‘Gurukul diplomacy’: Indian envoy shares Panchatantra tales with Austrian schoolkids
VIENNA, July 2: Indian Ambassador to Austria Shambhu Kumaran read stories from the Panchatantra to school children in Vienna, highlighting the growing cultural connect between the two nations.
The Indian Embassy has also published a German-language translation of the Panchatantra for Austrian school children.
The video shows the children listening to the stories as the Indian Ambassador shared Panchatantra tales with them. Shambhu Kumaran and the children also took pictures together.
In a post on X, the Indian Embassy in Vienna stated, “‘Gurukul Diplomacy’. Indian Ambassador Shambhu Kumaran reading stories from the Panchatantra to school children in Vienna. The Embassy had recently published a German-language translation of the Panchatantra for Austrian school children.”
The German edition introduces young children to selected Panchatantra stories through colourful illustrations by Austrian cartoonist and illustrator Klaus Pitter, according to the publication released by the Embassy of India in Austria.
Earlier in June, the Indian Embassy launched the next chapter of ‘Geschichten aus dem Panchatantra’—a new video podcast series by renowned Austrian podcaster Thomas Brezina narrating Panchatantra stories to children in the German language.
“Bringing the timeless wisdom of the Panchatantra to Austria through digital storytelling. Building on excellent collaboration with Stadt Wien and ‘Bounce Back’ project in local Schools, the Embassy proudly launched the next chapter of ‘Geschichten aus dem Panchatantra’—a new video podcast series by renowned Austrian podcaster Thomas Brezina narrating timeless Panchatantra stories in German,” the Indian Embassy in Austria posted on X.
“The launch brought together over fifty enthusiastic students from a Viennese school. Ambassador Shambhu Kumaran read selected stories and engaged in a lively interaction with the children, who eagerly shared their favourite characters and lessons from the tales,” it added. (IANS)
UK apologises for state’s role in forcing unwed mothers to give up babies for adoption
LONDON, July 2: Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally apologised Thursday for the British state’s role in separating tens of thousands of unmarried mothers from their babies, a practice that lasted for decades until the 1970s.
He said in Parliament that “we are deeply and profoundly sorry” for what he called a “stain on our history.” An estimated 185,000 babies of unmarried mothers were adopted in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976. Campaigners have fought for years for acknowledgment that women were pressured, deceived and threatened into giving up their babies.
Starmer, who is in the final weeks of his premiership, said women were “coerced, bullied or misled into feeling that they had no choice but to have their children taken away from them.” “Children grew up believing they were unwanted” and mothers were told “their babies would be better off without them,” he said.
“To every one of those affected we say a deep and heartfelt sorry,” Starmer said.
Britain is one of several countries reckoning with the legacy of social norms, religious practices and government policies that heaped shame on unwed mothers, hid them away in institutions while pregnant and took their children to be adopted by married couples.
The apology from Starmer’s Labour Party government comes two weeks after the Church of England said sorry for its role in forced adoptions. (AP)
