Heritage

The World Heritage Site (WHS) of Hampi is a lived landscape.The site is a dynamic, riverine, agricultural, socio-cultural ecological production landscape. The key threat to the site’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is the current extremely limited definition and understanding of the site. As a consequence of this, the State Party’s approach to management is bereft of community participation.

Jan Mosedale referring to the work of other scholars writes, “After the first phase of roll-back neoliberalism (de-regulation), institutional arrangements were restructured and new forms of state organization, modes of governance and regulation were rolled out and ‘normalized’ (Peck and Tickell 2002). These roll-out strategies served to produce a new network of institutional and regulatory relations, which were conducive to stabilising the neoliberal trajectory and seemingly soften its effects. This institutional restructuring, the re-negotiation and transfer of responsibilities, led to new forms of governance in a different relational network of state, parastatal and non-state regulatory organizations across
space”.

This is a background note, which outlines the broad issues and challenges in the Culture and Tourism. The note also indicates at possible strategies to address these issues and challenges.

We condemn the inhuman and illegal eviction and demolition at Hampi Bazaar: Hampi has been more than just a collection of ruins scattered in a magnificent landscape. It is part of the historical and ancient city of Vijayanagara, which has survived as a living site. Here visitors experience the dynamism and colour of a vibrant bazaar. Today the Hampi Bazaar is facing a crisis, with it having been illegally demolished. Eviction notices were issued a few hours before the demolition, giving no time and opportunity for people to respond and react to the notices. Neither alternate housing nor clear guidelines for conducting business were issued prior to the eviction. The fallout of this demolition has been that many families, some with small children and some with aged people have been pushed on to the streets, do not have a place to live, and livelihoods have been affected.