Conservation of Ancient Folk Cultures

To protect, preserve & promote various forms of folk art and ancient folk cultures throughout the country including Jharkhand, Bihar and Kerala, the Government of India has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur. Jharkhand is the member State of Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata; Bihar is the member State of North Central Zone Cultural Centre (NCZCC), Prayagraj and Kerala is the member State of South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC), Thanjavur.

Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Jharkhand are Faguwa Nritya, Turi Nritya, Faguwa Nritya, Turi Nritya, Paika Nritya, Hodopathy, Tribal dance (Karam Nritya).

Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Bihar are Lok Gatha “Reshma Chuharmal” (Begusarai), Lok Gatha “Bihula Bishari” (Purnia), Lok Gatha “Naradi” (Begusarai), Bidesia Lok Natya (Bhojpur region), Godana Painting (Madhubani), Lok Natya “Hirni-Birni” (Magadh region), Panwaria, Domkach & Sohar Khilona folk dance (All regions of Bihar State), Domkach folk dance (All regions of Bihar State), Jharni & Jhinjhia folk dance (Mithilanchal Area), Bidesia (Bhojpur Area), Bihar Ke Paramparik Natya (All regions of Bihar State), Drupad Dhamar, Godna Geet, Sikki Kala, Tikuli Art and Madhubani Painting.

Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Kerala are Poorakali, Malayankettu & Kannerpattu (Kannur), Daffumuttu (Malabar), Kanyarkali (Thrissur) and Arabanaumuttu (Kozhikode)

No separate allocation of funds is being done art-wise. However, annual grant-in-aid is provided to all the ZCCs for organizing various cultural activities/ programmes in their member States including Jharkhand, Bihar and Kerala. The grant-in-aid provided to the ZCCs during the last five years is as under:

There is no dedicated scheme to preserve these particular folk art forms. However, these ZCCs organize various cultural activities and programmes all over the country on regular basis for which annual grant-in-aid is provided to them. In this regard, a number of schemes viz. Award to Young Talented Artists, Guru Shishya Parampara, Theatre Rejuvenation, Research & Documentation, Shilpgram, OCTAVE and National Cultural Exchange Programme (NCEP) are being implemented by these ZCCs.