Article:
India negotiating to bring back stolen antiques: ASI
By David Lalmalsawma
Reuters

India plans to step up its efforts to bring back Indian artefacts from other countries after the recent repatriation of a 10th century “Yogini” stone sculpture from Paris.

Illegal trade in paintings, sculptures and other artefacts is one of the world’s most profitable criminal enterprises, estimated at $6 billion a year, according to Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based advocacy group. India is one of the biggest targets for smugglers, who ship stolen antiques and other culturally important artefacts abroad to sell to art dealers and museums.

India Insight spoke to R.S. Fonia, Director (Antiquity) at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), about the black market for Indian artefacts and what the ASI is doing to bring Indian antiques back home. This interview has been lightly edited.

Read more:

http://reut.rs/1e1BEdb


Image:
Vrishanana Yogini, an 1100-year-old sculpture stolen from Uttar Pradesh and shipped to Paris and now back in India, displayed at an Exhibition ‘Return of the Yogini’ at National Musuem in New Delhi on Thursday, September 19, 2013.