World Heritage Day is being observed today with the theme Sustainable Tourism.

Union Minister of State for Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma has assured that work to develop the ‘Rewari-Narnaul-Mahendragarh-Madhogarh’ tourism circuit would start soon. Haryana Tourism Minister Ram Bilas Sharma yesterday called on the Union Minister in New Delhi to discuss various aspects of promoting tourism in the state.

Giving this information, Haryana Tourism Minister today said that Haryana is famous from religious and historical point of view, and the State Government is promoting various types of tourism such as highway tourism, farm tourism, adventure tourism, heritage tourism, eco tourism and pilgrimage tourism. He said that the adventure activities would be undertaken at hillocks at Morni, Tikkar Taal, Surajkund near Delhi and Damdama in Gurugram..

Sustainable tourism is the concept of visiting a place as a tourist and trying to make only a positive impact on the environment, society and economy.^[1] Tourism can involve primary transportation to the general location, local transportation, accommodations, entertainment, recreation, nourishment and shopping. It can be related to travel for leisure, business and what is called VFR (visiting friends and relatives).^[2] There is now broad consensus that tourism development should be sustainable; however, the question of how to achieve this remains an object of debate.^[3]

Without travel there is no tourism, so the concept of sustainable tourism is tightly linked to a concept of sustainable mobility.^[4] Two relevant considerations are tourism's reliance on fossil fuels and tourism's effect on climate change. 72 percent of tourism's CO₂ emissions come from transportation, 24 percent from accommodations, and 4 percent from local activities.^[2] Aviation accounts for 55% of those transportation CO₂ emissions (or 40% of tourism's total). However, when considering the impact of all greenhouse gas emissions from tourism and that aviation emissions are made at high altitude where their effect on climate is amplified, aviation alone accounts for 75% of tourism's climate impact.^[5]

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) considers an annual increase in aviation fuel efficiency of 2 percent per year through 2050 to be realistic. However, both Airbus and Boeing expect the passenger-kilometers of air transport to increase by about 5 percent yearly through at least 2020, overwhelming any efficiency gains. By 2050, with other economic sectors having greatly reduced their CO₂ emissions, tourism is likely to be generating 40 percent of global carbon emissions.^[6] The main cause is an increase in the average distance travelled by tourists, which for many years has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of trips taken.^[6][7][8][9] "Sustainable transportation is now established as the critical issue confronting a global tourism industry that is palpably unsustainable, and aviation lies at the heart of this issue (Gossling et al., 2010)."

President Pranab Mukherjee exhorts people to shun communalism and separatism to keep the country united

President Pranab Mukherjee today exhorted people to shun communalism, separatism and parochialism for united India. Addressing the centenary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha at Patna today, he urged people to overcome all sorts of prejudices.

Everyday in some part of India or other we are using 200 languages in our daily life. We are practicing or not practicing all seven major religions. We are living with all three majority groups caucasian, dravidians, mangoliites under one system, one track, one constitution, one identity and that identity is, we are Indian.

The President said, the country achieved Independence after great sacrifice by freedom fighters, which cannot be forgotten. He said, Mahatma Gandhi had always fought for all sections of society and started satyagraha against barbaric atrocities on Indigo farmers in Champaran. Mr Mukherjee said, Champaran Satygraha is unparalleled in the history of freedom movement as it had transformed a barrister in South Africa to Mahatma Gandhi.

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CBI today filed FIR against twelve TMC leaders and an IPS officer in connection with the Narada sting case. Sources said, the agency has registered case of alleged criminal conspiracy and corruption against TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy, Lok Sabha MPs Sultan Ahmed, Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Aparupa Poddar among others.

Last month, the Calcutta High Court had ordered CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry in the case.

The Narada sting tapes showed people resembling senior TMC leaders receiving money allegedly for giving future favours.

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The Supreme Court today asked Bombay High Court's official liquidator to sell the 34,000 crore rupees worth of properties of the Aamby Valley owned by the Sahara Group. It directed Sahara chief Subrata Roy to personally appear before the court on 28th of this month. Taking strong note of non-submission of over 5,000 crore rupees by the Sahara group, the apex court also cautioned Roy from playing with the court's order. It said, non-compliance of its order will invite the wrath of the law.President Pranab Mukherjee today exhorted people to shun communalism, separatism and parochialism for united India. Addressing the centenary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha at Patna today, he urged people to overcome all sorts of prejudices.

Everyday in some part of India or other we are using 200 languages in our daily life. We are practicing or not practicing all seven major religions. We are living with all three majority groups caucasian, dravidians, mangoliites under one system, one track, one constitution, one identity and that identity is, we are Indian.

The President said, the country achieved Independence after great sacrifice by freedom fighters, which cannot be forgotten. He said, Mahatma Gandhi had always fought for all sections of society and started satyagraha against barbaric atrocities on Indigo farmers in Champaran. Mr Mukherjee said, Champaran Satygraha is unparalleled in the history of freedom movement as it had transformed a barrister in South Africa to Mahatma Gandhi.

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CBI today filed FIR against twelve TMC leaders and an IPS officer in connection with the Narada sting case. Sources said, the agency has registered case of alleged criminal conspiracy and corruption against TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy, Lok Sabha MPs Sultan Ahmed, Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Aparupa Poddar among others.

Last month, the Calcutta High Court had ordered CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry in the case.

The Narada sting tapes showed people resembling senior TMC leaders receiving money allegedly for giving future favours.

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The Supreme Court today asked Bombay High Court's official liquidator to sell the 34,000 crore rupees worth of properties of the Aamby Valley owned by the Sahara Group. It directed Sahara chief Subrata Roy to personally appear before the court on 28th of this month. Taking strong note of non-submission of over 5,000 crore rupees by the Sahara group, the apex court also cautioned Roy from playing with the court's order. It said, non-compliance of its order will invite the wrath of the law.

Mr Modi distributes LPG cylinders and cooking kits to eight thousand poor families under Ujjwala Yojana in Dadara and Nagar Haveli; seven thousand allotted homes under Pradhan Mantri Urban and Gramin Awas Yojana.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated phase-I of the Link-II pipeline canal of the ambitious Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation SAUNI  project at Botad in Gujarat. This is the second milestone in the 12,000 crore rupees project to pump Narmada water in 115 Dams of arid Saurashtra region. The ambitious scheme will provide Narmada water to Botad and other surrounding districts. Mr Modi had dedicated phase-I of the Link-I canal at Jamnagar in August last year.

Addressing a huge gathering, the Prime Minister said, people of Saurashtra better know the value of water. He said, it is a dream come true for him as empty Krushnasagar dam is filling up with Narmada water.

Our correspondent reports that the Link-II canal is designed to pump Narmada water in 17 dams spread across Botad, Bhavnagar and Amreli districts. The entire SAUNI project will cover the 10.22 lakh acres of land in the region for irrigation purpose.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister inaugurated a multi-speciality Hospital and a diamond processing unit in Surat. Speaking after inaugurating the Hospital at Katargam, Mr Modi said, health and medical services are still costly and difficult for poor people in remote areas. The Prime Minister said, his government will ensure that doctors prescribe only generic medicines to break the monopoly of big medicine outlets. He said, the government has taken steps so that poor and middle class people can get generic medicines and costly heart treatment at affordable rates.

Prime Minister inaugurates phase two of SAUNI Irrigation project at Botad in Gujarat; project aims to pump Narmada water into 115 dams of arid Saurashtra region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, Union Territories of Dadara and Nagar Haveli will get maximum benefit of the Centre’s welfare schemes. Addressing a public meeting at Silvassa in Dadara and Nagar Haveli today, Mr. Modi said, tribal people of the region have got forest land rights for the first time in history.

Referring to the appointment of Praful Patel as the administrator of the Union Territory, the Prime Minister said, is aimed at controlling large scale corruption in the region.

The Prime Minister distributed LPG cylinders and cooking kits to about eight thousand poor families under the Ujjwala Yojana.

The Prime Minister also allotted homes to seven thousand people under the Pradhan Mantri Urban and Gramin Awas Yojana. A total of 20 thousand people got benefits under various welfare schemes during today’s programme.

Mr Modi also distributed certificates under the Forest Right Act and aids and assistive devices to divyangs.

States should start preparing to implement the changes in the Motor Vehicles Act

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by the Lok Sabha this week will take a little more time to come into force, since it has not cleared the Rajya Sabha in the Budget session. But the changes that it proposes to the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act of 1988 are significant. The Centre assumes a direct role in the reforms, since it will introduce guidelines that bind State governments in several areas, notably in creating a framework for taxicab aggregators, financing insurance to treat the injured and to compensate families of the dead in hit-and-run cases, prescribing standards for electronically monitoring highways and urban roads for enforcement and modernising driver licensing. There is a dire need to have clear rules and transparent processes in all these areas, since transport bureaucracies have remained unresponsive to the needs of a growing economy that is witnessing a steady rise in motorisation. The bottleneck created by their lack of capacity has stifled regulatory reform in the transport sector and only encouraged corruption. There is some concern that the move to amend the MV Act overly emphasises the concurrent jurisdiction of the Centre at the cost of State powers, but the proposed changes come after a long consultation exercise. A group of State Transport Ministers went into the reform question last year, while the comprehensive recommendations of the Sundar Committee on road safety have been left on the back burner for nearly a decade.

It may appear counter-intuitive, but research shows that imposing stricter penalties tends to reduce the level of enforcement of road rules. As the IIT Delhi’s Road Safety in India report of 2015 points out, the deterrent effect of law depends on the severity and swiftness of penalties, but also the perception that the possibility of being caught for violations is high. The amendments to the MV Act set enhanced penalties for several offences, notably drunken driving, speeding, jumping red lights and so on, but periodic and ineffective enforcement, which is the norm, makes it less likely that these will be uniformly applied. Without an accountable and professional police force, the ghastly record of traffic fatalities, which stood at 1,46,133 in 2015, is unlikely to change. On another front, State governments must prepare for an early roll-out of administrative reforms prescribed in the amended law, such as issuing learner’s licences online, recording address changes through an online application, and electronic service delivery with set deadlines. Indeed, to eliminate corruption, all applications should be accepted by transport departments online, rather than merely computerising them. Protection from harassment for good samaritans who help accident victims is something the amended law provides, and this needs to be in place.

The Army must act quickly on reports of the use of a human shield by its personnel

Reports of Army personnel using a young man as a human shield in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district must not only invite a swift inquiry and justice, but also compel the Army and the government to issue clear statements on the unacceptability of this shocking practice. A short video clip that went viral on Friday showed a man tied to the bonnet of an Army jeep being driven through the streets, as it escorted election officials on polling day in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency. Heard in the clip, on what appears to be the public address system of the vehicle, are the threatening words, “Paththar bazon ka yeh haal hoga (this shall be the fate of stone-pelters).” The man has subsequently been identified as Farooq Dar, a 26-year-old who embroiders shawls, and the Army personnel are said to belong to the 53 Rashtriya Rifles. There is a lack of total clarity on exactly what happened, including how long Mr. Dar was tied to the bonnet — he says he was subjected to this humiliation as the vehicle passed through 10 to 12 villages, while Army sources have been quoted as saying it was for just about 100 metres. But such questions relating to distance are hardly the issue. The larger point here is that if he was indeed forcibly strapped on to the bonnet, it amounts to an instance of gross human rights violation, and must officially be called out in clear terms.

Human shields have often been used cynically by terrorist organisations — theIslamic State uses civilians as shields in its battles, and the LTTE used them in the closing stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka. To use a person as a human shield is to abduct him, to hold him hostage, and to potentially put him in harm’s way. There is no argument that the Army, which is caught in a situation in which terrorists attempt to blend in with the civilian population, is fighting a difficult and unenviable battle. But the difficulties in fighting a hybrid war do not constitute a justification for the use of human shields, which is categorised as a war crime by the Geneva Conventions. Only a couple of days before the human shield video surfaced, another one — which showed CRPF personnel exercising admirable restraint as they were pushed and beaten by youth in Kashmir — had gone viral. It is ironic and hypocritical that some of those who commended such self-control are now defending the indefensible use of a human shield. It is true that the polling in Srinagar was held in a hostile environment, the abysmally low 7% turnout being a reflection of local alienation as well as intimidation by militants to keep people away from voting. But the security bandobast was aimed precisely to reassure the people and not to force an ‘us vs them’ binary. The Army must expedite the inquiry and act against the erring personnel where warranted. Its response must also publicly affirm its Code of Conduct vis-à-vis civilians, which includes the clause, “Violation of human rights… must be avoided under all circumstances, even at the cost of operational success”. To do any less would amount to being a party to rights violations.

Justice C.S. Karnan’s continuance as a judge makes a mockery of the rule of law

He has brought the judiciary into disrepute, flouted all norms of judicial conduct and thrown an open challenge to the Supreme Court. His continuance as a judge makes a mockery of democracy and the rule of law. The case of Justice C.S. Karnan is no longer just strange or curious; it is disgraceful and intolerable. The Calcutta High Court judge’s ‘order’ summoning the Chief Justice of India and six judges of the Supreme Court to his ‘residential court’ to face punishment under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, is yet another unacceptable affront to the apex court’s authority. Justice Karnan’s conduct goes against the assurance he gave the Chief Justice of India last year that he would foster a “harmonious attitude towards one and all”. At that time, he had expressed regret for passing a suo motu order staying his own transfer from the Madras High Court to the Calcutta High Court, admitting that it was an “erroneous order” passed due to “mental frustration, resulting in loss of mental balance”. The latest instance of his misconduct is in response to thecontempt proceedings initiated against him by the Supreme Court for denigrating the judicial institution by making sweeping allegations, in a letter to the Prime Minister, against several judges. He had appeared in person before a seven-judge Bench on March 31, and was given four weeks to respond to the charge of contempt of court. It is quite apparent that he is only further damaging his own case.

The recalcitrant judge has a long history of alleging corruption among other judges, accusing some of caste discrimination against him, and often invoking his caste identity to take complaints against his peers and even Chief Justices to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. In the past, he has passed judicial orders on matters pertaining to the selection of judges, even after being barred by a Division Bench from hearing them. He had once barged into a court during a hearing, and on another occasion into the chamber of the Madras High Court Chief Justice, “hurling a volley of invectives”. Public criticism, transfer to another High Court, being hauled up for contempt and being denied judicial work — nothing seems to restrain him. The only option left is impeachment, but it is a political process involving Parliament and is something he himself may want so he can give full play to his alleged grievances, including those based on his caste. Justice Karnan’s case vividly exposes the inadequacies of the collegium system of appointments. Nothing makes a better case for the infusion of greater transparency in the selection of judges than his current presence in the High Court.