'Zonal Cultural Centres helping to preserve art forms'

Seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) have been set up for preservation, promotion and dissemination of traditional folk arts and culture of all states through various government schemes, parliament was told Tuesday.

"The government has set up seven ZCCs having their headquarters at Patiala, Udaipur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Dimapur, Nagpur and Thanjavur," Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

She further added that various folk songs, dances and other art forms have been preserved by ZCCs including folk dances of Goa, Kalbelia dance, Chau, the cultural heritage of Shimla and also the Mahasu dance of Himachal Pradesh.