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What's the article about?
- It talks about the government’s new initiative, the Ganga cruise, to promote riverine tourism.
Relevance:
- GS1: Geography of India;
- GS3: Indian Economy;
- Prelims
Context:
- Recently, the Prime Minister of India flagged off the world’s longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas in Varanasi.
- The PM further said that, this is a landmark moment and it will herald a new age of tourism in India.
- This cruise service will boost tourism and create new job opportunities as well as the travel-tourism-hospitality sector getting a symbolic boost.
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The Ganga cruise:
Significance:
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Analysis:
- The Ganga cruise marked the beginning in tapping the unrealised potential of India’s numerous and diverse river systems for tourism.
- But the expansion must take into account the best practices from around India and the world, while ensuring local communities and the environment are not given short shrift.
- The riverine tourism could bring jobs to states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.
- But employment generation must go hand-in-hand with ecological repair.
- Two of the greatest threats to India’s rivers — silting and pollution — must be addressed for the government to realise its goal to increase cruise passenger traffic.
- But this growth, to be sustainable, must involve local communities.
- While there is potential for larger, luxury liners, riverine tourism could also expand and cater to travellers from different economic strata. Also, smaller vessels may pose less of an ecological challenge.
Way Forward:
- While the Centre’s push in the sector, with the PM as the face, is welcome, states and the private sector too must be brought on board.
- The hospitality sector is labour-intensive and can provide some of the formal jobs that a transitioning Indian economy so desperately needs.
- And given the growing global market for ecologically-conscious travel, India can — if it is meticulous and enterprising in its planning — protect its rivers and create jobs at the same time.
