The Ministry of Culture aims to promote, preserve and conserve the cultural heritage of the country through its network of 2 attached offices, 6 subordinate offices and 34 autonomous organizations and a number of directly operated schemes.  The main functions of the Culture Ministry include maintenance and conservation of heritage, historic sites and ancient monuments, administration of libraries, promotion of literary, visual and performing arts, observation of centenaries and anniversaries of important national personalities and events. Other mandate of the Ministry is promotion of institutions and organizations of Buddhist and Tibetan studies, promotion of institutional and individual non-official initiatives in the fields of art and culture, entering into cultural agreements with foreign countries and creating  cultural awareness from the grass root level to the international cultural exchange level.

 The Plan expenditure of the Ministry in the last three years is as below:

• 2011-12   –  Rs. 749.01 crore
• 2012-13   -   Rs. 803.78 crore
• 2013-14  -   Rs. 1376.84 crore

Some of the major recent initiatives and other achievements of the Ministry are given below:

E-Ticketing at the Taj and Humayun Tomb:

The process of E-ticketing at important historical monuments has begun with the launch of E-ticketing at the Taj Mahal in Agra and Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi. This has been accomplished with the help of IRCTC. After the initiation of the pilot project, E-ticketing will be rolled out for all other ticketed monuments throughout the country and the task will be completed by the end of 2015.

Adarsh Smarak:

ASI has identified  25 monuments to be developed as Model Monuments. These monuments would be provided necessary tourist facilities including wi-fi, security, signages, encroachment free area, interpretation centres showing short films about the importance of monuments and signboards of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Some of the monuments included in Adarsh Smarak scheme are Leh Palace, Leh(J&K), Humayun’s Tomb(New Delhi), Red Fort,(Delhi), Shore Temple(Mahabalipuram), Elephanta Caves(Mumbai Maharashtra), Taj Mahal,Agra,(UP), Rani-ki-Vav(Gujarat) among others.

Swachh Bharat mission was launched in the Ministry of Culture on 25 September, 2014 with signing of an MoU between ASI, ONGC and Ministry of Tourism for constructing toilets and other facilities at the Taj Mahal.  Five more monuments would be covered under Clean India campaign.

Statue of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel: Rs. 200 crore has been released for the Statue of Unity – a statue of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel to be built in Gujarat.

Representation in International Organizations

·         India has been elected for the next four years (2014-18) to the Inter-governmental Committee for the safeguarding of the intangible Cultural Heritage in a vote in June 2014 at UNESCO headquarters.  India won the election by a resounding 135 votes against a total of 142 votes cast.

·         Through the active lobbying of the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO, India was nominated as Vice Chair to the Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage from November 2014 until November 2015.

Project Mausam:

 Maritime Routes and Cultural Landscapes was launched by the Ministry of Culture in the 38^th Session of World Heritage Committee in June 2014, at Qatar. The first international conference, scheduled in February 2015, would be organized with national and international research partners and collaborators. The central theme of this conference is Great Centres of Learning: Knowledge Societies and the Making of the Indian Ocean region.

Rani kaVav (Gujarat) and Great Himalayan National Park  (H.P.) have been inscribed on World Heritage List during the 38^th Session of  World Heritage Committee held in June, 2014 at Doha, Qatar.

The World Heritage Committee has inscribed the Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area (GHNPCA), India, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criterion (x) of UNESCO Guidelines. 

The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) is located in the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.

Major Commemorations

The inaugural function of three major commemorations has been held– Centenary of Komagata Maru incident on 29th September, 2014, Birth Centenary of Begum Akhtar on 7th October 2014 and  125th Birth Centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru has also been inaugurated on 14th November, 2014. A sum of Rs. 20 crore has been released to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) this year for launching a Nehru Portal on the lines of Gandhi Heritage Portal, publication of selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, renovation and modernization of Nehru Museum and other activities of such nature.

The yearlong celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of Lalit Kala Akademi also began this year.

National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities has uploaded about 3 lakh entries pertaining to documentation of Antiquities from various Museums/ Documentation Resource Centres (DRCs) across India on the NMMA website.  The website “museumsofindia.gov.in” has been launched which contains of part of digitised collection of ten important national museums for public information worldwide.

SAARC Cultural Cooperation

The SAARC Heads of Government met in Kathmandu and agreed for enhanced focus on cultural relations(Sept 25, 2014). The SAARC Culture Ministers met in Delhi and agreed on the SAARC agenda for Culture for 2014-17 in the form of Delhi Resolution. India hosted the SAARC Traditional Dance Festival from September 26-29, 2014

Other International Cooperation: India has cultural agreement with 126 countries for promotion of International Cultural Relations (ICR).

·         The India-China collaboration between Cultural Institutions was signed during the State visit of President of China in 2014.

·         The India-Australia collaboration in Cultural Exchanges was signed during the visit of Prime Minister of India to Australia

·         The India-Vietnam collaboration in Cultural Exchanges was signed during the visit of Prime Minister of Vietnam to India

·         The India-Russian Federation Joint Economic and Cultural Commission chaired by External Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Russian Federation outlined the roadmap for cultural exchanges between India and Russian Federation for the year 2015-16

·         India & UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the India-UK cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019. 

·         India and Poland have agreed for deepening collaboration in culture sector covering diverse activities including conservation, museums, archaeology, archives, science museums, and performing arts.

·         India was the signatory to the joint declaration of the ASEM Culture Ministers for enhanced cultural relations on creative industries between Asia and Europe

·         India and Russia have decided to l renew the Cultural Exchange Programme 2015-2018. This was decided in the 20th meeting of the India-Russia Working Group on Culture and Tourism of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation .

   Festivals of India

·         Circuit 4 of Festival of India in China commenced on December 2, 2014 - the Indian Museum is presenting  the Buddhist Art Exhibition in Shanghai from December 2 to February 15, 2015

·         The Festival of India in Japan was inaugurated in Tokyo on October 27, 2014. The year-long festival of India in Japan represents India’s major cultural foray into Japan on a large scale for the first time since 1988, almost 26 years ago. Covering 20 cities, the Festival of India in Japan is being conducted in two phases

·         Festival of India in Vietnam was held in November 2014 to showcase Classical Dance Recital, Buddhist Festival, Food, folk dance, Mehndi and Yoga.

Projects related to Mahatma Gandhi  :

 The Dandi Heritage Path has been approved by the Ministry and it has sanctioned the Dandi Heritage Path Project (Phase-1) for an amount of Rs 58.91 cr. The Ministry has released Rs 7.00cr in 2013-14 and Rs 6.00 cr in 2014-15 to Government of Gujarat for execution of the project. Work on the Path has started on a war footing.

The proposal of the Ministry of External Affairs for up gradation of the Gandhi Ashram Trust at Noakhali (Bangladesh) has been approved by Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission.

A proposal of the High Commission of India to South Africa for setting up a permanent exhibition at the iconic Pietermaritzburg Railway Station in South Africa has been approved by the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission.

Archaeological Survey of India(ASI)         

There are 116 ticketed monuments, archaeological sites and remains under the Archaeological Survey of India.  The revenue earned by ASI through sale of entry tickets during the last three years is as under: 

                                                                       Rupees in lacs

The approved projects of ASI for the field season 2013-14 were 16 in number, which have been carried out.

A total of Rs 218.41 cr were allotted to the ASI during the year 2013-2014 under Plan.

The amount spent on exploration/excavation is  as under:

Amount Rs in Crore                                                                                        

1.43 % was incurred on the exploration/excavation activities/work

Archaeological Survey of India has once again started excavations at the Protected Site of Sarnath from 19th February, 2014 after a gap of over 80 years. The newly created Jodhpur Circle of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) started functioning from  this year.  

Conservation work at Kedarnath: After the reopening of the Kedarnath Temple in May, 2014, ASI has started conservation work there. Major works to be accomplished at the site by ASI include packing the stones (matching the original profile and design),  providing wooden flooring, cleaning of entire interior of the temple and preserving its stone surfaces and repairs to the temple steps and stone plinth, including resetting wherever necessary and repairs to the roof over Mandapa of the temple. Stone dressers (from Rajasthan), labourers and carpenters have been engaged by ASI for the conservation work.Rs. Two Crore have been earmarked to ASI for restoration of Shri Kedarnath Temple. 

ASI Abroad

·         ASI has undertaken conservation projects abroad on the request of MEA, totally funded by the MEA.  These include conservation of Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia, Vat Phou Temple in Lao PDR and Ananda Temple at Bagan in Myanmar. 

·         The ASI is also supervising restoration work of Thiruketeeswaram Temple in Sri Lanka which is being executed by College of Architecture and Sculpture, Mamallapuram and funded by MEA.

·         The work of restorations of PashupatiNath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal is being taken up by ASI at an estimated cost of Rs. 25 crore.

·         During the visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in October 2014, an MoU was signed between India and Vietnam on Conservation and Restoration of the World Heritage Site of My Son, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.

National Mission on Libraries (NML)

The National Mission on Libraries (NML) was launched in 2014 by Ministry of Culture to modernise and digitally link public libraries across the country.  Rs. 45 crores of Financial Sanctions have been under NML to 15 States for modernization of State Central Libraries and District Libraries

Digitization

In pursuance of the Prime Minister's announcement for Digital India - the National Mission on Manuscripts will provide added impetus to digitization of manuscripts, digitization of rare books and digitization programs under the National Mission on Libraries

National Archives of India

The National Archives of India has successfully collaborated with the State Archives of Turkey and the National Records and Archives Authority of Oman in a series of meetings in Ankara and Muscat during 2014. The protocol allows National Archives of India to access ancient Ottoman Archives records amounting to 12 million documents with considerable historical importance.

The National Archives of India presented the Bapu - Pha Exhibition depicting the

lives of Mahatma Gandhi and King Bhumibo Adulyadej in Bangkok on December            2, 2014.

The National Archives of India will catalogue 6.5 lac files of the 17 lac files received by it from various Ministries in 2015 by enhancing the deployment under the Critical Areas Projects.

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NB/PS