Indian Government Proposes Rating System for Artists and Writers

The Indian government has proposed a rating system for the country's artists and writers, according to a report by the Hindustan Times. This initiative follows a pilot cultural mapping project intended to evolve into a national repository. Under the proposed scheme, creatives would be categorized into three grades: outstanding, promising, and waiting. Concerns have been raised about how the system will accommodate the evolving nature of artistic work over time. India's artistic community has expressed worry that this new database could complicate and confuse artists' status, especially since existing grading systems are already operated by Doordarshan, one of India's largest broadcasting networks, and the Indian Council for Cultural Research. While some artists view the recognition as motivating, others fundamentally oppose the concept of grading artistic output.