Projecting soft power: How India is restoring cultural symbols beyond its shores: 

Projecting soft power: How India is restoring cultural symbols beyond its shores:

Context:

• India has been increasingly undertaking projects across Asia to restore places of cultural importance.
• Recently, PM Modi visited the historic Ananda temple in Bagan, Myanmar, whose structural conservation and chemical preservation work has been carries out by the Archaeological survey of India.
• Such initiatives are an important tool of Soft Power in diplomatic relations

Restoration projects undertaken by India in Asia (locations important for Prelims):

• Ta Prohm Temple, Angkor, CAMBODIA
• Cham Monuments, VIETNAM
• Thiruketeeswaram Temple, Mannar, SRI LANKA
• Wat Phou Temple Complex, LAOS
• Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu, NEPAL

Mechanism adopted by India for restoration:

• Funds are released through the Ministry of External Affairs as part of India’s diplomatic outreach to these nations.
• The ASI, under the Ministry of Culture, is the implementing agency.
• Work can go on for decades, and is often monitored by third-party agencies such as the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
• The countries where the ASI works sometimes pitch in with help on the board and lodging of the restoration team.

Archaeological Survey of India:

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), as an attached office under the Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, is the premier organization for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation.
• Maintenance of ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains of national importance is the prime concern of the ASI.
• Besides it regulates all archaeological activities in the country as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. It also regulates Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972.

Soft Power:

• Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than by coercion (hard power), using force or giving money as a means of persuasion.
• A defining feature of soft power is that it is noncoercive; the currency of soft power is
•  Culture
• Political values
• Foreign policies.
• Though slower to yield results, soft power is a less expensive means than military force or economic inducements to get others to do what we want.

Benefits of soft power:

• Soft power, since it is not based on coercion, is far-reaching in other societies.
• Identification with the transmitted values becomes far more effective when it is not imposed.
• It costs less than the use of hard power, that first needs an important investment before being used and having an effect.
• Soft power as it is indirect power often results from different investments that are made for other purposes than the sole purpose of increasing one’s state power.
• Moreover, soft power has the benefit and the effect of multiplying the already reached and existing power. Thus, it works as leverage on the whole system.

India’s soft power potential:

• India holds strong cards in the arena of soft power. Its
• Spiritualism and yoga
• movies and television soaps
• classical and popular dance and music
• principles of non-violence
• democratic institutions
• plural society
• and cuisine have all attracted people across the world.
• It is only over the past decade or so that India has begun to play its soft power cards more systematically.
• Besides setting up a public diplomacy division within the Ministry of External Affairs in 2006 and expanding the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) worldwide, it has roped in the Ministry of Tourism, which is behind the Incredible India campaign, and the Ministry for Overseas Indians to showcase its social, political, and cultural assets abroad.
• These government actors are working to leverage India’s soft power by using it to support larger foreign policy initiatives such as the Look East Policy (now Act East), the Connect Central Asia policy, and developing strategic aid and trade partnerships in Africa.