By Paras Ramoutar
Port-of-Spain, July 12 (IANS) Indian-born philosopher, musician, educationist and thinker H.S. Adesh has been inducted into Trinidad and Tobago’s National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC).

He joined Friday night at the NCIC’s fifth annual induction ceremony and 45th anniversary celebrations in its Hall of Pioneers at Divali Nagar.

Adesh’s lifelong dedication to the fields of Hindi literature, Indian music, philosophy, education and culture and his commitment to social service have made him a household name in Trinidad and Tobago.

He came to this country in 1966 as a Cultural Officer of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and worked in that capacity for 10 years. He is founder and life-director of the Bharatiya Vidya Sansthhaan (BVS, Institute of Indian Knowledge) with branches in several other countries.

He also founded the Shri Adesh Ashram which was inaugurated in February 1978 and serves as the headquarters of the BVS.

Adesh, originally from Jammu and Kashmir, has also been principal of Ashram College at San Fernando here. As an educator, he introduced a systematic and academic method of teaching Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu from beginners to the graduation level in Trinidad and Tobago, the US and Canada, where he now lives.

He is an expert in the Vedas, Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayan, and an orator on Indian philosophy, delivering over 8,000 public discourses, seminar and lectures worldwide.

The programme aims to highlight those members of the Indian diaspora who have made a major contribution to the socio-economic and cultural strengths of Trinidad and Tobago. People of Indian origin form about 44 percent of this country’s 1.3 million people.