The cash-rich centres were meant to promote local cultural talent, but according to the Government's own assessment, seem to have degenerated into purveyors of patronage for national artistes and ``vested interest groups''.

Though almost three years late, the ministry has finally decided to implement the recommendations of the U R Ananthamurthy committee, which was appointed in 1994 to review the working of ZCCs. The committee recommended drastic changes in the very structure of ZCCs, which it said had ``failed to bring about a renewal and rejuvenation of the cultural scene in India''.

The committee found that the ZCC budget allocation for 1994-95 was Rs 3 crore more than that for the three national akademies - Lalit Kala, Sahitya and Sangeet Natak. In the first two years of theirexistence, the endowment for the ZCCs was Rs 35 crore. And as much as 30 per cent of the total expenditure was on fees to nationally-renowned classical musicians and dancers. The recommended that the fees not exceed 10 to 15 per cent of the overall expenditure of ZCCs.

The Ananthamurthy panel also said ``vested interests'' had led to the same groups participating in all the ZCC crafts and performing arts melas. The committee recommended greater effort in selecting crafts, textiles or handicrafts practitioners, instead of inviting the ``same groups who become experts in participating in melas''.

The ministry has decided not to repeat folk and performing groups selected for the melas. It has also said that ZCCs should not ``merely organise a theatre festival or a mela of the available plays by amateur or professional organisations''. That does not, it says, ``reflect any kind of direction or input into the contemporary theatre movement''.

The Ministry has also proposed a thrust towards documentation oftraditional forms like theatre, music, and musical instruments, for as the Ananthamurthy committee reported, the ZCCs have not even carried out a national survey of folk and tribal forms. Though the Ananthamurthy committee had recommended that Governors no longer be chairpersons of ZCCs, the Government is not going to implement this suggestion. It is also not clear whether the Ministry will handle the tricky problem of where the directors of these ZCCs will be recruited from and whether the IAS monopoly will be broken.