RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN THE NATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON CULTURE POLICY ORGANISED IN DELHI ON 16TH 17TH NOVEMBER, 1992
MUSIC AND DANCE 1. The Sanskriti Parishad should be a monitoring body rather than controlling authority merely disbursing funds. It should be a centre for continuous in-flow and radiation of information with radials stretching out to the grass-root level. Thus the Sanskriti Parishad could be the hub of a wheel where constant re-appraisal could be made about policy and its implementation by receiving "the information from the rim" as it were. Creation of a new body to perform the same functions or similar functions would be duplication.
2. Simpler methods of encouraging children to participate in the local art traditions, encouraging singing and acting together and playing simple instruments, painting, etc., should form part of the school going process.
3. It was felt that the resources of the corporate sector could be utilized more purposefully in areas where the public funds are limited. We suggest that welfare schemes for the artistic community should also be cosidered.
4. It was felt that existing spaces should be identified for use by art groups, and inexpensive performing areas created, designed separately to accomodate different needs of music, dance and theatre activity. Convertible spaces and their management would be necessary aspect of optimum space utilisation for art activities. Modest structures without ambitious architectural ventures are the need of the hour.
5. It is imperative that "Quality" programmes be produced on media to combat the pernicious influence of media and the "Consumerism" that they propagate. The quality control of the programmes is to be assessed and controlled by the audience and artistes. The cultural policy need/should not entrust the responsibility to any group of people. Separate time and channel is recommended for quality programmes.
THEATRE 1. There is no point in creating yet another institution funded by the Government. The establishement of the Bhartiya Sanskriti Parishad may not really be necessary as it may turn out to be yet another centralised institution and may suffer from problems which all centralised institutions like the Akademies seem to suffer from. Such a Parishad would be welcome if it were created as an autonomous body to replace the Department of Cuture. It should primarily be concerned with promotion, support and the funding of arts. Institutions like the Archaeological Survey of India, Libraries, Museums, Welfare Schemes and other similar institutions and programmes which necessarily require highly complex bureaucratic infrastructure both at state and central levels should not be a part of the functions of the Parishad. There should, therefore, be a single funding and endowment agency for theatre.
2. The Sangeet Natak Akademy should be split into three Akademies relating to Music, Dance and Drama respectively. There is a need to provide for close interaction and inter-relationship between the proposed three Akademies.
3. According to one view, the nature of this funding promotion agency was an open question. The other view was that the proposed Natak Akademy could be that funding and promotion agency. It is necessary to create an infrastructure which enables this agency to identify and monitor grass root theatre activity with a view to supporting and promoting it. One-time support without reference to subsequent development of given theatre groups should not be the nature of its funding activity. Promotion of theatre should be a continuous process. This agency must be alive to different
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conditions and levels of theatre activity in different. regions in the country. It would and should have a cluster of policies to accommodate the diversities of activity and experience.
4. The outmoded and outdated "Dramatic Performance Act" of 1876 which is still in existence should be scrapped forthwith. Censorship of theatre and dramatic texts, direct or indirect, should be stopped.
5. Zonal Cultural Centres should be abolished. If that were not feasible, their fuctions should be redefined.
6. An active campaign and assistance scheme to preserve the traditional and rural theatre and, of 'course, the traditional and rural artists should be launched. In a number of places, these forms are dying or are being vulgarised due to lack of support of any kind and from any quarter. The traditional artists are being thrown out of the field. This situation has to be remedied.
7. Attention has to be paid to the Sanskrit Theatre. A concerted attempt should be made to ensure that number of groups doing Sanskrit theatre increases and that new directors bring their respective styles to bear upon the classical theatre. A repertory/Centre for Sanskrit Theatre should be conceived and encouraged.
8. Documentation should be done in a manner in which it can be enduring and long lasting. Theatre performances and the like have to be documented in 16 MM rather than on video.
9. The Doordarshan (DD) should have a theatre-hour on its national network for theatre in all Indian languages.
10. Possibility of creating pension, health, housing and insurance benefits for theatre workers should be examined.
11. The Parishad or the funding agency could explore the possibility of getting private enterprise, i.e., the industrial sector in the country interested in theatre.
12. Theatre can be a tool of education. Co-operation of the CCRT and educationists may be sought in effectively using theatre as tool of education.
13. Dramatics should be introduced as a subject at various levels beginning with the schools and certainly in colleges and universities.
14. Payment and remuneration in theatre are abysmally low. This situation puts an actor or a director socially much below other artists in the fields of dance, film or painting. This situation needs correcting.
15. An active intervention in the field of theatre on the lines of the NFDC is urgently necessary.
16. One-of the crying needs of theatre has been that of performance and rehearsal places. Everytime a theatre is planned to be built, it must be made obligatory for the concerned authorities and institutions that theatre directors and designers are consulted and are involved in the project.
MEDIA AND CULTURE 1. Media and culture, the area of creativity in film, television, video, radio and criticism need to be constantly expanded through a concerted action aimed at countering trends and forces which seek to homogenize, sanitize and trivialize culture, information and entertainment. A cultural policy should pursue the quest for excellence reflected in the concept of Neeti, a concept which respects, even favours, dissent, interrogation, diversity.
2. The state must deploy active efforts to provide effective autonomy to existing cultural institutions, to encourage their inter- face and to solicit the support and participation of all bodies, whether public or private, whether governmental or non-governmental, with a view to produce, disseminate and preserve the most sensitive and meaningful expression of India's cultural imagination.
3. Within the government itself, culture needs to be given a distinctly higher profile. A full-fledged and separate ministry of culture needs to be set up. The officials manning it would have to be men and women with a proven interest in and knowledge of a broad range of cultural activities. Facilities should be made avilable to train administrators of culture.
4. The culture ministry should be given a mandate which presently fall within the purview of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. This would include all matters, pertaining to film, television
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programmes, video programmes and radio programmes with a pronounced cultural content. The I&B Ministry should continue to disseminate information regarding government propaganda and conduct the necessary programmes in family planning, etc.
5. To enable the culture ministry to function in an effective manner, a National Culture Mission should be set up. This body would activate existing cultural institutions, both in the formal and informal sectors and embark on a nationwide aural and visual literacy drive. It will also establish regional and local resource centre to encourage participatory and critical cultural practices. Not the least, it will interact with other ministries to sensitize them for the promotion of cultural endeavour.
6. Membership of this Mission should be broadbased keeping in mind representation for various creative disciplines, linguistic groups and different modes of expression: classical, folk, contemporary creations etc. The life span of the mission to begin with should be five years.
7. Private sector should be offered tax breaks and other such incentives to sponsor creative programmes. The resources derived from the private sector should be pooled and not tied to a particular programme. The mission will provide subsidies specially for research and development in culture.
8. A thorough review of rules, regulations and legislation regarding artistic activity, in particular censorship should be made. The rights of the creator especially author's right-need to be firmly protected. There should be coordination of central and state and local laws regarding production and exhibition of films, tax and revenue, tax exemption, subsidy/building of cinema halls. Critics need to be provided institutional support-in the form, for example, of fellowships-to hone their critical skills. The professionalisation of critical activity should also be promoted through workshops conducted by leading practitioners of the critics craft.
9. Greater resources need to be deployed to preserve our audio visual production. The archival work being done in various institutions deserves strong encouragement. The preservation of cultural memory should be a prime task of the national cultural mission.
PROMOTION AND SUPPORT 1. The Plan allocation on Culture as a proportion of the total outlay should be increased substantially.
2. Increased outlay on culture in the State Budgets can be more effectively achieved through Centrally Sponsored Schemes. In order to provide incentives to states to increase their allocation, we recommend a system of matching grants which will stimulate state efforts.
3. It is most important to utilise the available funds in the most effective and transparent manner. Towards this end, management capabilities of all institutions at the state and central level should be strengthened and institutional arrangements should be improved. There should be an effective monitoring system.
4. A review should be undertaken of various existing schemes where the results have not been commensurate with the amount spent.
5. Government needs to create greater awareness in the corporate sector to promote culture and the following steps are recommended:-
6. At present, 100% tax relief to the donor is available only on the scientific and social science research activities and not for any activity or contribution which can be related to training or other creative promotion. 100% tax benefit should be given to contributions for all activities pertaining to promotion of art and culture as approved by a designated authority. This benefit should also be available for contributions towards creation of Corpus funds for the approved activities.
7. The group recommends that the Department of Culture should establish an Expert Group which could function as the designated authority for processing all applications for the tax benefit.
8. Any organisation in Public or Private sector should be encouraged to spend upto 1% of their profit before tax for promotion of cultural activities and preservation of art forms, with due tax benefits.
9. Adequate housing being a pre-requisite for nurturing art and artistes, Nationalisd Banks should be encouraged to extend loan facilities to artistes, the repayment of which, could be in the form of recitals rather than in cash.
10. Public Sector Undertakings and Commercial organisations should be encouraged to employ a suitable
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number of artistes on lines similar to those of the employment of sports people. etc., with a view to extend much needed financial support.
11. The Group recommends setting up of a National Arts Fund which would be a credit institution supplying finance for various cultural activities and for artists, writers and book publishers.
12. According to present Govt. policy, 2% of the cost of every government building constructed by the CPWD should be spent on the aesthetic and artistic work of that building. This decision should be strictly implemented and further such funds should be allowed to be utilised for purchase of art objects.
13. In building new residential complexes, developers, builders and town planning authority should be required to provide setting up of a cultural centre or complex.
14. Infrastructure facilities available in schools and colleges and auditoria constructed with the Governmental support should be made available for cultural performances whenever freely available. There should be access for artistes and art troupes even for rehearsals.
15. Cells (either within or outside the Government) should be set up both at the Central and State levels to act as a clearing house of information and as a facilitating organisation to assist artistes and art organisations in finding donors and in getting advice on tax incentives available, etc.
16. The Bharatiya Sanskriti Parishad which could have the collective wisdom of the artistic community in its functions should take over the function of policy and allocation regarding the use of funds earmarked for Art and Culture.
17. It is essential that various cultural events whether organised by voluntary organisations or by the State get maximum exposure in the electronic and other media based only on the intrinsic value of the event.
VISUAL ARTS, PHOTOGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE 1. It is recommended that a national body be set up comprising a "Group of Peers" drawn from the various fields of the arts and various related disciplines. This body would have the power to monitor, review, and subject to critique, the workings of institutions concerned with the visual arts.
2. It would also determine the allocation of funds to these institutions. The "Group of Peers" will not seek to direct, but will enter into dialogue with the institutions.
3. The autonomy of this Group of Peers would be safeguarded by the following measures:-
i) It would be a statutory body, modelled on the UPSC. In terms of its accountability, it would be responsible only to Parliament and to the CAG, and not to any political or other source of influence.
ii) The State would channelise funds into this body. However, this body should also have the power to raise funds for itself - creating an independent corpus from private and public sources.
iii) Like the Rajya Sabha, the Group of Peers would be a self- regenerating body: as a rotatory body, it will periodically renew itself, when a certain proportion of members will retire, and others shall be inducted. These indirections will be deliverated upon by the body itself, without dictation from political or bureaucratic centres of power.
4. Reform in the existing cultural institutions is proposed as under:-
i) Complete de-bureaucratisation.
ii) Redefinition of their roles and methods, so as to avoid the colonial legacy of dead approaches. The anthropological and archaeological premises - which are fraught with insider/outsider, dominant/ subaltern assumptions - of our cultural institutions must be questioned.
iii) All cultural institutions run as subordinate offices of the Government must be given autonomy. Through the mediation of expert panels and advisory committees - appointed on a professional basis - these institutions could then act with greater orginality of initiative and emphasis.
5. The following areas of culture, hitherto marginalised or neglected in various ways, must be given the recognition due to them; folk and tribal arts, photography, and architecture. We recommend the establishement of the following :-
- a National academy of folk and tribal art
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- a National Centre for Photography
- a National academy of Architecture (both traditional and contemporary)
6. The Department of Culture must define closer and more efficient linkages with all Departments connected with tribal culture.
7. A cadre of what may provisionally be termed `art administrators' could be built up, so that talent could be channelised into the management of cultural institutions, a cadre of trained, motivated personnel could thus be organised, to sensitively run the various arts institutions.
EDUCATION, CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT 1. Education can contribute to the role that Culture can play in giving us a sense of judgement in the present moment of stress provided education is redefined and weaned away from the destiny stamped on it by colonial rule.
2. In lieu of the Bharatiya Sanskriti Parishad proposed in the Approach Paper. and in lieu of a Culture Policy that may be finalised soon, a national level body which might be called Rashtriya Sanskritic Dayitva Ayog or National Cultural Responsibility Commission be set up to undertake the following tasks.
a) Examine the cultural implications and the compatibility of existing policies in different areas of state activity, especially education, economy, industry and law;
b) Examine the cultural pre-suppositions of the Indian civilisation;
c) Suggest ways of direct engagements of culture in development patterns in the service of ethical and ecological responsibility and spiritual catholicity.
d) Examine the fate of primary education as it has developed so far.
3. In order to assist formal educational institutions to overcome their alienation from cultural patterns and heritage, provision should be made to ensure that oral traditions find a place in the formal school curriculum; Provision should be made to facilitate interaction between schools and colleges and local art/ craft traditions and knowledge systems. Such provision may include engagements of local artists and crafts persons by schools, strengthening and expansion of the work of CCRT; Exposure of school and college students should be organised to reputed and established artists and art forms through public initiative. An example of this kind of activity exists on a limited basis in the form of SPIC-MACAY; A new form of polytechnic education should be encouraged for rural areas which would make possible a creative relationship between tradition knowledge and skills and innovativeness on one hand, and formal education and technology on the other.