Sikkim has 305 of the 33,826 unprotected monuments in India, says the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The findings became public in a press release by the PIB based on the report of the National Mission of Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA). NMMA was established by the ASI to prepare a national database of monuments to create a heritage catalogue.

Rajasthan has the largest number of 5,220 unprotected monuments in the country followed by Uttar Pradesh with 3,653 monuments. West bengal has 3,627 monuments while Orissa has 3,248 unprotected monuments, a statement released by the ministry of culture said Tuesday.

Following is the complete list of numbers of unprotected monuments:

Sl.No	State/UT	No. of Monuments
1.	Andhra Pradesh	413
2.	Andaman & Nicobar	47
3.	Bihar	834
4	Chhattisgarh	445
5.	Delhi	1180
6.	Diu	290
7.	Goa	1384
8.	Gujarat	800
9.	Haryana	2537
10.	Himachal Pradesh	901
11.	Jammu & Kashmir	1185
12.	Karnataka	445
13.	Kerala	186
14.	Madhya Pradesh	1150
15.	Maharashtra	972
16.	Manipur	22
17.	Mizoram	33
18.	Orissa	3248
19.	Pondicherry	1800
20	Punjab	1168
21.	Rajasthan	5220
22.	Sikkim	305
23.	Tamil Nadu	831
24.	Tripura	330
25.	Uttaranchal	820
26.	Uttar Pradesh	3653
27.	West Bengal	3627
	Total	33826

India has an extraordinarily rich, vast and diverse cultural heritage in the form of built heritage, archaeological sites and remains since prehistoric times. The sheer magnitude in number alone is overwhelming and these are the symbols of both cultural expression and evolution. There now appears to prevail a fundamental lack of knowledge, understanding and, perhaps, interest in our past: in what constitutes the heritage of India, the process that governed its coming into being, and how this heritage relates to the people.

In view of the above, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India made an announcement on Independence Day, 2003 for setting up of a National Mission on India’s Tangible Heritage. Accordingly the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities was launched on 19th March 2007.

The National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities proposes to launch its activities through out the country with independent functional strategy in each state and union territory. The project is stipulated to be completed time frame of five years i.e. 2007-2012.

The NMMA is compiling information as available from secondary sources. So far, more than 32,000 villages containing information on unprotected built heritage and sites have been compiled in the template.

The NMMA has also taken up the work of digitisation of records of registered antiquities through the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. This would finally form the database of antiquities.

 

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