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UPSC 2018 GS-I · 10 marks · 150 words

Safeguarding the Indian art heritage is the need of the moment. Comment.

What “Comment” demands

give a considered opinion on the specific proposition, supported by evidence — brevity is expected, evasion is not.

The characteristic failure: a general essay on the topic that never addresses the proposition itself.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Threats: idol theft and smuggling, encroachment on protected monuments, urban development pressure, neglect of intangible heritage and dying crafts
  • CAG 2013 report on ASI finding monuments untraceable; ASI protects ~3,600 monuments against a far larger stock
  • Legal frame: AMASR Act 1958 and the 2010 amendment's prohibited-regulated zones, Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972
  • Recovery record: retrieval of stolen idols from the US and Australia (Nataraja, Ardhanarishvara)
  • Institutions and instruments: UNESCO World Heritage listing, INTACH, GI tagging for crafts, Adopt-a-Heritage

The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.

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