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Morning Brief: Government May Open Up Arunachal To Foreign Tourists, Record Remittances Sent Overseas In January; Early Indications Point To Normal Monsoon
The Sela Pass, heading into Tawang. (Saurabhgupta8/Wikipedia)
Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.
Government May Open Up Sensitive Areas To Foreign Tourists
The government may soon allow foreign tourists, except those from Pakistan and China, to visit some of the most sensitive areas in the country, including Arunachal Pradesh, kept out of bound so far for those without a special permit. The Ministry of Home Affairs is currently considering a proposal to relax the six-decade-old Restricted Area Permit policy, under which foreigners are barred from visiting sensitive areas without special permission. Areas out of bond for foreign tourists include Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and parts Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
Government’s effort to promote tourism, create job opportunities for the locals and generate revenue for the state is being seen as the main driver of this change. In Arunachal, the government is looking to increase tourist inflow to Tawang. The town, which is claimed by China, is home to Galden Namgey Lhatse, the second largest Buddhist monastery in the world after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
Indians Sent Record Remittances Overseas In January
Indians more than doubled the remittances sent overseas in January from a year earlier. According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, outbound remittances by individual residents reached $1.2 billion in January. Cumulative outflows in the first 10 months of this financial year were $8.17 billion. In comparison, $4.6 billion were sent in the same period a year ago. Resident Indians can send up to $250,000 per year to their relatives abroad. Gifts, maintenance of relatives abroad, travel and study accounted for more than 90 per cent of the total flows. Indians were allowed to send money abroad under various accounts after the country’s foreign exchange reserves crossed $100 billion in 2003.
Early Indications Point To Normal Monsoon
Although the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is still over a fortnight away from an official pronouncement on the likely rainfall pattern this year, there are indications that India could see a normal monsoon. The national weather forecaster’s recent bulletin on Southern Oscillation has ruled out the possibility of El Nino, the abnormal warming of the ocean surface in central and eastern equatorial Pacific usually associated with weak monsoons. Observations have so far not thrown up any negative factor, IMD officials have said.
However, IMD Director General K J Ramesh is cautious. When asked about the indications, he said: “It would be premature to say anything at this juncture. We would be able to say something after two weeks”.
Downloads Of NaMo App Rose After Rahul Gandhi’s Attack: BJP
A day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving data obtained through his NaMo App to “friends in American companies”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the downloads of the app had increased following Congress’ attack. Accusing the Congress of unleashing bots to make ‘#DeleteNaMoApp” trend on Twitter, the party said “ the popularity and downloads of Namo App only increased. Today, it will be no different! We also take this opportunity to encourage Rahul Gandhi to download NaMo App to keep himself appraised of the good things happening in India,” the BJP4India said in a tweet.
“Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India’s Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies”, Gandhi had said. He attacked the BJP after his party came under scanner over the alleged use of services of Cambridge Analytica, accused of 'stealing' Facebook data.
UP ATS Nabs 10 On Terror Funding Charges
Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh police has arrested ten persons who were linked with Lashkar-e-Taiba and involved in terror-funding activities. The arrested men were identified as Naseem Ahamad, Naeem Arshad, Sanjay Saroj, Niraj Mishra, Sahil Masih, Uma Pratap Singh, Mukesh Prasad, Nikhil Rai alias Musharraf Ansari, Ankur Rai and Dayanand Yadav. Debit cards, Rs 42 lakh cash, swap machines, magnetic card readers, three laptops, passbooks of different banks, a country made pistol and cartridges were recovered from the men. The men were arrested from Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Pratapgarh of Uttarpradesh and Rivan of Madhya Pradesh.
Family Of BSP MLA Who Voted For BJP In RS Polls Attacked
Family members of Uttar Pradesh MLA Anil Singh were on Sunday attacked in Asoha area of Unnao district while they were travelling to Lucknow in a car. Singh had defied his party’s whip and voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls, contributing to the party’s victory in nine seats. According to Singh’s brother, a car collided with his vehicle the family was travelling in. Following this, five youths got out of the car and assaulted family members.
AAP To Contest Next Haryana Polls
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would contest the 2019 Assembly polls in Haryana. Speaking at a rally in Hisar, Kejriwal said, “AAP will contest next polls in Haryana and will break the record of Delhi. You have to break the record of 67 seats made by Delhi’s public.” Kejriwal said that voters in Delhi picked AAP “by throwing out both Congress as well as BJP”. Kejriwal also blamed Haryana’s former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and current Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for “riots between Jats and non-Jats for their vote bank politics” during the Jat reservation stir of February 2016.
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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!
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