Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda recently met with the former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India and the Chairman of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Shri Nripendra Misra.
Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra is a Trust set up by the Government of India in February 2020 for the construction and management of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, which is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Rama. The Trust is composed of 15 trustees.
The discussion between High Commissioner Moragoda and Shri Nripendra Misra centred around the ways and means to promote the Ramayana as a cultural link that could leverage the relations between the two countries and increase tourist arrivals from India to Sri Lanka. Further, they discussed collaboration possibilities between the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust and Sri Lanka as well.
In this context, High Commissioner Moragoda presented to Shri Misra a stone obtained from the stream flowing besides the Seetha Amman Temple in Seetha Eliya (Ashoka Vatika) in Sri Lanka, which is believed to be the site where Seetha was held captive according to the Ramayana.
A 1967-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Nripendra Misra served as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019. He has also served as the chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Telecom Secretary of India and Fertilizers Secretary of India. In 2021, he was awarded India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan.
High Commission of Sri Lanka
New Delhi
23 May 2023
