Odisha Govt To Request Centre To Accord Classical Status To Odissi Music

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will request the Centre to accord classical status to Odissi music.

A proposal to this effect was approved by the Heritage Cabinet at a meeting presided by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through video conferencing on Wednesday.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Tourism, Odia Language, Literature & Culture minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi said the Centre had recognised Odissi as classical dance in 1964 and Odia as a classical language in 2014.

Apart from this, the Odisha government has recognised Odissi as a classical form of music during 2008 as this form of music is very ancient and has a classical background and also is different from other forms of classical music. Taking this into consideration, a resolution was passed to request the Centre to accord classical status to Odissi music, Panigrahi said.

The other proposals approved by the Heritage Cabinet are as follow:

— For proper functioning of the Odisha State Archaeology, a separate and autonomous Directorate shall be framed and the post of a Director shall be created for this purpose.

—For proper functioning and management of the Odisha State Museum which has 15 important sub-departments with district museums functioning under it, a separate and autonomous Directorate will be created with the creation of the post of a Director.

—In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Odisha State Museum will be developed into a virtual entity with digitisation. A similar model will be followed for Ananda Bhavan Museum which memorialises Biju Patnaik. The Cabinet approved the proposal for undertaking this work for the museums.

—The amount for the Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman, Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja Samman, Dharmapada Samman and Byasakabi Fakir Mohan Samman will be increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, the amounts for awards of the various Academies shall be increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh and the amount of felicitations of the various Academics shall be increased to Rs 1 lakh.

—Existing vacancies in the various academies, institutions and various centres of the Department of Odia Language, Literature and Culture will be filled up through a transparent process of widely publicized advertisements. If needed, the posts will also be filled through the nomination process.

— Holistic development of Suando village, the birthplace Pandit Gopabandhu Das to be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11 crore.