Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday rued the mentality of people in the country for not giving importance to archaeological legacy and said the younger generation should be made aware about the significance of the heritage to change the mindset.
After inaugurating the new building of the Archaeological Survey of India’s headquarters in New Delhi, Modi said people’s participation is a must to preserve and protect the archaeological legacy of the country.
“The legacy can’t be protected if people are not proud of it... The corporate sector can also be roped in where people can contribute some hours as volunteers,” he said and suggested that in 100 cities which have historical sites, school syllabus can include information on local archaeological places so that students grow up learning about them.
Modi also said training young people as tourist guides will help generate employment and also enhance the interest of people in archaeological sites, thereby boosting tourism. He also mentioned an online course that could be offered on the local history to create an army of guides, which is crucial to the tourism experience.
“We need to devise new ways to promote civil and social involvement in preserving and promoting our historical heritage.”
He also wondered why the ASI was prohibiting people from clicking photographs at certain monuments, as he said “technology allows satellites to take pictures from far away, restricting people from clicking photographs is not correct.”
“Across the world, where people take interest in this, there is citizens’ participation and cooperation. Whichever monument you visit, retired people work as guide. The society takes the responsibility (in preserving the legacy),” he said. lauding the work of archaeologists, he said, “Stones with edicts are old but not dead. They speak. Every page related to archaeology tells a story.” Modi recalled his meeting with Haribhai Godani, a medical practitioner in Ahmedabad, who had made a rich collection of artefacts over the years. He said Godani showed him a slide of a stone statue, which according to him, was some 800 years old.
“The statue was of a pregnant woman. Her stomach had been cut in half and another carving was made on it. It showed a foetus and the layers of skin...
“Some 800 years ago, the sculptor was aware of the position of the child in the womb...Medical science discovered this a few centuries back,” he said.
The Prime Minister also recalled his visit with then French President Francois Hollande to Chandigarh a few years ago to see the archaeological discoveries made by an India-French team.