02-10-2007, 03:35 AM
<b>Experts snap at ASI outsourcing</b>
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The Archaeological Survey of India is drawing flak for its apparent unilateral decision to outsource the digitisation of its century-old archives of thousands of photographs to an American-funded organisation. The contract has been awarded to the American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, that is funded primarily by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, the US State Department and other US government bodies.
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Says Dr Dilip Chakrabarti, professor of South Asian archaeology, Cambridge: "This is incorrect from a national perspective, because ASI is a national concern and it is improper to hand over its resources to a foreign interest.
ASI should be headed by an Indian archaeologist who would understand, unlike a bureaucrat, the sensitivity of the issue and also the dangers of allowing unlimited access on what is where to the international antiquities market. The process should have been done in-house. It is like the National Archives allowing a foreign agency to take its documents outside its premises."
<b>But ASI director-general C Babu Rajeev says, when asked about the logic in choosing AIIS, "I don't owe you an explanation!"</b> Whatever happened to RTI?
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The Archaeological Survey of India is drawing flak for its apparent unilateral decision to outsource the digitisation of its century-old archives of thousands of photographs to an American-funded organisation. The contract has been awarded to the American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, that is funded primarily by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, the US State Department and other US government bodies.
....
Says Dr Dilip Chakrabarti, professor of South Asian archaeology, Cambridge: "This is incorrect from a national perspective, because ASI is a national concern and it is improper to hand over its resources to a foreign interest.
ASI should be headed by an Indian archaeologist who would understand, unlike a bureaucrat, the sensitivity of the issue and also the dangers of allowing unlimited access on what is where to the international antiquities market. The process should have been done in-house. It is like the National Archives allowing a foreign agency to take its documents outside its premises."
<b>But ASI director-general C Babu Rajeev says, when asked about the logic in choosing AIIS, "I don't owe you an explanation!"</b> Whatever happened to RTI?
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