Lifetime Contribution to Khell/Khell-Tiatr Awards

What is the Lifetime Contribution to Khell/Khell-Tiatr Award?

Lifetime Contribution to Khell/Khell-Tiatr Awards is scheme number 34 of the 41 schemes run by the Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG), the autonomous body of the Government of Goa under the Department of Art and Culture. TAG states the reason for the scheme in one sentence at the head of the rules: there are khell and khell-tiatr artistes who have contributed immensely to the development of the form in the past, and this scheme was devised to recognise that contribution.

Khell-tiatr sits between two Goan forms. The khell, also called fell or zomnivoilo khell, is the traditional ground-level folk theatre performed in the carnival season, sung almost entirely through cantos with limited dialogue. The khell-tiatr grew out of it into a longer staged form. Both have been carried for generations by artistes who never worked in commercial tiatr and therefore fell outside the more visible award schemes. This scheme exists to close that gap.

The award is presented every year on 24 October, the birth anniversary of Rosario Rodrigues, whom the scheme document names as the "Promoter of Khell-Tiatr". That date, rather than a general awards ceremony, anchors the whole scheme.

What does the award consist of?

Under rule 5, the Lifetime Contribution to Khell/Khell-Tiatr Award consists of:

• a shawl
• a memento
• a citation
• a cash purse as fixed by TAG

TAG has not published the value of the cash purse in the scheme document. Ask the TAG office for the current figure rather than assuming an amount from another TAG award scheme.

Under rule 6, not more than 5 artistes from the field are conferred the award in any year, so the scheme is deliberately scarce.

Who is eligible for the award, and who is not?

A nominee is eligible if:

• The artiste is not less than 60 years of age. Rule 1 allows this age limit to be relaxed if the health of the artiste is not well.
• The artiste has at least 10 years of contribution in the field of khell-tiatr (rule 2(f)).
• If an actor, singer, stage manager, lights effects provider, make-up artist, costume designer, live music or background music person, the artiste has performed in at least 10 khell-tiatrs (rule 2(g)).
• If a writer or director, the artiste has written or directed at least 10 khell-tiatrs (rule 2(h)).

Beyond these thresholds, rule 2 lists the qualitative factors the selectors weigh:

• Whether the artiste was an excellent actor, script writer, director, singer, lyricist or set designer of khell or khell-tiatr.
• Whether the artiste received any awards in the field.
• Whether the artiste did any innovation in the presentation of khell or khell-tiatr.
• Whether, besides khell-tiatr, the artiste acted, directed, sang, composed music or lyrics, designed sets, background music or light effects for dramas in other languages or in films.
• If a script writer or lyricist, whether the artiste has published any books of scripts or lyrics.

A nominee is not eligible if:

• The artiste is under 60 and is in good health, so the relaxation in rule 1 does not apply.
• The artiste has fewer than 10 years in the field, or fewer than 10 khell-tiatrs to their name in the relevant role.
• The artiste has already received a TAG lifetime contribution award in any stream. Rule 7 restricts the honour to once in a lifetime across tiatr (commercial or non-commercial), khell, khell-tiatr and Konkani cinema.
• The artiste cannot be present in person at the function. Rule 4 makes attendance compulsory to receive the award.

An important point about who can apply: this is a nomination scheme, not an application scheme. Individual artistes do not put themselves forward. The form is built in two halves; details of the recommender and details of the nominee — and selection is done through recommendations from individuals and institutions and through newspaper advertisements. Rule 3 additionally gives the Executive Board the right to select deserving artistes from outside the recommended list altogether.

How to apply for the Lifetime Contribution to Khell/Khell-Tiatr Award

1. Watch for the advertisement. TAG invites recommendations through advertisements in the local newspapers ahead of the 24 October function.
2. Download the recommendation form for scheme 34 from the Schemes of TAG page at tiatracademyofgoa.com.
3. Fill the recommender's section. Give your name, full address, landline and mobile numbers, Aadhaar number with a copy enclosed, and a description of yourself in under 100 characters. Sign it.
4. Fill the nominee's section. Give the artiste's name, stage name, father's name, mother's name, date of birth and age, educational qualification, address of correspondence, landline and mobile numbers, Aadhaar number with a copy enclosed, and email.
5. Tick the nominee's contribution categories. The form offers actor, singer, musician, director, producer, writer, lights, setting, sound and promoter/organiser, plus an "other" box to specify.
6. Attach the details of performances on a separate sheet. This is where you demonstrate the 10-khell-tiatr and 10-year thresholds. Be specific: names of khell-tiatrs, years, roles.
7. Enclose the four listed documents: birth certificate, additional documents or evidence, photographs of performances, and the Aadhaar card. Sign the declaration that the information given is true.
8. Submit the completed form to the Tiatr Academy of Goa, AS-1, 2nd Floor, Campal Trade Centre, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001, or write to tiatracademy@gmail.com to confirm the current submission method.

How is the selection made?

Rule 3 sets out three routes into the selection pool:

1. Recommendation from individuals using the prescribed form.
2. Recommendation from institutions, khell troupes, cultural bodies, associations.
3. Advertisements in local newspapers, which is TAG's own call for names.

The Executive Board of TAG then applies the criteria in rule 2 and may also pick deserving artistes from outside the recommended list. A strong nomination is therefore one that does the Board's work for it: the years, the count of khell-tiatrs, the roles, the awards already received, the innovations introduced, and the published books if the nominee is a writer or lyricist.

What are the common reasons a nomination fails?

• The nominee is under 60 and the health relaxation in rule 1 does not apply.
• The performance record is thin: fewer than 10 khell-tiatrs, or under 10 years in the field.
• No birth certificate enclosed, so the age condition cannot be verified.
• No detailed performance sheet. A recommendation that asserts a long career without listing the khell-tiatrs gives the Executive Board nothing to weigh.
• The nominee has already received a TAG lifetime award in tiatr, khell, khell-tiatr or Konkani cinema. Rule 7 rules that out permanently.
• A missing Aadhaar copy for either the recommender or the nominee.
• More than 5 strong nominations in one year. The cap in rule 6 means a deserving artiste may simply have to wait for the following year's cycle.

TAG reserves the right, under rule 8, to make any changes in the rules, so work from the current PDF on the Schemes of TAG page.

Where do I raise a grievance about this award?

Contact the Tiatr Academy of Goa on 0832-2230738 (fax 0832-2230739) or by email at tiatracademy@gmail.com. The office is at AS-1, 2nd Floor, Campal Trade Centre, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001.

Under the Right to Information Act, the Member Secretary of TAG is the Public Information Officer and the President of TAG is the First Appellate Authority. A written RTI application about a pending recommendation goes first to the Member Secretary at that address. Selection itself is a decision of the Executive Board under rule 3, so a grievance is best confined to process, an unacknowledged nomination, an unpaid cash purse, a missing citation.

Key facts to remember

• Lifetime Contribution to Khell/Khell-Tiatr Awards is scheme 34 of 41 run by the Tiatr Academy of Goa.
• The award is a shawl, a memento, a citation and a cash purse fixed by TAG.
• Not more than 5 artistes are honoured each year.
• The awardee must be 60 or above, relaxable only on grounds of ill health.
• Minimum 10 years in the field and at least 10 khell-tiatrs in the relevant role.
• The award is presented on 24 October, the birth anniversary of Rosario Rodrigues.
• The artiste must receive the award in person.
• A TAG lifetime contribution award can be received only once in a lifetime across tiatr, khell, khell-tiatr and Konkani cinema.

How to check your nomination status

There is no online tracking portal for this scheme, since TAG runs it as a paper recommendation process rather than a digital application. Once a recommendation form has been submitted, follow up this way:

1. Keep proof of submission. If the form was handed in at the TAG office, ask for an acknowledgement or a dated receiving stamp on your copy. If it was sent by post, keep the postal receipt; if by courier, keep the tracking slip. There is no acknowledgement email or SMS built into this scheme.
2. Call the TAG office directly. Ring 0832-2230738 and ask the office staff to confirm the recommendation for the named artiste has been received and logged for the current year's cycle. Have the nominee's name and the year of submission ready, since there is no reference number issued at intake.
3. Write in if a phone call is not possible. Send a short, dated letter or an email to tiatracademy@gmail.com naming the nominee, the recommender, and the date the form was submitted, and ask for written confirmation that it is under consideration.
4. Watch for the newspaper announcement. TAG publishes the names of that year's awardees before the 24 October function. If a nominee's name does not appear, that does not necessarily mean the recommendation was rejected: rule 6 caps the honour at 5 artistes a year, so a strong nomination can simply carry over to a later cycle rather than being turned down outright.
5. Ask specifically whether it will carry forward. Because there is no published waitlist mechanism, the only way to know whether an unsuccessful year's nomination is still active is to ask the office in writing, and to re-submit for the next cycle if TAG's practice is to require a fresh form each year.
6. Escalate under RTI if the office is unresponsive. As with any grievance on this scheme, a written application to the Member Secretary of TAG (the Public Information Officer) at AS-1, 2nd Floor, Campal Trade Centre, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001, can be used to get a status update on record if informal follow-up does not work.