yippie taj mahal made the list ... :yahoo:
but on the flipside..
source:the pioneer, july 8
The Taj Mahal was included in the controversial Seven Wonders of the World list at a gala function in Lisbon on Saturday but a stark fact may have gotten doused in the artificial hype created for the spurious campaign by a profit-seeking organisation. The fact that the gullible Indian public spent Rs 150 crore of its collective personal wealth to fill the coffers of commercial establishments, mainly mobile companies, that too on a campaign sans official sanction from global heritage monitor UNESCO. Consider this: On an average, over 16.5 million Indians voted the Taj to include the monument in the new seven wonders list.
The DNA Networks Private Limited, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and other mobile companies minted money by creating the artificial and misleading hype around the campaign.
There were three options for voting Taj in a list of 20 monuments.
People could vote by SMS on 4567, make a phone call on numbers of different service providers and log into new7wonders.com or indiainfo.com. 4567 is registered in the name of DNA Networks Pvt Ltd by Reliance Mobile and the cost of each text message was Rs 3.
Only 10 per cent voted online and 70 per cent SMSed. The remaining 20 per cent made telephone calls. This way, nearly 11.55 crore people (70 per cent) SMSed and DNA Networks Pvt Ltd earned Rs 34.65 crore in the bargain.
Similarly, telecom companies also earned huge sums. The BSNL had an agreement with M/s OnMobile Pvt Ltd and acquired the calling number 12555. As per the contract, BSNL received a 60 per cent cut in each phone call made on the short numbers of OnMobile Pvt Ltd.
Ironically, even as the Egyptian Government complained to UNESCO about the campaign, India?s Tourism Minister Ambika Soni, the ASI and other Government officers went all out to support it.
Egypt's Culture Minister .arouk Hosni said on the Travel Industry Review website that: "This foundation is a for-profit entity directed by a person who owns a tour company in Switzerland."
Dr Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) in Cairo, wrote to the Swiss embassy to say that ?Egypt will not participate in this campaign nor co-operate with the foundation in any way."
The New 7 Wonders took this into consideration and halted voting for the Pyramids of Giza, making it an honorary candidate. The seven winners will be drawn from the the remaining 20 nominees.
.ew days back, UNESCO after a frontpage story in The Pioneer exposing the marketing gimmick of seven wonders, had said in a statement that it was not involved in the campaign and there was no linkage between its World Heritage protection programme and the ongoing campaign. The statement came three weeks before the privatelyfunded Switzerland-based organisation of Bernard Weber, the New Seven Wonder .oundation, came up with the final list of 'New Seven Wonders'.
"The list of the seven new wonders of the world will be regarded as an effort of a private initiative, only reflecting the opinion of a public with access to the internet, and not that of the world as a whole," UNESCO said.
The Taj Mahal, Christ?s statue at Rio de Janeiro, Inca city of Machu Pichu in Peru, Great Wall of China, stone city of Petra in Jordan and Timbuktu in Mali were among the 20 candidates.