PANAJI
Artiste, writer Suchita Narverkar, who resigned from Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir membership on July 19 (a day after her artist husband Rajdeep Naik’s car was damaged by unknown persons), when contacted, elaborated reasons for her resignation. A playwright and film producer, Suchitra Narvekar and YouTuber Rajdeep Naik, both denied having any association between the resignation and the car attack incident. Narvekar was one of the members nominated by the government on Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda.
“The attack on my car has nothing to do with my wife’s resignation. She is an artist herself, a writer and a film producer too, and has her own independent identity. Her decision to resign from the membership of Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir has nothing to do with my car damage,” stated Rajdeep Naik while speaking to The Goan.
Speaking on her resignation, Suchitra Narvekar cited that her decision to resign did not come all of a sudden and that she was unhappy over some decisions and announcements of the government in the past few months and was pondering over tendering her resignation. “Finally, I decided to quit,” she quipped.
Pointing out that the members were not taken into confidence or intimated about the upcoming project of staging a Mahanatya on the occasion of 60 years of liberation of Goa, she said this was one reason for the resignation. “Staging a Mahanatya during an ongoing pandemic is not a wise decision, and most of the members, including me, were not aware of this plan. There was a meeting last month and the decision was taken all of a sudden. When asked, we were told, that we (RGKM) were only hosting it for the directorate of Information and Publicity, as there was a budgetary provision of Rs 50-60 lakh, to be spent in this financial year and to utilise those funds, I&B Goa was organising this Mahanatya,” stated Narvekar, pointing out that a Mahanatya would cost around Rs 1 crore.
If there are funds to be spent, why not spend them where they can be best utilised, she asks. “If the I&B Department holds any event, instead of assigning the job to event management companies, the local artists could be summoned and given the job,” suggests Narvekar. The budget money to be spent could thus be distributed to local artists, instead of event management companies from outside, she added.
The playwright also stated that she was also not happy with the government’s decision of announcing a one-time relief of Rs 10,000 to the artists who were jobless during the pandemic and whose livelihood depended solely on theatre, films, music or any other form of art/folk art.
“This sum is very meagre and cannot offer any solace to the artists who are out of jobs for over 18 months, due to the pandemic. We don’t need one-time relief but want work and the government could have easily provided us work and paid remuneration against that,” said Narvekar.
Pointing out that the government does not have a list of the artists who are solely dependent on various forms of arts, Narvekar asked, “On what criteria would the government select these artists to offer one-time relief?
