Cultural Institutions: Safeguarding heritage

The Archaeological Survey of India began in December 1861, when Lord Canning sanctioned a survey of northern India and appointed Alexander Cunningham its first Archaeological Surveyor. Between 1861 and 1865 he surveyed from Gaya to the Indus, largely following the route of the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang. John Marshall became Director General only in 1902.

Section 2(a) of the AMASR Act, 1958 defines an ancient monument as a structure, erection, monument, tumulus, cave, rock sculpture, inscription or monolith of historical, archaeological or artistic interest that has been in existence for not less than one hundred years. The same 100-year test applies to antiquities other than manuscripts under the 1972 Act.

The Gandhi Peace Prize and the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony are administered directly by the Ministry of Culture, each through a jury chaired by the Prime Minister. The Distinguished Indologist Award is given by the ICCR, which works under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is conferred by the Akademi itself, an autonomous body funded by the ministry.

The National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) was launched in 2007 to document built heritage, sites and antiquities in standard formats, and its nodal agency is the Archaeological Survey of India, not IGNCA. The ASI created an Underwater Archaeology Wing in 2001 (later revived after a lull), and the ASI is an attached office of the Ministry of Culture. So three statements are correct.

The ASI's own history records that Lord Lawrence abolished the Survey in 1866; it was revived as a distinct department with Cunningham as Director General from February 1871. John Marshall was appointed Director General in 1902 under Lord Curzon. The Ancient Monuments Preservation Act was passed in 1904, during Curzon's time, not after independence; the post-independence law is the AMASR Act of 1958.

Daya Ram Sahni, who had excavated Harappa in 1921, became the first Indian Director General of the ASI in 1931 and served until 1935. R. D. Banerji, the excavator of Mohenjo-daro, never headed the Survey; B. B. Lal headed it only in the late 1960s.

Monuments of national importance are in List I, entry 67; archaeological sites other than those of national importance are in List III, entry 40; and Article 49, a Directive Principle, obliges the State to protect monuments and places declared to be of national importance. Libraries, museums and similar institutions controlled or financed by a State fall in List II, entry 12, which also covers monuments other than those of national importance.

Section 2 of the Act defines an antiquity as a coin, sculpture, painting or other object in existence for not less than one hundred years, and a manuscript, record or document of value in existence for not less than seventy-five years. An art treasure is a work of art declared for its artistic value, but the proviso bars any such declaration so long as the author is alive. The Act came into force on 5 April 1976.