Lok Sabha Question No. 3069 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-06
Subject: Project Mausam
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: KANWAR SINGH TANWAR

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3069 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.08.2018

## PROJECT MAUSAM

## 3069. SHRI KANWAR SINGH TANWAR:

Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state :

- (a) the salient features of Project Mausam along with the details of the countries with which the Government is trying to revive historic  maritime  cultural  and  economic ties under this project;
- (b) whether  the  Government  is  implementing  an  action  plan  for  achieving  a  World Heritage Transnational nomination for 'India Ocean Maritime Routes';
- (c) if so, the details thereof along with the status of its implementation; and
- (d) the details  of  funds  allocated  and  utilised  for  this  project  during  2017-18  and  the first three months of 2018-19?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR CULTURE AND MINISTER OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) Project '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 as associate  bodies.  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.  The  list  of  39  countries  identified  under  Project  Mausam  is  given  in Annexure-A.
- (b)&(c)  Yes  Madam,  Action  Plan  for  the  year  2018-19  and  2019-20  has  been  initiated which includes certain activities such as holding an international workshop, event at  UNESCO  HQ,  Creation  of  web  platform,  regional  training  programme  and tentative list preparation for the Trans border nomination.
- (d) An amount of Rs 60,039,297/- (i.e 2,80,95,532 for 2018-19 and Rs 3,19,43,765 for  year  2019-20)  has  been  approved  and  allocated  for  Project  Mausam. Expenditure for the project during 2017-18 and first three months of 2018-19 is Rs. 16,75,614.

## ANNEXURE-A

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 3069

List of 39 Indian Ocean countries identified under Project Mausam:

|   1 | Bahrain                     |
|-----|-----------------------------|
|   2 | Bangladesh                  |
|   3 | Cambodia                    |
|   4 | China                       |
|   5 | Comoros                     |
|   6 | Egypt                       |
|   7 | Eritrea                     |
|   8 | Réunion, French Department  |
|   9 | Indonesia                   |
|  10 | Iraq                        |
|  11 | Iran (Islamic Republic)     |
|  12 | Jordan                      |
|  13 | Kuwait                      |
|  14 | Kenya                       |
|  15 | Lebanon                     |
|  16 | Madagascar                  |
|  17 | Malaysia                    |
|  18 | Maldives                    |
|  19 | Mauritius                   |
|  20 | Mozambique                  |
|  21 | Myanmar                     |
|  22 | Oman                        |
|  23 | Pakistan                    |
|  24 | Philippines                 |
|  25 | Qatar                       |
|  26 | Singapore                   |
|  27 | Sri Lanka                   |
|  28 | Saudi Arabia                |
|  29 | Seychelles                  |
|  30 | Somalia                     |
|  31 | South Africa                |
|  32 | Sudan                       |
|  33 | Syrian Arab Republic        |
|  34 | United Republic of Tanzania |
|  35 | Thailand                    |
|  36 | Turkey                      |
|  37 | United Arab Emirates        |
|  38 | Viet Nam                    |

| 39   | Yemen   |
|------|---------|