Ministry of Culture proposed to Planning Commission

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, January 13

A proposal to set up a separate Ministry of Culture has been proposed to the National Planning Commission to incorporate it within next three-year periodical Tenth Plan, which begins from mid-July.

A draft of the proposal was submitted to the NPC yesterday, said Jala Krishna Shrestha, spokesperson for the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture (MoFACAPAC). "A proposal has been submitted for a separate culture ministry for the effective outcome in the culture sector," he told this daily. "We can not say that how the NPC will respond to it," he added.

The government is giving a short shrift to culture, inarguably, the bedrock of the nation's identity. Though the world recognises and fetes Nepal for its fascinating and intriguing social mores, the powers-that-be back home seems to have no time for such 'trivial pursuits', said Shrestha.

According to MoFACAPAC, the proposal contains of long-term strategies in the preservation of culture and heritage, integration among various ethnic and indigenous communities as per the national needs.

KATHMANDU: A line ministry working team under newly Central Technical Committee of NPC is being formed in the MoFACAPAC to look into the cultural affairs. "The committee will include two secretaries, two joint-secretaries and two departmental heads," said Jala Krishna Shrestha, joint-secretary at the MoFACAPAC. "It will come into existence soon." --

It may be recalled that culture was incorporated with the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation in 2000. Earlier, it was a part of Ministry of Education as well as Social Welfare although the Culture Division was established in the country 50 years ago. The ministry got a new nomenclature--the Ministry of Culture and State Restructuring-- on August 31, 2008.

When the UML-led government assumed office on May 23, several new ministries like Federal, Constituent Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs and Culture were all clubbed together. Consequently, culture took a backseat, lost in the maze of sundry unrelated ministries looking into novel areas of governance, said Rishi Kesh Niroula, under-secretary at the MoFACAPAC. "It is an irony that the ministry is almost definct," he added.

The nation is home to around 100 ethnic and indigenous groups with their own unique culture. The constitution, however, recognises only 70 indigenous and ethnic communities. Besides, there are 10 World Heritage Sites, including seven in the Kathmandu Valley, as per the UNESCO list. Of these, eight are cultural sites and the rest showcase nature and wildlife.

There is also clearly an overlap of governance when it comes to culture. For instance, the Ministry of Local Development has been handling monastery management. The Ministry of Home Affairs looks into organising various festivals and Hajj Committee for Muslims. The Ministry of Land Reforms has an assigned role to play in running the Guthi (Trust). While, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works is engaged in construction of the shrines. The ministry of Finance is entrusted with Kaushi Tosha Khana, which loosely translates to funds collected from cultural bodies.

"It will be possible to work in conserving the culture, language and heritage of every creed and cast, if a separate culture ministry is set up in the nation," Shrestha concluded.