In a recent interview, the Director General of the Archaeological Surveyof India, YS Rawat, discussed reforms for the complete revival of the organisation’s excavation policies. He emphasised that while the agency’s work extends far beyond excavations, the true aim of any scientific dig should address the ‘civilisational questions’—those that link material findings to the holistic understanding of India’s past.
The suggestions likely draw inspiration from both the CAG report of 2013 and the Parliamentary Standing Committee report presented to the Rajya Sabha on 21 September 2023. The issues that the director general (DG) has recently highlighted—the context of the digs, the civilisation question, and the duration and continuity of excavation by individual archaeologists—echo many of the committee’s earlier observations.