India, one of the world's oldest civilizations, presents a beautiful panorama of multicultural experiences to the world. With rich heritage and innumerable attractions, this country is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world. This is the reason why India is called "Incredible India" or 'Incredible India'. It is said that when we remove the soul from our body, nothing remains, similarly the spiritual heritage and culture of our country needs to be preserved for the nation and the central government is continuously moving forward on this front. . For this, the focus is on improving the access and experience of the pilgrims through connectivity, infrastructure and better facilities. In this direction, work is being done to accelerate tourism in India through Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
The nationwide campaign of the Government of India is "Swadesh Darshan".
The Government of India has been making continuous efforts to speed up tourism in the country for the past few years. Yes, a nationwide campaign has been launched in India to increase heritage tourism. The government is engaged in giving impetus to heritage tourism through several schemes like Swadesh Darshan.
For your information, let us tell you that Swadesh Darshan Scheme is a central sector scheme launched in the year 2014-15 by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India with the objective of integrated development of thematic tourism circuits.
The objective of this scheme is to promote, develop and harness the potential of tourism in India. Under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, the Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance – CFA to the State Governments, UT Administrations for the development of the circuit's infrastructure.
The scheme is envisaged to synergize with other schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, Make in India etc. to make tourism sector employment generation, driving force for economic development, synergy with different sectors so that tourism has been ranked as a major engine to realize its potential.
Objectives of the plan
To establish tourism as a major engine of economic growth and job creation
Developing circuits with tourism potential on a planned and prioritized basis
- To promote the cultural and heritage value of the country in the areas identified to generate livelihood
– Increase tourist attraction in a sustainable manner in square infrastructure across circuits and destinations
- Adhering to community based development and pro-poor tourism approach
- Creating awareness among local communities about the importance of tourism
- Developing sources of income, better living standards and overall development of the region
- Creating jobs through active participation of local communities
- Harnessing and developing tourism potential for job creation and economic impacts
- Developing tourist facilitation services to increase visitor
This plan was able to save the country from the recession in the tourism sector during the Corona period
During the Corona period, if any area has been affected the most in all the countries, then it is the tourism sector. Tourism in India was also affected a lot due to Corona. Therefore, the "Swadesh Darshan Yojana" has contributed a lot to boost up this sector from the beginning. Through this scheme, many changes were made in the tourism sector, such as online arrangements were made to visit heritage sites virtually during the lockdown during the Corona period.
Dozens of statues could be brought back to India
For your information, let us tell you that in the decades before the year 2014, only a dozen statues could be brought to India, but in the last seven years this number has increased to more than two hundred and fifty. Let these signs of India's culture and civilization continuously inspire the present and future generations of India, this is a great effort made by the Government of India in this direction. Heritage tourism is another aspect of the way India is developing its national and spiritual heritage with a new confidence today.
Economically immense potential in heritage tourism
Heritage tourism not only has immense potential from an economic point of view, it also opens up new avenues of development. Whether it is a monument built in the memory of Salt Satyagraha in Dandi or the reconstruction of Jallianwala Bagh Memorial, Statue of Unity in Ekta Nagar Kevadia or construction of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Memorial, Baba Saheb Memorial in Delhi or Bhagwan Birsa Munda in Ranchi. A nationwide campaign is going on in India to increase heritage tourism, be it the Memorial Park and Museum, the beautification of the ghats of Ayodhya-Banaras or the restoration of historical temples and places of faith across the country.
Inauguration of Swadesh Darshan Awards
In order to promote heritage tourism, the Government of India has started the Swadesh Darshan Awards. In fact, these awards are for achievement of planned objectives, innovative initiatives, adoption of sustainability principles in planning, design and operation, efficient project monitoring, ability to attract private investment in development of surrounding area and ensuring desired operation and maintenance etc. To demonstrate the best practices including efforts made in this direction.
North-Eastern Region 16 projects worth more than Rs 1300 crore approved for
In February 2022, Tourism Minister G. Giving information in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Kishan Reddy said that the identification and development of tourist places is primarily the responsibility of the concerned State Government and Union Territory Administration. However, the Ministry of Tourism, under its 'Swadesh Darshan' scheme, provides funds to the State Government and Union Territory Administrations and Central Agencies etc. for the development of tourism related infrastructure in the country. The Ministry of Tourism has approved 16 projects for the North-Eastern region of India, totaling Rs 1337.63 crore under this scheme. Apart from this, the Ministry of Tourism has approved two projects in Assam under its 'Swadesh Darshan' scheme.
Fifteen thematic circuits being developed under Swadesh Darshan Scheme
Fifteen thematic circuits are being developed under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. These tourist circuits are defined as routes containing at least three major tourist destinations. Integrated tourism infrastructure has been developed at religious and heritage sites under the National Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Mission and Heritage Promotion Campaign (PRASAD) scheme.
Under the Adopt a Heritage program, tourism facilities are being developed to make tourist places, heritage sites and monuments tourism friendly. The work is being done to promote India as a holistic destination including various tourist destinations and products under the Incredible India brand line. Wherein Dekho Apna Desh initiative has been launched in January 2020 with the aim of promoting various tourist destinations including lesser known destinations and heritage sites of India among the citizens.
development of cruise tourism
500 crore was allocated to the state of Uttar Pradesh under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, under which the tourism infrastructure is to be strengthened through spiritual circuits like Ramayana and Buddha Circuit. On the other hand, in addition to the Swadesh Darshan scheme, the Ministry of Tourism has approved 5 more projects for Uttar Pradesh under the PRASAD scheme. A total of Rs 139.75 crore projects have been approved for Uttar Pradesh under PRASAD scheme. The approved projects include development of Mathura Vrindavan as a mega tourist destination, construction of tourism facilitation center in Mathura, development of Varanasi and development of cruise tourism in river Ganga. Most of the works undertaken under these projects have already been completed and dedicated to the nation.
On the other hand, the project “Development of Govardhan Mathura” under the PRASAD scheme was approved by the Ministry of Tourism in January 2019 at a cost of Rs.39.73 crore. Under this, the development of 'Multi-Level Car Stand Block, Clock Room, Toilet, Boundary Wall and Floor Development at Govardhan Bus Stand' has been successfully completed at a cost of Rs.15.82 crore.
Tourism infrastructure is also being improved
Apart from this, tourism infrastructure like facilities for tourists like information and bilingual centres, ATM and currency exchange facilities, eco-friendly buses, lighting, parking, toilets, cloak rooms, first aid centres, rain shelters, internet connectivity is being improved. In this way, the work of increasing tourism under the Swadesh Darshan scheme is going on continuously in different parts of the country. Due to this, there has been a lot of improvement in the tourism of India.
