January 30 is celebrated in India as Rural Tourism Day. This auspicious day marks the anniversary of the day Mahatma Ghandi was assassinated, a leader with a vision to focus on the development of the village.
The Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD) plans to enlarge its activities and projects to cover more areas. This was stated today on Saturday, January 30, 2021, in New Delhi, India, by S. K. Misra, Chairman of the trust. Misra was speaking at the Rural Tourism Day event, which is observed on the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.
Misra, a former bureaucrat, has done much for tourism in various roles and also headed the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) which is involved in cultural heritage awareness and preservation in the country.
Two other speakers at today’s function were Pandurang Taware from Maharashtra who has done much to promote agri tourism, which has been gaining much attention in recent years. Tourists are coming to see rural areas in such areas as Baramati, a city and a municipal council in the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra.
Also speaking at the event was Shree Deo Singh from Jharkhand who talked of the work being done to restore temples in remote areas. Singh stated that there is a need to maintain the authentic flavor of the temples while also encouraging rural tourism.
Over the years, the ITRHD has done much to promote rural tourism, and for the last few years, January 30 has served as Rural Tourism Day. Former Foreign Minister Natwar Singh was the chief guest, who lauded the work of the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development.
It is anticipated that activities in rural tourism will increase as time goes by. It has been shown that tourism in rural areas has the ability to bring about a dramatic change in the lives of people and the village as a whole. This is in keeping with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of focusing on village development. He has been quoted as saying: The future of India lies in its villages. The soul of India lives in its villages.
