cooperation, the IIC keeps its events open to the wider public of the city.

In his speech, the President said the decades immediately after Independence saw the birth of several new institutions in the country, including the IIC. Eminent persons such as Dr. S Radhakrishnan, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, John D Rock efeller, Dr. C D Deshmukh, and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya helped actualise its vision.

Crown Prince Akihito of Japan laid the cornerstone for the building in November 1960, underlining the institution inter national character.

The list of speakers who have addressed audiences at the IIC is diverse and includes Pearl S. Buck to Ivan Illich in earlier times, and in recent times, eminent personalities such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Willy Brandt, Henry Kissinger, Noam Chomsky, and Eric Hobsbawm.

Kovind said India has had a widespread tradition of ‘vaad vivaad’ (debate) and ‘samvaad’ (dialogue). Expressing a wish, the President said “I wish there were hundreds of IICs across India, in several states and small towns, setting high standards of debate and discussion. Just as the IIC has not remained an ivory tower, the new centres too would be engaged in the task of making the world a better place through the use of reason.”

IIC President N N Vohra, a former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, recalled that speeches by international thinkers and leaders at IIC had helped researchers in their work.

The IIC function included Panchaatmika, an exploration of the five forms of ‘Atmika’ or self–insight through Odissi, Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Mohiniattam dance, conceptualised and choreographed by Parwati Dutta.