Existing and Proposed Tourist Circuits of India

Expanding tourism infrastructure in India

The Ministry of Tourism of India has identified 45 Mega Tourist Destinations/ Circuits in consultation with the concerned State Governments/ Union Territories (U.T.) Administrations on the basis of footfalls and their future tourism potential. Out of the 45 identified   projects, 30 have already been sanctioned. Some of the Tourist circuits along with indicative maps are given below.

ASSAM:

National Park Mega Circuit covering Manas,Orang, Nameri,Kaziranga, Jorhat,Sibsagar & Majouli

 

BIHAR:

Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Nalanda- Circuit

      

CHATTISGARH:

Jagdalpur-Tirathgarh-Chitrakoot-Barsur-Dantewada-Tirathgarh Circuit

GUJARAT:

1) Dwarka-Nageshwar-BetDwarka Circuit 

2) Shuklatirth-Kabirvad-Mangleshwar-AngareshwarCircuit

     

HARYANA:

Panipat-Kurukshetra-Pinjore Circuit 

HIMACHAL PRADESH:

Eco and Adventure Circuit (Kullu-Katrain-Manali)

HARYANA & HIMACHAL PRADESH:

Panchkula –Yamunanagar(Haryana) – PontaSahib

JAMMU & KASHMIR:

Naagar Nagar Circuit (Watlab viaHazratbal,Tulmullah, Mansbaland Wullar Lake), Srinagar

MADHYA PRADESH:

Bundelkhand comprising of Tikamgarh, Damoh, Sagar, Chhatarpurand Panna 

MAHARASHTRA:

Mahaur-Nanded -Vishnupuri Back Water- Kandhar Fort

ORISSA:

Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Chilka- Circuit

RAJASTHAN:

1) Ajmer- Pushkar

2) Jodhpur-Bikaner-Jaisalmer

TAMILNADU:

Pilgrimage Heritage Circuit (Madurai-Rameshwaram-Kanyakumari)

UTTARAKHAND:

Haridwar-Rishikesh-Munikireti- Circuit

UTTAR-PRADESH:

1) Varanasi-Sarnath-Ramnagar Circuit

2) Mathura-Vrindavan

Data Source: http://pib.nic.in/, 

Images prepared with help of Google Map

Do we need structural reform in education system?

One education does not suit all.

We have created a template of education system based on our own idea of what an ideal educational curriculum and growth path should be and we want everyone belonging to different economic strata of society to follow the same path. Whether they are kids of millionaires or underprivileged children they are supposed to go through the same education structure. This phenomenon of standardization is more visible at elementary and secondary education level. Sheer number of children to be educated makes an excuse for standardization of education.

What makes us think that educational needs of poor underprivileged segment is same as prosperous segment of society, while their priorities and their skill needs are way different from each other. Their average educational lifespan might significantly differ; they might need a different curriculum, different educational structure and different style of teaching. Are we trying to pave a path for children of a incredibly poor migrated family living in squatter of city up to the graduation and post graduation and doctorate level, can he or she afford to invest so much of their life time earning education while their parents are struggling for their livelihood throughout their life and searching for a descent place which they can call home? Isn’t it that the educational needs of these special kids are way different from the middle and higher income segment of society? Don’t they need a kind of education which will allow and help them earn some money to fulfill their personal needs and help sustain and support their family while they are getting educated? This is something which standard education system fails to provide. School’s prime focus has remained on providing knowledge while what these marginalized kids need is skills which they can immediately put into practice and help uplift their socio-economic profile, they can’t wait to get a job or start their own business till they graduate from an engineering college. They have to act now to get out of that mess; they can peruse their education at any point later in life in their area of interest to further enhance their skills.

Talking of middle class segment, look at the majority of first-generation entrepreneurs who choose to become an entrepreneur due to increasingly tempting business opportunities of modern world and technological advancements in-spite of any family history of business or entrepreneurship, but majority of them are apparently lost or clueless about how to move forward. What an irony, throughout the education ladder these kids were prepared for corporate job and they choose to become entrepreneur and found themselves struggling and lost in the big business world, dominated by family business houses, whether a business house of a small shopkeeper or  empire of well known business family. Take a case of any city in India, majority of middle segment business owners have only basic elementary education from generations to generations, and they are surprisingly doing well, they didn’t feel the need of further formal education so they voluntarily dropped out from the school, their parents taught them the skills they needed to run the business, they inherited the knowledge which was needed to run the show. They would have never learned these skills in the schools with present education structure, because present education system doesn’t treat them as a special niche group at elementary and secondary education level who need customized education. Hence the first generation entrepreneurs feel lost while business houses run their business smoothly.

Imagine the growth potential of individual and communities with the targeted education, imaging the growth potential of a kid who gets targeted training in his family business (whether its pottery, metal works, furnishing or anything else, at elementary to secondary education level which he is witnessing through generations, and compare it with the collective loss of potential due to flat “good for all” education structure. Loss seems to be monumental. It’s time that the fundamental structure of education need to be revived and should become increasingly skill oriented starting right from the elementary level. 

Let me Complicate it for you!!

Human mind needs complexity to appreciate design and aesthetics

If it’s too obvious it’s boring. If we have seen it earlier or something similar, it’s boring anyway. We always look forward to see and appreciate a piece of design or work of art or architecture which is refreshingly new, but still with a stubbornness  of design expectations since we also love the nostalgia attached to the familiarity of object or subject.

Possibly the reason abstract and modern art emerged is because people were fed up of realistic and photo-realistic portraits and other painting subjects and demanded something new something avant-garde to appreciate. Though there were complexity of techniques and process involved in those elaborately detailed classical or miniature paintings but abstractness of modern art gave viewers infinite possibilities to perceive, interpret and appreciate the artworks.  Though the artwork and style was new, people were still able to relate to it because of carefully chosen subjects of contemporary importance of that era or region. Similarly with architecture, possibly the abstract and minimalistic  architecture emerged because people were tiered of those architectural details and geometrical orders, people later demanded purity of geometry not the order of geometry, they demanded thematic abstractness of elements not the sensory overload of detailing and Minimalistic architecture provided them all they wanted.

We have reached a time in the human evolution where we seem to have cracked the base code of aesthetics, analysing the rich history of art and architecture and documented enough in course of time for generations to come, while accelerating fast towards future. Now when we have tested basic design flavor and aesthetics of almost every kind how will we satisfy the design and aesthetic urge of humanity which is always looking out for something new to appreciate.

History shows, we have and we will find out new ways to provide the world with new design aesthetics which they will enjoy and appreciate. Fortunately there are ways to do that. Apparently there are two fronts on which we can innovate. One is technology; other is complexity of design itself. Technology will provide us materials, techniques etc. to innovate on design front and complexity of design will give us opportunity to challenge and satisfy the demanding aesthetic urge of curious human mind in field of art, design, architecture etc. What is complexity in this context? Complexity is to give them a piece of work , art or design or architecture which is difficult to grasp in one go like a puzzle, but quite familiar, contextual and easy once decoded, something which challenges the mind. Complexity provided by emerging materials, techniques and tools as well as complexity of forms, and abstractness.

By- Anoop Jha

Data Visualization as a planning tool

When Statistics marry Graphics, it creates immense possibilities.

Data is lifeblood of planning and holds massive information potential, need is to decode the pattern it holds, pattern of importance, patterns which are vital and patterns which help understand the previously unexplored recesses of statistics. Now we have datamining tools to extract and visualize data, sources which were previously nonexistent, data from social media, data from online resources etc..

These charts have been created from number series (Fibonacci number), just to represent clear, informative and convincing patterns which can be derived from numbers. Numbers tell stories!!   

Key strengths and potential sectors of Indian states

ANDHRA PRADESH

ITES destination

Industrial estates

Abundant energy

World-class academic institutions

Storehouse of minerals

ASSAM

Comprehensive central investment policy for NER

Liberalised state industrial policies,

Skilled and cheap manpower

Pleasant climate and scenic landscape

Locational advantage for foreign trade

CHHATTISGARH

Power surplus

Availability of low grade coal-power plants

Ample amount of land

HARYANA

High per capita income

Proximity to trade and consumption centers in country- NCR

Automobiles and automotive components

IT/ITES facilities /software,

Textiles and readymade garments

Property development and retailing

Agro export

HIMACHAL PRADESH

High incentives index

Consumer market index

Most urbanised state

Low power tariff and cost of power generation

Policy proactiveness

Availability of natural resources for agro-based industries

High literacy rates and good quality workforce

High quality limestone

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Concessional land rates for industries on lease

Large tourism potential

Horticulture industry

Skills of weaving and designing of textile products,

Traditional skills of fine craftsmanship can be used in the field of electronic and precision engineering.

KARNATAKA

Proactive government

Sector-friendly policies

Large pool of skilled manpower

Best infrastructure

Larger focus on industrial growth

KERALA

High literacy rate

Largest producer of coconut, pepper, coir, cocoa, rubber and areca nut

MADHYA PRADESH

Law and order

High growth in infrastructure development..

High growth in agriculture

Good governance.

Centrally located, / accessible

Low cost of skilled labor

Low cost of land

Cement, textiles and edible oils.

Track record of attracting private investment in transport infrastructure

Initiated greenfield special economic zone.

Automobile and pharmaceutical industries

Improving social development indices

RAJASTHAN

Cement

Mineral production

Producers of cotton and wool

Tourist destination

Progressive states in electricity sector reforms

Oil and gas reserves

Emerging destination for it and ITES industries

UTTARAKHAND

Hydro-potential

Promoting industrial estates, industrial parks and growth centre

Vast pool of a natural resource

Tourism development

Quality human resource base at competitive rates

Number of fiscal benefits like concessional industrial package

By Anoop Jha

Source: pppindia.com