Parliament Question: Cultural mapping of rural India

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 29 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.01.2026 CULTURAL MAPPING OF RURAL INDIA 29. SHRI SADANAND MHALU SHET TANAVADE Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state:- (a) the number of villages covered so far under the “Meri Gaon Meri Dharohar” programme, State/UT-wise and those targeted for the next phase; (b) the specific categories of tangible and intangible cultural heritage being documented, such as folk arts, dialects, festivals, crafts, oral traditions, historic sites and community practices, State/UT-wise; (c) the budget allocated, released and utilised for this programme since inception, including support extended to local institutions and artisans, State/UT-wise; and (d) the measures taken to integrate this cultural mapping with rural tourism, livelihood generation and school curricula, State/UT-wise? ANSWER MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT) (a) Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar (MGMD) portal under National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM), culturally maps villages across India. Currently, 6.23 lakh villages have been covered. The State/UT-wise division of covered villages is placed at Annexure-I. There is no such specific plan for second phase of mapping as of now. (b) As part of its documentation activities, MGMD covers a wide range of cultural elements, both tangible and intangible, including oral traditions, beliefs, customs, historical significance, art forms, local languages, heritage sites, traditional food, prominent artists, fairs and festivals, traditional dress, ornaments and local landmarks. Data on MGMD Portal is organised village-wise and not as per cultural categories of State/UT-wise.(c) Total Budget Allocation for the Programme: FY 2021-2026 is Rs. 89.99 Crore Total Budget Released – Rs. 54.4351 Crore Total Budget Utilised – Rs. 53.4351 Crore (approx.) MGMD programme doesn’t have any provision for leveraging the mapped heritage data for direct benefit to local artisans and institutions. (d) The MGMD Programme leads to strengthening of rural identity by creating authentic, village-level cultural profiles that recognise local traditions, practices and heritage assets. The availability of structured cultural data on a single national portal supports planning for rural tourism and school, thereby contributing to sustainable livelihood generation and rural economic development *******ANNEXURE-I Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 29 asked on 29th January, 2026 regarding ‘Cultural mapping of rural India' State/UT Number of Uploaded Villages Andaman and Nicobar Islands 176 Andhra Pradesh 17142 Arunachal Pradesh 4613 Assam 26074 Bihar 39563 Chandigarh 12 Chhattisgarh 19571 Delhi 252 Goa 431 Gujarat 19271 Haryana 7579 Himachal Pradesh 18735 Jammu & Kashmir 6926 Jharkhand 29908 Karnataka 29569 Kerala 1275 Ladakh 238 Lakshadweep Islands 13 Madhya Pradesh 56429 Maharashtra 40042 Manipur 306 Meghalaya 7012 Mizoram 1026 Nagaland 1498 Odisha 47209 Puducherry 127 Punjab 12084 Rajasthan 46696 Sikkim 464 Tamil Nadu 19219 Telangana 9824 The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 107 Tripura 899 Uttar Pradesh 103003 Uttarakhand 15727 West Bengal 40429