Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Monday, 25 May 2026, highlighted the transformation of Dhudmaras village in Bastar into a rural tourism destination, crediting his government's home-stay policy with generating local employment and putting the region on the global tourism map.

Context

In his post, CM Sai wrote: 'सुशासन सरकार में संभावनाएं हो रहीं साकार' ('Under good governance, possibilities are being realised'). He described Dhudmaras as having become a 'global identity of Bastar tourism', with the state government developing tourism infrastructure to promote local employment and the tourism industry.

The Chief Minister further noted that the state's home-stay policy has enabled the development of quality rural accommodation facilities in the village, calling Dhudmaras a 'confluence of nature, culture and self-reliance' that presents a 'new picture of Bastar to the world'.

Policy Backdrop

Bastar, a forested region in southern Chhattisgarh long associated with tribal culture and, historically, Left-wing insurgency, has been a focus of economic diversification efforts by successive state governments. Promoting tourism infrastructure in the region is seen as a strategy to channel revenue to local communities and reduce dependence on a conflict-affected economy.

The state's home-stay policy sits within a broader national framework. The central government's Swadesh Darshan scheme, launched in 2014-15, funded thematic tourism circuits across India, including tribal circuits in Chhattisgarh, providing a policy foundation on which state-level initiatives have been built. Community homestays are designed to ensure tourism revenue flows directly to rural households rather than outside operators.

Stakeholders and Impact

Tribal communities and rural entrepreneurs in and around Dhudmaras are the primary beneficiaries of the home-stay model, which offers households a supplementary income stream from tourism. The model also preserves local culture by positioning it as an attraction rather than a barrier to development.

For the Chhattisgarh government, the success of Dhudmaras provides a replicable template. State tourism officials have been watching visitor numbers and employment figures in Bastar's homestay clusters as indicators of whether the model can be scaled to additional villages.

What's Next

The state tourism department's data on visitor footfall and employment generated in Bastar's homestay clusters is expected to inform decisions in the 2026-27 budget cycle, with the possibility of extending the Dhudmaras model to other villages in the region. CM Sai's public emphasis on the village signals continued political priority for rural tourism as a pillar of Chhattisgarh's economic strategy under the current BJP government.

If the home-stay model demonstrates measurable employment gains at scale, it could strengthen the case for deeper integration of tribal eco-tourism into the state's mainstream development planning.