Financial Assistance to Revive, Preserve and Protect Goan Maand Culture

What is the Goan Maand culture scheme?

Financial Assistance to Revive, Preserve and Protect Goan Maand Culture is a scheme of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa. According to the Directorate, the scheme was designed to encourage Goan folk artists and to revive, preserve and protect the Goan Maand culture.

A Maand is the traditional open performance ground of a Goan village, a physical place, usually associated with the village Devasthan, where the community has gathered to perform its folk forms for generations. The scheme treats the Maand as a living institution rather than as a heritage site, and funds the people who perform on it.

The folk forms the scheme names are specific: Zagor, Ranmalle, Kallo, Perni Zagor, Talgadi, Tonyamell, Shigmo, Challe, Naman, Jatigayan, Goff and Dhallo-Fugadi, together with the folklore and folk music of Suvarivadan, Ghumatvadan, Shamelvadan and Dholvadan, and any other folk form, folklore or folk music selected by the committee of experts, which originate from the Goan Maand.

The Directorate's stated objectives go beyond performance. They include maintaining bonding, unity and brotherhood among villagers, providing infrastructure and financial support, keeping the Maand culture authentic and intact in its original form, supporting existing Maand groups that are on the verge of extinction, creating cultural interaction between villages through a village exchange programme, and creating a legacy of Maand artists through folk programmes at state, national and international level.

Who is eligible for the Maand culture scheme?

A Maand group can apply if:

• It is a Goan village Maand group, applying to the Directorate of Art and Culture in the prescribed form.
• It has a legacy of practising folk art forms for at least the past thirty years at the traditional Maand place.
• It gives an undertaking stating whether the village Maand is still in existence.
• It obtains a No Objection Certificate from the concerned Devasthan or Maand while applying.
• Its trainees are not less than ten years of age. Older folk artists may join the course to share their experience and guide the new generation with the co-operation of the Maand Guru.

Preference is given to Goan Maand cultures which are on the verge of extinction. The scheme is explicitly weighted towards forms at risk, not towards groups already performing successfully.

A group is not eligible if:

• Its practice at the traditional Maand place is shorter than thirty years.
• It cannot obtain the Devasthan or Maand NOC. The scheme is built around the traditional Maand place, and permission from the body that controls it is a condition, not a courtesy.
• It proposes to enrol trainees below ten years of age.
• It is a general cultural troupe with no connection to a village Maand. Institutions of that kind should apply under the Directorate's grant-in-aid schemes for cultural organisations instead.
• It has not submitted the audited Utilisation Certificate and the statement of income and expenditure for grants availed till date. The form asks this question directly at clause 17.

Registration is not compulsory. The enclosure list asks for a copy of the registration certificate "if registered", so an unregistered village Maand group is within the scheme.

How much does the Maand scheme pay?

Each Maand group may consist of at least thirty artists or trainees. At the notified stipend of Rs 1,500 a month, a group of thirty trainees plus a Guru and an assistant draws a substantial monthly figure, which is why the Directorate ties the assessment to a committee of experts.

The four capital and maintenance grants; instruments, repairs, costumes and Maand upkeep: are payable for the duration of the training course, and the citizen charter notes that the exact quantum is decided by the committee of experts as per the requirement. A list of the required musical instruments must be attached where the Rs 50,000 instrument grant is claimed.

Service standards. The Directorate commits to informing applicants about approval within 35 days from the date of receipt of the application — for students, for empanelment of Gurus and assistance, and for instruments whether repaired or donated. Stipends for students, based on the number of trainings, and the honorarium for Gurus and assistants, are released by the end of every month.

What documents are required?

The affidavit is the enclosure that trips groups up. It must be executed on appropriate non-judicial stamp paper and duly notarised or countersigned by the Mamlatdar, in the format enclosed with the application form. That takes time and cannot be arranged on the day of submission.

How to apply for the Maand culture scheme

1. Buy the prescribed application form for the current financial year. The form carries Rs 10 form charges, and the Directorate issues a printed receipt in duplicate: one applicant's copy and one office copy.
2. Fill in the group's identity in capital letters, name of the village Maand group, full address, phone and mobile numbers, contact person's name and mobile number, village, constituency and taluka.
3. Set out the group's history. The form asks for the period of existence of the Maand group in the village, backed by an undertaking signed by the Chairman or Secretary, and for the types of folk art forms practised since inception.
4. Describe the present position. State the number of village artists involved, the present status of the Maand, whether the group participates in village, state, national or international folk festivals, and whether it has conducted training workshops for budding folk artists.
5. Name the forms at risk and the forms to be revived. The form asks which folk art forms have vanished from your Maand and why, and which folk art forms and folk music you would like to practise under the scheme.
6. List the trainees. For each folk art form give the name of the Guru, the period of training and the number of participants, and attach the full list of villagers who wish to enrol.
7. Attach the enclosures, registration certificate if registered, the notarised affidavit, the village Maand details, the Utilisation Certificate for any earlier grant, bank details of a nationalised or scheduled bank, the list of instruments presently in possession and the list of artists.
8. Declare and sign. The person applying on behalf of the group promises to abide by all terms and conditions laid down by the Directorate of Art & Culture from time to time, and declares the information correct, signing with name and designation.
9. Submit the form to the Director, Directorate of Art & Culture, Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa, and keep the Rs 10 receipt and the acknowledgement.

How do I check the status of a Maand application?

The Directorate works to a 35-day service standard for communicating approval, so that is the point at which a follow-up is reasonable. The officer named for this scheme in the citizen charter is the ACO I, Directorate of Art & Culture, Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa, on 0832-2404640, email aco5-dac.goa@nic.in.

Once training begins, the release of stipends and honoraria is monthly, so a delay of more than one cycle is a specific and checkable complaint rather than a general one.

Why do Maand applications fail?

• Less than thirty years of practice at the traditional Maand place.
• No Devasthan or Maand NOC. This is a hard condition and cannot be substituted with a panchayat letter.
• Affidavit not notarised or not countersigned by the Mamlatdar, or not on the prescribed stamp paper.
• Utilisation Certificate for an earlier grant not submitted. Clause 17 asks whether the audited Utilisation Certificate and statement of income and expenditure have been submitted for grants availed to date, and an unanswered or negative response holds up the fresh sanction.
• Bank account with a co-operative or non-scheduled bank. The form accepts only nationalised or scheduled bank details.
• Trainees under ten years of age on the enrolment list.
• Grants from other sources not disclosed. Clause 18 asks whether the group receives grants from any other source and requires details.

Where do I complain?

The ACO I at the Directorate of Art & Culture, Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa, on 0832-2404640 or aco5-dac.goa@nic.in, is the named officer for this scheme. The Directorate's website is artandculture.goa.gov.in.

A grievance may also be lodged against the department through the Government of Goa's citizen services portal at goaonline.gov.in.

Practical advice

• Start the Devasthan NOC first. It involves the village religious body and its own meeting calendar, and it is the enclosure most likely to delay submission.
• Get the affidavit notarised before you complete the form, not after, for the same reason.
• Be honest about which forms have vanished. Clause 10 asks precisely this, and the scheme gives preference to Maand cultures on the verge of extinction, an application that understates the loss argues against itself.
• Keep the trainee list realistic. Each group may consist of at least thirty artists or trainees, and the monthly stipend register is checked against actual training attendance.
• File the Utilisation Certificate for last year's grant before applying this year. Nothing stalls a Maand file faster than an open UC.
• Village groups should also look at the Directorate's Scheme for Upliftment of Utsavi Rangabhumi of Goa, which supports the festival theatre tradition of Goan villages and often involves the same performers and the same Maand.