Heritage at stake

• The Comptroller and Auditor General has indicted the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the premier institute mandated to protect national monuments, for its miserable performance.
• The evidence of failure revealed is shocking, and the conclusions drawn about the state of conservation are depressing.
• Instead of seriously reviewing the performance audit findings and implementing corrective measures, the Ministry of Culture is squabbling over a remark on the number of missing monuments.
• After inspecting about 1655 protected sites, the CAG reported that 92 are missing.
• The ministry has contested this, stating that only 21 are untraceable.
• It has speciously argued that another 26 monuments, though submerged under reservoirs, encroached upon and affected by urbanisation, cannot be classified as missing.
• It is yet to verify the existence of six more monuments, but has nevertheless given an assurance that the remaining ones are physically present.
• If this claim is correct, then the CAG may have to revise its estimates and categories for the sake of accuracy. But the number of missing monuments is not the only issue. There are other critical shortcomings.
• The ASI has not satisfactorily completed the basic and simple task of maintaining an error free inventory of monuments that is fundamental for regular monitoring..
• the government created the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) in 2007.
• Disappointingly, at the end of its five-year tenure, the NMMA had managed to document only 80,000 of the 5 lakh monuments targeted.
• The ASI has also not fared well in another core task: excavating potential sites and expanding the horizon of history. Sadly, this premiere institute spends less than one per cent of its total expenditure on this important activity. Even where it has conducted excavations, the ASI has not completed the projects.
• In 2010, the ministry amended the Ancient Monuments, Sites and Remains Act and promised to regulate development around the monuments better.
• This has not yet happened. So far, it has drafted site-specific building regulations for only two of the 3678 protected monuments and sites

Literacy can Eradicate Poverty, Curb Population Growth, Achieve Gender Equality and Ensure Sustainable Development

• Literacy is a human right, a road towards empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy.
• Literacy is essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.
• September 8 is observed as the International Literacy Day by UNESCO since 1966.
• Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.
• This year’s International Literacy Day was dedicated to “literacies for the 21st century” to highlight the need to realize “basic literacy skills for all” as well as equip everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning.
• The essence and role of education articulated in our National Policy on Education (NPE), continues to be relevant even today.
• It states that education is essential for all and is fundamental to our all-round development. Education develops manpower for different levels of the economy and is also the platform on which research and development flourish to take nation towards self-reliance. In sum, education is a unique investment in the present and the future.
• The Literacy rate in India has improved a lot over the last one decade. Especially after the implementation of free education in the villages the literacy rate has gone up tremendously in states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan
• When the British rule ended in India in the year 1947 the literacy rate was just 12%. Over the years, India has changed socially, economically, and globally.
• After the 2011 census, literacy rate India 2011 was found to be 74.04%. Though this seems like a very great accomplishment, it is still a matter of concern that still so many people in India cannot even read and write.
• The numbers of children who do not get education especially in the rural areas are still high. Though the government has made a law that every child under the age of 14 should get free education, the problem of illiteracy is still at large.

Sources: Various News Papers & PIB