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🇮🇳 Trending in India · 22 October 2026

Baratang, Barren Island and Sirpur: India's new UNESCO Tentative List sites

On 20 October 2026, the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO in Paris announced that three Indian sites had been added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. Two are in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and one is in Chhattisgarh.
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What is the UNESCO Tentative List?

The Tentative List is a country's list of places it thinks are good enough to be nominated as World Heritage Sites in the coming years. A place has to be on this list before it can be formally nominated. Being on the list does not make a place a World Heritage Site, and it does not guarantee that it will become one. The World Heritage Convention behind this system was adopted in 1972.

The three new sites

The new entries are the Karst-mud-volcano Complex of Baratang and the Andaman Subduction Volcanoes, both in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the Sirpur Cultural and Archaeological Landscape in Chhattisgarh. UNESCO lists the two Andaman sites as natural properties and Sirpur as a cultural property. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) did the research and documentation for the proposals.

Baratang: limestone caves and mud volcanoes

Baratang has limestone caves and active mud volcanoes, surrounded by tropical forests and coastal ecosystems. In 2025, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) declared the Baratang mud volcano a Geo-Heritage Site.

Barren Island and Narcondam: volcanoes at a plate boundary

The Andaman Subduction Volcanoes are on two islands in the Andaman Sea: Barren Island and Narcondam Island. Barren Island has India's only confirmed active volcano. It lies about 138 km from Sri Vijayapuram, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and has a crater about 2 km wide. Both volcanoes formed because one tectonic plate is sliding under another along the Andaman island arc.

Sirpur: an ancient city on the Mahanadi

Sirpur is in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh, on the banks of the Mahanadi river. It is linked to the ancient kingdom of Dakshina Kosala and has ruins of both Hindu and Buddhist religious buildings. Its best-known monument is the Lakshmana Temple, a 7th-century brick temple dedicated to Vishnu.

Quick points

  1. Three sites join India's UNESCO Tentative List

    Baratang, the Andaman Subduction Volcanoes and Sirpur were added to the list. India's mission to UNESCO announced it on 20 October 2026.

  2. Tentative List is not World Heritage status

    It is a country's list of possible future nominations. A site must be on it before it can be nominated, but being on it does not guarantee World Heritage status.

  3. Barren Island: India's only active volcano

    Barren Island and Narcondam Island in the Andaman Sea make up the Andaman Subduction Volcanoes, which formed where one tectonic plate slides under another.

  4. Baratang's mud volcanoes and caves

    Baratang has limestone caves and active mud volcanoes. The GSI declared its mud volcano a Geo-Heritage Site in 2025.

  5. Sirpur and the Lakshmana Temple

    Sirpur, on the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh, was part of ancient Dakshina Kosala. Its 7th-century brick Lakshmana Temple is dedicated to Vishnu.

Quick quiz

1. Which island has India's only confirmed active volcano?

2. Sirpur, recently added to the UNESCO Tentative List, is on the banks of which river?

3. Which god is the 7th-century brick Lakshmana Temple at Sirpur dedicated to?

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