Some universities and institutes have started courses in disaster management. IGNOU was the first to offer a six-month certificate course in disaster management for plus two students. The programme is offered through distance mode and provides students with information on disasters - the causes and effects; factors, significance, disaster preparedness; prevention; mitigation; relief; reconstruction and rehabilitation. In addition, IGNOU also offers a comprehensive programme on community awareness in disaster preparedness.

The PRT Institute of Post Graduate Environmental Education and Research, Maidangarhi Marg, New Delhi, in association with Barkatullah Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, offers a two-year Master’s in Disaster Control to graduates or working professionals through distance learning. The institute is engaged in training, research and consultancy in the areas of disaster management, risk analysis, sustainable development, environmental impact assessment, pollution control and monitoring with the idea of optimal development of a global sustainable society. The institute, in association with the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences, Gangtok, also offers a Master’s in Disaster Mitigation for graduates in any discipline. Disaster mitigation includes activities that prevent a disaster and reduce the chance of a calamitous event, or lessen their damaging effects.

New Delhi, Aug. 12 (PTI), the holiday skiing for a long time, the domain of the rich, but it could change radically in the coming years if the Himalayas-Ski Village in Kullu Valley is ready, taste Indian this spectacular sport as a way of life less than Rs 3000 for one night.

The detailed report for the proposed 350 million euros ski village of Alfred Ford, the rear of founder Henry Ford, Ford Motor, was signed by the government and Himachal Pradesh, the company now has clearance Environment for the Union, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF).

500 pages, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report Bhopal-Indian Institute of Forest Management to propose ways to mitigate the effects of the project on the local ecology, the MEF-Himalayan Ski Village Managing Director John Sims told PTI.

“He (EIA) is in the queue. (Clearance) may be two months or six months …” He said.

Once the shares was received, work on the project could begin as early as January 2008, some hotels and property in 2010.

“We have a number of Hotel Prices from Rs 3000 for a night of Rs 15000 per night. We R 3000 rooms in abundance for the (average) families,” said Sims, and added that people would only pay for the stay, as the hills, skiing free.

When finished, the ski village was a mid-size Olympic ski with the standards, with an international standard for ski lift skiers up the hill. The place itself is 150 hectares is located at an altitude of 8000 m, for skiing is possible to 14000 feet above the Kullu valley, also known as the Valley of the Gods, is one of the best skiing holidays Helicopter goals.

The ski village would also ski equipment and training for tourists, and, in Swiss skier abgeseilt Laurenzo Gottardi educate trainers. Already, ski in the circle for the locals were in Finland, training, mentoring, in addition to panchayats learned about tourism management ski his Finnish colleague.

Gottardi, holders of a Ph D, is studying the impact of tourism on villages in Kullu in 1992 for his doctoral thesis, Sims noted.

The villages of ski-project, which is the largest foreign direct investment in tourism Indian Instead, a group of 20 friends-turned-investors led by Ford and Sims, and has nothing to do with the company Ford Motor. Most of the money, but he would have liked, by institutional investors, “said Sims.