Ancient artefacts get new lease of life, thanks to the National Culture Fund

George Iype in New Delhi

Thousands of neglected artefacts, ill-maintained museums and monuments in India are to get a new lease of life, thanks to a full-fledged National Culture Fund that the United Front government has set up recently.

The NCF, established under the central human resources development ministry at the instance of art and culture-friendly Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, will launch a series of culture-related projects across the country by August 15.

According to B P Singh, secretary, department of culture, the government has contributed a corpus of Rs 195 million to the fund. It has also requested generous contributions from across the world, especially from Indian corporate houses and the non-resident Indian businessmen, to support art and cultural activities under the NFC.

"The NCF's main aim is to raise adequate funds for the restoration of the numerous monuments that are lying neglected in India and to help properly maintain the museums across the country," Singh told Rediff On The NeT.

"We will allow corporate houses and companies to put up plaques at the sites, mentioning their contributions in restoring the monuments," he said, adding that the monuments will be offered to business houses for "adoption."

This is the first time the Indian government is giving a corporate image to the country's vast cultural assets. But Singh said the effort is to make the restoration and protection of art and culture "everybody's business in the country."

Culture department sources say the government plans to appoint some top captains of Indian industry on the NCF board. Already, the government is said to have short-listed Ratan Tata of the Tata Group, Suresh Nevatia of Gujarat Ambjua and Anil Rai from the Usha Group for this purpose.

The government also plans to involve several culture czars and art experts in NCF's culture-related projects.

The projects include commissioning artists and arranging art auctions, preparing a detailed National Register of Sites and Monuments and commissioning films on eminent Indian artists in collaboration with the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

Interestingly, the NCF is said to have been widely welcomed by some foreign countries. For instance, some Buddhist organisations in Thailand have reportedly showed keen interest to set up Buddhist cultural complexes at four places in India: Udaigiri in Orissa, Bodhgaya, Vaishali and Nalanda in Bihar.

Official sources said one main reason for setting up the NCF was the complete failure of the government-run Archaeological Survey of India in protecting thousands of precious artefacts, museums and monuments across the country.

The ASI has often complained that lack of adequate funds and shortage of manpower are largely responsible for its inability to protect the country's museums and monuments.

Smuggling of artefacts from Indian shores is a frequent phenomenon. Last year, there was a hue and cry among Indian art lovers when the Western press alleged that the famous auction house, Sotheby's, in London, sold a number of smuggled art objects from India's temples and churches.