UNMESHA AND UNMESHA FESTIVAL (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 - Art & Culture)

Context: The President of India visited Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) to inaugurate ‘Unmesha’ - International Literature Festival and c- Festival of Folk and Tribal Performing Arts, being organised by the Ministry of Culture in association with Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi respectively. 

Sangeet Natak Akademi

• About: The national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.

• Origin: It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and became functional the following year, with the appointment of its first chairman, Dr. P. V. Rajamannar.

• Current Status: It is presently an Autonomous Body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and is fully funded by the Government for implementation of its schemes and programmes.

• Functions: The academy functions as the apex body of the performing arts in the country to preserve and promote the vast cultural heritage of India expressed in music, dance and drama. 

Sahitya Akademi

• The Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated by the Government of India on 12th March, 1954.
• Though it was set up by the Government, the Akademi functions as an autonomous organisation. It was registered as a society in January 1956, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country and the only institution that undertakes literary activities in 24 Indian languages, including English.
• Akademi gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognized and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of India, both after a year-long process of scrutiny, discussion and selection.
• It also undertakes literary exchange programmes with various countries across the globe to promote Indian literature.
• The Sahitya Akademi award is the second-highest literary honour by the Government of India, after the Jnanpith award.