India's Santiniketan, where Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore built Visva-Bharati more than a century ago, has been recommended for inclusion in the Unesco World Heritage, according to India's Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy.

"Great news for India on the Jayanti of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Santiniketan in West Bengal has been recommended for inscription to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS, the advisory body to Unesco World Heritage Centre," Reddy said in a post on his official Twitter handle late on Tuesday night.

It will formally be announced in the World Heritage Committee meeting to be held at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September 2023," the minister said in his tweet.

France-based International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is an international non-governmental organisation that comprises professionals, experts, representatives from local authorities, companies and heritage organisations and is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of architectural and landscape heritage around the world.

At a media interaction in Delhi yesterday, Reddy spoke about ICOMOS's recommendation, and said when ICOMOS makes its recommendation, it becomes "almost certain" that the World Heritage Committee will accept it," reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Visva Bharati's Vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty said "it is a great news and a matter of pride for everyone -- every stakeholder of Visva Bharati, in fact every citizen of the land."

Before India's Independence in 1947, Visva Bharati was regarded as a college. In 1951, it was declared an institute of national importance by an act of parliament and given the status of a central university.

The President of India is the "Paridarsaka" (visitor) of the University, the Prime Minister is the "Acharya" (chancellor) and the Governor of West Bengal is the "Pradhana" (rector) of the university.

India has a total of 40 sites with Unesco World Heritage tag. Among them are Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal in Agra, Harappan-era site in Dholavira, Gujarat, Elephanta Caves, Red Fort complex in Delhi, and Mahabodhi Temple complex in Bodh Gaya in Bihar state.