31 JUL 2025 | New Delhi
The Ministry of Culture is working actively to preserve, promote, and digitize India’s rich cultural heritage, including its traditional arts, monuments, and folk practices, both within the country and abroad.
Showcasing Indian Culture Around the World
Through the Global Engagement Scheme, the Ministry organizes Festivals of India in various countries. These festivals highlight Indian folk art, music, dance, theatre, food, yoga, films, and exhibitions, helping the world understand and enjoy India’s cultural wealth.
Indian artists registered with the Ministry are often sponsored to perform in these events. The government also gives grants to Indo–Foreign Friendship Cultural Societies for conducting cultural programmes in foreign nations.
Support to Performing Arts
The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), under the Ministry of Culture, organizes cultural festivals across India and provides financial help for:
- Research and documentation of performing arts
- Publishing books and materials on these art forms
- Organizing seminars and conferences
- Recording performances for audio-visual archives
One of its key projects includes the Kutiyattam Project, which started in 1990–91 to preserve the ancient Sanskrit theatre art of Kutiyattam from Kerala. The Akademi set up the Kutiyattam Kendra in Thiruvananthapuram to train artists and organize regular performances.
SNA also promotes other Kerala art forms like Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, and Theyyam by inviting artists to national festivals and offering grants under various schemes.
Preserving Monuments and Heritage Sites
To protect India’s ancient monuments and archaeological sites, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) carries out conservation and maintenance work at protected heritage sites across the country.
Source: PIB | This information was shared by the Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
