Category Archives: MOT

The WHO is yet to reach a consensus on the vaccine passport issue for allowing international travel to those fully vaccinated against the coronavirus infection. Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, “We will take necessary steps when we are able to reach a consensus at the world and WHO level on vaccine passport issue,” while responding to reports claiming people who took Covaxin may not be allowed to travel internationally as WHO hasn’t included it in its list of vaccines.

Tourism department started a special vaccination drive for the people associated with travel and hospitality sector in the age group of 18 to 45 years at TRC Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg. Dedicated vaccination centres have been established for centralised and fast-tracked coverage of all identified beneficiaries after proper verification. It has also allocated nodal officers and help desks at each centre.

Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW) through the Directorate General of Lighthouses & Lightships (DGLL) has decided to promote the Lighthouses across India as tourism destinations & means of promoting Lighthouse Tourism in India. Hence, they have invited agencies either individually or in consortium to submit nonbinding expressions of interest (EOI) about the development at the selected 65 Lighthouse locations across the country. The purpose of this invitation is to obtain response from interested parties pertaining to the range of indicative project components, capital investment that can be proposed, suggestions for making this initiative & PPP development a success and to obtain feedback on any other concerns / issues, if any are being anticipated.

Lily Pandeya has been appointed as the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture. Pandeya is a 1998 batch Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer. According to the order released by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, she will be assuming charge of the post for a tenure of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Before this, Pandeya was appointed as the Executive Director, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Government of India.

Speaking at the International Conference on Agri-Tourism 2021, Aditya Thackeray, Minister for Tourism & Environment, Government of Maharashtra, said, “More than 60% of the country’s population engage in agriculture and it therefore crucial to link agriculture to tourism. Agri-tourism is instrumental for employment generation and economic improvement especially in these pandemic times when people have lost jobs.”

Union culture minister Prahlad Singh Patel shared a notification that stated that the Archaeological Survey of India has decided to keep all its monuments closed till May 31, or until further orders, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 15, ASI announced the closure of all the centrally-protected monuments under ASI till May 15.

Sharing his views on how adventure tourism in India can be developed, Mandeep S Lamba, MRICS, President (South Asia), HVS Anarock, says, “The government’s adventure tourism guidelines should be implemented and executed uniformly across the country to ensure consistency. It is imperative to establish high standards of safety by leveraging the best practices from popular global adventure travel destinations such as New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.”

Calling tourist guides the backbone of tourism in India, Tapan Kumar Mishra, National Tourism Awardee for Best Tourist Guide (Odisha), says, “If taxi drivers are eligible for a monthly Covid allowance of Rs 5,000 by the Delhi government, why not tourist guides from the Ministry of Tourism? Kerala has provided one-time help of Rs 10,000 to 328 guides. Why is MoT asking them not to take up any other job without providing them any help during off-season or during a pandemic?”

Tourism Minister PS Patel has said that the focus of the Ministry of Tourism post-COVID will be on promoting offbeat destinations and activities such as eco-tourism, wellness retreats and mountaineering, among others. He also added, “India would like to offer to the world, post COVID-19, calm, peace and health through yoga, Ayurveda and other forms of traditional treatments and spiritual surroundings.”

Amid speculations about the increase in Travel Allowance (TA) of the central government employees after the central government’s announcement of the restoration of Dearness Allowance (DA) from the month of July, a report has clarified that according to 7th CPC matrix calculation rule, the TA will not rise despite the rise of DA as the current DA is not 25 per cent and above. As the existing DA of the central government employees is 17 per cent, TA hike from July is not going to be applicable.