CULTURAL AFFAIRS
The various institutions set up by Government to promote and develop cultural activities within the country proceeded apace with their programmes during the year. In its effort to promote cultural relations with other countries, the Ministry is also responsible for entering into Government-level cultural agreements and sponsoring bilateral or unilateral programmes in the field of culture. This Chapter sets forth a brief account of all these programmes.
THE NATIONAL AKADEMIS
Sahitya Akademi An outline of the activities of the Sahitya Akademi, an autonomous organisation set up by the Government of India, in March, 1954, during the year is given below:
New Fellows of the Sahitya Akademi The General Council of the Sahitya Akademi, at its meeting in New Delhi on February 21, 1971, elected the following persons as its Fellows, in addition to nine persons already elected earlier
(1) Mahamohopadhyaya Sri Gopinath Kaviraj, for his eminence as an Indologist and Sanskrit scholar; (2) Kakasaheb Sri (D.B.) Kalelkar, for his eminence as an author in Gujarati; (3) Sardar Sri Gurbaksh Singh, for his eminence as an author in Punjabi; and (4) Sri Kalindicharan Panigrahi, for his eminence as a novelist in Oriya.
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Recognition to Manipuri and Rajasthani The General Council of the Sahitya Akademi at its meeting held on February 21, 1971, resolved to recognise Manipuri and Rajasthani as independent modern languages of India of literary importance for the purpose of Sahitya Akademi's programme.
Indology in Germany Exhibition In collaboration with the authorities of the local Max Mueller Bhavan, the Sahitya Akademi organised an Exhibition on Indology in Germany at Rabindra Bhavan. New Delhi, in May 1971.
Seminar on Social Change and Indian Fiction The Sahitya Akademi organised a special Seminar on June 22, 1971, at Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, in which about 60 scholars from various parts of India took part. The subject for discussion was Social Change and Indian Fiction.
Among the many publications brought out, special mention may be made of National Bibliography of Indian Literature (1901-1953) and Iswar Chander Vidya Sagar translated into English.
Sangeet Natak Akademi The significant activities during the year of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, an autonomous organisation set up in January 1953, are set out briefly below:
(a) Programmes and Projects: Important programmes during the period were:
(i) Programme of Indian dances in honour of His Majesty the Druk Gyalop of Bhutan at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi; (ii) Lecture demo- nstration on tribhanga, a comparative study of Basics of Orissi and Mayurbhanj Chhau Dances by Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan at National Museum Auditorium; (iii) A dance recital
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by artists' delegation from Andhra Pradesh and Punjab sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare for a concert tour of North African countries and West African countries; (iv) Preview show of Dances by Ranga Sri Little Ballet Troupe, Gwalior; (v) Preview show by 12-Member Dance troupe, Darpana, Ahmedabad; and (vi) Programme of Indian Dance and Music at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in honour of the King and Queen of Tonga.
Prize for Books in Music The following books were awarded prizes on the best books in the languages:
Bengali:
Kannada:
Marathi:
Sanskrit:
Kashmiri:
Hindi:
Telugu:
Exhibition At the instance of the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare an exhibition on Ramayana Theme was compiled for being sent to Indonesia in connection with International Ramayana Festival during September, 1971.
Festivals (i) A three-day festival on traditional theatre was organised. Seven parties of ballet troupes representing major forms participated in the Festival. (ii) A two-day festival of Shadow
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Theatre was organised from 26th to 27th November, 1971. Four styles of Shadow theatre were presented on this occasion.
Rasika Music Circle The Akademi organises programmes of recorded music under the auspices of the Rasika Music Circle. Three such programmes were held during this period featuring (i) Melodies from Bengal; (ii) Dance Music of India; and (iii) Varieties of Rag-Malhar.
Documentation Under its regular programme, the Akademi Documentation Unit visited different regions and documented the traditional folk Dance, Drama and Music forms for the use of the Archives of the Akademi. There are the Chhau Dance in Orissa, Bomalatta Puppet Theatre in Tami1nadu, Sampoorna Ramayana in Kerala, Lava-Kusha Kalaga in Mysore, the traditional Ramlila of Ramnagar, Varanasi (U.P.), Lai Haraoba dance and Ras and Goshtilila performances in Manipur and Ojha Pali Ballets of pre-Shankradeva tradition in Assam, such as Vyas Geet, etc.
Lalit Kala Akademi Among the important exhibitions held in this country and abroad in which the akademi took part, mention may be made of the following :
(i) A collection of 58 exhibits by 16 artists which had earlier been, shown in Tokyo was sent to Brazil in April 1971; (ii) An exhibition entitled Tantric Art commenced as part of man and his environment concept, consisting of 28 paintings was sent to Montreal (Canada) in May 1971; (iii) An exhibition consisting of 38 works was sent to Eastern Europe-Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia under the Cultural Exchange Program-me; (iv) A collection consisting of 8 Artists' works was sent to XII Paris Biennale as part of Indian Section in September 1971; (v) An exhibition of French Contemporary
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Art entitled Twenty five years of French Painting was opened in New Delhi by M.F. Hussain on November 19, 1971. The exhibition was accompanied by the noted French Art Critic Madame Dera Vallier and (vi) A circulating exhibition of contemporary Indian Art was on display in Amritsar and in Chandigarh during November 1971.
Reviewing Committee for Three National Akademis The Committee was set up to review the working of the three National Akademis and the ICCR. Its report is expected after April 1972,
Shankar's International Children Competition This year, about 16000 children took part in the competition which continues to receive financial assistance from the Department of Culture.
Building Grants to Cultural Organisations The scheme covers all organisations primarily working in the cultural fields of dance, drama, music, fine arts, indology, literature other than religious institutions, public libraries, museums, municipalities, schools and universities. Six institutions have been given the first instalment of grant for the construction of buildings and 12 institutions have been given the second and third instalments of grant this year.
Propagation of Culture among School and College Students Under this scheme two refresher courses were arranged by Delhi University on behalf of this Department during May-June and September- October, 1971, for the teachers of various schools and colleges 92 lecturers attended these refresher courses.
Financial Assistance to Dance, Drama Ensembles The scheme is to provide maximum help to enable performing troupes in the country which have been working in the field through pure voluntary efforts over 10-15 years to
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sustain themselves. Financial assistance to 4 well-known cultural organisations in the country has been given for development activities this year. The names of these cultural organisations are as under :
1. Ranga-Sri little Ballet Troupe, Gwalior.
2. Kalakshetra, Madras.
3. Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi.
4. Darpana, Ahmedabad.
Cultural Relations with Other Countries India continued her efforts to develop and strengthen cultural relations with other countries. Besides entering into cultural agreements and drawing up cultural exchange programmes, incoming and outgoing delegations-performing and non-performing constitute, a significant part of these activities; an account of which is given in the following paragraphs.
Cultural Agreements (i) Indo-Tunisian Cultural Agreement, signed in New Delhi on the 24th June, 1969 came into force on the 30th August, 1971, with the exchange of the Instruments of Ratification by the two Governments at Tunis. The agreement provides for cooperation between the two countries in the fields of education, science, culture, sports and radio and television etc. (ii) The Indo-Australian Cultural Agreement was concluded in New Delhi on the 21st October, 1971. The Agreement provides for cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science and technology, education, art and culture, radio, press, film and sports through exchange of artists, writers, professors, scholars, students, members of scientific and cultural institutions and sports teams, exchange of books, periodicals, music, dance and theatrical ensembles, art and other exhibitions, etc. The Agreement was signed by Shri T.P. Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, on behalf of the Government
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of India and Sir Keith Waller, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs, of the Commonwealth of Australia on behalf of the Australian Government.
Proposals for concluding Cultural Agreements with Malaysia, Uruguay, Syria, G.D.R., Belgium, Argentina, Cambodia, Ceylon, Mauritius, Senegal, Chile, Venezuela, and Mexico are under negotiations.
Cultural Exchange Programmes A number of Cultural Exchange. Programmes were drawn up during the year (i) Indo-Romanian Cultural Exchange Programme for 1971-73 signed at New Delhi on 6th August, 1971, formulated in pursuance of the Cultural Agreement which India and Romania entered into in 1957 (ii) Indo-GDR Cultural Exchange Programme for years 1971-73 signed at Berlin on the 8th September, 1971. (iii) Indo-Soviet Cultural Exchange Programme for the years 1971-72 signed at Moscow on the 17th September, 1971. (iv) Indo-Hungarian Cultural Exchange Programme covering the years 1971-72 and 1972-73 signed at New Delhi on 18th November, 1971. In functions held at the capital the programmes (i.e. in case of Romania and Hungary) were signed by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Romania, and Deputy Chairman of Cultural Relations, Hungary, on behalf of their Governments and by the Secretary, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare on behalf of the Government of India; and those held in the capitals of the other concerned countries (i.e. in the case of the GDR and the USSR) by the Secretary, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare on behalf of the Government of India and State Secretary, Ministry of Culture on behalf of the Government of the GDR and Deputy Foreign Minister of the USSR oh behalf of his Government. The Programmes generally envisage cooperation in the various fields of science, technology, education,
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art, culture, films, radio, television, electronics, health and sports etc.
Incoming Delegations To promote mutual understanding and good-will and to foster closer relations with foreign countries, a number of cultural delegations and art exhibitions are invited to visit India every year under the various Indo-foreign Cultural Exchange Programmes and the Cultural Activities Programmes of the Department of Culture. The cultural delegations invited to visit India from foreign countries consist of performing delegations, non-performing delegations, journalists, educationists, officials, musicians, writers, painters, scholars and indologists etc. and art exhibitions comprising paintings, sculptures, photographs and graphic arts, posters etc. Till December 15, 1971, 6 cultural delegations (3 performing and 13 non-performing) from Romania, Bulgaria, North Korea, Kuwait, Ceylon, Ghana, Laos, Ethiopia, Mongolia, the USSR, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Sikkim visited India. During the period from 15th December, 1971, to 31st March, 1972, about 14 cultural delegations from the USSR, Morocco, Ceylon, Bhutan, Thailand, Romania are expected to visit India.
Out-going Delegations Performing delegations sent abroad during 1971-72 were (a) 10- member Bhangra dance group from the Punjab and 6-member Kuchipudi dance group from the Sidhendra Kalaksheram, Andhra Pradesh, which visited Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan and Iraq In July-August, 1971; (b) a 27-member Range-Sir little Ballet of Gwalior and a 14-member Kathakali troupe from P.S.V. Natya Sangam, Kobtakal participated in the First international Ramayana Festival held in Indonesia from 30-8- 71 to 17th September, 1971 in cooperation with UNESCO. Professor Asutosh Bhattacharya (Calcutta), Smt. Rukmini Devi (Madras), Prof. A.S. Raghvan (Tuticorn), Dr. Lokesh Chandra (Delhi), scholars from India participated in the Seminar organised during the Festival. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Deputy Educational Adviser (Culture) accompanied the delegation as
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Programme Director. After the Festival she worked on the Plan Project; viz., "Reconstruction of Indian and Asian Dance Traditions", in Indonesia, Thailand and Burma. Dr. S. Awasthi, Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi, also visited Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong under the same scheme. An Exhibition compiled by the Sangeet Natak Akademi on the theme of Ramayana was also displayed. Some exhibits were presented to the Indonesia Government after the Festival. Three Indian feature films were also screened in the Festival: (c) a 12- member Dance Troupe of the Darpana Academy, Ahmedabad, led by Smt. Mrinalini Sarabhai visited Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, West Germany and Greece during September-October, 1971.
Among the non-performing delegations sponsored for visit to various countries under the Cultural Exchange Programmes, mention may be made of: (a) Shri Sachin Shankar, Choreographer to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to study the folk dances of these countries; (b) Shri Ka Naa Subramaniam, writer, to Yugoslavia and the GDR to deliver a series of lectures and familiarise himself with the literary achievements of these countries; (c) Dr. V. Raghavan, Sanskrit scholar to the USSR Bulgaria to give lectures on Indian art and culture and exchange views with scholars; (d) Shri Keshav Malik, Literary critic to the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria to give lectures; (e) Smt. Lolita Mayadas, Principal, Calcutta School of Music, Calcutta to Czechoslovakia for participation in the Prague Spring Festival, (f) Dr. Anand Krishna, Art Historian, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi, to the USSR for research and study of Central Asian and Indian Art; (g) Dr. S. S. Paranjpe, Principal, Government College, Shajapur, M.P. to the Soviet Union to give lectures and to have fruitful meetings with the Soviet musicians, (h) Shri Biren De, an artist, to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia to deliver lectures on Indian art and exchange views on art and culture; (i) Dr. Shiv Mangal Singh, 'Suman', Vice- Chancellor, Vikram University, Ujjain, Dr. Prophulladatta Goswami of Gauhati University and Shri Vidya Nath. Misra alias "Yarti-Nagarjun" Writers, to the Soviet Union
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to meet their counterparts and acquaint themselves with the literature of the USSR; Dr. Suman also went to Mangolia, (j) Shri Gurbaksh Singh, the eminent writer and Editor of "Preet Lari" to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria; (k) Shri Hari Uppal, Choreographer to Czechoslovakia and the USSR to work on the problems of adaptation of folk dances for the stage (Music.), (1) Dr. B.C. Deva, Assistant Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, to Yugoslavia and the USSR for lectures; (m) Shri R. Chatterji, Secretary, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, to France for participation in the VII Biennale of Paris; (n) Shri Utpal Dutt, Theatre expert, Mrs. Sova Dutt (nee Sen), artiste and Shri Azim, Lewis Mayadas, Musicologist to the GDR, for participation in the XV Berlin Festival of Theatre and Music; Shri Dutt also went to Czechoslovakia; (o) Shri Habib Tanvir, Theatre Expert to Philippines for participation in the Conference on Developing Theatre in Developing Countries at Manila.
Travel Subsidy A travel subsidy to the extent of 50 percent return economy class air fare was sanctioned to a 4-member troupe of the Vijayanagar Sisters for participation in the Bharat Natyam performance, organised by the Bharat Majlis, Berlin in October, 1971.