IGNCA Board reconstituted, Ram Bahadur Rai replaces Gharekhan
PTI
| New Delhi | 14 April, 2016
Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, New Delhi (PHOTO:FACEBOOK)
Government
on Thursday reconstituted the board of Indira Gandhi National Centre
for the Arts (IGNCA), appointing senior journalist Ram Bahadur Rai as
the president of the trust.
Rai, former news editor of Hindi daily Jansatta, replaces Chinmaya Gharekhan.
The reconstituted trust of IGNCA, an
autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, will be functional
with immediate effect, an official statement said.
Besides Rai, the trust comprises 19 other
members including classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, lyricist Prasoon
Joshi, artist Vasudeo Kamath and Union Culture Ministry Secretary.
The Ministry has also appointed Dr Sushmita
Pandey, head of School of Studies in Ancient Indian History, Culture
and Archaeology in Ujjain's Vikram University, as chairman of National
Monument Authority.
Meanwhile, Gharekhan, a former Indian
diplomat, downplayed the reconstitution of the trust saying "there is no
mystery" in it as he noted that "all successive" governments have done
the same in the past.
"There is no mystery about it. The board of
trustees is always appointed by the government. Government has every
right to reconstitute the board, change its composition any time it
wants to. And all successive governments have done this," he said.
Gharekhan said such a move was expected
"for a long time" after NDA came to power and wondered why the
reconstitution did not happen despite the BJP-led coalition being at the
helm of country's affairs for nearly two years now.
IGNCA was established in 1987 as a centre for research, academic pursuit and dissemination in the field of the arts.
Read more at http://www.thestatesman.com/news/latest-headlines/ignca-board-reconstituted-ram-bahadur-rai-replaces-gharekhan/136341.html
