Context: 

The Ministry of Culture has informed Parliament that Fifty of India’s 3,693 centrally protected monuments have gone missing, the Ministry of Culture.

About Centrally Protected Monuments:

• Regulation:  The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act) regulates the preservation of monuments and archaeological sites of national importance.
  • The Act protects monuments and sites that are more than 100 years old, including temples, cemeteries, inscriptions, tombs, forts, palaces, step-wells, rock-cut caves, and even objects like cannons and mile pillars that may be of historical significance.
•  The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture, functions under this Act.
• Apart from various conservation and preservation operations, ASI officials can also file police complaints, issue show-cause notices for the removal of encroachments, and communicate to the local administration the need for the demolition of encroachments.

How can a monument go “missing”?

•   As per ASI officials, many monuments and sites were lost to activities like urbanization, construction of dams and reservoirs, and even encroachments.

• As per the ASI submission in Parliament, 14 monuments have been lost to rapid urbanization, 12 are submerged by reservoirs/dams, while 24 are untraceable, which brings the number of missing monuments to 50.

• Some of the missing monuments include:

• •  the Guns of Emperor Sher Shah, Tinsukia (Assam); the Ruins of Copper Temple, Paya, Lohit (Arunachal Pradesh); Kos Minar, Mujesar, Faridabad (Haryana); Kutumbari Temple, Dwarahat, Almora (Uttarakhand); Rock Inscription, Satna (Madhya Pradesh); Old European Tomb, Pune (Maharashtra); 12th Century Temple, Baran (Rajasthan); and Telia Nala Buddhist ruins, Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI):

• It is an organization under the Ministry of Culture, for the archaeological research and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation.
•   It regulates all archaeological activities in the country as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
•  It also regulates the Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972

News Source: The Hindu,  Indian Express