(a) the details of the 100 experiential museums that the Government is planning to develop to boost tourism in India;
(b) whether any of these museums are located in Odisha and if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of the historic sites which have been selected for an ‘authentic reconstruction’ venture as a part of the five-year plan to boost tourism; and
(d) the composition and functions of the proposed Indian Institute of Culture and the National Centre for Performing Arts?
MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR CULTURE & TOURISM
(PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)
(a)&(b): In 2016, Ministry of Culture was given the task of establishing Virtual Museums in at least 50 locations. Subsequently, Ministry of Culture has developed three Virtual Experiential Museums:- Man Mahal at Varanasi, Ajanta Caves at National Musuem, Delhi and Humayun Tomb in Delhi (last two are under development). Ministry of Culture also proposes to set up a National Virtual Experiential Site Museum at Vadnagar, Gujarat. At present, there is no Virtual Experiential Museum established in Odisha.
(c): Ministry of Tourism under its schemes of ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Development of Iconic sites’, has developed tourism infrastructure at various heritage destinations.
Under both these schemes, the primary objective is to develop the identified destinations as benchmark tourist destinations in terms of comprehensive development of infrastructure & services.
However, under both the above-mentioned schemes, interventions involving reconstruction of historic sites are not permissible.
(d): Indian Institute of Culture: Establishment of Indian Institute of Culture is at conceptual stage. As such no Committee has been formed/constituted at present. The concept is being formalized.
National Centre for the Performing Art: As there is no large auditorium in Delhi with a large seating capacity, it was proposed by Ministry of Culture that a Performing Art Auditorium may be constructed having seating capacity of 1800 persons along with supporting public facilities like cafeteria, bookshop etc. in Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) premises. However, no final decision has been taken yet.
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