Immigration Bureau figures put Nepalis at the bottom of the country-wise tourist arrival list, with 72,031 people visiting India from the neighbouring Himalayan Kingdom.
In a major boost to tourism, India and France, which is one of the top tourist generating markets for the country, on Monday signed an agreement to promote each other's destinations and share market research for the purpose.
According to them, though it may cost the party's power in Karnataka, the split in Janata Dal (Secular) will help the Congress regain its lead position in Karnataka politics in the long-run.
Sibal, however, added that Natwar's removal did not mean that he was guilty.
Priya's candidature was okayed by Sonia a few months ago with the All India Congress Committee declaring that she would be the party nominee from the seat represented by her father Sunil Dutt several times.
Sources said that Congress leaders, including Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, AK Antony, Ambika Soni and Randeep Surjewala, are also taking part in the meeting at Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence.
While the 16 Congress legislators in the state favoured joining the Mulayam Singh government, a section of the central leadership strongly opposed any such move.
The Congress party on Sunday expressed confidence in finding a way to address the Left parties' anger against the government's decision to disinvest in Bharat Heavy Eelectricals Ltd.
As compared to India, Italy has 41 and France has 30 world heritage sites, she said. The minister said India has submitted a tentative list proposing 19 cultural and natural sites for their future inclusion in the world heritage list.
Majority of the tourists coming to India have rated their visit as either "most satisfying" or "satisfying", according to an international passenger survey conducted by the Ministry of Tourism.
Indian Oil Corporation will fund restoration of the Sun temple at Konark in Orissa, Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni said on Tuesday.
In a bid to promote tourism, India may allow issuance of visa on arrival, sometime in 2009. Infrastructure for such a provision is also likely to be ready only by next year, when the airports in Delhi and Mumbai will be upgraded. About 5 million tourists came to India last year (2007) against 4.45 million in 2006. The foreign exchange earnings from tourists are estimated at about $12 billion in 2007 against about $9 billion last year.
Despite registering a growth in the number of foreign tourists, India continues to lag behind other neighbouring countries, including China, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong, in terms of tourist arrivals.
The Congress released a list of 193 candidates in New Delhi on Monday.
The deputy prime minister is expected to visit the sites of the blasts and also the injured people in hospitals.
Terror attacks in Malegaon in Maharashtra and elsewhere have not affected the inflow of foreign tourists which recorded a 13.1 per cent growth in the country this year, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
A high power Congress committee, led by senior leader Motilal Vora, is likely to take a final decision on his entry in a day or two.
The Congress on Monday appointed the party's Punjab unit chief Navjot Sidhu as chairman of the state election committee.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was on Friday caught on camera talking on his mobile phone when the national anthem was being played.
From the 'group of 23' leaders, who had written letter to Gandhi seeking Congress' overhaul, Azad and Sharma continue to be regular members of the CWC,
He also said he even declined the post of deputy chief minister offered by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to him.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is trekking 18 kilometres up in the mountains of Uttarakhand to the Kedarnath Temple.
Shivakumar, 57, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on September 3 in a money laundering case.
Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda are the members of the pro-reform G23 group who wrote a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister skirted the issue of whether senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia can be nominated for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state.
Oppn members raised slogans demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the issue.
The Delhi high court on Friday stayed the Centre's eviction notices to two Congress members of Parliament and ex- ministers, Ambika Soni and Kumari Selja.
After Congress president Sonia Gandhi met leaders of the G-23 grouping to resolve internal party issues, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said "indulging the dissenters too much" will encourage more dissent.
The Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge, Tewari said.
The discussions are mostly one-on-one, party insiders said on Thursday, a day of many meetings.
Kharge said that while there are very responsible people in the party who were doing their duty, some people had assumed that lack of responsibility will be ignored.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
Congress on Friday said it is "seriously considering" Captain Amarinder Singh as its candidate for the Amritsar parliamentary seat from where senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley is contesting his maiden election.
To chart the Congress's future course, its chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday formed three groups -- on political affairs for guidance on key issues, task force-2024 to implement the Udaipur 'Nav Sankalp' declaration, and another to coordinate the October 2 'harat Jodo Yatra.
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