India retrieved 640 antiquities since 2014, 90% from US
One of the major outcomes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US engagement has been significant reclamation of national heritage.
Government data show India has successfully recovered 640 antiquities since 2014 when PM Modi led BJP dispensation came to power.
This includes 297 antiquities that were handed over to India in the just concluded three day US visit of the PM.
Of the 640 heritage antiquities brought back to India since 2014, 90 %—578—are from the US alone.
“During PM Modi's visit to the US in 2021, 157 antiquities were handed over by the US government, including the exquisite bronze Nataraja statue from the 12th century CE. Also, a few days after the PM's US visit in 2023, 105 antiquities were returned to India,” official sources told The Tribune.
They said India's successful recoveries extended beyond the US, with 16 artefacts returned from the UK, 40 from Australia among others.
“In stark contrast only one artefact was returned to India between 2004 and 2013,” a government source said.
They said the policy of heritage retrieval will get a further boost with the first ever 'Cultural Property Agreement' signed between India and the US to prevent and curb the illicit trafficking of antiquities from India to the US, signed in July 2024 on the sidelines of the 46th World Heritage Committee, at New Delhi.
Modi’s whirlwind 56-hour US visit
PMO sources said Modi’s US visit lasted 53 hours and for this visit he undertook travel of 30 hours. During the visit, the PM attended around 15 scheduled events and meetings. Within three hours of landing in the US, the PM kick-started the first engagement with a bilateral meeting with the US President at Delaware followed by two international events — QUAD Leaders' Summit and UN’s Summit of the Future which he addressed. On September 22 alone, PM attended six meetings besides addressing the Indian Diaspora. He held seven bilateral meetings with world leaders,
Participated in Tech CEOs Roundtable to discuss the future of partnership between India and US in the tech and innovation sector. He also met the CEO of Holtec International, which specialises in design and manufacture of parts for nuclear reactors and participated in Cancer Moonshot event, an initiative to bring renewed leadership to the fight against cancer and facilitate new collaborations.
