5 years & tourism policy is still on way to cabinet

Tourism was part of five Ts in BJP’s 2014 poll manifesto

Bank of Baroda announced a cut in its marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR) by up to 10 basis points, effective Feb. 12. The reduction will make home, auto and other loans cheaper for new borrowers. With this reduction, the one-year MCLR has come down to 8.15 per cent per annum from 8.25. the bank said. One-month MCLR has been reduced by 5 basis points to 7.55 per cent.

Tourism, one of the five Ts that were promised in the 2014 BJP election manifesto, is yet to begin baby steps to the dream trip.

A National Policy for Tourism is pending for five long years. The government had formulated a draft National Tourism Policy in 2015-16, but is still, hold your breath, seeking cabinet approval.

The last time the tourism sector had a national level policy was in 2002, nearly two decades ago.

Then, in 2015-16, the government—taking into account the wide-spread, inter-related global developments and advancements, which have had a strong bearing on the tourism sector—formulated a new draft National Tourism Policy.

In a 2017 communiqué, the government had mentioned that the policy was awaiting approval. However, even now the policy is being reviewed in the Ministry of Tourism prior to seeking cabinet approval on the same, as per a government statement on Monday.

“In the first budget of the previous NDA government, tourism was included as one of the ‘five Ts’ for the development of the country. There was a lot of emphasis on developing the tourism potential of the country and the government wanted a new policy to be in place. Unfortunately, we have not heard much about it later. We don’t know whether the policy failed to take off due to technical or administrative issues,” said Iqbal Mulla, chief council, Global Tourism Council.

The BJP manifesto had talked of reviving Brand India through five Ts— Technology, Tourism, Tradition, Trade and Talent.

There has not been any major change in the salient features of the draft National Tourism Policy in these five years. The features include, focus on employment generation, community participation in tourism development and linkages with various ministries and stakeholders.

The policy enshrines the vision of developing and positioning India as a “must experience” and “transformational” destination for global travellers, whilst encouraging Indians to explore their own country.

“We have been asking the government to permit public-private partnership in implementing tourism projects and maintenance of tourist spots. The tourism sector is a forex earner and the entire money remains within the country unlike the foreign investments in other sectors. Policy is necessary to give a clear direction for the development of the sector,” said Mulla.

Defence and aerospace sectors, the corner stones of the government’s ambitious Make in India programme, garnered relatively miniscule foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last five years.

While the country attracted FDI valued around $286 billion in the past five years across sectors, defence and aerospace, which were projected as high potential sectors under ‘Make in India’, could grab only a measly Rs 1,834 crore, according to government data released on Monday.

“As per the data furnished by 79 companies operating in Defence and Aerospace sector, so far, FDI inflows of over Rs 1,834 crore have been reported after 2014 under both government and automatic route,” it said.

In May 2001, the defence sector, until then reserved for the public sector, was opened up for 100 per cent Indian private sector participation and foreign direct investment up to 26 per cent.

Further, the government later allowed FDI up to 49 per cent under the automatic route and above 49 per cent through the government route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology or for other reasons to be recorded.

The government had envisaged that by allowing higher FDI in the defence sector, the global companies having highend technologies can be encouraged to set up their manufacturing base in India in collaboration with Indian companies, thereby, resulting in creation of employment opportunities, saving foreign exchange and increasing indigenisation. The government had also announced two defence corridors-- in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. While launching the Tamil Nadu Aerospace and Defence Industrial Policy at the Global Investors Meet in Chennai in January 2019, the then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said: “…by announcing the corridor, we have invited quite a lot of manufacturers from abroad to come, choose the location where they want to establish their unit and start producing defence equipment”.

But the investments are still nothing worth writing home about.