World Heritage Committee session to showcase India's rich cultural diversity Culture minister

New Delhi, Jul 19 (PTI) After hosting of the G20, the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee that will be held here from July 21-31 will prove to be the next milestone, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Friday.
    At a curtain-raiser press conference here ahead of the session, he also said an "in-principle approval" has been received for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the event.
    Shekhawat said the World Heritage Committee (WHC) session will offer an opportunity to India to showcase its rich cultural heritage, upkeep and management of its sites and the priority India accords to its heritage.
    Asked on what criteria Delhi was chosen as the host city for the key meeting, the Union minister said Delhi was a "natural choice" for such a culturally important event.
    Ahead of the WHC session, the government recently launched a public art project with works themed on India's cultural legacy and the country's UNESCO heritage sites among others.
    In sync with the meeting, some of the artwork and sculptures will draw inspiration from world heritage sites such as Bimbetka and also natural world heritage sites in India, officials had said.
    The WHC session will be at the Bharat Mandapam, which was also the venue for the G20 Summit.     Currently, India has the sixth largest number of UNESCO sites in the world. The countries that have 42 or more world heritage sites are Italy, Spain, Germany, China and France, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)