Lok Prasar Prokolpo to revive lost glory of Bengal

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress led West Bengal government through Lok Prasar Prokolpo is giving a new lease of life to the various folk arts in the state.

The initiative has been taken up by Mamata Banerjee herself in an effort to restore the lost glory of the state. The programme is designed in a way that it not just brings in fresh hopes to these dying folk arts but also make the model economically more sustainable for the practitioners.

Under the scheme, folk artistes are enrolled by the government, following which they perform at government programmes for publicising all sorts of development work. Folk artists receive a retainership fee of Rs 1000 and also opportunities for four performances, with Rs 1000 to be paid for each. This means that there is provision for a folk artiste to receive at least Rs 5,000 a month.

More than 60,000 enrolled folk artistes have been enrolled, and the count is these efforts by the State Government have lifted the art forms from the point of near-extinction to that of widespread popularity. There is a continuous to spread the popularity of these arts all over India and abroad as well.