MADURAI: In reply to the questions raised in the Parliament by Madurai MP Su Venkatesan on Monday, with regard to the committee constituted to study Indian culture, the Union Ministry of Culture said that it has decided to reconstitute the committee. The committee reportedly lacked representation of the diverse group of people living in the country.
The Union Ministry of Culture came under severe criticism last year after Su Venkatesan and 32 other MPs learnt that the 16-member committee constituted by the Ministry for ‘Holistic study of origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 BC and its interference with other cultures in the world’ did not include representatives of the diverse Indian population.
The committee was constituted in 2016 and two meetings have so far been conducted on January 3, 2017, and May 2, 2017, respectively. However, the existence of such a committee came to light only in 2020.
“There is no diversity. There is no south Indian, northeast Indian, minority, woman or Dalit in this committee. There are only men from dominant caste in north India. Are the people residing on the other side of the Vindhyas range not a part of India?” asked Venkatesan in September 2020.
When he again raised the questions in the Parliament, the Union Ministry of Culture said that it has decided to reconstitute the committee and the suggestions on its membership would be taken into consideration.