Q98. What do you know of Guru Nanak Foundation, New Delhi?
Guru Nanak Foundation was set up in 1965 to organize the Quincentenary celebrations of the birthday of Guru Nanak scheduled for 1969, and to promote Guru Nanak’s teachings. The Government of India gave a special grant to the Foundation for the establishment of Guru Nanak Institute of Comparative Religions aaand a department of musicology at Dehli. The Foundation has both Sikhs and non-Sikhs on its Governing Body, consisting of 51 members.
The Foundation’s activities and achievements are listed below:
1. Promotion of Sikh studies through Gurmat College, Patiala, which is affiliated to Punjabi University, Patiala for the M.A. Degree in Religous Studies.
2. Preparation of L.P. Records of Guru Nanak’s Hymns in classical ragas. So far eight records have been released.
3. Establishment of Guru Nanak Public library for the benefit of scholars and the public.
4. Holding of seminars on Sikhism from time to time.
5. Financial support for scholars working at the Institute for the Ph.D. Degree of Punjab University. Junior and senior scholarships are given to research students.
6. Publication of over 20 books on Guru Nanak in English, Hindi and Punjabi.
7. Guru Nanak Memorial lectures: This is an annual feature and distinguished scholars are invited for lectures which are published later by the Foundation.
8. Inter-school Gurbani competition and Inter-college essay competition.
9. Preparation of a pictorial history of the Sikhs.
10. Publication of a bi-annual journal called “Studies in Sikhism and comparative religion.” Three volumes have been published so far.
11. Establishment of a Sikh reference Library for collecting manuscripts and rare data is under the consideration of the Foundation.
12. An international Conference on “Religion and Peace” was organized by the Foundation in its auditorium in February 1985.