Preservation of Cultural Life of Tribals of A&N Islands The Ministry of Tribal Affairs supports documentation and preservation of tribal culture. As a part of the scheme of Research, Information & Mass Education, Tribal Festivals and Others", financial assistance is extended to Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) established in eighteen States and the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. In addition to the above, in 2014-15 this Ministry has launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana as a strategic approach and one of the focus areas of this strategy is tribal culture. Ministry of Culture, Government of India through the Zonal Cultural Centres has also organized several programmes on folk, tribal culturs, festivals in Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the preservation of cultural life of the Tribals. The Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, has undertaken various projects for the preservation of tribal culture in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, including study on the language of particularly vulnerable tribes. Andaman and Nicobar Administration encourage tribal communities to showcase the rich culture heritage of Nicobarese in the Island Tourism Festival at Port Blair, every year. The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has apprised that a Memorial has been constructed at the entrance of the Water Sports Complex at Port Blair in the memory of those Great Andamanese, who had laid down their lives in the famous Battle of Aberdeen fought on 17th May 1859 against Britishers and a solemn function is organized every year on this day. Ministry of Culture, through its autonomous organization namely Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata, had organized a theatre show namely Aberdeen Ki Ladai" performed by rural artistes of Andaman & Nicober Islands in the year 2006 at Kolkata and Santiniketan. This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. Samir/jk
