About:

• The ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD) was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in the year 2014-15 with the objective of integrated development of identified pilgrimage and heritage destinations.

Objectives 

• Rejuvenation and spiritual augmentation of important national/ global pilgrimage destinations;  
• Enhance tourism attractiveness of identified pilgrimage destinations and heritage cities under integrated tourism development of heritage city in planned, prioritized and sustainable manner by providing world class tourism projects in them;  
• Follow community-based development through ‘Pro-Poor’ tourism concept and ‘responsible tourism’ initiatives.  
• Assure active involvement of local communities through employment generation  
• Creating awareness among the local communities about the importance of tourism for them in terms of increase in sources of income, improved living standards and overall development of the area.  
• Promote heritage in the form of heritage structures especially under integrated tourism development of heritage city, local arts, culture, handicrafts, cuisine, etc., to generate livelihood in the identified places.  
• Strengthen the mechanism for bridging the infrastructural gaps at identified pilgrimage destinations and throughout heritage cities.

Implementation Agency: 

• The projects identified under this scheme shall be implemented through the identified agencies by the respective State/ Union Territory Government.

Funding Pattern

• The scheme shall be 100% centrally funded for the project components undertaken.

Expected Outcomes

• The outcome of the integrated development of Pilgrimage centers on a mission mode shall be regularly evaluated and measured on the following parameters:
  •  Increase in tourist footfall;
  •  Employment generation;
  •  Enhancement of awareness and development of skills & capacity to augment tourism with value added services;
  •  Increase in private sector participation in the identified tourist destinations;
  •  Integrated development of heritage cities.

Why in the news? 

• Prime Minister recently inaugurated various development projects in Varanasi under the PRASHAD Scheme.

References:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1735970 
2. https://tourism.gov.in/sites/default/files/2020-07/PRASHAD%20Existing%20Guidelines%20(1).pdf