Kumari
Selja's callous culture ministry has put a spanner in Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's dream of getting Majuli, an island on the Brahmaputra,
the coveted Unesco world heritage site status.
For the third time, Unesco rejected the appeal to include the world's largest freshwater island near Assam's Jorhat town on its coveted list. And this happened because the culture ministry submitted "incomplete documents" to the UN organisation. The ministry's highpowered heritage advisory committee had promoted Majuli for the Unesco nominations following requests from the PMO. PM Singh has been reportedly pushing hard for the unique island as he represents the state in the Rajya Sabha.
But the advisory panel repeated the same mistakes of "incomplete documentation" that Majuli had suffered during its two earlier attempts in 2008 and in 2010. It was rejected again on "technical grounds", a letter received on March 12 stated. The Unesco's world heritage committee said the submitted documents didn't carry a list of the Vaishnavite monasteries called "sattras", some built during the time of Assam's 16th-century saint philosopher Shankardev, which were singular and needed to be protected.
Amazingly, when Unesco dismissed the proposal in 2008, it recommended that a complete list of the 31 surviving sattras be attached. Similarly, the proposal got rejected in 2010 for "missing out on clearly defining the universal value of the site".
The goof-up was appalling because a consultant was hired this time and paid a hefty fee to do the paperwork.
The advisory panel, chaired by former Union tourism secretary Sujit Banerjee, has conservation architect Shikha Jain as its member secretary. Moreover, among the 10 other members, it has Amitabh Kant of the Incredible India fame and former Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) director general C. Babu Rajeev. Ministry sources said most of the committee members were not even aware of the rejection.
A senior ASI official said: "It was double embarrassment for India as we are in the Unesco world heritage committee to scrutinise nominations from other countries."
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/
For the third time, Unesco rejected the appeal to include the world's largest freshwater island near Assam's Jorhat town on its coveted list. And this happened because the culture ministry submitted "incomplete documents" to the UN organisation. The ministry's highpowered heritage advisory committee had promoted Majuli for the Unesco nominations following requests from the PMO. PM Singh has been reportedly pushing hard for the unique island as he represents the state in the Rajya Sabha.
But the advisory panel repeated the same mistakes of "incomplete documentation" that Majuli had suffered during its two earlier attempts in 2008 and in 2010. It was rejected again on "technical grounds", a letter received on March 12 stated. The Unesco's world heritage committee said the submitted documents didn't carry a list of the Vaishnavite monasteries called "sattras", some built during the time of Assam's 16th-century saint philosopher Shankardev, which were singular and needed to be protected.
Amazingly, when Unesco dismissed the proposal in 2008, it recommended that a complete list of the 31 surviving sattras be attached. Similarly, the proposal got rejected in 2010 for "missing out on clearly defining the universal value of the site".
The goof-up was appalling because a consultant was hired this time and paid a hefty fee to do the paperwork.
The advisory panel, chaired by former Union tourism secretary Sujit Banerjee, has conservation architect Shikha Jain as its member secretary. Moreover, among the 10 other members, it has Amitabh Kant of the Incredible India fame and former Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) director general C. Babu Rajeev. Ministry sources said most of the committee members were not even aware of the rejection.
A senior ASI official said: "It was double embarrassment for India as we are in the Unesco world heritage committee to scrutinise nominations from other countries."
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/
- Abakash Majuli
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