The India International Centre (IIC) is a non-official organisation situated in New Delhi, India. Membership of the IIC includes artists, academicians, senior government officials, judges, jurists, parliamentarians, doctors, ministers, governors, social activists, journalists and persons from other domains.[1][2] It serves as a meeting place for cultural and intellectual offerings; while maintaining its non-official character, non-aligned motivations and remains uncommitted to any particular form of governmental, political, economic or religious affiliation.
| India International Centre | |
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The front entrance and driveway, January 2020
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| General information | |
| Location | 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi 110003 |
| Country | India |
| Coordinates | 28°35′36″N 77°13′20″E / 28.593383°N 77.222257°E / 28.593383; 77.222257 |
| Completed | 1962 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Joseph Allen Stein |
| Other information | |
| Parking | Available |
The centre's main complex and its annex (located adjacent to Lodhi Gardens) were designed by the architect Joseph Allen Stein.[3] There are several other major institutions around the centre, which are also designed by Stein, giving the area the popular name of 'Steinabad'.
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According to its official blurb, the centre is alluded to as 'Triveni', which in Sanskrit means 'a structure of three', as it provides three main activity streams:
The centre has remained self-reliant for nearly six decades.
The centre's foundation stone was laid in 1960 by Japanese Prince Akihito, who had come to India for his honeymoon;[4] it was inaugurated in 1962 by S. Radhakrishnan, the 2nd President of India. The founding President of the IIC was C.D. Deshmukh, Cabinet Minister and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The centre's annex was inaugurated in 1996 by Karan Singh, the president of IIC.[5]
The centre has been known for hosting lectures and discourses by renowned international personalities which have included the Dalai Lama,[6] UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,[7] Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev Jesse Jackson, Noam Chomsky, Salman Rushdie,[3] US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,[8] former Hong Kong governor Christopher Patten,[1] Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and many other eminent persons.
The centre's Gandhi-King Plaza, named after Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., was inaugurated on 21 January 1970 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[9]
Former chief minister of Bihar, and then minister of railways Lalu Yadav was not admitted as a member in 2006, following which Karan Singh resigned as a Life Trustee, in reaction to the refusal by the admissions committee.[10]
In March 2019, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, who has been conferred honorary membership, visited the IIC on the invitation of the IIC President N.N. Vohra, former governor of Jammu and Kashmir,[11] to be introduced to the members of the centre's board of trustees.