Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat confirms addition of six sites to India’s tentative list by UNESCO's World Heritage Centre

Six sites, including Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs in Telangana and palace-fortresses of the Bundelas in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, have been added to India's tentative list by the UNESCO's World Heritage Center, Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on March 17.

Other sites included in the list are Kanger Valley National Park in Chhattisgarh, Ashokan Edict Sites along the Mauryan Routes (multiple states), Chausath Yogini temples (multiple states) and Gupta temples in north India (multiple states), the minister said in the Lok Sabha.

Shekhawat said this while replying to a suggestion by BJP MP Sambit Patra to take the initiative to include Puri's Jagannath Rath Yatra in the UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Shekhawat said it was a good suggestion given by Patra.

The six new sites were added to the list on March 7, the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO said in a statement.

Addition to the World Heritage Center's tentative list is mandatory if a property is to be nominated for inscription to the World Heritage List in future.

With these additions, India now has 62 sites on the tentative list, an inventory of properties each country intends to consider for UNESCO nomination.

According to the UNESCO website, the Chausath Yogini temples, considered serially, include sites at multiple locations in the country.

At present, a total of 43 properties from India are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including 35 in the 'Cultural' category, seven in 'Natural' and one in 'Mixed' category.

India hosted a World Heritage Committee meeting for the first time in 2024, during which the Moidams — the mound-burial system of the Ahom Dynasty in Assam — was accorded the coveted UNESCO tag.

(PTI)