PM-headed committee on 1857 Revolt celebrations to meet tomorrow

New Delhi, Jul 12 (UNI) The National Committee on ''Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the First war of Independence, 1857'', headed by the Prime Minister, will get cracking by holding its first meeting here tomorrow to draw up programmes for celebrating the event with pomp and grandeur.

On the agenda of the meeting is a proposal to coordinate the celebrations with the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as at the levels of historians, artists and media of the three countries to provide a sub-continental dimension to the event.

The committee, to be attended by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will also suggest and chalk out programmes for various related events, including Centenary Celebration of adoption of National Song Vande Mataram, 75th anniversary of the martyrdom and birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh and celebration of the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence.

At its maiden meeting, the committee will consider a series of proposals such as identification, restoration and beautification of all buildings and sites associated with the First War of Independence and an authoritative film on it, official sources said today.

The committee will also deliberate on the publication of an authorised detailed account of the event in all Scheduled languages, besides Hindi and English.

Further, it will look into a proposal to set up a National Museum on the freedom movement, reflecting various aspects of the freedom struggle covering the period from 1857 to 1947.

Another proposal is to organise various events at the local, satte and national levels for enthusing people and inculcating in them, particularly the younger generation, awareness and the spirit of patriotism.

Former prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee, I K Gujral, Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda and V P Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, Union ministers, state Governors and leaders of various political parties are its members.

Eminent personalities, including Shyam benegal, Javed Akhter, Alok rai, Prafulla Bidwai, Saeed Naqvi, Ram Chandra Guha and Prof.

Romila Thapar are also on the National Committee.

The government had earlier announced that planned to celebrate the event on a grand scale for which it would try to rope in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

''A tentative amount of Rs 100 crore has been set aside for the celebrations of the anniversary of the 1857 revolt,'' former Culture Minister S Jaipal Reddy had said.

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