Varanasi, 3 September: The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in collaboration with Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Varanasi District Administration, organized ‘Meri Kashi Creators Pathshala’ in the auditorium of the office complex located at Kachehri on Wednesday. The aim of this Creators Pathshala was to make about 275 local influencers and youth aware of 170 stories of Kashi and Sarnath and use social media tools to create awareness about these stories.
Through the Pathshala, all the participants were trained in storytelling techniques by master-storyteller experts and trained on content creation and monetization through social media via YouTube.
Officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Varanasi District Administration highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of locals becoming ambassadors and storytellers of their Kashi. \
Based on this vision, the Ministry of Tourism and Varanasi District Administration conceptualized and launched the ‘Meri Kashi Rajdoot Program’. It started with the Meri Kashi Creators Pathshala, where a detailed training workshop was conducted on the art of storytelling and storytelling techniques of Varanasi Guru, such as making stories personal to the audience, using unique facts, theatre of the mind, emotional graph, narrating with passion and many more. YouTube representatives trained the audience on how to use social media handles to create reels, increase reach and engagement, and the best ways to create monetization opportunities.
Commissioner Varanasi S. Rajalingam informed that after the training, ‘Meri Kashi’ course module will be launched for influencers and youth to learn about various stories of Kashi, and also encourage them to create highly engaging reels and upload them on Meri Kashi on social media. After completion of the modules and uploading of reels on Kashi stories, an expert team will evaluate and identify the individuals with the best videos and reels and award them the title of ‘Meri Kashi Ambassador’.
Commissioner further told that through the ‘Meri Kashi Ambassador Program’, the aim is to make selected local youth ‘Meri Kashi Ambassadors’ who will further create engaging and rich content on Kashi and will also be provided support for this on national and global platforms. These individuals will also be listed on the official website of Kashi so that foreign and domestic tourists can connect with them to know the authentic stories of Kashi and Sarnath.
District Magistrate Satyendra Kumar, while highlighting the significance of the program, said that this program was very important for this place. Certainly, this program is relevant for Kashi. The audience was also made aware of the immense opportunities to become a tourist guide through the ‘Meri Kashi Ambassador Program’. After completing the ‘Meri Kashi’ course module and being certified by the evaluation committee, the youth can also become official tourist guides, which will also give them other livelihood opportunities while studying or working.
DM stated that by the way, ‘Meri Kashi Creators Pathshala’ was very successful in making the youth aware about their Kashi and also provided training in social media tools as well as storytelling techniques to use content as a tool to make the world aware of the stories of Kashi through the ‘Meri Kashi Ambassador Program’. A WhatsApp group was also created for all the creators and influencers for the ‘Meri Kashi Ambassador Program’, which had the participation of senior officials of the CS Scan Yale Magazine administration.
District Panchayat President Poonam Maurya, MLC Dharmendra Singh and others were prominently present in the program.