Uttaranchal: Bollywood’s New Hot Spot

N N Prasad

These days, Uttaranchal is wooing Bollywood with its pristine hills and lakes as a prime film shooting location. Recent blockbusters like ‘Charas’, ‘Kisna’ and ‘Little Terrorist’ were shot in Uttaranchal. The state government has announced incentives for the film industry to shoot there instead of spending huge amounts of money at foreign locations.

State government spokesman N N Prasad said a committee has been formed to look into promotional activities. "The state can definitely be promoted as a possible destination to shoot Bollywood films. Keeping this in mind, the state government has formed a state-level committee and another regional committee which will look into promotional activities."

Prasad said a film city would be developed in a year's time to provide basic facilities for printing, dubbing and editing of films. Tourism is the mainstay of the state's economy. Over four million tourists, both from India and abroad visit the state every year Uttaranchal is one of the most beautiful and enchanting regions in the northern parts of the country. The picturesque state is also known as ‘Dev Bhoomi’, the Land of Gods. The holy rivers of Ganga and Yamuna, besides others run through it.

International Yoga Festival Aimed At Boosting Religious Tourism

In an effort to take its religious tourism industry to new heights, the Uttaranchal Tourism in co-operation with Parmarth Niketan is organising the International Yoga Festival from March 1- 7, 2005 at Rishikesh.

During this Festival, more than 150 delegates from Australia, Canada, South Africa, France, Holland, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, England, USA, Zambia and India are expected to participate, learn, discuss, absorb and practice Yoga on the banks of the holy Ganga.

In Rishikesh, Parmarth Niketan Ashram is the main site of the Yoga Festival. A team of renowned Yogacharyas led by Swami Chidanand Saraswati will be the guiding force behind this event. Gurumukh Kaur Khalasha, a world renowned yoga instructor from Hollywood will be imparting the training of Kundalni Yoga and will teach its benefits.

Uttaranchal Tourism Bags National Tourism Award for Best Practices

Uttaranchal Tourism was awarded the prestigious National Tourism Award in the category of ‘Best Practices by a State Government’ by the Government of India.

The Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture had invited State Governments to make presentations on ‘Best Practices’ adopted by then. During this seminar, the Secretary, Tourism, Government of Uttaranchal, N N Prasad had made a presentation on the self employment scheme launched by the State Government titled, ‘Vir Chandra Singh Garhwali Paryatan Swarojgar Yojna’. It was emphasised that this was a unique scheme, which not only generated employment opportunities but led to the creation of tourism infrastructure as well. The subsidy component for the scheme was only 20 per cent, the rest being provided by the banks and the entrepreneurs. The scheme has proved to be extremely successful.

In addition, a presentation was made on ‘Community based tourism’. Rajeev Bharthari, Conservator, Eco-Tourism, Government of Uttaranchal presented a case study on the development of three tourism villages near the Jim Corbett Park with the active involvement of the local host communities. In appreciation for both these presentations, the Government of India awarded Uttaranchal the National Award.