The challenge of Heritage Management in India

The challenge of Heritage Management in India is that there is hardly any heritage management here. The condition of most of our heritage monuments are really pathetic and many of them are poorly preserved . They are neither protected nor managed Many are in dilapidated condition. Examples are many. And we can be happy and proud that they are managed by ' our government ', and for many it hardly matters they are badly managed or in dilapidated conditions . And for many 'private sector ' is equivalent to 'evil ' , though in India private sector is also the major source of employment and engine of the economy . Many may also not believe in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Look at conditions of many Heritage Monuments .Many of the heritage structures are used for gambling and there are so much of destruction too. I have seen so many monuments where love birds scribbled their everlasting love or ruffians scratched the surface to mark their visit . There is hardly any security .

There are no basic facilities like toilets and many pee there itself .Many use heritage structures to consume alcohol and one can see so much littering and used liquor bottles . And we think they are being ' protected ' by ' our government .The fact of the matter is that the present government agency in charge of these does not have capacity or resources to very well manage thousands of our monuments .

There is nothing wrong in using CSR funds nor outsourcing the security and upkeep . Look at the pathetic conditions of museums in Kerala . Many of the museums are simply for namesake with hardly any visitors .Go and see Edakkal caves in Wayanad District of Kerala.  . There are quarries all around . There are hundreds of pathetic heritage monuments in India . There is also so much of corruption involved in 'restoration ' and 'preservation'.

I have visited almost all major heritage monuments in the world and one has to learn how many countries earn millions managing their heritage monuments .I have also visited some of the most celebrated monuments in India . And it is a shame to see the pathetic conditions of many of them. Something needs to be done .And fact of the matter is government department simply lack the capacity . And unlike many counties we don't have a specialized government heritage tourism management Agency .

When some of the services of passport or visa processing was outsourced ,there was a lot of hue and cry. But the fact of the matter is that it is much easier to get passport and visa now.