60 properties may find place on World Heritage List

New Delhi: There are nearly 60 properties in India which find a place in the Tentative List for further inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, according to information shared by the government in Parliament on Monday.

A Tentative List is an inventory of those properties which each State Party intends to consider for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 46th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) is being held in New Delhi from July 21 to July 31.

India is hosting the key event of UNESCO for the first time. The mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty in Assam -- ‘Moidams’ -- was on July 26 inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the first cultural property from the Northeast to get the coveted tag. ‘Moidams’ was submitted as India’s nomination for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List for the year 2023-24.

The site was put in the Tentative List of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2014. In a written response to a query in Lok Sabha, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, “There are 57 properties in the Tentative List for further inclusion in the World Heritage List.

However, as per the Operational Guidelines 2023, only one property can be submitted for the World Heritage inscription process each year. As of now, 42 properties have been inscribed on the World Heritage List.”

The updated list for India, after the inclusion of centuries-old ‘Moidams’, is now 43 sites on the World Heritage List and 56 properties on the Tentative List, according to the website of UNESCO, which adds that out of the 195 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, 189 have submitted a Tentative List.

Shekhawat was also asked whether the government has formulated any scheme for the protection of cultural heritage in compliance with the guidelines of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).