'Kisan Yatra' to expose farmers to new farming models

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced a special travel scheme, Kisan Yatra, for the farmers to help them learn about new farming and marketing techniques.

Presenting the Railway Budget, he also announced that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will work on promoting the ‘Gandhi circuit’ to attract tourists to mark “celebration of 100 years of the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India,” this year.

Seeking to participate in government’s initiative to boost tourism sector in the country, the Minister said that his Ministry was keen on rolling out a programme to train autorickshaw and taxi operators as tourist-guides at “major” tourist destinations since they are the first point of contact for rail passengers.

“Indian Railways will join this effort– Incredible Rail for Incredible India. We have successfully experimented on Konkan Railway tourism promotion. ...We intend replicating this at major tourist stations,” he said.

He also proposed to explore the possibility of offering “some coaches” in select trains, connecting major tourist destinations, to travel agencies on a revenue sharing model.