New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS): The Union Culture Ministry has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) across the country for conservation and development of art, culture and crafts across the country, the Parliament was told on Monday.

The centres have been set up at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Dimapur, and Thanjavur, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region G. Kishan Reddy told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Various cultural activities and programmes will be held over here on regular basis to promote cultural activities, he said, adding that the Government has provided annual grant-in-aid to conduct art programmes at these centres.

Further, for preservation and development of art, culture and crafts across the country, the ministry also organises Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsavs (RSMs) through these ZCCs where a large number of artistes from all over India are engaged to showcase their talents.

From November 2015 onwards, twelve RSMs have been organised.

These ZCCs also organise a minimum 42 Regional Festivals for promotion of art and culture every year as per their programme calendar. For proper storage of the treasure of knowledge for posterity, several art forms including the vanishing ones are being documented by these ZCCs. Number of arts forms have been documented in digital format (both audio and video formats).

Further, for preservation and promotion of various folk arts & culture of the country, these ZCCs also implement a number of schemes viz. Award to Young Talented Artists, Guru Shishya Parampara, Theatre Rejuvenation, Research and Documentation, Shilpgram, OCTAVE and National Cultural Exchange Programme.