Rebranding Indian culture to cult status: What the government needs to do

Culture branding is a very sensitive business. India is so vast and layered that anything long or short term ought to have a well-thought-out approach. Here's a primer on setting the country's new cultural agenda:

Policy

We have one for mines, aviation, education, agriculture and so on. What about arts and culture? Half the directional distress in the cultural field comes from not knowing where one is headed and for what. For decades, we have avoided having a policy, citing the layers that make Indian culture. As diverse as Ladakh and Lakshadweep and Kutch and Kolkata are, can a uniform policy even apply? Then, why not make region-specific policies based on the ecosystems?

Managers

Policy implementation needs managers, perhaps something on the lines of a 'Cultural Cadre of Services'. Why not train a branch, post-college, that feeds into the Indian Administrative Service? Scores of young individuals are interested in working in the cultural field, but in the absence of opportunities fade away into other sectors. A Cultural Cadre of Services will ensure core competency and help channelise talent. The current lot of officers drawn from various services is managing much; what we are talking of is long-term vision.

Institutions

Institutions take decades to build but only a day or one dictator, oops director, to destroy. Our universities have not produced enough national talent of note in the performing arts or many outstanding academicians in arts and culture. In performing arts, the guru-shishya parampara works. Master to student. Knowledge and training is passed on organically. There's commitment and bonding. Education is a long-term investment and often culture its byproduct. And civilisation the end result of this cycle.

State patronage

A research institution can't be an event management company and an event management company cannot be in-charge of academics either. The central government often has huge projects to implement but there are no multi-purpose institutions really (other than perhaps the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) that can serve that purpose. Why does All India Radio not have artistes on rolls anymore? They have mostly producers and technical staff. Why were graded artistes disbanded? Doordarshan acts true to its name—duur se darshan! Competition is not an excuse for complacency.

Repositories

Places like Kashmir, Punjab and the Hindi belt have not really got their cultural due nationally. Branding by the South has been smart and reached far. It is time to revive the rich and varied practices and places of learning. Peethams, Kanchi, Sanchi. Do you know that other than Odisha's Jayadeva's 24 ashtapadis, who wrote and made it a practice in north India? Guru Nanak. These are still sung in gurdwaras. Kashmiri Pandits and their culture have suffered immensely. The current elders are the last repositories of traditional Indian culture.

Support artistes

Artistes need a regular source of income—employment, pension. The akademis should have a list of the 'needy'. They should also commission books, bios, films and so on. Giving awards and doing events is only a part of their mandate. All stakeholders need to wake up to current-day realities. As the traditional gives way to the millennial modern, the few thousands showing commitment to the arts need all the support—from incubation schemes to practical outreach.

Crafts

What a rich country India is and yet, what are we selling? Plastic bindis, plastic rangolis? Traditional toys and artefacts are fast becoming wall art in government bhavans and babus' offices, but what about the livelihood of craftsfolk? What are the living conditions of our instrument-makers? Skill development programmes should also apply to them. Has anyone in the culture industry or ministry quantified the culture economy? How much is the footfall in museums versus the revenue spent? This when the scope is immense. For instance, what's the size of the cultural economy around Ganesha Utsav? Weddings are still the biggest seasonal employers of artisans and artistes. How do we take our diverse food culture forward? That's literally some food for thought!

Indian Performing Right Society

Ever wondered why we hear piano lounge music and not sitar in lifts, banks, airports and hotels? Guitar not shehnai? It is because we have never branded our musicians for the world. It is also because we take no pride in our own culture. We must strengthen the Indian Performing Right Society and make it mandatory for all foreign companies selling wares like lifts, cars and sound systems to India to give retainers to Indian musicians. Learn from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Even better—surpass them.

Tourism, temples

Indian tourism lags far behind in the global order. The Neemrana group seems to be among the few to have made some real difference by giving employment to locals and a fillip to artisans. Temple tourism is another good way to connect dance and music to temples, their natural setting. We should not only revive it but use it as a platform to promote our crafts. Use our immense history for conducted tours to monuments and museums. Museums need to become living experiences. Put all of India's historical treasures—the famed collections in music, paintings, dance, textiles, etc. in the extra space in North and South Block, after the National Museum gets shifted and accommodated there. Symbols, after all, boost identity.

Corporate India

Corporate India needs to take more interest in promoting the country's culture. One annual general body meeting dinner of a company can pay for a whole village of artistes. Allocate more towards corporate social responsibility activities or a sum equivalent to 1 per cent of GST paid towards arts and culture. Arts and artistes are our brands. Steel and IT are just products. Our identity comes from arts and culture. India that is Bharat needs to realise that. Now!

—The writer is an authority on Indian performing arts and culture and policy

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