Law to categorize Gandhi\'s objects as national treasures

CHENNAI: Gandhians were aflutter last year when the well-worn leather sandals of the Father of the Nation, his trademark round metal spectacles, a pocket watch and a metal bowl in which he had his last meal before he was assassinated, came under the hammer at Manhattan\'s Antiquorum Auctioneers.



It exposed again the country\'s helplessness in safeguarding its national treasures. That a representative of millionaire brewer Vijay Mallya walked away at the last minute paying $ 1.8 million (Rs 9.3 crore) for the lot is now history.



Waking up to the issue, the Centre has constituted an expert advisory committee, comprising antique experts, archaeologists and a private art collector, to suggest an amendment to the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 to bring Gandhi\'s belongings, historical letters and other documents under the protection of the law and declare them rare, national treasures.
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