The three-year Bachelor of Science degree in hospitality and hotel administration with specialisation in vegetarian cuisine would be introduced in Institutes of Hotel Management - Gandhinagar, Jaipur and Bhopal - on pilot basis from this academic session, an official said.
The course will be extended to other hotel management institutes from next academic session, he said, adding some financial aid may also be provided to these institutes for creating necessary facilities.
The move comes on the background of hotel owners associations, including Hotel Association of India (HAI), requesting the government to consider conducting various courses of cooking in vegetarian food only.
"The Ministry of Tourism has received some requests from Hotel associations including the HAI for considering degree/diploma courses in vegetarian/vegan cooking," Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma had said earlier.
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HAI has membership of about 300 hotels across the country.
An online petition, which has drawn over 3,900 signatures, argues that "students coming from vegetarian families, who are inclined towards this esteemed course are denied admission by their parents due to family values."
It "strongly suggested" that there should be a separate degree course for vegetarians in hotel management studies.
However, some stakeholders have reservations that such degree would curb the employability of the students as most of the five-star hotels offers mixed cuisines.
Currently there are 21 Central Institutes of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, 21 State Institutes of Hotel Management and 10 Food Craft Institutes in the country.