Need for a New Antique Law

What is the issue?

The recent happenings over antique collecting across India draw attention to the shortfalls in the related laws and understanding.

What is the anomaly?

A civilisational history cannot be constructed purely by an archaeological agency, despite it being an important component.
Other groups such as littérateurs, historians, anthropologists and curators also contribute valuable insights into the material culture.
However, the framing of laws has not happened in conjunction with any of these disciplines.
This was because at the time of framing law, the agenda was to preserve India’s material culture.
But that rationality at the time of India's Independence, no longer fits in with the present requirements.
The reality and needs of a modern-day state that seeks to understand its past is different.

What are the concerns?

The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 has long outlived the purpose for which it was drafted.
A promised amendment has been floated on the website of the Union Ministry of Culture, but its status is still largely unknown.
Understanding - Importance is ascribed by virtue of religious sentiment, age or provenance to every significant and insignificant work of art.
But this hampers purposes of scholarship or understanding of what constitutes a beautiful work of art or a national treasure.
The view that once-sacred objects today only belong to temples is a myopic view and stems from a lack of understanding of -

It thus denies the process of regeneration of these living cultural sites.
Ownership - Every object in a private collection is now seen as the result of temple desecration and robbery.
The laws that govern the ownership of historical objects, their purchase and sale have been a disincentive for the average collector.
Registering antiquities with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is a cumbersome and difficult procedure for most collectors.
Cultural vigilantism, the presumption of guilt without trial, public shaming and the resultant media trial have led to a dangerous state of affairs.
Vigilante movements neither follow the rule of law nor do they respect the ASI’s time-honoured process of registration of such artefacts.
It is casting a long shadow on the production of knowledge of the country's past.
Limitations - The rule is that every object over a 100 years is an antique.
With every passing year, the number of objects that shift from 99th year to a 100 year status will increase.
This would soon result in the transfer of vast numbers of objects to a status of national antiquity.
But is the state geared to handle and maintain this vast emerging enterprise remains uncertain.
The state is also not equipped to handle the needs of a growing populace of collectors.

What could be done?

It is well within the rights of every citizen to acquire and collect objects of their past.
Nevertheless, this acquisition should definitely be governed by a legal process of buying.
With changing ideas, the role of private connoisseurship, individual collectors, trusts and foundations should also be considered.
Their proactive agency has safeguarded the ancient Indian art from being channelled abroad or being destroyed.
An urgent amendment to existing laws is essential to save the material culture from being examined purely from the prism of religious sentiment.
It should foster the creation of secular spaces where everyone can enjoy and appreciate the past.

Source: The Hindu