pradesh identity cards were issued to television artists but that was it there was no demarcation either and everyone was tagged as an artiste those cards werent of much help except when returning from late night shoots when we were occasionally pulled up by security personnel but if some help is extended either financially or in other ways through these cards then it would be a significant thing for everyone said vinod bala president of television actors association folk artistes pin high hopes on id cards say it might save them from arrests and earn them pension benefitsand yet the move is being hailed by folk artistes of telangana who have to otherwise get by with little or no help from the world outside says ravi a folklore artist we are poor people and we travel throughout the state from one village to the other often on foot for practising our art many a time we have been arrested by the police even though we show them our tools and other items of our art form sometimes we perform in other states as well and face the same problem since language is a barrier there many of us die miserable deaths on the roads due to accidents snake bites etc note judging by the expectations which artists like ravi have on the efficacy of this system of identifying and recognising local talent it is pretty much clear that the department of culture has its work cut out while the idea sounds good in itself the holistic benefits to the artists would only accrue when there are tangible incentives associated with the card