46th Session Of World Heritage Committee To Be Held At Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi

The 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee will be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi beginning tomorrow. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the session tomorrow. The session will conclude on 31st of this month. India is hosting this event for the first time.

The ceremony will be graced by Director General of UNESCO, Madam Audrey Azoulay, and senior officers from the UNESCO World Heritage Secretariat along with other high-level dignitaries like Culture Ministers, Ambassadors, and domain experts from various countries.

Addressing a Press Conference yesterday ahead of the session, Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat highlighted that this is the first mega event of India under the third term of Narendra Modi government. He said, the meeting will showcase India’s diverse and unique cultural and natural



heritage to the world, taking country’s cultural glory to new heights. He added an international meeting of this scale will further strengthen India’s soft power in the world and provide an opportunity for global audience and outreach.

India was elected to the 21-member World Heritage Committee-WHC in the 23rd General Assembly in 2021 for a period of four years from 2021 to 2025. This is India’s fourth term on the World Heritage Committee. India has inscribed 42 Properties in the World Heritage List which include 34 Cultural, 7 Natural, and one Mixed Heritage Site. In the last ten years, 12 Sites have been added including last year’s inscriptions of the Santiniketan (West Bengal) and Sacred ensembles of the Hoysalas (Karnataka). In addition, India has 57 Sites on the Tentative List of the World Heritage.