MGIHU to set up Buddhist Literature study centre in Wardha

Nagpur, Feb 21 (UNI) Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University (MGIHU) will shortly open a Buddhist Literature Study Centre at its campus in Wardha in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

The university has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kelania University of Sri Lanka for the same, MGIHU Vice-Chancellor Prof G Gopinathan told UNI. The centre, to be named after Buddhist monk late Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, aims to translate quality literature from Singhalese into Hindi and vice versa, he said.

The Indian Diaspora Study Centre of the university was formally inaugurated at the campus yesterday, Prof Gopinathan said. The centre would collect and conserve manuscripts and other social and cultural resources related to the Indian Diaspora and its history.

The university proposed to establish several other units as a part of its expansion plans, the Vice-Chancellor said. These includes the World Hindi Museum and Archives for preserving rare manuscripts, translated and research works, creative writing, magazines and research journals, an acting, music, dance and drama centre, a publication centre and an international friendship centre, he said.

He further said the work of the Mahatma Gandhi-Fuji Guruji International Peace Studies Centre being established in cooperation with Japan, and that of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Dalit and Tribal Study Centre, had already begun with the appointment of the directors.

The university recently launched five courses in distant education mode through its Centre for Distance Education, which was inaugurated last year by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam.

The programmes were Post-Graduate Diploma courses in Translation and in Journalism and Mass Communication, Diploma in Women's Empowerment and Development, Bachelor of Arts in Hindi, and Diploma in Creative Writing in Hindi, said the Vice Chancellor.

Dr Gopinathan said MGIHU's plans include the establishment of regional and study centres in addition to those already proposed in Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai. Besides, the university also plans for a regional and study centres abroad, a world Hindi portal, the compilation of a Hindi encyclopaedia, and the establishment of a digital library.

MGIHU's centres are proposed to be opened in countries with sizeable population of Indian origin, like Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Surinam, and Trinidad and Tobago and also in countries with cultures similar to that of India, like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Centres would also be opened in countries that have interest in Hindi, like China, Japan, Uzbekistan, Korea, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arab in Asia, England, France, Hungary, Spain, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, Finland and Holland in Europe, and Canada, Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Cuba in the American continent, informed Prof Gopinathan.

A volume of papers and reports presented at the eighth World Hindi Conference held in New York in July last, brought out by MGIHU, was released at the international seminar on 'Gandhi, Hindi and World Literature' hosted by the university in Nagpur and Wardha between February 14 and 16 last, he added.

MGIHU is a Central University established by an act of Parliament in 1997 to promote Hindi language.

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