Rahul: Congress party has the ability to transform itself

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Congress party has the ability to transform itself, to stand up to the expectations of the people of this country and the Congress party is going to do that.

We work for the people of this nation and it is our duty to listen to you. we are going to do whatever you want us to do to live up to your expectations.

I am going to put all my efforts in transforming the organization of the Congress party and…give you an organization that you can be proud of and has your voice embedded inside it.

The Congress party has a vision and perspective of this country…the BJP has another. Our job is to push our perspective and what we focus on.

My focus is what I can help the people of this country achieve. How can we transform the country to use the power of the youth in this country.

The Congress party, myself, and the Congress party president, would like to congratulate our opponents who have won the elections. – Rahul Gandhi

 

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Delhi Results: Closer Than They Seem?

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Bangalore, December 9^th:

• The Delhi Election Results
  • Outcome of the Delhi election shows extremely tight margins between the two leading parties: BJP and AAP.
  • Such close races exemplify the possibility of swinging electoral outcomes through the manipulation of an imperfectly maintained voter list.
  • Two pieces of data: 1) comparing margins of victory in ACs where the AAP lost to voter-list error rates and 2) sky-high numbers of additions to the voter list in a short-time period against low numbers of deletions, illustrate how errors in the voter list can undermine a democratic system.

 

• Margins of Victory
  • The below table illustrates the ACs in which the AAP margin of loss was approximately 5,000 votes or less.
  • In these AC’s, this margin was a fraction of the percentage of ‘Phantom Voter’ names requiring deletion from the voter list in those ACs.
    • The rate of ‘Phantom Voters’, or errors, in the list come from the recent Proper URban Electoral (PURE) List Study conducted by Janaagraha, a Bangalore-based not for profit, which found an average of 20% error in the voter lists of Delhi. 
  • The data illustrates that even if only a handful (in many cases less than 10%) of these Phantom Votes are cast, the outcome of the entire election could have changed.

 

• More Additions, Less Deletions: Too Much Strain on the System
  • These concerns are exacerbated by increased weight on the system at the time of elections.
  • As the table below indicates, the management of the voter list in the year running up to this election reports a clear bias towards addition of new names on the list over deletion of errors.

 

• This is seen by Janaagraha’s experience in Bangalore where 80% of verification officers are not present on the ground.
• Raising the machinery to cope with this influx of additions, while maintaining checks and balances, is highly unlikely as the Election Commission (EC) relies on overstretched local-level resources. 
• The EC themselves are aware this type of fraud occurs. They publically addressed a massive scandal in August 2013 where: 80 EC officials were arrested for taking bribes, 20,000 households were found with ‘inflated’, likely fraudulent, family members, and a number of migrants were found to have false voter cards.
• Political capture of votes has evolved. Getting bogus names on the voter list during a time of massive additions is not a difficult task. A ration card or a lease is sufficient as proof of residence for adding a name to the voter list.  As ration cards are provided at the municipal level and leases do not involve government machinery, falsifying records is possible.
•  In the seven weeks between September and October end, the number of additions were almost 5 lakh as compared to only 60 thousands deletions- i.e. deletions went down to 12% of additions. This indicates a massive upsurge of additions in a very short time-frame, from 800 additions per month in Jan- Sep, to 3,500 per month in September to October- a 400% increase.

 

• The Need For PURE Voter Lists
  • The above two pieces of data demand close scrutiny of processes meant to safeguard the voter list.
  • The outcome of the Delhi Election illustrates the importance of ensuring Proper URban Electoral (PURE) Lists, to rule out the real possibility of strategic casting of phantom votes, particularly in areas with incredibly tight margins.
  •  This data should create a stronger call to action for a more robust system to maintain voter lists and for the ECI to release further data on hourly voter turn- out by polling booth and comparative data on registered voters contrasted by votes cast.

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Jaypee Company! stop killing Alaknanda

10122013

• Jaypee Company! stop killing Alaknanda : People will take their own action
• NGT orders Jt. Secretary, MoEF to present in court for the matter

            See photos on our blog <matuganga.blogspot.in>, taken on 29th November

Environment violations are continued by Jaypee Company in Vishnuprayag Hydro Electric project on River Alaknanda in Uttarakhand. It is a well known truth that on 16^th-17^th June, 2013 the gates of the Vishnuprayag Hydro Electric Project was not opened by the JAYPEE Company due to which a lot of muck got accumulated in the dam reservoir and a lake was formed which broke gates and created lot of destruction in the villages at the dam downstream. This also caused huge destruction to the environment. There is no plan yet to compensate this damage.

Even after continued agitations and reminder to government officials by affected people, the JAYPEE Company has not started following environmental safeguards of the region affected by the debris of the dam project while clearing the dam reservoir. No attention is being paid for the future protection of the areas downstream of the dam.

“Vishnuprayag Bandh Aapda Prabhavit Sangh” wrote a letter to Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttarakhand and District Forest Officer Mr. Rajeev Dhimanji about this continuing violation demanding “necessary steps to stop this, otherwise we will be left with no other choice but to stop this wrong doing on our own.” This letter was signed by Kishor Panwar, Navin Chowhan, Nikhil Panwar, Govind Panwar and others.

They wrote in the letter that this violation has been published in various newspapers and TV channels many times. On 29^th November, 2013 the District Forest Officer went to examine the site. He told us that in October the forest department fined the JAYPEE Company Rs. 1 lakh. He also said that, District Forest Officer is responsible to decide the amount of the fine.

There has been no change in the condition of the above specified area from October till now. Instead, the JAYPEE Company is violating the environmental standards and depositing the debris everywhere, including the river Alaknanda. It seems, as if they have bought the license of violating environmental standards by paying the Rs. 1 lakh fine. From 29^th November till today no move has been made by the District Forest Officer Rajeev Dhiman to stop this.

The Central Environmental and the Forest Ministry and the Government administration of Uttarakhand is not taking any action against this which is quite surprising to us. Matu Jansagthan also filed a case in National Green Tribunal on environment violation done by the project proponent of Vishnupryag HEP. The interim order in the last hearing on 20 November, the National Green Tribunal says -

“Despite service, nobody is present on behalf of Ministry of Environment and Forests (for short ‘MoEF’). It is strange phenomenon that despite oral directions, letters written to the MoEF and the matter being mentioned in the Meeting where Joint Secretary, Mr. Surjit Singh was present, nobody is appearing on behalf of the MoEF in the case. Presence of MoEF in this matter, which is of very serious consequences in relation to dumping of muck in the river Alaknanda, is essential before the Tribunal. It may be noticed that despite service and information, Counsel are not appearing in number of cases. Let Joint Secretary, Mr. Surjit Singh, who is dealing with the affairs of National Green Tribunal, be personally present in this case on the next date of hearing and shall produce the records in the case.”

And JAYPEE Co. has not yet filed their reply in this case. They are taking more time. It shows that they are playing their tactics to delay the matter. This is a major question which is related directly to the future of the affected areas.

On the international day for Human Rights we declare we will fight from ground to court for justice.

Vimalbhai, Dinesh Panwar

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Liberating Radio News from Government

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Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP)
In partnership with
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES)
Invite you to,
A Panel Discussion on
Liberating Radio News from Government
Saturday, 14 December 2013
India International Centre – Annexe
Lecture Room No. 2 (Basement)
10 am to 1 pm
Followed by Lunch

PANELISTS
Ashish Sen
Arti Jaiman
Vinod Pavarala
N. Ramakrishnan
Kamal Kant Jaswal
Prashant Bhushan
Moderator
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
( see attached poster)
India is perhaps the only democracy in the world where news on radio is still monopolized by the government. A PIL to free radio news from government control has been admitted by the Supreme Court.
Panelists:

Ashish Sen is President , ex Officio AMARC Asia-Pacific and Member AMARC -International Governance Committee. He was earlier the Director at VOICES, a Bangalore-based development communications NGO, Ashish is actively working on taking messages across and strengthening accountability linkages between government and citizenry.

Arti Jaiman is the Station Director of Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio Station, a Community Radio Station that broadcasts in Hindi and Haryanvi for a target audience consisting of Gurgaon’s villagers and migrant workers. Arti is an active participant in the advocacy movement for community media in India through the Community Radio Forum of India, as well as AMARC, the world association of community radio broadcasters. She is a former arts journalist at The Economic Times, as well as co-founder and director of Pitara, a media company for children.

Kamal Kant Jaswal ( Rtd IAS) is the Director of Common Cause, an organization dedicated to redress the common problems of the people. Kamal Jaiswal served in the UP cadre of the IAS for over 36 years. During his career in the IAS, Kamal Jaiswal held a number of important positions in the field as well as the State and Central secretariat. During his long public career, Kamal Jaiswal specialized in rural development, industrial planning & promotion , public enterprise policy and privatization.

N. Ramakrishnan is the General Secretary, Community Radio Forum India and the Founder/Director of Ideosync Media Combine, a communication for social change organization. Mr.Ramakrishnan has worked on a number of behaviour change communication tools, including the National Award winning film Nirankush (1997), on female infanticide in the Indian state of Rajasthan; and the acclaimed Growing Up/Badhte Hum/Time of Our Lives (1998-2007) video module series on reproductive and sexual health for young people. In 2008, he authored a UNESCO commissioned manual on community radio technology, entitled CR: A User’s Guide to the Technology.

Prof. Vinod Pavarala teaches development communication, cultural studies, and research methodology at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad. Earlier Prof. Pavarala taught at the University of Pittsburgh , Virginia Tech ( Blacksburg , USA ), and IIT-Bombay. He is the author of Interpreting Corruption: Elite Perspectives in India (Sage, 1997) and co Author Other Voices: the struggle for community radio in India ( Sage in 2007) . Prof Pavarala is the Founder-President of the Community Radio Forum—India and is the UNESCO Chair on Community Media, the only one of its kind in the world.

Adv Prashant Bhushan is a senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and the counsel for the PIL field by an NGO Common Cause, seeking permission for private FM and community radio stations to air news. Prashant is well known figure in India for filling Public Interest Litigation for social awareness and exposing corruption cases.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is member of the Governing council of the Foundation for Media Professionals and is an independent journalist and an educator. His work experience spanning nearly 35 years, cuts across different media: print, radio, television and documentary cinema. He is a writer, speaker, anchor, interviewer and a commentator.

–
ninglun

Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP)
http://www.fmp.org.in

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Swami Haridas-Tansen Sangeet – Nritya Mahotsav

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 Swami Haridas-Tansen Sangeet – Nritya Mahotsav to be held on 16^th, 17^th & 18^thJanuary 2014 at 6:45 P:M at Shankar Lal Hall, Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. I shall be grateful if you can cover this news item, viz “Swami Haridas-Tansen Sangeet – Nritya Mahotsav” in your Newspaper/ Magazine.

 

Attached please find the letter to editor.

 

Thanking you,

 

With Regards,

 

for Bhartiya Sangeet Sadan

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Monday events Photographed

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Wishing Mrs. Sonia Gandhi a very Happy Birthday

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Wishing Mrs. Sonia Gandhi a very Happy Birthday! Hopefully she continues to lead us for many years to come ‪#‎MNREGA‬ # INCGreetings

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Analysis of Financial, Criminal Background and Other Details of Newly Elected MLAs in the Delhi

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Analysis of Financial, Criminal Background and Other Details of Newly Elected MLAs in the Delhi Assembly Elections, 2013

Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Delhi Election Watch (DEW) have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of all 70 newly elected MLAs in the Delhi 2013 Assembly Elections. Detailed reports in Hindi and English are attached with this mail

Summary and Highlights:

Asset and Criminal background Comparison of Re-elected MLAs:

·        Number of Re-elected MLAs: Delhi Election Watch has analysed the affidavits of all 22 re-elected MLAs.

 Re-elected Winners with Criminal Cases: There are 15 re-elected MLAs who have declared criminal cases in 2013. Out of these 15 re-elected MLAs, 10 had declared criminal cases in the last assembly elections too.

 Average Asset growth of Re-elected MLAs in 2013 Elections: The average asset of these 22 re-elected MLAs now in 2013 is Rs 14.22 Crores. The average assets of these 22 MLAs in 2008 was Rs. 3.24 Crores. The average asset growth of these 22 re-elected MLAs is 338% or by Rs. 10.97 Crores.

Party Wise Average Asset Increase: 13 re-elected MLAs of BJP have shown an average asset increase of 392%or Rs 14.10 Crores. Similarly for 8 re-elected MLAs of INC the average asset increase is 237% or  Rs 7.20 Crores. 1re-elected MLA of JD(U) has shown an average increase in assets of 164% or Rs 45.89 Lakhs.

·Highest growth In Assets in 5 years (2008-2013): The maximum growth in assets has been for Sat Prakash Rana of BJP from Bijwasan Constituency. He has declared an increase of Rs. 105.51 Crores (1652%) i.e from Rs. 6.38 Crores in 2008 to Rs. 111.89 Crores in 2013(Sat Prakash Rana has not declared the value of two vehicles in his 2008 affidavit). Assets of Devender Yadav of INC from Badli Constituency have increased by Rs 20.04 Crores (271%),i.e. from Rs. 7.38 Crores in 2008 to Rs 27.43 Crores in 2013(Devender Yadav has not declared the value of two vehicles and two LIC policies in his 2008 affidavit). Assets of Dharm Dev Solanki of BJP from Palam Constituency have risen by Rs 18.01 Crores (191%), from Rs 9.42 Crores in 2008 to Rs 27.43 Crores in 2013 (Dharm Dev Solanki has not declared value of two vehicles and LIC policy of Rs. 6 Lakhs has not been considered in his 2008 affidavit).

Financial, Criminal and Other details of newly elected MLAs in the Delhi Assembly Elections, 2013

Party Name	Total number of MLAs analyzed	Crorepati MLAs	% Crorepatis	Average Assets (Rs.)	MLAs with declared Criminal Cases	% of MLAs with declared criminal cases	Male MLAs	Female MLAs
BJP	31	30	97%	Rs 12,49,21,821 ~ 12 Crore+	17	55%	31	0
Aam Aadmi Party	28	12	43%	Rs 1,82,29,392 ~ 1 Crore+	3	11%	25	3
INC	8	7	88%	Rs 10,25,13,053 ~ 10 Crore+	2	25%	8	0
SAD	1	1	100%	Rs 2,35,51,23,043 ~ 235 Crore+	1	100%	1	0
IND	1	1	100%	Rs 1,57,65,257 ~ 1 Crore+	1	100%	1	0
JD(U)	1	0	0%	Rs 73,95,822 ~ 73 Lacs+	1	100%	1	0
All Parties	70	51	73%	Rs 10,83,05,542 10 Crore+	25	36%	67	3

Table: Party wise summary details

Financial:

Crorepati MLAs: 51 (73%) out of 70 MLAs are crorepatis. In 2008, 47 (69%) MLAs were crorepatis.

Party Wise Crorepati MLAs: 30 (97%) out of 31 BJP MLAs are crorepatis while 12 (43%) out of 28 MLAs of AAP are crorepatis. There are 7 crorepati MLAs from INC and one MLA from SAD. The only Independent MLA is also a crorepati.

Average Assets: The average asset per MLA in the Delhi 2013 Assembly Elections is Rs. 10.83 Crores. In 2008, it was Rs. 2.94 Crores.

Comparison of Crorepati MLAs (2008-2013):

Party Name	Delhi 2013 Assembly Elections			Delhi 2008 Assembly Elections
	Total number of MLAs analyzed	Crorepati MLAs	Percentage of Crorepati MLAs	Total number of MLAs analyzed	Crorepatis MLAs	Percentage of Crorepati MLAs
BJP	31	30	97%	23	19	83%
AAM AADMI PARTY	28	12	43%	0	0	0%
INC	8	7	88%	40	25	63%
IND	1	1	100%	1	1	100%
Others	2	1	50%	4	2	50%
Total	70	51	73%	68	47	69%

Table: Comparison of crorepati MLAs

Party-wise Average Assets: The average asset per MLA for BJP is Rs.12.49 Crores, for AAP it is Rs.1.82 Crore and for INC it is Rs 10.25 Crores.

Highest Asset MLAs: Top 3 MLAs with highest declared assets are Manjinder Singh Sirsa of SAD from Rajouri garden constituency with declared assets of Rs.235.51 Crores followed by Sat Prakash Rana of BJP from Bijwasan constituency with assets worth Rs. 111.89 Crores and Dharm dev Solanki of BJP from Palam constituency with declared assets worth Rs.27.43 Crores.       .

·Chances of Winning for a Crorepati Candidate: The chances of winning for crorepati candidates is as high as 26% while the same for candidates with low assets is 7%.

Party	Total No. of Candidates analyzed	Crorepati Candidates	Candidates with low assets (Less than 1 Crore)	Total No. of Winners	Crorepati Winners		Winners with low assets (Less than 1 Crore)	Chances of winning for crorepati candidates (No. of Crorepati Winners / No. of Crorepati Candidates	Chances of Winning for Candidates with Low Assets (No. of winners with Low Assets/No. of Candidates with Low Assets)
BJP	68	58	10	31	30	1		52%	10%
AAM AADMI PARTY	70	33	37	28	12	16		36%	43%
INC	70	61	9	8	7	1		11%	11%
SAD	2	2	0	1	1	0		50%	-
IND	218	37	181	1	1	0		3%	0%
JD(U)	27	7	20	1	0	1		0%	5%
Total	455	198	257	70	51	19		26%	7%

Table: Chances of winning for crorepati candidates

Low Asset MLAs: Dharmender Singh Koli of AAP from Seemapuri constituency has declared lowest assets worth Rs. 20,800 followed by Rakhi Birla of AAP from Mangolpuri constituency with assets worth Rs. 51,150and Akhilesh Pati tripathi of AAP from Model Town has declared assets worth Rs. 1.59 Lakhs.

High Liability MLAs: A total of 12 MLAs have declared liabilities of Rs. 1 Crore and above. The top three MLAs with highest declared liabilities are Manjinder Singh Sirsa of SAD from Rajouri Garden Constituency with declared liabilities worth Rs. 32.01 Crores, followed by Veena Anand of AAP from Patel Nagar Constituency with liabilities of Rs. 7.60 Crores and Nand Kishore Garg of BJP from Trinagar Constituency with declared liabilities of Rs. 5.59 Crores.

Undeclared PAN : Dharmender Singh Koli of AAP from Seemapuri constituency is the only MLA who has not declared his PAN details.

MLAs who have not declared their ITR: 7 MLAs declared that they have not filed their Income Tax Returns.

Highest Income declared in their last ITR: Manjinder Singh Sirsa of SAD from Rajouri Garden constituency has declared the highest income in his ITR of Rs.1.50 Crore followed by Sat Prakash Rana of BJP from Bijwasan constituency with an income of Rs. 83.45 Lakhs and Manoj Kumar Shokeen of BJP from Nangloi Jat constituency has declared an income ofRs. 63.68 Lakhs.

Criminal:

MLAs with Criminal Cases: 36% or 25 of the 70 MLAs have declared criminal cases against them. In 2008, 43% MLAs had declared criminal cases.

Party-Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: BJP has 17 out of 31 (55%), AAP has 3 out of 28(11%) and INC has 2 out of 8 (25%) MLAs who have declared criminal cases. One MLA from JD(U), one from SAD (Akali Dal) and one independent MLA have declared criminal cases against them.

MLAs with Serious Criminal Cases:  Out of the 25 MLAs with criminal cases, 20 MLAs have declared serious criminal cases like attempt to murder, dacoity and assault against women etc.

Candidates with serious criminal cases who lost the election: Out of 94 candidates who contested with serious criminal cases in Delhi Assembly Elections, 74 candidates lost the elections.

Comparison of MLAs with criminal cases (2008-2013):

Party Name	Delhi 2013 Assembly Elections					Delhi 2008 Assembly Election
	Total number of MLAs analyzed	MLAs with declared Criminal Cases	% of MLAs with declared criminal cases	MLAs with serious declared criminal cases

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Charity drive associated with Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2013

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Charity drive associated with Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2013 poised for a substantial increase Concern Indian Foundation

                                                                           December 9, 2013

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, the worldⳠmost prestigious half marathon, will see a huge increase in the participation of physically disabled and no. of causes from the NGOs in the ninth edition, which will be flagged off from the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday, 15^th December, 2013.

Concern India Foundation informed the media on Monday that ADHM have allowed all physically disabled people to run at the 4-km შampions with Disability⬠which was earlier restricted to wheelchair runners only. Hence this year the participation in this category has increased by 100 per cent.

Nidhi Singh, Director, Concern India Foundation said they raised 4.2 crores last year and the amount benefitted 50 NGOs. 㔨is year 101 NGOs and 22 corporate will support the charity drive in two categories – Dream Makers and Dream Challengers and we all are aiming more than previous year. There is also 27% increase in the women participants䬠she informed during the press conference.

Mr. Dilip Jayaram, CEO Procam International said: ねongst the five ᰩllars of distance running⬠one is შarity⮠ADHM gives citizens an opportunity to convert from arm chair cynics to active crusaders.䠈e further added that this year there will be 31,700 runners and more than 100 causes, 33% hike from last year.

Mr. Jayaram also supports Sense International, an Allahabad based NGO, which is promoted by Zamir Dhale. Zamir, a deaf, dumb and blind, trained Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee in the movie Black.

Zamir expressed his views by using a laptop, said: ね glad to be a hear today as part of Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and am happy this platform serves an opportunity to people to achieve their dreams. I recently attended the Helen Keller International conference and this helped me learn a lot. ItⳠimportant, that all people here need to learn to communicate with deaf and blind by writing on palm and help them to be independent. It will give them immense confidence.伯span>

Mr. Arun Kumar Jain, Managing Director of Fluor CorporationⳠIndia entity informed the media that there are around 100 corporate teams will participate in ADHM 2013.  Fluor CorporationⳠIndia organises camps for child welfare, women issues etc. They work with Mahavir Internationals, Jaipur Foot, Leprosy India, Khushboo, etc.

㔨rough the combined effort of the organisers, NGOs and, of course, the participants and donors, people have come to recognise the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon as an event that combines the spirit of sportsmanship with that of charity. It is easy to donate money but itⳠnot easy to donate time䬠Mr. Jain stated.

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is not just a sporting event or a means to raise funds, rather it is a coming together of people. It is an event that allows NGOs, corporates and individuals to work together to create a positive and lasting impact on the lives of those who need it the most.

For further information, please contact:

CONCEPT PR

Animesh Biswas +91 9891789639 animesh@conceptpr.com
Abhay Pratap Singh +91 9818413169 abhay@conceptpr.com

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Foreign Exchange Earnings from Tourism grow at 21.8% during 2012

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Foreign Exchange Earnings from Tourism grow at 21.8% during 2012

According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, June 2013, India stood at 16^th rank in the World Tourism Receipts during 2012. However, among the Asia & Pacific Region India ’s rank was 7^th in terms of tourism receipts during 2012.

In order to boost country’s tourism, the Government of India has amended its Visa Manual to extend the collective landing permits facility with effect from 1^st April 2013. Further, foreign tourists in groups of four or more arriving by air or sea and sponsored by Indian travel agencies approved by the Ministry of Tourism and with a pre-drawn itinerary will be granted collective landing permit for a period not exceeding 60 days, with multiple entry facilities. The total airports operating the Tourist Visa on arrival facility this year has also gone upto 8 with addition of 4 more airports. Other facilities include simplification of conference visas which does not require a 60 day gap between two consecutive visits by an international tourist to India .

The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) through tourism in India during recent years

Year	FEEs (in Rs. crore)	Growth over previous year (%)
2008	51,294	15.6
2009	53,700	4.7
2010	64,889	20.8
2011	77,591	19.6
2012	94,487	21.8

 Source: PHD Research Bureau, compiled from Ministry of Tourism

In addition, the Ministry of Tourism, as part of its on-going activities, annually releases print, electronic, online and outdoor media campaigns in the international and domestic markets, under the Incredible India brand-line, to promote various tourism destinations and products of the country and to increase foreign tourist arrivals to the country. A series of promotional activities are undertaken in important and potential tourist generating markets overseas through India tourism offices abroad with the objective of showcasing India ’s tourism potential and increasing tourist arrivals to the country. These promotional activities include participation in travel fairs and exhibitions; organising road shows, know India seminars & workshops; organizing and supporting Indian food and cultural festivals; publication of brochures; offering joint advertising and brochure support and inviting media personalities, tour operators and opinion makers to visit the country under the Hospitality Programme of the Ministry.

The Ministry of Tourism also provides financial assistance to stakeholders and all States/Union Territory Tourism Departments for promotion of tourism in the international markets under the Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme. Other efforts made by Ministry of Tourism to boost tourist inflow include promoting safe & honourable tourism, improving the facilities for foreign and domestic tourists, creation/ upgradation of tourism infrastructure, wayside amenities, providing last mile connectivity, increasing the availability of trained manpower, etc.

Warm regards,

Dr. S P Sharma

Chief Economist

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Angad Cheema triumphs at Dialog Enterprise International

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Angad Cheema triumphs at Dialog Enterprise International, records second professional win

Colombo, Sri Lanka, December 8, 2013: Indian rookie Angad Cheema recorded his second professional win and maiden title on the PGTI after he triumphed at the Dialog Enterprise International played at the Royal Colombo Golf Club in Sri Lanka. Cheema fired a score of 14 in the final round to take his total to 66 points for the week. Sri Lankan N Thangaraja finished two points behind the winner to claim the runner-up spot.

The scoring format for the tournament was Modified Stableford. As per this format, Par = 0 points, One over = -1 point, Double bogey and worse = -3 points, No score returned = -3 points, One under = 3 points, Two under = 5 points, Three under = 8 points.

The 23-year-old Angad Cheema, who had also won on the PGTI Feeder Tour earlier this year, led from round one to the end, having shot scores of 24, 10, 18 and 14. Angad made an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys in the final round to claim his second professional title and climb from fifth to third position on the Rolex Rankings.

Cheema said, “My father advised me to go out and play good golf and not worry about the format and scoring before the start of this tournament. His advice helped me a great deal. This win means a lot to me and has given me immense satisfaction and confidence going forward. My hitting and putting was excellent throughout the tournament.

“I had a slow start as I made a few bogeys in the initial stages. However, I did well to comeback with an eagle and four birdies thereafter. It’s been a great rookie season for me so far as I’ve had three other top-5 finishes on the PGTI and another top-10 besides a victory on the PGTI Feeder Tour. I learnt a lot from my experiences during the season which helped me break the victory barrier here,” added the Chandigarh-based Cheema.