Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Saturday announced the setting up of a state culture commission to highlight the state's rich culture and also to curb the growing tendency of vulgar songs.

Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu announced the setting up the Punjab Sabhyacharak (Culture) Commission here.

Punjab Sahitya Akademi chairman and famous writer Surjit Pattar will finalise the members of the commission, which will be headed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh while Sidhu will be its Vice Chairman.

Pattar said that the commission has been set up to save the history and culture of Punjab.Though it will highlight the history and culture of Punjab, its focus will also be to check vulgarity in Punjabi songs.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend in Punjabi songs that glorified crime and criminals, gun culture, violence, abusive language and sexuality.

The commission will be empowered to recommend registration of a police complaint in case it finds vulgar content in songs.

Sidhu told media here on Saturday that the commission would give its first report within a fortnight.

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New Delhi (PTI): Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman Bibek Debroy passed away this morning, a senior EAC-PM official said.

He was admitted to AIIMS.

Debroy (69) was educated in Ramakrishna Mission School, Narendrapur; Presidency College, Kolkata; Delhi School of Economics; and Trinity College, Cambridge.

He had worked in Presidency College, Kolkata; Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; and also as the Director of a Ministry of Finance/UNDP project on legal reforms.

He was also a Member of NITI Aayog up to June 5, 2019. He has authored/edited several books, papers and popular articles and has also been a Consulting/Contributing Editor with several newspapers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Debroy's passing and called him a "towering scholar".

"Dr Bibek Debroy ji was a towering scholar, well-versed in diverse domains like economics, history, culture, politics, spirituality and more. Through his works, he left an indelible mark on India's intellectual landscape. Beyond his contributions to public policy, he enjoyed working on our ancient texts, making them accessible to the youth," he said in a post on X.

He also shared a picture of himself with Debroy.