The Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to the Prime Minister has underlined the urgent need of streamlining of monuments of national importance (MNI).
- India currently has 3,693 monuments of national importance (MNI), and their protection and upkeep is the responsibility of the Archaeological Survey of India, under the Ministry of Culture.
Key highlights of the report
- The report titled ‘Monuments of National Importance: The Urgent Need for Rationalization’ drawn up by the EAC states that the existing list of MNI has not been reviewed since Independence. The list has become “unwieldy” due to the inclusion of minor colonial structures or monuments that are not of national significance.
- A large number of MNI seem not to have national importance or historical or cultural significance.
- Around a quarter of the current list of 3,695 MNI may not have ‘national importance’ per se,”. For instance, around 75 graves and cemeteries of British officers and soldiers that have neither architectural significance nor historical or cultural importance are on the list.
- The list also includes several moveable artefacts like pieces of sculpture, statues, cannons etc which are being treated as monuments.
- As many as 24 “untraceable” monuments are still being considered as MNI. It cited a 2013 audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General, which declared 92 monuments as “missing” after a first-of-its-kind physical verification exercise undertaken after Independence.
- In one curious case, the colonial-era statue of a British Brigadier which was exported to northern Ireland in 1958 still remains on the list of MNI, despite not being in the country for the last six decades.
- The funds allocated for the upkeep and maintenance of many of these centrally protected monuments are inadequate and geographically skewed. In 2019-20 the budgetary allocation for ‘conservation, preservation and environmental development of 3695 MNI was only Rs 428 crore. This works out to a paltry sum of Rs 11 lakh per MNI.
- India’s expenditure on monuments of national importance is woefully little and inadequate. Even the little amount spent needs to be better utilised for proper upkeep of monuments.
- There is imbalance in the state-wise distribution of funds: In 2019-20, Delhi, which has 173 MNI, received the lion’s share of Rs 18.5 crore; on the other hand, Uttar Pradesh with 745 monuments was allocated just Rs 15.95 crore.
- The revenue collected at MNI through ticketing, photography, filming etc does not go to the ASI or the Ministry of Culture.
- The government has failed to come up with alternate ways to generate revenue in the long term.
The problems
- The problem lies with the identification and preservation of monuments of national importance as per the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act), 1958.
- The AMASR Act provides for the declaration and conservation of ancient and historical monuments and archaeological sites and remains of national importance.
- The Act does not define what a monument of national importance is, nor does it have a substantive process or criteria prescribed for identifying one.
- Of the existing 3,695 monuments of national importance, 2,584 were shifted en masse from a colonial-era list.
- Between 1947 and the passing of the AMASR Act 1958, another 736 monuments were added to the list. The 1958 Act then declared all of them to be of national importance without reviewing the list.
Suggestions
- ASI should come up with substantive criteria and a detailed procedure for declaring monuments to be of national importance.
- The Centre should denotify untraceable monuments and hand over the preservation of monuments of local importance to states.
- Standalone antiquities should be removed from the list of monuments of national importance. Wherever possible, they may be shifted to museums for better upkeep.
- Allocation of funds for the preservation of MNI should be increased, while ASI should retain the proceeds generated from revenue streams like tickets, events, fees and other sources.
