Lok Sabha Question No. 214 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-08
Subject: Preservation of Cultural Heritage
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: Alok Kumar Suman, Sumedhanand Saraswati

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 214 TO BE ANSWERED ON 8 TH JULY, 2019

## PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

## *214.    DR. ALOK KUMAR SUMAN: SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI:

## Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  measures  to  preserve  and uphold all forms of folk art and cultural heritage of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the efforts being made to properly store the treasure of knowledge for posterity;
- (d) whether the Government has taken adequate steps to preserve the cultural heritage of Bihar, specially Madhubani folk painting and folk dance; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) FOR CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)

- (a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 214 FOR 8 TH JULY, 2019

(a) & (b) To  promote,  preserve  and  uphold  all  forms  of  folk  art  and  cultural heritage  of  the  country,  the  Government  of  India  has  set  up  seven  Zonal  Cultural Centres  (ZCCs)  with  headquarters  at  Patiala,  Nagpur,  Udaipur,  Prayagraj,  Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur, which are autonomous organizations under the administrative  control  of  Ministry  of  Culture,  Government  of  India.  These  ZCCs organize various cultural activities and programmes on regular basis throughout the country for preservation of all forms of folk art.

(c) For  proper  storage  of  the  treasure  of  knowledge  for  posterity,  several  art forms  including  the  vanishing  ones  are  being  documented  by  these  ZCCs.  894  art forms have been documented by all the ZCCs as on 31 st March, 2019 in the form of audio,  video  and  literature.  Many  dying  art  forms  documented  earlier  are  being converted into digital format for preservation as the older format can no longer be used.

(d) & (e) Bihar  is  the  member  State  of  Eastern  Zonal  Cultural  Centre  (EZCC), Kolkata and North Central Zone Cultural Centre (NCZCC), Prayagraj. EZCC, Kolkata has organized  extensive  workshops  for  adults  and  school  children  over  the  past  two years on Madhubani painting at Jeetwarpur, Madhubani from 26 th to 30 th December, 2017, from 10 th to 16 th December, 2018 at Indradhanush Festival, Patna and from 21 st to 30 th December, 2018 for children from different part of Bihar in Madhubani District.

Lesser known visual art forms of Bihar such as Tikuli art, Manjusha art, Bhojpuri art  etc.  &  various  dance  forms  such  as  Karma,  Kajari,  Jhijhia,  Mukhota,  Bhojpuri, Jhoomar,  Magahi  Jhoomar  have  also  been  promoted  by  EZCC,  Kolkata  across  the country  by  engaging  expert  artists  in  these  dance  forms  at  various  national  level dance festivals.

Madhubani folk paintings and its artists have been promoted in the programmes like  Atulya  Bharat  at  Delhi  (August,  2018)  &  at  Patna  (October,  2018) organized  by  the  NCZCC,  Prayagraj.  A  Madhubani  Painting  workshop  was  held  in NCZCC Campus during October, 2018. Apart from the above, a workshop of 30 artists of the Madhubani Folk Painting has been organized by NCZCC, Prayagraj during the Kumbh Mela-2019 in which a large painting entitled 'Ganga Avtaran' depicting the scene from origin of Ganga (Gangotri) to last point of Ganga (Gangasagar) was made.

Under Guru Shishya Parampara Scheme, Shishyas are trained in Lok Geet/ Lok Natya at Nalanda, Bihar by an expert Guru.