By Shemin Joy/PTI
NEW DELHI: The Taj getting voted as one of the seven wonders in a worldwide poll may make many an Indian heart swell with pride, but the campaign has also drawn criticism for using sentiments of people around the world for commercial gains.
The UNESCO, which has the official mandate for recognising and preserving world heritage, has taken pains to distance itself from the campaign, saying the initiative cannot in any significant and sustainable manner contribute to the preservation of sites elected by the public.
There has been a big rush by Indians to register their vote for the Taj through SMS and the Internet.
There were also a number of promotional campaigns exhorting the people to vote for the white marble monument over the last one month, many of them involving Bollywood stars and other celebrities.
But critics of the campaign complain that while there is nothing official about the new seven wonders of the world, the mobile phone companies and the Swiss organisation that conducted the poll have made a lot of money.
Mobile company Airtel offered the first SMS to its users to cast their vote for the Taj for free, but the subsequent SMSes were charged at Rs three. Normally, the SMS rate ranges from 50 paise to Rs one.
Asked if the company shared the revenue with the organisers of the campaign or with anyone else, an Airtel official refused to divulge the details.
However, generally, in case of such 'premium SMSes', there is an in-built system for sharing the revenue.
Media critic Sudhapradha Sengupta criticised the campaign, saying the media is celebrating non-news. "People will vote for sentimental reasons. And the organisers are cashing in on the hype that has been created by the media and using the sentiments of the people," he said.
UNESCO clearly dissociated itself from the campaign, saying, "There is no comparison between Mr (Bernard) Weber's mediatised campaign and the scientific and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List."
The world cultural body said in a statement that attaching sentimental or emblematic value of sites and inscribing them on a new list is not enough. The list of seven new wonders of the world will be the result of a private undertaking reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the Internet and not the entire world, the UNESCO said.
Countering the criticism, I media Corp, the India representative of the Swiss organisation 'New7wonders of the World', said the campaign was aimed at increasing awareness of world heritage, which would help in preserving the monuments.
"The tourism industry and the government will benefit from it. Due to the campaign, more tourists would be attracted to India," said R D Bhatnagar, Vice President of I media Corp.
About the revenue earned through the campaign, Bhatnagar said 15 per cent of the amount earned would be given to the government, while 75 per cent was to be retained by the telecom operators. The rest ten per cent was to be shared by the technical associates and the organisation.
The organisation, he said, would in turn utilise its share of the earnings in preservation of heritage monuments around the world.
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