JOIN US Minister for Women and Child Development Umashree on Sunday took the organisers of the State-level women’s “Samskriti Utsav” to task for ‘messing up’ with her ambitious event for women.
She said the department has not understood the concept she had proposed with an ambition to promote young women performing artistes.
“I didn’t want an event called ‘women's culture,’ but a ‘cultural programme’ for women artistes to showcase their talent. I think the department of Kannada and Culture has not understood my concept,” she said.
Speaking at the first such State-level event here on Sunday, Umashree said there are many women in the State performing ‘dollu kunitha,’ playing shehnai and other performing arts which were previously a men’s domain.
The department should provide a platform to these young women and host State and district-level competitions to showcase their talent, she added.
The event seemed to have not served the purpose as it had only a couple of senior artistes performing, she observed.
Besides, the programme, which she described as “for women, by women,” had hardly any women among its audience.
Karnataka Women Writers’ Association president Dr Vasundhara Bhupathi said the cultural event could have been organised better and there were other issues related to women, such as vacant post of the State Women’s Commission chairperson.
Thousands of complaints have been pending with the commission, she added.