Sriniketan
Encyclopedia
Sriniketan is a town in Bolpur subdivision
Bolpur subdivision
Bolpur subdivision is a subdivision of the Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It consists of Bolpur municipality and four community development blocs: Bolpur–Sriniketan, Ilambazar, Labhpur and Nanoor. The four blocks contain 40 gram panchayats...

 of Birbhum district
Birbhum district
Birbhum district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the three administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is located at Suri...

 in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

.

Geography

Sriniketan is located at 23.66°N 87.66°E. It has an average elevation of 49 metres (160.8 ft).

History

In 1912 Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...

 bought a large manor house with surrounding lands in Surul
Surul
Surul is a village in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.-Geography:Sriniketan now adjoins a part of Surul. It is from Santiniketan.-History:...

, 3 km from Santiniketan
Santiniketan
Santiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata . It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town that attracts thousands of visitors each year...

, from the zamindar of Raipur. He set up the Institute of Rural Reconstruction in the manor house, in 1922 with Leonard Knight Elmhirst as its first Director. Rathindranath Tagore, Santosh Chandra Mazumdar, Gour Gopal Ghosh, Kalimohan Ghosh and Kim Taro Kasahara joined Elmhirst. The second but contiguous campus of Visva Bharati
Visva-Bharati University
Visva Bharati University is a Central University for research and teaching in India, located in the twin towns of Santiniketan and Sriniketan in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India...

was subsequently located around the same place in 1923 and it came to be known as Sriniketan. Silpa Bhavana at Santiniketan had already started training in handicrafts. Sriniketan took over the work with the objective bringing back life in its completeness to the villages and help people to solve their own problems instead of solution being imposed on them from outside. An emphasis was laid on a scientific study of the village problem before a solution was attempted.
In consonance with such ideas about reconstruction of village life a new type of school meant mainly for the children of neighbouring villages, who would eventually bring the offering of their acquired knowledge for the welfare of the village community, was also conceived. Siksha-Satra was such a school set up at Santiniketan in 1924 but shifted to Sriniketan in 1927. The Loka-Siksha Samsad an organisation for the propagation of non-formal education amongst those who had no access to usual educational opportunities, was started in 1936. Siksha Charcha for training village school teachers followed next year. In 1963, an agricultural college was set up in Sriniketan and in 1977 Rural Research Centre was set up.
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