Village vision

The ministry of tourism sees vast potential in urban folk holidaying in rural India.

There is a silent revolution brewing on the tourism front in India: a rural revolution. The ministry of tourism (MoT) is in the process of identifying a mimimum of 100 villages in India to be developed under a new scheme to promote rural tourism.

This, as joint secretary tourism Amitabh Kant pointed out at the National Rural Tourism Conference held in the capital, is because old notions of tourism are giving way to new ideas, and travellers are slowly moving towards experiential holidays. Even towards holidays that involve making some constribution to local communities.

Indian villages stand to gain, rich as they are in their arts and crafts heritage. "To this end, MoT has already identified 71 such villages and has given Rs 50 lakh to each. UNDP is providing an additional funding of Rs 20 lakh to 36 of these villages for capacity-building, while the rest will be funded by MoT," informed AK Misra, secretary tourism.

Inaugurating the national conference, the union minister for tourism, Ambika Soni, laid emphasis on the "real India" "" as lived in the villages.

It was urgent, she said, that villages develop local sources of income for the exodus to the cities to be stemmed. Of course, village infrastructure remains a big question mark. But, hopefully, not for long.

"This government has sanctioned Rs 1,74,000 crore for its Bharat Nirman programme, which includes various schemes for improving lives in rural India," she said, optimistic that city folk would find villages charming places to visit.

But India has some 6,00,000 villages. Which will click as tourist destinations? Those that are already getting visitors, to begin with, and those that are likely too with some investment.

Meanwhile, NGOs are helping lay the groundwork "" helping the local villagers get their act together. Sensitisation is important, and no village must feel invaded by urbanites.

Jerome Sauvage, deputy resident representative, operations, UNDP, said that care is being taken to ensure that tourism does not create unwelcome upheavals for the village communities. The whole project is to work with local residents, not impose some grandiose plan from atop.