Four cultural institutions failed to utilise government grant: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Text of the Speech by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "It gives me great pleasure to be here in Kolkata to dedicate the New Campus of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies and to lay the foundation stone of the 2nd Phase of the Science City of Kolkata."

Four cultural institutions failed to utilise government grant News January 16th, 2010 - 8:05 pm ICT by IANS

Kolkata, Jan 16 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday termed as ‘unfortunate’ the failure of four premier cultural institutions in Kolkata, including the Victoria Memorial and National Library, to fully utilise a special allocation of Rs.90 crore given for modernisation.

The ministry of culture had made the allocation to Asiatic Society, the Indian Museum, the Victoria Memorial and the National Library.

“Each of these institutions is a cultural icon in the country. Unfortunately, these institutions have not been able to fully utilise this grant in the first year,” the prime minister said at the Science City here.

“I do hope that these four institutions will work harder to use the allocated funds to introduce state-of-the-art systems of preservation, display and storage of their priceless antiquities, paintings and manuscripts,” he said.

Describing the modernisation of the National Library as a priority task, the prime minister expressed his happiness that its catalogue of 24 lakh books would be available in digital format online, in around six months. More here

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