Dehradun News: The daughters of Uttarakhand have set another new record. The state tourism department has trained 14 women as white water river rafting guides, after which these women are now fully prepared to give tourists an exciting rafting experience on the waves of the Ganges. After this three-month training, these women will be registered as professional rafting guides. After this, they will be able to work as rafting guides at Rishikesh and other tourist destinations.

Rishikesh has emerged as a major center for rafting in recent years. Every year lakhs of tourists come here to experience the thrill of rafting in the Ganges River. Till now only men were working as guides in this field, but on the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, for the first time women have also been included in this field. Between April and June 2023, the Uttarakhand Tourism Department gave free training of three months to 14 selected women. During this training, complete arrangements for their stay and food were also made by the department.

Priyanka Rana of Siransu village in Pauri district is a BBA student and also a kayaking athlete. When Priyanka heard that the Uttarakhand government is training women to be rafting guides, she immediately registered for it. Priyanka says that a large number of rafting
activities take place near her village, and now she wants to make a career as a rafting guide. She expresses her gratitude to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the government for this.

Ramnagar resident Kamakshi Goyal is currently working in a nautical company in Goa. She was already working in the white water field, but she took part in this training to further improve her skills. It was provided free of cost by the Uttarakhand government. Along with this training, she was also provided accommodation and food facilities. Kamakshi considers this a big step towards women empowerment.

Muskan from Rishikesh also participated in this training program and learned the nuances of white water rafting from foreign trainers. Muskan says that she did rafting for a week from Devprayag to Rishikesh, which was an unforgettable experience for her. Muskan now wants to make a career in this field and thanks the government and the Chief Minister for this.  

Increasing participation of women in adventure tourism
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami called this initiative an important step towards women empowerment. He says that there is immense potential in the field of adventure tourism in Uttarakhand, and now a large number of women tourists are also coming for rafting. In such a situation, training women as rafting guides will prove to be an important effort towards making the daughters of the state self-reliant and empowered. The daughters of Uttarakhand will now not only participate in adventure tourism but will also operate it themselves.