Panel: unified cultural policy not desirable

The Government is likely to abandon its idea of framing a national culture policy with a majority of members of a 19-member committee...

The Government is likely to abandon its idea of framing a national culture policy with a majority of members of a 19-member committee 8212; that was formed to look into the feasibility of such a proposition 8212; expressing their views against it. The committee, which held a meeting on Wednesday, was unanimous in its opinion that a uniform cultural policy in a multi-cultural country like India was neither desirable nor feasible. Instead, the committee was of the view that there was a need to define a broad roadmap for effective management and administration of cultural institutions in the country.

8220;A national culture policy is sort of a misnomer. What the committee would be attempting at is to recommend a policy for public action in cultural institutions. This would not infringe upon the multi-cultural character of the country,8221; said Ashok Vajpayee, chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, and one of the members of the committee.

Another member, on condition of anonymity, pointed out that in no other country of the world, even in the most repressive regimes, any such policy had been envisaged. 8220;However, our cultural institutions badly need reforms and the members were in agreement to frame guidelines for effective management of these institutions,8221; he said.

The member said any uniform cultural policy was liable to be misused for political interests and there were hardly any benefits accruing out of the move.

The national cultural policy has been a non-starter right from the time the idea was mooted by the Culture Ministry towards the end of 2006. It had asked this committee to give recommendations for such a policy to be framed. The six-month deadline for the committee had expired in April last year. Only one meeting was held in the first six months of its tenure and that too, was attended by only half of the members.

With a number of members questioning the rationale for such a move, the idea was almost junked, but the committee was not dissolved. Recently, the ministry revived the idea and asked the committee to hold fresh discussions and appraise it of its views.

The committee includes prominent personalities like U R Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, M T Vasudevan Nair, Ramachandra Guha, Mallika Sarabhai. Only nine or 10 members could attend Wednesday8217;s meeting. Some members had also submitted their written submissions.