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Political Diary
Jharkhand Drama: OATH DELAY, POACHING THREAT, By Insaf, 5 February 2024 |
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Round The States
New
Delhi, 5 February 2024
Jharkhand Drama
OATH DELAY, POACHING THREAT
By Insaf
High
drama engulfs Jharkhand. The Champai Soren-led coalition government must win
the trust vote on Monday, which looks certain, but not after guarding itself
against BJP’s alleged attempts of ‘poaching’ some of its MLAs or indulging in
now familiar horse-trading? This, as past week saw political twists and turns.
On Wednesday, ED arrested JMM leader and then chief minister Hemant Soren in a
money laundering and land mafia case. He resigned before ED took him and senior
leader and aide of Shibhu Soren, Champai was named his successor. However, it
took two days for Raj Bhavan to administer him oath, unlike Nitish Kumar, back
with BJP in Bihar who was re-administered oath hours after breaking ties with
RJD.
Anxious
over the delay, JMM-Congress-RJD alliance flew its MLAs (43 in 81-member
Assembly) to Hyderabad, Congress-ruled Telangana soon after the swearing-in
fearing poaching threat and chose to prove its majority within 48 hours instead
of ‘10 days’ given. Predictably, lady luck shall be on Champai’s side given the
‘resort politics’, unlike his predecessor, wherein the Supreme Court refused to
entertain Hemant’s writ petition and interfere with his arrest, “a
well-orchestrated conspiracy” by Centre ahead of general elections and asked it
to approach the High Court. When his lawyers persisted saying “We are dealing
with a chief minister who has been arrested. See the evidence. This is not fair,”,
the top court advised it was at liberty to seek expeditious listing of his
petition before the Jharkhand HC. Sooner the better.
* * * *
Puja At Gyanvapi Mosque
Muslim
organisations under umbrella of AIMPLB (All India Muslim Personal Law Board)
are seeing red. following developments in mosque case. With Varanasi court
allowing puja in the Gyanvapi mosque’s southern cellar and Allahabad High Court
refusing interim stay, the Board said it would go up to Supreme Court. Said its
President Maulana Rahmani: “The court (Varanasi) ruled in haste and other (Muslim)
side wasn’t even given a chance to put arguments in detail. This has hurt minorities
confidence in judiciary.” Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Madani said: “If
such a big minority says it’s losing faith in judiciary, it’s not good for
country.” Noting ‘nation’s dignity and impartiality of judicial system and
administrative affairs being grossly compromised’ the group urged all
constitutional officials to take timely notice of it.” While that’s uncertain, security
was stepped up at the mosque on Friday for prayers as attendance was at its
capacity. Shops in the city and nearby vicinity remained closed as mosque
committee called for a shutdown. Growing tension needs to be nipped in the
bud.
* * * *
‘Fraud
& Forgery’ Poll
The
Chandigarh Mayoral elections continue to be dogged by controversy. AAP-Congress
bloc, confident of victory has alleged the polls were rigged by presiding
officer Anil Masih. BJP BJP candidate
Manoj Sonkar won the top post with 16 votes of 35-member corporation, and bloc candidate
Kuldeep Kumar got 12 votes, with Masih rejecting 8 votes as ‘invalid.’ Alleging
‘complete fraud and forgery’, Kumar promptly
petitioned Punjab & Haryana High Court seeking setting aside of poll; holding
fresh polls under retired HC judge’s supervision; restraining Sonkar from his mayor’s
functions and asking respondents to preserve/present before it entire poll
process, including ballot papers’ record and videography. With the court refusing
interim stay and issuing notices to Chandigarh administration, corporation,
Masih and Sonkar, among others, to file replies within 3 weeks, Kumar
approached Supreme Court for ‘urgent hearing’, challenging HC order ‘as the returning
officer was caught on video smudging the ballots.” The court said it would
consider it. Whoever said time is of the essence.
* * * *
Never
Ending Woes
Delhi
AAP’s woes are never ending. On Saturday last, a Delhi police crime branch team
went to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence to serve him a notice regarding
investigation over his claim that BJP was trying to buy AAP MLAs. But he
refused to take it. At the same time, Kejriwal has refused to appear before the
Enforcement Directorate, its fifth summon for questioning in Delhi excise
policy scam. Recall, that he has termed these notices “illegal” and not in ‘consonance
with the law’ and these be withdrawn. Indeed, AAP fears that the ED shall
arrest the leader, as it has done in Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh’s case
till now and the party would be at a loose end with general elections round the
corner. Worse, AAP itself could be made party to the case and could face
prospects of losing recognition by the Election Commission, though there hasn’t
been such a case before it. The fear is not unfounded as developments in
Jharkhand and the arrest of Hemant Soren ring warning bells. All eyes will be
on far the cat and mouse game will be played out.
* * * *
From Films To Politics
Tamil super
star Vijay has decided to script a new role for himself. On Friday last, the
49-year-old actor announced the launch of his political party ‘Tamizhaga Vetri
Kazhagam’ as people of Tamil Nadu, he said were yearning for a change. However,
it will pan out slowly as he will neither be contesting nor supporting any
party in ensuing Lok Sabha elections. The new role, from cinema to politics, is
aimed at 2026 Assembly polls given his concern over “administrative
deterioration, corruption and divisive politics.” ‘Thalapathy,' as he is addressed
by his ardent fans, called for a people’s movement, as it can only usher in the
much-needed political change –'a selfless, transparent, visionary and efficient
administration that is free of corruption, and caste and religious differences.’
Dialogue oft heard. An application has been submitted to Election Commission for
registration, following which policies, flag symbol, among others, would be
planned. Will he succeed as MGR or Jayalalitha did or will his fate be like
Rajnikanth and Kamal Hasan, time will tell. For will there
be takers to his commitment: “Politics
is not just another profession, it’s a sacred service to the people…”---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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FM Promises Golden Era: HI DEBT FUNDS Rs 47tr BUDGET, By Shivaji Sarkar, 3 February 2024 |
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Economic Highlights
New Delhi, 3 February
2024
FM Promises Golden Era
HI DEBT FUNDS Rs 47tr BUDGET
By Shivaji Sarkar
It is a sparkling poll budget right from the President’s address
of Draupadi Murmu harping on the economy, to Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman harping on the need to give hope to the people, attract investments,
highest capital expenditure, focus on rural recovery with housing, post-harvest
activities unveiling series of programmes for farmers, women, middle class and
dream GDP growth of 7.3 per cent.
The election emphasis was sharper in the President’s speech
as she unfolded the narrative of space to the economy and the finance minister
announced bringing a White Paper on mismanagement of the economy till 2014,
which marks an era of one of the five fragile economies led by Congress-led
UPA. It may also illustrate how it is becoming one of the top five economies.
The President in her ceremonial address to the joint
session of Parliament in the new building presented the government’s
achievements over 10 years across a variety of areas, offering a glimpse into
the issues the BJP-led NDA might focus ahead of the 2024 elections. “Since
childhood we have been hearing the slogan of “Garibi Hatao” (Indira
Gandhi’s plank in 1971), now for the first time in our lives, we are witnessing
eradication of poverty on a massive scale” adding that the poor people, youth,
women, and farmers would be the four ‘strong pillars’ of Viksit Bharat.
Repeating the “four pillars”, Sitharaman stressed on the various
programmes on the path to progress and growth. She repeatedly harped on all
kinds of farming classes – farmers, fishermen and dairy developers, the potential
voters.
The interim budget is not without its focus to impress. It
has large figures such as Rs 47.65 lakh crore expenditure (about Rs 3 lakh
crore more than 2023-4), Rs 30.8 lakh crore revenue including Rs 26.06 lakh
crore from taxes, capital expenditure outlay rise by 11.1 per cent to Rs
11,11,111 crore, 3.4 per cent of GDP, a 50-year-interest free innovation
loan and foreign direct investment of $596 billion – twice the inflow during
2005-2014, the UPA period, inflow.
But a matter of concern is its fiscal deficit and maturity
of dated securities, long term bonds that are to mature and have to be repaid.
Though technically fiscal deficit comes down to 5.1 per cent from last year’s
5.8 per cent, she said gross and net borrowings through dated securities would
be Rs 14.25 and 11.75 lakh crore. Total debt, external and internal, at Rs
168.72 lakh crore on 31 March 2024 is set to rise to 183.67 lakh crore.
Outstanding debt has increased by Rs 15 lakh crore entailing the higher
interest liabilities.
One interesting factor is the technicality in economic
terms, and she is right. Debt is earning and boosts GDP. The Finance Ministry
so far has never reneged on its repayment commitments. The debt burden seems
higher than revenue earnings.
The finance minister has cut Rs 32000 crore subsidies in
food, fertiliser and petroleum. The food subsidy cut comes amid the rising
minimum support prices. It banks on reduction of numbers of beneficiaries
following Adhar linkages. The allocation to MNREGA, however, is raised to Rs
86000 crore from Rs 60000 crore of the current fiscal.
Outgo to States as their share of revenue is Rs 22.22 lakh
crore. Interest payment liability has been budgeted at Rs 11.90 lakh crore,
10.18 per cent more than 2023-24. The innovation funding as interest free loans
for 50 years may be reviewed. The timeframe is too long though and may give a
psychological edge.
Sitharaman has not announced any concession on the tax
front. The highest income tax rates remain at 39 per cent while corporate tax
remains at 22 per cent and a new venture 15 per cent. Her core supporters are
critical as she ignored the “middle class” facing high cumulative inflation of
27.5 per cent in five years at the rate of Reserve Bank’s India’s 5.5 per cent
a year. One comment is interesting. It says, “We are clearly not a vote bank
that needs to be appeased”.
Expectedly her focus is on climate, farmers, agriculture
growth and other measures that would immensely improve the conditions of the
people as per the principle of ‘Reform, Perform and Transform’ and goes on to
include MSMEs, aspirational districts, the Eastern region, and its people –
Bihar and West Bengal, key electoral targets! Other than the PM housing for
rural area, for the first time she mentioned housing for the middle class “living
in rented houses, or slums, chawls and unauthorised colonies” to buy or build
their own houses.
Along with are mentioned agriculture and food processing to
employ 10 lakh persons, post-harvest activities including aggregation, modern
storage, supply chains and marketing, intense dairy development, setting up of
fisheries department to boost Matsya Sampada, five aquatic parks and sea food
exports. Also announced was the Atmanirbhar Oilseeds Abhiyan. The premise is
that these sectors would transform critical sectors and please the crucial
electorate in the farm sector in various parts of the country. However,
difference of farmgate prices and high retail for consumers has yet to be
bridged.
Women have been wooed in different ways. A laudable scheme
of course is vaccination for girls in age group of 9 to 14 for prevention of
cervical cancer. Similarly, maternal and child health care is being brought
under one comprehensive programme. Anganvadis are upgraded as centres for
nutrition delivery, early childhood care and development. Ayushman Bharat
benefits are being extended to all Asha, Anganvadi and helpers. It is expected
to incentivise the grassroot workers.
Overall health has got Rs 1095 crore more at Rs 90,170
crore and education Rs 13000 crore at Rs 1.25 lakh crore. The budget also
effects cut in Rs 32000 crore subsidies in food, fertiliser and petroleum.
The government is adhering to the fiscal glide path,
retaining the capex focus offering as much as trillion rupees in 50-year
interest-free loans to private players to take up scientific research. The
finance minister is buoyant on consumer confidence and has subtle satisfaction
of inflation being in the 2 to 6 per cent range even though the RBI has been
insisting on 4 per cent target for stabilising the economy.
The government’s growth strategy seems to be one that will
kickstart a virtual cycle while guarding against fiscal slippage, in view of
international war situations. The budget has many promises making good noises,
but one only hopes that the final July budget would be different.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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Macron & Modi: SYMBOLISM & SUBSTANCE, By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri, 2 February 2024 |
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Round The World
New Delhi, 2 February 2024
Macron & Modi
SYMBOLISM & SUBSTANCE
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for
Democratic Socialism)
French President Emanuel Macron was the Chief Guest on the
75th Republic Day celebration of India, stepping in for American
President Joe Biden, who had declined the invitation. In addition to growing
proximity between France and India, Macron was perhaps reciprocating Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s presence at the Bastille Day celebration in Paris, on
14 July last year. Macron’s last-minute response to Modi’s invitation bespeaks
French willingness to stand by India in symbolism as well as substance of India-France
bilateralism.
Interestingly, France, although a member of NATO as well as
European Union, has been taking, at times, a strategic posture, independent of
the United States. That is why it aligns with India’s ‘strategic autonomy’ in her
foreign policy. New Delhi may not have common ground with USA and Russia, but
it is on the same page with France. Modi-Macron interactions resulted in a
joint statement that carries the convergence of perspectives like –
condemnation of terror attack in Israel, the need for humanitarian assistance
in Gaza and Ukraine, nuanced differences on the war in Ukraine, concerns over
the attack in Red Sea, attitude towards Houthis and Hezbollah’s etc.
What is of major interest is the reiteration of French
support to the newly-planned India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) during
the G-20 Summit last September. Macron, once again, applauded the leadership of
Modi, on successful conduct and conclusion of the Summit. Both leaders agreed
that project IMEC would be of great strategic importance and would
significantly enhance the potential and resilience of the flow of commerce and
energy between India, the Middle East and Europe. To many observers, it is
obvious that the proposed IMEC is an alternative to the Belt and Road Project
of China.
In the current volatile international political situation,
France and India have decided to stand by each other. This is quite an encouraging
development for both Paris and New Delhi as there is grave tension from Morocco
to Iran, in South-East Asia due to Chinese hegemony. In South Asia, Beijing plans
to encircle India by seducing her neighbours. China is ‘gobbling up’ Maldives
inch-by-inch, having gripped Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Sri Lanka
is resisting but as India is jittery, Colombo might also fall for China. For
India to resist Chinese expansionism, it needs strong partners and France is
proving to be one. Apparently, the French President instructed his officials in
multiple sectors to allow India ‘no limit’ in accessing its technologies and
know-how.
Scanning the agreements arrived at during Macron’s visit,
there were number of deals done. In principle, France decided to support India
in developing top-of-the-line defence platforms such as fighter aircraft
engines, nuclear attack submarines, underwater drones, all of which are to be
locally made. The idea is to make India self-reliant with a robust industrial
base. A Letter of Intent on defence partnership was signed between Union Ministry
of Defence and the Ministry of the Armed Forces of France. Another
unprecedented defence agreement for Space, which has not been reported widely,
was signed between the two countries.
From the available information, as President Macron was at
the ‘At home’ reception in Rashtrapati Bhawan, this important deal was signed
by the French Defence Minister Sebastian Locornu and India’s National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval on 26 January. This agreement will facilitate protection of
communication and surveillance satellites and will make the battlefield more
transparent in air, land and sea. This agreement will also help develop and
launch military satellites to protect the national security of both countries. Moreover,
this will not only protect the space assets of India but track the movement of
adversaries. Similarly, another important agreement was signed for South-West
Indian Ocean. This will build on joint surveillance missions carried out from
the French Island territory of La Reunion.
More important for New Delhi, it was decided to jointly
manufacture in India and to export the products to third countries. As an
example of collaboration in third countries, it was decided to set up a solar
academy in Senegal under the star-C programme of international programme of
International Solar Alliance, which was primarily jointly created by India and
France. Overall, in industrial defence cooperation, both countries would co-design,
co-develop and co-produce defence hardware for the air, land and the sea.
A Memorandum of Agreement between Tata Advanced Systems Ltd
(TASL) and Airbus was signed to set up an assembly of civilian helicopters in
India. A Declaration of Intent was signed between Union Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare and the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity of France for
cooperation in the field of health and medicine. There was a renewal of
agreement between the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the
Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion of France on the
cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development.
For Indian students, good news is in store. President
Macron declared that he would like to have 30,000 Indian students by 2030. He
said, “When this target is met, I will be the happiest President”. There would
be special Classes Internationales for Indian students to learn French,
necessary for admission into various colleges and universities. Macron said that
this was a new initiative called French for All, French for Better Future. France
will continue to offer scholarships to meritorious Indian students to be able
to study there. So far, India is the largest beneficiary of French
scholarships. Furthermore, France will offer five-year short stay Schengen Visa
for alumni of French educational institutions.
Modi spread a red carpet for Macron by receiving him
personally in Jaipur and asking his Foreign Minister to accompany Macron from
his arrival to departure. Macron landed in Jaipur and was taken to Jantar
Mantar, a world heritage site since 2010. Modi and Macron had tea at a Jaipur
teal stall on 25 January, where Macron paid for it by using the UPI. Both had a
road show from Jantar Mantar to Sanganeri state with a stopover at Hawa Mahal.
Macron was impressed by the huge turnout of people to greet them as well as the
pro-incumbency of Modi government weeks before the elections.
Overall, Macron’s visit was a success from the Indian point
of view as well as for Macron who is trying to re-establish his political
popularity after a shaky start to his second term. The reception and the
publicity he got from India may stand in good stead for him back home. However,
a closure look at the two-day visit of the French President shows a lot of
symbolism as well as some substance. Interestingly, quite a few observers argue
that any warmth and goodwill coming India’s way is a function of the defence
deals that India makes with those countries. France is India’s second largest
arm supplier and of course, has been the closest partner in Europe.
While there may be multiple interpretations of India-French
relations including the latest visit by French President, which, in fact, is
the third one by Macron, France is a solid partner of India. At the end of the
day that is what should count for New Delhi in its undeclared rivalry with
Beijing. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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Environmental Balance & Growth: POPULATION MAIN CONSTRAINT, By Dr S.S Chhina, 1 February 2024 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 1 February 2024
Environmental Balance &
Growth
POPULATION MAIN CONSTRAINT
By Dr S.S Chhina
(Senior Fellow, Institute of
Social Sciences, New Delhi)
India surpassed China in the
race of population on March 3, 2023, and is still growing at the rate of 0.68
per cent annually. If not checked it would become a nation of 1.66 billion by
2050 and have a cascading effect on both environment and development.
While the United Nations report
on population puts India as a nation of 1.42 billion against 1.41 billion of
China, the country is bearing three times more burden than its neighbour. Note
that density of population in China is just 148.58 per sq.km as against 431.11
of India. Even in the past, four decades ago, India was over-burdened because
of the lack of resources, whereas China has plenty. Geographical area of India
is just 2.4 per cent of the world, whereas the population constitutes about
17.7 per cent. Even the water resources are only 4 per cent of the world.
Since 1980, the era of Sanjay
Gandhi, India could not adopt a policy to address this big rise in population.
There were proposals such as the two-child norm, but these were not pursued.
Looking at the burden on the resources, the country needs to adopt a prudent
and effective policy to control population, otherwise it would continue to
create havoc instead of it becoming a blessing.
The perpetual rise in the
import of food articles including pulses, and oil seeds and wasting trillions
of foreign exchange on the one hand, and depleting average size of holdings
even below to one acre on the other would, further thrive its constraints to
import and the real development for prosperity stands discarded. Looking at the
availability of water as a necessity of life, the scenario is most discouraging
and would emerge as a major problem in the future.
In 1950, the per capita
availability of water was 5300 cubic feet, whereas in most of the countries it
was below 2000 cubic feet. But with the rapid rise in population, it became
only 2300 cubic feet in 1991, which is still not satisfactory. But in 2020 it
depleted to 1500 cubic feet, and still declining. According to experts, the
countries which are having per capita water availability below 1700 cubic feet
are under lot of stress. Today, not only in cities but even in villages the
water shortage is reaching alarming levels.
Prior to 1970, though 70 per
cent of the population was engaged in agriculture, the country was compelled to
import food, thus not only spending huge amount of foreign exchange but putting
burden on the purse strings. The green revolution ushered in the late 60s, was
based on more and more use of chemicals, albeit staggering results were
obtained on the yield front and dozens of chemicals had to be resorted to every
year because of the application of the law of diminishing marginal returns in
agriculture.
The chemicals started
penetrating air, water, and soil and subsequently food. The toxins of these
chemicals remained as residues in food and are causing ailments. The
application of chemicals has become a constraint only because of the huge needs
of food that is the result of over burden of population on land.
The burden of population had
created an imbalance in the natural environment. The application of chemicals
or fertilizers require adequate irrigation water to yield best results so the
areas where the ground water was available easily, tubewells were installed to
pump out the water. In Punjab and Haryana 60 per cent of irrigation is
dependent on ground water. In 1960, in Punjab there were only 5000 tubewells,
whereas at present this number has risen to 1.4 million, pumping out water day
and night.
The water level has depleted to
over 150 feet in most of the areas. Water has become undrinkable in some area
because of the penetration of chemicals along with depleting water table. So
many birds have extinguished along with very useful micro-organism in earth,
which were helpful to raise the level of fertility. The rain circle has been
disrupted, and now untimely and unseasonal rains are frequent, causing damage
to the crops.
While India adopted planning
for development in 1950, top priority was given to agriculture instead of
industry, although the country was much backward in industrialisation. This was
largely because of the scarcity of food for an over-burdened population. India
thus remained much behind in industrialisation, and industrial goods had to be
imported, which caused the slow growth of industry impacting employment. Today the number of unemployed is about 80
million.
The priority to generate
employment, industrial goods and services, social security and moreover the
need to shift population from farming to non-farming professions was discarded
due to the constraint of feeding the billions and farming took centre stage.
The country also remained far behind on the front of providing social security
as the main factor for consideration was food, given the huge and
over-populated country. Other social evils, particularly child labour, raised
its ugly head as unemployment or under employment forced families to get
maximum earning hands.
Population is a natural
resource of the country, but if it is not productive, it becomes a burden. Even
the unemployed in large number require to satisfy their daily needs, where the
country had to depend either on foreign imports or had to discard those needs.
Unemployment, over-crowding, shortage of houses, child labour, among other
social evils in the society etc. are the off shoots of this huge size of
population.
There are two popular theories
on population. The first, the Malthusian theory of population, that states that
if the population would not be controlled by artificial means, then the natural
checks such as famine, epidemic, floods etc. would check this rise. Similarly,
the optimum theory of population states that the size of population is optimum
for the country, where the per capita output is maximum. According to both
these theories, the size of population in India is much higher than the optimum
and must be addressed at priority.---INFA
(Copyright, India News &
Feature Alliance)
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Religious Tourism: BIG BOOST AFTER AYODHYA, By Dhurjati Mukherjee, 31 January 2024 |
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Open Forum
New Delhi, 31 January 2024
Religious Tourism
BIG BOOST AFTER AYODHYA
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Religious
tourism, which has always attracted both domestic and foreign tourists, is
expected to get a big boost in the coming years. There are expectations that
this will attract more and more tourists. Spiritual tourism has evolved as a
concept and is significantly contributing to the overall revival of India’s
tourism industry. With the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, demand
trends indicate increased interest for the destination from customers across
segments with an uptick of 150 per cent.
According
to the research wing of State Bank of India expects the total expenditure by
tourists, both domestic and foreign, in Uttar Pradesh may cross Rs 4 lakh crore
mark by the end of this year. SBI Ecowrap estimates that Yogi Adityanath
government earn an additional tax revenue of Rs 20,000-25,000 crore due to a
huge spurt in several tourists during fiscal year 2025.
Global
brokerage firm Jefferies has predicted in a report that the Ram temple could
lead to “unlocking of India’s tourism potential” by attracting over 50 million
tourists a year. It said the grand opening of the temple “is a big religious
event. It also comes with a large economic impact as India gets a new tourist
spot which could attract over 50 million tourists per year. A Rs 85,000-crore
makeover (new airport, revamped railway station, township, improved road
connectivity etc) will likely drive a multiplier effect with new hotels &
other economic activities. It can also set a template for infra driven growth
for tourism.”
The Modi
government has started improving infrastructure and most of the pilgrim centres
are now a better place compared to what they were a decade ago. Data
reveals that there has been a 97 per cent growth in searches for spiritual
destinations on the platform in the last two years, and the searches for
Ayodhya from India increased by more than 1,800 per cent since the inauguration
announcement, with the peak searches on December 30, which was when the Ayodhya
airport was inaugurated.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Tourism in March 2023, places
of religious tourism earned Rs 134,543 crore in 2022, up from Rs 65,070 crore
in 2021. It can thus be presumed that spiritual/ religious tourism is a
significant player in India’s travel recovery after the post pandemic years.
Way back
in 2015, the government launched the ‘Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spiritual
Augmentation Drive’ (PRASAD) scheme of the tourism ministry and in 2016
focussed on developing pilgrimage sites across India for enriching the
religious tourism experience. It aimed to integrate pilgrimage destinations in
a planned and sustainable manner to provide a complete religious tourism
experience through better and easier transportation systems -- roadways,
railways and waterways.
Moreover,
the demand for visitors’ spiritual journeys is no longer restricted to
traditional pilgrimages but a combination of spiritual breaks with unique local
experiences and outdoor adventures like white-water rafting and night trekking
in Vaishno Devi, bungee jumping in Rishikesh, boating on the river Ganga, visiting
a heritage crafts village in Puri or learning a local art like Kalayaripayattu
in Kerala. According to SOTC, hotel occupancy in these destinations is almost
around 100 per cent on weekends and holy dates, while on average occupancy
levels stand at 60-80 per cent.
Coming
to Ayodhya, it has witnessed a surge in hotel construction and development.
Currently, the city has approximately 17 hotels with around 600 rooms. To meet
the anticipated increase in tourist arrivals, 73 new hotels are in the pipeline
with 40 of them already under construction, as per a report. Several renowned
hotel chains and hospitality companies, including IHCL (Indian Hotels Company
Limited), Marriott International, Wyndham, and OYO Rooms, are planning on
creating more hotels in Ayodhya. The hospitality projects are expected to add
significant room capacity to accommodate the growing number of tourists and
pilgrims that are expected to visit Ayodhya.
Phase I
of Ayodhya's the new airport is operational, becoming a milestone in
facilitating air travel to and from the city. This has been built at a cost of
approximately $175 million and has an annual handling capacity of 1
million passengers. Meanwhile, the town’s tourist footfall has already shot up
from nearly 3.5 lakh in 2019 to over 2 crore in both 2022 and 2023. Experts in
this sector feel that the Ayodhya-Varanasi-Prayagraj triangle could drive Uttar
Pradesh’ trillion-dollar economy dream. This could possibly surpass the
Delhi-Agra-Jaipur tourism circuit shortly.
In
popular tourist places such as Rishikesh, Varanasi, Ujjain and Vrindavan,
hostels are being set up to attract tourists along with improving
infrastructure. Recently the Jagannath Heritage Corridor was inaugurated by the
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Transformation of the iconic temple site
is intended to improve facilities for visitors and pilgrims. The revitalisation
of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor also led to a huge spurt in tourist growth.
It is
evident that even general tourism sites in many states are being given a
religious touch. Though this may be a good measure to attract more tourists,
specially in a deeply religious country like India, these centres need to have
other places of attraction such as museums, monuments, children’s parks etc.
The
pandemic has changed the perception of travellers and there has been a shift in
consumer behaviour. While spiritual tourism was once associated with the senior
citizen segment, over the past two years, there has been a significant uptick
in demand from multi-generational families, couples/honeymooners, groups of
friends and millennials as well. Reports coming in from Ayodhya indicate that
young people are visiting the temple in large numbers. Does it indicate that
Modi has instilled a religious fervour among the young generation?
An
important aspect that needs to be pointed out is that promotion of religious
tourism is necessary as it has a multiplier effect in creation of jobs and
overall development of the region. But religious tourism should not mean just
promoting the Hindu places of worship. The Muslim and Christian religious
places as also those of other communities like Sikhs and Jains should also be
developed through a judicious plan.
However,
tourism in India does need to catch up still. The contribution of this sector
to India’s GDP is just around 6.8 per cent and India is positioned below most
of the emerging and developed economies. The last Union budget of 2023 had
allocated ₹2400 crore to the tourism sector, but it cannot be denied that
requirements are much more. It is, however, encouraging to note that the
private sector has been coming in a big way to invest in this sector, specially
manifest in the investments at Ayodhya.
Ayodhya it
is said could even surpass the Vatican City and Mecca in terms of the number of
visiting devotees, if infrastructure and stay facilities are upped on the same
trajectory over the coming months. On the first day alone there were 5 lakh
visitors to the temple. The Tirupati Balaji in Andhra Pradesh attracts 2.5
crore devotees yearly, similar to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican gets
about 90 lakh visitors annually. The other top destinations are the Vaishno
Devi temple in Jammu & Kashmir which gets 80 lakh people yearly, whereas the
Taj Mahal attracts 70 lakh people. Indeed, development of tourism, both religious
or spiritual, would bring in valuable foreign exchange and lead to economic
development.---INFA
(Copyright, India News &
Feature Alliance)
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