16 years on, nine Indian artefacts still in Singapore museum
Nine artefacts of national importance sent to Singapore with temporary permits by the Ministry of Culture are yet to return to India, though 16 years have passed.
The artefacts include statues and sculptures belonging to ancient times and had been displayed in several museums across the country. They were sent to Singapore in 2001 to be exhibited in the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore under the temporary export permit provisions laid down under law.
It was during the Festival of India held in Singapore in 2001, that the then government decided to send these artefacts to Singapore to be displayed in their museum as a goodwill gesture and showcase the art and culture of India.
However, ever since then, successive governments have been extending the permit conditions, unwilling to bring them back.
According to sources in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the antiquities or artefacts that had been sent to the museum in Singapore are not “extraordinary” and include some figurines of Buddha and other such statues and sculptures which are “available in abundance in India”.
However, a senior archaeologist and a former director of ASI told The Sunday Guardian on the condition of anonymity, “The artefacts that have been sent to Singapore are some masterpieces that India has. The government should try to bring them back as soon as possible because artefacts are sent on temporary export permit for exhibition and the per- mit can only be extended for one year, but what the ASI and the Ministry have been doing is giving them extension year after year. Such practices are unethical. This also sets a wrong precedent.”
Dr D.N Dimri, Director, Antiquities, ASI, told this newspaper, “The objects that have been sent to Singapore for exhibition will be brought back to India by 2020. In 2010, the then government had given a 10-year extension which ends in 2020 and, as per the agreement between the two countries, it will not be extended further.”
He also added that a team from the ASI had visited the museum in Singapore recently to assess the condition of the artefacts sent from India and according to the report presented by the team to the ASI, the artefacts are preserved in their original form. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is allegedly involving private consultants for policy making while keeping out representatives of faculties of public funded universities, teachers and office bearers of Delhi University (DU) have alleged.
However, a senior MHRD official denied the charge. “It has become a fashion to criticise any progressive step of the MHRD. The ministry has no business promoting private consultants or public consultants; the ministry is only concerned with promoting better higher education in the country. All the allegations are baseless,” the same senior MHRD official told The Sunday Guardian.