Protection and Conservation of Monuments in India

• Refers to the statutory, institutional and scientific framework safeguarding monuments of national importance, antiquities, manuscripts and historic sites under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• ASI presently safeguards 3,686 centrally protected monuments (CPMs) under the AMASR Act, 1958.
• UPSC-relevant because it intersects GS-I (Art & Culture), GS-II (Governance — CAG audits, federalism) and GS-III (Tourism, CSR funding); UNESCO listings and forts/temples are recurring Prelims hot-zones.