India, July 19 -- Recently, on my tour to Meghalaya, I travelled by road from Guwahati to Shillong. The road was wide and traffic flowed smoothly. This was once an old, winding road, perilously narrow and choked with traffic, where smoke-emitting lorries made travel miserable. My first stop was at the backwaters of the scenic Umiam lake in Ri Bhoi district. The waters of the rivers, Wah Umkhrah and Wah Umshyrpi, were dammed in the 1960s to harness their hydel power. Today, the man-made lake has also become a hub of water sports and adventure activities. Tourism has given a year-long livelihood opportunity to those in the lake's vicinity, emblematic of the government and citizens' approach to places with potential for tourism. A project tr...