Visa on arrival

We are happy that forty more foreign countries will be added to the list of visa on arrival countries. The decision has been taken after full consultations among all concerned ministries and the PMO. The last nod from the Home Ministry is expected any day. The motivation for the Government has been of attracting more foreign tourists to the country. From the statistics provided by the Union Ministry of Tourism there is growth in the income from foreign tourists. The upward trend needs to be maintained. Visa on arrival certainly reduces the hassles for the visitors to obtain visa from respective Indian Consulates in their countries. It is a time and labour saving device. Let us hope that the step taken will be rewarding.

Nevertheless as we are talking about foreign tourists and providing them the ease for obtaining visa, we need also to remind ourselves that for some reasons we have of late earned a bad name also with many foreigners. The reasons are mostly justifiable. We may remind the gruesome rape cases of visiting women from abroad including murders. We may also bring to mind cases of duping and hoodwinking perpetrated against foreign visitors. Lack of sufficient facilities, amenities and proper guidance to less informed foreign visitors is also a negative point. While we are doing the right thing by widening the ambit for visa on arrival, we need to look to many shortcomings that we have in making the tourists really feel that they are in a country with great history and civilization. Our name and fame must be compatible with our deeds. Foreign tourists are loath to travel alone in a taxi or a three-wheeler in parts of India including the capital city of Delhi. Let us sit up and try to examine why it is so? Unless we have zero tolerance against violating law and order situation in the country and unless we rein in malevolent elements that shamefully bring disrepute to the country, we cannot feel happy to receive foreign tourists in our country. We hope that while the issue of extending visa on arrival scheme to many more countries was being deliberated at the highest levels, the issue raised above, too, will have come up for consideration.

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Courtesy: The Daily Excelsior: 11th January, 2024