india

Updated: Aug 11, 2019 17:13 IST

Union culture and tourism minister Prahlad Patel tells Hindustan Times in an interview that among the changes the ministry is working on are format changes in the visa structure, trainings of drivers and tour operators to ensure the safety of woman tourists, and building geo-parks to display geological heritage sites across the country, to attract more visitors to India. Edited excerpts:

The ministry’s ambitious plan to bring 20 million visitors to India has faced bottlenecks in the visa structure, according tor the tourism industry. Any reform measures in the works?

In the last five years, the Centre has brought in a great reform in the form of e-visas. What remains a problem now is that India levies a fee {for visas}. {There is } a recommendation which the tourism ministry is following up with the home ministry. Another...is a process in which we simplify the format of visa application. This was one of the complaints that came up when the ministry held meetings with ambassadors and protocol officers with several international missions. The ministry is going to bring in greater reforms.

The safety of foreign woman tourists has been a recurrent problem. Recently the video of a woman went viral wherein she stood outside an Indian mission in protest because her convicted molester was given bail in India.

The safety of any tourist is the moral responsibility of every citizen of India. The tourists could be domestic or foreign; the moment I step out of my house I become a tourist. Our traditions, too, place a lot of importance of treating guests well; where else will you have slogans like Atithi devo bhava {a guest is like God} .There have been several instances, I agree, but the perception is a misplaced one. The ministry will look at the problem from two angles -- one where we tighten up security arrangements, and then fight this negative perception. The ministry is working on training drivers and tour operators, affiliated to the ministry, in handling women tourists. Only after a basic training is complete will the ministry hand licenses to them. We are also looking at the process of making say a 500 metre or 1 kilometre radius area around any of our major tourist attractions, such as the Taj Mahal a crime-free zone.

In the last NDA government, the names of Nanaji Deshmukh, Guru Gobind Singh and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya were recommended by the National Implementation Committee for centenary celebrations. What are your recommendations?

Personally, I want to recommend the name of VS Vakhankar ji, a historian who has worked hard in search of the lost Saraswati river. It is his centenary year. Another name that we want to recommend is of Professor BB Lal. However, as the centenary commemoration is almost always done for a person who has passed away, we will celebrate the life of Prof Lal.

What are your plans for the 100-day agenda for the culture ministry?

There has been a long-term demand to do a social audit of the more than 40 organisations affiliated with the ministry, which the ministry has just initiated. Our decision to ensure that monuments protected by the ASI {Archaeological Survey of India} will be open till 9pm is going to start from August 16 from Delhi. We are also working on the lighting of all tourism monuments, a scheme which the ministry has been pursuing for a while. While pilgrims were on their way to Amarnath, there was a demand that no parody bhajans should be allowed; the ministry has successfully implemented that. The ministry is also working on new circuits where we will develop geo-parks of geological heritage sites....

Recently, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has said that the human resource development and culture ministries should be merged. Do you agree?

I feel that there should be coordination between the ministries, and as part of the group of ministers we discuss routine policy matters. For instance, work on the celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, which is usually overseen by the Gandhi Darshan, gets a helping hand from the culture ministry. Or, the Jallianwala Bagh Trust, which is overseen by the ministry of culture, has received help from other ministries as well. Likewise, on the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak, the culture ministry is assisted by the home ministry as well as the railway ministry.