The woes of the Culture Department

Confusion follows Culture Department as they plan to install new set up without functional executive head.

LAHORE: Since the abolishment of the Concurrent List in the 18th Amendment, governing the production of films, their censorship and exhibition has become a provincial matter. However, the cultural department in Punjab is currently functioning without a senior supervisor and confusion seems adrift. How functional can the new set up be, especially since the concerned department lacks managerial instruction?

The new set-up will reportedly come into place in May 2011 and now with the province’s own Censor Board, the Central Board of Film Censors will no longer remain functional in the wake of the passage of the 18th Amendment.

Currently, the Central Board of Film Censors clears films for screening across the country. The exhibition and production of films also falls under the domain as a federal subject while functions fall under the Ministry of Culture. According to the new setup, all four provinces now will have their own censor boards; however, this brings up the possibility that one province may allow the screening of a particular Indian film while another may ban the same film with the justification that there are enough local films to cater to the needs of cinema houses in that particular province.

The establishment of provincial censor boards is considered a herculean task but in Punjab no such plan has been released or scheduled. On the contrary, the Culture Department is serving without a full time executive since the former secretary of Culture and Youth Affairs Department, Shoaib Bin Aziz retired in October 2010. The additional charge of the culture department lies with another official who is also currently heading the Punjab Education Foundation.

“So far there is no update on the matter of establishing provincial censor board in Punjab. In fact we still have to draft how the provincial censor board will function. Everything is under a cloud of confusion. It is quite possible  that no films will be allowed to screen for sometime after May, as the new system is not likely to come into being by then,” an official in the Culture Department told The Express Tribune.

The Culture Department is not the only one in Punjab serving without an executive instead reports claim that the National College of Arts (NCA) is also serving without a full time principal since July 2010. Fauzia Qureshi, is serving as an acting principal since July 27, when former principal Naazish Ata-Ullah retired from the post.

“The cultural activity in Punjab has suffered a lot and culture seems to be scanty on the priority list of our rulers. Governor Salmaan Taseer used to patronize cultural activities and now even that symbol is gone. The new governor is not really inclined towards cultural activities,” said a faculty member at the NCA.

Filmmaker Sangeeta said that the government had so far not fulfilled its promise of establishing the country’s first digital laboratory to edit films which inadvertently  reflects the negligence on the governments part to promote culture and cinema. “You are running the culture department without a heading authority and that too at a time when you have to establish a new set-up — this shows your seriousness about culture,” she maintained.

Farah Deeba, a member of the Culture and Youth Affairs Committee and Member of Provincial Assembly added to the dismay and disappointment felt towards the neglected industry when she told The Express Tribune that the matter had so far not been discussed in the assembly. She said, “I will take up this issue with the officials concerned.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2011.