Bhiksha Patra of Lord Buddha Found in Kabul Museum

Bhiksha Patra of Lord Buddha Found in Kabul Museum 

A stone bowl believed to be a begging bowl of Buddha is presently displayed in the National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan. A team of two experts visited Kabul, Afghanistan in May, 2014 for the verification of the bowl. 

The available evidence does not indicate that the bowl displayed in the National Museum, Kabul, Afghanistan is a begging bowl (Bhiksha Patra) of Lord Buddha. Information in this regard has already been sent to Ministry of External Affairs.

This information was given by Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. 

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Allotment of Government Accommodation to Artists 

The allotment of Government Accommodation to the eminent artistes is governed by the guidelines contained in the Government of India, Ministry of Culture’s order No. F. 14-1/2008-Akademis dated 27.11.2008. The existing allottees were given accommodation with the approval of Competent Authority and were also granted extension from time to time. The last extension was granted up to 31.07.2014.

Any decision in the matter is taken with the approval of the competent authority. Going by the recommendations of the Selection Committee headed by Secretary (Culture) for allotment of Government residential accommodation, the proposal to revise the existing guidelines for allotment of Government accommodation to the artistes and also the option of either to roll over for one year or cancel the allotment have been sent to the Competent Authority, except in case of one artist in which cancellation of the allotment has been recommended.

This information was given by Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. 

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Scholarship/Financial Assistance to Artists 

The Government 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 scholarship 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) Fellowship 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 Committees constituted by the Ministry. Under the Scheme of Scholarship each selected artiste is given scholarship of Rs. 5000/- per month for a period of two year.  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 benefited under the schemes during each of the last three years are as under:-

           

Year	No. of persons benefited under Scholarship	No. of persons benefited under Fellowship	Amount allocated (In lakh)	Expenditure incurred (In lakh)
2012-13	400	377	1035.00	1000.00
2013-14	400	398	776.00	776.00
2014-15	400	177	1123.3	1123.3

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 arts across the country.

This information was given by Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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Development of Public Libraries Under National Mission on Libraries 

The National Mission on Libraries (NML) will upgrade infrastructure of selected libraries and upgrade technology in 35 State Central Libraries and 35 District Libraries (to be identified by State Governments) and 6 Libraries under the Ministry of Culture. So far 11 State Central Libraries and 11 District Libraries in Twelve States have been approved for development as NML Model Libraries.

It has been reported that 77% of survey of the libraries have been completed. The expected date of completion of survey cannot be indicated at this stage.

This information was given by Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.