8 Indian Beaches Awarded Blue Flag Certification - Boost To The Beach Development

What is blue flag certification awarded to 8 Indian beaches?

In recent times, 8 Indian beaches from 5 different states and two union territories of India were awarded a blue flag certification by the Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar.

What is the blue flag certification?

The term at first sounds complicated but isn't very difficult to understand. Let's try to get a better understanding. All across the world, the blue flag certification is one of the most well-known certifications. Having a blue flag certification is a matter of prestige for beaches from all around the world. To attain a blue flag certification, the beach must qualify a set of 33 criteria. The criteria include parameters in various fields, like educational parameters, environmental parameters, safety protocols, and many others.

Who awarded the blue flag certification?

The blue flag certification was originally awarded by an international jury which consisted of renowned organizations like the United Nations environmental program, the union for conservation of Nature, the UN world tourism organization, and the foundation for environmental education.

Why is it prestigious and remarkable?

The blue flag certification brings an added advantage to the esteemed beaches. It was seen as a great feat and received much appreciation from PM Modi and also the union minister Prakash Javadekar. They expressed their joy through the medium of twitter, in their tweet they claimed that the achievement was a rather incredible feat and would provide a huge boom in the tourism of the beaches. The prime minister especially expressed pride and immense pleasure, he also said that this is one step towards the achievement of sustainable development.

This achievement enlists India into the elite list of incredible countries like Japan, South Korea, and the UAE, the only other Asian countries to have established the feat. Only a mere 50 countries out of the 196 countries of the world have been awarded the blue flag certification.

Blue Flag beaches are said to be the cleanest and safest beaches in the world. This would grant a huge boost in the development of the beach and its surrounding areas as it would draw more tourists and hence generate more revenue!

The beaches which have been awarded the blue flag certification 

The list of elite and serene beaches which have been awarded the blue flag certification include,

• The shivrajpur beach in Gujarat
• Ghoghla Beach Diu
• Kasargod Beach, Kerala
• Padubidri beach Karnataka
• Kappad beach, Kerala
• Rushikonda beach  Andhra Pradesh
• The golden beach, Orissa
• Radhanagar beach, Andaman Nicobar islands