MINISTER OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION
(SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)
(a) Yes
(b) to (d) National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM) is a scheme administered by the Ministry of Culture and conceptualized for the purpose of developing a comprehensive data base of artists, art forms and other resources gathered from cultural organizations in the Ministry of Culture, other Ministries and also States on a robust IT-enabled platform. So far 14.53 lakh artists/artisans have been registered on NMCM portal through secondary sources State/UT-wise. However, no direct benefits or assistance has been extended through this Mission to the registered artists/institutions. Ministry of Culture through Common Service Centers (CSCs) is conducting cultural survey of Villages for creating a Culture map of the country. The initiative has been titled Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar (MGMD).
(e) The Ministry of Culture administers various schemes under which financial
assistance is provided to individual artists and also through organizations. The schemes under which financial assistance is provided to individual artists is as given below:-
(i) Financial Assistance for Veteran Artistes
(ii) Scheme of Scholarship & Fellowship for Promotion of Art and Culture
The schemes/scheme components under which financial assistance is given to artists through organizations:-
(i) Financial Assistance for Promotion of Guru-Shishya Parampara (Repertory Grant)
(ii) Cultural Function and Production Grant (CFPG)
(iii) Financial Assistance to Cultural Organizations with National Presence
The details of the schemes mentioned above are at Annexure-I.
(f) No schemes were introduced to safeguard the livelihood of performing artists during the lockdown. However, several initiatives were taken by the Ministry of Culture to help the artists during lockdown. The details of such initiatives are given at Annexure-II.
Annexure-I
1.FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR VETERAN ARTISTS
The objectives of this Scheme is to provide a pension of Rs.6.000/- p.m. to the old artistes and scholars (not less than the age of 60 years and annual income not exceeding Rs.48,000/- p.a.) who have contributed significantly in their specialized fields of arts, letters etc. but are now living in penury condition. The Scheme has also provision to provide medical aid facility to these Artistes and his/her spouse by covering them under a convenient and affordable Health Insurance Scheme of the Government. In the event of death of the beneficiary, the financial assistance is transferred to his/her spouse.
2. SCHEME OF SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP FOR PROMOTION OF ART AND CULTURE:-The scheme consists of three components. The names and details of the scheme components are as given below:
(i) Scheme For The Award Of Fellowship To Outstanding Persons in The Field Of Culture
Upto 400 fellowships (200 Junior and 200 Senior) are awarded in a batch year to outstanding persons in the age group of 25 to 40 years (Jr.) and above 40 years (Sr.) in different cultural fields @ of Rs. 10,000/- p.m. and 20,000/-p.m. for the period of 2 years for cultural research. The Fellowship is released in four equal six monthly installments.
(ii) Scheme for Scholarships to Young Artistes in Different Cultural Fields
Upto 400 Scholarships are awarded in a batch year. Under this scheme financial assistance is given to young artistes of outstanding promise in the age group of 18-25 years for advanced training within India in the field of Indian Classical Music, Indian Classical Dance, Theatre, Mime, Visual art, Folk, Traditional and Indigenous Arts and Light Classical Music etc. @ Rs. 5,000/- p.m. for 2 years. The Scholarship is released in four equal six monthly installments.
(iii) Tagore National Fellowship for Cultural Research
The purpose of the Scheme Component is to invigorate and revitalize the various institutions under the Ministry of Culture (MoC) and other identified cultural institutions in the country, by encouraging scholars/ academicians to affiliate themselves with these institutions to work on projects of mutual interest. Upto 15 Fellowships (Rs.80,000/- p.m. + Contingency Allowance) and 25 Scholarships (Rs.50,000/- p.m. + Contingency Allowance) for a maximum period of 2 Years. The Fellowship is released in four equal six monthly installments.
3. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR PROMOTION OF GURU-SHISHYA PARAMPARA (REPERTORY GRANT)
The objective of this scheme is to provide financial support for all genres of performing arts activities like dramatic groups, theatre groups, music ensembles, children theatre etc. and imparting training of artists by their respective Guru on regular basis in line with Guru–ShishyaParampara. As per the scheme, support is provided to 1 Guru and maximum 18 Shishyas in the field of theatre and 1 Guru and maximum 10 Shishyas in the field of music & dance.
Amount of Assistance – Guru Rs.15000/- p.m., Shishya – Rs.2000-10000/-p.m (depending upon the age of artist).
4. Cultural Function & Production Grant (CFPG)
The objective of this scheme component is to provide financial support to NGOs/ Societies/ Trusts/ Universities etc. for Seminars, Conference, Research, Workshops, Festivals, Exhibitions, Symposia, Production of Dance, Drama-Theatre, Music etc. The maximum grants provided under CFPG is Rs.5 Lakh (Rs. 20 Lakh under exceptional circumstances).
5. Financial Assistance to Cultural organizations with National Presence
The objective of this scheme component is to provide support for cultural activities at Large scale National / International level. The Quantum of assistance under this scheme is up to Rs. 5 Cr.
Annexure-II
Steps taken to help the artists during COVID Pandemic
• In view of the Pandemic, the Ministry of Culture issued guidelines in October, 2020 to help artists/organizations who had already been sanctioned grant under various scheme components of ‘Kala SanskritiVikasYojana (KSVY)’ to conduct events on virtual mode. This enabled them to avail benefits under these schemes even if they were not able to stage programs in the physical format as before and ensured continued financial assistance to tide over the present crisis.
• All efforts were made to release the funds to already approved grantees under various financial schemes of the Ministry of Culture. The funds released during the first quarter of F.Y. 2020-21 was much more than that released during 1st quarter of FY 2019-2020.
• In view of COVID-19, under the scheme of Repertory Grant, exemption was granted to organizations from mandatory inspection for release of yearly grant.
• All help was extended to the grantees for completing various procedural formalities like compliance of mandatory EAT Module. In respect of the scheme component of Cultural Function & Production Grant (CFPG), one-time exemption was granted to the organizations from filing the expenditure in EAT module for release of 1st instalment to the grantees of 43rd and previous meetings of CFPGS.
• In view of COVID-19, under the Scheme of Scholarship & Fellowship for Promotion of Art & Culture, selection of Senior Fellows for the Batch Year 2019-20 & mid-term and final evaluation of 06 monthly reports of earlier batches (upto Batch Year 2017-18) in respect of both Junior/Senior Fellows was held through virtual mode in view of the large number of members of the Expert Committee.
• Under the scheme of ‘Artists Pension’ one time exemption was granted regarding submission of the mandatory annual income certificate by the pensioners.
• All the ZCCs encouraged the folk artists to get registered with their member States in order to avail the schemes announced by the States.
• During the Pandemic, the ZCCs organised 881 virtual programs which benefitted 22,070 artists &Rs 2.82 crores were distributed as honorarium.
• South Zone Cultural centre (SZCC), Thanjavur in association with a Chennai based NGO Samarpana organized an online fund raising programme ”Notes of Nector-100 for 1000” participated by eminent artists from North and South. This fund raiser initiative enabled 1200 families of folk artists to get financial assistance, groceries etc. during Covid-19 pandemic.
• All ZCCs took care of artistes admitted to hospitals/nursing homes and held consultations with doctors to ensure the best treatment for them. Vaccination Camps in collaboration with a multispecialty hospital in Kolkata was arranged by Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata through CSR fund for their artistes. Emergency lifesaving medicines/injections required by some of the artists admitted in the hospital were arranged by ZCCs through Health Department of the State Governments.
• North Eastern Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) organised virtual programmes with 7500 artists in 2020-21 to whom Rs. 70.00 lakh was paid as honorarium. In 2021-22, 1600 artists were benefitted and were an amount of Rs. 15.00 lakh and also expanded Guru ShisyaParampara to include 44 Gurus.
• Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata supported around 12000 artists through online programmes and organized production oriented workshops for craftsmen at Shilpgram, Santiniketan to help them financially.
• All the ZCCs organized online programmes and documented performances of the artists and broadcasted the same on various social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. The artists were paid remuneration for their online performances.
Efforts were made to engage artists during Commemoration events enabling them to avail financial benefits out of the grants released by the Ministry.
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