RAS question
For how many years was Sarnath on UNESCO's tentative list before its official nomination in 2025?
Correct answer: (B) 27 years.
Sarnath was on UNESCO's tentative list for 27 years before India officially nominated Ancient Buddhist Site, Sarnath in the 2025-26 cycle.
Explanation
Sarnath's 27-year wait comes from matching two official points in the record. The CAG annexure on monuments in India's tentative list records Ancient Buddhist Site, Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh as included in the tentative list in July 1998. The PIB release on UNESCO World Heritage Sites states that the Government sent Ancient Buddhist Site, Sarnath (2025-26) to the World Heritage Centre for consideration for inclusion in the World Heritage List. This makes 27 years the relevant duration: Sarnath was already on the tentative list from 1998 and reached official nomination only in the 2025-26 cycle.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Fifteen years would imply a much later tentative-list entry than the July 1998 entry recorded for Sarnath.
- (C) Twenty years understates the gap between Sarnath's July 1998 tentative-list inclusion and its 2025-26 nomination cycle.
- (D) Thirty-five years overstates the period because Sarnath's tentative-list entry dates to July 1998, not to a year before 1990.
Concept
This tests UNESCO World Heritage procedure: tentative listing precedes nomination to the World Heritage Centre. It recurs in RAS because ancient Indian heritage sites often appear in current-affairs questions through official culture-ministry updates.