Question : NATIONAL CULTURAL FUND

(a) whether the Government have created a Corpus Fund for the archaeological research and projects;

(b) if so, the amount allocated to the National Culture Fund and the details of amount spent by NCF during the last three years;

(c) the contribution made by the Private Sector in the said fund since its inception;

(d) whether the A.S.I. is getting 10 crores rupees annually from Oil Corporations for monuments care;

(e) if so, the details thereof;

(f) whether the Government have formed a committee to monitor the fund; and
(g) if so, the details thereof ?

THE MINISTER OF TOURISM AND CULTURE (SHRI ANANTH KUMAR)

(a) to (g) The National Culture Fund (NCF) was created as a Trust in November, 1996 for preservation and promotion of our cultural heritage, which includes archaeological research and projects. The NCF, which is to have a corpus of Rs. 19.5 crore is to be managed and administered by a Council headed by the Union Minister, incharge of Culture to decide the policies and a Executive Committee to actualise those policies. The Council besides official members consists of ex-officio members representing various fields including corporate sector and non-voluntary organisations. Till date Rs. 6 crore have been released for the corpus. The year-wise details as well as the amount spent by NCF during the last three years is given in Annexure-I together with the contributions received by the said fund. The Indian Oil Corporation has set up a Trust namely, Indian Oil Foundation for preservation and development of environment and cultural heritage with a corpus of Rs. 25 crore and have agreed to spend Rs. 10 crore annually for the monuments.