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.

BP oil spill cannot be compared with Bhopal disaster

New Delhi: British High Commissioner Richard Stagg Wednesday said the recent oil spill in US waters could not be compared to the scale of the Bhopal gas disaster, even as he noted the nuclear liability bill should take care that accidents do not happen.

"BP (British petroleum) incident was very small as compared to Bhopal," Stagg told IANS on the sidelines of a conference on climate change. He was asked if there were any lessons to be learnt from the handling of the BP oil spill for industrial disasters like the Bhopal gas leak.

Stagg also did not give an opinion on the controversies surrounding the nuclear liability bill, but said: "Nuclear liability bill needs to ensure that no industrial accident takes place and human life should be given the top priority in the process".



Noting that "no place is a zero risk place", He said: "It is the duty of the state to help and manage it effectively."

India has signed an agreement with Britain for cooperation in civil nuclear energy.

The Indian parliament passed the nuclear liability bill in the just concluded monsoon ession.

Detractors of the bill had made repeated reference to the Bhopal gas disaster and the handling of the compensation amount as their basis for opposition.



They had pointed out how the Obama administration had pressured BP to stop the oil leak and pay up for the cleaning up process.

On climate change, Stagg said developing nations need to develop industries that are less carbon dependent. "Britain's carbon emissions have been 21 percent lower than 1999. We aim at 30 percent. This should be a good example for developing countries."

Source: IANS