"Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya - means from darkness, lead me to light" - Upanishads

India, from ancient times, has been a center of higher learning as it is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Historically, Universities and libraries were a big part of the Indus-Valley Civilization. The two famous ancient universities of India and the oldest universities in the world are Takshashila (Taxila)and Nalanda. Nalanda was established in the fifth century AD in Bihar, India, and survived until circa 1200 AD. It was devoted to Buddhist studies, but it also trained students in fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics, and the art of war. Ancient Taxila or Takshashila, in ancient Gandhara, was an early Hindu and Buddhist center of learning.

Yoga is a way to learn and understand spiritual India. Also, yoga is associated with the culture and heritage of India. In Sanskrit, yoga means 'to unite' and describes a way to live a healthy life. Many people from India and foreigners are resorting to yoga and meditation to de-stress and rejuvenate their minds.

Currently, India is taking effective steps in order to spread this concept of Unity through Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, India's leaders have often evoked the phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), taken from the Maha Upanishad, to elucidate the country's global outlook. While the term has become a mantra of India's diplomatic lexicon.

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam has become a catch-all notion for India's diplomatic orthodoxy to be deployed in numerous scenarios. Although it might be open to myriad interpretations, it has been used to broadly convey India's ideal and liberal concept of global norms, themes of globalization, or global commons. In doing so, it suggests that this is an ideal world worth achieving and it can be created through negotiations alone.

Unity in Diversity is "a short and common phrase that envelops an entire world in it. A true image of unity in diversity is presented by the people of India. India is a country of many ethnic groups, a number of languages, dialects, and regional variations; a land of myriad tongues, etc., For the most part, the continental size of the country accounts for the variations and diversities.

In respect of religion in India, there is no end to its range. India is the place of reunion of many religions and languages of the world. Great spiritual leaders and reformers like Swami Vivekananda and Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked incessantly as the harbinger of a new age.

It is the dynamism and the flexibility that have enabled Indian culture to survive despite its many diversities and heavy odds. Through these diversities runs a common stream, as it were, and the similarity and unity of outlook can be noticed across the length and breadth of the nation. Indian culture is actually a continuous synthesis, and has absorbed many external influences in the course of history.

Artists have traveled abroad from every corner of India during the past six decades. The ICCR has sent thousands of cultural troupes across the globe, apart from organizing Cultural Weeks and Festivals dedicated to a specific country or region. On average, more than 160 groups have been traveling abroad in the last few years. The Council prides in having sent great masters, living legends as well as young and promising artists. This is a great way to showcase India's enduring and vibrant culture and its incredible diversity.

The international effects of Indian education and culture are time immemorial and trace back to antiquity. It has more feasible from understanding what soft-power means, a term coined by Harvard academic Joseph Knight quotes, "the ability to attract or gravitate nations towards it because of its cultural, political values. a policy crafted by minds through toils of education and learning its partly due to the never-ending efforts of the government.

The tedious transformation of education is the new face of open diplomacy and art of foreign policy to influence others. What is vital in this information era, it is not the nation with a superior army or that possess true power; India has come a long way from being a land of sages & Sadhus to a strategic landmark of mathematical geniuses and tech wizards, you would love to hear the story how it all got started, since India has 75% of the potential human resources being the nuts & bolts of the largest Research & Development melting pots in the world NASA & Google we have an Indian CEO Sathya Nadella, etc. Indians usually are understood as physically poor but psychologically rich.

The story rests on the common platform of democratic & political pluralism. India was a refuge for the Jews since the destruction of Babylonian temples, to the Tibetans under the leadership of Dalai Lama Indian Dharamshala's are a sanctuary against the hostile Chinese occupation. When the war is against love and freedom of life, India stood as a beacon of peace for all the lost ones on stormy waters or stony shores and a natural destination for the most refuged neighbors. The foreign policy cemented Ashoka's defensive warfare to defend before the attack, to preserve this kingdom of God on earth.

With the greatest voting populace & the largest democratic franchise in the entire human history on the face of the earth, India stands as a model to its neighbouring states to pursue a hard path of legal and democratic way of life, the choice of making right is often the hardest one.

Indian nationalism is an idea of the oldest of civilization united with a variety of cultures and practices. The great success story of India is in a country where so many learned wise men valued their lives in the powerful pursuit of knowledge. If there is anything worth celebrating about India it is not the military muscle or economic power, although all that is necessary, there is something more to it in overcoming the pestilence of poverty, and national concerns the generational wealth is in its store of knowledge, its ideals not materialistic but ventures in the whole ability to innovate, and multiply in vast directions on its quest for wisdom. The challenges it has overcome in a rich & diverse society, determined to liberate & fulfill, proliferate the creative energies of all the nations that seek its favor.

It is the fastest-growing economy in the world. By 2030, India will become the third-largest economy, surpassing China and the USA, with projected GDP at $30 Trillion. Our land boasts of having close to one lakh fifty-five thousand six hundred post offices across the country and this is by far the largest postal network in the world. Not to mention that India is the 19th largest exporter and the 10th largest importer in the world.

The highlight in the recent past, India's first successful Mars Orbiter Mission - Mangalyaan, completed a 400-million km long journey to Mars, thereby becoming the first Asian country and fourth in the world to undertake a mission to the red planet.

India has been working in order to make this concept of Unity as well as share the Knowledge of Spirituality with the world, which India considers to be its family. One such instance is when the Indian Embassy in Kabul celebrated Yoga Day. The Indian ambassador to Kabul described yoga as being a method to bring a person a sense of peace and inner calm.
Since India has such a rich heritage upholding the ICCR is working to its fullest extent in order to facilitate and improve foreign relations in terms of education.

So, ICCR stands, on behalf rich culture of India, in admiration for our achievements, in gratitude and solidarity for our future. In the timeless Buddhist preaching and Non-violence philosophy of Mahatama Gandhi in Indian culture and art, in language and literature, in food and festivals, we see the imprint of Indian timeless relations.

The ICCR has its values, ethics, and established principles in deciding the choice of students eligible for such memento, I am proud to say that I have made the righteous use of this invaluable chance to acknowledge the gift of giving, this is certainly an act of auspicious enfranchisement, it certainly ranks among the lines the Full-bright (USA), Chevening (UK) and DAAD (Germany) Scholarships acumen.

The richness of India's culture is manifest in myriad traditions, languages, faiths, and rituals that lend it both wealth and depth. People of this revered land exude a sense of vitality and positive energy that conveys the essence of life. Though the west has cast its influence through colonial rule, the people of India still hold on to their rich culture and heritage which is a thing to be marveled at.

In nutshell, we find that people are extremely good, generous, and mindful of others, at the point of time we need. We are really privileged to be here in India a country of great freedom of life and religion.

Written By: Sayed Qudrat Hashimy,
Email: [email protected]