Ministry of Tourism under its Swadesh Darshan Scheme (SDS) has sanctioned 76 projects for Rs. 5399.15 crores for development of tourism infrastructure in the country. These sanctioned projects include Tribal and Rural tourism projects.
Minister of Tourism G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply in Rajya that his Ministry has now revamped its Swadesh Darshan scheme as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 (SD2.0) in order to develop sustainable and responsible tourism destinations in the country with tourist and destination centric approach.
The guidelines for Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme has been issued to all the States/Union Territory Administrations including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu however no destination for development has been identified under Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme. The Ministry of Tourism has already sanctioned 2 projects in Maharashtra and 1 project in Tamil Nadu under Swadesh Darshan scheme.
As per the information given by the States Governments/Union Territory Administrations, out of the total 76 sanctioned projects, 50 projects are now physically complete. The Ministry of Tourism is not maintaining the data in respect of the total number of tourists participating in each circuit.
Meanwhile, the minister also said that the Government have decided to set up ‘Indian Institute of Heritage’ (IIH) as a Deemed to be University as per UGC (Institutions deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2019 at Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
It will be one of its kind in the country providing higher education and research in the fields of Indian heritage and conservation and Government have no plan to create more such institutions in the country.
