Centre to relook procedure for declaring monuments to be of national importance: EAC-PM

In a report titled ‘Monuments of National Importance – Urgent Need for Rationalisation’, the EAC-PM pointed out that expenditure on the conservation and maintenance of monuments of national importance is inadequate.

“Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) should come up with substantive criteria and a detailed procedure for declaring monuments to be of national importance.

“It also should publish a book of notifications with detailed information about the provenance of all Monuments of National Importance (MNI),” the report said.

EAC-PM also recommended that minor monuments and antiquities protected as monuments should be denotified as MNI and monuments with local importance should be transferred to respective states for protection.

‘’Allocation of funds for the protection of monuments of national importance should be increased. At the same time, revenue streams such as tickets, events, fees and other sources should be leveraged more proactively and the proceeds should be retained by ASI,“ the report said.

‘’Along with rationalising the existing list, other monuments should be added to the list based on well-defined criteria and procedures,‘’ it added.

The report drawn up by the EAC-PM states that the existing list of MNI has not been reviewed since Independence, and 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. Our analysis estimates that around a quarter of the current list of 3,695 MNI may not have ‘national importance’ per se,” the report said.

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 includes several moveable, standalone ‘antiquities’ like pieces of sculpture, statues, cannons etc. which are being treated as ‘monuments’.

EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal prepared the report which has also recommended that the proceeds from these monuments should vest with the implementing bodies.

Further, it has suggested that standalone antiquities should be removed from the list of monuments of national importance while the untraceable and minor monuments should be denotified at the earliest.

As per the report, the centre had allocated ₹428 crore for the upkeep and protection of 3,695 monuments, which is approximately ₹11 lakh per MNI.

“This is too little for a culturally rich and civilisational state like India. Therefore, there is an urgent need to exponentially increase the allocation of funds for the protection and upkeep of monuments,” the EAC-PM said.

As per the report, over 60% (2238 out of 3695) of them are located in just five states: Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. By way of illustration, while the city of Delhi alone has 173 MNIs, a large state like Telangana has only eight. Culturally and historically significant states like Bihar (70), Odisha (80), Chhattisgarh (46) and Kerala (29) have disproportionately fewer MNI.