Academy heads see no bid to deprive autonomy

Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi president K Satchidanandan and Kerala Lalithakala Akademi chairman Murali Cheeroth have claimed that the controversial order issued by the state cultural department would not affect the autonomy of the cultural institutions.
Satchidanandan said he had spoken to cultural affairs minister Saji Cherian on the circular, and to express concern over the reports that the government was trying to intrude into the academy’s autonomy.“The minister promised that the government had no such intentions and the academies can go ahead with their programmes,” he said.
Satchidanandan said Congress governments had also issued such orders. However, when asked how an initiative gets justified just because Congress has taken such steps in the past, Satchidanandan said, “No, I just cited an example from the past.’’
The July 6 order contains instructions such as the committee meetings of the academies should not be convened during assembly session and that the detailed agenda of the meetings should be included in the letter intimating the government. The order also says that the draft minutes of the meetings should be passed on to the government within 10 days and more importantly the academies should take up the changes recommended by the government in the very next meeting itself.
The circular issued close on the heels of the controversy over printing the government’s advertisement on the cover of the books published by Kerala Sahitya Akademi has created an impression that the government is trying to take control of the academies, which are supposed to remain autonomous bodies.
However, the academy heads said that barring one or two additional points the order is only a repetition of the circulars issued annually by the government.
One of the additional points is about the need for intimating the government in advance about the meetings and programmes of the cultural institutions. Both Satchidanandan and Cheeroth argued that this is a practice that the academies were following even otherwise. “This is done to ensure the participation of the government representatives in the meetings of the academy panels. We want them to attend the academy meetings, so that they will be able to clarify the financial and other implications of our proposed programmes,” Cheeroth said.
Satchidanandan said the cultural department is announcing the programmes of the cultural institutions on the department website. The directive to inform the programmes in advance will be helpful for this, he said.
Satchidanandan said another point included in the new order is about the need for observing financial discipline. “The minister clarified that all the government institutions have been asked to adopt austerity measures against the backdrop of the financial crunch being faced by the government,” he said.
He, however, disclosed that he and Cheeroth were planning to meet the cultural affairs minister to discuss steps to be taken to augment the effectiveness as well as the autonomy of the cultural institutions.
Meanwhile, Sangeetha Nataka Akademi secretary Karivellur Murali said that he was yet to see the circular and would respond after seeing it.