Abstract
COVID 19 pandemic has taken the world order unprepared with vulnerable health systems and crumbling economic orders, leaving humans to rethink their ways of life. Amid all this, historic monuments and sites, once again are witnessing the fallout of the human race, as seen during the times of previous world wars, but this time from a pandemic. With countries under lockdown for more than 50 days, heritage is left unattended, unknown and forgotten into the abyss of loneliness. During the time of writing this abstract, Indian cities are under full or partial lockdown since March 22, 2020. India is a powerhouse of cultural and heritage landscape and is home to 38 world heritage sites out of which 30 are cultural heritage sites, 7 are natural heritage and 1 is a mixed heritage site. Furthermore, there are 42 sites in the tentative list of heritage sites as per the UNESCO World Heritage Center. The heritage of India not only depicts its identity and royal culture but also plays a significant role in the economy of the country. Heritage sites attract a large number of visitors with a share of foreign and domestic tourists and thereby give a significant raise to the tourism industry. Cities like Agra known for their majestic world heritage sites contribute a massive amount of economic output to the tourism industry and generate employment; While Ahmedabad a recently pronounced world heritage city has also seen a spike in the footfall, which has ascended the outpour of investment for the promotion of heritage and sustenance of local art and crafts. Besides this, many other cities are host to various cultural and natural heritage sites. This paper is based on the theme of heritage management for pandemic COVID 19. Taking the example of the cities of Ahmedabad and Agra, the paper attempts to establish the need for proper conservation policies for cultural and natural heritage sites. It emphasizes the impact of the pandemic on the sites and co-relates it as to how it affects the economy and livelihood of the people. It also brings to light the uncertainties in the heritage management practices and framework followed in India. It identifies the need to bridge the gaps between disaster management laws and policies of conservation of heritage for such pandemics. This paper is a review of current Indian heritage management practices focusing on the point of post-pandemic new normalcy opening of the Heritage monuments and sites of cultural and tangible importance. Within the course of this paper, it highlights the impact of pandemic covid19 on various heritage sites and its effect on the tourism industry; the need to address this issue immediately and consequently pinpoint the loopholes in the link between current policies of disaster management and heritage management. The recommendation of this paper takes COVID 19 as an agent to bring out a holistic change in formulating policies and management plans, a time to integrate the heritage management with disaster risk reduction strategies. The paper aims to refocus on the growing need to enhance the resilience of the heritage monuments and sites as a measure to push economies towards a new normal in the post-COVID 19 world.
