About Indian Council for Cultural Relations:
- It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
- ICCR was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister.
- It involved in India’s external cultural relations through cultural exchange with other countries and their people.
- It promotes, through its network of cultural centres, Indian culture abroad.
- Objectives:
- To actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s external cultural relations;
- To foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries;
- To promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people;
- It administers various scholarship programs annually and awards about 3000+ scholarships under 21 different schemes to foreign students from about 180 countries.
- Amongst these 21 schemes, six are funded by ICCR from its grant, and others are administered on behalf of MEA and the Ministry of Ayush.
- The scholarships offer studies in a variety of courses from undergraduate to postdoctoral level in different leading universities and educational institutions spread all over India.
