India’s High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit is urging Trinidad and Tobago nationals to take greater advantage of Indian Council for Cultural Relations scholarships.
Speaking at the 77th foundation day celebrations on Friday, Dr. Rajpurohit said the scholarships are being under utilized.
Speaking at an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)celebration, High Commissioner Dr. Pradeep Rajpurohit said the opportunities offered through world-class institutions in India are not being fully utilized locally.
“So I see that ICCR’s important function is also about the scholarships. The number has been coming down here. In Trinidad, I see some of the earlier alumni But you have Ambassador Chandrajit Singh. He has recently posted his own video and earlier generation I see a lot of those. So there is a need of
availing those scholarships both in the art forms and in the academics.”
He also noted that this country is home to one of the largest ICCR centres in the Western Hemisphere,highlighting the strong cultural ties between both countries.
The High Commissioner also highlighted plans to expand cultural exchange by giving local talent the opportunity to perform in India.
“We have these festivals and we send these invitations and generally because of probably distance or other factors we are not getting that kind of response but we wish to have, love to have those delegations going there and for us like Steelpan is something very new as a new concept. It would be great to have this kind of performance in India and this is encouraged highly by our policy makers.”
Past recipient of an ICCR scholarship Rana Mohip shared his experience, describing the programme as transformative.
“So we went to ICCR, I told them I want to do my master’s degree, my Sangeetha Lankar is called.
And they said, sure, no problem. Once your principal recommends you, we’ll give you the scholarship. So actually, I ended up getting a scholarship for five years. So I had a lot of opportunities and I must say if it wasn’t for ICCR and Dr. Ramachand and all the people who helped me in my musical career, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”