• India and the United States inked their first agreement to prevent illegal trafficking of cultural property and return of antiquarian objects to their place of origin.
• The US-India Cultural Property Agreement was signed by Union Cultural Secretary Govind Mohan and US envoy Eric Garcetti in the presence of Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on the sidelines of the ongoing 46th session of the World Heritage Committee in New Delhi.
• The India-US Cultural Property Agreement was negotiated by the State Department under the US law implementing the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
• Shekhawat said it is a general agreement that will allow smooth repatriation of historic artefact from the US to India. He added that there are 297 items that are lying in the US, ready to be repatriated.
• India has repatriated 358 antiquities since 1976, out of these 345 have been retrieved since 2014.
• With this agreement, India joins the ranks of 29 existing US bilateral cultural property agreement partners.
India-US Cultural Property Agreement
• Cultural property agreements prevent the illegal trade of cultural property and simplify the process by which looted and stolen antiquities may be returned to their country of origin.
• In 2022, the government of India and the government of the US came on one stage to explore the possibility of strengthening bilateral ties under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
• In pursuance of these deliberations, India’s Ministry of External Affairs sent a diplomatic note to the USA counterpart which was positively received.
• The US responded through a diplomatic note on March 16, 2023 to suggest procedures for entering into an agreement.
• These steps included the determinations regarding the safeguard of cultural property and international cooperation in the field of the preservation and safeguarding of archaeological and ethnological materials.
• The historical, cultural, legal situation and possibilities of cooperation was documented and various meetings and discussions were held on approbation by both the parties. During the process an NGO ‘Antiquity Coalition’ has also played a vital role.
• The cultural property agreement restricts the importation into the US of certain archaeological material ranging in date from 1.7 million years ago through 1770 CE and certain ethnological material, which may include categories of civic, religious, and royal architectural material, religious material and ceremonial items, and manuscripts ranging in date from second century BCE to 1947 CE.
• The list of such items restricted for import in the US will be promulgated by the government of the US. As per the agreement, the US shall offer to return to India any object or material on the designated list forfeited to the government of the US.
• The agreement shall be helpful in quick seizure of Indian antiquities at US Customs and their repatriation back to India.
• The US has already executed agreement with countries like Algeria, Belize, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Jordan, Mali, Morocco, Peru and Turkey.
How are artefacts of Indian origin repatriated?
Provenance Establishment: Once an artefact of Indian origin is located in a foreign country, its provenance must be established using documents such as FIRs and pictorial evidence.
Verification by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI):
• The ASI, the custodian of all antiquities, verifies the objects in the host country before they can be repatriated.
• A team of ASI experts visits the foreign country to authenticate the artefacts based on their knowledge, iconography, and wear-and-tear marks.
• There is no specific time limit for this verification process.
(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)