CAG Report on Preservation and Conservation of Monuments and Antiquities

CAG Report on Preservation and Conservation of Monuments and Antiquities

Subject: Polity

Context: A 2013 report by CAG on “Preservation and Conservation of Monuments and Antiquities”flags the inefficiency of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Concept:

• Monuments and antiquities are part of our heritage and culture and cannot be marketed adequately. Excavation and preservation require distinct skill-sets and expertise.
• As per the 2013 report, during physical inspections 131 antiquities were stolen from monuments/sites and 37 antiquities from Site Museums from 1981 to 2012. Worldwide, organisations took many more effective steps including checking of catalogues of international auction house(s), posting news of such theft on websites, posting information about theft in the International Art Loss Registry, sending photographs of stolen objects electronically to dealers and auction houses and intimate scholars in the field. Butthe ASI had never participated or collected information on Indian antiquities put on sale at well-known international auction houses viz. Sotheby’s, Christie’s, etc. as there was no explicit provision in the AAT (Antiquities and Art Treasures) Act, 1972 for doing so.
• The ASI was also a nodal agency to retrieve stolen or illegally exported art objects. From1976 to 2001, 19 antiquities had been retrieved by the ASI from foreign countries either through legal means, indemnity agreement, voluntary action or through out of case settlement. But after 2001,the ASI had not been able to achieve any success due to discretion and abuse in granting non-antiquity certificates for exports.
• India is a signatory to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (ratified it in 1977). Perhaps there is a need to sign the 1995 UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
• Steps taken by India to preserve and conserve monuments and antiquities include:

1. Article 51 A (f)- “Its hall be the duty of every citizen of India to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.”
2. Article 49- to protect monuments, places and objects of national importance.
3. Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 1958
4. AAT(Antiquities and Art Treasures) Act, 1972– to effectively control movable cultural property consisting of antiquities and art treasures.
5. Antiquities Export Control Act, 1947 – regulate the export of antiquities
6. National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, 2007– prepare a national register to document antiquities from different sources in a uniform format.
7. India Pride Project– Volunteer network spread across globe that tracks and brings India’s stolen antiquities and art treasures.

To know about AMASR Act and ASI, refer: https://optimizeias.com/protection-of-ancient-monuments-archaeological-sites/