By Sagar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 16: More than two lakh artistes in the state are still out of the purview of government schemes which were initiated to benefit them in an effort to preserve traditional performing arts. Reduced to penury, many such artistes have either quit their professions or are not willing to teach their children an art that was passed on to them from generations.
According to the directorate of the culture department, the culturally-rich state has a total of 465 art forms which are practised by more than three lakh artistes in all 30 districts. However, so far only 80,080 artistes have been enrolled with the department.
“It was the Paika rebellion that resisted the British in 1817 in Khurda. Today, not more than five Paika akharas are left here. Gradually, they stopped learning Paika and got into some job that would bring them income. Seeing the interest of some school students, I’ve started a Paika akhara, but I’m not sure if they will continue here once they grow up,” said Kaviraj Pradhan, a Paika trainer from Khurda.
Paika is a recognised martial art form by the government, performed mostly in regions of Khurda and Balasore.
The enrolment in itself, although, is not a means to get a job, but enlisted artistes get occasional offers to perform at state-sponsored cultural festivals or be part of awareness campaigns on health or education.
But what is surprising is that the state still has no scheme that avails steady income to the artistes and neither does it have a pension scheme to support ageing ones.
“I’m 70 years old already and I know I won’t see the change I wanted to see in the life of performing artistes. The government has failed when it comes to saving many of the traditional arts, especially those traditionally performed by Dalits,” said Ghasi Ram, an artiste who runs an art school in Bolangir.
A couple of years ago, the government set up Zilla Kala Sanskruti Sanghas (ZKSS) at the district-level and Block Kala Sanskruti Sanghas (BKSS) at the block level to identify local performing artistes and have them enlisted to provide livelihood support. In the state, there are 314 BKSS and 30 ZKSS covering all the blocks and districts.
On being asked why the Sanghas have failed in getting performing artistes under their fold, Basudev Malbishoyi, state project coordinator of the culture department, said, “It’s been only three years, and we are trying our best to get all artistes enlisted. It is an ongoing process.”
When asked about the general conception that artistes have of the department being partial to certain arts, Malbishoyi says there is no such bias and enrolment is open for all.
Last October, while chairing a review meeting with culture department officials, the Chief Minister asked them to enroll individual artistes at the BKSS and ZKSS as well. It was also decided to set up Nagar Kala Sanskruti Sangha (NKSS) in urban areas with a population of more than a lakh. A decision was also taken to set up a Rajya Kala Sanskruti Sangha (RKSS) headed by the culture minister as ex-officio president and one of the vice-presidents of ZKSS nominated as vice-president for RKSS.
However, no NKSS has come into existence. The department explained there are only 13 district-level officials and to implement ZKSS and BKSS properly, it would need at least 30 district-level officers.
Lately, the government has also created a converged fund for ZKSS and BKSS wherein funds are converged by various other departments. During the year 2013-14, the health and family welfare department converged `4.5 crore under malaria, dengue and diarrhoea campaigns during 2013-14 at `1,000 per show. The artistes are hired by these departments for awareness campaigns and are paid in turn through the converged funds.
