NEW DELHI: The Centre’s move to roll out Gandhi-styled homestays in order to propagate the Gandhian way of life has received a lukewarm response not only from property owners across the country but also from foreign tourists, who the government hoped would lap up the prospect of getting a taste of the Mahatma’s lifestyle.
The homestay proposal was an outcome of a meeting on the celebrations of 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi.
The four broad parameters set for these theme-based homestays were simplicity, cleanliness, vegetarianism, simplicity and self-reliance. States were told to encourage families and property owners to offer the Gandhian way of life and register under the Centre’s voluntary scheme for approval and registration of ‘Incredible India’ bed and breakfast/homestay establishments.
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“The Ministry of Tourism reached out to state governments and wrote to the chief secretaries of respective states asking them to help identify families. But the response was lukewarm and states did not come up with any list of BNBs. One of the reasons is property-owners did not find it viable,” an official said. “The aim was to also draw foreign tourists to this way of living. The list would be made available to the MEA which would then promote these establishments through the Indian missions abroad.”
“Firstly, a combination of factors needs to work out for this to be a success. Identifying a family living the Gandhian way of life and also having a property that can be let out is the primary factor. While some tourists may want to experience this, domestic tourists often want to have an improved lifestyle than their everyday lives while travelling ,” another official said.
The Ministry of Tourism had received a note from the PMO on the proposal in August. The Ministries of Culture and Tourism were working together on the proposal. Initially, the ministry contacted the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti to carry out identification of organisations and approach families who live the Gandhian way of life.
12 Gandhian organisations already run homestays
The Ministry of Tourism currently has a list of 12 Gandhian organisations and homestays available for tourists. They have been vetted by the ministry and conform to the national standard of guidelines.