Tag Archives: Additional Director General

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General (ADG), Ministry of Tourism will be repatriated to her parent cadre after a proposal of the Ministry of Tourism for her premature repatriation was approved on the grounds of availing the benefit of promotion in the cadre. Rupinder Brar joined the Ministry of Tourism in August 2019.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the tourism industry will experience consistent growth with skilful employees. “To come out successfully from the current crisis, organisations will need to nurture their employees’ digital, cognitive, and resilience skill sets,” she said while speaking at the webinar on ‘Trends in Future Jobs, Skill Development & Training in Travel, Tourism & Hospitality’ organised by FICCI.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, MOT, shares that the emphasis this time of MOT’s international promotional strategy will be on short-haul flights, countries and destinations from where people can actually travel in times to come. “We will be focusing on South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as on tapping new markets,” she says.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that there is a great opportunity to boost domestic tourism or regional tourism by creating synergy between neighbouring states, since most of the people today feel safer while opting for self-drive holidays instead of travelling by air or train. She also said that safety and hygiene will be priorities for tourists because they will travel to destinations only if they are assured that the place they are visiting, eating at and staying in is safe.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has revealed that they have put forth the industry representation and requests in front of the Finance Minister, so that they can work towards reducing the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on businesses. “The industry stakeholders need working capital and they are looking at interventions either from the banking sector in easing out of norms, or they will be looking at support through reduction of taxes. These are the things that would leave money in the hands of the industry as of now. We would be carrying out or taking with us the representation of the industry and the thrust would be that the industry needs to survive so that job losses do not happen. I would refer to the honourable PM’s speech to the nation, where he has himself mentioned that we should make sure that we don’t stop wages of anyone. Hence, all the efforts of the Ministry of Finance would be to ensure that no such job losses happen in the tourism and hospitality sectors.”

The Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC), which was rolled out on January 1, 2020, already has 3200 enrolments, reveals Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General (ADG), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Government of India. She said, “The programme started off really well and there has already been a growing interest of people in joining the programme. Currently, there are about 3200 people who have enrolled for the programme.”

The theme of the Indian delegation at FITUR will be ‘Finding the Incredible You’, revealed Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Tourism. The delegation will be led by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism. To be held from January 22-26, 2020, FITUR is an important market for India. Speaking about the same, Brar said, “Spain is an important market and is itself one of the top countries visited by Indians. So, these are occasions also for us to learn best practices of other counties that come into these events. We look forward to that. As far as showcasing India is concerned, the theme remains ‘Finding the Incredible You’. The idea behind the campaign is that there is so much within us that is not exposed and India is a place that allows you to visit the places and also discover yourself. I am sure that there is so much of spirituality and mysticism attached to India, along with the modernity that is a part of our lives now, we have a unique quality as a country. We are lapping up all the modern technologies, being a cutting edge nation and yet we are carrying along with it all our traditions that are coming to us from thousands of years. That is the USP of our country, and we are looking forward to showcasing that in FITUR also. The Indian delegation is being led by Secretary, Tourism, and he shall be accompanied by the officers of the departments, and the officers that are in Europe will also be part of the delegation.”

The much-awaited revamped ‘Incredible India’ website, which was announced on World Tourism Day on September 27, 2017, is likely to be launched in the next three weeks, revealed Meenakshi Sharma, Additional Director-General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. “We have launched a beta-version of the website recently for trial and are awaiting suggestions. Once that is done, we will be replacing the current website with the new one. The new website is more dynamic and interactive. Also, we will be updating the website after every two months and showcase a new theme.”

All guides with licences issued by ASI and Additional Director General, Tourism, are valid and can enter all the Centrally Protected Monuments including Fatehpur Sikri, till fresh licences are issued under the new Policy, informs Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO quoting Supreme Courts’ order on IATO’s writ petition. IATO had sought clarification on the restricted entry of Regional Level Guides and State Level Guides at Fatehpur Sikri, where only local guides were being allowed to work. This was causing financial burden on IATO members as they had to pay guide fee to their Regional/State Level Guide and the local guide.

Meenakshi Sharma, a 1988 batch officer of the IA&AS, has been appointed as Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism for a period of five years. She will replace Usha Sharma, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.