Santiniketan poised to get UNESCO World Heritage Site tag

Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore’s abode of peace, has been recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List by an international advisory body of the UN and is likely to get the tag formally in September, Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy has said.

“Santiniketan, West Bengal (Where Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore established his first school in 1901) has been recommended for inclusion in the World Heritage List by ICOMOS, the advisory body of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre,” Reddy tweeted.

According to Unesco’s official website, ICOMOS — the International Council on Monuments and Sites— provides the World Heritage Committee with evaluations of properties with cultural values that are proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List. ICOMOS also conducts comparative studies, provides technical assistance and reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties.

“This furthers the vision of PM Narendra Modi to showcase our rich cultural heritage to the world. This will formally be announced in the World Heritage Committee meeting to be held at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in September 2023,” Reddy tweeted.

Efforts to include Santiniketan in the Unesco list had been initiated in 2010, but several attempts had been unsuccessful because of failure to fulfil multiple conditions.

A fresh application was sent again last year as the Narendra Modi government has been pushing to bring India’s rich cultural heritage sites on the world stage.

“Grateful to Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji on behalf of the people of WB and followers of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Ji. This shows PM Modi’s commitment to show West Bengal’s rich cultural heritage to the world,” West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar tweeted.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday visited Bengal to pay tribute to Tagore on the occasion of his birth anniversary.