Fund of ideas

forms and creation of art galleries and museums. As a funding agency, the NCF proposes to look after the upkeep of both our `tangible and intangible cultural heritage’.

And the funding of this would come through tax-free contributions. The NCF wants to tap people who would donate both ideas and money. In exchange, they can keep strings of the purse in their hands, specifying how and where to use the donated money.

Presided by the Secretary, Culture, B P Singh, it has mostly eminent elders filling up the ranks sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, Hindustani vocalist Gangubai Hangal, Odissi danseuse Sonal Mansingh, art administrator Neville Tulli and others.

Says Singh, "Our heritage sites are in need of special attention. The NCF would try to involve the local people in the conservation work. Before the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was set up about a 140 years ago, it was the local people who were looking after the cultural heritage."Of the 18 heritage sites that have been identified, the NCF executive committee would appoint advisory committees for each, to be headed by prominent citizens from the local community. "Our aim would be to identify concerned individuals who are keen to help. The potential of many groups and communities particularly at the grassroots level, has not been realised for the lack of seed funding," says Singh. Hence, the NCF plans to provide low interest or interest-free loans.

And this is exactly what private conservationist and archaeologist fear. Says A G K Menon, director of TVB Habitat Studies and consultant to INTACH, "The intention is noble, but it is full of problems. What kind of authority are they going to exercise? Will NCF augment ASI’s work? I can only foresee confusion."

In the Culture Department’s booklet on NCF one of the points which is said to have led to its formation is the perception that at the turn of the century "the pace of change poses unprecedented threats to the continuity of the cultural heritage". Also, the fact that expenditure on culture tends to be considered wasteful. Industrialists like Ratan Tata and Charat Ram have been included in the executive committee, perhaps, to change these perceptions.

The NCF, however, is not just looking for `material support’, but hoping to create wider interest base by disseminating information through Internet and other effective textual and visual media. The gambit of NCF is wide. Menon sums it up, "It is a government way of raising money to finance government projects . It is a step in the right direction, but not big enough to catch up with private people working at conservation."