BADAL CALLS UPON THEOLOGIANS AND SCHOLARS TO PROPAGATE UNIVERSAL MESSAGE OF SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB ACROSS THE GLOBE

Chandigarh OCTOBER 25, 2008

Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today called upon the noted academicians, theologians and scholars to disseminate the universal message of Sri Guru Grant Sahib in every nook and corner of the world to redeem the mankind at one hand and foster the feeling of, religious tolerance amity and peace amongst the cross section of society on the other.

While addressing at a function to launch the series 'Guru Maneyo Granth' and release of its DVD version along with C.Ds. of 'Bani Guru Hai Bani' at Doordarshan Bhawan Mandi House at New Delhi, Mr. Badal appreciated the efforts of Doordarshan to conceptualize and produce this special series to mark tercentenary of Guru-ta-Gaddi diwas of Sri Guru Granth Sahib titled 'Guru Maneyo Granth'. He hoped the eternal message of Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji would leave an indelible impression on the minds of the masses which would ultimately enable them to become ideal citizens of the society. He said that since DD National had a vast range of network and hoped that millions of viewers would be benefited with this programme to propagate the message of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

In her presidential address Minister for Tourism & Culture Smt. Ambika Soni appreciated that the unique initiative of Doordarshan for the national telecast of this programme on the historic occasion to enable the people across the globe to acquaint themselves with the philosophy of Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji. She said that the programme would prove to be a milestone to reach out a wide spectrum of viewer ship through the medium of Doordarshan national network to apprise them about the basic ideology and philosophy of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Later, Secretary to the Govt. of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting launched the series 'Guru Maneyo Granth' on Doordarshan national.

In his address Chairman Prasar Bharati Arun Bhatnagar briefly highlighted the theme of the series 'Guru Maneyo Granth' which had been divided into 7 parts, viz. compilation of Guru Granth Sahib, compilation of Guru Gaddi of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, musical arrangement of Gurbani, depiction of nature in Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagat Bani in Guru Granth Sahib, universal message of Guru Granth Sahib and 'Gavo Sachi Bani' – live musical concert in which eminent ragi jathas participated held at Takhat Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Sri Anandpur Sahib.

In his welcome address Chief executive officer, Prasar Bharati BS Lali said that the 7-episode serial was a devotional music programme with historic gurdwaras and monuments whose bani had been included in Guru Granth Sahib serving as the back drop. He said that this programme would be telecast daily from October 24 to October 29, 2008 at 8.30 to 9.00 PM and on 30th October, 2008 at 830:PM to 9:30 pm on DD National.