Lok Sabha Question No. 1195 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-25
Subject: Database of Artists
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi, Ramcharan Bohra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1195 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 TH  July, 2022

## DATA BASE OF ARTISTS

## 1195.  SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI: SHRI RAMCHARAN BOHRA:

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

- (a) whether any provision is likely to be made by the Government for making a State-wise list/database of performing artists and other artists who create, preserve and promote all kinds of art and literature;
- (b) if so, the details of the artists likely to be included in the said database and the rules/guidelines/criteria to be adopted for their inclusion;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to prepare a list of all the artists in the whole country and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) if so, whether the directions are likely to be given to the States in this regard and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether there exists a policy framework to safeguard the interest of performing artists in India and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether any schemes were introduced to safeguard the livelihood of performing artists during the lockdown and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## 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 .

## 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.

## 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  1 st instalment to the grantees of 43 rd 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 201718) 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 202122,  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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