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ral programmes were also held. The other programmes undertaken in this connection are as follows:

(a) Organisation of symposia at Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Calcutta and Indore under arrangements made by the Sahitya Akademi.

(b) Award of prizes to school children for an essay competition on Lenin arranged by the National Council of Educational Research and Training.

(c) Organisation of an All-University Seminar on the comparative analysis of the political, economic and social condiions and policies in Russia in the decade after the revolution and the condition obtaining in India after independence.

(d) Organisation of a seminar on Lenin's contribution, to make culture an instrument of mass education.

(e) Holding exhibitions of books, paintings, photographs, etc. on Lenin at Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

(f) Production of a feature film on Lenin.

(g) Publication of a comprehensive volume of the papers discussed in various seminars on Lenin.

(h) Holding a cultural programme as a concluding function.

The expenditure on the celebration has been of the order of Rs. 2,00,000.

10.10.

C. R. Das Centenary Celebrations:

The birth cen- tenary of Deshbhandu C.R. Das fell on November 5, 1970. To celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner a National Committee was set up under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister with the, Union Education Minister, as the convenor of the committee. As a part of the programme to celebrate C. R. Das's Centenary, it is proposed to establish one 50-bed mobile hospital

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to be named as "Chittaranjan Mobile Hospital" in each of the 16 states. These mobile hospitals will not only Provide curative medicine but help in the public health, personal hygiene and family planning programmes in rural areas. 20 of the 50 beds in these hospitals, will be reserved for family planning cases. The hospitals will have their own X-Ray equipment and operation theatres and power will be supplied through generators. Each mobile hospital will be attached to a selected medical college in the state. The specialists and lecturers of the medical college will render service in the mobile hospital by rotation. The final-year MBBS students and interns of the medical college will render service in these hospitals as part of the National Service Scheme Programme, their expenses being met from the grant allotted for NSS activities to the university to which the medical college is attached. The Ministry of Education and Youth Services will bear the cost of the capital equipment for the hospital including vehicles estimated at Rs. 3.10 lakh and the State Governments will bear the cost of medicines and maintenance.

10.11.

C. F. Andrews Centenary Celebrations:

The birth centenary of Deenabandhu. C. F. Andrews fell on February 12, 1971. To celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner a national committee has been set up under the chairmanship of the Union Minister of Education and Youth Services. On February 12, 1971 a special postage stamp to commemorate the Andrews birth centenary was issued by the Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs and a function was held at the St. Stephen's College Hall, Delhi, under the auspices of the Stephen's College in conjunction with the Ministry. At this function a lecture on `C. F. Andrews and the Indian National Movement' was delivered by Prof. R. K. Das Gupta of Delhi University. It is important here to mention that Andrews was connected both with this college and with Visva-Bharati founded by Rabindranath Tagore. To help expand the collections of literature by and on Andrews in the libraries of St. Stephen's College and Visva-Bharati the UGC has sanctioned

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grants of Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively. The other programmes undertaken in this connection are:

(a) Setting up two youth centres, one at Visva- Bharati and the other at New Delhi;

(b) Publishing a biography of and a commemoration volume of C. F. Andrews;

(d) A national seminar on Andrews.

It has also been decided that the centenary celebrations will be a year-long programme from February 12, 1971 to February 12, 1972.

10.12.

Sri Aurobindo Centenary Celebrations:

The birth centenary of Sri Aurobindo falls on the 15th August, 1972. To celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner, a National Committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Prime Minister with the Union Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation as the convenor. The Union Minister of Education and Youth Services is one of the vice-chairmen of the committee. The first meeting of the National Committee was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister on October 12, 1970. Certain guidlines on the programmes to be included in the national celebrations were drawn up at this meeting and the work of planning the celebrations in detail was entrusted to a Core Committee set up under the chairmanship of the Minister of Education and Youth Services with the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation as Convenor.

10.13.

Dr. Zakir Husain Memorial:

On the recommenda- tions of the Zakir' Husain Memorial Committee, a programme has been drawn up to perpetuate the memory of late Dr. Zakir Husain, at the national level. Actions have already been initiated on the various steps proposed by the Memorial Committee. It is proposed to create an independent Dr. Zakir

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Husain Memorial Trust, which will take over and maintain Delhi College. The college will be renamed after the late President and this will be situated on a new site and in a new building. The first Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture, another step recommended by the committee, has been delivered during the period by Dr. M. S. Swaminathan at Delhi University. Prof. M. Mujeeb, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia, is writing a biography of the late President. The National Book Trust, India, has, been entrusted with publishing a series of 24 Urdu books in memory of Dr. Zakir Husain. One book `Kachua aur Khargosh' has already been brought out. The Jawaharlal Nehru University has decided to name its Centre of Educational. Studies after Dr. Zakir Husain. It has been decided to establish a department of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia. The Delhi-Agra National Highway is to be decorated by planting ornamental trees/flowers on either side of the road. The construction work of the Mausoleum and the adjacent Museum at the gravesite of the late President and its subsequent maintenance has been entrusted to the C.P.W.D.

C: EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION

10.14.

Setting up of National Integration Samitis in Universities and Colleges:

The National Integration Sub-Committee of the National Committee for Gandhi Centenary had launched a project of setting up National Integration Samitis in various universities and public sector undertakings in connection with the celebrations of Gandhi Centenary for the purpose of promoting mutual understanding and appreciation among persons coming from different parts of India. As a part of the Gandhi Centenary Celebrations, the universities were requested to constitute national integration samitis for undertaking programmes relating to national integration, promotion of knowledge of history, culture, customs and traditions of the people of various parts of India through lectures, discussion, seminars and conferences both inside and outside universities; and arrange visits of professors and students of one university to other universities to acquire knowledge of the languages and customs of other places.

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10.15. The Standing Committee of the National Integration Council at its meeting held in October, 1968 recommended the setting up of a number of committees composed of members drawn from various fields of national life to act as spearheads for a mass movement in the cause of national integration. The main purpose of these committees would be: (a) to consider with a sense of urgency, and in some detail, the contributions which specialised groups could make towards the promotion of national integration and, in particular, prevention of communal and regional tensions; and (b) to create an awareness at different levels and sectors of national life of the programmes and recommendations of the Council and of the paramount need for solidarity and fraternity. To give effect to the above recommendation, the Union Government decided to set up a Committee of Educationists and Leaders of Youth and Student Organisations with the following objectives:

(i) To examine syllabi, curricula and textbooks with a view to emphasising values that would promote unity and mutual tolerance and excluding material that tends to promote ill-will or hatred between groups and communities on any grounds whatsoever; and

(ii) To recommend measures for elimination from the organisations of students and teachers any narrow or communal feelings and to imbue them with a sense of national purpose and fraternal feelings.

10.16. The Committee of Educationists and Student Leaders, established on the recommendation of the National Integration Council, has since met twice, first on January 16-17, 1970 and secondly on July 8-9, 1970. It has recommended that national integration samitis set up earlier as part of Gandhi Centenary celebrations should be continued and strengthened and more samitis should be established to cover all universities and in as many colleges as possible. This Committee of Educationists and Student Leaders has also drawn up the objectives

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and the guidelines for the functioning of these samitis. These recommendations have since been accepted by the Ministry. The aims and objectives of the National integration Samitis are:

(i) To foster the idea that India is one nation and that it belongs to every Indian irrespective of caste, creed and colour;

(ii) To familiarise the students and teachers with the diverse perspectives of our composite culture and other facets. of our national life;

(iii) To undertake all such activities that would eradicate communalism in all its forms, and to take such other steps as would directly promote the cause of national integration.

(iv) To gather and disseminate all such knowledge and information which may inspire afresh such intellectual awareness amongst students and teachers as may increasingly help them to develop rational and scientific attitudes.

(v) To render timely service to the community in time of communal disorder and take adequate measures to restore feelings of friendship amongst all communities; and to remove the atmosphere of suspicion.

(iv) To promote deep emotional involvement of the Indian youth in the manifold tasks of nation- building activities.

10.17. In terms of the recommendations of the Committee of Educationists and Student Leaders. membership of the national integration samitis in universities and colleges is voluntary and is open to teachers and students who believe in the objectives mentioned above and who, in particular, believe:

(1) That India is one nation in which all Indians are equal;

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(2) That Indian culture is a composites one drawn from many streams and developed over many centuries and that therefore there could be no conflict among the different cultures that have contributed to the composite Indian culture; and

(3) That it is utterly wrong and anti-national to say that airy community or group should be Indianised. The attempt should be to make every citizen feel that he is an Indian.

10.18. The constitution of the national integration samitis has been framed on the basis of the recommendations of a SubCommittee of the Committee of Educationists and Student Leaders and forwarded to the universities. The universities have been requested to draw up a minimum programme consistent with the objectives of the samitis. To finance the activities, of these samitis, the Ministry will sanction a monthly grant of Rs. 200 per samiti. The UGC will sanction a similar grant. To disseminate information about the samitis, their activities and the programmes of national integration, a small pamphlet has recently been brought out by the Ministry. Similar pamphlets are proposed to be brought out in future also.

10.19.

Writers' Camps:

In accordance with the recommen- dation of the October 1968 meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Integration Council indicated earlier, in June 1969, a Committee of Eminent Writers consisting of 19 members representing various Indian languages was set up to devise some suitable literary avenues through which national harmony and oneness could be maintained and preserved. This committee recommended the holding of writers' camps, both regional and national, each with a strength of 20-30 writers, to discuss subjects like "Uniy in Diversity in Life and Literature", "Humanist Traditions in Literature", "Literature to Combat Divisive Tendencies" and other common points in different regional literatures.

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10.20. The first Writers' Camp was organised by the National Book Trust, India, at Mysore. It was attended by Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Sindhi writers, inaugurated by Prof. V. K. R. V. Rao, Union Minister of Education and Youth Services, on May 30, 1970. The 2nd Regional Camp of Writers of some of the Indian languages was held at Madras during January, 1971 as part of the programme to promote greater understanding between different languages and literature.

10.21.

Furtherance of Rationality amongst Student Community:

During the course of the second meeting of Educationists and Student Leaders held on July 8-9, 1970 at New Delhi, the question of promotion of rational and scientific attitude amongst the student community came to be discussed. The committee felt that science ought to be taught in a way which will promote a rational and scientific attitude and shall foster the spirit of enlightenment. It was further observed: "While mythology cannot be eliminated altogether, students should be made to distinguish between mythology and rationality." The system of education should be such as not to encourage obscurantism and superstition. For this purpose this committee recommended that the Union Education Minister might appoint a high-powered body to examine the question and evolve a feasible programme. In pursuance of this directive, a high-powered committee has since been set up which will examine the question: "How a rational and scientific attitude can be promoted amongst the student community?" The composition of the committee includes Shri B. D. Nag Chaudhuri as chairman and its members are Prof. S. V. C. Aiya, Prof. Riaz Ahmed, Prof. R. P. Bambah, Prof. A. B. Lal, Dr. Braham Parkash, Shri A. R. Desai, Prof. Satish Chandra, Shri Shivatosh Mookherjee and Dr. Goswami Girdhari Lal.

10.22.

National Integration Inter-State Student-Teachers Camp:

The main objective of the camps under the scheme is to provide opportunities for the exchange of visits by groups of students from one part of the country to another so that they

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may learn about their cultural and historical links, discover more of their common bonds and the underlying unity in seeming diversity, and develop a sense of belonging to a single nation, and feel proud of their rich heritage. The National Council of Educational Research and Training and the Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan organised several camps under the scheme during the year. While the former organised 16 student-teacher camps and one teachers' camp, the latter organised 8 camps in the campuses of kendriya vidyalayas in different parts of the country. Each such camp represented a miniature India where children from all parts of the country lived together, played together, participated in common curricular or co-curricular activities and, in the case of the latter, continued with their normal studies together,

10.23.

Planning Forums:

The scheme of Planning Forums was started in 1955 by the Planning Commission with a view tic) creating Plan consciousness among the teachers and the students at the university/college stage, giving them opportunities of being closely associated with the process of planning and various other developmental activities. The scheme was transferred to this Ministry from 1st January, 1968. The planning forums are required to set up information centres, organise literacy classes, arrange educational trips to national projects in their own states, undertake socio- economic surveys, arrange social service camps, adopt particular areas, villages or slums and undertake development activities. The scheme is administered by the State Governments, and the Centre bears 60 per cent of the total expenditure as grants-in-aid. For the purpose of grant, planning forums have been classified into three, viz., `A', `B' and `C' categories. For category `A' the grant varies between Rs. 200 and Rs. 400 per forum. For category `B' it is Rs. 1600 and for category `C' the grant goes up to Rs. 10,000. There are 1081 planning forums at present functioning in the universities and colleges all over the country. Out of these there are only three planning forums, of `C' category.