Pramod Talgeri bags 2nd Merck-Tagore Award
It is granted by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan India and represented by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata.
Dr. Pramod Talgeri is an expert of German language and has contributed immensely to promoting the language at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and the University, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (now EFLU), Hyderabad.
More recently, Dr. Talgeri was re-nominated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as member of the newly reconstituted high level Indo-German Consultative Group for policy planning of bilateral relations between India and Germany.
It was his illustrious career and significant work that made Dr. Pramod Talgeri a unanimous choice of the second Merck-Tagore Award by a jury comprising a representative each of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan India, the German Federal Foreign Office and Merck Limited [India].Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of the Family Board and Executive Board of E. Merck KG, the company that bundles the 70 percent stake in Merck that is owned by the Merck family, and Dr. Claus-Dieter Boedecker, Managing Director, Merck [India] presented the award to Dr. Talgeri in recognition of his work at a ceremony organised by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata.
Speaking on the occasion Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp said, “Merck is proud to honour the cultural collaboration between India and Germany which was nurtured during the life and time of Tagore. The Merck family continues to have a keen interest in the rich heritage of these two countries and has strengthened its commitment to this cultural exchange.”
The promotion of literature has a strong tradition at Merck and today spans multiple countries across the world. In addition to the Merck-Tagore Award the company once a year grants the Johann Heinrich Merck Award together with the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Germany as well as the Premio Letterario in Italy. Starting this year, Merck will also award the Kakehashi literature prize in Japan, which will be granted every two years.
The association between Merck and Tagore, the internationally renowned Indian poet, philosopher and musician, goes back a long way when one of its family members, Elisabeth Wolff-Merck, translated the play ‘Chitra’ by Rabindranath Tagore into German.
In all, Kurt Wolff brought out over twenty Tagore volumes within eleven years (1914-1925) selling more than one million copies. Kurt Wolff’s publishing house worked on an eight-volume edition which was launched in 1921 and is well stocked in the antiquarian bookshops even today. Back then, though this edition created a furore about Tagore’s works, only a fraction of the poet’s works became accessible to the public.
Dr. Claus-Dieter Boedecker added, “The Merck-Tagore Awards is a testament to the exemplary cultural relationship between India and Germany. Dr. Pramod Talgeri’s efforts to promote bilateral interests between Germany and India ranging from higher education, trade to culture made him an obvious choice as this year’s recipient. I believe the Awards will allow us to continually foster greater, mutual admiration between India and Germany for the liberal and cultural arts”.
Friso Maecker, Director, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata, said, “It is with great pleasure that we are presenting the second edition of the Merck-Tagore Awards. This recognition transcends geographic boundaries and creates a deeper understanding between Germany and India. The Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in India has been committed to promote mutual cultural understanding for the past fifty years. Just like Rabindranath Tagore, one of the greatest ‘cultural ambassadors’ to his nation, we believe in exchange and follow his footsteps in bringing together Indian and German artists and intellectuals, present contemporary German culture to foster the Indo-German cooperation.”
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
