Category Archives: MOT

In a meeting of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, said that India’s scheduled airlines have a fleet of 710 aircraft which is projected to grow to over 1000 aircraft in the next five years. With a new liberalized helicopter policy announced on 8th October, 2021, a significant increase in India’s helicopter fleet is expected over the next five years.

A meeting of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation was held in New Delhi, Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, said that on 21st November, 2021 nearly 3.93 lakh domestic passengers took to the skies, which is nearly 98.7 per cent of the pre-Covid average. He said that the revival of the India aviation market appears to be robust and reversible. The Minister also said that India’s scheduled airlines have a fleet of 710 aircraft, which is projected to grow to over 1000 aircraft in the next five years.

Rakesh Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Verma is a 1993 batch IAS officer from Punjab Cadre. In a recent circular, ACC mentioned that they have approved the in-situ upgradation of many officers to the level of Additional Secretary to the Government of India, as a measure personal to them by temporarily upgrading the post held earlier.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, on his recent visit to Goa, said that the MOT is working in synergy with the Rail Ministry, Civil Aviation and Shipping Ministry to encourage cruise tourism under Sagar Mala. “Cruise tourism will be developed on a mission mode which will greatly benefit Goa,” he said. He also informed that there are plans to connect Chennai, Vizag and Andaman with Goa through cruise tourism.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, told in Lok Sabha that India has sent a proposal to ten countries, including Saudi Arabia, Australia, and New Zealand, that is still pending. While India already has air bubble agreements with a total of 31 countries. International passenger flights are currently being operated in a restricted manner under bilateral air bubble arrangements with various countries.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region – DoNER, distributes loan cheques & sanction letters to registered tour guides and operators in Delhi. During the segment of the event, the representatives from the banks such as Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India & other banks came forward, offering loan schemes on behalf of their banks.

Ministry of Home Affairs has said that they will review the decision on the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international flight service amid the fear of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. MHA, in a high-level review meeting chaired by Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Union Home secretary, has also decided to review the SOPs on testing and surveillance of the arriving international passengers, especially those coming from countries listed in the ‘at risk’ category.

9th International Tourism Mart for the North East Region was held at Kohima, Nagaland recently, where Ajay Bhatt, Minister of State for Tourism & Defence inaugurated the event on Day 1 and addressed at the opening session of Day 2. The event was attended by over 300 delegates including government officials, industry stakeholders and local participants. H Khehovi Yeputhomi, MLA & Advisor Tourism, Government of Nagaland; Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism; Rupinder Brar, ADG Tourism, and other dignitaries of Central government and North Eastern States were also present on the occasion.

According to the third Tourism Satellite Account, tourism sector contributes around 15% in total employment of the country as per 3rd Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. This will be around 228 million jobs (both direct and indirect) due to tourism. This information was given by Minister of Tourism Shri G. Kishan Reddy in reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, has said that MOT started the destination-based skill development training programme at 7 iconic sites in FY 2019-20 to train, upgrade and sensitise the local people residing near the tourism sites and destinations. This programme continued in Financial Year (FY) 2020-21 and upscaled to more than 150 new destinations. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, this programme took place at 44 destinations. This programme is continued during the current FY 2021-22 and has taken place at 24 destinations.v