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Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 11 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Friday said the State has the obligation to play a facilitating role in the development and promotion of creative arts and diverse cultural expressions of the country.

In his speech after presenting the 43rd Jnanpith award to eminent Malayalam poet O N V Kurup for 2007 at a function here, Dr. Singh said: “The State has the obligation to play a facilitating role in the development and promotion of creative arts and diverse cultural expressions of our country. But these efforts need also to be supported by private philanthropist and patronage of arts.”

He said the promotion of literature in Indian languages was an area where a lot more work was required.

“Educated Indians are quite familiar with the works of famous writers of the West. But they are much less familiar with the works of outstanding litterateurs in Indian languages. In fact, in recent years Indian writers in English have become well known and have earned a name for themselves both in India and abroad. The flowering of literary talent in other Indian languages needs a larger platform and greater recognition and both the State and the enterprise sector should contribute to the building of this tradition,” he added.

Dr. Singh stressed the need to promote cross-translations of works in various Indian languages.

“The beautiful poems of O N V Kurup should be available in Bengali or Marathi. Promotion of such cross- translations is an important task that has been taken up by the Sahitya Akademi,” he said.

“We have asked them to step up their efforts to propagate the richness of Indian literature, both contemporary and classical. Appreciating Indian culture should involve the understanding, acknowledgement and recognition of all the different strands and hues of our composite cultural fabric,” he added.

Emphasising that Kerala has all the potential to emerge as a major industrial state and destination for investment, Dr. Singh said: “Its highly educated work force makes it ideal for high technology industries. The success of the space industry in the state should be replicated in other sectors.”

“The Government of India is making all efforts to improve the connectivity and transport infrastructure of the state so that it can become a great regional economic hub,” he added. (ANI)