In news– The National Monuments Authority has recently submitted a report on declaring Mangarh hillock in Rajasthan as a monument of National Importance to honour Bhil tribal freedom fighters.
A brief note on the Hillock-
- The hillock is situated at the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
- The place is also known as the Adivasi Jallianwala, and there has been a demand to build a memorial.
- On November 17, 1913, British forces opened fire on tribal fighters gathered at the site who were holding a meeting in protest, led by a leader from the community Govind Guru, killing over 1,500.
Bhil tribes-
- Bhil or Bheel are an Adivasi Dravidian influenced ethnic group in West India. They speak the Bhil languages, currently a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages.
- They are one of the largest tribal groups, living in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
- The name is derived from the word ‘billu’, which means bow in the Dravidian lexis.
- They are divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans and lineages.
- In Rajasthan, they exist as Bhil Garasia, Dholi Bhil, Dungri Bhil, Dungri Garasia, Mewasi Bhil, Rawal Bhil, Tadvi Bhil, Bhagalia, Bhilala, Pawra, Vasava and Vasave.
- Many Bhils now speak the dominant later language of the region they reside in, such as Marathi, Gujarati or a Bhili language dialect.
- They are considered as Schedule Tribe in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tripura.
About Monuments of National Importance-
The Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 defines an “Ancient Monument” as follows:
Ancient Monument means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years.
A “Monument of National Importance” is designated by the Archaeological Survey of India and includes the following:
- The remains of an ancient monument.
- The site of an ancient monument.
- The land on which there are fences or protective covering structures for preserving the monument.
- Land by means of which people can freely access the monument.
National Monuments Authority (NMA)-
- The NMA under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India has been setup as per provisions of The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains AMASR (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010 .
- Several functions have been assigned to the NMA for the protection and preservation of monuments and sites through management of the prohibited and regulated area around the centrally protected monuments.
- One amongst these responsibilities of NMA is also to consider grant of permissions to applicants for construction related activity in the prohibited and regulated area.
- It has been mandated to categorize all the protected monuments and protected areas declared as of National importance as per provision of Section 20 I of ‘The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010′ .
Source: PIB
