It was recently revealed that five Indian cities were declared as tentative entries in UNESCO’s World Heritage List as proposals were filed at UNESCO World Heritage Centre to check with the criteria for consideration.

The tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites mentions places in five Indian cities of Ahmedabad (Gujarat), New Delhi (Delhi), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Mumbai (Maharashtra).

The 41st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will be held in Poland from July 2 to July 12. The fate of the enlisted five Indian cities will be decided during this session. Ruchira Kamboj, India’s ambassador to UNESCO, left subtle hints through her tweet.

Some new #worldheritage sites here? The 41st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will be held in Poland this year (2-12 July) pic.twitter.com/TIJvzD1VJY

— Ruchira Kamboj (@RuchiraKamboj) March 21, 2017

The information for inclusion was given in a written reply by Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) in a Rajya Sabha session.

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In 2016, 3 Indian sites made it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim and Bihar’s Nalanda Unniversity were granted the coveted status at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul. A tweet from UNESCO read:

Just inscribed as @UNESCO #WorldHeritage Site: Khangchendzonga National Park#India pic.twitter.com/6aA5NYn5p2

— UNESCO (@UNESCO) July 17, 2016

The UNESCO official website lists 35 World Heritage Sites in India that are recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as of July 2016. These include 27 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed category enlisted sites.

Incidentally, a petition was started by a Sikh student in Belgium to remove Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar from the tentative list in 2015 fearing ‘loss of control.’ The fear however is unsubstantiated as UNESCO does not claim ownership or right of administration over World Heritage Sites.