Schemes Promoting Arts and Culture in India

The Ministry of Culture supports India’s tangible and intangible heritage through a mix of financial schemes, autonomous institutions, national missions and statutory bodies. These measures help preserve traditional arts, support artists, document heritage and strengthen cultural infrastructure across the country.

Financial Assistance Schemes

• Scheme for Financial Assistance for Promotion of Art and Culture: An umbrella scheme that supports cultural organisations, artists and institutions through multiple components.
• Financial Assistance to Cultural Organizations with National Presence: Grants reputed cultural groups for training, research and production in traditional art forms.
• Cultural Function and Production Grant (CFPG): Helps NGOs, societies and trusts organise seminars, festivals, workshops, exhibitions, and dance or theatre productions.
• Financial Assistance for Building Grants and Studio Theatres: Supports non-profit cultural organisations in constructing or upgrading auditoriums, studio theatres and related infrastructure.
• Financial Assistance for Preservation and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Himalayas: Provides grants for documenting, preserving and promoting Himalayan folk arts, music, crafts and tribal traditions.
• Scheme of Financial Assistance for Veteran Artists: Formerly the Scheme for Pension and Medical Aid to Artists, it supports senior artists in financial distress.
• Eligibility for Veteran Artists: The artist must be at least 60 years old and have an annual personal income below ₹48,000.
• Financial support: Provides monthly assistance of up to ₹6,000 to eligible veteran artists and, in severe financial distress, their surviving spouses.

Scholarships and Fellowships

• Award of Scholarships to Young Artistes in Different Cultural Fields: Provides financial support to talented individuals aged 18 to 25 years for advanced training in classical music, dance, theatre, visual arts and traditional folk art forms.
• Duration of scholarship: Two years.
• Fellowships to Outstanding Persons in the Field of Culture: Supports research in Indian performing arts, literary arts, plastic arts and rare cultural heritage domains.
• Senior Fellowship: For artists aged 40 years and above.
• Junior Fellowship: For artists aged 25 to 40 years.

National Missions for Cultural Preservation

• National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA): Launched in March 2007 under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• NMMA mandate: Prepares a national database of built heritage, sites and antiquities by documenting both protected and unprotected monuments.
• National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM): Launched in February 2003 by the Ministry of Culture.
• Motto of NMM: Samrakshika Parama Maheshvari (Conserving the future through the past).
• NMM mandate: Locates, documents, conserves and digitizes rare Indian manuscripts written in different scripts and languages.
• Kritisampada: The digital portal used to build the national manuscript database.
• National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM): Launched in 2017 and later transferred to IGNCA in 2021.
• NMCM mandate: Implements the Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar project and maps the cultural identity, festivals, art forms and heritage of villages across India on a centralized portal.

Institutional Framework for Cultural Administration

Regional and Community Initiatives

• Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs): Seven regional centres established between 1985 and 1987 to preserve, promote and present folk, tribal and traditional art forms.
• North Zone Cultural Centre: Patiala, Punjab.
• South Zone Cultural Centre: Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
• Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre: Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Western Zonal Cultural Centre: Udaipur, Rajasthan.
• North East Zone Cultural Centre: Dimapur, Nagaland.
• North Central Zone Cultural Centre: Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
• South Central Zone Cultural Centre: Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• Guru-Shishya Parampara Scheme: Implemented through the seven ZCCs to provide financial stipends to traditional masters (Gurus) and their disciples (Shishyas).
• Objective of Guru-Shishya Parampara: To transmit rare, dying or marginalized folk and tribal art forms to future generations.
• National Cultural Fund (NCF): Set up as a trust in November 1996 under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890.
• Purpose of NCF: Enables private companies, PSUs and individuals to contribute CSR funds for restoration and preservation of protected monuments and cultural projects.

Key Prelims Takeaways

• Ministry of Culture: Uses schemes, missions, academies and grants to preserve India’s cultural heritage.
• Veteran Artists scheme: Supports artists aged 60+ with annual income below ₹48,000.
• Scholarship scheme: Covers young artistes aged 18 to 25 years for two years of advanced training.
• Fellowships: Senior Fellowship is for artists aged 40+ and Junior Fellowship for those aged 25 to 40.
• NMMA: Launched in March 2007 under ASI to document monuments and antiquities.
• NMM: Launched in February 2003 and linked with the Kritisampada portal.
• ZCC network: Seven centres promote regional folk, tribal and traditional art forms.