Context: The Centre’s plan to convert North Block and South Block into museums as a part of the larger revamp of the Central Vista has some former top officers of the Ministry of External Affairs, which is located in South Block, concerned about preserving the historic nature of the offices in the building.
Key Points
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs proposed a Central Vista redevelopment project in 2019.
The project envisages

• Constructing a triangular Parliament building next to the existing one.
• Constructing Common Central Secretariat.
• Revamping of the 3-km-long Rajpath  from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.
• North and South Block to be repurposed as museums.

The government’s argument for revamping Central Vista:

• The Parliament building’s facilities and infrastructure are inadequate to meet the current demand.
• The offices of the Central Government are spread over different locations which affects inter-departmental coordination, and unnecessary travel leading to congestion and pollution.
• Most of the existing buildings have outlived their structural lives.

About Central Vista

• Currently, the Central Vista of New Delhi houses Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, North and South Block, India Gate, National Archives among others.
• In December, 1911, King George V made an announcement in Delhi Durbar (a grand assembly) to shift the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi.
• Delhi Durbar was hosted to mark the coronation of King George V.
• The task of constructing a new city was given to Edwin Lutyens, known for his strong adherence to European classism and Herbert Baker, a prominent architect in South Africa.
• Herbert Baker is also the architect of the Union buildings at Pretoria, South Africa.
• Parliament House building was designed by both Lutyens and Baker.
• Rashtrapati Bhavan was designed by Edwin Lutyens.
• The Secretariat which includes both north and south block was designed by Herbert Baker.