Reforms mooted to fine-tune Dasara

The Mysore Deputy Commissioner, Harsh Gupta, has suggested to the state government that there’s a need to reform the way the 10-day-long Dasara celebrations in Mysore is conducted, and also called to fine-tune the festival to reflect the cultural past.

In an appraisal report, he has suggested the appointment of a permanent Dasara Special Officer, instead of a last minute appointee to conduct and supervise the entire celebrations.

“Without effective reforms in the manner in which the festival is organised, the constitution of a separate Dasara authority would fail to serve the purpose,” the DC said. He has also mooted a district festival on the lines of the celebrations held in other districts with separate fund allocation.

In the recent years, Dasara has seen the addition of numerous cultural programmes that have failed to be in sync with the traditional past. They include the Yuva Dasara, Rytha Dasara (farmers’ Dasara), food festival, rural Dasara, women’s and children’s programmes, chess, skating, Yoga and air show.

The programmes are crammed into the 10 days and many of them fail to draw enough people. The seasonal rains add to the misery of the performers and the spectators, and sometimes the programmes end up being a damp squib. There is also criticism that some of these programmes in no way match the traditional festivities.

With the feedback seen in the media and based on public opinion, the DC has suggested that the above programmes be held separately as ‘District Festival’ during the second and third week of February, which is a rain-free month, while retaining the crux of the old Dasara celebrations in October as in the past.

“Dasara is a tradition of procession, torchlight parade, wrestling, cultural programmes, poets’ meet and sports. People expect them to be organised in a disciplined way. Even the media is of the same opinion.”

“The grants made by the government for the Dasara should be spent exclusively for this traditional state festival. Mysore should become a springboard for reflecting its cultural past in keeping with the state festival status during the 10 days and attract more tourists. The grants should be exclusively utilised for this purpose,” Gupta said in his report.

While officials begin preparations for the celebrations 3-4 months in advance, the last minute appointment of members for committees and sub-committees are done without any yardstick or transparency, he said adding this resulted in pressures on officials.