Is India doing enough to preserve its heritage sites?

"Most of the time, we expect the government to do everything. One billion people remain unconcerned about their monuments, but 500 people sitting inside a circular building called Parliament are expected to care. So firstly, we should develop awareness about historical structures. Red Fort was originally called Urdu-i-Mualla or Qila-i-Mualla (Camp of Exalted) and Taj Mahal was Rauza-i-Munnawwar (Illuminated Tomb). The nomenclature ​drastically changes the story behind any monument. The government has decided to establish a National Monuments Authority under which we will have competent authorities in each state deciding what permissions should be given in the vicinity of a monument. They are preparing bylaws, but it has been a few years and not a single monument in India has received one yet. They need to be made, filed, approved, court notified— it is a long process, by which time the monuments will be gone. As citizens, we should realise that the government is responsible for anything that is of concern for its citizens. So, if we make monuments important for ourselves, they will become important for the government."
—Vikramjit Singh Rooprai, President, Youth for Heritage Foundation

"The resources we have for preserving our heritage is absolutely miniscule. In 2012, Rs 12 crore was kept aside for all the protected monuments of Delhi, this year we have less than Rs 2 crore. If we are spending less than 6 per cent of our total budget on education, who is bothered about heritage? We still haven’t decided whether our built heritage which attracts large tourist traffic, like the Taj Mahal and Khajuraho, should be part of the Ministry of Tourism, or part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). For a few years it is with one ministry, then it is shifted to another. Another serious problem is that the present government looks at many sites as being built by Muslims, therefore not considered as part of our heritage. But architecture has no religion, we should not let such a divide cause us to ignore the preservation of these monuments."
—Sohail Hashmi, historian, columnist

"I believe that some of the monuments are well looked after, like the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and the Qutb Complex. But there are many buildings like the Zamarudpur tombs in Mehrauli that do not come under the state Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) or the central ASI and they are happily encroached. People use them as dumping grounds and some even stay on the site. Where there are enlightened citizens and heritage lover, there the monuments are well looked after. But wherever people are not bothered, the sites are in a sorry state. The government should also provide the ASI with more staff and guards so that they can protect the sites from vandalism. The government should allow some monuments to get into corporate partnerships so that if the government cannot provide the money, the corporates can pitch in, under ASI supervision."
—Rana Safvi, historian, blogger, author

As told to Natasha David