Arunachal plan to preserve culture

BORDUMSA, February 17: All the ethnic groups of Arunachal Pradesh, along with their sub-groups, are poised for a major leap forward soon with the State Government taking up an ambitious scheme to preserve the culture of each of them. The project 'Documentation of indigenous scriptures' - will strive to preserve the cultural activities, rituals and scripts in black and white as well as in audio-visual modes so that the growth of the community's culture in future can be tracked properly. This was announced by Chief Minister, Mukut Mithi, while speaking on the occasion of the Shapawng Yang Manao Poi - the annual dance festival of the Singpho community - recently at this subdivision town of Changlang district, about 40 kilometres from Margherita. "Poor documentation of rituals and cultural history combined with the economic liberalisation have adversely affected the march of history and have even threatened their very existence," Mithi said, and added: "It is high time we take up an initiative in this direction." Referring to the cultural mosaic represented by 25 tribes and about 100 sub-tribes of the State, the Chief Minister said, "Preservation must be accorded highest priority so that the future generations would not be able to blame the present one for deterioration of their cultural ethos. The Chief Minister also stressed the need to promote cultural tourism. He further pointed out that Brahmaputra Darshan tourist festival will be held in the third week of this month on the lines of the Sindhu Darshan festival. During the Brahmaputra Darshan fest, attempt will be made to showcase the entire course of the Brahmaputra river to the tourists. Besides, the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence and Tourism are being contacted regularly for waiving the restrictions currently on in the State, and thereby pave the path for the visit of foreign tourists into the hill state. Mithi, however, printed out that his government is still awaiting a positive signal from the ministries concerned. Later, addressing media persons at the festival grounds, the Chief Minister said that efforts were also on for promoting adventure sports and the Buddhist pilgrimage tourist circuit in the state. The initial response has been quite encouraging, Mithi added, and said that there would be better response once the central restrictions on entry of foreign tourists into Arunachal Pradesh eased. The minister for food and civil supplies, Chisi Singpho, who was also present on the occasion, informed that the Directorate of Art and Culture of the State was entrusted with the task of overseeing the scheme. Singpho further informed that every community and its subgroup would prepare individual schemes for preservation of their scripts, culture and rituals. The budget estimate for the scheme would also be determined by the directorate subject to scrutiny. This would allow the communities for roping in the services of intellectuals and experts in the field for devising ways for preservation of the culture, Singho added.