Education, Careers & Professional News
US Students To Explore India’s Rural Art Forms
From now onwards, Students from American universities are going to avail the unique opportunity to learn about India`s diverse art forms, music and artistry as part of a project sponsored by the tourism ministry.
Under the `Rural and Gurukul` tourism scheme, the ministry will invite to India, students who are keen to live in selected villages for a period of one year and learn the unique skills from the artists, Tourism Minister Renuka Choudhury told.
The uniqueness of our rural life is what appeals to the world. The villagers have amazing skills and US students have shown a lot of interest to learn them, she said.
We are trying to put our traditional skills to the US universities as a package, wherein students can come, live in our model villages in the gurukuls and learn the fine skills from the villagers.
The ministry is in negotiations with a number of universities and institutes in the US.
We are talking to a number of universities in the US including Indiana University and some other institutes in Lumington. The whole idea is to share our unique skills with those interested in learning and mastering these art forms, she said.
Authorities believe that these visits of `special guests` would also lead to more job opportunities and promotion of local art, handicrafts and culture.
Our villages have tremendous potential and can very well portray the incredible India. This scheme will not only benefit the local community economically but also help the art forms reach other parts of the world, Choudhury said.
The ministry has already selected 50 model villages across the country that would serve as knowledge hubs for the students. A sum of Rs. 5 million has been sanctioned to each of these villages for infrastructure development, which includes improvement of roads, maintenance of the sewerage system and accommodation for the tourists.
For providing better hospitality to these `special students`, the government has decided to run a project with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to train the locals in hospitality-related aspects such as lodging, cuisine and guiding.
The Indian tourism industry earned record revenue of Rs.55 billion ($1.2 billion) last year. There were 3.3 million tourists to the country.
While there was 27 percent growth in the number of tourist inflow, the growth in terms of revenue was 36 percent last year.