The Government of India is implementing schemes to grant scholarship/financial assistance to artists in the field of performing arts.
It is implementing two Schemes namely “Scholarships to Young Artistes in Different Cultural Fields” to grant scholarship/financial assistance to artists in the field of performing arts in order to promote them in their respective fields and “Scheme for Award of Fellowship to Outstanding Persons in the Field of Culture” for research oriented projects in various fields of Art and Culture.
Under the scheme of Scholarship, up-to 400 scholarships are given every year to young artistes in the age group of 18-25 year for advance training in the field of Indian Classical Music, Dance, Theatre, Visual Art, Folk and traditional and indigenous Art etc.
Under the scheme of Fellowship up-to 400 (200 Junior in the age group of 25-40 years and 200 Senior in the age group of above 40 years) Fellowships are given every year to outstanding persons in the fields of art and culture. For both the Schemes online application are invited every year and meritorious candidates are selected on the basis of their performance/interview by the Expert Committee constituted by the Ministry.
Under the Scheme of Scholarship each selected artist is given scholarship of Rs. 5000/- per month for a period of two years. Under the Scheme of Fellowship each selected Junior Fellow is given fellowship @ 10,000/- per month and Senior Fellow @ Rs. 20,000/- per month for a period of two years. There is no art and state-wise quota in both the Schemes.
The funds allocated and the expenditure incurred on both the Schemes along with the number of persons benefitted under the schemes during each of the last three years are as under:-
| Year | No. of persons benefitted under Scholarship | No. of persons benefitted under Fellowship | Amount allocated (In lakh) | Expenditure incurred (In lakh) |
| 2013-14 | 400 | 377 | 776.00 | 776.00 |
| 2014-15 | 400 | 398 | 1123.30 | 1123.30 |
| 2015-16 | 212 | 177 | 1835.00 | 1835.00 |
The Government has set-up seven Zonal Cultural Centres having their headquarters at Patiala, Udaipur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Dimapur, Nagpur and Thanjavur with objective to preserve, promote and disseminate the traditional folk and tribal arts and culture of all the states/union territories.
The Government has been carrying out various activities and organising programmes at the national, Zonal and local levels through their Zonal Cultural Centres to preserve and promote various folk and tribal arts across the country.
This information was given by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Culture and tourism Minister in Lok Sabha on Monday (2nd of May).
