- ‘Mausam’ is the initiative of Ministry of Culture to be implemented by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the nodal agency with research support of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and National Museum. This project aims to explore the multi-faceted Indian Ocean ‘world’ – collating archaeological and historical research in order to document the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean. The main objective of the project is to inscribe places and sites identified under Project Mausam as trans-national nomination for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Mausam has now been extended up to 31st March, 2023.
(i)Indian Missions in the 39 countries have approached local authorities and several countries including the following, have nominated their resource persons for the Project Mausam: -
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Oman, Qatar, Singapore, Malaysia, The Islamic republic of Iran, UAE, Myanmar, Philippines and Jordan.
(ii) It is proposed to hold an international conference with these experts on the next steps forward.
(iii) It is proposed to prepare two transnational nominations namely; (a) Routes followed by the Cholas in the Southeast Asia region and; (b) Spread of Buddhism through land and sea routes in the South and Southeast Asian region (those countries that are a part of Project Mausam).
This information was given by the Minister of State (I/c) of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
NB/SK