Lok Prasar Prakalpa

Folk & Tribal Culture Centre (FTCC) : is an autonomous body under the Information and Cultural Affairs Department. This is the nodal organization for implementation of the flagship project of the State Government namely ‘Lok Prasar Prakalpa’ (LPP). This project was launched in the year 2014 by the Department of Information & Cultural Affairs with the inspiration of Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee. Initially 40,000 folk artistes enrolled in this project. The popularity of the programme has spread its wings far and wide and touched the lives of the common rural masses in such a manner that the number of enlisted folk artistes has reached till date nearly 2 lakhs. This project has not only provided economic stability to the folk artistes of Bengal, it has also revived the traditional folk art form.

Pension & Retainer Fees

The folk artiste who are above 60 years of age are getting pension @ Rs. 1000 per month under Lok Prasar Prakalpa (LPP). The enlisted folk artiste between 18-60 years in Lok Prasar Prakalpa, who are engaged in publicity campaign for different departments, have been receiving Rs. 1000 per month as retainer fee. The pension & retainer fees are going to the bank accounts of the enlisted folk artiste directly through Jai Bangla Portal using the existing integration between the Jai Bangla Portal and SBI account of FTCC.

Performance Fees

The enlisted folk artistes are performing regularly at International and National events. In 2014 the tableau on Bauls of Bengal and in 2016 the tableau on Chhou Dance of Purulia got the 1st prize at the Republic Day Parade at New Delhi. Last year a Dhaki team comprising of female artistes took part in a Durga Puja in Switzerland. In the India International Trade Fair (IITF) at New Delhi, the folk artistes under LPP have been performing every year on the West Bengal Day programme at Pragati Maidan. The folk artistes are also deployed to welcome and receive the VVIPS like Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Governor, Hon’ble Chief Minister and other International and National guests in case of big events like G-20 Summit, Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), Under-17 World Cup Football Tournament, Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) etc. Not only in International and National events, the LPP artistes are performing regularly in different programmes organized by various State Government departments such as Biswa Bangla Loko Sanskriti Utsab, Poush Utsab, Sabala Mela, Milan Utsab etc.

The State Government is in the mission of publicising its flagship programmes through Lok Prasar Prakalpa among the people. For instance, the folk artistes are being utilized for disseminating information regarding the schemes like Laxmir Bhandar, Students’ Credit Card, Kanyasree, Krishak Bandhu, Sikshasree, Khadya Saathi etc. through their performances. Health and sanitation messages and messages to build up awareness against evils of dowry, child marriage and trafficking etc. are also being effectively transmitted through these LPP messengers. The enlisted folk artistes are getting Rs 1000 per programme as performance fees. It is going to their bank accounts directly. Many folk artistes are getting more than one programme per month which is evident from the fact that in the last financial year 2,12,432 LPP artistes (at present the enlisted figure is 1,85,680) performed in nearly 27 thousand programmes throughout the State. In districts and sub-divisions DICOs and SDICOs under this department played the pivotal role for providing such programmes to them. From Kolkata, FTCC provided programmes to nearly 33 thousand LPP artistes in 60 Government programmes.

Workshops and Conferences

FTCC organize workshops and conferences on different folk forms at regular intervals. In the last financial year two workshops and conferences were organized in each district. In total, 44 workshops and conferences were organized with the help of DICOs : one workshop involving 500 folk artistes of each district to enlighten them on different on- going social schemes of the present State Government such as Laxmir Bhandar, Students’ Credit Card, Kanyasree, Krisak Bandhu etc. so that they can effectively give publicity of such developmental schemes; another on the popular folk form of a particular district like Gambhira of Malda, Bhawaiya of Coochbehar, Bonbibirpala of south 24Pgs etc. These workshops are being organized for upgrading the traditional folk forms for presentation to new generations in a more attractive way.

Memorial Lectures

Folk and Tribal Cultural Centre every year organises five Memorial Lectures:

ARUN KUMAR RAY MEMORIAL LECTURE

Arun Kumar Ray (1922-1982), among many of his achievements in life, he was also the chief director of 'Akademy of Folkore' in Kolkata. Though he throughout his life struggled with indigence but he never stopped working whole heartedly for reviving the economic conditions of the rural folk artists. He was also a member of Lok Sanskriti Parishad.A Memorial Lecture is organised every year in his name to honour and recognise his endeavour.

ASUTOSH BHATTACHARJYA MEMORIAL LECTURE

AsutoshBhattacharjya (1909- 1984), was the Head of the Department of Bengali Literature in Calcutta University, who took initiative in introducing Folk Culture as a special paper in the syllabus of Bengali Literature. He is recognised as an internationally famous folkculturist. He was the pioneer in introducing the Chhou dance of Purulia to the rest of the world and dedicated his life in reviving and rejuvenating the Chhou dancers by organising their performances in different parts of the world.A Memorial Lecture in conducted every year to honour his relentless contributions.

GURUSAY DUTTA MEMORIAL LECTURE

Gurusaday Dutta (1882- 1941), although was a Civil Servant in British India by profession, but he was interested and as well was aware of the necessity of folk culture to organise and revive the strength of the youths of his Motherland. He understood the fact that to fight against the British the Indians should know about their rich cultural heritage which is embedded in different folk forms and art in rural India.He was the founder of 'Bratachari Samity'. His main achievement was implementation of a methodical collection and indexing of folk tales. A Memorial Lecture is organised every year to honour is unimaginable achievements.

SUDHI PRADHAN MEMORIAL LECTURE

Sudhi Pradhan (1912- 1997), was the founding father of Lok Sanskriti Parishad and the first Chairman of Folk and Tribal Cultural Centre. He travelled throughout his life in the remote villages of Bengal and took initiative to give urban platform to many eminent and recognised folk artistes and struggled to rejuvenatedifferent extinct folk forms.A Memorial Lecture in his honour is conducted every year.

5.TARAPADA SANTRA MEMORIAL LECTURE

TarapadaSantra( 1931-2003), was an eminent folk culturist, field worker, surveyor, archaeologist and writer as well, who dedicated his whole life in revealing the hidden treasures( art and architecture) of folk art embedded in different traditional temples and masjids scattered throughout the different regions of Bengal. He was also a member of Folk and Tribal Cultural Centre. In his honour every year a memorial lecture is organised to respect his efforts and passion.

Festivals

In each district a 3-day District Level Folk & Tribal Cultural Festival &JatraUtsab was organized in a befitting manner in the months of January, February & March,2023. DICOs took pivotal role to make the programme a grand success. More than 10 thousand LPP artistes participated in 22 districts. Apart from it the foundation Day of FTCC was celebrated from 6-8 December, 2022 at Chitkalikapur. Nearly 200 LPP artistes from different districts of West Bengal performed in 3 day programme.