Sminu Jindal Advocates for Accessibility in Indian Tourism as Major Events Approach, ETHospitalityWorld

Sminu Jindal, founder and chairperson of Svayam.With India set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and actively bidding for the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the urgency to make the country’s infrastructure and tourist destinations more accessible has never been greater. Sminu Jindal, director of Jindal SAW Ltd. and founder-chairperson of Svayam, a NGO working towards making public spaces including tourist attractions and destinations accessible for all sorts of people, felt that the time to act is now.

“It is the right time to start the foundation work because with the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games come the Para Games. To be able to completely sustain ourselves through that is what we want to do,” Jindal told ETHospitalityWorld on the sidelines of a strategic conclave on world heritage monuments and sustainable tourism by UNESCO in Delhi recently.

She believed that accessible tourism was not just a social responsibility but a major economic opportunity for any country.

“Once somebody comes all the way from any part of the world to India—known for its hospitality—tourism automatically benefits. It will be an opportunity to earn a whole lot of foreign exchange if we align ourselves with accessibility,” she said.

In order to educate and spread awareness about the value of accessible public spaces can unlock, Svayam, her accessibility-focused NGO, was organising a national summit in Delhi on November 6 to push this agenda forward. The day-long event will bring together stakeholders from sports, tourism, transport, and ICT through panel discussions, with recommendations to be presented to governments for policy action.

“We do plan to take hospitality into account. We will be talking to hotel chains, B&B operators, and the larger travel ecosystem, because the more we spread the message across platforms, the more people will understand the benefits of making destinations and services accessible,” Jindal said.

Jindal, who has been championing accessibility for over two decades, points to past successes.

“In 2011, after we made Qutub Minar accessible, its collections surpassed those of the Red Fort and Humayun’s Tomb put together. Was it accessibility that made the difference? The numbers speak for themselves,” she said.

Over the years, Svayam had intervened at monuments such as Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal, Jallianwala Bagh, and Pinjore Gardens, often pro bono before government funding mechanisms were established.

Despite progress, she admitted India had only scratched the surface.

“If you look at our 25 years of work, it may seem like a lot. But for a country as vast as India, it is not even a drop in the ocean. We need more people, more planners, and more institutions to integrate accessibility right from the start,” she said.

On the international front, Jindal suggested that agencies like UNESCO should make accessibility an integral parameter before awarding world heritage status for heritage monuments.

“It would be wonderful if that became a requirement, because heritage should be for everyone—be it the elderly or the differently abled,” she said.

She said that the bulk of the people who get attracted to cultural tourism were above 50 and while only 10 percent of the people were born with accessibility issues, the rest of the population acquired disabilities and accessibility issues as they grew older. So there was an obligation for governments across the world to make cultural hot spots accessible to all.

As India prepares for major global sporting events, Jindal believed accessibility must move from being an afterthought to being embedded in all planning.

“What we miss every time is putting this thought in at the planning stage. By creating awareness today, we can make sure tomorrow is taken care of,” she concluded.

• Published On Aug 25, 2025 at 12:00 PM IST

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