No plan to make it mandatory for airlines, airports to play Indian music, says V K Singh
India Today
The Minister of State for Civil Aviation on Monday said that the Centre is not planning to make it compulsory for all the airlines and airports to play Indian music in their flights and terminals.
The Centre is not planning to make it mandatory for airlines and airports to play Indian music on their flights and terminal premises, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on December 27 asked all airlines and airports to consider playing Indian music in their flights and terminals.
The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) had on December 23 requested Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to promote Indian music on flights operated by Indian carriers.
During the current Parliament session, when Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ambika Soni asked "whether the government proposes to make it mandatory for Indian airlines and airports to play Indian classical or light vocal and instrumental music", Singh replied in the negative in his written reply.
On December 27, the MoCA wrote a letter to all airlines and airports stating that music played by most of the airlines across the globe was quintessential of the country to which the airline belongs, for example, Jazz on an American airline or Mozart on an Austrian airline and Arab music on an airline from the Middle East.
"But, Indian Airlines seldom play Indian music on the flight, whereas our music has a rich heritage and culture and it is one of the many things every Indian has a reason for truly proud of," the ministry noted.
India has a rich diversity of traditional music, it noted.
