Setting Up Of Centres To Create Awareness Among People About Indian Culture

Question by: Ravindra Shyamnarayan alias Ravi Kishan Shukla; Vishnu Dayal Ram

Question

1. whether the Government proposes to set up any centre in the country for spreading of awareness of the cultural heritage of India;
2. if so, the State-wise/Union Territory-wise details thereof;
3. the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government for creating awareness about cultural heritage and values of India among the people in this regard?

Answer by:Minister of State for Tourism Independent Charge (Prahlad Singh Patel)

• To protect, promote and preserve various forms of folk art and for spreading awareness of the cultural heritage of India throughout the country, the Government of India has already set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur.
• Member States of Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs)
  1. North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala-Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Chandigarh
  2. West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur- Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Union Territory of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli
  3. South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur-Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Puducherry
  4. South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur- Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana
  5. Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata- Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  6. North Central Zone Cultural Centre,Prayagraj- Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and NCT of Delhi
  7. North East Zone Cultural Centre,Dimapur- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura
• These ZCCs organize various cultural activities and programmes all over the country on regular basis for which annual grant-in-aid is provided to them by the Government of India.
• For creating awareness about cultural heritage and values of India among the people, Ministry of Culture has organized Rashtriya SanskritiMahotsavs (RSMs) at New Delhi (November, 2015 and October, 2016), at Varanasi (December, 2016), at Bengaluru &Tawang (March, 2017), at Gujarat (October, 2017), at Karnataka (January, 2018), at Madhya Pradesh (February, 2018 & October, 2019) and at Tehri (May, 2018) and some other major festivals like Sanskriti Mahotsav at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (February, 2018), Kabir Festival ''AnhaadNaad'' at Maghar, Uttar Pradesh (June, 2018).
• Further, all the ZCCs participated in the Kumbh Mela, 2019 at Prayagraj from January to March, 2019 by providing cultural support which was organized by Government of Uttar Pradesh.
• Besides, all the ZCCs organize various cultural activities/programmes as per their respective approved annual programme calendar, out of which several such activities/programmes are held in close collaboration with their member States.