Tag Archives: Joint Secretary

TAFI to host their convention in Kuching, Malaysia with 700 delegates from 20-23 September 2022. Exclusively for the members, it will have 550 TAFI members and 200 Malaysian delegates. “We want to educate the members, add value to the people who attend the convention and improve the business”, said Anil Kalsi, Joint Secretary, TAFI.

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.

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.

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has proposed 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process, and is focused on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, says, “This round invites bids for priority routes which have not been covered under UDAN so far.”

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, has said that tourism and civil aviation have been complementing each other for a long time. “By working together these sectors can achieve all objectives. We have the coordination committee at the level of Secretary, which MOT is also part of and under UDAN, we have regular meetings, where they communicate their requests, based on their stakeholders’ inputs,” she said.

Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has said that as part of Champions Services Sector, an amount has been earmarked for development of tented accommodation in the Buddhist Circuit. “We are aware that people from China and Southeast Asia travel to places of Buddhist interest, but don’t come to India,” he said.

Rakesh Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, shares that there is a need to market India as a M!CE destination. “We have to aggressively market India as a MICE destination. The Government has to back the industry in bringing more events and conventions. Our missions abroad can be of great help. It impacts tourism, hospitality, event management and host of other people in the supply chain. India has great potential for MICE industry. The challenge is how to build a string brand India for conventions and events, while backing it up by delivering on the premises. The Government and the industry must jointly build India as a MICE destination.”

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, has been given the additional charge of Director General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). In a Tweet announcing the appointment, Padhee revealed that she is the first woman to have been appointed to the post. Padhee succeeds IPS officer Rakesh Asthana, who has been appointed as the Director General of Border Security Force (BSF).

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has set up a single-window clearance mechanism to expedite various investment proposals in the domestic aviation industry. “MoCA has an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) for prompt assistance and clearance,” the ministry mentioned in a tweet recently. According to MoCA the setting up of the ICC was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2020-2021 Union Budget in February this year. The cell was also set up following an order from the Department of Promotion of Industry (DPIT) on July 1 in this regard. The 10-member ICC will be headed by Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, MoCA. The ICC has been mandated to serve as a single-window system for attracting investment and its terms of reference include accelerating investments, bringing projects to the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) which require special incentive, policy interventions, expeditious clearances and systematic references, among others, the MoCA order said.

The team of Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), recently met Kamlesh Varshney, Joint secretary, TPL, Ministry of Finance, to apprise him of situations arising currently on tourism industry because of TCS. In a statement by the association, it was mentioned, “We requested that TCS be not implemented and deferred in present situation. He assured that our request will be positively looked into and they would consider our request of rolling back of the law, and if rollback is not possible then deferment will be considered.” Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI; Shravan Bhalla, Gen. Secretary; Guldeep Singh Sahni, Former President and Rajeev Sabharwal, Former Treasurer, met the Joint Secretary to voice their concerns.