Toto is the smallest tribe in the world. The last remaining 1700 people of this tribe live in Totopara village of West Bengal. The village was struggling for its identity, the only school needed an extra room. To save on food, the women wanted to open a café. A 14-member team of students from Christ University, Bengaluru, 2500 km away from Totopara, visited this village last year. During their 10-day tour, the students worked with the women to create a pricing model-menu for the café. The village got Rs 6 lakh from this visit of the students. Earned Rs. With this, the school room was ready and the café was also opened. ‘Local Narratives’ did not limit tourism in villages to entertainment, but linked it to learning. 10 institutions of Japan-Australia joined together. Children from Australia’s University of New Castle, Queensland University and 8 schools of Tokyo and Nagoya in Japan are coming to India to learn it. Vaishnavi says, 50 villages of India are ready to host, local narratives started in 2021. The objective of community based tourism is to understand and learn about life by living in a village like a local. In this, 50 villages have been prepared to host. Villages are also benefiting from this. After the students’ visit to Sunakiya in Uttarakhand, the country’s first community tourism playbook was prepared there. This is helping tourism. In another visit, weaver women in Asanora, Goa were connected to buyers, which increased their earnings. Vaishnavi Somani Founder- Local Narratives IIM Bangalore approved it as a credit program Vaishnavi says, we linked tourism with learning. A 5-day curriculum was made for this. It had local narratives co-faculty. IIM Bangalore approved this course. This means that after learning social entrepreneurship in villages, students are also getting 3 credits i.e. marks. – As told to Romesh Sahu
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