(Pavan K Varma is an author and former diplomat. The column first appeared in the print edition of Times of India on July 16, 2021)
- The ministry of culture (MoC) is inadequately budgeted, and even the meagre amount allocated is not fully spent; it is overrun by bureaucrats who rarely know anything about culture, and mostly consider it a punishment posting – a telling commentary for a country whose calling card since the dawn of time was culture. Institutions like the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, which are meant to propagate Indian culture abroad, have little or no money beyond what is required for fixed costs; the Akademies – Sahitya, Sangeet Natak, Lalit Kala – are frankly cesspools of politicking. As of March 31 last year, 262 out of 878 posts in the Akademies were lying vacant …
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