Union Culture Minister Patel meets Archaeologists Prof B B Lal & Dr R S Bisht

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Minister for Culture (IC) Prahlad Singh Patel on June 29, 2019, called on  two senior archaeologists of the country : Prof. B.B. Lal, 99, former Director General (1968-1972), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Padma Bhushan awardee (2000), and Dr. R.S. Bisht, former Joint Director General, Archaeological Survey of India and Padma Shri awardee (2013), at their home to pay his respect to them. This is the first time when a Union culture minister visited these great personalities personally at their home.

During the interaction with Prof. B B Lal,  the Union Minister discussed issues related to the archaeological sites of Kalibangan and Purana Qila, their conservation and preservation and showcasing them to the public.  He also stressed on the contribution of Kalibangan excavations and the need for preserving the site for the larger benefit of the public and educating them to create awareness.

The Minister discussed the mechanism of preserving the fragile excavated remains at Kalibangan in the form of suitably designed canopies over them and draining off the rain water through properly designed channels.  This sort of providing canopies will preserve all excavated sites. The  Minister further stressed the need for constituting a Task Force under a suitable leadership for conservation measures at the site of Kalibangan.

Prof. Lal stressed that the antecedents of Harappan culture in Haryana and Punjab region is also important to understand in the context of overall development of earliest cultures.  In this context, investigation of Mesolithic and microlithic cultures attains special importance to understand the emergence of sedentary agro-pastoral communities that could have ultimately contributed for the Harappan culture.  Prof. Lal highlighted some of the earliest evidences of agricultural field indicating presence of multi-cropping pattern and earthquake from Kalibangan.

The discussions with Dr. Bisht were held mainly on Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology, now located on a new campus at Greater Noida.  The ASI has recently shifted the Institute from the present campus in Red Fort to Greater Noida in order to create state of the art lab facilities in various disciplines of archaeology like archaeobotany (for study of floral remains), archaeozoology (for study of faunal remains), geoarchaeology, anthropology, petrology, and other subjects.  These labs will serve as teaching labs for the students to have a first hand knowledge, according to a PIB release.

The need for evolving a comprehensive culture policy for the overall development and implementation of matters related to culture, archaeology, and their various allied subjects was also stressed on.