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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, JAN 11: A year after the Centre’s take-over, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) is lending its IT expertise to government holdings to meet running costs. It is putting on the Net archival material for various departments for sheer survival.
The Rs 50-crore corpus fund given to the IGNCA by the Union Government during its inception — a bone of contention during the take-over — is being found to be insufficient to meet the expenses, which includes the monthly salaries of more than 250 regular employees.
Right after the take-over and the appointment of N.R. Shetty as the new member secretary, the entire IGNCA staff was regularised under the government scale as per the Fifth Pay Commission.
The Rs 15-crore interest from the corpus fund dwindled to Rs 12-13 crore with the falling rates, which hit the Centre rather badly. Left with little option, the IGNCA has to now scout for funds doing projects for other government departments.
“The country is raising funds by lending its IT expertise to the world. Why shouldn’t we do the same? Especially, when we have the expertise. It comes cheaper for the government than hiring professionals from outside,” said Shetty.
To begin with, the IGNCA will be helping the National Museum to digitise its pre-Independence collection of Chinese artifacts and paintings from the Dunhuang caves, with a grant from US-based Mellon Foundations.
The priceless Dunhuang collection from the Chinese Turkministan is literally strewn across three continents — UK and France in Europe, China and India in Asia and the United States of America. It is now being brought together in a virtual archive for research and posterity.
“We will be doing the India part of the virtual archive for the National Museum and earn our bread. Our IT expertise has been internationally praised,” Shetty said.
Next will be the enormous collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) — worth a few million rupees and lying without insurance cover. “The NGMA wants us to digitise their huge collection so that it is accessible to all concerned,” said Shetty.
He said the IGNCA’s IT potential was developed under former academic director Kapila Vatsayan. “It is interesting that they realised the potential of IT at a time when it was neither popular nor common knowledge.”
But being the IT expert in the government’s backyard is obviously not enough, forcing the IGNCA to scout around for funds by doing other projects as well.
After the IT projects, the IGNCA will, on behalf of the government, pursue “Area studies” focusing on Central Asia, China and South Asia. For this, it is likely to get funds from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism.
“To build good relations with neighbours, it is important to have cultural exchanges and develop educational ties. So we are focusing on area studies. We can raise funds only by doing projects as the original trust deed does not allow grants from the government,” Shetty said.
