Improving Rural Livelihoods, through Promoting Tourism

Gurgaon, India, January, 2005 – Jyotisar in Kurukshetra district of Haryana, has a unique place in the hearts of the Indian people because it is here that Lord Krishna taught the Gita to Arjuna. It is one of the ten locations of the Kurukshetra tourist circuit, and on an average about 700 tourists visit Jyotisar everyday.

Yet the people of Jyotisar remain poor and deprived . The village population is about 5323, family size 5.4, and sex ratio 816. The literacy rate is 62% and female literacy is 50.2%. Nearly 58% of the population has a monthly income below Rs.360, and 67% of the households are landless. But on a positive note, they are not development resistant and are eager to learn.

To enhance the income of the local community in a sustainable manner, UNDP is funding an Endogenous Tourism Project (ETP). One of the Sehgal Foundation's key programs of its Integrated Sustainable Village Development (ISVD) model is Income Enhancement, and tourist services being a livelihood option, the UNDP selected the Sehgal Foundation to implement ETP.

The implementation of the project began in 2005, jointly, by the local government under direction of the Deputy Commissioner - Kurukshetra, and the Sehgal Foundation. This three year project with the budget of Rs. 50 lakh, has well-defined deliverables from all the parties involved in the project . The Government is to construct an ethnic bazaar, improve sanitation, roads and provide other hardware infrastructure . While the Foundation is to handle the " software " component i.e. work with the community in training and capacity building, market linkages and other activities for the holistic development of the village.

One year into the project, the Sehgal Foundation has completed several tasks starting with conducting a baseline survey and building good rapport in the community, which, though time consuming, is the key step to social transformation.

During need identification in community meetings, specially the women expressed much desire for income enhancement. They have no fixed income, and are not skilled enough to make marketable products. To address this, two Self Help Groups have been formed, one is being trained in painting art, craft and textile techniques, and the other in stitching and embroidery. The training is for 5 months and is being conducted by the National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD) for about 2 hours a day for each SHG. The admission fee of Rs. 300 gets accumulated in their respective SHG fund. The community is supporting this initiative by providing the training premises free of cost. Eventually these women will be utilizing motifs related to the Mahabharat and would be selling them from the ethnic bazaar being built as part of the hardware component of the ETP.

Young men have been identified for working as tourist guides in the Kurukshetra circuit and the State Haryana Tourist Corporation has agreed to provide them with licenses after training them. Women entrepreneurs have been identified for being trained in the preparation of local cuisine for tourists, like bajra khichdi, makki roti and saag etc.

In this first year, the Government partners of the project have procured the Panchayat land for the ethnic bazaar , prepared the bazaar blueprint and constructed the boundary wall.

In addition to implementing the UNDP's ETP project the Sehgal Foundation is also implementing some of the other components of its ISVD model for the holistic development of the village. The Foundation and the villagers will also be assisting the DC's team in implementing the various Government schemes available for integrated development.

A Family Life Education center has been set up, and the first batch of 24 adolescent girls have completed their 6 month curriculum. The curriculum includes: life skills, literacy, tailoring and recreation. It addresses personal development issues like confidence-building, decision-making, gender, reproductive health and family planning.

As in many villages of India , the villagers identify water as a major problem. During a community meeting, the people expressed their problem of water for animals and on the depleting ground water . The solution which emerged was to divert some of the water from a canal flowing nearby, into two village ponds . A village water committee was formed for this and for handling the future water related issues of the village. They were brought for an exposure visit to Mewat villages of the Sehgal Foundation to see the water management interventions for themselves. After obtaining permission from the local Irrigation Department, the ponds development project of Jyotisar is now almost complete. Its estimated cost is Rs. 3 lakhs, out of which the Panchayat and the community contributed 25%, and the Sehgal Foundation provided the rest from its own funds .

his UNDP project is a powerful demonstration of rural development through synergies between partners with different core competencies . Furthermore, the initiatives are designed for sustainability and being undertaken with the keen interest from the villagers.

For further information please contact:

The Sehgal Foundation
Dr. (Ms) Ellora Mubashir;
289, Sector 17A,
Gurgaon, Haryana-122001, India