Culture Ministry receives 68 per cent additional grant for 'Azadi Ka Amrit Maotsav'

NEW DELHI: The Centre made a threefold increase in the culture ministry’s allocations for 'Centenary and Anniversary: Celebrations and Schemes', under which 'Azadi Ka Amrit Maotsav' (AKAM) programmes are being organised across states and abroad.

In the 2022-23 budget outlay, Rs 110 crore were set aside for the AKAM, commemoration and celebration of 75 years of India’s independence and other commemorative functions.

However, in the revised estimate, the allocation was increased to Rs 353.82 crore in view of the anticipated expenditure for the events related to the diamond jubilee of the country's independence, said the ministry.

Special provision has been made again in this year’s budget with about a 68 per cent increase in allocation for the 'Centenary and Anniversary: Celebrations and Schemes'.

The Centre has made a provision of Rs 185.00 crore to commemorate the centenaries or birth anniversaries of eminent persons including AKAM, the flagship initiative of the Narendra Modi Government.

AKAM is being led by the ministry of culture and has been organising several events in association with other ministries and departments. The 75-week-long celebration began in March with Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging off the Dandi March. The programme will continue till 15 August 2023.

With the grand celebrations of 75 years of independence entering the next phase, the ministry will be holding a series of theme-based cultural events in association with schools, colleges, resident welfare associations (RWAs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other institutions in districts across states.

The list of activists proposed under AKAM 2.0 are flash mobs, theatrical plays, contests, summits, conclaves, fests in colleges and schools and concerts at popular sites such as malls and metro stations.

The outlay for the ministry has also increased by about 13 per cent this year. It has been given Rs 3,399.65 crore as against the outlay of Rs 3,009.05 crore approved in 2022-2023.

Among various initiatives announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech, she said announced that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), a body responsible protection and restoration of 3,693 heritage sites in India, would set up Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (BharatSHRI), a digital epigraphy museum, in Hyderabad.

It will digitise one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage, the minister said.

In the annual budget, the ASI was granted Rs 1,102.83 crore.