Current Affairs - Persons - Discussion

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, the BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, has been appointed new President of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR). He will succeed Prof. Lokesh Chandra. Sahasrabuddhe is the vice-president of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini which is South Asia's only training and research academy for elected representatives and voluntary social workers. ICCR was founded in 1950 by India's first Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who also served as its first President. The ICCR's main objectives are to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India's external cultural relations and to foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries.