The Government has embarked on a first-of-its-kind Rs470-crore National Mission on Cultural Mapping and Roadmap to create a comprehensive database of India’s cultural assets and resources and artists and institutions from the block to the national level.
Spanning three years, the aim of the mission, to be launched under Union Culture Ministry’s umbrella scheme “Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana”, is to preserve India’s rich cultural heritage and create a strong “cultural vibrancy” throughout the country. The data collection under the mission will be executed by 14,000 volunteers across the States.
The artistes and institutions will be given unique identity cards entailing their expertise and they can avail the benefits extended to them by the Government through these cards.
Under the Mission, an all-encompassing National Cultural Working Place (NCWP) portal will be established for obtaining information, sharing knowledge, participation, performance and awards in the field of all art forms across the country.
A senior official from the Ministry said, “The cultural mapping (i.e. database of cultural assets and resources) will be done by launching nationwide cultural awareness campaign called ‘Hamari Sanskriti Hamari Pahchan’ for the development of all art forms and artists. This campaign will take care of their aspirations and needs by providing a robust mechanism under ‘Design for Desire and Dream’ project.”
A special drive called “Sanskritik Pratibha Khoj Samaroh Din” will be arranged at various levels wherein competitions will be held from block to national level to identify talented artists.
About the unique identification cards, the official said a code will be designed for every artist and institution based on their respective cultural assets and resources, the data for which will be gathered at all levels in the country. These cards will be separate from the Aadhaar cards.
“This will create demography of artists, institutions across country which will provide information regarding awards and financial aid, artist welfare scheme such as insurance, pension, etc.
This UID will be bar-coded for keeping various information confidential and given to every artiste in the form of bar-coded ID card with the Photo ID,” the official explained.
Giving details about the ‘Hamari Sanskriti Hamari Pahchan’ Abhiyan, the official said a well-planned cultural awareness programme will be launched nation-wide at various levels involving participation of locals through discussions and utilisation of local forums.
The programme will cover the entire country during three years beginning 2017-18. The target is to reach out to every Indian and bring the talent to national database.
“At least one specific function at every level from block to national level would be arranged once in the three years with a predefined plan and publishing of activity calendars. All possible avenues including folk traditions, local gatherings like mela and festivals would be used to make this programme successful for the mission,” the official added.
There is also a proposal for creation of virtual laboratories for giving practical exposure to the students as well as empower those artistes who are not familiar with the use of computers. While doing so, one of the focus areas would be the creation of a repository of all traditional as well as modern and contemporary art forms.
The budget allocation for 2017-18 is approximately Rs170 crore while an identical amount of Rs149 crore each has been budgeted for 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Giving in-principle approval to the mission, the Finance Ministry has suggested the Culture Ministry to involve the Panchayati Raj Ministry to identify the artistes and art forms and also converge the activities under the scheme with the Ministry of Skill Development to achieve the objective of cultural cluster-based economic activities for enhanced employment generation.