India relaxes its tough visa rules just a wee bit

Tourists coming to India in 2010 have reason to smile. After adopting a tough posture in the wake of Hadley saga, Delhi agreed to factor in the difficulties of genuine tourists and announced some relaxation in the tough visa rules it had promulgated a month ago.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of New Year Day, here, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, said visa rules have been relaxed for tourists who use India as a base to go to neighbouring countries. “They can avail of three entries within 60 days, if there is sufficient information on the itinerary”.

He said overwhelming majority of tourists visit India for a few weeks and they will face no difficulty whatsoever on the break of 60 days before applying for another tourist visa.

Chidambaram also had some cheer for cellular phone users in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the home ministry would revisit the issue of ban on prepaid mobile connection but the caveat is that the service providers in Jammu and Kashmir should come out with a fool-proof plan of hundred per cent verification.

Fielding questions on Telangana, the Minister denied that there was any flip-flop on his part. ‘I do not understand why this (his decision to throw open the Telangana issue for consultations after setting the ball rolling for creation of the new state) was described by the media as a flip-flop. There was no flip-flop on the part of the Central government. The government was simply responding to the altered situation as a result of divisions in the political parties’, he maintained.

The Centre begins the new round of ‘consultations on January 5 and leaders of eight recognised parties from Andhra Pradesh have been invited for the consultations. ‘Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will also attend the meeting, which, according to Chidambaram, will devise a ‘mechanism and road map’ for resolving the Telangana tangle.

The Home Minister clearly indicated that the Jan 5 round was only the ‘first step’ in consultation. He reiterated that the UPA was committed to creation of Telangana as promised in UPA’s National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) in 2004 at an ‘appropriate time after due consultations and consensus’.

Chidambaram released to the media what he termed as the progress card of his ministry for December.

Some Excerpts from the Report:

Two more ULFA leaders, namely, Arabinda Rajkowa and Raju Barua were apprehended on the India-Bangladesh border and subsequently arrested by the Assam Police on December 4, 2009.

A sum of Rs.39.70 crore was reimbursed to the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme. So far, Rs.59.70 crore has been released and the budget of Rs.60 crore nearly exhausted.

Draft policies on Arms for Individuals and Arms Manufacturing were put on the website of MHA. Comments have been invited from stakeholders by January 6, 2010. We hope to notify the new policies within a week thereafter.

The visa rules for tourists were tightened. Hereafter, after the tourist visits India and leaves the country, there has to be a break of 60 days before he/she can apply for another tourist visa. The overwhelming majority of tourists who visit India for a few weeks would face no difficulty whatsoever. There is a very small number of tourists who use India as a hub and visit neighbouring countries. In such cases, if the itinerary shows visits to India and other countries as part of the same trip, we have allowed the Visa Issuing Authorities to relax the 60-day period and permit up to three entries into India.

NIA

Six cases pertaining to the State of Kerala and two cases pertaining to the State of Goa were entrusted to the National Investigation Agency. A Special Court was notified at Kochi, Kerala under Section 11(1) of the NIA Act.

CPMFs

Under the Modernisation of Police Forces Scheme for 2009-10, MHA has a provision for Rs.1,250 crore. A sum of Rs.118.43 crore was released to various States in December 2009, taking the total release so far to Rs.849.66 crore.

A scheme has been formulated to reemploy Ex-servicemen on contractual basis in the categories of Constable and Sub-Inspector in BSF, CISF and SSB. CRPF has already been permitted to reemploy Ex-servicemen.

North Eastern States

Suspension of Operation (SoO) Agreements with National Democratic Front of Bodoland(NDFB-Pro Talks) and Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) were extended up to June 30, 2010.

Jammu and Kashmir

On the advice of MHA, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has constituted two Committees to deal with ‘vacation of properties occupied by security forces in a time-bound manner’ and ‘construction of alternate accommodation for security forces’.

Border Management; Disaster Management

India-Bangladesh Border: 40 kms of fencing and 50 kms of road work were completed in December 2009 under phase II of the project. 50 kms of fencing were replaced in December 2009 under phase III of the project. Poles for floodlighting were erected on a length of 50 kms and cables were laid on a length of 30 kms during the month.

India-China Border: 4.6 kms of formation works and 3.24 kms of surfacing works were completed during December 2009.

Coastal Security: Ten more boats were supplied by Goa Shipyard Ltd (6 boats) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (4 boats) during December 2009.

Other initiatives: The Crimes and Criminals Tracking Network System (CCTNS) continues to make progress. A sum of Rs.33.80 crore was released to 11 States in December 2009.

The fourth tri-partite talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and the Government of West Bengal were held on December 21, 2009. GJM has requested that the next round of talks may be held at the political level within 45 days.

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Tribal Councils) Regulation, 2009 was notified and it will come into effect on December 31, 2009.

The Freedom Fighters’ Division has embarked on an ambitious mission of digitizing the records. So far, 106,000 files of freedom fighters’ pension cases have been digitized, including 10,000 files that were completed in December 2009. A data base of living freedom fighters is also being compiled. So far, 27,000 living freedom fighters’ pension cases have been included in the data base, of which 6,000 were added in the month of December 2009.

The work of direct data collection for the National Population Register (NPR) in the coastal villages of 8 States and 2 Union Territories is in progress. The biographical details of about 52 lakh persons and the biometric details of about 10 lakh persons have been collected so far. Cabinet has approved the creation of NPR for coastal areas and issue of identity cards to usual residents.

The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2008, except Sections 5, 6 and 21(b), have been notified and they will come into force on Dec31, 2009.

Conclusion

2009 has been an eventful year. The most satisfactory achievements have been on the anti-terror front where we had, fortunately, a year without terrorist attacks; in containing militancy in Jammu & Kashmir and in the North East; and in taking resolute measures to tackle the menace of Left Wing extremism. Every hour, every day and every month, India’s capacity to meet the challenges to internal security is growing. We are stronger today than we were a year ago and we will be stronger a year from now than we are today. Nevertheless, I must repeat my words of caution: there is no room for complacency and there should be no tolerance for business-as-usual. It is in this view that on December 23, 2009, during the course of my IB Centenary Endowment Lecture, I outlined a new architecture for India’s security. All of us would have to work harder in 2010. There is more to be accomplished in 2010. Hence, 2010 promises to be more eventful than 2009. ”

- Asian Tribune -