Tag Archives: Joint Secretary

TAFI to host their convention in Kuching, Malaysia with 700 delegates from 20-23 September 2022. Exclusively for the members, it will have 550 TAFI members and 200 Malaysian delegates. “We want to educate the members, add value to the people who attend the convention and improve the business”, said Anil Kalsi, Joint Secretary, TAFI.

Rakesh Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Verma is a 1993 batch IAS officer from Punjab Cadre. In a recent circular, ACC mentioned that they have approved the in-situ upgradation of many officers to the level of Additional Secretary to the Government of India, as a measure personal to them by temporarily upgrading the post held earlier.

Lily Pandeya has been appointed as the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture. Pandeya is a 1998 batch Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer. According to the order released by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, she will be assuming charge of the post for a tenure of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Before this, Pandeya was appointed as the Executive Director, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Government of India.

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has proposed 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process, and is focused on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, says, “This round invites bids for priority routes which have not been covered under UDAN so far.”

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, has said that tourism and civil aviation have been complementing each other for a long time. “By working together these sectors can achieve all objectives. We have the coordination committee at the level of Secretary, which MOT is also part of and under UDAN, we have regular meetings, where they communicate their requests, based on their stakeholders’ inputs,” she said.

Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has said that as part of Champions Services Sector, an amount has been earmarked for development of tented accommodation in the Buddhist Circuit. “We are aware that people from China and Southeast Asia travel to places of Buddhist interest, but don’t come to India,” he said.

Rakesh Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, shares that there is a need to market India as a M!CE destination. “We have to aggressively market India as a MICE destination. The Government has to back the industry in bringing more events and conventions. Our missions abroad can be of great help. It impacts tourism, hospitality, event management and host of other people in the supply chain. India has great potential for MICE industry. The challenge is how to build a string brand India for conventions and events, while backing it up by delivering on the premises. The Government and the industry must jointly build India as a MICE destination.”

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has set up a single-window clearance mechanism to expedite various investment proposals in the domestic aviation industry. “MoCA has an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) for prompt assistance and clearance,” the ministry mentioned in a tweet recently. According to MoCA the setting up of the ICC was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2020-2021 Union Budget in February this year. The cell was also set up following an order from the Department of Promotion of Industry (DPIT) on July 1 in this regard. The 10-member ICC will be headed by Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, MoCA. The ICC has been mandated to serve as a single-window system for attracting investment and its terms of reference include accelerating investments, bringing projects to the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) which require special incentive, policy interventions, expeditious clearances and systematic references, among others, the MoCA order said.

  Around 300 delegates from 28 countries attended PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2019 (PATA ATRTCM) in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. The event, organised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and hosted by Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, brought together international experts at the forefront of the adventure travel industry from both the private and public sectors to discuss issues and opportunities in travel and tourism. Delegates heard from a diverse line-up of speakers at the one-day conference on the theme ‘Rejuvenate Your Soul Through Travel’. The thought leaders, innovators and pioneers, who are shaping the emerging landscape of the adventure travel and responsible tourism industry, examined various conference topics that covered ‘Rejuvenating Your Soul Through Travel’, ‘Storytelling to Sell Travel on Instagram’, ‘Using Sustainability to Future-Proof Our Destination’, ‘Trends to India’, ‘Creating Experiences that are Regenerative’, ‘Marketing to the New Adventure Travellers’, ‘Tourism as a Tool for Rejuvenation’, ‘A Special Story of Indian Rejuvenation’ and ‘Sustaining our Souls: Vision-Driven Leadership in Adventure Tourism’. The conference was opened by Dilip Jawalkar, IAS, Secretary Tourism, Religious Affairs and Culture Department, Government of Uttarakhand; Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; Yogendra Tripathi, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, and Satpal Maharaj, Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand. Dr Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA noted, “The event aims to be a catalyst for generating new ideas and improving collaboration between public and private sector organisations. By bringing together such a dynamic and diverse group of speakers, we hoped to highlight the need to discuss, analyse and share various ideas with both the public and private sector in planning, building and promoting a responsible travel and tourism industry.” The B2B mart welcomed 47 seller organisations from 10 destinations and 44 buyer organisations …

Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Government of India, has launched the official mobile application ‘GAS 2019’, for Global Aviation Summit 2019, to be held on January 15-16, 2019 at Grand Hyatt Mumbai.  The application was launched in the presence of Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA); Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI); Dr Shefali Juneja, Joint Secretary, MoCA and other officials of the AAI. Available on play store and iOS, GAS 2019 provides a holistic glimpse of the summit and can be used to access latest updates about the mega event. The application enables users to interact with the co-delegates and speakers. It would be an excellent platform for networking through personal and group chats. With the who’s who of the global aviation fraternity set to grace the event, the summit is a promising platform for constructive discussions, collaborations and meeting of minds to explore the future of global aviation. The esteemed guest-list for the summit includes Transport & Civil Aviation ministers from Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Jamaica, Civil Aviation authorities and Directorate Generals of Civil Aviation (DGCAs) from 22 countries. The future of aviation – drones and seaplanes, airport privatisation, digital travel and holistic development of global aviation ecosystem are the key areas to push the envelope both on regulations and on industry structure. This platform will enable the industry leaders to prepare a policy roadmap that will certainly provide a strong impetus to all players in the aviation ecosystem. The summit will entail B2G, B2B and G2G meetings.