Over 480 ASI antiquities missing

March 15, 2023

Since Independence, only 486 antiquities have been reported as missing from the 3,696 monuments protected and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), including 139 from Madhya Pradesh, 95 from Rajasthan and 86 from Uttar Pradesh.
- However, estimates of missing pieces range from less than 500 to as high as 50,000.
Antiquities are defined under Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (AATA) and include items such as any coin, sculpture, painting, epigraph or other work of art or craftsmanship, article, object or thing detached from a building or cave.
National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA), launched in 2007, has the mandate of preparing a database of antiquities as defined in AATA.
- NMMA has so far registered 52 lakh antiquities.
UNESCO 1970 Convention (ratified by India) on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property calls for measures to prohibit illicit trafficking of cultural property.
In India, AATA makes export of such items without a license (from ASI) a criminal offence.
Categories of missing antiquities include:
- Those taken out of India pre-independence;
- Those which were taken out since independence and before implementation of AATA (March 1976);
- Those taken out since April 1976.
Antiquities can be retrieved by raising requests bilaterally or on international fora with proof of ownership and with the help of UNESCO convention.