National Institute of Water Sports

National Institute of Water Sports
Type Central Autonomous
Officer in charge
Dr. Sutheeshna Babu. S (PhD)
Location Panaji, Goa, India
15°29′56″N 73°49′40″E / 15.49889°N 73.82778°E / 15.49889; 73.82778
Nickname NIWS[1]
Website NIWS
A variety of water sports
Goa coastline

The National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS) is an autonomous body constituted under the Ministry of Tourism, Governmemt of India.[2] The Institute, only one of its nature in South Asia, acts as the apex body for training, education, consultancy and research on areas related to Watersports. The certification and Licensing from this Institute are required for carrying out operations in water-bodies such as handling different watercrafts for the tourists, swimming pools, water theme-parks etc. Some major disciplines for training and education are life saving, powerboat handling, sailing, windsurfing, water skiing, scuba diving, river rafting and kayaking. From Academic Year 2016, long duration courses like MBA- Tourism (Tourism & Leisure) & BBA- Tourism & Travel programmes would also be offered at its state-of-the art campus.[3]

Profile

The National Institute of Water Sports was established in July 1990 on a 16.5 acres beach side plot in Panaji[4] as a A Centre under Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. It is considered as the first institute of its kind in the South East Asia.[3][5] The Board of Governors of IITTM[6] controls the activities of the institute.[4]

The Institute is the apex body for water sports in India and the nodal agency for training, consultancy, development, regulation, framing safety norms, bench-marking and promotion of water sports. The spectrum of activities ranges from advising state government agencies and corporate/ private entrepreneurs on safety norms, preparation of feasibility studies, organising water sports awareness and water safety campaigns, inspection and certification of water sports centres to training on water sports disciplines. A training program namely "Sea Rescue Squad" has been introduced recently. It is also actively engaged in competence building of defence agencies especially in the domain of aqua-based adventures.

Facilities

The state-of-the art campus being built for the Institute at Caranzalem, Panjim, Goa has all modern training and education facilities including an Olympic-size gradient swimming pool.[3] It is bestowed with a cutting-edge talent and faculty pool. Efforts are also being made to expand the facility and cover a wide range of adventure sports including land-based adventures [5][7] at Caranzalem, Panjim in Goa.[3][3][4]

Long-duration Courses

For 2016-17, MBA- Tourism (Tourism&Leisure) and BBA- Tourism & Travel would be offered.

Short-duration Courses

These are meant for certification and licensing to handle various operations and are broadly of three categories: skill enhancement, professional and management courses.[8][9]

Skill Courses

Professional Courses

For Resorts and Industries

Management Courses

Setting-up of Infrastructure

During the setting up of the Institute at Caranzalem, there were oppositions from some sections of local fishermen citing that it could affect the traditional fishing in the area and thereby their livelihood. The Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE), an organization of fishermen also submitted a memorandum to the Goa government against setting up of the campus, citing that it would violate the coastal regulation (CRZ) zone guidelines. However, the authorities of the Institute clarified the matter to concerned agencies of the government and the local communities and there is no violation of CRZ stipulations. According to them, the concerns are misplaced and the full-fledged infrastructure would rather be complementary and beneficial to the local communities. The concept and the design of the Institute are such that it nourishes the ecosystem around. Media also reported that all necessary permissions are in place for the development of the campus. The apprehensions of the local communities were also clarified since there was some misunderstanding on its impacts.This environment-friendly infrastructure would be fully operational very shortly. [10][11] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Water-sports-institute-to-get-new-iconic-building-at-Caranzalem/articleshow/26377677.cms

Publications

NIWS has published two papers with regard to water sports and tourism.

Apart from the two papers, NIWS has also come out with a brochure on Safety Norms for Watersports.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.