India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced an ambitious plan to develop the country's top 50 tourist destinations in a "challenge mode", with the aim of boosting employment-led growth and attracting international visitors. The Ministry of Tourism has received a significant budget increase for 2025-2026, with a focus on enhancing tourism infrastructure, promoting domestic and international travel, and ensuring the safety of tourists, particularly women. The government plans to promote homestays, improve connectivity to tourist spots, and provide performance-linked incentives to states that demonstrate effective destination management. The budget also includes investments in public enterprises, skill development programs, and initiatives to promote medical tourism and spiritual tourism.
Keisha Santwan, 16, and her travel-obsessed family love the joy of exploring new places.
Vignettes from an important chapter in the life of a man who left his kingdom to bring compassion to the world.
Kushinagar is the final resting place of Gautama Buddha where he attained Mahaparinirvana after his death and is among the most important pilgrim spots for Buddhists.
He recalled PM Modi's message at the United Nations and hailed India's mission "to save the planet from conflict and violence" through the principles of Buddhism.
Animated or aggressive? Debate over the emblem atop the new Parliament building rages with several historians dismayed that the essence of the original 'protective' Ashokan lions has been effaced while others say the differences are minuscule and no two pieces of art can be identical.
He also extended condolences to those who have suffered and lost near and dear ones in the pandemic, and said he grieved with them.
The historic tripartite agreement for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was on Monday signed to resolve the vexed Darjeeling problem amidst protests and bandhs in the Terai and Dooars areas.
Manish Sisodia, Satyender Jain, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Imran Hussain, and Rajendra Gautamas took oath as the ministers in Delhi.
Unabated political violence in West Bengal on Thursday came into sharp focus ahead of assembly polls with Governor M K Narayanan asking top state government officials to take immediate steps for maintaining law and order and the Election Commission deciding to send a team of senior police officers to assess the situation.
'I wish somebody would tell the prime minister that peace with Pakistan is a good thought. Indians and Pakistanis can be friends, but India and Pakistan can never be friends in our lifetime,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Here are a few casting suggestions for the master filmmaker, delivered with a wink.
'There are 36 foreign tourists from China, Italy, USA, Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand and other countries.'
For Afghans in India, including medical tourists from the war-torn country as well as migrants and refugees staying here much longer, the safety of friends and families is the biggest concern - particularly for those linked to the now collapsed government or who have had work ties with the US.
'As a course mate who has followed closely this star on the Bombay Sappers firmament, my heart swells with pride to see his extraordinary brilliance and focus; his commitment and his dedication; his hard work; and his technical as well as tactical knowledge,' says Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd) of his batchmate General Manoj Pande who will take over as chief of the army staff on May 1.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu had begun seeing Governor Ravi's decisions and actions as a part of the state BJP's non-stop criticism of its government and directed from Delhi, a view strengthened by the governor's decision to return the NEET exemption bill, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The mispronunciation outraged a large number of Harris' supporters and her spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, "I'll keep it simple: If you can pronounce 'former' Senator David Perdue, you can pronounce 'future' Vice President Kamala Harris."
While the assembly elections are being seen as largely a contest between the NDA and the Grand Alliance, the state has been witness to mushrooming of "morchas" (fronts) which may queer the pitch for the lead players in a tight contest.
Count among The Light of Asia's many, many admirers over 132 years: Gandhi, Tagore, Vivekananda, Nehru and Ambedkar, Tolstoy and Kipling, Yeats and Eliot, Alfred Nobel, Dmitri Mendeleev and C V Raman. Jairam Ramesh reveals why he decided to write a book on Edwin Arnold, who wrote The Light of Asia.
Lauding the bravery displayed by the soldiers, the prime minister said: "The bravery that you and your compatriots showed, a message has gone to the world about India's strength."
'This will be the first open university in Kerala and it is a great tribute to Gurudevan by the helmsman of the Communist movement in Kerala,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Describing Bodh Gaya as the "land of enlightenment", Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government would develop the site as the spiritual capital for it to serve as a civilisational bond between India and the Buddhist world.
Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula, also known as Raja Vemula, were given 'deeksha' at a function in Dadar in Mumbai in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar.
Suresh Prabhu is trapped in the 'rhetoric of his own government'.
The party is looking at Amit Shah's visit to Tamil Nadu and the PM's to Sri Lanka to boost its expansions efforts in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, reports Archis Mohan.
'There are several stories in the Mahabharata where kings drunk on their power are banished to hell.' 'The story of Krishna and Kamsa is a case in point and the Ramayana, at its very core, is a story about Rama's victory over an arrogant Ravana,' says Arundhuti Dasgupta.
Many scholars have suggested that the importance of the cow and her association with the pantheon grew with the growing influence of the cult of Krishna,' says Arundhuti Dasgupta.
'We are happy China has failed to disrupt the Kalachakra Puja by its repressive measures in Tibet; many Tibetans have come to attend the Puja.'
'The conception of Make-in-India, Skill India, Smart Cities, Digital India, Beti Bachao, Beti Padao and so on show a visionary breadth of mind, and Modi is almost the first political leader in India to put them into effect with single-minded zeal,' notes B S Raghavan, the former civil servant.
Comedy and satire are beautifully interwoven in Moodar Koodam with excellent support from the cast
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
'My father would have liked Piku and PINK.' 'I don't think he would have liked item songs though.'
'The Mahabodhi temple is the only example in the world where a religion's most sacred place is controlled by people belonging to another religion.'
China's ruling Communist Party has cracked down on Tibetans who planned to attend the Kalachakra Puja in Bodh Gaya. But the Tibetan people have dared the Communists by listening to the Dalai Lama's sermons on the Internet and sharing videos on social media.
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com records a heated discussion on NaMo at one of Varanasi's best-known locations.
The Magna Carta was not quite a grand demand for equality, freedoms and rule of law but just a narrow demand for restricting the ruler's powers to ring fence the interests of the elite. But its consequences greatly expanded over the centuries into a charter, which guarantees individual liberties, equality and justice to all, irrespective of race, religion and class, says Mohan Guruswamy.
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