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.
Syed Abdul Mueed is the third son of the Hizb chief to have been sacked from the government job.
"I had only one child and I gave him to the army, to the nation. No father can be prouder," Rajbir Singh, Captain Pawan's father said.
Mueen, who works as an Information Technology manager at Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Pampore was offering late afternoon prayers with colleagues when three militants entered the campus on Saturday.
Two to three terrorists are suspected to be holed up in the building, as intermittent gunshots can be heard from inside the building.
At least 2 CRPF trooper was dead on Saturday in a suspected militant attack on a forces' convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway near EDI Pampore. A CRPF spokesman Bhavesh Choudhury said that 10 others were injured in the attack.
'Just this week, the Indians killed a Kashmiri terrorist, who is a member of Hizbul Mujahideen.' 'This is a nasty terrorist organisation, and did Pakistan welcome this killing?' 'No, in fact, they denounced it and referred to him as a Kashmiri separatist.' 'These Kashmiri terrorist groups have been aided by the Pakistani State.'
The Pampore attack 'has the stamp of LeT written all over it.'
'They are exactly like the so-called fidayeen of the 1999-2003 phase, when J&K witnessed a surge in suicide attacks on various important garrisons,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), who served as the General Officer Commanding 15 Corps in Kashmir.
Security forces pounded the building of Entrepreneurship Development Institute since Monday after three militants barged inside the complex with the aim of engaging the law enforcing agencies.
Family, friends and the army pay their respects to Captain Tushar Mahajan who laid down his life during the encounter in Pampore.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
'India needs offensive and defensive security measures to protect itself.'
In democratic India, a citizen can be a patriot and at the same time be critical of the government, unlike China which promulgated a national security law in Hong Kong prescribing patriotism to contest elections, observes Rup Narayan Das.
They will enable the people to access and enjoy the same rights, same privileges and same facilities as their fellow citizens in the rest of the country, he said.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
Atul Bhatnagar, COO, National Skills Development Corporation tells us how we can effectively tackle the issue of unemployability and make our youth more employable.
Here's the full text of President's address with a word cloud.
Contentious issues such as the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Art 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of Uniform Civil Code have been included in the Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto with the party making promises on them.
Magsaysay Award winner Sonam Wangchuk speaks to Claude Arpi about his journey, his fights, his hopes and how he became an inspiration for the Bollywood blockbuster.
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