Cultural Collapse
- Correspondent
- Oct 12
- 2 min read
When the custodians of culture become its gravediggers, decline is inevitable. The Asiatic Society of Mumbai (ASM), the city’s 221-year-old institution housed in the stately Town Hall on the steps of Horniman Circle, was once a citadel of knowledge, a hub of learning that connected India to the intellectual revolutions of the world. Today, it stands as a monument to neglect, wracked by infighting, financial collapse and administrative paralysis.
What began as an assembly of scholars in 1804, preserving treasures such as one of two known original copies of Dante’s Divine Comedy, has devolved into a sorry theatre of mismanagement. The Society, which boasts a membership of nearly 3,000, now barely sees 150 active participants. Its elections have been annulled by the charity commissioner, its finances are in shambles, and its leadership seems more intent on clinging to office than rescuing the institution from ruin. The current president, lauded as the first woman to lead the ASM, is at the end of her six-year term but even her departure is marred by controversy. Elections that were supposed to usher in a new committee have been declared illegal. The Society drifts leaderless, yet refuses to hold fresh elections.
At the heart of this crisis lies financial rot. The ASM has been bleeding money for years, losing nearly Rs. 1 crore annually. It survives on erratic grants from the state and central governments, but its leadership has failed to secure even the most basic funding assurances. Officials in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recount how the Society’s office bearers were indifferent when asked to follow up for additional grants. The result is a hand-to-mouth existence where even staff salaries are uncertain, and endowment funds meant for specific purposes are reportedly being diverted to keep the lights on.
The institution requires at least Rs. 3 crore annually to operate smoothly, yet no one seems capable or willing to fight for it. Successive committees have failed to lobby for the long-promised ‘Institute of National Importance’ status, which would have secured central funding and recognition. Instead, the management frittered away limited resources on wasteful projects.
Of the sanctioned 45 staff positions, barely 25 are filled. Crucial posts of the Librarian, Deputy Librarian and Archivist remain vacant. Many employees still draw salaries based on the 6th Pay Commission, eight years after the 7th became the standard. It is no surprise that preservation work has slowed to a crawl, leaving 3,000 manuscripts and 280,000 rare books vulnerable to deterioration.
If the Society’s founders, who envisioned it as a beacon of Oriental and Western scholarship, could see it today, they would be aghast.
Saving the ASM demands a ruthless cleaning-up. The Society must be pulled from the grip of aging elites who treat it as a private club rather than a public trust. In a city that prides itself on heritage, it is shameful that one of its greatest cultural assets teeters on the brink of oblivion.



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