The members comprise Arts & Culture Practitioners, Lawmakers, and Bureaucrats!
New Delhi, Aug 11: With the growing support towards the Delphic Movement in India, the Indian Delphic Council (INDC), headed by Mr. Bijender Goel as the Founding President and Advisor of the South Asian Affairs to the International Delphic Council, has formed a dynamic National Coordination Committee (NCC) to oversee the expansion of the global Delphic Movement and promote Delphic Games in India. The Committee consists of notable personalities from all walks of life, extending from politics & bureaucracy to artists & professionals of their respective fields.
The National Core Committee includes Mr. Bijender Goel, the Founding President and Advisor of the South Asian Affairs to the International Delphic Council and a former Minister, Jharkhand; Dr. Shantanu Agrahari, an enthusiastic IAS officer from Jharkhand has been inducted as Secretary-General; Mr. A.L. Hek, Adviser to Hon’ble Chief Minister, Meghalaya and a former Cabinet Minister; Mr. B. H Anil Kumar IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Karnataka; Mr. Onkar Chand Sharma, Principal Secretary, Himachal Pradesh, Ms. Sreya Guha IAS, Principal Secretary, Rajasthan, Mr. Mukesh Meshram IAS, Principal Secretary, Uttar Pradesh, Shri Sameep Shastri, Grandson of Former Prime Minister late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, Vice Chairman, BRICS Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Shri Manmohan Shetty, a renowned film producer from Mumbai and Shri Ramesh Prasanna, a trustee of Delphic India Trust and a cultural entrepreneur from Hyderabad, and Mrs. Ishrat Akter, a film producer from Chennai have also been inducted as members of the NCC. Shri Suresh Thomas, Cressendo Music, Mumbai, and Mr. Sumit Gautam, a Delhi-based advocate, are Permanent Invitees.
The Indian Delphic Council is a voluntary, not-for-profit, non-political, non-religious, nonsectarian organization under the aegis of the International Delphic Council – a global movement for arts & cultures working to foster harmony amongst people of different races and cultures through engagements in the various art forms through the world’s only common floor for the arts called the Delphic Games.
Mr. Bijender Goel, President, Indian Delphic Council said that “the movement has spread to 22 Indian States so far with Rajasthan & Maharastra already attained a full legal status. However, registration for other State Councils is under process under the Societies Act. We will reach the remaining states and Union Territories of India at the earliest. Our National Core Committee is in place now and will come out with a calendar of events of Delphic Games soon. We are unable to conduct physical Delphic events at the moment due to the Corona Panademic but Rajasthan has already initiated the “DelpicDialoge” weekly webinar series to create awareness and Maharashtra to come with a virtual Program in the performing arts category. We are also planning to hold National Delphic Theatre Festival in different Cities to offer a common platform to the theatre artists if permitted.
Delphic Movement has received unexpected overwhelming support and renowned artists among the fraternity of Musicians, Painters, Sculptors, Craftspeople, fashion designers, academicians, Dancers, Administrators have already joined us and many such who are joining the movement are some of the renowned names from Bollywood as Actor Hema Malini, Shreyas Talpade, Music Composer, Sulaiman Merchant, Bhajan Samrat Anoop Jalota, Talat Aziz, Shankar Sawhney, Singer Shibani Kashyap, Singer and Actor, Suchitra Krishnamoorthy and many more others supporting the movement“.
The Delphic Games were born in ancient Greece 2500 years ago as the twin-sister of the Olympic Games. Delphic Games are to Arts & Cultures what Olympic Games are to physical sports. The Delphic Games of the Modern Era were revived in 1994, while the Olympic Games were revived in 1894.
India has participated in 3 editions of the Delphic Games in various Countries and even won gold and silver medals in South Korea and Malaysia. The Culture Ministry of the Government of India has participated in the process by sponsoring the artists to represent the Country through the Zonal Cultural Centres.
Since revival, the Delphic Games have been hosted in Georgia, Russia, Malaysia, South Korea, Philippines, Germany, and South Africa while other festivals of cultural significance have been organised elsewhere in the world. International Institutions like UNESCO, the Council of Europe, ASEAN, and such, have endorsed the various editions of the Delphic Games at various times.
World leaders including their Excellencies Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Mikhail Gorbachev (erstwhile the Soviet Union), Helmut Schmidt (East Germany), Eduard Shevardnadze (Georgia) as well as Celebrated Musicians, Painters, Academicians, Pedagogues, Historians, Arts & Culture revivalists, and the like, have supported the Delphic Games and what they stand for.
The National Coordination Committee comprises of:
- Shri Bijender Goel – President
- Shri Shantanu Agrahari, IAS – Secretary-General
- Shri A.L. Hek – Member
- Shri B.H. Anil Kumar, IAS – Member
- Shri Manmohan Shetty – Member
- Shri Mukesh Meshram, IAS – Member
- Shri Onkar Chand Sharma, IAS – Member
- Shri Ramesh Prasanna – Member
- Shri Sameep Shastri – Member
- Smt. Ishrat Akhtar – Member
- Smt. Sreya Guha, IAS – Member
- Shri Suresh Thomas – Special Invitee
- Shri Summit Gautam – Permanent Invitee