Environment  

Odisha bags the excellence award for ecotourism

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has given the excellence award for travel and tourism to Odisha. It has won the award under the 'best ecotourism initiative' category. Odisha runs its ecotourism sites with community members as stakeholders including rural women and tribals. For past three years, the forest department has developed 40 ecotourism hubs, generating employment for more than 600 forest-dependent community members. Areas such as Belghar in Kandhamal and Kaliamba in Ganjam have now become tourist attractions thanks to ecotourism sites, which have boasted a variety of facilities and nature-based entertainment activities with many other activities like cycling, boating and local cultural programmes.