Ministry of Culture promotes Indian Folk Arts and Culture abroad through Global Engagement Scheme under which Festivals of India are organized in other countries showcasing folk art and other cultural events such as exhibitions/dance/music/theatre/ film & food festivals, yoga events etc. including rich and diverse culture of North-East India. Ministry of Culture also provides grant-in-aid to Indo-Foreign Friendship Cultural Societies for organizing programmes and activities for promoting the rich and diverse culture of India including North East India across the world.
Schemes such as Award to Young Talented Artistes, Guru Shishya Parampara, Theatre Rejuvenation, Research & Documentation, Shilpgram, OCTAVE and National Cultural Exchange Programme are also applicable to North East. OCTAVE is the special scheme applicable to North East Zones. Yuva Sangam programme are also arranged in which 11 Higher Education Institutions from NE States are linked to 14 from other States. Under this programme, exposure visits of youth (college/ university students and off-campus youth of age group 18-30 years) are being organized between the 8 NE States and other States. Multi-dimensional exposure is given to the youth during these visits under five broad areas – Paryatan (Tourism), Parampara (Traditions), Pragati (Development), Prodyogik (Technology) and Paraspar Sampark (People-to-people connect). This reply was given by Minister of Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region Shri G Kishan Reddy in Rajya Sabha today.
