New Delhi: Atithi Devo Bhavah. To make visitors to the city feel welcome during the Commonwealth Games, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) is set to train taxi and auto drivers, CISF personnel posted at monuments, dhaba owners, hotel staff etc. Participants will be taught English as well as courtesy and ways to communicate with tourists. At present, there is a shortage of trained guides in the city and with Commonwealth Games drawing close, the issue has to be addressed promptly.
With hundreds of historical sites to visit and each monument boasting its own unique history, foreign nationals are often left to fend for themselves and depend on tourist books and brochures for information. Language is another problem. Quite a contrast to facilities offered in tourist sites in western countries, where trained guides-proficient in several languages-are easily available to aid visitors apart from group-guided trips at regular intervals. Although the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) plans to introduce audio guide services in five languages at some world heritage sites our experts point that not a single monument or tourist place in the city has an interpretation centre where tourists can come and get all information pertaining to a particular site. ASI is also in the process of bringing out more brochures and guides for foreign visitors in the city. Experts say such facilities are crucial if the government wants to promote Delhi as a ‘heritage city’. Various agencies like INTACH are also involved in the plans.
Under ITDC’s plans, etiquette training for the Games will also be provided to residents who offer rooms to foreigners under Delhi government’s bed and breakfast scheme. “House-owners will be given hospitality related training and a brief of Indian tourism scenario. Most visitors generally question their hosts on information about the city so they will be provided information on the golden triangle- Delhi, Agra and Jaipur as well as where tourists should go visiting in Delhi,” said an official.
Read the questions given below and write the option you consider the most appropriate in your answer sheet.
Q1: What are the initiatives to be taken up by the India Tourism Development Corporation to make the visitors feel welcome during the Commonwealth Games?
(i) training of drivers, CISF personals, dhaba owners and hotel staff.
(ii) promoting the sale of tourist books and brochures.
(iii) arranging audio cassettes and tapes on tourism.
(iv) constructing more bed and breakfast homes.
Q2: How have the western countries managed to offer aid and better facilities to their tourists?
(i) by providing good tourist books and brochures.
(ii) by providing well-behaved and courteous guides.
(iii) by training guides in several languages and group-guided trips at regular intervals.
(iv) by allowing foreign nationals to fend for themselves.
Q3: Apart from the guides and the guided tours, Archeological Survey of India has expressed the need for establishing ______________ at historical sites to help tourists.
(i) interpretation centres. (ii) rehabilitation centres.
(iii) cessation centres. (iv) training centres.
Q4: What steps have been taken by ASI to promote Delhi as a heritage site?
(i) making brochures very informative and training the residents.
(ii) bringing out more brochures and involving other agencies in planning and visitor management.
(iii) offering tourists all sources of comfort for their stay and visits to historical sites.
(iv) providing owners of bed and breakfast homes information about Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
Q5: _________________ are to be provided to residents who offer rooms to foreigners under ITDC’s plan.
(i) comfortable stay, friendly and hospitable treatment
(ii) etiquette training, hospitality treatment
(iii) better tourist guides and interpretation centres
(iv) visits to the golden triangle cities.
Answers
Answer:
Opinion
The Tawang Clash Is a Precursor to What Lies Ahead – War and Peace on China's TermsSecurity
Neither the Indian government nor the military has any comprehension of the worst that will happen – it’s no longer a question of if, but when.
Dec 13, 2022 | Pravin Sawhney
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An Indian army truck drives along India's Tezpur-Tawang highway, which runs to the Chinese border, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh May 28, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Frank Jack Daniel
The recent clash in Tawang is a firm message from China that it believes India is deliberately and wilfully ignoring its political and military red lines, delineated very clearly by Beijing in recent times. And that the consequence of this would be war, which is increasingly becoming an inevitability. Yet, India continues to mistake the present grey-zone operations – where no shots are fired – by the PLA in Tawang and armed skirmishes as the worst that could happen. Neither the Indian government nor the military has any comprehension of the worst that will happen. It’s no longer a question of if, but when.
Following the acrimonious visit of US speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2021, China’s ambassador in India, Sun Weidong, asked India to reiterate its ‘one-China’ policy as 160 countries had apparently done and which, according to him, is the basis of good India-China relations. India, however, took the view that there was “no need to reiterate our consistent policies”. In China’s eyes, this refusal may have been seen as breaching its political red line.
Earlier, China had equated the Quadrilateral security dialogue or Quad – the grouping of India, Japan, the US and Australia – with AUKUS (the Australia, UK and US military alliance) as cliques to strengthen the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy and threaten China’s Maritime Silk Road (part of its Belt and Road Initiative) which runs along the traditional sea lines of communications. However symbolic, India joined the Quad navies for an advanced Malabar naval exercise in the Sea of Japan in November to ensure status quo in the western Pacific. Besides, in a show of muscle, India, ignoring China’s displeasure, did the ‘Yudh Abhyas 2022’ armies exercise with the US within 100 km of the Line of Actual Control, which China said violated the spirit of the bilateral 1993 and 1996 agreements. There are numerous other instances of the Chinese side objecting to various actions by the Indian government, many of them symbolic and aimed at portraying Narendra Modi as a strong leader.