‘People visiting monuments in India unaware of significance’

Neglect of archaeology plague country, say experts

March 07, 2019 12:45 am | Updated 12:45 am IST - Mumbai

Professor Narayani Gupta at the Sandhya Sawant Memorial Lecture on Tuesday.

Professor Narayani Gupta at the Sandhya Sawant Memorial Lecture on Tuesday.

In a nation obsessed with medicine and engineering as career choices, archaeology is nowhere in the picture. “If one wants to learn archaeology in India, they have to first enrol for a Master of Arts and then study further in one of the few colleges offering archaeology courses in the country,” said Professor Narayani Gupta, one of the speakers at the 2019 edition of the Sandhya Sawant Memorial Lecture, organised by the Urban Design Research Institute at the Sir J. J. College of Architecture on Tuesday.

Dr. Gupta also spoke about the negligible number of ‘interpretation centres’ in India, with one of them being at Ellora Caves. “England and the U.S. have the concept of interpretation centres, with visitors getting to know beforehand the significance of what they will be seeing when they visit historic monuments. In India, around 20,000 people visit the Red Fort every day without knowing the significance of the place.”

She also suggested that the tourism industry focus more on investment in permanent structures and their maintenance than in exhibitions and festivals in monuments.

Ms. Gupta took the students through a chronological journey of the establishment of the Archaeological Survey of India, National Monuments Authority, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and also spoke about the relevant laws and regulations.

Giving solutions for integrating heritage with life, she said, “We need to be sensitive about it. We can start by preparing information boards about domestic architecture around the city.” According to Ms. Gupta, there is a need for corporate social responsibility activities to be directed towards preservation of monuments.

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