The whole world has dedicated a particular week to its monuments and heritage sites. In this lane world celebrates world heritage week from November 19 to November 25 every year. In India too, under the aegis of world heritage week various events are being organized by different government and non-government organisations.
In India, the importance of world heritage week is more as compared to other countries because India holds the ancient most civilization of the world known as Indus saraswati civilization. A site affiliated to the above civilization known as Dholavira has also been listed in the world heritage list. Apart from this there are 43 archaeological sites and monuments in India which are a part of the world heritage group of monuments. It is also an important point that apart from world heritage sites India has the largest number of monuments and archaeological sites in the whole world.
But unfortunately, we also lead the race of ignorance towards our heritage. Most of the people of our country are unaware about the history of our monuments which are listed in the world heritage list. It seems like the monuments are mere tourist spots for our people. Not only this, common people of our country are totally ignorant towards maintenance and conservation of our monuments. The names written by couples on the wall of the monuments shows their insensitivity towards their heritage. The museums developed by the authorities near the sites and monuments always lack in terms of visitors. This is a bitter truth that foreign tourists are more interested in our heritage than our own people.
It is quite true that common people of our country are ignorant towards our heritage but the government organisations also play an equivalent role in ignorance. For example most of the archaeological mounds and monuments like Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Kaytha (Ujjain), Sanchi (Raisen) etc. suffer from encroachment by people. In the case of western Uttar Pradesh most of the archaeological mounds have been flattened by the locals for cultivation and other illegal work. It seems like the officers responsible for the protection of these sites or mounds are in deep sleep.
The administrative ignorance towards the heritage can be seen through various aspects. For instance, the greatest archaeological site of the Indus Saraswati civilization known as Rakhigarh, which is also an iconic site declared by the government of India, has been waiting for archaeological excavations for the last 2 years. Sinauli in UP which yielded the first chariots of the Indian subcontinent has not been excavated since the last 7 years. The archaeological mounds near the excavated area have been destroyed by the brick builders. We all know that the Indian government wants to rectify Indian history. Sinauli and Rakhigarhi are the crucial sites for those rectification but the ignorance of these 2 sites is raising a question on it.
After observing the whole scenario, it is quite clear that if this trend continues the world heritage week will come and go regularly. The money spent on these events will go in the drain until the common people will not become aware of their own heritage. This ignorance is not an injustice with the present but also disrespecting our glorious past and our brave ancestors. It is the time to rethink and bring a change in society, then only the world heritage week will become a meaningful event.
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