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India's Culture Ministry Wants To Grade Writers And Artists On Their Popularity

The grading will determine whether they can participate in an event.
Indian Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Indian Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.

The Ministry of Culture has come up with an absurd policy.

According to an Indian Express report, the culture ministry has decided to rate artistes and writers across the country. The ratings will determine which events they will be sent to.

The grading has already begun.

Under a pilot project, the ministry has already graded 185 artists into three categories — O (outstanding), P (promising), W (waiting), the report said.

The ministry has issued a notice saying only "applicants placed in the Outstanding and Promising Categories will be selected for participation" in festivals.

The culture ministry said that this is their effort to break the clique dominating the cultural space in the country.

The idea was to create a comprehensive profile of all cultural personalities and rank them according to their "popularity, age and experience", Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma told The Indian Express.

Forty-six of the 185 graded are "outstanding", 112 "promising" and 27 have been put in the "waiting" category and can't represent India.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.