About Swadesh Darshan

• The Swadesh Darshan Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2014.
• Objective: To develop theme-based tourist circuits in the country. These tourist circuits will be developed on the principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner. 
• It is a Central Sector Scheme and efforts are made to achieve convergence with other schemes of Central and State Governments and also to leverage the voluntary funding available for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Central Public Sector Undertakings and Corporate Sector.

The scheme has following objectives:

• Position tourism as a major engine of economic growth and job creation;
• Develop circuits having tourist potential in a planned and prioritized manner;
• Promote cultural and heritage value of the country to generate livelihoods in the identified regions;
• Follow community based development and pro-poor tourism approach;
• Create employment through active involvement of local communities;
• Projects under the scheme shall be under the following identified themes; Eco-tourism, Wildlife, Buddhist, Desert, Spiritual, Ramayana, Krishna, Coastal, Northeast, Rural, Himalayan, Tribal and Heritage.

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Tourism under ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme has sanctioned  5 projects under Buddhist circuit theme.  

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1783507