{"id":87970,"date":"2026-02-15T23:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=87970"},"modified":"2026-02-15T23:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T18:01:00","slug":"pochampally-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/pochampally-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Pochampally Village, Centre of Handloom &#038; Rural Tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Pochampally Village<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> located in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of <\/span><b>Telangana<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is famous for its traditional <\/span><b>Ikat handloom<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> weaving, popularly known as <\/span><b>Pochampally Ikat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is an important centre of <\/span><b>rural tourism and handicrafts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in India. In 2021, it was selected as <\/span><b>one of the Best Tourism Villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, highlighting its cultural and economic significance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Pochampally Village<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The award was announced at the <\/span><b>24th UNWTO General Assembly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> held in December 2021 in <\/span><b>Madrid, Spain<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The village is famous for its traditional Ikat handloom weaving and efforts to promote rural tourism.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Ministry of Tourism has drafted a <\/span><b>Rural Tourism Policy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to promote tourism in villages, support local arts and crafts and strengthen the rural economy through employment generation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier, the <\/span><b>Rudreswara Temple (Ramappa Temple)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Telangana was included in the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/unesco-world-heritage-sites-in-india\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>UNESCO World Heritage List<\/strong><\/a>, increasing the state\u2019s cultural importance globally.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>India\u2019s Award Winning Tourism and Handloom Village<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Best Tourism Villages initiative of the<\/span><b> United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aims to recognise villages that are good examples of <\/span><b>rural tourism development.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It selects villages that follow sustainable practices and perform well in nine evaluation areas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The programme also helps selected villages improve their tourism potential through training and guidance. From India, the Ministry of Tourism recommended three villages-<\/span><b>Kongthong, Ladhpura Khas and Pochampally<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Among them, Pochampally received the award.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pochampally is located about 50 km from Hyderabad in Telangana. It is popularly known as the <\/span><b>\u201cSilk City of India\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because of its famous Pochampally Ikat sarees. <\/span><b>Pochampally Ikat received Geographical Indication (GI) status in 2004<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which protects its unique identity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The word <\/span><b>\u201cIkat\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> comes from a Malaysian-Indonesian term meaning <\/span><b>\u201ctie and dye.\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In this method, threads are first tied and dyed in specific patterns before weaving. The dyed threads are then woven into fabric, creating beautiful designs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first <\/span><b>National Handloom Day on August 7<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to honour India\u2019s rich handloom tradition. The date also marks the beginning of the <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/swadeshi-movement\/\" target=\"_blank\">Swadeshi Movement<\/a> in 1905.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pochampally is also known as <\/span><b>Bhoodan Pochampally because the Bhoodan Movement was started here on April 18, 1951 by Vinoba Bhave.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A small Vinoba Bhave Mandir still exists in the village to remember his visit and contribution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vinoba Bhave was the first international figure to receive the <\/span><b>Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1958.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was awarded <\/span><b>Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1983<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>United Nations World Tourism Organisation<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UNWTO is the United Nations agency that promotes responsible, sustainable, and accessible tourism worldwide. It provides a platform for countries to discuss tourism policies and encourages following the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Established in <\/span><b>1975<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Members: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">159 countries<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Official Languages:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headquarters: Madrid, Spain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Organisational Structure<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General Assembly: Main meeting of UNWTO members, held every two years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Executive Council: Governing body with 35 members elected by the General Assembly, meets at least twice a year.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Best Tourism Villages Initiative<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Launched in <\/span><b>2021 by UNWTO<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a Part of the UNWTO Tourism for Rural Development Programme, it identifies villages that excel in rural tourism.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pochampally Village in Telangana is famous for GI tagged Pochampally Ikat and rural tourism. It was named a Best Tourism Village 2021 by UNWTO for heritage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":87822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5449],"class_list":{"0":"post-87970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-pochampally-village","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87971,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87970\/revisions\/87971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}