Gandhinagar, May 18 (PTI) Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi said on Wednesday that there is an attempt to decrease the number of entries to historical sites a country can send to UNESCO for inscription, and this may not be done given the vastness, diversity and chronology that India has to offer.
The Union Minister of State for Culture talking about India’s historic sites that are gaining popularity at UNESCO as “World Heritage Sites” and an attempt to limit the number of entries in a year.
“There is an attempt at the number of sites that can be registered or sent across a country. I think this is an opportunity for me to mention from the podium that this does not want to be encouraged, especially given the vastness of India, the diversity and timeline it has to offer,” Lekhi said.
He addressed the inaugural consultation of the “Vadnagar International Conference” organized by the Government of Gujarat with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and UNESCO as partner organizations.
The number of sites can’t be reduced because, unlike many other countries, which at one point indexed 10 or more sites in a year, India only sent one directory per year, he said.
“So, this is a case where, through this verbal exchange, we can also have a verbal exchange, maybe not this year, maybe next year, about UNESCO itself, whether the number will be reduced or not, how UNESCO so that the history of humanity is recorded,” said the Minister of the Union.
The three-day convention held at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar aims to serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas, methods and perspectives on the progression of Vadnagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mehsana district, as a World Heritage tourist destination.
Lekhi also called for the need to standardize processes to the chronology of antiquity.
“Otherwise, it will give its own antiquity another chronology, which establishes the veracity of the adopted method. My request (to Eric Falt, the representative of UNESCO) is that we want to standardize the processes. If we don’t standardize the processes, the changes in the timeline,” he said.
The Union Minister also asked for the desire to read about Indian culture through genetic discoveries, which could produce effects that could also replace previous writings.
Lekhi said along with editor VS Naipaul that India is a “wounded civilization”, recalling the history of Vadnagar, which was one of the oldest fortified cities that lasted until the sixth century AD. C.
The Hindu and Buddhist traditions were two distinct but syncretic traditions, he said.
“The Dashavatar mentions the ninth avatar as Lord Buddha. . . Bhagwan Buddha was one of the incarnations of Bhagwan Vishnu. And it is represented in the form of ancient inscriptions as the ninth avatar,” said Lekhi. PTI KA PD ARU ARU
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