By Monidipa Dey
India, an ancient land, is blessed with innumerable heritage web sites of all sorts, which variety from structural, cultural, and all-natural ones. The structural and all-natural heritage web sites are a tangible component of Indian heritage, and getting very easily visible tends to get more consideration. On the other hand, cultural heritage which is intangible in nature is a subtle kind of expression by a neighborhood depicting their approaches of living, which is passed from one generation to one more by means of continuing practices, expressions, customs, and values that are more frequently than not passed by means of oral traditions. It is necessary to preserve all these heritages by means of appropriate patronage and governance, as they kind the roots of any neighborhood and culture and account for their survival.
In 2019 the Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman in her price range speech named 17 iconic tourist web sites and spoke about creating of these web sites into planet-class tourist destinations for boosting foreign tourism into India, hence displaying the government’s want to improve India’s image as a sturdy soft energy. The 17 iconic web sites that had been chosen to serve as a model for other tourist destinations are the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra Red Fort, Qutub Minar and Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi Colva in Goa Amer Fort in Rajasthan Somnath and Dholavira in Gujarat Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh Hampi in Karnataka Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu Kaziranga in Assam Kumarakom in Kerala and the Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar. A look at the list shows the exact same predictable names (majority of them) that have been highlighted from virtually the time of independence. Most of these names are currently effectively identified inside the foreign travel circuit, so does not seriously enable in arousing additional interest amongst foreigners on Indian heritage. The list is disappointing simply because when we have innumerable lovely monuments scattered across the nation, the GOI identified it secure to stick to the effectively identified ones and didn’t come up with newer names to garner higher curiosity and consideration amongst the overseas vacationers. As for instance, if we take the state of Madhya Pradesh, apart from the listed Khajuraho group of temples (which of course is undeniably a must check out website), the state is also a treasure trove of some of the most exquisite medieval temples, such as the Chausath Yogini temple, Bateswara temple, Saas bahu temple, Teli ka mandir, rock reduce Dharamanath temple (Dharamarajeshwara temple), Kakanmath temples, to name a handful of. Perhaps some of these names could also have noticed viewed as in the list of “17 iconic tourist sites” in order to add some sparkle to the list of monuments that has been virtually completed to death given that 1947. Almost all states in India are replete with ancient to medieval era monuments, such as Chattisgarh with its Gupta era brick temples Telengana with its Chalukyan and Kakatiya era temples West Bengal with its medieval terracotta temples Himalayan temples in the state of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand Odisha temples other than the Konark temples in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and the list is endless. It is surprising that none of these identified their way into the 17 iconic web sites.
The “Adopt a Heritage” project, which was launched in 2018 beneath excellent criticism by a particular section of the public, but with excellent intentions that aimed at encouraging organisations from the private sector, NGOs, and men and women to grow to be ‘Monument Mitras.’ As of now the project has 27 MOUs signed, but has slowed down in its impetus mostly owing to the Covid pandemic that has virtually broken down the backbone of the tourism sector. Under this project these that became “Monument mitras” would be accountable for operating, creating, upgrading, and keeping tourist amenities at the web sites working with a sustainable investment model. The tourist amenities to be worked on by the “Monument Mitras” consist of arranging for dustbins, public conveniences, clean drinking water facility, illumination, quick accessibility, aesthetics and cleanliness of website, bench installations, waste management, app-based multilingual audio guide, installation of Digi Kiosk and ticketing Kiosk, signage (descriptive and directional), and availability of Wi-Fi. Once the pandemic is more than the government should necessarily relook into this effectively which means project, and push for higher participation from the public sector (beneath CSR) and prevalent citizens. Focus should really also be produced on building higher public awareness on not littering heritage web sites or vandalizing any heritage structures, and stringent fines should really be imposed if everyone is caught carrying out so. Security problems and poor infrastructure about the heritage web sites are two crucial elements that plague this sector, and desires speedy reforms to attract more international and Indian vacationers.
On 18th April, which is the ‘International Day for Monuments and Sites’, it is necessary for the GOI to overview its age-old stand and move out of the security net by enlisting names of comparatively unknown or lesser identified monuments and heritage web sites of India, and showcase them just before the planet. On this day, as the Covid pandemic nonetheless rages maintaining travelers and heritage enthusiasts inside the security confines of their houses, it is also crucial that we the prevalent citizens of India take a pledge to work towards loving, safeguarding, and preserving our heritage web sites.
(The author is a effectively-identified travel and heritage writer. Views expressed are individual and do not reflect the official position or policy of the TheSpuzz Online.)