Eighteen-year-old Manga, hailing from a nondescript village in Pedabayalu mandal, had never set foot beyond the verdant hills of the Visakha Agency.

As part of a 30-member 11th Tribal Youth Exchange Programme, Manga ventured out of the cool confines of her village for the first time to experience the world beyond her hills, and was floored by the hospitality that she received in the northern town of Panchkula in Haryana.

‘All excited’

Like Manga, it was an experience of a lifetime for the rest of the group, as it was for the first time that they travelled by train or rode in a cab.

Jagapathi Naidu, from an interior village in G. Madugula, even picked up a few words in Hindi, that too in the Haryanvi accent, and a few lines from popular songs of Haryana’s singing sensation Sapna Choudhary.

Interacting with The Hindu here on Friday at the 198 CRPF Battalion campus, the tribal youth enthusiastically narrated their experiences. Bhavitha Kumari from Munchingput, who is also training in general nursing, sang the patriotic song ‘Hind Desh ke Niwasi’. She stood second in the singing competition at the exchange programme.

“Though we had problems with the food, we quickly adjusted and made a lot of friends. The weather at Panchkula was also chilly, but we are used to similar weather back home during this part of the year,” Bhavitha said. The programme was organised by CRPF and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghatan — Visakhapatnam.

New culture

According G. Chandana of NYKS, about 30 tribal youth including 15 girls were selected to undergo the programme.

“Five 30-member teams from Visakhapatnam in AP, Khammam in Telangana and teams from Chattisgarh, Maharashtra and Bihar, were part of the programme,” she said.

Commandant of 198 Battalion K. S. Deswal said the youth were selected based on their interest in being part of a cultural exchange programme.

“Most of them were picked up from interior villages in AOB region, where there is considerable Maoist influence. The idea is to give the youths an exposure to a different world,” said Mr. Deswal. The team visited Panchkula from January 23 to 29 and apart from sightseeing, were exposed to classroom sessions where they were briefed about various welfare schemes and scholarships offered by the Central Government. All the teams were selected from LWE-affected districts.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Sumit Bhattarcharjee / Visakhapatnam – February 02nd, 2019

Hundreds of visitors from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha enjoyed themselves at the first Aero Sports Festival ‘Sahasam Seyara Dimbaka’ which was organised at Seethampeta of Srikakulam district on Sunday.

The entire premises adjacent to Seethampeta Adventure Park wore a festive look with various events, including hot air balloon, para motoring, power hang-gliding, parasailing and others. Weather was clear for all the sports events, which were normally conducted in Chennai, Bengaluru, Visakhaptnam and other major cities. The well trained pilots guided the tourists in moving in hot air balloons, parasailing and others.

Good response

District Collector K. Dhananjaya Reddy and Seethampeta Integrated Tribal Development Agency Project Director L. Siva Sankar expressed happiness over the overwhelming response from the tourists for the festival. “Seethampeta is going to be a major tourism destination. It will certainly provide employment to many tribal youngsters and improve economic activity,” Mr. Dhananjaya Reddy said.

Mr. Siva Sankar said that the entire department had taken it as a challenge to conduct the event as the infrastructure was little when festival was proposed. “We are going to construct resorts, museum, and eco-park very soon. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams will construct Lord Venkateswara Swamy’s temple at a cost of ₹3 crore. This step will improve temple tourism also,” he added.

Many public representatives, including Narasannapeta MLA Baggu Ramanamurthy and Patapatnam Legislator Kalamata Venkata Ramana and others, came along with their family members to watch the colourful festival. They hoped that the event would ensure huge number of tourists visit the district which had many other important tourist places like Telineelapauram, Kalingapatnam beach and others.

A few families expressed happiness over the arrangements, including the best food court in adventure park. “Well maintained Adventure Park is really a big gift for the district. We decided to come to this place whenever we come to our native Srikakulam district,” said K. Samyukta, a techie from Hyderabad.

The festival will continue on Monday and Tuesday. It is expected to draw more number of visitors with the festival holidays.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Srikakulam – January 14th, 2019