New Delhi: The government of India has high expectations that the forthcoming G20 Summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 would be helpful in tracing the missing historical monuments from across the country.
A senior government official told ETV Bharat that the cultural track of the G20 Summit will discuss and explore possibilities for a common platform to preserve and protect the heritage of each country with the use of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
“Policymakers, cultural institutions, and professionals are increasingly mobilizing digital technologies towards not just the conservation of heritage sites, the safeguarding of living heritage, the protection of cultural property and artifacts and the fight against illicit trafficking, or the conservation of documentary heritage, but also in the field of museums, archives, and private collections,” the official said.
India has 3,693 centrally protected monuments and sites of national importance, including 24 world heritage property, 52 site museums spread all over India which are directly under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Although 92 monuments declared “missing” in a CAG report, 42 monuments have been identified due to efforts made by the ASI and out of the remaining 50 monuments, 14 are affected by rapid urbanisation, 12 are submerged in reservoirs or dams while the location of the remaining 24 is untraceable.
In view of the transformative impact of digital technologies on the conservation, documentation, safeguarding and monitoring of cultural heritage, and the existing technical, ethical and policy challenges, the working group under India’s G20 Presidency earlier mobilized the G20 members towards expanding the global reflection on digital technologies for cultural heritage, including strengthening of research, data collection and exchange of good practices.