Human safaris in India

Odisha also known as Orissa, is an Indian state on the subcontinent's east coast, by the Bay of Bengal. It's the 9th largest Indian state in population. Worried over a drop in the number of foreigners interested in tribal tourism, the Indian government has formed a department within the tourism department to increase these numbers.

It all started about 18 months after the controversy over ?human safari?, is expected to facilitate the visit of foreigners to settlements of primarily vulnerable tribal groups.

Permission, however, will be subject to a set of riders. Some of these conditions were imposed in February last year after incidents of dubious tour operators organizing secret visits of foreigners to areas inhabited by primitive tribes came to light.

Since then, foreigners interested in such trips had to seek permission from the district magistrate concerned. However, foreign tourists faced problems when district magistrates were not present in their respective headquarters. To overcome this problem, the new cell will grant required permissions within 48 hours.

On July 26, tourism secretary S.P. Thakur wrote to all the district magistrates that the new cell had been started as tour operators and excursion agencies were facing trouble in getting permissions.

An official of the tourism department said the number of foreign tourists visiting the state was 60,722 in 2011. Of these, nearly 5,000 tourists had visited tribal dominated districts. In 2012, the count went up to 64,719, but only 700 tourists had opted for tribal districts as their destinations. The flow of tourists to tribal pockets has since then remained low.

President of the Odisha Tour Operators? Association Timir Baran Patnaik also welcomed the government move.

?The foreigners were facing a lot of trouble as at times they had to wait for the collector?s return to get permission. But in Bhubaneswar, the permission will be issued much faster,?? he said.

Tour operator Debasish Mohapatra hopes the new cell will help more foreign tourists to visit tribal settlements.

However, the government has put in place a set of conditions for both foreigners and tour operators involved in tribal tourism.

Tourism director Manoranjan Patnaik said: ?The tour operators have to submit signed papers having names of tourists, their age, sex, nationality, passport number, settlements of primarily vulnerable tribal groups that foreigners intend to visit, name of the tour operator, guide and driver, vehicle number and duration of visit. The guide has to be taken from the local primarily vulnerable tribal groups? development agency.?

He also said after granting permission to foreign tourists, the cell would intimate the district magistrate and superintendent of police so that the visitors do not face any difficulty.

However, to protect the cultural ethos and dignity of the communities, the permission to visit settlements of primarily vulnerable tribal groups comes with six crucial riders. The conditions include limited access to foreigners inside the settlements of primarily vulnerable tribal groups, no night visits to these areas, ban on photography in villages or local markets, no physical proximity with the visitors and no permission for any kind of amusement or entertainment by members of the vulnerable tribal groups for the foreign tourists.

The tour operators will also have to adhere to a new code of conduct. The guidelines prohibit the tour operators from posting photographs, videos and write-ups on their websites regarding the tribal groups.

Source: http://www.eturbonews.com/36743/human-safaris-india

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