NEW DELHI: In a bid to regulate government schemes for the benefits of cultural organisations and artistes across the country, the government has initiated data collection of artistes for cultural mapping of India. So far details of over 1 crore artistes have been collected.
A senior official of the cultural ministry said that with a view to reach every nook and corner throughout the length and breadth of the country, there is a need to have a data base of such art forms and artists. “Cultural mapping would consolidate the data at one place in a systematic manner and help us to streamline and rationalize various financial grant schemes being implemented by the ministry for artists and cultural organizations and ensure effectiveness, transparency and value for money,” added the official.
The official said that many meetings have been held to make the project successful and a web portal has been developed for collecting online data which will serve as an artist repository and which can be uised in future for the purpose of providing grant-in-aid under various cultural schemes of the ministry.
“A sub scheme as a national mission on cultural mapping and roadmap with a financial outlay of Rs 469.4 crore for the year 2017-18 to 2018-19 has been approved under the umbrella of ‘Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana’,” added the official.
The ministry is taking the help of state governments and other organizations to collect the data of artists from across the nation. The work of entry of data of artists has been assigned to Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), New Delhi.
The mandate of Ministry of Culture is to preserve, promote, explore and share India’s culture and heritage along with its ethos and values for the benefit of mankind. In pursuance of this vision, among others, Ministry has been administering schemes to identify, nurture hand-hold and train the upcoming and budding artistes on a sustained basis.