00:00Our special interest in our society is not only the one we have or the one we have seen in our society,
00:07but we welcome many of the other traditions to our society,
00:12mana in our society and our society and our society.
00:26My name is Banita Vehera and I belong to Odisha.
00:39So I work for the Anthropological Survey of India, the Government of India which comes under Ministry of Culture.
00:45So I started my work as a museum anthropology since past 15 years.
00:50So during my career I served many National Museum of Mankind, State Tribal Museums.
00:57So I served during different kind of institutions.
01:00So during this period, 15 years, I observed as a museum anthropologist certain kind of challenges that we are addressing in the museum as a curator what I found.
01:10And it was floating in my mind since 10 years that this topic should be taken up by India, some of the institutions.
01:16So that officially we can register as this challenge we can address because it's a kind of repatriation is a kind of world scenario.
01:25Like it is floating throughout the world but there is no, the time is not far that it will sail to India.
01:33So very soon because when I started to address this kind of collections and all in Andaman Museum as well as the State Tribal Museum,
01:42National Museum of Mankind Bhopal, they have the huge collections like more than 30,000.
01:47So when I was accessing as a curator in that exposition wings, then I saw that most of the tribal collections are facing such kind of challenges
01:58and we are not aware about this challenge which can be a very big issue in the near future.
02:03So that's why in late 2019, I got transferred to Mysore from Andaman and in 2020, I got opportunity to come to this department
02:14and I talked with my mentor, Professor M.R. Gangadhar.
02:19So I discussed with him, sir, this is the challenging issue but it's already late.
02:24I think we should register and Mysore University should be the first university who should take up this challenge and this topic
02:31and we should work on this because as per our knowledge, this is the first work from India, we did it.
02:37In Southeast Asia, there is no other institution has taken up this topic and we started work from October 2020
02:45and then it took five years to complete it and during our research, we took a case study as National Museum of Mankind Bhopal,
02:56then Andaman Museum, that is Anthropological Survey of India because I, apart from student,
03:02I actually working as an assistant keeper which is a kind of curatorial post in Anthropological Survey of India.
03:09So I served Andaman and Nikova Regional Centre and I transferred to head the Zonal Anthropological Museum,
03:15Southern Regional Centre, Mysore.
03:17So I requested, sir, that it will be easy because when we are talking about any human remains
03:24or human skeletal remains in India, Anthropological Survey of India is the nodal agency.
03:30Like Anthropological Survey of India has their antiquity policy.
03:34Like this, Anthropological Survey of India is the nodal agency.
03:38So as a student, I requested, sir, we can take up this work from Mysore University.
03:42Then after, we can go ahead through the Ministry of Culture, through Anthropological Survey.
03:48At the end, we can, you know, submit a proposal that this should be there.
03:54And partially we did it also.
03:56Many places we requested and they are very positive about our work
04:01and they are ready to take up through proper channel to Ministry of Culture.
04:05So during this period, we availed all kind of collections from these kind of unique museums,
04:12the tribal museums and all.
04:14And then after, why we taken the foreign abroad museums like British Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum,
04:22Victoria and Albert Museum, because they have the, mostly they have the Asian,
04:26in Asian collection, we have our tribal collection in their curatorial wing.
04:31So we requested them, but unfortunately, due to COVID, we cannot travel.
04:36Otherwise, they were positively ready to call us for the, you know, accessing their collections.
04:41But they allowed us, their curatorial head and directors, to avail it online.
04:46So we availed it online.
04:48So many of the collections that we have in our India, that is very last in number,
04:54and rest of the collections are in their collection, British Museum and Pitt Rivers.
05:01So this is the right time, we should make some, form some policy, which can revert it back.
05:08Like repatriation is nothing but revert it back to the ownership.
05:11So it should come back to the tribal communities.
05:14And right now, already the issue has been raised by the Naga tribe.
05:19And they already raised their voice against Pitt Rivers Museum.
05:23Already the issue has been raised in London.
05:25So now, before that, this is our, like, work, so that Government of India will form such kind of, you know,
05:34it's a kind of cultural manifesto.
05:36It's not a kind of thesis.
05:38So Government of India will be very much helpful through this work,
05:42so that for future they will be ready to protect their tribal heritage,
05:46heritage, as in terms of material culture, tangible cultures, and in form of, like, you know, policy formation.
05:55Because as per the policies right now, we are protecting in museum,
05:59that is only the antiquity policies that is formed by archaeological server of India.
06:03But anthropological server of India, we don't have any policy in India
06:07to protect such kind of collections, tribal collections, and anthropological collections in museum.
06:12So it is very important, very important to us to form a policy.
06:18And this is, I'm very fortunate that Department of Anthropology,
06:23University of Mysore, has taken up and given me opportunity.
06:27My mentor, Professor M. R. Gangadhar, who believed in me,
06:30and he was having more trust on me that, yes, it should be a very good challenging topic,
06:36and we should address this, because when it comes to the Mysore University,
06:40they are always ready to take up such kind of challenging topics.
06:44So I guess it is a, we are very soon, we are submitting a proposal to Ministry of Culture
06:50through Department of Anthropology.
06:52Why is this an interesting topic?
06:58Interesting topic, because I am serving as a museum anthropologist in this Sphinx since past 15 years.
07:05So as a curator, as for different position, I worked in different museums.
07:10So I physically, I faced and physically, I saw this kind of challenges,
07:15which can be a very big threat in future, in coming five years or ten years.
07:20So we should get prepared.
07:22So we should get ready by Government of India,
07:25so that our, it's not about the, you know, protecting from the foreign countries to our country,
07:31but yes, the community itself should be preserved, like protected through these policies,
07:37so that in the next generation, when the tribal communities are coming,
07:42they have that kind of faith in our organization, in our Government of India policies.
07:46No, it is our cultural policies, through our cultural policies, our heritage is in a safe hand.
07:53This is our target.
07:55So, next step we are forming a policy, a proposal,
08:00that our previous Joint Secretary was Mrs. Mukda Sina.
08:06We talked with her and Madam was very positive and she was talking about that very soon after completion of your work,
08:15that you submit a proposal to Ministry of Culture.
08:18So Ministry of Culture will request the Nodal Agency Anthropological Survey of India as well as Mysore University.
08:24With a memorandum of understanding, they will talk together and we will form a policy framework,
08:30which will be implemented.
08:31Ph.D. is over, sir.
08:35Last month, in June 14th, I fought and I got awarded.
08:40So, after one month, we got this opportunity to get the full coverage in the newspapers
08:46and many of the newspapers, they find it very interesting and first time work from Mysore University.
08:53So, they shown their interest and they gave us a very good coverage in their papers
08:58and you also find it very important.
09:02So, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to share our ideas.
09:06Thank you, sir.
09:07Thank you, sir.
09:08Thank you, sir.
09:10Thank you, sir.
09:11Because the people who are really in the world are not in the world, but they are not in the world, they are not in the world.
09:20They will be very different, and they will be very different.
09:24So we will get to the government of India in order to reach the government of India to help them find the government of India.
