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Talks of tourism
Everyone says that Manipur and other States of the northeastern region have a lot of potential for making tourism a successful industry. This is a view shared by both the center and successive State Governments.
Manipur has Loktak Lake, the largest fresh water lake in eastern India. This is home to a wide variety of winged friends, migrated from different parts of the world in winter. The phoom houses are a tourist's delight. We have Dzuko valley, Siroi hills and many other tourist spots that can attract backpackers from different parts of the world.
The state's history is associated with that of Japan and England. Many British and Japanese nationals make it a regular feature to pay a visit to Manipur to pay respect to their forefathers who died during the Second World War.
It is not only tourist spots that have been attracting the attention of foreign as well domestic tourists. Its indigenous games and sports is another bonus for the tourists, internationally famous game of polo originated from Manipur. The martial art from of the state is another major tourism interest.
On top of this Ras Lila and other indigenous cultural items could contribute a lot in developing tourism. There are arguments that the prevailing situation in some of the States like Manipur, Nagaland and Assam, where insurgency exists, does not encourage tourism. Of course the law and order is bad, all has agreed. But unlike in Jammu and Kashmir where tourists are getting abducted and killed, the existence of militancy in the North East will not pose a serious threat to foreign tourists.
Nagaland is comparatively calm in the wake of the ongoing peace talks between the two factions of the NSCN with the Union Government and there are many other places like Sikkim, which is yet to be affected by militancy or lawlessness.
If both the Union Government and the State Governments are serious enough in promoting tourism in the North East, they can do a lot with a little effort. For instance private businessman can be encouraged to make package tours, apart from providing adequate fund for developing tourism infrastructure.
We need to pay a serious attention to developing tourism industry in the backward North East, since it is one of the many ways that can generate employment for the jobless youths, whose number is swelling at an alarming rate.
It is unfortunate that successive Governments at Delhi and State capitals in the north East have been giving only lip service as far as promotion of tourism is concerned. Nothing concrete has been done despite all the talks.
The restrictions imposed on foreigners in some of the parts of the region should be relaxed first before making any endeavor. Given the level of corruption and red-tapism in the country getting permission for visiting a restricted area in itself is by no means an easy task. This has put many foreign tourists away from the North East.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express) |
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