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Dimapur, Feb. 8 (EMN): Ministry of Tourism, under the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme has sanctioned 16 projects of more than INR 1,300 crore in North East region, informed Kishan Reddy, the Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on February 7.
He stated that identification and development of tourist destinations is primarily the responsibility of the respective state government and union territory administration. However, the Ministry of Tourism under its scheme ‘Swadesh Darshan’ provides funds to state governments for tourism infrastructure development in the country, he added. He also informed that the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned two projects in Assam.
‘Swadesh Darshan’ was launched by the Ministry of Tourism for integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits in the country in 2014-15. The guidelines of the scheme stated that the main objective is to position tourism as a major engine of economic growth and job creation.
According to the guidelines, the scheme is 100% centrally funded and efforts are made to achieve convergence with other schemes of Central and state governments and also to leverage the voluntary funding available for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of central public sector undertakings and corporate sector.