Evaluating effectiveness of world heritage sites in india. Case: buddhist monuments at Sanchi

Abstract

India is sixth amongst the 193 members of United Nations (UN), in ranking of countries with the most number of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage sites. The number of World Heritage Sites (WHS) in India is visibly increasing from the past two decades. It has reached 36 this year with the inclusion of Ahmadabad as World Heritage City; also there are 43 sites on tentative list of WHS. It, indeed, is a matter of proud for the country, but, how does the site respond to WHS status is a concern. Whether or not, the status has brought any change to the designated site in our country, needs to be focused upon. The thesis briefly explains the World Heritage background, the current nomination process and the after designation process i.e. the Management Plan. The purpose of the research is to formulate a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of the designation of such sites across the country. For the process of evaluating effectiveness of WHS in India, three levels are identified, namely - site and buffer zone i.e. inscribed boundary, surrounding of site i.e. the influence zone and national level. This study is limited to deriving an outline for evaluation of cultural sites only and validating the framework on one of the World Heritage in India. The framework for evaluating these levels is based on certain criteria that are identified from the study of Management Plans of UNESCO World heritage sites in India.