Madhya Pradesh’s Ladhpura Khas village has been nominated for the ‘Best Tourism Village’ category in the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) award.

The official said that through rural tourism, tourists can also find accommodation of local cultural specialties, types, and processes of local food, dress, dialect, customs, traditions, local means of transport, jewelry, makeup songs, music, musical instruments, dance, painting, etc.

Apart from Ladhpura Khas village, the two other villages that have made it to the list are Pochampally of Telangana and Kongthong village in Meghalaya.

Kongthong village is also known as ‘Whistling village’ as in this village, a mother calls her child by a tune instead of a name, like–Eeooow, Ooeeo, etc. The villagers have two names in Kongthong-a regular name and a song name. The song names have two versions, a short song, and a long song.

The short song is normally used at home. The longer names are used in the forest to keep away evil spirits.

On the other hand, Bhoodan Pochampally village is located in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana. The village is popular for its weaves, especially handwoven ikkat saris. Besides, the famous Bhoodan movement, which saw rich landowners voluntarily gift a percentage of their lands to the landless, started here.