00:00Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissasa says the controversy surrounding state sponsorship of sporting and cultural events could have been avoided
00:08if organizations were more transparent about how they solicit public funding.
00:13The Prime Minister was responding to questions from TV6 following a statement by the National Council of Indian Culture, which
00:21said it had never accused her of politically victimizing the organization by withholding funding.
00:26Passat-Bissasa says the NCIC applied to the Ministry of Culture for $500,000 for this year's Diwali Nagar, which
00:35is twice the amount being provided by its diamond sponsor.
00:39She argues that the organization should have disclosed that application publicly.
00:44Passat-Bissasa says, quote, this is the same NCIC that got half a million dollars last year directly from the
00:52Ministry for the Nagar and still went to multiple state enterprises for more money last year, by the way, end
00:59quote.
01:00Passat-Bissasa also named several state companies.
01:03She says the NCIC approached for sponsorship, including Beam Mobile, First Citizens Bank, Republic Bank, Wimcot, NFM and NGC.
01:12She says, quote, the ministries and state enterprises operate independently, so none of them would know that the other already
01:20gave money, so it ends up that the state and multiple state enterprises fund the same event, end quote.
01:28Passat-Bissasa says the government intends to put an end to that practice.
01:32She says, quote, that is why we reduced funding from all state enterprises.
01:36I won't call it a scheme.
01:38I would call it a type of swine behavior that should be stopped, and I will stop it, end quote.
01:45The prime minister's comments come amid debate over the withdrawal of sponsorship by several state enterprises from the Diwali Nagar,
01:53as well as questions about the level of direct government support available to the NCIC.
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