MINUTES OF THE NEZCC PROGRAMME COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON OCTOBER 12, 2007 AT CONFERENCE HALL, NEZCC DIMAPUR

A list of members who attended the meeting is appended at Annexure – I.

At the outset, the Director, NEZCC welcomed the members present. Further, the Director informed the Committee that the Chairman, Programme Committee had conveyed his inability to attend due to his ill – health. Therefore, a Sessional Chairman was to be selected from amongst the members present. Dr. Kh. Sarojini Devi, Director, Art & Culture, Manipur was unanimously selected to be the Chairperson of the programme committee meeting. Thereafter, Dr. Kh. Sarojini Devi, the Sessional Chairperson welcomed all members present to the programme committee being convened for 2007-2008. The Committee noted the absence of Programme Committee members from Assam and Meghalaya. The Committee decided to submit a suggestion to the Government of Assam to consider nomination of members who would be able to attend meetings in Assam and other States. Thereafter, the agenda was taken up.

1.        CONFIRMATION OF THE PROGRAMME COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON NOVEMBER 9, 2006 AT SHILPGRAM, GUWAHATI

The minutes of the Programme Committee held on November 9, 2006 was thoroughly discussed and approved.

2.        ACTION TAKEN REPORT

               Action taken report on the minutes of the Programme Committee meeting held on November 09, 2006 was thoroughly discussed. Shri Tombi Singh member from Manipur sought information on present status of the Directory of Artistes. The Director, NEZCC informed that as decided in the last Programme Committee meeting the NEZCC has written to all the member States to provide basic information. So far the Centre has received information from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. Manipur and Tripura yet to submit the necessary informations.  The Director, NEZCC suggested the Department of Art & Culture should take the assistance of District Cultural Officers/District Administration for collection of the materials. The Director, ICAT, Tripura said that a copy of the Directory of Artistes of Tripura published by the State Government will be submitted to NEZCC. The Director, Art & Culture, Manipur stated that the Department of Culture, Manipur does not have enough manpower to collect the required materials. She requested that NEZCC separately should give some fund for appointment of employees on adhoc/casual basis to do the collections of materials for the Artistes Directory. The Committee suggested that the Director, Art & Culture, Manipur should submit a proposal to NEZCC on the matter explaining their problems. Shri Naren Gurung  member from Sikkim said that they had taken the assistance of the District Collectors in collecting information required for the Artistes Directory and suggested that other States could do the same. States which had not submitted the required information were asked to do so at the earliest.

The Director, NEZCC informed that the Poetry Festival as approved by the last Programme Committee meeting was held at Shilpgram on March 21 to 23, 2007. She also requested the members to apprise their State Governments of the facilities available at the Shilpgram and to consider utilizing the Shilpgram Complex for Programmes/Crafts Mela/Seminars etc. organized by the State Government at Guwahati.

On Documentation Projects, Director, NEZCC stated that the Centre has submitted proposals to Government of India for additional grants to take up all the propsals received during 2006 – 2007, but no additional grants were received for the purpose. This position was discussed also in the Executive Board/Governing Body meeting and the Special Meeting held by His Excellency the Governor of Nagaland and Chairman, NEZCC. Out of the documentation projects 2006 – 2007 the Centre has taken up only six projects short-listed by the Panel of Experts on Documentation projects on the basis of availability of fund. A Panel of Experts will finalize the Documentation Projects for 2007 – 2008. Thereafter the Committee approved the Action Taken Report.

3.          REVIEW OF ACHIEVEMENTS FOR   THE YEAR 2006 – 2007 & APRIL TO SEPTEMBER 2007

Review of Achievements from April 2006 to March 2007 and 2007 – 2008 upto September 2007 was placed for information and comments of the members. The members have expressed their satisfaction over the increase in number of programmes. The Director requested the members present to inform their respective State Governments to conduct all approved programmes within schedule and to be practical while planning their activities so that programmes are not delayed/postponed due to weather problems, elections etc. The Director, Art & Culture, Manipur stated that some of the programmes organized by the Centre were not submitted through the Art & Culture Department and suggested that all the proposals should be submitted through the Director, Art & Culture of the respective States. The NEZCC should also consider to forward a copy of the proposal submitted directly by other agencies for the information of the Director, Art & Culture. The Committee agreed to this suggestion. Thereafter, the statements of review of achievements were adopted.

4.      REVIEW OF ACHIEVEMENTS FROM APRIL TO      SEPTEMBER 2007 

                   The Committee approved the review of achievements from April 2007 to September 2007. The Director, Art & Culture, Manipur informed the Committee that the State Government has decided to implement the Theatre Festival in January 2008 and the Bhagyachandra National Festival scheduled for 2007 – 2008 from November 28 – 30, 2007 at Imphal.

Shri J. Siram, Deputy Director, Art & Culture, Arunachal Pradesh informed that the North East Folk Dance Festival coinciding with Parasuram Mela will be held at Tezu, Namsai on January 12 & 13, 2008 and Workshop on Creative Writing at Itanagar on November 27 & 28, 2007, which are approved programme under NCEP during 2007 – 2008.

5.      ANNUAL PLAN OF PROGRAMMES FOR 2008 – 2009

The Director, NEZCC informed the members that as per the communication received from the Government of India, the NEZCC anticipates an annual grant of Rs.86.00 lakh for NCEP, Rs.15.00 lakh for Documentation, Rs.10.00 lakh each for Guru Shishya Parampara and Theater Rejuvenation. Rs.3.00 lakh for the Young Talented Artistes Award for the year 2007 – 2008.  The Programme proposals are necessary to be approved in advance to prepare the annual calendar of events and submission of proposals to Government of India.

The Director, NEZCC said that at present the financial position of the Centre is stable and the Centre has an operational Corpus Fund of Rs.20.25 Crore. Out of the anticipated interest income of Rs.1.76 crore from the Corpus Fund during the Current Year the Centre has earmarked an amount of Rs.23.25 lakh for programme activities and Rs.20.00 lakh for management of the Shilpgram. All the member States of NEZCC has released their share of additional contribution towards the Corpus Fund except the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. The contributions due from the member States are Meghalaya Rs.70.00 lakh and Arunachal Pradesh Rs.1.00 Crore. The Director, NEZCC further stated that on receipt of the dues the Centre expected to generate higher interest income and to provide more fund from its own source for Programme activities. Shri J. Siram, Deputy Director, Art & Culture, Arunachal Pradesh informed the members that the Government of Arunachal Pradesh has already sanctioned the contribution of Rs.1.00 Crore and it will be released soon.

The Director, NEZCC also highlighted the necessity for organizing the festivals as per approved schedule and the budget estimate. She also stated that the State Government should provide their State Guest Houses for accommodation of the artistes and Auditoriums/Halls for conducting the programmes at concessional rate to help the Centre to reduce the expenditures on programmes conducted in the member States.

A.     NATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMME (NCEP)

While discussing the proposal of NCEP 2008 – 2009, the Committee observed that the Government of Mizoram should indicate the particular field on which the North East Solo Competition is proposed. Shri B. Sangkhuma from Mizoram informed the Committee that the details would be submitted within a week time. Shri Vilalhou Noudi, Art Executive, Art & Culture, Nagaland stated that some of the proposals submitted by the State Government were not included in the proposal. Shri Vevo Sapu Chakhesang, Deputy Director, Art & Culture, Nagaland stated that, the Indigenous Songs and Dance Festival will be organized coinciding with a Traditional Festival at Tuensang. The members agreed to the proposal to include N.E Ethnic Textile Design Workshop in October 2008 at Kohima in place of Traditional Metal Casting Workshop at Mon.

Shri Subash Das, Director, ICAT, Tripura stated that they would like to organize the Loko Ranjan Utsav in a large way with more participants and requested to enhance the budget provision.  He also stated that the State Government would like to organize a Choreography Festival-cum-Workshop. Shri Moji Riba from Arunachal Pradesh suggested to include a programme on Creative Writing Workshop which was accepted.

The Director, NEZCC informed the members that all proposals submitted by the State Government were not included because of the limited grant anticipated from the Government of India and that the approved programmes and other proposals would be taken up on the basis of availability of fund. Thereafter, the Committee approved the following proposals under NCEP 2008 – 2009.

NATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES (NCEP)

The following programmes were approved under NCEP for 2008 – 2009:

B.     GURU SHISHYA PARAMPARA SCHEME (TEACHER-PUPIL TRADITION) 2007 – 2008

The Director, NEZCC informed the Committee that under this Scheme the Centre provides a monthly honorarium of Rs.2000/- to the Gurus, Rs.900/- to one Accompanist to the Guru and Rs.500/- each to the four Shishyas enrolled under one Guru. She informed that out of the grants for 2006 – 2007 the Centre has appointed 13 (thirteen) Gurus for a period of one year and that more Gurus could be appointed during the current year out of the grants for 2007 – 2008. She also stated that the response from the mem