NEW DELHI: Data on over 55 lakhs artists has been collected so far for ' Cultural Mapping of India ' project to carry out a survey on cultural topography of the country.A number of meetings of experts has been held since May 15, 2015 in order to conceptualize the project, an official statement said.The work of data entry of artists has been assigned to Centre for Cultural Resources and Training CCRT ), New Delhi."So far, data on more than 55 lakhs artists has been collected. The Ministry is also taking the help of state governments and other organizations to collect the data of artists," the release said.Under the scheme, a web portal would be developed through National Informatics Centre NIC ) for collection of data directly from artistes online for cultural mapping, which will serve as an Artist Repository and can be used in future for the purpose of providing grant-in aid under various cultural schemes administered by the Cultural Ministry , it said.In order to generate fund and to run the mission, a draft mission document has been prepared by a sub-committee of experts constituted for this purpose.Once the mission document of Cultural Mapping of India gets finalized, this will be sent for consultation to NITI Aayog and other ministries.The Ministry has been administering a few finance-based schemes to identify, nurture, hand-hold and train the upcoming and budding artistes on a sustained basis, it said.The project would consolidate the data at one place in a systematic manner and help to streamline and rationalize various financial grant schemes being implemented by the Ministry for artists and cultural organizations, and ensure effectiveness, transparency and value for money, it added.