Thrissur: The Kerala Government's bid to keep key autonomous cultural institutions under a tight leash is on. An order has been issued to give a legal veneer to intervention by the government, and especially by the Minister of Culture, in all the affairs of establishments under the aegis of the Department of Culture.
Major institutions under the Department are the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, Kerala Chalchithra Akademi, Kerala Kalamandalam, Jawahar Balabhavan, Basha Institute, Kerala Bala Sahitya Institute, Malayalam Mission, Mahakavi Ulloor Memorial Library and Research Centre (Ulloor Smarakam) and Vasthu Vidya Gurukulam.
Highlights of the order
Each of the conditions laid out in the order makes it clear that the government is attempting to bring the academies under its total control. The order comes close on the heels of the controversy over an advertisement about the government’s second anniversary appearing in the books published by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
The order that was issued on July 6 mandates that committee meetings of the academies should not be convened when the Legislative Assembly is in session and that the letter intimating the government of the meetings should include the agenda in detail.
It also says that the draft minutes of the committee meetings should be made available to the government within 10 days and that if the government recommends changes to them, the very next meeting of the committee should take them up for approval.
Another requirement in the order is that a calendar for three months should be prepared and submitted to the government much ahead of schedule and that important programmes should be conducted only after taking into account the convenience of the Minister to attend them.
The order also says that in order to enable the Secretary to the Department of Culture, who is the representative of the government, to take part in the meetings of the general council and executive committee, the official should be informed of the event before a fixed time-frame.
The order follows it up with the requirement that it should be ensured that the official takes part in the meeting on the fixed date by calling him unofficially. This directive takes away the powers of the chairpersons of the academies and office-bearers to convene meetings and to decide on programmes.
It is obvious that through the order the government is attempting to ensure that institutions which are termed autonomous do only the government's bidding.
Recent govt interventions
Several recent instances highlight the increasing government intervention in the affairs of cultural organisations.
After the Pinarayi Government took office, the Additional Secretary to the Department of Culture had been made the Secretary of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and the Sangeetha Nataka Akademi for an interim period. During that period, it became a custom to send the agenda to the government and get it approved.
But even after new secretaries took over, the habit of sending the agenda for approval continued. It is only that the government has made this a legal requirement now.
Of late, Ministers have been taking part in the programmes of the Sahitya Akademi. It is in the wake of this that the advertisement about the Pinarayi Government’s second anniversary was published in the books brought out by the Kerala Sahithya Akademi.
The Chairman of the akademi, K Satchidanandan, has expressed his displeasure over the issue while the secretary has approved of it.
Abul Kalam Azad's advice
The Kerala Government's conduct is in total variance with the ideal espoused by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was India's First Minister of Education.
On the occasion of the inauguration of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi on March 12, 1954, Azad, said, “As far as cultural institutions such as Sahitya Akademi are concerned, the role of the government is limited to setting the stage for them and parting the curtain. The academies themselves should decide how to carry out their mandate. They are autonomous institutions”.
The convention is that cultural academies should remain autonomous. They are structured to function with such a status. The Haksar Commission which studied the functioning of the cultural establishments in India, also recommended in its report that such institutions should remain autonomous.
The cultural institutions in Kerala were established in this spirit.