Budget 2020 allocates a unique part of budget to Ministry of Culture for Archaeological sites

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharam announced allocation of ₹3150 crore for Ministry of Culture and proposes the establishment of Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under the ministry.

“Five archaeological sites in Haryana, UP, Assam, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, to be developed with on-site museums, to be developed with on-site museums,” says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The list of five archaeological sites includes:

• Hastinapur in UP, the city is described in Hindu puranas and Mahabharata, as the capital of Kuru Kingdom. The city also finds its mention in the ancient Jain texts.
• Dholavira in Khadirbet, Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District,is one of the two largest Harappan sites in India, and fifth largest in the subcontinent.
• Adichanallur in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu is one of the earliest ancient sites according to the carbon dating of samples excavated from the Adichanallur site in Thoothukudi.
• Rakhigarhi in Haryana dates back to the pre-Indus valley civilization as old as 6500 BCE. It was also a part of matured Indus-valley civilization. The site was recently in the news for the scientific paper on the DNA analysis of the Harappan skeleton.
• Sivasagar in Assam gets its name from the big lake Sivasagar. The lake was commissioned by the Ahom king Siva Singha and lies in an area of about 360 kilometres.

However, the list missed out two important archaeological cultural sites RoopKund in Uttarakhand and Keeladi in Madurai.

The Financial minister also said a tribal museum will be set up in Ranchi, Jharkhand and a Maritime site will be set up in Lothal, Gujarat.

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