Arts Festival Helping Conserve, Enrich Indian Culture

Suresh Sharma

(The writer is an Associate Professor at Government Degree College, Nagrota Bagwan, Kangra)

Arts nourishes culture and no society, state or country can be considered rich or opulent till its arts and cultural atmosphere is not rich and developed. It takes centuries for any culture to develop before it becomes an integral part of our life. Therefore it is an invaluable asset and heritage for any developed country. History bears testimony to the fact that cultural heritage depletes first before annihilation of any society or country. Cultural heritage empowers and prospers us and keeps us strongly rooted to our land. This is why we are proud of our Indian culture. India is a rich and prosperous country in terms of cultural perspective. The unique thing about Indian culture is that despite its vividness and variety, our education, values and life philosophy has cohesively joined it together.

Union Human Resource Development Ministry is organising arts festivals all over the country under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan scheme with an objective to identify artistic talent and to introduce students to the rich and varied cultural heritage of the country. The materialistic culture has no doubt set new milestones of development. But if viewed from social, cultural and life values angle, it has only made an attack on our cultural heritage. Arts has a deep imprint on evolution of creativity, aestheticism and sensitivity. And this is the reason why impetus on these values is being given through music, drama, dance and other arts forms in arts festival. Union HRD ministry started organising arts festivals from 2015 under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan scheme that is based on the recommendations of national curriculum framework, 2005. Under this particular initiative, arts forms and its traditional artists that are on the verge of extinction are to be searched first and then art form is to be presented through school kids after teaching them the same. Besides this, it is expected to conserve folk songs, folk instruments, folklores, local dialects and art forms in the teaching process through the medium of technology and same also needs to be presented through e-project. There is a special provision for children with special needs and divyangs to ensure their active participation in the arts festival. In Himachal, it is organised by SCRT and district education and training institutes through State Project officer,  RMSA. No doubt this is an appreciable step from education department for compilation, enrichment and conservation of traditional art forms. The theme for arts festival-2017 was ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’. And this festival is definitely proving as a golden opportunity for traditional arts, artists and new generation to acquaint themselves with the ancient Indian culture.

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