IGNCA: Row continues over Vatsyayan return

The controversy at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts IGNCA over the return of septuagenarian Dr Kapila Vatsyayan as its chair...

The controversy at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts IGNCA over the return of septuagenarian Dr Kapila Vatsyayan as its chairperson continues unabated.

It is not just the daily dharnas by the employees8217; union protesting against Vatsyayan8217;s appointment8212;which they term illegal; there is a battle brewing even among the denizens of the Centre.

Soon after her contentious takeover a fortnight ago, IGNCA sources say Vatsyayan found her empire had shrunk. Many departments and missions have gone out of the IGNCA8217;s ambit even though the institution remains the nodal agency governing these bodies.

For instance, the National Mission for Manuscripts, which has been given primary status, is being run independently and has its own mission director in Sudha Gopalakrishnan.

The latter was given independent charge of the mission in 2003 by then Culture Minister Jagmohan.

The minister granted special status to the manuscripts mission to preserve and collate the vast number of valuable manuscripts across India. An IGNCA source said: 8220;Sourcing, researching and preserving manuscripts was a primary mandate of the IGNCA envisioned by Vatsyayan8212;one of the founder-members of the centre8212;herself. She has found to her dismay today that the manuscripts mission is out of her charge.8221;

Sources Vatsyayan8217;s attempts to bring the mission under the IGNCA once again as vice-chairperson of the advisory committee in the Culture Ministry have been thwarted by an influential government lobby. 8220;It helps that mission director Gopalakrishnan8217;s husband, R Gopalakrishnan, is a joint secretary in the Prime Minister8217;s Office PMO,8221; IGNCA sources added.

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Vatsyayan stonewalls queries about bringing back the manuscripts mission, saying: 8220;I do not know ask the Culture Ministry.8221;

Asked if she could be privy to meetings being a member of the ministry8217;s advisory committee, the reply is: 8220;There were only two meetings, I do not know about it.8221;

Two other prestigious IGNCA missions8212;the Intangible Heritage Mission and the ambitious Digitisation Mission8212;are yet to start functioning despite being announced with much fanfare two years ago. The previous NDA Government and the Manmohan Singh regime have not held back funds to carry on the IGNCA8217;s project work.

The IGNCA had been earmarked Rs 90 crore in the 10th Five Year Plan but funds have not been released yet. As a result, many projects are yet to take off or have been grounded.

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Sources at the Centre say a substantial portion of the meagre funds available to the institution are used up in administration costs and in running the Centre, leaving very little for projects.