Parliament was informed on Monday that twenty-four monuments and sites are not known in the country.

Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy in a written reply to another question in Lok Sabha also said that "It is estimated that 210 thefts have been reported from centrally-protected monuments/sites located in 19 States/UTs since independence, Which includes 486 items."

He said that recovery of stolen items is a continuous process and 91 items have been recovered so far.

The Archaeological Survey of India has surveyed 8,478 villages in the last eight years and archaeological remains have been found in 2,914 of them.

He said the ASI "conducts regular village-to-village surveys to locate and record the old remains."

There are a total of 3,693 heritage sites in India protected by the ASI, of which 743 are in Uttar Pradesh, the highest in a single state.

In a written reply to a question about the number of missing monuments in the country, he said, "24 monuments/sites have not been traced."

The Minister also shared state-wise details about village-by-village survey conducted by ASI during the period 2014-15 to 2021-22.

The ASI surveyed 8,478 villages during this period and of these, archaeological remains have been found in 2,914 villages, as per the shared data.

Out of 8,478 villages, Punjab has the highest number of 1,459 villages surveyed.

After that, archaeological remains were found in 933 villages in Karnataka and 130 and 806 villages in these two states respectively.

Responding to another question, Reddy said that during the last five years (2017-2021), 3152 villages were surveyed, out of which 905 villages had reported archaeological remains.

Reddy said the ASI is involved in the conservation work of 743 monuments including 144 temples in Uttar Pradesh.

Conservation of monuments is a continuous process.

He said that the work is done by the ASI as per the requirement of the site and the available resources.

In addition, 1,224 monuments have cultural notice boards.

When asked about the total number of ticketed and unticked ASI monuments in the country, he said, 3,693 monuments, sites of national importance have been declared in the country under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958. .

Out of which entry fee is charged at 143 places.

Responding to another question, he said, for the purpose of entry fee, the monuments have been divided into two groups.

Group 'A' - monuments inscribed on the World Heritage List, Group 'B' - others.

He said there are 20 entries in category 'A' and the remaining 123 under category 'B'.

To a separate question whether "it is true that the government is contemplating to fund a project to study genetic similarities and differences in the DNA (genetic) profiles of population groups in India," the minister replied, " No".

"A somewhat vague report of a study on 'racial purity' by the Ministry of Culture appeared in some print media, which was immediately refuted. He said that a joint representation on the subject was also received," he said. 

Reddy said, so far around 60,000 programs have been organized by the central ministries or state governments across India under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi.