List of World Heritage Sites in India

S.N.	Name	Region	Discription
1.	Kaziranga Wild Life Sanctuary	Assam	Kaziranga Wild Life Sanctuary, located in the Northeastern state of Assam in the flood plains of the Brahmaputra River’s south bank, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 for its unique natural environment. It was first established as a reserved forest in 1908 to protect the dwindling species of Rhinoceros. It underwent several transformations over the years, as The Kaziranga Game Sanctuary in 1916, renamed as Kaziranga Wild Life Sanctuary in 1950, and declared a national park in 1974. The park, which covers an area of 42,996 hectares (106,250 acres), has the distinction of being home to the world's largest population of the Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros. There are many other mammals and birds species in the sanctuary.
2.	Manas Wild Life Sanctuary	Assam	Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the Northeastern state of Assam covers an area of 50,000 hectares (120,000 acres) in the plains of the Manas River’s in the foot hills of the Himalayas on the border with Bhutan (contiguous with the Manas Wild Life Sanctuary in Bhutan It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 for its unique natural environment. The sanctuary is the habitat of several species of plants and 21 most threatened species of mammals, out of 55 mammal species in the sanctuary, 36 reptile species, 3 amphibians and 350 species of birds; endangered species include Tiger, pygmy hog, clouded leopard, sloth bear, Indian Rhinoceros, wild buffaloes (the only pure stain of buffaloes in India), Indian Elephants, golden langur and Bengal Florican. In 1907, it was declared a reserve forest, was declared a sanctuary in 1928, and became a Tiger Reserve in 1973 as part of “Project Tiger” and a World Heritage Site in December 1985. Plants listed under the broad category of Burma Monsoon Forests include 285 species of Dicotyledons and 98 species of Monocotyledons. Since 1992, the sanctuary has been listed under “The World Heritage in Danger”|
3.	Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya	Bihar	Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya (Buddha Gaya), spread over an area of 4.86 hectares (12.0 acres) was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List i as a unique property of cultural and archaeological importance. The first temple was built by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC (260 BC) around the Bodhi Tree Ficus religiosa (to the west of the temple). However, the temples seen now are dated between 5th and 6th centuries AD. The structures have been built in bricks. Revered and sanctified as the place where Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was enlightened in 531 BC at age 35, and then propagated his divine knowledge of Buddhism to the world, it has been the ultimate temple for reverential worship, over the last several centuries, by Buddhists of all denominations, from all over the world who visit on pilgrimage. The main temple is 50 m in height, built in Indian architectural style, dated between 5th and 6th centuries, and it is the oldest temple in the Indian sub-continent built during the “Golden Age” of Indian culture credited to the Gupta period. Sculpted balustrades of the Ashokan times (3rd century BC) are preserved in the Archaeological Museum located within the temple complex.
4.	Humayun’s Tomb	Delhi	Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi, the first tomb built with several innovations, set at the centre of luxurious gardens with water channels, was the precursor monument to the Taj Mahal (built a century later). It was built in 1570 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Monument in 1993 for its cultural importance. It was built in 1569–1570 by the second Mughal Emperor Humayun’s widow Biga Begum (Hajji Begum). Its architecture is credited to Mirza Ghiyath and its Mughal architectural style has been acclaimed as the “necropolis of the Mughal dynasty” for its double domed elevation provided with Chhatris. Apart from the tomb of Humayun, the funerary also has 150 tombs of various members of the royal family. The tomb is built with a char-bagh (fourfold) layout with two gates, one on the south and the other on the west. It has a number of water channels, a pavilion and a bath. The tomb set on an irregular octagonal plinth has a raised dome of 42.5 m height, covered by marble slabs and decorated with chhatris.
5.	Qutb Minar	Delhi	Qutb Minar, Delhi, located to the south of Delhi, is a complex with the Qutb Minar as the centre piece, which is a red sandstone tower of 72.5 metres (238 ft) height with a base of 14.32 metres (47.0 ft) reducing to 2.75 metres (9.0 ft) diameter at the top. Built in the beginning of the 13th century, the complex of structures comprises itineraries, the Alai Darwaza Gate (1311), the Alai Minar (an incomplete mound of the intended Minar or tower), the Qubbat-ul-Islam Mosque (the earliest existing mosque in India), the tomb of Iltumish, and an Iron Pillar. The complex is a testimony to the Islamic depredations during the period as seen from the materials used for building the complex which are those that were removed after destroying Hindu and Jain temples; a shining iron pillar of 7.02 metres (23.0 ft) height (without any trace of rusting) erected at the centre of the complex, with inscriptions in Sanskrit, of the Chandra Gupta II period is a moot witness. History records its construction, initially by Qutubuddin Aibak in 1192, its completion by Iltumish (1211–36) and again by Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316). It underwent several renovations by subsequent rulers, following damage to the structures due to lightning. It was inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List under category iv for its unique representation of the Islamic architectural and artistic excellence.
6.	Red Fort	Delhi	Red Fort , also known as Lal Qila is a palace fort built in the 17th century by Shahjahan (1628–58), the fifth Mughal Emperor as part of his new capital city of Shahjahanabad. located to the north of Delhi. It represents the glory of the Mughal rule and is considered the Highpoint of Mughal architectural, artistic aesthetic creativity. The architectural design of the structures built within the fort represents a blend of Persian, Timuri and Indian architectural styles; Isfahan, the Persian Capital is said to have provided the inspiration to build the Red Fort Complex. The planning and design of this complex, in a geometrical grid plan with pavilion structures, was the precursor of several monuments which were built later in Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra and other places. The palace complex has been fortified by an enclosure wall built with red sand stone (hence the name Red Fort). It is adjacent to the Salimgarh Fort on its north built by Islam Shah Suri in 1546 and is now part of the Red Fort Complex (area covered 120 acres) under the revised inscription of the UNESCO World Heritage List under categories (i),(ii), (iii) and (vi)}}. Built between 1639 and 1648, enclosing an area of size 656 metres (2,152 ft)x328 metres (1,076 ft) and raising to a height of 23 metres (75 ft) on the right bank of the Yamuna River, it is linked to the Salimgarh Fort through a bridge over an old river channel, now a city road. The palace within the fort complex, located behind the Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audience), comprises a series of richly engraved marble palace pavilions, interconnected by water channels called the ‘Nehr-i-Behishit’ meaning the “Stream of Paradise”, the Diwane-i-khas (Private audience hall), several other essential private structures, and also the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque built by Emperor Aurangzeb).
7.	Churches and Convents	Goa	Churches and Convents of Goa are monuments inscribed by UNESCO under the World Heritage List in 1986 as cultural property, under criteria (ii),(iv) and (vi), which were built by the Portuguese colonial rulers of Goa between 16th and 18th centuries. These monuments are mainly in the former capital of Velha Goa. Velha Goa is also known Goem, Pornem Gõy, Adlem Gõi, Old Goa or Saibachem Gõi, where Saib or Goencho Saib refers to Saint Francis Xavier. The most significant of these monuments is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which enshrines the tomb containing the relics of St. Francis Xavier. These monuments of Goa, known as the “Rome of the Orient,” were established by different Catholic religious orders, from 25 November 1510 onwards. There were originally 60 churches of which some of the surviving monuments in the city of Velha Goa are the Saint Catherine's Chapel (where one of the first, probably only besides the Angediva Island, Latin rite mass in Asia, was held on Saint Catherine's feast day- i.e. 25 November 1510), the Church and Convent of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Sé Catedral de Santa Catarina dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the Jesuit Borea Jezuchi Bajilika or Basílica do Bom Jesus, Igreja de São Francisco de Assis (also known as Asisachea Sanv Fransiskachi Igorz), the Theatine Igreja da Divina Providência (São Caetano) (also known as San Kaitanachi Igorz or the church of Saint Cajetan and its seminary (resembles Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário (also known as Ruzai Saibinnichi Igorz (Church of Our Lady of the Rosary)) and Igreja de Santo Agostinho (also known as Sanv Agustineachi Igorz (Church of Saint Augustine) (only the belfry stands today and some graves, including the Georgian Orthodox Church Saint, Saint Ketevan, who was also a queen). These monuments were forerunners in establishing an ensemble of the Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque art forms in the Asian region. The monuments are built in laterites and walls plastered with limestone mortar mixed with broken shells. For this reason, the monuments need constant maintenance to prevent deterioration due to monsoon climatic conditions, and thus keep them in good shape.
8.	Champaner-Pavagadh	Gujarat	Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is situated in Panchmahal district in Gujarat, India. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 as a natural site. There is a concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which includes prehistoric (chalcolithic) sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th century capital of the state of Gujarat. The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of the Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year. The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.
9.	Monuments at Hampi	Bellary District, Karnataka	The Group of Monuments at Hampi comprise a sombre but ostentatious Hampi town, on the banks of the river Tungabhadra in Karnataka. Hampi subsumes the ruins of Vijayanagara, which was the former capital of the powerful Vijayanagara Empire. Dravidian temples and palaces abound in Hampi. These won the admiration of travellers between the 14th and 16th centuries. Hampi, as an important Hindu religious centre, has the Virupaksha Temple (different from Pattadakal's Virupaksha Temple) and several other monuments, which are part of the cultural heritage site inscribed under category (i), (iii) and (iv) in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
10.	Monuments at Pattadakal	Karnataka	The Group of monuments in Pattadakal designated under UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1987, cover a remarkable series of nine Hindu temples, as well as a Jain sanctuary in northern Karnataka. In this group of temples, the Virupaksha Temple, built in c. 740 by Queen Lokamahadevi to commemorate her husband's (King Vikramaditya II) victory over the Pallava kings from the south, is considered the most outstanding architectural edifice (This is different from the Virupaksha Temple at Hampi.) These are a remarkable combination of temples built by the Chalukya Dynasty in the 6th - 8th century at Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, the latter city was known as the "Crown Rubies". The temples represent a remarkable fusion of the architectural features of northern (Nagara) and southern (dravida) India. Pattadakal is also considered as the Hindu holy city with eight temples dedicated to Shiva with a shaivite sanctuary; Papanatha Temple and Jaina Temple are also within this complex.
11.	Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi	Madhya Pradesh	Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi, located 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Bhopal in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are a group of Buddhist monuments dated between 200 BC and 100BC. The site, however, has been conjectured to have been developed in the 3rd century BC, when Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire ruled. The principal monument is Stupa 1 dated to the 2nd century and 1st century BC. These Buddhist sanctuaries were active Buddhist religious monuments, which flourished till 12th century AD. The sanctuary has a plethora of monolithic pillars, palaces, temples and monasteries in different status of preservation. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on January 24, 1989 for its unique cultural importance. It was discovered only in 1818 in a deserted state of preservation. Archaeological excavations undertaken thereafter revelled 50 unique monuments.
12.	Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka	Madhya Pradesh	Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka described in the UNESCO Inscription as “the site complex … a magnificent repository of rock paintings within natural rock shelters” is located in the foothills of the Vindhya range of hills in the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is spread in sandstone formations extending over an area of 1893 ha with a buffer zone 10,280 hectares (25,400 acres). The rock shelters, discovered only in 1957, comprise a group of “five clusters of rock shelters” with paintings that are inferred to date from the “Mesolithic period right through to the Historical period”, with the 21 villages surrounding them reflecting the traditions displayed in the rock paintings. The unique rock art has been discovered in 400 painted shelters spread over an area of 1,892 ha amidst dense forest with high diversity of flora and fauna, with one of the shelters dated from 100,000 BC (Late Acheulian) to 1000 AD. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003 as a unique cultural property representing a convergence displayed in the art form between the people and the landscape with links to the hunting gathering economy of the past.
13.	Khajuraho Group of Monuments	Madhya Pradesh	Khajuraho Group of Monuments attributed to the Chandela dynasty which, under sovereignty of Gurjar Pratihars reached its glory between 950 AD and 1050 AD. The ensemble of monuments that have survived belong to the Hindu and Jain Religious practices with striking fusion of sculpture and architecture; the best example of this outstanding feature is seen in the Kandariya Temple. Of the 85 temples built, only 22 temples have survived in an area of 6sqkm, which represents the Chandela period of the 10th century. Located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, it was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, a cultural property on October 15, 1982 for its unique original artistic creation and proof of the Chandela Culture that existed prior to the Muslim invasion of India in the early 12th century.
14.	Ajanta Caves	Maharashtra	Ajanta Caves listed under UNESCO World Heritage as a cultural heritage site, are Buddhist caves that were built in two phases, the first phase was from 2nd century BC. In the second phase, further additions were made during the 5th and 6th centuries AD of the Gupta period. The caves depict richly decorated paintings, frescoes, which are reminiscent of the Sigiriya paintings in Sri Lanka and sculptures. As a whole, there are 31 rock-cut cave monuments which are unique representations of the religious art of Buddhism.
15.	Ellora Caves	Maharashtra	Ellora Caves also known as Ellora Complex are a cultural mix of religious arts of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. These are 34 monasteries and temples sculpted contiguously into rock walls of a high basalt cliff, which are seen along a length of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). Dated to 600 to 1000 AD, they are a reflection of artistic creation of the ancient civilization of India. This cultural property has been inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List.
16.	Elephanta Caves	Maharashtra	The Elephanta Caves are a network of sculpted caves located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally "the city of caves") in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the east of the city of Mumbai. The island, located on an arm of the Arabian Sea, consists of two groups of caves — the first is a large group of five Hindu caves, the second, a smaller group of two Buddhist caves. The Hindu caves contain rock cut stone sculptures, representing the Shaiva Hindu sect, dedicated to the god Shiva. The rock-cut architecture of the caves is dated to between the 5th and 8th centuries, although the identity of the original builders is still a subject of debate. The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock. Renovated in the 1970s, the caves were designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 to preserve the artwork.
17.	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus	Maharashtra	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is a historic railway station in Mumbai, which serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways. It is one of the busiest railway stations in India, and serves Central Railway trains terminating in Mumbai as well as the Mumbai Suburban Railway. The station was designed by Frederick William Stevens, a consulting architect in 1887–1888. It took ten years to complete and was named "Victoria Terminus" in honour of the Queen and Empress Victoria; it was opened on the date of her Golden Jubilee in 1887. This famous architectural landmark in Gothic style was built as the headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. In 1996, in response to demands by the Shiv Sena and in keeping with the policy of renaming locations with Indian names, the station was renamed by the state government after Chatrapati Shivaji, the famed 17th century Maratha king. On 2 July 2004, the station was nominated as a World Heritage Site by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO.
18.	Sun Temple, Konârak	Puri District, Orissa	Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century Sun Temple (also known as the "Black Pagoda"), at Konark, in Orissa. Located on the east coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Mahanadi Delta, it is built in the form of the chariot of Surya (Arka), the sun god with 24 wheels, and is heavily decorated with symbolic stone carvings and led by a team of six horses. It was constructed from oxidizing weathered ferruginous sandstone by King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The temple is one of the most renowned temples in India and is a World Heritage Site inscribed in 1984 as cultural property under categories (i), (iii) and (vi)
19.	Keoladeo National	Bharatpur, Rajasthan	Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur is located within the Indus-Ganges Monsoon Forest Biogeographical Province. It extends over an area of 2,783 hectares (6,880 acres). It was declared a national park in 1982. Earlier to this, in 1900, it was a duck-hunting reserve of the Maharajasof Bharatpur, then became a bird sanctuary in 1956, with the Maharajas exercising shooting rights till 1972, and was recorded as a Ramsar Wetland site, in 1981. It was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 under category (x), as a natural property. The area of the wetland of the park shrinks to 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) during most part of the year. It has a human-built environment created partly by embankments dividing the area into 10 units, and has sluice controlled arrangement to maintain the water level. It is famous for 364 species of wintering birds that flock in large numbers, arriving from distant countries of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia. It is surrounded by 17 villages and the Bharatpur city.
20.	Jantar Mantar	Jaipur	The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja (King) Jai Singh II at his then new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. It is modelled after the one that he had built at the Mughal capital of Delhi. He had constructed a total of five such facilities at different locations, including the ones at Delhi and Jaipur. The Jaipur observatory is the largest and best preserved of these and has a set of some 20 main fixed instruments built in masonry. It has been inscribed as cultural property on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period.
21.	Great Living Chola Temples	Darasuram, Tamil Nadu	The Great Living Chola Temples, built by kings of the Chola Empire stretched over all of Tamil Nadu. This cultural heritage site includes three great temples of 11th and 12th century namely, the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram. The Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram, built by Rajendra I, was completed in 1035. Its 53 metres (174 ft) vimana (sanctum tower) has recessed corners and a graceful upward curving movement, contrasting with the straight and severe tower at Thanjavur. The Airavatesvara temple complex, built by Rajaraja II, at Darasuram features a 24 metres (79 ft) vimana and a stone image of Shiva. The temples testify to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting. The site was inscribed under UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 as Cultural heritage under criteria (ii) and (iii).
22.	Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram	Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu,	The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, in Tamilnadu, about 58 km from Chennai, were built by the Pallava kings in the 7th and 8th centuries. The town is said to have gained prominence under the rule of Mamalla. These monuments have been carved out of rock along the Coromandel coast. The temple town has approximately forty monuments, including the largest open-air bas-relief in the world. It was inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1984 as a cultural heritage under categories (i)(ii)(iii)(vi). The monuments inscribed are the Ratha Temples: Temples in the form of chariots, Mandapas, 11 Cave sanctuaries covered with bas-reliefs, rock relief of Descent of the Ganges, which is the largest open air Rock relief also known as Arjuna's Penance or Bhagiratha's Penance.
23.	Agra Fort,	Agra	Agra Fort, also known as the Red Fort of Agra, which represented Mughal opulence and power as the centre piece of their empire was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982, under Category iii as a cultural monument. The fortress located on the right bank of the Yamuna River, built in red sandstone, covering a length of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) and surrounded by a moat, encloses several palaces, towers and mosques. These were built from 16th century onwards till early 18th century, starting with Emperor Akbar's reign in the 16th century to that of Aurangzeb in the early part of the 18th century, including the contributions made during the reign of Jahangir and Shahjahan of the Moghul Rule in India; the impressive structures built within the precincts of the fort are the Khas Mahal, the Shish Mahal, Muhamman Burje (an octagonal tower), Diwan-i-Khas (1637), Diwan-i-Am, white marble mosque or the Pearl Mosque (built during 1646–1653) and the Nagina Masjid (1658–1707). These monuments are remarkable for the fusion of Persian art of the Timurid and the Indian art form. It is very close to the famous Taj Mahal with a buffer zone separating the two monuments.
24.	Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh	Agra	Fatehpur Sikri, "the City of Victory," was built during the second half of the 16th century by the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556–1605). It was the capital of the Empire and seat of the grand Mughal court, but only for 14 years. Despite bearing exceptional testimony to the Mughal civilization at the end of the 16th century, it had to be abandoned due to the twin reasons of lack of water and unrest in north-west India, leading the Emperor to shift the capital to Lahore. Akbar decided to construct it in 1571, on the same site where the birth of his son, the future Emperor Jahangir, was predicted by the wise saint Shaikh Salim Chisti (1480–1572). The work, supervised by the great Mughal himself, was completed in 1573. The complex of monuments and temples, all uniformly in Mughal architectural style, includes one of the largest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid, the Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal, and the Tomb of Salim Chishti. The English traveller Ralph Fitch considered the city in 1585 as 'considerably larger than London and more populous.' Its form and layout strongly influenced the evolution of Indian town planning, notably at Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi). The city has numerous other palaces, public buildings and mosques, as well as living areas for the court, the army, servants of the king and for an entire population whose history has not been recorded.
25.	Taj Mahal	Agra	Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World is a mausoleum – a funerary mosque. It was built by Emperor Shahjahan in memory of his third wife Begum Mumtaz Mahal who had died in 1631. It is a large edifice made in white marble in typical Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Islamic and Indian architectural styles. This much acclaimed masterpiece was built over a 16 year period between 1631 and 1648 under the Chief Architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri supported by several thousand artisans under the guidance of an Imperial Committee. It was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983, under Category i, as a cultural property/monument. It is set amidst vast Mughal Gardens, which cover 17 hectares (42 acres) of land on the right bank of the Yamuna River. It has an octagonal layout marked by four exclusive minarets at four corners with a pristine elevation of a central bulbous dome below which the tombs are laid in an underground chamber. Calligraphic inscriptions in-crusted in polychromatic pierra dura, decorative bands and floral arabesques glorify the monument's graphic beauty and provide a picture perfect impression to the viewers.
26.	Mountain Railways of India	Darjeeling- West Benga, Nilgiri- Tamilnadu, Kalka-Shimla Railway, Himachal Pradesh	The Mountain Railways of India represents a collective listing of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla Railway under the UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the Mountain Railways of India are five railway lines built in the mountains of India in the 19th and early 20th century, during the British Raj, which are run even today by the Indian Railways. Three out of these five railways, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1881), the Kalka-Shimla Railway (1898) and the Kangra Valley Railway (1924), are located in the rugged hill regions of the Himalayas of Northern India and the other two are much further south in the Western Ghats; the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in Southern India, and the Matheran Hill Railway in Maharashtra. The World Heritage UNESCO recognition to three of the five Mountain Railways of India has been stated as for being "outstanding examples of bold, ingenious engineering solutions for the problem of establishing an effective rail link through a rugged, mountainous terrain. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was recognized first in 1999, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway followed suite as an extension to the site in 2005, and in 2008 the Kalka–Shimla Railway was further added as an extension; and the three together have been titled as Mountain Railways of India under Criteria: ii, iv under the region in the Asia-Pacific. The claims of the Matheran Hill Railway, the fourth hill line, are pending acceptance by the international body.
27.	Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks	Chamoli District, Uttarakhand,	Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks are nestled high in West Himalaya. Valley of Flowers National Park is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty. It is located in the Garhwal Himalaya of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (formerly part of Uttar Pradesh). This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep. The gentle landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park complements the rugged mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi National Park. Together, they encompass a unique transition zone between the mountain ranges of the Zanskar and Great Himalaya. The park stretches over an expanse of 87.5 km2 (33.8 sq mi). It was established as a national park on 6 November 1982. However, it was initially established as a game sanctuary on 7 January 1939. It was inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988 with extension in 2005 under category (vii) and (x).[64][65] Together, they comprise the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, which is on the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2004.
28.	Sundarbans National Park	West Bengal	The Sundarbans National Park, the largest estuarine mangrove forest in the world is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve located in the Sundarbans Ganges river delta bordering the Bay of Bengal, in West Bengal. It is also on the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The Sundarbans as a whole encompasses 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) of land and water, about 5,980 km2 (2,310 sq mi) in India and the balance is in Bangladesh. It is integral to the world's largest delta of 80,000 km2 formed from sediments deposited by the three great rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, which confluence in the Bengal Basin. The entire basin is traversed by a complex network of interconnecting waterways. Tidal waves as high 75 m are a regular feature here. Though, the history of protection in the area of Indian part of the Sundarbans dates back to 1878, it was declared as the core area of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in 1973 and a wildlife sanctuary in 1977 of 133,000-hectare core area within the 258,500 hectares (639,000 acres) Sundarbans Tiger Reserve. On May 4, 1984 it was declared a National Park. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1987 as a natural property under category (ix) and (x). This region is densely covered by mangrove forests, and is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. It is also home to a variety of bird, reptile and invertebrate species, including the salt-water crocodile.
29.	Western Ghats	Western Ghats	Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri Mountains, a mountain range along the western side of India and one of the world’s ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" (sub cluster nomination)[68][69][70] A total of thirty nine properties (including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests) were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in the state of Kerala, ten in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.

Economic vocabulary start from 'P'

Pareto efficiency

A situation in which nobody can be made better off without making somebody else worse off. Named after vilfredo Pareto (1843–1923), an Italian economist. If an economy’s resources are being used inefficiently, it ought to be possible to make somebody better off without anybody else becoming worse off. In reality, change often produces losers as well as winners. Pareto efficiency does not help judge whether this sort of change is economically good or bad.

Paris Club

The name given to the arrangements through which countries reschedule their official debt; that is, money borrowed from other governments rather than banks or private firms. The club is based on avenue kléber in Paris. Its members are the 19 founders of the OECD as well as Russia. Other institutions such as the World Bank attend in an ­informal role. Rescheduling requires the consensus agreement of members and must not favour one creditor nation over another. Private debt re­scheduling takes place through the London club.

Patents

In 1899 the commissioner of the American office of patents recommended that his office be abolished because “everything that can be invented has been invented”. The fact that there has been so much innovation during the subsequent 100 years may owe something to the existence of patents. Economists reckon that if people are going to spend the time and money needed to think up and develop new products, they need to be fairly confident that if the idea works they will earn a decent profit. Patents help achieve this by granting the inventor a temporary monopoly over the idea, to stop it being stolen by imitators who have not borne any of the development risk and costs. Like any monopoly, patents create inefficiency because of the lack of competition to produce and sell the product. So economists debate how long patent protection should last. There is also debate about which sorts of innovation require the encouragement of a potential monopoly to make them happen. Furthermore, the pace of innovation in some industries has sharply reduced the number of years during which a patent is valuable. Some economists say that this shows that patents do not play a large part in the process of innovation.

Path dependence

History matters. Where you have been in the past determines where you are now and where you can go in future. Indeed, even small, apparently trivial, differences in the path you have taken can have huge consequences for where you are and can go. In economics, path dependence refers to the way in which apparently insignificant events and choices can have huge consequences for the development of a market or an economy.

Economists disagree over how widespread path dependence is, and whether it is a form of market failure. One focus of this debate is the QWERTY keyboard. Some argue that the QWERTY design was deliberately made slow to use so as to overcome a jamming-at-speed problem in early typewriters. Much faster alternative layouts of keys have failed to prosper, even though the anti-jamming rationale for QWERTY has been defunct for years. Others say that the QWERTY system is as efficient a layout of keys as any other and that its success is a triumph of market forces. Having invested in learning to make and use the QWERTY keyboard, it makes no economic sense to switch to an alternative that is no better than QWERTY.

Peak pricing

When capacity is fixed and demand varies during a time period, it may make sense to charge above-average prices when demand peaks. Because this will divert some peak demand to cheaper off-peak periods, it will reduce the total amount of capacity needed at the peak and reduce the amount of capacity lying idle at off-peak times, thus resulting in a more efficient use of resources. Peak pricing is common in services with substantial fixed capacity, such as electricity supply and rail transport, as anybody who pays higher fares to travel during rush hours knows only too well.

Percentage point

A unit of size, a one-hundredth of the total. Not to be confused with percentage change. When something increases by 1 percentage point this may be quite different from a 1% increase. For instance, if gdp grew last year by 1% and this year by 2%, the growth rate this year increased by 1 percentage point compared with last year (the difference between 1% and 2%) and also by 100% (2% is double 1%). A 1% increase would mean that the growth rate this year was only 1.01%.

Percentile

Part of the “ile” family that signposts positions on a scale of numbers. The top percentile on, say, the distribution of income, is the richest 1% of the population.

Perfect competition

The most competitive market imaginable. Perfect competition is rare and may not even exist. It is so competitive that any individual buyer or seller has a negligible impact on the market price. Products are homogeneous. Information is perfect. Everybody is a price taker. Firms earn only normal profit, the bare minimum profit necessary to keep them in business. If firms earn more than that (excess profits) the absence of barriers to entry means that other firms will enter the market and drive the price level down until there are only normal profits to be made. Output will be maximised and price minimised. Contrast with monopolistic competition, oligopoly and, above all, monopoly.

Permanent income hypothesis

Over their lives, people try to spread their spending more evenly than their income. The permanent income hypothesis, developed by Milton Friedman, says that a person's spending decisions are guided by what they think over their lifetime will be their average (also known as permanent) income. A sharp increase in short-term income will not result in an equally sharp increase in short-term consumption. What if somebody unexpectedly comes into money, say by winning the lottery? The permanent income hypothesis suggests that people will save most of any such windfall gains. Reality may be somewhat different.

Phillips curve

In 1958, an economist from New Zealand, a.w.h. Phillips (1914-75), proposed that there was a trade-off between inflation and unemployment: the lower the unemployment rate, the higher was the rate of inflation. Governments simply had to choose the right balance between the two evils. He drew this conclusion by studying nominal wage rates and jobless rates in the UK between 1861 and 1957, which seemed to show the relationship of unemployment and inflation as a smooth curve.

Economies did seem to work like this in the 1950s and 1960s, but then the relationship broke down. Now economists prefer to talk about the nairu, the lowest rate of unemployment at which inflation does not accelerate.

Pigou effect

Named after Arthur pigou (1877-1959), a sort of wealth effect resulting from deflation. A fall in the price level increases the real value of people's savings, making them feel wealthier and thus causing them to spend more. This increase in demand can lead to higher employment.

Plaza Accord

On September 22nd 1985, finance ministers from the world's five biggest economies - the united states, japan, west germany, france and the uk - announced the plaza accord at the eponymous new york hotel. Each country made specific promises on economic policy: the united states pledged to cut the federal deficit, japan promised a looser [economics-term key-"monetary policy"] monetary policy[/economics-term] and a range of financial-sector reforms, and germany proposed tax cuts. All countries agreed to intervene in currency markets as necessary to get the dollar down. Perhaps not surprisingly, not all the promises were kept (least of all the American one on deficit cutting), but even so the plan turned out to be spectacularly successful. By the end of 1987, the dollar had fallen by 54% against both the d-mark and the yen from its peak in February 1985. This sharp drop led to a new fear: of an uncontrolled dollar plunge. So in 1987 another big international plans, the louvre accord was hatched to stabilise the dollar. Again specific policy pledges were made (the United States to tighten fiscal policy, japan to loosen monetary policy). Again the participants promised currency intervention if major currencies moved outside an agreed, but unpublished, set of ranges. The dollar promptly rose.

Population

At the beginning of the 20th century the population of the world was 1.7 billion. At the end of that century, it had soared to 6 billion. Recent estimates suggest that it will be nearly 8 billion by 2025 and 9.3 billion by 2050. Almost all of this increase is forecast to occur in the developing regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America. For what economists have had to say about this, see demographics.

Positional goods

Things that the joneses buy. Some things are bought for their intrinsic usefulness, for instance, a hammer or a washing machine. Positional goods are bought because of what they say about the person who buys them. They are a way for a person to establish or signal their status relative to people who do not own them: fast cars, holidays in the most fashionable resorts, clothes from trendy designers. By necessity, the quantity of these goods is somewhat fixed, because to increase supply too much would mean that they were no longer positional. What would own a rolls-royce say about you if everybody owned one? Fears that the rise of positional goods would limit growth, since by definition they had to be in scarce supply, have so far proved misplaced. Entrepreneurs have come up with ever more ingenious ways for people to buy status, thus helping developed economies to keep growing.

Positive economics

Economics that describes the world as it is, rather than trying to change it. The opposite of normative economics, which suggests policies for increasing economic welfare.

Poverty

The state of being poor, which depends on how you define it. One approach is to use some absolute measure. For instance, the poverty rate refers to the number of households whose income is less than three times what is needed to provide an adequate diet. (Though what constitutes adequate may change over time.) Another is to measure relative poverty. For instance, the number of people in poverty can be defined as all households with an income of less than, say, half the average household income. Or the (relative) poverty line may be defined as the level of income below which is, say, the poorest 10% of households. In each case, the dividing line between poverty and not-quite poverty is somewhat arbitrary.

As countries get richer, the number of people in absolute poverty usually gets smaller. This is not necessarily true of the numbers in relative poverty. The way that relative poverty is defined means that it is always likely to identify a large number of impoverished households. However rich a country becomes, there will always be 10% of households poorer than the rest, even though they may live in mansions and eat caviar (albeit smaller mansions and less caviar than the other 90% of households).

Poverty trap

Another name for the unemployment trap.

Precautionary motive

Keeping some money handy, just in case. One of three motives for holding money identified by keynes, along with the transactional motive (having the cash to pay for planned purchases) and the speculative motive (you think asset prices are going to fall, so you sell your assets for cash).

Predatory pricing

Charging low prices now so you can charge much higher prices later. The predator charges so little that it may sustain losses over a period of time, in the hope that its rivals will be driven out of business. Clearly, this strategy makes sense only if the predatory firm is able eventually to establish a monopoly. Some advocates of anti-dumping policies say that cheap imports are examples of predatory pricing. In practice, the evidence gives little support for this view. Indeed, in general, predatory pricing is quite rare. It is certainly much less common in practice than it might appear from the propaganda of firms that are under pricing pressure from more efficient competitors.

Price

In equilibrium, what balances supply and demand? The price charged for something depends on the tastes, income and elasticity of demand of customers. It depends on the amount of competition in the market. Under perfect competition, all firms are price takers. Where there is a monopoly, or firms have some market power, the seller has some control over the price, which will probably be higher than in a perfectly competitive market. By how much more will depend on how much market power there is, and on whether the firm(s) with the market power are committed to profit maximisation. In some cases, firms may charge less than the profit-maximising price for strategic or other reasons.

Price discrimination

When a firm charges different customers different prices for the same product. For producers, the perfect world would be one in which they could charge each customer a different price: the price that each customer would be willing to pay. This would maximise producer surplus. This cannot happen, not least because sellers do not know how much any individual would pay.

Yet some price discrimination is possible if an overall market can be segmented into somewhat separate markets and the equilibrium price in each of these markets is different, perhaps because of differences in consumer tastes, perhaps because in some segments the firm enjoys some market power. But this will work only if the market segments can be kept apart. If it is possible and profitable to buy the product in a low-price segment and resell it in a high-price segment, then price discrimination will not last for long.

Price elasticity

A measure of the responsiveness of demand to a change in price. If demand changes by more than the price has changed, the good is price-elastic. If demand changes by less than the price, it is price-inelastic. Economists also measure the elasticity of demand to changes in the income of consumers.

Price regulation

When prices of, say, a public utility are regulated, giving producers an incentive to maximise their profits by reducing their costs as much as possible. Contrast with rate of return regulation.

Price/earnings ratio

A crude method of judging whether shares are cheap or expensive; the ratio of the market price of a share to the company's earnings (profit) per share. The higher the price/earnings (p/e) ratio, the more investors are buying a company's shares in the expectation that it will make larger profits in future than now. In other words, the higher the p/e ratio, the more optimistic investors are being.

Prisoners' dilemma

A favourite example in game theory, which shows why co-operation is difficult to achieve even when it is mutually beneficial. Two prisoners have been arrested for the same offence and are held in different cells. Each has two options: confess, or say nothing. There are three possible outcomes. One could confess and agree to testify against the other as state witness, receiving a light sentence while his fellow prisoner receives a heavy sentence. They can both say nothing and may be lucky and get light sentences or even be let off, owing to lack of firm evidence. Or they may both confess and probably get lighter individual sentences than one would have received had he said nothing and the other had testified against him. The second outcome would be the best for both prisoners. However, the risk that the other might confess and turn state witness is likely to encourage both to confess, landing both with sentences that they might have avoided had they been able to co-operate in remaining silent. In an oligopoly, firms often behave like these prisoners, not setting prices as high as they could do if they only trusted the other firms not to undercut them. As a result, they are worse off.

Private equity

When a firm’s shares are held privately and not traded in the public markets. Private equity includes shares in both mature private companies and, as venture capital, in newly started businesses. As it is less liquid than publicly traded equity, investors in private equity expect on average to earn a higher equity risk premium from it.

Privatisation

Selling state-owned businesses to private investors. This policy was associated initially with Margaret thatcher's government in the 1980s, which privatised numerous companies, including public utility businesses such as British telecom, british gas, and electricity and water companies. During the 1990s, privatisation became a favourite policy of governments all over the world.

There were several reasons for the popularity of privatisation. In some instances, the aim was to improve the performance of publicly owned companies. Often nationalisation had failed to achieve its goals and had become increasingly associated with poor service to customers. Sometimes privatisation was part of transforming a state-owned monopoly into a competitive market, by combining ownership transfer with deregulation and liberalisation. Sometimes privatisation offered a way to raise new capital for the firm to invest in improving its service, money that was not available in the public sector because of constraints on public spending. Indeed, perhaps the main attraction of privatisation to many politicians was that the proceeds from it could ease the pressure on the public purse. As a result, they could avoid (in the short-term) doing the more painful things necessary to improve the fiscal position, such as raising taxes or cutting public spending.

Probability

How likely something is to happen, usually expressed as the ratio of the number of ways the outcome may occur to the number of total possible outcomes for the event. For instance, each time you throw a dice there is six possible outcomes, but in only one of these can a six come up. Thus the probability of throwing a six on any given throw is one in six. The fact that you threw a six last time does not alter the one-in-six probability of throwing a six next time.

Producer surplus

The difference between what a suppliers is paid for a good or service and what it cost to supply. Added to consumer surplus, it provides a measure of the total economic benefit of a sale.

Production function

A mathematical way to describe the relationship between the quantity of inputs used by a firm and the quantity of output it produces with them. If the amount of inputs needed to produce one more unit of output is less than was needed to produce the last unit of output, then the firm is enjoying increasing returns to scale (or increasing marginal product). If each extra unit of output requires a growing amount of inputs to produce it, the firm faces diminishing returns to scale (diminishing marginal product).

Productivity

The relationship between inputs and output, which can be applied to individual factors of production or collectively. Labour productivity is the most widely used measure and is usually calculated by dividing total output by the number of workers or the number of hours worked. Total factor productivity attempts to measure the overall productivity of the inputs used by a firm or a country.

Alas, the usefulness of productivity statistics is questionable. The quality of different inputs can change significantly over time. There can also be significant differences in the mix of inputs. Furthermore, firms and countries may use different definitions of their inputs, especially capital.

That said, much of the difference in countries' living standards reflects differences in their productivity. Usually, the higher productivity is the better, but this is not always so. In the UK during the 1980s, labour productivity rose sharply, leading some economists to talk of a 'productivity miracle'. Others disagreed, saying that productivity had risen because unemployment had risen - in other words, the least productive workers had been removed from the figures on which the average was calculated.

There was a similar debate in the United States starting in the late 1990s. Initially, economists doubted that a productivity miracle was taking place. But by 2003, they conceded that during the previous five years the United States enjoyed the fastest productivity growth in any such period since the Second World War. Over the whole period from 1995, labour productivity growth averaged almost 3% a year, twice the average rate over the previous two decades. That did not stop economists debating why the miracle had occurred.

Profit

The main reason firms exist. In economic theory, profit is the reward for risk taken by enterprise, the fourth of the factors of production - what is left after all other costs, including rent, wages and interest. Put simply, profit is a firm's total revenue minus total cost.

Economists distinguish between normal profit and excess profit. Normal profit is the opportunity cost of the entrepreneur, the amount of profit just sufficient to keep the firm in business. If profit is any lower than that, then enterprise would be better off engaged in some alternative economic activity. Excess profit, also known as super-normal profit, is profit above normal profit and is usually evidence that the firm enjoys some market power that allows it to be more profitable than it would be in a market with perfect competition.

Profit margin

A firm’s profit expressed as a percentage of its turnover or sales.

Profit maximisation

The presumed goal of firms. In practice, business people often trade off making as much profit as possible against other goals, such as building business empires, being popular with staff and enjoying life. The growing popularity in recent years of paying bosses with shares in their firm may have reduced the agency costs that arise because they are the hired hands of shareholders, making them more likely to pursue profit maximisation.

Progressive taxation

Taxation that takes a larger proportion of a taxpayer's income the higher the income is.

Propensity

Economics abounds with propensities to do various things: consume, save, invest, import, and so on. In each case, it is important to distinguish between the average propensity and the marginal one. The average propensity to consume is simply total consumption divided by total income. The marginal propensity to consume measures how much of each extra dollar of income is consumed: the percentage change in consumption divided by the percentage change in income. The value of the marginal propensity to consume, which determines the multiplier, is harder to predict than the value of the average propensity to consume.

Property rights

Essential to any market economy. To trade, it is essential to know that the person selling a good or service owns it and that ownership will pass to the buyer. The stronger and clearer property rights are, the more likely it is that trade will take place and that prices will be efficient. If there are no property rights over something there can be severe consequences. A solution to the costly externality of clean air being polluted may be to establish property rights over the air, so that the owner can charge the polluter to pump smoke into the atmosphere.

Private property rights are often more economically efficient than common ownership. When people do not own something directly, they may have little incentive to look after it. Strikingly, in Russia after communism, the establishment of a well-functioning market economy proved difficult, partly because it was unclear who owned many of the country's resources, and those property rights that did exist often counted for little. Businesses would often have their products stolen by criminal gangs or be forced to hand over most of their profits in protection money. It is no coincidence that an effective judicial system, as well as property rights for it to enforce, is a feature of all advanced market economies.

That said, nowhere are property rights absolute. For instance, taxation is a clear example of the state infringing taxpayers' ownership of their money. The economic cost of infringing property rights underlines how important it is that governments think carefully about the consequences for economic growth of their tax policies.

Prospect theory

A theory of 'irrational' economic behaviour. Prospect theory holds that there are recurring biases driven by psychological factors that influence people's choices under uncertainty. In particular, it assumes that people are more motivated by losses than by gains and as a result will devote more energy to avoiding loss than to achieving gain. The theory is based on the experimental work of two psychologists, Daniel kahneman (who won a nobel prize for economics for it) and amos tversky (1937-96). It is an important component of behavioural economics.

Protectionism

Opposition to free trade. Although intended to protect a country's economy from foreign competitors, it usually makes the protected country worse off than if it allowed international trade to proceed without hindrance from trade barriers such as quotas and tariffs.

Public goods

Things that can be consumed by everybody in a society, or nobody at all. They have three characteristics. They are:

Non-rival - one person consuming them does not stop another person consuming them;

Non-excludable - if one person can consume them, it is impossible to stop another person consuming them;

Non-rejectable - people cannot choose not to consume them even if they want to.

Examples include clean air, a national defence system and the judiciary. The combination of non-rivalry and non-excludability means that it can be hard to get people to pay to consume them, so they might not be provided at all if left to market forces. Thus public goods are regarded as an example of market failure, and in most countries they are provided at least in part by government and paid for through compulsory taxation.

Public spending

Spending by national and local government and some government-backed institutions. See fiscal policy, golden rule and budget.

Public utility

A firm providing essential services to the public, such as water, electricity and postal services, usually involving elements of natural monopoly. Food is essential, but because it is provided in a competitive market, food supply is not usually regarded as a public utility. Because public utilities have some monopoly power, they are typically subject to some regulation by government, such as price controls and perhaps an obligation to provide their services to everybody, even to those who cannot afford to pay a market price (the universal service obligation). Public utilities are often owned by the state, although this has become less common as a result of privatisation.

Public-private

Using private firms to carry out aspects of government. This has become increasingly popular since the early 1980s as governments have tried to obtain some of the benefits of the private sector without going as far as full privatisation. The gains have been greatest when services have been allocated to private firms through competitive bidding. They have been smallest, and arguably even negative, in cases when the main contribution of the private firm has been to raise finance. That is because governments can usually borrow more cheaply than private firms, so when they ask them to raise money the question that springs to mind is: are they doing this to make their public borrowing look smaller?

Purchasing power parity

A method for calculating the correct value of a currency, which may differ from its current market value. It is helpful when comparing living standards in different countries, as it indicates the appropriate exchange rate to use when expressing incomes and prices in different countries in a common currency.

By correct value, economists mean the exchange rate that would bring demand and supply of a currency into equilibrium over the long-term. The current market rate is only a short-run equilibrium. Purchasing power parity (ppp) says that goods and services should cost the same in all countries when measured in a common currency.

Ppp is the exchange rate that equates the price of a basket of identical traded goods and services in two countries. Ppp is often very different from the current market exchange rate. Some economists argue that once the exchange rate is pushed away from its ppp, trade and financial flows in and out of a country can move into disequilibrium, resulting in potentially substantial trade and current account deficits or surpluses. Because it is not just traded goods that are affected, some economists argue that ppp is too narrow a measure for judging a currency's true value. They prefer the fundamental equilibrium exchange rate (feer), which is the rate consistent with a country achieving an overall balance with the outside world, including both traded goods and services and capital flows.