Indian premier pairs green tourism and climate change

But commentator says policy riddled with loopholes

Shri Narendra Modi, Indian Premier recently called for focused development of presentation material on how India has contributed to environment protection through the ages.

Modi hasasked the Ministry of Culture to take in lead in this initiative, which, could be presented during the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP 21 – in Paris later this year. India must show the world how it has been at the forefront of environment protection.

For instance, he suggested a focused effort related to different water storage and conservation practices through the ages, across India.

There may also be national televised "talent hunts" which could nurture the next generation of high-quality tourist guides for the top tourist destinations across the country.

But, says commentator Subir Ghosh (http://www.subirghosh.in)   "The last National Tourism Policy came 13 years ago. The new draft is being pushed out in barely two weeks."

"The Union government is increasingly bulldozing through policies and bills in a tearing hurry. The latest, following on the heels of the child labour and juvenile justice bills, is the National Tourism Policy.

"The Union tourism ministry put up a draft of the policy on its website on April 30 and gave the general public only 10 days to respond. It may be unveiled as early as Friday. It has been 13 years since the last National Tourism Policy was announced, incidentally by the same ruling party. But this dispensation wants to push the new one through in barely two weeks."

"As was the case with the child labour and juvenile justice bills, the National Tourism Policy too falls hopelessly short of international standards. It is out of sync with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, also called 10YFP, of the World Tourism Organization.

Since all these developments took place after the National Tourism Policy 2002, it was only natural to expect the new tourism policy of India to reflect the current trends at the international level. But, this is where the draft policy fails.

The word "sustainable" figures 11 times in the 50-page document and "biodiversity" not even once. The draft policy keeps reiterating that it is important to look at issues and economic growth in a sustainable manner, but all through leaves out key elements that definite sustainability.

A network of over 30 civil society organisations has criticised the process and called for a democratic process of policy-making.

Valere Tjolle

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