The ministry of culture, through the International Museum Expo, is providing a framework for discussions and deliberations to provide a world-class feel to our museums and unleash the societal, cultural, tourism and economic opportunities in this sector.
On May 18, marking the 47th International Museum Day, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi made an insightful observation on the preservation of the holy relics of Lord Buddha. While inaugurating the Expo, the PM said that the relics were conserved over generations and today they bring together the followers of Lord Buddha from all over the world.
This observation is germane to the discussions taking place around the role of museums in India. Given India’s unique history, our challenges are slightly more nuanced. We are one of the few uninterrupted civilisational States that have continuously flourished. As a result, our art, culture and heritage is visible in our day-to-day activities.
Our festivals, the deities we worship, the food we eat, the dance and music performances we appreciate, are all testimony to this civilisational ethos. Keeping this in mind, our approach has been to balance the manner in which our antiquities and artefacts are managed – between integrating them into our daily lives and positioning them in our museums.
This occasion gives us an opportunity to look back at the progress that we have made in reimagining our museums and cultural spaces. The last nine years have seen a transformational shift in our perspectives of our heritage, and this can be seen in our approach towards preserving and promoting it.
First, there has been a focus on repatriating antiquities to the original locations, thereby striking a balance between museums and cultural spaces. Second, we are integrating technology into our museums to provide a wholesome experience. Finally, there is an economic case for museums in terms of gross value added apart from the societal, cultural and tourism benefits that accrue from preserving our heritage.
Over the last nine years, we have been able to bring back a significant amount of our stolen heritage back to India. Of the total 244 invaluable antiquities of Indian origin that have been brought back, 231 came after 2014. Further, over 70 antiquities are in the process of being repatriated from various countries including the United States (US), United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia.
Bringing Our Gods Home is one such initiative that is rooted in preserving, promoting and propagating our heritage and adheres to the government’s vision of Vikas bhi Virasat bhi (development and heritage together). As these antiquities are repatriated, there is also an attempt to restore them to the place they were taken from rather than have them languish in the warehouses of museums. It is with this underlying philosophy of “history belongs to its geography” that retrieved idols and antiquities, wherever possible, are being returned to their place of origin. The return of the idol of Goddess Annapurna to Varanasi and several idols to Tamil Nadu is a step in making this the norm, rather than the exception.
India is home to over 1,200 museums representing a rich and diverse blend of the cultural, religious and scientific achievements that our civilisation has witnessed over the years. These museums are the only ones under the ministry of culture. Other ministries manage museums that revolve around specific themes such as railways, crafts, textiles, defence, food and mint. Therefore, the government is taking a whole-of-government approach, using technology, preservation techniques and ancillary attractions such as sound and light shows to provide a wholesome experience to all stakeholders in these museums.
The use of digital technology to enhance user experience aims to widen public access through modernisation and digitisation of collections and exhibitions. The development of virtual museums such as the first-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organisation online exhibition on shared Buddhist heritage brought together Buddhist philosophy and the art of central Asia from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan along with Russia, Pakistan, China and India.
Digitisation is now a constant work in progress and is visible in the museums that have been recently inaugurated such as the Pradhan Mantri Sangrahalaya.
A specialised domain such as museums requires new skills and perspectives that take time to develop. The new Indian Institute of Heritage, which is being set up as a world-class university, is addressing these very challenges. With this renewed mandate of modernisation, upgradation, and establishment of new museums, we are bringing our institutions closer to international standards of museology in the 21st century.
The government realises that these efforts require financial commitments, and the necessary budgetary support is being extended wherever required. A study by the American Alliance of Museums in the US revealed that the museum industry has a job multiplier effect of 2.0 — for every direct job in the industry, an additional job is supported elsewhere in the economy.
The industry’s employment impact transcends sectors such as leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, trade, transportation and utilities, education and training and financial services.
The ministry of culture through the International Museum Expo is providing a framework for discussions and deliberations to provide a world-class feel to our museums and unleash the societal, cultural, tourism and economic opportunities in this sector. While there are many tangible achievements over the last nine years, and tremendous progress to show for, the road ahead is full of opportunities that we will continue to leverage.
G Kishan Reddy is the Union minister of culture, tourism and development of northeastern region. The views expressed are personal