How Mamta Rawat rescued hundreds of people from the floods that destroyed Uttarakhand

24-year-old Mamta Rawat helped rescue hundreds of people from the 2013 floods which devastated Uttarakhand. More than 5,000 people are presumed to have died in the catastrophe which struck the state. The difficulty did not stop Mamta’s rescue work despite losing her own home in the disaster.

Mamta was at home in her village Bankholi, when she got a call on her mobile phone, saying that a group of school students trekking in the Himalayas were stranded amid torrential rains. A professional mountain guide, Mamta who had grown up around the mountains, was familiar with the terrain. Mamta was able to reach the stranded group quickly and escort them back to safety. However, by the time she returned, floods had begun to engulf the mountainous area and distress calls were coming in thick and fast.

BBC Mamta told BBC that she was flooded with requests to rescue people trapped on various mountains, some 2,500 metres (7,500 feet) above sea level. So that’s exactly what she did, continued to help people in need, despite the fact that her own home had been destroyed, and many of the bridges and roads in the mountains had been washed away.

Col Ajay Kothiyal, principal of the defence ministry-run Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), said that they had asked Mamta to help with the rescue effort. “Mamta even carried an old woman 3km (1.8 miles) up a mountain so that she could be evacuated by helicopter. She also helped construct a makeshift rope bridge to get stranded people cross a river,” he said.

Mamta, a school dropout, is the sole breadwinner of her six-member family. A part-time trainer for the NIM, she supplements her income by working as a mountain guide for trekking groups. Her choice of profession however, came with a lot of criticism, especially from members of her community who felt that a woman should not be doing a “man’s job”. Mamta not only was undeterred by the attitude, she has gone on to train other young women to be mountain guides as well.
source: yourstory .com 27 april 2016

Government works to encourage homestays, promote tourism

New Delhi: Do you have a room to spare? If so, you may soon be able to turn your home into a money-spinner without paying many of the levies at commercial rates or being subjected to stringent licensing norms that are usually associated with business.

The Narendra Modi government is working on relaxing rules to encourage people to offer homestays to tourists, help make up for the massive shortage of 1.9 lakh hotel rooms in the country and get gainfully employed in the true spirit of its 'Start-Up India' programme.

Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi told ET that the tourism ministry is revising its guidelines, and urging states as well, to make it more lucrative for those offering a taste of Indian hospitality and Indian way of life to tourists.

At present, a homestay has to be licensed by the state government, the licence needs an annual or bi-annual renewal and the facility is required to pay service tax and other levies at commercial rates.

The Centre's move follows a presentation by a group of eight secretaries including Zutshi to Prime Minister Modi in January, a copy of which was accessed by ET. The group proposed a big push to homestays as "tourism sector specific interventions".

The group fixed a deadline of March 31, 2019 for integrated development of 50 thematic tourist circuits including "spiritual and yoga, medical and wellness, and cruise tourism" in the country and focus on regional air connectivity. Thirteen thematic circuits, including the Ramayana, Krishna, Buddhist and coastal circuits, are being accorded top priority by the government and are already under development.

The group proposed that homestays not be charged service tax or commercial levies and that their licensing process be made online. "It is proposed that homestays should be exempt from service tax, and various levies like electricity and water charges, and property tax should not be on commercial rates, and the process of certifying these homestays should be hassle-free and online, backed by third-party inspections," Zutshi said.

The ministry is urging state governments to modify their guidelines accordingly, Zutshi said.

"We expect states to come on board as they will benefit from tourist inflow and more employment... we will be publicising homestays," he said.

Source: Economic Times 28 Apr, 2016, 11.02AM IST