History
of the Council:
The Indian Council of
World Affairs was established in 1943 by a group of
Indian intellectuals as a think tank. It was registered
as a non-official, non-political and non-profit organisation
under the Registration of Societies Act 1860 and is
devoted exclusively for the study of international relations
and foreign affairs. Since then it has continued to
effectively serve the purpose for which it was established.
Historic international conferences like 'Asian Relations
Conference' in 1947 under the leadership of freedom
fighter Sarojini Naidu and 'United Nations and the New
World Order' in 1994 have been held by this think tank
in which world renowned dignitaries addressed huge gatherings
of intellectuals. Scores of conferences, meetings and
panel discussions have been organised by the Council
in its elegant building called "Sapru House".
The
first Prime Minister of independent India, late Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of India's foreign policy,
was a regular visitor to Sapru House to confer with
noted scholars, intellectuals and academics.
Spread over two acres
of land in the heart of New Delhi, Sapru House has lush
green lawns with high quality infrastructure. The present
building was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
in May 1955. It is named after the eminent Indian Jurist
and intellectual, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, the founder
President of the Council. A number of renowned and prestigious
Indian think tanks and organisations like the "Institute
for Defence Studies and Analyses" (IDSA), "School of
International Studies" (which was later merged with
the famous Jawaharlal Nehru University), "Children's
Film Society of India" and the "Press Institute of India"
were established in this building. The Council has a
state of the art Auditorium with a seating capacity
of 380 persons. It has a separate Conference Room and
a Conference Hall where panel discussions and seminars
are held regularly. International personalities come
and address meetings at Sapru House.
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