India News | Victory of 'new India', Healthcare Workers & Spirit of All Indians: Reddy on 100-cr Jabs Milestone

Bengaluru, Oct 28 (PTI) Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday hailed the country's milestone of 100 crore Covid vaccine doses administered by calling it a victory of 'Corona warriors', "new India", and the spirit of cooperative federalism.

Addressing a tourism conference here, he asserted that there can be no bigger confidence booster for revival of tourism than vaccination against COVID-19.

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The minister said, a decision has been taken by the Ministry of External Affairs to have dedicated tourism officers in 20 Indian missions abroad and this will help in branding and promoting India's culture and heritage abroad.

The Union culture and tourism minister congratulated each and every citizen of the country on India achieving the milestone in its vaccination drive against Covid.

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"We have witnessed the victory of scientists, victory of healthcare workers and the collective spirit of 130 crore Indians. It is a victory of 'new India' and team India; and a victory of the spirit of cooperative federalism, and of our Corona warriors," Reddy said.

He said vaccination against Covid and tourism will go together in the current scenario and without vaccination, tourism will not survive and no tourists will come.

He later tweeted: "Spoke on @tourismgoi's initiatives to boost tourism and also encourage investment. Congratulated all the scientists, health care workers & vaccine manufacturers on crossing the 100 crores vaccine mark and dwelt on how this will be a big boost for the tourism industry".

"We should use challenging times as an opportunity to rethink, regenerate and reinvent the tourism sector," the minister said.

A two-day conference of tourism and culture ministers of southern India began in Bengaluru on Thursday, aiming to apprise various stakeholders about the projects and initiatives being taken by the Centre for the development of the region.

The conference is taking place three months after the Ramappa temple at Palampet in Telangana's Warangal was conferred the tag of UNESCO World Heritage site.

The temple, a 13th century engineering marvel named after its architect Ramappa, was proposed by the government as its only nomination for the UNESCO World Heritage site tag for the year 2019.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was scheduled to attend the event but could not make it.

Reddy said the government's decision to scale up vaccination at this speed was to ensure that both lives and livelihoods are protected.

The event, hosted by the tourism ministry, is in line with the prime minister's idea of cooperative federalism where the government of India and the state governments come together to find solutions for a better India, Reddy said.

And, to utilise this huge advantage that our country has, the tourism ministry has taken several measures to boost tourism and also encourage investment, he said.

The initiatives include a National Tourism Policy that "we wish to unveil after close consultations with states and all stakeholders", he said.

Also, it includes consultations to provide industry status to various tourism projects, unsecured loans of Rs 10 lakh to tour operators and Rs 1 lakh to tourist guides who have been affected by the pandemic; and a new data-driven 'Incredible India 2.0' campaign, Reddy added.

Also, five lakh free visas to international visitors once international travel opens up and extension of e-visa to 169 countries are the other initiatives, he said.

Tourism ministers of Tamil Nadu (M Mathiventhan), Telangana (Srinivas Goud, Karnataka (Anand Singh), and Puducherry (K Lakshminarayan) also participated and addressed the event.

Union Minister of State for Tourism Ajay Bhatt, senior officials of the Archaeological Survey of India, railway ministry and other departments, besides, industry stakeholders also attended the conference on its opening day.

Describing south India's cultural heritage as a "treasure trove", Reddy hailed the recent listing of the Ramappa Temple as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From exquisitely carved caves to breathtaking hill stations, serene temples for the spiritually inclined to beautiful beaches and backwaters, the southern region has much to offer, he said.

The ministry is also providing branding and marketing assistance to the states and Union Territories in the southern region via its various schemes and flagship initiatives.

Under the 'Swadesh Darshan Scheme', which focuses on integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits, the ministry has sanctioned 15 projects in the southern states worth Rs 1,088 crore, he said.

Under the PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive) scheme, the ministry has sanctioned six projects in the region that amounts to 15 per cent of the entire budget, the minister said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)