The definition of ‘Culture’ in Indian context is very
broad and can be confusing sometimes. It can mean from religious culture to
language, to folk/ tribal culture to literature to visual arts and performing
arts as well.
8th five year plan (1992-97) under Education, Culture and Sports- Art and Culture had a long section dedicated to the subject. Seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCC's) at Patiala, Nagpur, Allahabad, Udaipur, Shanti Niketan, Dimapur and Thanja-vur organised major events including workshops, fairs, exhibitions of folk, tribal arts and crafts, classical dance performances, music concerts, theatre fairs etc. The Sahitya Academi (SA), Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) and Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) continued their schemes relating to awards and fellowships to distinguished literary scholars and artists; held workshops, exhibitions, kala melas. The SNA also provided financial assistance to cultural institutions for training, production and research besides holding zonal theatre festivals.
A number of schemes, like building grants, financial assistance to dance, drama, theatre ensembles, promotion and dissemination of tribal/folk art and culture were implemented by the Department to encourage voluntary efforts. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was registered as an autonomous trust in March, 1987 with four academic divisions of Kala Nidhi, Kala Kosha, Janapada Sampada, Kala Darshan and Sutradhara.
In the field of cultural policy, the three notable developments have been the NPE '86, departmental efforts for formulation of a National Policy on Culture and the Report of the High-level Committee on Academies and NSD (Haksar Committee). The NPE 1986 suggested enrichment of curricula by cultural content and establishment of linkages between the university systems and institutions of higher learning in art. The Haksar Committee gave a detailed exposition of its views on approach to culture, arts and values. It said, states should start inter-district programmes inviting local grassroot level artists of dying art forms. The present method of the Zonal Cultural Councils inviting troupes to perform in an ad hoc manner is demeaning to folk artistes.'
In the Eighth Five Year Plan the Sangeet Natak Akademy (SNA) proposed to publish a three-volume encyclopedia of music, dance and theatre, have a new campus for Kathak Kendra, open two peripheral centres in Delhi and hold national workshops on music, dance and theatre. The NSD, in addition to establishment of an independent campus, proposed to set up aTheatre Archives Museum
To expose children and youth to the finest forms of creative expression multi-purpose cultural complex including those for children has been conceived as a joint venture of Centre and States. A cultural complex of international standard is proposed to he established inNew Delhi through Sangeet Natak
Academy
For the first eight Plans the emphasis was on a growing public sector with massive investments in basic and heavy industries, but since the launch of the Ninth Plan in 1997, the emphasis on the public sector has become less pronounced and the current thinking on planning in the country, in general, is that it should increasingly be of an indicative nature.
Ninth Five Year Plan- Chapter on- Art and Culture- During the Eighth Plan, the thrust was on strengthening the regional and local museums; promoting tribal and folk culture and their systematic documentation by institutions like Anthropological Survey of India, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs), National and State Akademies of literature, performing, plastic and visual arts, State Departments of Culture, and setting up Shilp Grams. People’s initiative for dissemination of knowledge about the country’s various folk, tribal and classical arts, music, dance, theatre etc. was encouraged. Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra has been set up for protecting, preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the people ofAssam .
Kalakshetra, Chennai was declared an institute of national importance.
Financial assistance was also provided through a number of schemes to dance,
drama and theatre ensembles, as also to persons distinguished in arts and
letters and such other disciplines for their creative work. The Lalit Kala
Akademi and the Sangeet Natak Akademi continued with their on-going programmes.
The National School of Drama opened a regional centre at Bangalore and organised exhibitions and
festivals of plays.
The activity in the culture sector continued to be the preservation, conservation, dissemination and promotion of all aspects of art and culture. Networking of Central and State institutions of culture including State Governments, State Akademies and Zonal Cultural Centres, Libraries and Museums were a high priority item. Priority was given to the publication programmes of the ASI,National
Museum
The Department of Culture proposed to strengthen the network for preservation of classical folk and tribal arts and crafts consisting of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, the Anthropological Survey of India, the Zonal Cultural Centres, the three national Akademies, the NSD, the State Departments of Culture and the State Akademies. The scheme of National Culture Fund, initiated in 1996-97, was given a thrust during the Ninth Plan for promoting corporate involvement and people’s participation in preserving the cultural heritage of the country. Other programmes included a training scheme for cultural administrators in the Akademies, Zonal Centres and Govt to improve their management skills and impart knowledge of art and culture and a scheme of assistance to State and Central institutions for developing cultural software. There was a proposal for opening more Regional Resource Centres of the National School of Drama in other parts of the country. The NSD also proposed to work for propagating Indian theatre through workshops, seminars and exchange of troupes both within the country and abroad. A theatre festival at national level was also planned. The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training would devise new training programmes for programme officers of State Akademies and Directorates of Culture / Zonal Cultural Centres and National Akademies. Management input would be provided to achieve optimum results.
Museum
of Modern Art
Article 29
of Constitution states- “All minorities, religious/ linguistic can set up their
own educational institutions to preserve and develop their own culture.” (Linking
culture to language and religion.) Language became the basis for carving out
states post independence. The focus on culture became more pronounced in the early
1990s, following the Babri Masjid- Ayodhya conflict and led to many debates, but here again the discussions were mainly on culture as a religion.
Culture Ministry is a broad
umbrella organization today, which looks into tangible (monuments) as well as
intangible culture. It took a long period of time for Culture to get an independent
Ministry of its own, and only four times in thirteen governments it has had an
independent ministry.
Allocation in respect of Department or Ministry of Culture
|
Date of Notification
|
M/o Scientific Research and Culture Affairs
|
Since 1961
|
Sanskriti Vibhag
|
3.5.1971
|
D/o Culture
|
17.6.1971
|
D/o Culture under M/o Education & Culture
|
17.9.1979
|
D/o Culture under M/o Culture Affairs
|
13.8.1985
|
D/o Culture under M/o HRD
|
25.9.1985
|
D/o Culture under M/o Culture, Youth Affairs & Sports
|
15.10.1999
|
D/o Culture under M/o Tourism & Culture
|
27.5.2000
|
M/o Culture
|
6.9.2001
|
D/o Culture under M/o Tourism & Culture
|
21.12.2001
|
M/o Culture
|
27.5.2004
|
D/o Culture under M/o Tourism & Culture
|
16.2.2006
|
M/o Culture
|
1.6.2006
|
The five year plans in India are a major source to study Government of India's policy and outlook on various subjects. When we try to assess government’s policy on
culture we invariably look to the Five Year Plans. Following the Socialist
model of planning in Nehruvian India, everything had to be carefully thought
out before it was implemented. Culture was an important issue but first the
basic issues of food and agriculture had to be looked into.Culture suffered due to unrelated events like war, drought, economic crisis, etc. which affected government's spending on the arts and culture sector.
Approach papers which are published before the Plans (earlier ones and including 10th, 11th and 12th) have been quite on Culture as well. Whenever there is something significant that government plans to do in the field of culture they make a special committee.
The 1st Five-year Plan was launched in 1951, and it had no
mention of art/culture.
“Culture appears covertly under the guise of education (itself
subsumed
under the head of ‘Social Services and
Rehabilitation’) in the First Plan. It
does not in this text merit even a
sub-heading. The chapter on ‘Education’
however emphasizes its role in the shaping of
a disciplined national citizenry.
A central function of the educational system
was also to ‘satisfy’ the nation’s
‘cultural needs,’ for it was through ‘the
growth of the creative faculties’
and through the developing of a ‘spirit of
critical appreciation of arts, literature
and other creative activities’ that
individuals with ‘integrated’ personalities
would emerge.”[1]
Under Education section, 2nd Five Year Plan (1956), had a
number of important programmes- for the development of Arts, Akedemies were set
up. Sahitya Akademy (academy of letters), the Lalit Kala Akademy (academy of
fine arts), and the Sangeet Natak Akademy (academy of dance, drama and music)
were set up. The 3rd five
year plan carried it forward and increased the budget. Among other
programmes it proposed the setting up of a National Theatre and also a large
open-air theatre in Delhi .
Two successive years of drought, devaluation of
the currency, a general rise in prices and erosion of resources disrupted the
planning process and after three Annual Plans between 1966 and 1969, the fourth
Five-year plan was started in 1969.
4th five year plan had a preface by Indira Gandhi and
mentioned war. Cultural programmes received 1.5% of budget and talked of
developing the Akademis further.
5TH
Five year Plan with a note on economic situation, was divided into two
parts 1974-77 and 1977-79. In relation to the first three years, the proposed
outlay in the next two years marked an increase. Sixth Five Year Plan, under
the section- Education, aimed at democratising culture and made it part
of the program of human resource development.
7th Five year plan (1985-90)
had a section on Art and Culture, under Education, Culture and Sports- it proposed
setting up of Zonal Cultural Centres in different regions of the country
and for the dissemination of culture to the masses, the mass media was going to
be utilised. The Centres would provide facilities for creative development of
arts; with special emphasis on folk arts as also the revival of vanishing arts.
The traditional fairs and festivals would be supported through the State
agencies and Zonal Cultural Centres. Academies were strengthened. And proposed
setting up of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art (IGNCA) with a National
Theatre on the same premises.
The Eighth Plan could not take off in 1990 due to
the fast changing political situation at the Centre and the years 1990-91 and
1991-92 were treated as Annual Plans. The Eighth Plan was finally launched in
1992 after the initiation of structural adjustment policies.8th five year plan (1992-97) under Education, Culture and Sports- Art and Culture had a long section dedicated to the subject. Seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCC's) at Patiala, Nagpur, Allahabad, Udaipur, Shanti Niketan, Dimapur and Thanja-vur organised major events including workshops, fairs, exhibitions of folk, tribal arts and crafts, classical dance performances, music concerts, theatre fairs etc. The Sahitya Academi (SA), Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) and Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) continued their schemes relating to awards and fellowships to distinguished literary scholars and artists; held workshops, exhibitions, kala melas. The SNA also provided financial assistance to cultural institutions for training, production and research besides holding zonal theatre festivals.
A number of schemes, like building grants, financial assistance to dance, drama, theatre ensembles, promotion and dissemination of tribal/folk art and culture were implemented by the Department to encourage voluntary efforts. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was registered as an autonomous trust in March, 1987 with four academic divisions of Kala Nidhi, Kala Kosha, Janapada Sampada, Kala Darshan and Sutradhara.
In the field of cultural policy, the three notable developments have been the NPE '86, departmental efforts for formulation of a National Policy on Culture and the Report of the High-level Committee on Academies and NSD (Haksar Committee). The NPE 1986 suggested enrichment of curricula by cultural content and establishment of linkages between the university systems and institutions of higher learning in art. The Haksar Committee gave a detailed exposition of its views on approach to culture, arts and values. It said, states should start inter-district programmes inviting local grassroot level artists of dying art forms. The present method of the Zonal Cultural Councils inviting troupes to perform in an ad hoc manner is demeaning to folk artistes.'
In the Eighth Five Year Plan the Sangeet Natak Akademy (SNA) proposed to publish a three-volume encyclopedia of music, dance and theatre, have a new campus for Kathak Kendra, open two peripheral centres in Delhi and hold national workshops on music, dance and theatre. The NSD, in addition to establishment of an independent campus, proposed to set up a
To expose children and youth to the finest forms of creative expression multi-purpose cultural complex including those for children has been conceived as a joint venture of Centre and States. A cultural complex of international standard is proposed to he established in
For the first eight Plans the emphasis was on a growing public sector with massive investments in basic and heavy industries, but since the launch of the Ninth Plan in 1997, the emphasis on the public sector has become less pronounced and the current thinking on planning in the country, in general, is that it should increasingly be of an indicative nature.
Ninth Five Year Plan- Chapter on- Art and Culture- During the Eighth Plan, the thrust was on strengthening the regional and local museums; promoting tribal and folk culture and their systematic documentation by institutions like Anthropological Survey of India, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs), National and State Akademies of literature, performing, plastic and visual arts, State Departments of Culture, and setting up Shilp Grams. People’s initiative for dissemination of knowledge about the country’s various folk, tribal and classical arts, music, dance, theatre etc. was encouraged. Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra has been set up for protecting, preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the people of
The activity in the culture sector continued to be the preservation, conservation, dissemination and promotion of all aspects of art and culture. Networking of Central and State institutions of culture including State Governments, State Akademies and Zonal Cultural Centres, Libraries and Museums were a high priority item. Priority was given to the publication programmes of the ASI,
The Department of Culture proposed to strengthen the network for preservation of classical folk and tribal arts and crafts consisting of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, the Anthropological Survey of India, the Zonal Cultural Centres, the three national Akademies, the NSD, the State Departments of Culture and the State Akademies. The scheme of National Culture Fund, initiated in 1996-97, was given a thrust during the Ninth Plan for promoting corporate involvement and people’s participation in preserving the cultural heritage of the country. Other programmes included a training scheme for cultural administrators in the Akademies, Zonal Centres and Govt to improve their management skills and impart knowledge of art and culture and a scheme of assistance to State and Central institutions for developing cultural software. There was a proposal for opening more Regional Resource Centres of the National School of Drama in other parts of the country. The NSD also proposed to work for propagating Indian theatre through workshops, seminars and exchange of troupes both within the country and abroad. A theatre festival at national level was also planned. The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training would devise new training programmes for programme officers of State Akademies and Directorates of Culture / Zonal Cultural Centres and National Akademies. Management input would be provided to achieve optimum results.
Tenth Five Year Plan 2002-07
ART AND CULTURE
The main concentration in the early Five Year Plans, from
the First to the Seventh Plan, was the establishment of cultural institutions
in the field of archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography, archives,
libraries, museums, academies etc. Central conservation laboratories were also
established. Serious efforts were made in the Sixth Plan to recognise culture
as one of the basic concepts to be integrated with all development activities
particularly at all levels in the education sector so as to make it more
relevant to day-to-day life. During the Seventh Plan, an added thrust was given
to contemporary creativity, preservation, documentation and conservation of the
cultural heritage and
to established cultural institutions. A large number of
programmes for the preservation of monuments and sites of national importance
were also taken up on a priority basis. Efforts have also been made for
strengthening regional and local museums, the
Anthropological Survey of India, the Indira Gandhi
Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs), Akademies,
the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and science museums.
Seven ZCCs were set up in various regions
to create cultural awareness among people and to identify,
nurture and promote the vanishing folk art traditions in the rural and
semi-urban areas. These are: Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata; North
East Zonal Cultural Centre (NEZCC), Dimapur; West Zone Cultural Centre (WZCC), Udaipur ; South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC), Thanjavur;
North Central Zone Cultural Centre (NCZCC), Allahabad ,
Central ZCC, Nagpur and North ZCC, Patiala . They have been
active in organising various programmes in their areas of operation. During the
Ninth Plan period, the ZCCs were assigned two more activities – the Republic Day
Folk Dance Festival and Craft Fair and documentation of vanishing folk art
forms.
There are various central schemes through which the
Department of Culture is granting fellowships to outstanding artists,
scholarships to young artists, and financial assistance to needy persons who
are distinguished in the letters and arts etc. and also to professional groups
and individuals for specific performing art projects and to voluntary cultural
organisations for the construction of buildings and purchase of equipment individuals.
Activities and programmes have been organised under 11
broad heads. They are Promotion and Dissemination, Archaeology, Museums,
Archives, Anthropology, Performing Arts, Libraries, Buddhist and Tibetan
Institutes, IGNCA, Activities for the Northeastern Region and Other
Expenditure. The corpus fund of each ZCC is proposed
to be increased by a suitable
amount in the Tenth Plan as these centres have been finding it difficult to
meet increased administrative and programme expenses, especially given the
declining accruals on account of lowering of interest rates. It focused mostly
on ASI and Museums.
Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007
ART AND CULTURE- The Tenth Plan (2002–07) allocation for Art
and Culture was Rs 1720 crore. The total expenditure duringthe Tenth Plan at Rs
1526.30 crore accounted for 88.74% of Plan outlay. The expenditure under
Promotion and Dissemination of Art and Culture at Rs 454.99 crore exceeded the
Tenth Plan outlay of Rs 362.43 crore by 25.5%.
.
Promotion and dissemination of
art and culture have been mainly done through seven ZCCs. The SNA, Sahitya
Akademi (SA), and Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) organized Golden Jubilee
Celebrations to commemorate their fiftieth anniversaries. SNA organized Music,
Dance and Theatre Festivals, Seminars and Workshops, Yuva Utsavs and Puppetry
Shows. LKA organized exhibitions in India and abroad. The National
School of Drama conducted more than 300 production-oriented theatre workshops
and organized a Satellite Theatre Festival in Bangalore .
Indira Gandhi National Centre
for Arts (IGNCA) The mandate of IGNCA is to
explore, study and revive the dialogue between India
and her neighbours in areas pertaining to the arts, especially in South and South
East Asia . IGNCA has six functional units, viz., Kalanidhi (multi-form
library); Kalakosh (Indian language texts); Janapada Sampada (lifestyle studies); Kaladarshan (visible
forms of IGNCA researches); Culture Informatics Lab (technology tools for cultural preservation); and
Sutradhara (coordinating IGNCA activities). IGNCA had a plan outlay of Rs 90.00
crore. IGNCA’s
performance suffered a setback due to administrative and other reasons
including lack of credible Plan schemes. By the time the factors responsible for dismal performance and
other issues were sorted out and IGNCA re-railed, the Tenth Plan closed with an expenditure of only Rs
4.12 crore.
Many art forms are in the peril
of withering away due to the lack of State patronage. Market forces can also
extend support to creative arts, but these are necessarily selective and
limited. There is a need for greater support for performing arts and for
correcting
the distortions induced by
selective support of market forces. It is with this perspective that the
existing schemes in the area of art and culture including Performing Arts, in
addition to being reviewed and strengthened, have been appraised and
recommended
for continuation in the Eleventh
Plan with modifications. As Ministry of Culture has been facing recurrent cuts
in outlay due to poor spending during the first two quarters, proper
expenditure planning including phasing of expenditure in sub-sectors other than
Akademies and ASI. In the field of art and culture, several schemes are being implemented
without assessing the process and impact. Therefore, all the schemes will be
evaluated.
Performing Arts- The existing scheme of ‘Financial Assistance to Professional Groups
and Individuals for Specified Performing Art Projects’ will be bifurcated into two schemes, viz., Salary
and Production Grants with revisions in the cost structure. The scheme of ‘Financial Assistance for Research
Support to Voluntary Organizations engaged in cultural activities’ will be modified as the scheme of
‘Financial Assistance for Research, Seminar and Performance to voluntary organizations engaged in cultural
activities’. The existing scheme of ‘Award of Senior/Junior Fellowship to Outstanding Artists in the field of
Performing, Literary and Classical Arts’ would be added with a new component, namely ‘Fellowship of
National Eminence’, with fellowships to outstanding scholars selected through a search process and
peer review.
Strategies for the Eleventh
Plan
• Tapping of PPP models for sustenance of Arts and Crafts.
• Greater involvement of universities in schemes of Lalit
Kala, Sangeet Natak, and Sahitya Akademies.
• SNA to promote and correct the imbalance in extending
patronage to varied forms of art with focus on group and dances like Bihu,
Bhangra, Nautanki, Dandiya, Bamboo and folk dances besides classical forms.
• Preserving and promoting India ’s rich intangible cultural
heritage by inventorizing and documenting oral traditions, indigenous knowledge
systems, guru-shisya parampara, Vedic chanting, Kuddiattam, Ramlila, folklores
and tribal, oral traditions.
Specific Plan of Action for
Art and Culture
• Development of Sanskriti Grams for giving basic amenities
to indigent urban artists.
• Promoting export of core cultural goods and services for
taking the country in the list of first
20 countries ranked by UNESCO for export of culture.
• Recognizing ‘cultural heritage tourism’ as an upcoming
industry with mutually supportive activities.
• Building cultural resources with adaptation of scientific
and technological knowledge to local circumstances, and forming partnerships
between local and global.
• Infusion of knowledge capital in cultural institutions
through flexible engagements.
• Housing segments on cultural resources in the national
museums and Science Cities/Centres set up by the NCSM.
A new component under performing
arts is the creation of a ‘National Artists Welfare Fund’—with a corpus of Rs
5.00 crore for meeting medical emergencies of artists—as an independent
administered fund with facilities to receive contributions from any lawful
sources.
The Akademies and the ZCCs will
have a new scheme called ‘Protecting the Intellectual Property Rights of the
artists and of cultural industries’—especially of folk and tribal artists—along
with the creation of a national apparatus to work as a watchdog and facilitator
in this area. A Cultural Centre at Kolkata will be set up in PPP with Calcutta
THE PATH AHEAD
2.2.35 The strengthening of inter-organizational networks and introduction
of management-oriented approaches in the administration of cultural
institutions
are the two cardinal
prerequisites for improving efficiency in the working of the cultural
institutions.
2.2.36 Resuscitating India’s dwindling higher institutions of art
and culture poses a real challenge and an action plan to strengthen these
institutions needs to be worked out during the Eleventh Plan. Outstanding scholars
from India
and abroad could be encouraged to get associated with these organizations. However,
it is important that institutions must be autonomous and develop a conducive
working environment. In this
context, it is desirable to
formulate norms and procedures for flexible engagement of scholars in higher institutions
of art and culture. There is an urgent need for adopting the idea of concept
makers. In other words, creating an Ideas Bank, which could explore
and scrutinize the ideas that
originated in India
first and then spread across the globe. The Ideas Bank could generate new
research designs and modules with inter-disciplinary linkages to develop the
growth of innovative research.
Sourced from-
Planhttp://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/welcome.html
13-3-12
http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/index.php?state=planbody.htm
http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/comments/inter.htm
Anita
Cherian, “Institutional Maneuvers, Nationalizing Performance,Delineating Genre: Reading the Sangeet
Natak Akademi Reports 1953–1959”, Third Frame: Literature, Culture and
Society Vol. 2, No. 3, July–September 2009, p.35-36
This research was a part of WRAP (Working in Research and Policy) project for GATI. I would like to thank my co-researcher Manjari Kaul for her inputs and comments.
[1] Anita Cherian,
“Institutional Maneuvers, Nationalizing Performance,Delineating Genre: Reading the Sangeet Natak Akademi Reports 1953–1959,
Third Frame: Literature, Culture and Society Vol. 2, No. 3,
July–September 2009, p.35-36
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