Why thieves have and continue to walk away with India's antiques

It's gone largely uncommented upon, but India has got back more of stolen antiquities back in the past two years than it did in all its nearly 70 year history as an independent nation. As per government records, we managed to retrieve 13 antiques between 1972, when we passed the Antiquities Act, and 2013; since 2014, however, we've already got back 22, and there's probably more on the way back from the US and Australia. The hearts of most Indians, proud of their ancient culture and heritage, will be gladdened by this development. But was it a major investigation by the Indian government, our police or the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) that led to these recoveries? Not at all.

All the illicit antiques returned in the past two years come from the Subhash Kapoor horde, those recovered or traced to the New York-based antiques smuggler who was arrested in 2011. It's the US Homeland Security Investigation which has been pressuring American museums to look into their collections and double-check the antecedents of the artefacts they acquired from him that has resulted in the return of invaluable antiques such as the Toledo Ganesh. Similarly, the Australians launched a full-scale audit into all their south Asian collections after Kapoor's arrest, the fruits of which are the three statues returned last month.

In contrast, the Indian antiques policing system remains what it always was - nonexistent. Unlike Italy, or much smaller Cambodia, India - barring Tamil Nadu - does not have a dedicated police force to tackle antiques theft. The ASI, mandated to "protect" our cultural heritage, does not even have the funds to employ enough security guards to protect the monuments in its care - a mere 3650, of the estimated five lakh monuments around the country.

Worse, there seems to have been little progress made in the documentation of antiquities and monuments around the country, so essential if we are not to loose any more of our heritage. The ASI does not even keep an eye on auctions or sales of antiques around the world, where much of the stolen works come for sale. Is it any wonder that thieves have, and continue to literally walk away with our antiques?