The EZCC and the Ministry of Rural Development through the Special Project under Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Jogana (SGSY) scheme is creating self employment opportunities for rural artisans and helping them to grow as entrepreneurs by mobilising them into Self Help Groups. This project will revive and revitalize a few chosen dying art forms of eastern India and provide a sustainable livelihood to 4000 beneficiaries.The project period is 3 years ending on 31.03.2008.The selected backward districts and the dying art forms include.

As of now, the selected districts and dying art forms under the project are as follows:

India is undoubtedly one of the richest countries in terms of the diversity of its cultural heritage. The increasing popularity of its folk culture has been taken up as a background, which, with adequate strategy, will not only contribute towards revival of the selected art forms but also enable the artists in earning a sustainable livelihood. West Bengal and Orissa are the two states taken up for this project, as both are externally rich with respect to folk tradition, but poor with respect to socio-economic development. The achievements of the project would act as a model for replicability of the project in other zones of the country equally rich in heritage.

The primary objective of the project is to ensure a time bound programme for bringing a specific member of families below poverty line (BPL) above the line through training empowering, innovating and marketing their skills pertaining to folk painting and performing arts. This project also involves the tribal and rural women and hence is empowering them to start generating income as well.

The primary objective of EZCC under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, is to enrich, promote and strengthen the cultural traditions and art forms. Being an autonomous organisation, EZCC is stable, well known and capable of undertaking a project for revival and revitalizing of folk art and culture, since EZCC has worked in collaboration with the other Zonal centres corporate house, private groups and NGO's promoting culture, in the past too. EZCC through this revival project will provide the adequate platform required to the artisans for marketing their skills.