Culture Ministry loses Rs 75 cr

In what could be seen as a cutback on unnecessary expenditure on ‘‘cultural nationalism’’ initiated by the NDA Government, the Finance Ministry has decided to slash the Culture Ministry’s annual budget by Rs 75 crore this year.

Only earlier this year, the ministry, under Jagmohan, had received a bonanza of Rs 150 crore, up from its earlier Rs 250-crore outlay. Jagmohan had set off on several new projects, beginning with the mammoth and controversial Saraswati River Project, estimated at more than Rs 75 crore, including extensive archaeological research and excavation, and finally, building of tourist hubs along the river. Also, there were several festivals, such as Sindhu Darshan in Leh, which was started by the NDA and then, condemned as part of its ‘‘Hindutva project’’.

The Culture Ministry under the UPA has been slow but steady in its ‘‘cleansing’’ of the erstwhile NDA Government’s agenda — after dissolving the board of trustees of the IGNCA and nominating seven members, it has reconstituted the Nehru Memorial Board. Besides, it has set up an advisory council for the Culture Ministry, headed by none other than ousted IGNCA head Kapila Vatsyayan.

The IGNCA committee met a fortnight ago but did not nominate the other 14 members nor a president (Sonia Gandhi was divested of a life term by the Vajpayee Government) while the advisory council met last week.