Bengal Govt to mark sesquicentennial birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita

Kolkata, Oct 28: The sesquicentennial (150th) birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita will be observed in all state-run, -aided and -sponsored schools in Bengal on October 30, a notification issued by the state Education Department on Tuesday. The government has set up a Sister Nivedita 150th Birth Celebration Committee with Education Minister Partha Chatterjee as its chairman. The committee has proposed, among other things, the creation of a chair after Sister Nivedita at Diamond Harbour Women’s University. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently inaugurated the Kolkata Municipal Municipal Corporation-renovated Mayer Bari, the house where Sister Nivedita had opened her school in November 1898. Ms Banerjee will visit London next month to unveil a Blue Plaque at Sister Nivedita’s family home, where she lived before moving to India in 1898, to commemorate her 150th birth anniversary. The London Blue Plaque Scheme, run by the English Heritage, links major historical figures and the buildings in which they lived or worked. The Chief Minister would be accompanied by Ramakrishna Math and Mission vice-president Swami Suhitananda to London. Meanwhile, Ms Banerjee inaugurated the restored house of Sister Nivedita at Bagbazar in Kolkata where she had stayed and carried out social works, including setting up a girls’ school, in the early 20th century. UNI