Old IGNCA projects may be axed

Of course, it is being done under the garb of 8220;shifting operations to the more accessible state of Assam8221;, which is going to be the headquarter of the North-East. An attitude which is culturally and politically resented by other north-eastern states.

8220;It is merely being shifted to Guwahati in Assam, to bigger and more accessible premises, essentially as part of the IGNCA8217;s plans to expand its operations in north-eastern states,8221; said Shetty.

However, the two persons leading the Manipur unit 8212; documentary filmmaker Aribam Shyam Sharma and scholar-linguistic Ojha Khel Chand 8212; have beensummarily dismissed. The reason being given for Shyam Sharma8217;s dismissal and closure of Manipur unit which he headed was that 8220;too many films were being made8221;. And Khel Chand, the only surviving scholar who knows both Meiti the Manipuri language and Sanskrit, has been dismissed because he has not yet micro-filmed the collection of rare Sanskrit texts found in Manipur.

Apparently, the sensitive Manipur unit which was documenting performing art forms typical to the state and sourcing ancient Sanskrit texts, was set-up in Imphal keeping the political crisis in mind.

8220;It is culturally the most threatened area. The Manipur unit was set up to give them a feeling that it is not another insensitive project from Delhi which thinks of all of North-east as an extension of Guwahati,8221; an official associated with the Manipur project explained.

Shyam Sharma8217;s documentaries have received national and international awards. Two films shot till date have rare footage on the Manipuri martial art form, Thaangta, and other performing art forms like Lai Haraoba 8212; never ever visually recorded before. Work on documentation on art forms of Tripura had also begun and some of them are lying at the IGNCA.

But the present IGNCA authorities feel that the research work had, since 1996, been restricted to film-making and that too, only in and around Manipur at the cost of other states. Moreover, anthropological work has been neglected.

8220;Perhaps the reason was the professional interests of head of the Manipur unit Aribam Shyam Sharma, who is a filmmaker and not an anthropologist,8221; Shetty commented, adding that the new centre in Guwahati will have an eminent anthropologist Prof A.C. Bhagwati who is the former vice-chancellor of Arunachal Pradesh University. 8220;Besides, the new premises have been given by the Gauhati University free of cost,8221; Shetty said.