discover india app launched by tourism ministry india

The Ministry of Tourism has launched a mobile application to enable its users to independently travel and experience 16 cities in the country. The self-guided tour application ‘Incredible India Walking Tours’ was launched by the Ministry in collaboration with Genesys International Corporation and will cover 16 Indian cities including Agra, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Coastal Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Pune and Surat. The facility will be extended to 36 cities by December 2015. The app enables users to sight-see free of cost at their own pace and convenience, with the help of walking tours curated by travel experts. “We are extremely excited about this because it is the first time an app can enable users to discover India on their own. It’s free, easy to use and, most importantly, comes with 360 degree street views and information put together by a panel of experts. It’s like having a local take you by the hand and show you his city, at your convenience,” Tourism Minister Sripad Naik said. The application, however, is only available on Blackberry mobile handsets. It runs on all BlackBerry 10 handsets including the Z3, Z10, Z30, Q5 and Q10 phones. An Android version of the free application is also being worked upon and is expected to be announced in coming weeks, said a senior Tourism Ministry official.

Raina, Vijay power Chennai to big win

Centurion: Chennai Super Kings registered their second win in the Champions League T20 with a massive 97-run victory over Wayamba.



Chasing a huge target of 201 runs, the Lankan champions folded for just 103 runs. None of their batsmen was allowed to hold fort and build any sort of partnership as the Chennai bowlers kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Ashwin's spin fetched him four wickets and South African speedster Albie Morkel picked up three victims in the match.

Earlier, Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay scored twin quick-fire half centuries to enable Chennai Super Kings post a mammoth 200 for three wickets against Wayamba in their second Group A match of the Champions League Twenty20 here.

Raina scored a blistering 44-ball 87 while Vijay complimented him well with a 46-ball 68 to notch up a 137-run second wicket stand between them which came in just 72 deliveries.

While Vijay was the initial aggressor, Raina overtook him once the innings progressed in the perfect batting conditions at the SuperSport Park.



Raina bejeweled his innings with six boundaries and as many sixes while Vijay found the fence nine times and crossed it once.

For Wayamba Chanaka Welegadara picked up two wickets for 47 runs off his four overs.

Sent into bat, Chennai were cautious in the beginning as openers Mathew Hayden and Vijay found it difficult to pick up the tricks of mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis, who opened the bowling along with left-arm pacer Isuru Udana.

However, Mubarak's ploy to introduce Welegedara in the fifth over backfired as Vijay took the left-arm pacer to the task, hitting him for one six and three fours, apart from a leg-bye boundary, to pick up 23 runs of that over.



But Mendis kept his captain's faith and gave Wayamaba the breakthrough, trapping big-hitting Hayden plumb in front of the wicket in the next over.

Vijay was at his elegant best as he welcomed Shalika Karunanayake with a blazing drive past extra cover and then meted out the same treatment to Thisara Perera in the next.

Perera was at the receiving end of Vijay and Suresh Raina's ire as she bled 18 runs off his second over.

Raina came out of his shell and hammered Perera for a boundary and a six over extra cover and then Vijay finished off the over with an elegant flick over midwicket.

After initial hiccup, Raina opened up and matched his partner stroke by stroke. Karunanayake also had to face the left-hander's ire as he clobbered the right-arm medium pacer for a boundary and a six in the 12th over to up the Chennai tempo.



Once set, the duo used their long handle to great effect towards the end and smashed Wayamba bowlers to all parts of the ground to help Chennai pile up 65 runs in the last five overs.

Raina destroyed Mendis' figure with four huge sixes during the spinner's second spell to pick up 28 runs of the 17th over.

However, in the next over both the batsmen perished in search of quick runs. Welegedara was the lucky bowler, who scalped both Raina and Vijay in two consecutive deliveries to break the destructive partnership.

While Raina hit one staraight to Mubarak inside the circle, Vijay was holed out in the deep by Perera.

Albie Morkel (9 off 5) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (10 off 9) finshed off the proceedings for Chennai.

Source: PTI