IIA, govt draw up plans for community-led astro-tourism in Ladakh | India News – Rashtra News : Rashtra News
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BENGALURU: The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), a premier institute headquartered in Bengaluru, along with the government is drawing up plans for community-based astro-tourism at Hanle in Ladakh aimed at achieving a dual goal of community-led sustainable development and popularisation of astrophysics.
IIA director Prof Annapurni Subramanian met Ladakh Lt Governor RK Mathur to discuss the plans on Tuesday. Among things discussed between Annapurni, Mathur and Dorje Angchuk, the engineer in-charge of the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle, operated by IIA, were development of astro-tourism projects, incorporating homestays for sustainable development at the grassroot level, providing training/certification courses to the locals for these projects.
“We are still at a very initial stage of discussions with various stakeholders. We will have something more concrete in a few months. The idea is to involve the local communities to set up facilities and preserve the night sky,” Annapurni told TOI after the meeting.
The IIA has put up a proposal for declaring the area as a dark night sanctuary where one can do astro-tourism and develop the local community to be self-sufficient through it.
“The beauty of the sky — given the altitude and the atmosphere there — is magical in Hanle. It is unrivalled. We want to preserve that by controlling light pollution and we are also looking at a wildlife sanctuary as wildlife will also impact,”Annapurni said.
Existing ‘Astrostays’
While the IIA proposal will give astro-tourism in the region a fillip with government’s backing, the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), which focuses on using astronomy/astrophysics as a tool to further the SGD (sustainable development goals) and Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE), a social impact enterprise, have already been running ‘Astrostays’ in the region.
Sonal Asgotraa, project lead, Astrostays, told TOI: “Globally when they speak of astro-tourism it always revolves only around astronomy. We wanted to look at astro-tourism that leverages human fascination towards astronomy and space to generate sustainable livelihood for communities. We submitted a proposal to IAU’s OAD in 2018 and the first Astrostay was born at Pangong Lake in 2019.”
She said that the response from the locals — which was key as there was no other model like this in the world — was overwhelming. The Astrostays, aside from sky gazing and other astrophysics and astronomy activities also offer local folklores involving communities.
She added that there are six Astostays being operated now. “The community has earned around $20,000 just from accommodation and we’ve had more than 400 people attend the astronomy sessions, which has created an income of more than $2,000,” Sonal said.
IIA director Prof Annapurni Subramanian met Ladakh Lt Governor RK Mathur to discuss the plans on Tuesday. Among things discussed between Annapurni, Mathur and Dorje Angchuk, the engineer in-charge of the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle, operated by IIA, were development of astro-tourism projects, incorporating homestays for sustainable development at the grassroot level, providing training/certification courses to the locals for these projects.
“We are still at a very initial stage of discussions with various stakeholders. We will have something more concrete in a few months. The idea is to involve the local communities to set up facilities and preserve the night sky,” Annapurni told TOI after the meeting.
The IIA has put up a proposal for declaring the area as a dark night sanctuary where one can do astro-tourism and develop the local community to be self-sufficient through it.
“The beauty of the sky — given the altitude and the atmosphere there — is magical in Hanle. It is unrivalled. We want to preserve that by controlling light pollution and we are also looking at a wildlife sanctuary as wildlife will also impact,”Annapurni said.
Existing ‘Astrostays’
While the IIA proposal will give astro-tourism in the region a fillip with government’s backing, the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), which focuses on using astronomy/astrophysics as a tool to further the SGD (sustainable development goals) and Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE), a social impact enterprise, have already been running ‘Astrostays’ in the region.
Sonal Asgotraa, project lead, Astrostays, told TOI: “Globally when they speak of astro-tourism it always revolves only around astronomy. We wanted to look at astro-tourism that leverages human fascination towards astronomy and space to generate sustainable livelihood for communities. We submitted a proposal to IAU’s OAD in 2018 and the first Astrostay was born at Pangong Lake in 2019.”
She said that the response from the locals — which was key as there was no other model like this in the world — was overwhelming. The Astrostays, aside from sky gazing and other astrophysics and astronomy activities also offer local folklores involving communities.
She added that there are six Astostays being operated now. “The community has earned around $20,000 just from accommodation and we’ve had more than 400 people attend the astronomy sessions, which has created an income of more than $2,000,” Sonal said.
( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a timesofindia.indiatimes.com feed.)
