RS panel suggests CSR funding, donation drives for historical sites
New Delhi: In a major move aimed at revamping archaeological sites, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture in its 294th report, which was tabled in Rajya Sabha on Monday, suggested the Ministry of Culture to encourage greater participation of private sector for the maintenance of archaeological sites across the country. The observations of the Parliamentary Committee has been made while keeping in the mind the fund crunch issue of the Culture Ministry.
The Committee, which is chaired by Rajya Sabha member TG Venkatesh, recommended that efforts may be made to encourage voluntary donations for the purpose of development and conservation of the Museum and its artifacts. "It can be done by making the tickets 'pay-as-you-wish', setting a minimum price that needs to be paid for an entry ticket and suggesting a higher amount to help the museums generate funds for its operations," it said.
The panel also recommended the ministry to work on developing an effective revenue model for the museums and employ innovative means like donation, drives, seeking CSR funds and sponsorships, etc to raise funds for the development, maintenance and up-gradation of museums.
"The visitors may also be encouraged to share their museum experience on social media to generate interest among their peers which will result in increased footfall that would result in increasing the extra revenue of museums," it said.
"The committee suggests that the maintenance of various archaeological sites and monuments be outsourced to private agencies and in order to attract funds from such individuals/agencies, an incentive, such as display boards in the name of such individual agency at the sites, may be provided," the report said.
The panel further added that the revenue generated by sites under the Culture Ministry should be allocated to the Ministry itself due to the scarcity of funds, instead of being deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India. This amount could be allocated for the development and conservation of museums and archaeological sites.
