‘Want income support programmes for artists’
want artists to get a hike in subsistence allowance that is needed to sustain their families, especially in time of crisis BAUA DEVI, Painter
The pandemic gutted India’s economy and hurt millions of workers, artists, professionals, and homemakers. Ahead of the Union budget, HT speaks to a cross-section of people to document their hopes and wishes from the exercise
PATNA: For half a century, Baua Devi made waves across world with her Mithila paintings that depict mythological stories involving Lord Krishna, Ram and Sita. She won national and international accolades, a Padma Shri award, and her works hang in galleries in France and Japan.
But last year, for the first time, the 76-year-old sold no painting as the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered exhibitions, galleries and art shows.
“There was a severe financial crisis for the last 10 months. There’s neither any event nor any order for paintings,” said Devi, a resident of Jitwarpur village in north Bihar’s backward Madhubani district.
In her village, every household is home to an artist who helps sustain the Mithila style of painting that dates back centuries. But despite its fame, the artists – who range from potters and painters to weavers, and stone and wood carvers -- say they face tremendous economic hardship. “It’s difficult to express how we have managed to survive this lockdown period,” said Devi.
For her first painting, Devi was paid Rs 1.5 in the 60s. Today, Devi typically earns Rs 60,000 from a painting sold at an exhibition. Her regular monthly income is around Rs 7,000, primarily from the sale of smaller pieces.
But the pandemic and the lockdown imposed to arrest the spread of the virus gutted that income. “I want artists to get a hike in the subsistence allowance that is needed to sustain their families, especially in time of crisis,” she said.
Devi, who shot to fame in 1966 and was among the pioneering generation of artists who transferred Mithila paintings, from walls and pottery to paper and cloth, gets a monthly pension of Rs 3,500 from the Union textiles ministry.
But her son Amar Kumar Jha said the money couldn’t even meet her medical expenses, let alone help run the household. “The sum is even less than what an anganwadi worker gets,” Devi said.
The Union and state governments run schemes to provide financial support to individuals, groups and cultural organisations. These include pension programmes, marketing assistance and technology upgradation, art procurement policy and sponsoring of stalls.
Devi said many artisans weren’t able to avail the facilities. “Besides, all these are irregular things. We want a permanent source of income,” she said.
Devi said the lockdown forced many artists to come back to their villages because they were pushed out of jobs and couldn’t afford to pay rents in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. “They were not able to pay house rent. Even we had to come back to our village,” she said. The family returned from Delhi.
Faced with hardship, many artists, especially those hailing from Dalit and other marginalised communities, turned to agriculture work. Some of them worked as daily wage labourers too. “That is the story of most artists keeping traditional art forms alive,” she said.
Devi’s hope from the Union Budget, due to be presented next month, is that artists get enhanced government support. “We want that government should announce income protection schemes for us and should make it mandatory for government offices to buy traditional art form from poor original artists,” she said. She also urged the government to develop Jitwarpur village, known as the hub of Mithila painters, as Kalagram (village of art and culture).