- Indian Heritage
Sculptures from ancient worlds at Mumbai’s CSMVS
these words dominate contemporary news in the world of international art. Whether it is the return of Cambodian treasures looted from the Khmer temples now residing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the restitution of Benin bronzes taken from the kingdom of Benin in the modern nation of Nigeria now being returned from Germany, France and England, or the ongoing issue of the Parthenon marbles demanded by Greece from the British Museum— all of them are about wrongs committed by the “owner” countries to the source countries, some previous colonies and others caught in the ravages of war. All of them have become world news followed by millions around the world.
In this contested terrain of transnational art movements, it is refreshing to see a new development of multinational collaboration in the form of a long-term project that began with a small but remarkable exhibition at Mumbai’s famous museum, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), titled “Ancient Sculptures: India, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome” (December 2, 2023, to October 1, 2024). The exhibition will culminate in the creation of a gallery of ancient worlds. A collaborative project of major institutions, involving the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the British Museum in London, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the CSMVS museum—along with other major museums of India—the exhibition stands out for several reasons.
As the organisers point out, the exhibition was initiated by the curatorial team in India while the staff at the Euro-american museums responded to queries from their Indian colleagues in organising the exhibition. Neil Mcgregor, one of the organising curators and a former Director of the British Museum, writes in his introduction to the show: “Most histories of antiquity have been written by Europeans and North Americans, all in some measure the children of Greece and Rome. The current exhibition, on the other hand, is the ancient world seen and interrogated not from the Mediterranean, but from India: what were the connections? what were the similarities, what were the differences between the civilizations? which aspects of these other cultures were of particular interest and relevance to Indians then—and indeed now? and can the exploration of Mediterranean objects open new paths of enquiry for Indian cultural historians into their own past?” This is indeed exciting and laudable, considering how rare it is.
- Culture
- Modern Indian history
- The Freedom Struggle
- Post-independence
- Indian Society
A. population and associated issues
B. poverty and developmental issues
C.urbanization
7. Geographical features
4 Geographic trends in spring maximums this year have long-term parallel
One such parallel is that 2024 is not a rare year when peninsular and north-eastern regions have experienced higher than normal maximums in the first three weeks of March. These two regions have experienced warmer than normal maximums on average even in the past decade in this part of March. This suggests that a warmer than normal March in these regions in 2024 is part of a long-term trend. However, such warming has also been seen in north-western India in the past decade, which is not the case this year. This suggests that north-western India has experienced a relatively cooler spring than it became used to in the past decade. However, this may not last long. The Met department’s extended range forecast issued on March 22 shows that each of the next four weeks are likely to be warmer than normal in north-western India
8.Indian Constitution
9. Polity
10. Governance
A. institutions
B. regulatory
C. Government policies
D. role of NGOs
E. measures
11. Social Justice
A. Welfare schemes
B Health
C. Education
D. Human Resources
E. poverty and hunger
12. International relations
A. India and its neighbourhood
B. groupings and agreements
C.Indian diaspora
13. Economic Development
A. Government Budgeting
B. industrial
E.issues
14. Technology
15. Environment
Green tribunal asks for redefinition of floodplains
NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Delhi government to demarcate Yamuna floodplains keeping one-in-100-year risk probability in its calculations, according to documents seen by HT, a direction that can significantly expand the area that could be made out of bounds for settlements and construction work.
Current efforts to demarcate Yamuna floodplains take into account a one-in-25-year flooding risk. A one-in-25-year floodplain includes and refers to land along a river that has a onein-25, or 4%, chance of flooding every year. Therefore, a one-in100-year demarcation will include floodplains that have even a 1% risk of flooding each year.
While these numbers may seem minuscule, last year’s flooding is an apt example on why floodplain protections must be strong. In July, swathes of the city were inundated in the worst flooding seen in 45 years, with
knee-deep waters reaching bungalows in Civil Lines, the iconic Salimgarh underpass archway, the Kashmere Gate bus station and the intersection to the Yamuna Bank Metro station.
The river rose to an unprecedented 208.66m on July 13, sending water as far inland as the Supreme Court, a stone’s throw from the Pragati Maidan area where the government held the G20 Summit just months later.
The floodplains are officially demarcated as Zone O of the Yamuna and in a submission to the National Green Tribunal in January, the government said that taking a one-in-25-year probability would bring 9,700 hectare of land into the floodplain category. These lands include spots on which 94 unauthorised colonies are settled at present.
The new direction will inevitably widen the extent of the floodplains. The tribunal, while stating that this will record the river’s deepest flow inland, also asked the government for details of a standard operating procedure (SOP) it was following for the demarcation of the floodplain land and gave it three weeks to submit a fresh report.
16. Security
17. Disaster Management