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Pushkar is one of the most popular tourist places in Rajasthan, the colourful state of India, which is famous for its tourism and hospitality, its vibrant landscapes and Royal Heritage as seen as in its historic forts, palaces, centuries, old temples and Thar desert.

Pushkar is one of most important pailgrimage towns of India and also called the king of all tirthas, i.e. Tirth Raj. with Brahma Mandir being the most significant temple of the town (said to be the only temple to be declared to Lord Brahmas). Pushkar is one such holy place which has been venerated by millions over ages and still occupies a position of pre-eminence amongst the secred places in the country. There are more than 400 storage structures in and around the settlement with the holy lake or sarovar in the centre and Aravali mountainson the sides forming a perfect oasis in the desert of Rajasthan.

Source : Internet.

Literature Review is the study about the previous research work in a particulararea. It helps us to identify the problem and gaps that may exist in research to date. In tourism a lot of research work has been done earlier. Rohini Samant has studied about the main reasons for tourism attraction in Ajmer, basic infrastructure, effects of tourism on environment etc. in her research on “An Appraisal of Carrying Capacity of Tourist Destination in Ajmer’’.

A. K. Raina and Dr. Kishore Singh has discussed all dimensions on services and management, marketing, communication, policies and plannings in their book ‘Tourism Management in Rajasthan (Theories and Behaviour’.

The present research is based on observation in field area and secondary data in order to identify the environmental and socio economic impact, challenges and recommend further prospects of research. The secondary datum were collected from various Government and Non -Government agencies, Books, Journals and magazine.

Geographicaliß characteristics of Pushkar

Pushkar is situated between 26^o 27" North latitude to 26^o 30" North latitude and 74^o 15" East to 74^o 37" East longitudes. It is situated 13 Kms away in north west of Ajmer. The  Pushkar valley covers an area of 87.11 sq. Km. It is one of the headwater valleys of the Luni river. It is enclosed on the Northwest and Southwest by ranges of bare rocky hills, which consists of quartzite and biotite. The height of the hills ranges between 650 mts. to 856 Mts. The prominent hills are Naag pahar, Savitree Pahad, Paap mochani Pahad and Puruhita Pahad. Sarovar forms an integral drainage basin with a catchment area of about 21.66 sq. Kms. The stream flowing into Pushkar sarovar is gomukh originating in the eastern part of Pushkar and SavitriPahari flowing from South to North East. Rest of the areas is drained by Saraswati river. The depth is approx 8.3 m water holding capacity of 79,287 cu.m. The sarovar is fed by Surface run off  from various drainage of this valley. The catchment area of Budha Pushkar is 6.12 sq. Kms.

Climate:-Climate of the town is semi-arid with dry and hot summer and cool winter. The hottest monthsare May and June with maximum temperature of around 45^o C , while in winter the maximum mean temperature is 25^o C. During summer, strong winds prevail resulting in the formationof sand dunes. The monsoon session is relatively short from July to August with average rainfall ranging from 400 to 600 mm.

Soil:- Predominentaly sandy soil is found here with very low water retention capacity.

Demographical characteristics:-

As per master plan of Pushkar 2011-2031, total area under planning jurisdiction was 336 hectare with a population of 21685 in year 2011. Owing to its rich tourism potential, the estimated, daily flow of  tourists and pilgrims to the city is 3000-4500.

The population grew rapidly from 2001 to 2011 which is primarily because of the stability of economic condition of the people of Pushkar due to the rise in tourist in flow to the town.

Pushkar is a small town of 3.36 sq Kmsdivided into administrative 20 wards.The average town density is very low i.e. 64 ppH. Pushkar sarovar and its surrounding areas, which is the hub of activity, accounts for the highest population density.

As per the census 2011, the current sex ratio (female population per 1000 male) in Pushkar town is 907, which is higher than the state urban average of 885 and national urban average of 901.

Pushkar town has high literacy rate 78% while the state urban average is 56.3% and national urban average 70.1%

Occupation and tourism:-

Tourism is the main economic driver of the town which promotes other key sector such as trade and commerce, transportation and household industries.  Pushkar has around 300 temple in majority, in which Brahmins are engaged in religiouseconomic activities, which is their   traditional occupation. However due to increase in foreign tourists, many young Brahmains have set up their own businesses. The trade and Commerce is related to temple needs and caters to pilgrims and tourists.  There are no wholesale activities in town. The cattle fair is the main economic activity in the area.  Most of the local people make 80% of their annual income during the Fair. Garment manufacture is the only significent industrial activity which employs around 5000 person, most of the workers come from nearby villages. The household Industries include traditional handicrafts and production of the rose by products e.g. Gulkand, Rose oil, Rose water etc.

Thus, most of the people in  Pushkar are engaged in tourism related trade and activities

Major Heritage structures in and around Pushkar for tourism:-

The pilgrim historic city is one of the most revered places of Hindu and revered as "Tirth Raj" The sacred Pushkar including the Jyestha(older) Pushkar, the Madhya(Central) Pushkar and the Kanishtha Pushkar have abundance   of Heritage structure with different typologies and significance. According to various institutes like IGNCA( Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts) INTACH Archaeological survey of India, there are more than 400 Heritage cities identified in and around Pushkar. Including temples, Ghats, Dharmshalas, ashrams etc.

The important sites of tourism and pilgrims’ interest in and out Pushkar as follows:

(1)Temples:

(A) Brahma Mandir:it is the only Temple dedicated to Lord Brahma in the entire country. The marble statue of Lord Brahma sitting in padmasan in lotus with Gayatri was installed by Aadi Shankaracharya in 718 A. D. said to be constructed around 2000 years ago and renovated multiple times.

(B) Varah Temple (C) Purana Ranga ji mandir (D) Naya Ranga ji mandir (E) Atmateshwar Mahadev Mandir (F) kapaleshwar  Mandir (G) SavitrSavitree Mandir (H) Paap mochani Mandir (I) Puruhita Chamunda Mata mandir (J) Gurudwara (K) Jain Mandir etc.

(2) Pushkar lake and Ghat:

Another major attraction of Pushkar is Pushkar lake.  It is a semi circular Lake around which there are 52 "Ghats". The holy dip in this Lake on Kartik Purnima is thought to be salvation going "Kartikayan Jyeshth     Pushkarya. "

Beside this, there are some other attributes also which are following:

(A) Sunset point (B)Jahagir Mahal (C)deer Park (D)bazaar street (E)Hanuman Gali (F)Cattle fair

The rituals and festivals attracting tourist and pilgrims:

All the festivals of Hindu are given importance in the temple. The main festival of temple are the Guru Purnima, Kartik Purnima. Beside this, several other occasions which are prominent like cattle fair, Shahi snan, chauth and Tuesday the cattle fair etc are also the major sources of economy of the people in Pushkar. In the fair various cultural performances like plays, folk dance and music and games like cricket and tug of war are arranged to attract tourists. During festivals like Guru Purnima, Karthik Purnima, the number of devotees coming to the temple reaches up to 1 to 2 lakhs

Tourist inflow:

Every year, lakhs of people visit Pushkar and on an average daily tourist visiting Pushkar is around 3000-4000. Cattle fair is organised every year during month of November by Government of Rajasthan in which number of domestic tourist is 4,50,000 (2014 tourism data) and mostly foreign tourist are from span and Israel.In last 20-30 Years Pushkar had very strong impact of tourism. The tourist inflow of last 9 years with by fraction of domestic and foreign tourist is given in table below.

Table:-

Tourist Influx in Pushkar
Year	Domestic Tourist	International Tourist	Total
2018	4455340	109904	45,65,244
2019	4198392	98052	42,96,444
2020	1745013	28279	17,73,292
2021	33592491	2038	33,61,529

Rajasthan is famous for its tourism. People across the world come in Rajasthan to see it's Heritage and cultural values. Rajasthan has some major tourist junctions known as Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer etc. Pushkar is known for its international fair and holly lake about 5.5% tourists visit Pushkar from total tourists visiting Rajasthan.

Tourism infrastructure:-

The term infrastructure refers to all those in built services which are prequisited for local and economic development and includes transport facilities, water supply and sewage system, supply of energy and power communication faculties.

From tourism point of view, there are 43 Dharamshalas, 185 hotels, 39 ashramsroad and 37 guest houses and 7 resorts available in Pushkar. During cattle fair the number of tourists visiting town is more than the town can accommodate. When there is lack of tourist accommodation, residential houses act as guest house. There are lot of new hotels, restaurants but none of them is regularized. No rules and regulationsare being followed by them.Temporary tented accommodations are also available particularly during specific events such as fairs and festivals, when there is large influx of tourists.

Transport facilities:-

By Air:

The nearest airports from Pushkar Sanganer airport at Jaipur with 146 km away and Kishangarh airport. Jaipur is well connected to all major cities of India. There are two helipads in Pushkar but they are not in working.

By Road:

Pushkar is connected with Ajmer by national Highway 89 which goes through Aravali range and Pushkar Ajmer bypass. There are three Bus stands in Pushkar

By Rail:

Pushkar railway had been started in January 2012 and it connects to the nearest large railway station Ajmer which is connected to almost all cities of India.

Environmental, socio-economic impact of tourism:

Tourism has positive and negative impact on environment, social and economic setup.

Though tourism can generate economic benefits for Pushkar but such benefits often have not been achieved without adverse effects on its environment.

Although tourism is a great contributor to the economy in Pushkar yet it is felt that travelJourney at Pushkar should be at a optimum level that does not disturb natural balance as well as cultural balance. The ecological Concord at Pushkar like water, soil, air, noise etc. has been disturbed due to the poor management of tourist activity done here.

Tourism may have social impact also, like when people of various regions, nationalities and background come into the contact with the localities, then cultural exchanges and enrichment of both those who are tourists and those who are residents may occur. But such contacts may also bring social distance in native cultural and traditional ways of life, these may be weakened or even destroyed. These  social disturbances emerge in the form of (i) Increase in begging (ii) Prostitution (iii) Cheating (iv) Mugging of tourists (v) Drug related issues etc.

Unfortunately Tirth Raj Pushkar is also facing the above mentioned problems due to tourism activities.

Key issues:-

The key issues or problems which affect the tourism in Pushkar and are based on field visits and discussions with officials and stakeholders, beneficiaries are follows

1. there is a lack directional and descriptive signage in the town resulting in incomplete portfolio of tourism.

2. The exciting tourist infrastructure of the town is not sufficient for the incoming tourist flow in the town.

3. No legislative framework for regularization of hotels/Restaurants/Dharamshalas.

4. Inappropriate activities are being promoted on ghats and abundoned buildings on ghats.There are total 52 ghats but besides few ghats, most of the ghats are left and unused, no proper maintenance is done during the whole year.

5. There is no proper connectivity of ghats at one level due to which it is universally inaccessible.

6. All the important sites at outside Pushkar are not easily accessible and have poor connectivity and hence need important

7. There is no proper segregation of pedestrian and vehicle movement.

8. Lack of organized parking facility which leads to roadside parking and congestion along the streets.

9. There is no waiting area outside the main temple Brahma Mandir for people waiting for their friends.

10. There is no facility of lift ramps for old aged and physically challenged people.

11. Several areas in and around the Brahma temple compound are being encroached.

12. Lack of street lights and visitor sheds along the parikrama routes, discourages many pilgrims to follow the KOS yatra

13. Many Heritage structures are being repaired/retrofitted, but with improper methods, which further detoriorate the condition/after the original historic fabric of the building.

14. There is no proper facility for fire safety as town has narrow lanes. Fire Brigades can not go and extinguish the fire.

15. There is a lack of public open green areas like parks and play fields for the residents of Pushkar.

Suggestions and government initiatives to promote tourism

The growth of tourism in any area or region depends upon the number of tourists and negative growth occurs when there is a decrease in the number of tourists as compared to past years. There are several factors like socio economic, political and natural epidemics which influence tourism influx security also influences the tourist growth, as if there is amishap or a tragedy than we can see a decrease in the flow of tourism keeping these factors in mind, the Rajasthan government has rolled out the Rajasthan tourism policy 2020 appropriate tourism infrastructures and facilities must be built to attract visitors. A situable master plan for the infrastructure and accommodation upgrade will be prepared for.To help wedding planners and event management companies, wedding destinations will be identified graded and listed. The emphasis on promotion of desert adventure sports, Jeep Safaris, camel Safaris and desert camp would be placed for promoting the tourism.

In collaboration with other departments like department of industry devasthan and minority affairs the local religious tourism circuits should be upgraded and local domestic products should be promoted.

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8. Final report on "PREPARATION OF DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR HISTORIC TEMPLE COMPLEX AND SETTLEMENTS OF RAJASTHAN, PUSHKAR" prepared by Sansrakshan heritage consultants put Ltd. New Delhi and prepared for Devsthan Department Government of Rajasthan, Udaipur