Incredible India Promotes Mani Majra

Till last year Mani Majra a small town within the Union Territory of Chandigarh, was known mainly for being a prosperous suburb. After the release of the international film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which was shot in Mani Majra, it has acquired the potential to attract international tourists keen to see where the film was shot. The film has received Five Oscar nominations.

The Ministry of Tourism has launched an effort to popularise the town and inform potential visitors about how to get there. The Incredible India website has not only embedded a You Tube video that shows the majestic mediaeval Mani Majra Fort, but also shows glimpses of the town and shows the exact locations where the film was shot. The website also has a detailed map that shows how to reach Mani Majra by air, rail and road from Chandigarh as well as from the four major international airports of India.

This is part of the Ministry’s efforts launched under Shri K. Chiranjeevi, Minister of Tourism to promote every part of India that has any potential to attract international tourists. It may be recalled that the Ministry had recently launched a campaign to promote Puducherry and Munnar (Kerala) where the international film “Life of Pi” was shot and also hosted a major Tourism Mart at Guwahati last month to promote North-Eastern India for international tourism.

The first success of the North-Eastern campaign has been the attention received in 14 international media outlets (print and electronic) by the hitherto little-known Pobitora Rhinoceros sanctuary near Guwahati.

What is Mani Majra?

Manimajra is a small town in the jurisdiction of Union Territory Chandigarh  India

Situated close to Panchkula, Haryana, it is mainly a residential hub having various societies such as Modern Housing Complex, Duplex, Rajiv Vihar and Uppal's Marble Arch . Two multiplexes, Fun Republic and DT mall are situated nearby for shopping and movies .

The town also symbolises an old fort which is undergoing restoration construction.International film “Zero Dark Thirty,” was shot in Mani Majra

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Germany

First copy of the book titled Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Germany by Professor Anita B. Pfaff was given to the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 6 February 2013. The book was brought out by the Federation of Indo-German Societies in India.

The book is a collection of the records shared by Professor Anita Pfaff as well as other known biographers and writers. The book depicts interesting facts about the life of Netaji and his contribution to freedom struggle of India. The President described the book as a tribute to Netaji.

Mega Mock Drill on Earthquake

Of all the natural disasters, earthquakes are the worst and cause severe all-round damage, primarily due to their unpredictability. About 58 % of India’s land mass is vulnerable from moderate to severe seismic hazards. Even though earthquakes cannot be predicted, their impact on life and property can be considerably reduced by better preparedness and awareness. Recognizing this, NDMA has advocated for scientific & technical interventions and effective administration to reduce their impact. Towards this, NDMA had planned series of mock drills to generate greater public awareness about the vulnerability to disasters with specific emphasis on earthquakes and steps to be taken by people to save themselves, their families and the community and properties in the event of an earthquake. One such mega mock Drill was conducted in Delhi on the 15th of February, 2012 .

In continuation of similar earthquake preparedness campaign, a scenario building exercise to help prepare the North western region of India has been created, wherein a hypothetical earthquake of Mw 8.0 with its epicentre near Mandi in Himachal Pradesh is being depicted. Occurance of such an earthquake would expose nearly 1.14 crore people in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana & UT Chandigarh and cause extensive damage to life, habitat and critical infrastructure like highways, railways, reservoirs, telecommunication and power network. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in association with state administration of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana & UT Chandigarh is conducting a  Mega Mock Drill  in the tri-cities of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, and Shimla on 13th February 2013. This Mega Mock Drill is designed to test the system capabilities for an effective coordinated response to an earthquake having impact on multiple States. The drill will be conducted at 60 different locations simultaneously, spread over Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali and Shimla for which experts from NDMA have been extending all prepratory support. Rupees thirty lakhs have been provided to the each of the three States and UT of Chandigarh by NDMA for running the campaign.

Preparatory meetings starting with June 2012 for this Mega Mock Drill have already been held by Shri M.Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman, NDMA, Members and Senior Officers of NDMA with Shri Shivraj V Patil, Governor of Punjab/Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, Shri Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister of Haryana, Professor Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and Senior Officers of the three States and UT Chandigarh. The last such meeting was held on 9th January, 2013 at Chandigarh

A final coordination meeting chaired by Shri V.K.Duggal, Member, NDMA was conducted today which was attended by Shri H.K.Gupta, Member and Shri K.M.Singh, Member, NDMA and senior officers of the three States and UT Chandigarh. Shri Duggal emphasised the need of immediate setting up of a Central Coordination Centre at Chandigarh and Control Room at Shimla .UT Chandigarh will be providing infrastructure support for the Central Coordination Centre at Chandigarh and Government of Himachal Pradesh for the Control Room at Shimla. These control rooms shall be set up on 10th February 2013 . All ESF functionaries alongwith Civil Defence volunteers, Key State/ Central Govt departments independent observers from defence will participate in the Mega Mock Exercise.30 Teams (10 teams each from Bhatinda, NOIDA and Gandhi Nagar NDRF Bns.) will participate in 30 locations of Mega Mock Drill Exercises. Hon’ble Members and support officers from NDMA will facilitate and coordinate the event.

According to the scenario, it is expected that all communication channels will collapse in the wake of the earthquake. The only possible communication mode will be wireless communication . It was, therefore, decided that the locations selected for Mega Mock Drill will be such that they are connected through wireless communication with the Central Co-ordination Centre and Control Rooms respectively, including Delhi.

A Final hot wash will be conducted at Chandigarh on 14th february 13,for all 4 Distt.s Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and Simla.

Media briefing will be done in 2 stages: (i) on 12th Feb 2013 afternoon before the Event and (ii) on 13th February 2013 after the Mock Drill exercise.

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in the Year -2012

Major Achievements of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in the Year -2012

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation is responsible for carrying out surveys on socio-economic aspects of Indian Economy by collecting data from households and enterprises located in villages and in the towns with a view to update data base for sound planning for development and administrative decisions. Towards this end and objective of the organization, the major achievements during 2012 are as follows:

Survey undertaken/ launched:

(i) The field work of two sub-rounds of NSS 68th round on Household Consumer Expenditure & Employment and Unemployment was completed during the year and the field work for NSS 69th round, a six month duration survey, on Drinking Water, Sanitation & Hygiene and Housing Conditions (including slums)started in July 2012 and now has been completed.

(ii) Agricultural Statistics Survey on Sample check on area enumeration and supervision of crop cutting experiments under the scheme for ‘Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS)’ for the agricultural years 2011-12 and 2012-13. While the Survey for 2011-12 is completed, the Survey for 2012-13 will continue up to June 2013.

(iii) Regular price collection surveys in rural areas for compilation of Consumer Price Indices for Rural and Agricultural Labour by Labour Bureau and in urban areas for Consumer Price Index (Urban) by Central Statistics Office (CSO).

(iv) Assistance to Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) in collection of wholesale prices from selected units/ factories for compilation of Wholesale Price Index.

(v) The data collection work of Annual Survey of Industries for 2010-11 and 2011-12.

New initiatives undertaken:

(i) All India Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is in progress in 3 States viz, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Orissa. The primary objective of the survey is to measure the dynamics in labour force

participation and employment status in the short time interval of 3 months.

(ii) Experimentation of use of Hand-held devices / gadgets for data collection in the socio-economic surveys in the field.

(iii) Use of RDBMS system of data processing.

(iv) Data entry at field level in NSS 68th and 69th rounds in the states of Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim and Puducherry.

Reports released:

( i) 96th issue of the NSSO Journal ‘Sarvekshana’.

(ii) Reports/ Results based on NSS rounds:

NSS 66th Round:

(a) Informal Sector and Conditions of Employment in India

(b) Nutritional Intake in India

(c) Household consumption of various goods and services in India

(d) Energy Sources of Indian Households for Cooking and Lighting

(e) Employment and Unemployment Situation Among Social Groups in India

(f) Household Consumer Expenditure Across Socio-Economic Groups (g) Home based workers in India

NSS 67th Round:

(a) Key Results of Survey on Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Enterprises (Excluding Construction) in India

(b) Operational characteristics of Unincorporated Non-agricultural Enterprises (Excluding Construction) in India

NSS 68th Round:

(a) Provisional Results of Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, NSS 68th round (July 20011 - June 2012)

Social Statistics Division

The Social Statistics Division released five publications namely, Manual on Disability Statistics, Manual on Labour Statistics (I), SAARC Social Charter-India Country Report 2012, Women and Men in India 2012, Children in India 2012 – A Statistical Appraisal.

The Ministry has constituted two national awards viz, Prof.C.R.Rao award for young Statistician and Prof.P.V.Sukhatme award for life time achievement in Statistics for Indian national in alternate years. In 2012, Prof.P.V. Sukhatme award was jointly awarded to Prof.S.P.Mukherjee, ex Professor, Calcutta University and Prof.Jayant Vinayak Deshpande ex Professor, Pune University. The award carries a prize money of Rs.5 lakhs, a citation and a momento.

National Accounts Division

Technical achievements

• The Central Statistics Office (CSO) released a press note on Quick Estimates (now called 1st Revised Estimates) of National Income, Consumption Expenditure, Savings and Capital Formation for 2010-11 on 31.01.2012 and Revised Estimates (now called Provisional Estimates) of National Income for 2011-12 on 31.05.2012.

• The GDP at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices in 2011-12 registered a growth rate of 6.5 %.

• The GDP at current prices for the year 2011-12 is estimated at Rs.82,32,652 crore, while the Net National Income is estimated at Rs.72,84,523 crore. The Per Capita Income during 2011-12 at current prices is estimated at Rs. 60,603/-.

• The Gross Saving Rate at current prices is estimated at 32.3% of GDP at market prices in 2010-11, as against the saving rate of 33.8% in 2009-10.

• The rate of Gross Capital Formation has also reached a high level of 35.1% in 2010-11.

• Quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices for Q1 of 2012-13 is estimated at Rs. 13,06,276 crore, as against Rs. 12,38,738 crore in Q1 of 2011-12, showing a growth rate of 5.5 per cent over the corresponding quarter of previous year.

• Quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices for Q2 of 2011-12 is estimated at Rs.12,93,922 crore as against Rs.12,28,982 crore in Q2 of 2010-11, showing a growth rate of 5.3 per cent over the corresponding quarter of previous year.

• The growth during H1 (April-September) for the year 2012-13 at constant prices is estimated at 5.4% over the corresponding previous half year.

• Population segment specific Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers do not reflect true picture of the price behaviors in the country. To overcome the above, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had introduced a new series of Consumer Price Indices (CPI) for all-India and States/UTs separately from rural, urban and combined (rural plus urban) for the purpose of intra temporal price comparison with effect from January, 2011 with 2010 as the base year. These new monthly indices are compiled at State/UT and all-India levels. The annual inflation rates based on this CPI series are available since January 2012.

• Report on “Non Profit Institutions in India – A Profile and Satellite Accounts in the framework of System of National Accounts” was released based on the information collected from more than 4.5 lakh Non-Profit Institutions of the country.

• Two publications – National Accounts Statistics, Back Series and National Accounts Statistics, Sources & Methods – were released giving time series estimates on the new base year, 2004-05, and the methodology used in the New Series of National Accounts.

• The Input Output Transaction Tables, giving the input structures and final demand patterns of the economy, have been compiled by this Division for the year 2007-08, and are available on the website of MOSPI.

Meetings & Workshops

• One Meeting of the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics which deliberates and advises on the methodological aspect of compilation of “National Accounts Statistics”, was held on October 8, 2012.

• Regional workshops for training of the State personnel in compilation of “State Domestic Product and other related aggregates” have been organized in conjunction with the State Directorate of Economics and Statistics at Jaipur, Srinagar, Gangtok, Gandhinagar, Kochi and Shantiniketan (in West Bengal) during the months of August to December, 2012.

• The 4th OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy under the theme “Measuring Well-Being for Development and Policy Making” was organized during October 16-19, 2012 in Delhi.

MPLAD Scheme

• Objective: The Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) was launched in December, 1993 to provide a mechanism for the Members of Parliament to recommend works of developmental nature for creation of durable community assets and for provision of basic facilities based on locally felt needs. The annual MPLADS funds entitlement per MP under the scheme has been enhanced from Rs.2 crore to Rs.5 crore w.e.f. 2011-12.

• Nauture of the Scheme:

under the scheme funds are released in the form of Grant-in-aid as Special Central Assistance directly to the Districts. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has prescribed a set of guidelines for implementation and monitoring of the scheme. The guidelines are revised from time to time to make it more responsive to the local needs without compromising the basic principles of the scheme. The Guidelines of November, 2005 have been revised and the revised guidelines have been issued in August, 2012. As many as reform circulars on guidelines have been issued in this year till date.

• Impact: With a view to assess the implementation of the scheme for mid-course correction, a mechanism of physical monitoring of MPLADS works in selected Districts by an independent Institution has been put in place. Third party monitoring of MPLADS works in 208 Districts have been completed during the period 2007 to 2011 by NABCONS. Currently third party physical monitoring has been assigned to M/s AFC Ltd. And is underway in 100 Districts.

• Physical and Financial Progress of the Scheme since inception:

• Rs. 26960.25 crore has been released (including release of Rs. 1962 crore up to 30.11.2012 during the financial year 2012-13 since inception of the Scheme. As reported by the Districts, an expenditure of Rs. 24070.88 has been incurred under the Scheme. The percentage utilization over release of 89.28

• So far 13,87,151 works have been sanctioned and 12,382,87 works been completed. Percentage of works completed to sanction is 89.27.

Coordination and Publication (CAP)

• For Five year Plan 2012-17, the Ministry has been allocated Rs. 3709 crores excluding Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).

• Under India Statistical Strengthening Project (ISSP), Ministry has signed MOUs with 13 States and released Rs. 130.86 crores.

• An MOU was signed with EURO STAT for statistical cooperation.

Infrastructure & Project Monitoring Division (IPMD)

1. The Infrastructure & Project Monitoring Division (IPMD) monitors the implementation of Central Sector Projects (costing Rs. 150 crore and above) in 14 Infrastructure Sectors as well as the performance of 11 key infrastructure sectors.

2. As per the latest Report for the month of September, 2012 there are 566 such ongoing Central Sector Projects (costing Rs. 150 crore and above whose original cost of implementation was about Rs. 7,90,572.38 crore and anticipated completion cost likely to be Rs.9,23,573.57 crore. This reflects a cost overrun of 16.8%. 46.5% of the Projects i.e. 263 Projects are delayed, with the average time overrun being about 17.3 months for all projects and 37.1 months for the delayed project.

3. The infrastructure performance recorded positive growth during the year 2012-13 (April- September) over the corresponding period of the previous year in various sectors such as power generation (4.8%), Production of coal(8.1%), Production of finished steel (2.0%), cement (7.4%), refinery (5.4%), up-gradation of Highway by NHAI (38.8%), goods traffic carried by Railways (4.8%), passengers handled at International terminals (2.6%) of the airports and net addition in switching capacity of telephone exchanges (59.1%). The negative growth over the performance with respect to the previous year was observed in some sectors namely fertilizers (6.0%), crude oil (0.7%) & natural gas (12.5%), & up-gradation of Highway by State PWD and Border Road Organisation(BRO) (9.3%), cargo handled at major ports (3.3%), Cargo handled at airport –[Export (1.6%) & import cargo (9.2%)] and passenger handled at domestic terminals of the airports (3.1%).

Recent Initiatives:

4. To facilitate resolving of various extraneous issues/bottlenecks such as land acquisition, encroachments, delay in issue of clearances and shifting of utilities, etc. Which are increasingly having a bearing on the implementation of Central Sector Projects, all States have been requested to constitute Central Sector Projects Coordination Committees under the Chief Secretaries in which concerned PSU s in the State, the concerned Departments of State Government and Agencies etc. are also represented.

5. Recognizing the importance of Project Management in the improving the project implementation, this Ministry is supporting various initiatives in promoting the Project Management discipline and training. Five-day training for public sector employees in project management is being organized by this Ministry once in each quarter. Over 200 executive have benefitted from it.

6. The Review meeting on the implementation of Projects in the state of Odisha have been taken up, by the Hon’ble Minister with the IOCL, RVNL, MCL & NHAI. The minute have been circulated for taking necessary action to all concerned.

7. Field visits to various project sites of JNPT, MbPT, NHAI & IOC etc. have been taken to understand the constraints and appropriate suggestion were made to resolve the same.

Twenty Point Programme (TPP)  1. The Twenty Point Programme (TPP) was launched by the Government of India in the year 1975 and has been restructured thrice in 1982, 1986 and again in 2006. The restructured programme, known as Twenty Point Programme (TPP) – 2006, became operational with effect from, 1st April, 2007. The TPP-06 is meant to give a thrust to schemes relating to poverty alleviation, employment generation in rural areas, housing, education, family welfare & health, protection of environment and many other schemes having a bearing on the quality of life, especially in the rural areas. The Twenty Point Programme (TPP) – 2006 consists of 20 points with 65 items which are monitored on annual basis. Out of the 65 items, 20 items are monitored on monthly basis also on the basis of progress report submitted by state Government. UT Administrations and concerned Central Nodal Ministries. Performance of 15 of the 20 items is monitored against pre-set targets which are fixed by concerned Central Nodal Ministries.

2. The Ministry releases a Monthly Progress Report (MPR) on implementation of monthly monitored items. During the financial year 2012, MPR’s have been released for the months of October, 2011 to September, 2012 respectively. In addition to MPR, an Annual Review Report on TPP- 2006 covering progress of implementation of all items during the year under TPP-2006 is also released. During 2012, Annual Review Report for 20010-11 has been released.

3. In order to strengthen the monitoring of the implementation framework of schemes/programmes covered under TPP-06 TPP Division of the Ministry has been mandated to undertake Monitoring and Impact Assessment Studies on selected programmes/schemes covered under TPP-2006. So far, the Ministry has undertaken two Impact Assessment Studies. First relates to impact of MGNREGA in 3 selected districts of North Eastern States namely Mon (Nagaland), , Saiha (Mizoram), Dhalai (Tripura), The second study related to rehabilitation of Disabled persons under Deendayal Disability Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) in the States of Delhi, Karanataka, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

4. Twenty Point Programme was last revised in 2006 which came into operation in April 2007. Since then, the priorities of the Government have shifted from 10th Plan to 11th Plan to 12th Plan. Beside these the Government has taken initiatives in the form of “Bharat Nirman” and other Flagship Programmes. In order to accommodate these policy changes and thrusts, the Ministry has initiated a proposal to revamp the TPP.

5. Ministry of Statistics & PI also undertakes review meeting at National and State levels as part of monitoring and consultation mechanism. Two National Review Meeting of TPP-06 have been successfully held so far on 28.10.10 and 11.11.11 respectively. These review meeting are held to review the overall progress of schemes/programmes so to improve the implementation of schemes/ programmes covered under TPP. These meetings addressed the core issues with States Govts/UT Administrations and with concerned nodal Ministries viz. State –wise performance of programmes and Schemes covered under Twenty Point Programme , variation in reported performance figures by States/UTs and furnished by Central Nodal Ministries. Delay in reporting of monthly performance figures, Constitution of TPP Monitoring committees at State, District & Block levels and their meetings at regular interval, Target fixation approach taken by central nodal ministries, suggestions for revamping of TPP-2006, need for a single portal of TPP, difficulties faced by the implementing agencies in the implementation of schemes/programmes and suggestion for dropping obsolete schemes/programmes and inclusion of new schemes in view of the Bharat Nirman and new flagship programmes of Govt. of India

Deathbed Puzzle–Srinivasa Ramanujam

Theory came to Srinivasa Ramanujan in a dream on his deathbed in 1920 - but has never been proved

Discovery could now be used to explain the behaviour of parts of a black hole

Researchers have finally solved the cryptic deathbed puzzle renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan claimed came to him in dreams.

While on his death-bed in 1920, Ramanujan wrote a letter to his mentor, English mathematician G. H. Hardy, outlining several new mathematical functions never before heard of, along with a hunch about how they worked.

Decades years later, researchers say they've proved he was right - and that the formula could explain the behaviour of black holes.

'We've solved the problems from his last mysterious letters,' Emory University mathematician Ken Ono said.

'For people who work in this area of math, the problem has been open for 90 years,'

Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematician born in a rural village in South India, spent so much time thinking about math that he flunked out of college in India twice.

Ramanujan's letter described several new functions that behaved differently from known theta functions, or modular forms, and yet closely mimicked them.

Functions are equations that can be drawn as graphs on an axis, like a sine wave, and produce an output when computed for any chosen input or value.

Ramanujan conjectured that his mock modular forms corresponded to the ordinary modular forms earlier identified by Carl Jacobi, and that both would wind up with similar outputs for roots of 1.

Ramanujan, a devout Hindu, thought these patterns were revealed to him by the goddess Namagiri.

However, no one at the time understood what Ramanujan was talking about.

'It wasn’t until 2002, through the work of Sander Zwegers, that we had a description of the functions that Ramanujan was writing about in 1920.

Ono and his colleagues drew on modern mathematical tools that had not been developed before Ramanujan’s death to prove this theory was correct.

'We proved that Ramanujan was right.

'We found the formula explaining one of the visions that he believed came from his goddess.'

The team were also stunned to find the function could be used today.

'No one was talking about black holes back in the 1920s when Ramanujan first came up with mock modular forms, and yet, his work may unlock secrets about them.

A highlight of working on a film about Ramanujan's life was getting to browse through some of the Indian master's original notebooks, said Ken Ono, right

'Ramanujan's legacy, it turns out, is much more important than anything anyone would have guessed when Ramanujan died,' Ono said.

The findings were presented last month at the Ramanujan 125 conference at the University of Florida, ahead of the 125th anniversary of the mathematician's birth on Dec. 22nd.

A NATURAL GENIUS

December 22, 2012 marks the 125th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the self taught mathematician born into a modest and conservative family in Kumbakonam, a relatively small town in Tamilnadu.

Ramanujan was self-taught and worked in almost complete isolation from the mathematical community of his time.

Described as a raw genius, he independently rediscovered many existing results, as well as making his own unique contributions, believing his inspiration came from the Hindu goddess Namagiri.

He spent so much time thinking about math that he flunked out of college in India twice.

He overcame several hurdles to find a place among the celebrated intellectuals of Cambridge.

Ramanujan passed away at the young age of 32 of tuberculosis, but he left behind formulations in mathematics that have paved the path for many scholars who came after him.

Southern Zonal Tourism Council

Tourism  ministry announced the setting up of the Southern Zonal Tourism Council (SZTC) comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The Minister in his interaction with the office bearers of World Travel & Tourism Council- India Initiative (WTTCII) welcomed the idea that emanated from the WTTCII Bekal Retreat held in September this year. “The setting up of the Southern Zonal Tourism Council will help facilitate development of Tourism and tourism products of Southern India in a holistic and comprehensive manner. Development of Integrated Tourism Circuits among the Southern states will be the way forward. The issues of competitive taxation of tourism products, inter-state taxation, seamless tourist movement by facilitating smooth facilitation at entry and exit points of the States will be addressed by the council.

The Ministry will be writing to the Chief Secretaries of the States, who would Chair the SZTC by rotation. Tourism Secretary and Finance Secretary of the respective states will be permanent invitees to the SZTC. The SZTC will also interact with the Stakeholder to understand the concerns and issues facing the tourism industry. The SZTC will have a mandate to look at the inter-State taxation on tourist vehicles, interstate permits, smooth facilitation at the entry and exit points of the States, development of requisite infrastructure to and at destinations.

Welcoming the move WTTCII in a statement said that this is an excellent step in the direction of a coordinated and planned approach to develop tourism in South India. This move will enhance the necessary infrastructure, policy and other interventions needed to take Tourism to the next level in this region.

In search of Oneness- The Bhagavad Gita and the Quran through Sufi Eyes

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari  released a book entitled “In search of Oneness- The Bhagavad Gita and the Quran through Sufi Eyes” authored by Shri Moosa Raza. 

The book is the story of a quest to find a personal God. The author’s journey to recover his faith took him to the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, the Dhammapada and scriptures of all the major religions of the world. He found the values incorporated in these scriptures being practiced in real life by a number of people ranging from his school teachers, college professors, political leaders, ashramites, pandits and ordinary simple folk.