Magazine
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- March 2022
Index
Toppers Talk
Governance & Social Justice
International Relations
- The South China Sea Conflict: Analysis in In-depth
- Bangladesh’s success story, Role of china, current issues between the two countries, cooperation
- India’s Act East Policy | Analysis | objective of Act East Policy
- Blunders of NATO
- Indian firms to buy more oil from Russia, energy ties to deepen | Russia-Ukraine Crisis
- India-Myanmar Relations: Importance & Background
- India – Bhutan relations | Important debate simplified
- India’s Game plan for Tibet | Geopolitics Simplified
Geography
Economy
- NITI Aayog announces 5 aspirational districts in Agriculture & Water Resources sector
- Inland Waterway Vessel MV Lal Bahadur Shastri from Patna to Guwahati
- After Russia, Iran offers oil to India, proposes revival of Rupee
- Hydropower development turns a Uttarakhand village into a graveyard
- Operation Greens | aims to ensure right price for farmers | promote FPO | Government Policies
- Why India has to be ‘Atmanirbhar’ in Tech?
- Can Russia use Cryptocurrency to evade sanction?
Defence & Security
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- How can Artificial intelligence/machine learning help the Indian judiciary reduce pendency?
- How Blockchain technology can make UPI a Global Payment System?
- India lacks a solar waste handling policy. What is Solar Waste?
- Kahani Koyle Ki’ | A satirical Representation of Extraction of Coal and Increasing Pollution
Environment

Relevance:
- GS 3 || Environment || Environment & Ecology || Sustainable Development
Why in the news?
Open Villages for Tourists
Opportunities and paradigms of the tourism sector
- With a share of 1.62 percent in international tourism receipts, India is ranked 15th in the globe. In 2015, India welcomed 8.03 million foreign tourists, an increase of 4.5 percent over the previous year.
- After gems, jewellery, and clothing, it is the third greatest foreign exchange earner (Economic Survey of India, 2018).
- In the next five years, India hopes to generate 100 million employment and attract 40 million foreign tourists through tourism (Union Minister K J Alphons on 23 October 2017). India receives 14.4 million international tourists each year.
- However, due to environmental fragility (e.g., a ban on green felling), tourism is not always a private sector-friendly investment in the Indian Himalayan Region.
Government initiative for promotion of tourism:
- Tax incentives: In India, new hotels in the 2-star level and higher are eligible for an investment-linked deduction under Section 35 AD of the Income Tax Act. Land is not eligible for a 100% deduction on capital investments.
- State Incentives: State governments provide incentives such as subsidised land costs, stamp duty relaxation, exemption on land sale/lease, power tariff incentives, concessional rate of interest on loans, investment subsidies/tax incentives, backward areas subsidies, and special incentive packages for mega projects. Incentives are also provided for projects in special areas such as the North East, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
- Ministry of Tourism incentives include: assistance with big revenue-generating projects; support for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure development, such as viability gap funding; and schemes for service provider capacity building.
- In 2016, the ‘Swachh Paryatan’ mobile application was released, allowing individuals to report any cleanliness issues at various tourist locations across the country.
- Multilingual tourist: In 2016, the Ministry of Tourism introduced a 24-hour toll-free multilingual tourist helpline in 12 languages, which may be reached by dialling toll-free numbers.