SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s intervention to strengthen Jammu and Kashmir’s cultural sector, calling for dedicated funding for local programming on Doordarshan and Akashvani and sustained support for artists and other cultural practitioners.
In a letter to Shah, Mehbooba urged the authorities to ensure regular production and broadcast of programmes highlighting the region’s languages, folk traditions, music, literature, theatre and cinema, particularly through DD Kashir and Akashvani Kendras.
She said artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers and other cultural practitioners play a vital role in preserving Jammu and Kashmir’s heritage and promoting India’s composite cultural identity, peace and national integration.
Mehbooba also called on the Union Ministry of Culture and other central cultural institutions to introduce targeted programmes and financial assistance to provide local artists with regular work and sustainable livelihood opportunities.
“Supporting our artists and strengthening our cultural institutions is not merely a cultural responsibility; it is an investment in India’s cultural unity, national integration and the preservation of our rich civilisational heritage,” she wrote.
Copies of the letter have also been sent to the Union Ministers for Information and Broadcasting and Culture, seeking coordinated efforts to strengthen cultural institutions and provide Jammu and Kashmir’s artists with greater recognition, resources and platforms to showcase their work.
