Institute of Archaeology trains 53 new ASI conservation assistants with revamped curriculum

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The Culture Secretary opened a one-month induction programme for 53 newly recruited ASI Senior Conservation Assistants and Conservation Assistants at the Institute of Archaeology, Greater Noida.
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The revamped curriculum adds GFR, administrative law, establishment rules and departmental inquiries to core archaeology.
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The Institute is being repositioned beyond its 15-student PG Diploma into a large training centre; refresher courses for ASI and state archaeology staff will follow.

●Training: 53 Senior Conservation Assistants/Conservation Assistants from ASI Circles; one month; opened 15 September 2026 by the Secretary, Ministry of Culture.
●Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology: under ASI; set up in 1985 by upgrading the School of Archaeology (1959); 25-acre Greater Noida campus inaugurated by the PM on 9 March 2019.
●ASI: founded 1861 by Alexander Cunningham, its first Director-General; under the Ministry of Culture; HQ Dharohar Bhawan, New Delhi.
●ASI Circles: the country is divided into 37 Circles for maintaining centrally protected monuments.
●Sir John Marshall: ASI Director-General from 1902; his 1920s excavations revealed Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (Indus Valley Civilisation).
●AMASR Act, 1958: protects monuments of national importance; 100 m around them is a prohibited area, the next 200 m a regulated area.
●National Monuments Authority: set up under the Ministry of Culture by the AMASR (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010; handles construction permissions in these zones.
●Conservation principle restated by DG, ASI: 'Minimum intervention and Maximum retention'.

upsc

GS Paper 1 > Art & Culture > Conservation of Heritage

★Statements on the AMASR Act's prohibited/regulated distances and the body set up by its 2010 amendment.

Prohibited area

100 m around a centrally protected monument where new construction is barred.

Regulated area

The further 200 m beyond the prohibited area, where construction needs permission.

•Regulated area is 200 m beyond the 100 m prohibited zone — not 300 m from the monument's edge as a separate figure.

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Factual

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