National Mission on Cultural Mapping

The National Mission on Cultural Mapping was launched by Ministry of Culture in 2017. It was launched to develop a comprehensive data base of art forms, artists and other resources from cultural organizations.

What are the key features of National Mission on Cultural Mapping?

• The mission aims to address the necessity of preserving the rich Indian Art and Cultural heritage. It aims to convert the vast and widespread cultural canvas of India into cultural mapping. Eventually this will create a strong cultural vibrancy in the country.
• The mission is to run for five years.
• In due course, it will collect information about arts and artists. Then it will create a database. And then it will map the heritage of villages.
• The volunteers from National Service Scheme will help in collecting the data.

Current update on the scheme

• As of November 2021, the scheme had collected information about 14,53 lakh artists. The information has been collected from various organizations such as Kalakshetra foundation, Zonal Cultural Centres, Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kaala Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi.

What is the role of Indira Gandhi National Centre in the mission?

In October 2021, The National Mission on Cultural Mapping was handed over to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. The centre operates under the Ministry of Culture. It aims to complete mapping 5,000 villages by the end of 2021-22.