DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE
INTRODUCTORY
 

The Department of Culture continued its programme of preservation and conservation of cultural heritage through the institutions in the fields of archaeology, archives, museums, anthropology, performing arts and plastic arts, through libraries, akademies and governmental or voluntary institutions.

The most outstanding discovery of the year in the field of Archaeology is the find of twelve pre-Harappan, Harappan and late Harappan sites in mansa taluka of District Bhatinda, Punjab. These discoveries have further attested that the main thrust in the movement of Harappans was through the Ghaggar and that penetration of the culture took place from Rajasthan to Punjab and Haryana.

In the field of museums, the emphasis continued to be on the documen- tation of the collections in the various museums. The National Museum organised a major exhibition of Thracian Art from Bulgaria, and as a finale of the Hijri Celebrations, it organised an exhibition of Islamic Heri- tage which was inaugurated by the President of India on October 26, 1981, in the, National Museum. The exhibition had manuscripts, miniature paintings, pieces of decorative art from, the museums all over India, and some of the priceless items were shown to the public for the first time. The National Museum brought out a major catalogue on the Thracian exhibition and a handlist of exhibits on the exhibition of Islamic Heritage during the year. The Salar Jung Museum and the Indian Museum, Calcutta, arranged a number of exhibitions as a part of their regular programmes. The Vic- toria Memorial Hall, Calcutta, celebrated its Diamond Jubilee and held an exhibition at the Nehru Memorial Museum, New Delhi, entitled "Up the Country" with a collection from the Hall. Parliament passed the Victoria Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 1981, which inter-alia amends the constitu- tion of the Board of Trustees and also incorporates the recommendations of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation regarding levy of entry fee and regulation of service conditions of the employees. Under the scheme of financial assistance to museums, assistance was given to important uni- versity museums, Prince of Wales Museum and other private museums for their development programmes., including documentation of the collection. The Bharat Kala Mann, Banaras. Hindu University brought out with the assistance from the Government of India, "The Bundi Gita Govinda"; Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum, a catalogue; the Museum Association of India, "Brief Directory of Museums" and a 'Journal of Indian Museum'; Bharat Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala, Poona, "Illustrations from Bhagwat Purana" and " Picture Postcardes"; and Museum of Arthropoda, Pune, "Introduction to Butt

The National Gallery of Modern Art sponsored an exhibition of 85 works of Rabindranath Tagore which toured Bulgaria, the USSR, the GDR and Czechoslovakia. The exhibition was a great success in all these coun- tries.

In the fields of libraries and archives, Parliament passed the Rampur Raza Library (Amendment) Bill, 1979, and the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library (Amendment) Bill, 1979. The Bills provided laying of regulations of the libraries on the table of both Houses- of Parliament in pursuance of recommendations of the Committee on Subordinate Legisla- tion. The National Archives arranged a number of important exhibitions, notable among these being the exhibition on Sarojini Naidu, the poetess, The Delhi Public Library, an autonomous institution, fully financed by the Government of India, was declared the fourth recipient library under the Delivery of Books Act, 1954. The other three libraries are the National Library, Calcutta, Central Library, Bombay and the Connemara Library, Madras.

The notable achievement of the Sangeet Natak Akademi relates to its training programme in the field of puppetry and support to the rare forms of dances, organisation of festival of tribal arts at Dangi in Gujarat and at

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Manipur. Major festivals were held in traditional style of Aribo Pala, Dhrupad and Bharatnatyam. The documentation work was accelerated. The Lalit Kala Akademi organised a number of exhibitions including exhibitions from Poland, France, Cuba, Great Britain and UNESCO as also the important exhibitions of 60 paintings, graphics and sculptures of the scholars who were awarded scholarships-in visual arts by the Depart- ment of Culture between 1964 and 1977. The Akademi participated in the Asian Art in Bangladesh and 5th International Small Plastic Exhibition in Budapest. The Akademi is continuing its work of organising the 5th Triennale during March, 1982. The Sahitya Akademi organised an inter- national seminar with the theme 'Variations in Ramayana in Asia : their cultural, social and anthropological significance two international seminars in honour of Prem Chand, one at Delhi and the other at Varanasi, besides its normal programmes of seminars, publications, etc.

In the field of scholarships and fellowships, the Department continued to provide opportunities for talented children, youngmen and outstanding scholars to pursue creative and critical studies under various schemes. The emphasis is on the study of rare forms in the field of performing arts. The scholarships awarded in the various fields were as follows : scholarships to young workers in different cultural fields : 75; cultural talent scholarships : 100; and fellowships : 15 in the senior category and 35 in the junior cate- gory.

Financial support was continued to the institutions in the field of Buddhist and Tibetan studies, School of Buddhist Philosophy, Leh, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi, Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology and Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, for preserving Buddhist traditions.

The National Museum and the National Research Laboratory for Con- servation of Cultural Property continued to provide courses in museology and training courses for conservation, and the National Archives in archival training. These are important training programmes to ensure, that the cultural wealth in various museums, libraries, archives is scientifically pre- served.

The work on programmes and events for the Festival of India has made considerable progress. A Press Conference was held by the Chairman, Festival of India, Advisory Committee, Smt. Pupul Jayakar, on December 29, 1981. This was the first Press Conference organiseed by the Chairman who- gave a resume of various events and programmes and the progress made in Britain and in India.

During the year under report, Cultural Agreements were concluded with Ghana, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, besides the cultural agreement with Kenya, which was signed in February 1981, bringing the total number of countries with which cultural agreements have been concluded to 62. Out of these, regular cultural exchange programmes have been finalised with 35 coun- tries. Official deelgations were sent to a number of countries for formulat- ing cultural agreements and cultural exchange programmes.

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