Final dossier preparations for 2016 are coming down to the wire. 4 Nominations are struggling to submit complete dossiers.

Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch
Kangchendzonga National Park
Excavated Remains at Nalanda
Historic city of Ahmadabad

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141217/jsp/nation/story_19224664.jsp#.VJERZ0sk_1o

It is hard to say how reliable these reports are. Besides Nalanda these nominations were already planned or rumored for evaluation in 2016. Not to mention the LE CORBUSIER transnational dossier.

• Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai (India)
• Aihole-Badami-Pattadakal [extension] (India)

India is creating the 1st backlog of submitted nomination dossiers waiting for evaluation, and its growing!

Completed Submissions
• Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad: Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Charminar)
• Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai
• Delhi's Imperial Capital Cities

Incomplete Submissions
• Aihole-Badami-Pattadakal [extension] 2015

Forthcoming Submissions (Feb 2nd, 2015)
• Le Corbusier (Chandigarh)
• Excavated Remains at Nalanda
• Kangchendzonga National Park
• Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch

Nalanda dossier has been submitted.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150125/jsp/bihar/story_10066.jsp#.VMT0W0sk_1o

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee still sceptical on WHS nomination for Sri Harmandar Sahib, the golden temple.

Good source for 2005 WHS rejection incident.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/sgpc-non-committal-on-heritage-status-for-gol den-temple/51108.html

Indian nomination that may perhaps be shelved to at least 2018.

Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/telangana-proposes-garden-museum-a t-qutub-shahi-tombs-115033101220_1.html

Potential Additions to India's Tentative List (18)
- Ayodhya (India)
- Aurangabad (India)
- Bangalore Golf Club (India)
- Borra Caves (India)
- Burhanpur Water Management (India)
- Caves and Forts of Lonavala (India)
- Cyclopean Wall at Rajgir
- Diamond Triangle Lalitgiri, Udaygiri, Ratnagiri Buddhist Sites (India)
- Gandikota (India)
- Ganga River (India)
- Kadapa Temple (India)
- Kolkata (India)
- Khalsa College, Amritsar (India)
- Kondaveedu Fort (India)
- Latin Quarter of Panaji and Ribandar [Extension] (India)
- Maluti Temple Complex, Dumka (India)
- Prehistoric Rock Art Site at Edakkal (India)
- Qila Mubarak, Patiala (India)

India's tentative list is already numbered at 42, so it may be a useless exercise to tally (18) aspiring nominations, which may never see any formal application process. India's world heritage program is consistent with annual nominations, yet incredibly difficult to predict. For such a prolific and active state party, its surprising we know almost nothing about their nomination pipeline. India is not one of those countries that updates their tentative list once a decade. The last major update was in 2014, but additional nominations were added in 2015 and 2016. So, it would not be surprising if some of these listed nominations were submitted next week or in the coming years.

We have no less than 12 Indian TWHS that are in the "Sites Attempting Inscription Soon" Category

Aihole-Badami-Pattadakal [Extension] (India)
Apatani Cultural Landscape (India)
Bishnupur Terracotta Temple Complex (India)
Chilka Lake (India)
Delhi's Imperial Capital Cities (India)
Glorious Kakatiya Temples and Gateways (India)
Jaipur City, Rajasthan (India) - rumored for 2019
Lotus Temple, Delhi (India)
Majuli Island Cultural Landscape (India)
Moidams – the Mound-Burial system of the Ahom Dynasty (India)
Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Charminar (India)
Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch (India)

I assume the Indian government will be aggressive for 2019 to at least aim for 2 inscriptions before the updated operational guidelines come into effect limiting nominations to one annually.

Seeing the news about the "Reopening after 10 years of the Sunder Nursery" (part of Humayun's Tomb) - https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2018/03/23/heritage-park-reopens-delhi/
led me to have a closer look at this WHS which we have listed as having but a single location (and for which, UNESCO also doesn't identify any separate "locations").
Point 1 - not all of the Sunder Nursery is in fact inscribed - rather a number of separate elements of it. These were added via a "Minor Boundary Modification" in 2016. Quoting from the ICOMOS evaluation - "The areas proposed to be added to the property boundary comprise six distinct zones: Mirza Muzaffar Hussain's Garden Tomb (3.34 ha); an unknown Mughal garden tomb (0.82 ha); Sundarwala Mahal Garden Tomb (0.37 ha); Sundar Burj Garden Tomb (0.23 ha); Nila Gumbad's Garden Setting (0.37 ha); and Lakkarwala Burj Garden Tomb (0.31 ha).". http://whc.unesco.org/document/154812
The buffer zone (within which all of the locations sit) was also increased and this included yet further monuments which are within the Sunder Garden - but I have ignored these..

So - 6 "separate elements" were added to an existing one. The 2016 map is very detailed/zoomable ( http://whc.unesco.org/document/154882 ) and shows that, in fact, 2 of the added 6 areas are contiguous with another area so we have the choice of considering that the WHS consists of 7 locations (the original plus the 6 added) or 5 (the original plus the 4 separate areas - but that leaves the question of how to "centre" these "joint" locations!). I list below the 7 areas and their titles/coordinates and have identified the 2 requiring a "decision" as to whether or not they should be recognised as "Separate locations" .

Humayun's Tomb 28.593465, 77.250776
Sundarwala Burj 28.596124, 77.245384
Sundarwala Mahal 28.596081, 77.246579
Mirza Muzzaffar Hussain's Garden Tomb 28.595793, 77.248948
Lakkarwala Burj Garden Tomb 28.597969, 77.243965
Unknown Mughal Garden Tomb 28.5952007, 77.260601 (contiguous with Mirza Muzzaffar)
Nila Gumbad's Garden Setting 28.592007, 77.253182 (contiguous with Humayun's Tomb)

These locations sneak in, don't they? I only noticed when I checked out the news item of this morning to see whether it really related to an inscribed area. I subsequently updated the connection with this info.

I must have copied the coordinates for the "Unknown Mughal Garden" tomb incorrectly - it should be
28.595951, 77.250573

The official name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) is changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). It is the matter of time when Indian Government will request UNESCO to follow the name change.

Changing from "Victoria Terminus" to CST seemed a perfectly reasonable thing for India to do but this further change, merely to add the "Honorific", seems a bit OTT! I have done a bit of Googling about the political/cultural background - the results may be of interest.

A lot of Indian newspapers have commented wryly about the change and the many other name changes which are in the pipeline but generally assume that their readers will already know the background. This para from "The Wire" gives the best "explanation" for non Indians but still needs "interpreting" -
"The BJP in Mumbai is doing everything it can to snatch away the Marathi manoos plank from the Shiv Sena. It has appropriated Shivaji, an icon that has been part of the Sena lore for 50 years – the insertion of 'Maharaj' in the railway terminus's name was not a Sena demand. At the same time, the constant invocation of temples – a brand new station has been called Ram Mandir – fits in well with the party's stated Hindutva agenda."

So - it is part of a populist competition by politicians to claim the nationalist "high" (or "low"?) ground!

One also wonders why they didn't include the honorific right from the start - the old "Prince of Wales Museum" went (as far as I know) directly to "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya ".

Glossary
Marathi manoos = "Manoos" merely means a "Human being". Hence the "Marathi people" - or ethnic group. The phrase however can have a pejorative/sarcastic meaning.
Shiv Sena = "an Indian far-right regional political party. Its ideology is based on pro-Marathi ideology and Hindu nationalism, founded on 19 June 1966 by political cartoonist Bal Thackeray" . Is part of the BJP government in Mumbai but although it allies with the BJP it is in competition with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_Sena
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj = "Shivaji Bhonsle was an Indian warrior king and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned as the chhatrapati (monarch) of his realm " . His memory/legend has been appropriated by Hindu/Maharastra nationalists. I found this quote "The most famous maratha king. Indeed a god and an inspiration of many" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji
BJP = Bharatiya Janata Party - India's largest party with an overall parliamentary majority since 2014 and currently forming its government, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatiya_Janata_Party
Hindutva = "Hinduness". Adopted by the BJP as its "official ideology" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindutva

Four sites in the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become active for nominations. There are no inscribed properties from this particular state of India.

Mughal Gardens in Kashmir (2010); Neolithic Settlement of Burzahom (2014); desert landscape of Ladakh (2015); and an ancient monastery and stupa in Harwan, which is among the Silk Route sites in India (2010).

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/jammu-and-kashmir-sites-await-unesco-heritage -tag-as-state-sits-on-nominations-5211259/

Monuments of Deccan Sultanate

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/091018/karnataka-seeks-heritag e-tag-for-deccan-sultanate-icons.html

Mughal Gardens Kashmir

http://www.uniindia.com/govt-seeks-centre-s-assistance-in-declaring-mughal-gardens-wo rld-heritage-sites/states/news/1383465.html

I'm curious why the Sundarbans are listed separately by country. Are the sites actually different or is this a political thing?