Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa government has constituted a research fellowship in Indian classical music named after veteran singer late Kishoritai Amonkar, who passed away in Mumbai recently.
Addressing the media, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gawde said, “The fellowship scheme will be called Gaansaraswati Kishoritai Amonkar Research Fellowship in Indian Classical Music. This fellowship scheme will be in two categories, junior and senior. In the junior category the age limit is 30 years and senior category the age is above 30 years. The junior category scholar will get Rs 1,20,000 per year whereas senior category scholar shall get 1,80,000 per year.”
“Application process has started today and will end on June 5, 2017. Any person who wants to avail the scheme should have a post graduation in music. A maximum of two fellowships, one in each category, shall be awarded every year. The fellowship will be awarded to a researcher only once in his lifetime,” he added.
The minister said the objectives of the fellowship are to encourage and help Goan students to unfold the full creative splendour of Indian classical music, to preserve the purity of classical music, to nurture it and to inspire research work in the field.
“A special committee shall be appointed by Kala Academy to select the scholars for the scheme and recommend the names. In case of exceptionally talented students, the rules regarding educational qualifications may be relaxed. If we do not find candidates in the above eligibility criteria we can give this scholarship to any other person but he has to be competent,” he said.
The minister also stressed that the government will try to provide grace marks for students who are doing well in the field of art, just like sports marks.
“Definitely I will take care that our students who are doing well in the field of art shall be given 100 percent grace marks and the government is trying to do it,” Gawde said.
