Though, the National Art Gallery is still awaiting an inauguration by the President, it is still considered the favourite enough to receive the budget of Rs 380 million for 2007-08, a participant told Business Recorder after attending the National Assembly Standing Committee meeting held on Wednesday.
Begum Attiya Inayetullah presided over the meeting of the Committee. Surprisingly, the meeting listened to a complaint that some departments, including Quaid-i-Azam Academy, as well as Allama Iqbal Academy, were not promised any financial allocation in the budget.
The meeting also received presentation on the draft of revised Cultural Policy, which was inspired by the constitutional provision stating 'The Federal Government shall periodically approve a policy to ensure comprehensive advancement of measures concerning culture and the arts.'
The revised cultural policy leans on the collective co-operation from public-private, and local government partnerships. It would also build databases and inventories to strengthen regional links in the domestic field and embark on cultural diplomacy to project abroad the soft image of Pakistan.
Respect for autonomy and creativity of cultured persons has been recognised as a fundamental right in the draft policy, which also seeks to build an environment for the citizens to have access to all cultural literature and data bases.
In addition, it would lean on the opinion of a wide range of citizens to promote measures for the cultivation of arts. The policy has been designed with enough cultural space to undertake cultural exchange projects for foreign countries.
The authors of the draft policy have addressed a number of departments such as archaeology, architecture, culture industries, visual and applied arts, education, social sciences, mass media, film, TV, photography, language, literature as well as libraries.
The author of the policy said he sought inspiration from the Constitution, Faiz report of 1975, the Cultural Policy drafted in 1995, as well as legislation on local government and copyright laws while compiling it.
Committee members Bushra Anwar Sipra, Mehnaz Rafi, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Yasmeen Rahman, Tanzeela Aamir Cheema, Abdul Waseem, M P Bhandara, Sardar Ashiq Hussain Gopang, Shabbir Ahmad Khan, Maulana Amanullah and Culture Minister Syed Ghazi Ghulab Jamal attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee for Culture, Senator Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Chair of Senate Standing Committee on Culture observed that art works were symbols of creative expression of the people and therefore constituted national asset.
The Senator also called for a national platform for the painters of Pakistan. In this regard Senator Zafar viewed that the name of the National Art Gallery should remain intact and may not be changed because the NAG reflected our culture, history and traditions. Culture Minister G G Jamal assured the meeting that the government had no intention of changing the name.
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