India participates in World Travel Market 2022 (WTM) at London to step up recovery of Inbound tourism
- Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is participating at World Travel Market (WTM) 2022 from 7th to 9th November in London which is one of the largest international travel exhibitions.
- The theme of this years exhibition is ‘The Future of Travel Starts Now’.
- India’s participation at WTM is significant to step up recovery of Inbound tourism to pre-pandemic level.
- The Tamil Nadu Tourism Department has opened its pavilion at the World Travel Market-2022.
- The event will help Tamil Nadu to showcase its tourism potential at a global platform and assist the government to plan its activities to promote tourism.
New Changes in UTS App
- The Indian railways has introduced some changes in the UTS App.
- The users changes allow the users to book unreserved tickets on the UTS mobile app from a distance of upto 20 km from a station on non-suburban sections, up from 5 km.
- In suburban areas, the distance has been enhanced to 5 km from the existing 2 km.
- The Railway Board issued new instructions to all zones on, giving effect to the new proximity norms.
Note
- The Un-Reserved Ticket through Mobile Application (UTS app) was started by the Indian Railways on 27 Dec, 2014 from Mumbai Suburban area.
- From November 1, 2018, booking of unreserved tickets on all non-suburban sections across all Zonal Railways has been made available using the UTS app to enable seamless booking of unreserved tickets all over Indian Railways.
Centre to promote exports of millets and its products
- The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is working to promote the export of millet and millet-related products through the agricultural export promotion body, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
- The move follows India’s proposal, which was supported by 72 countries, and resulted in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYoM) on March 5, 2021.
- The government is currently organising IYoM-2023 at both the domestic and international levels in order to popularise Indian millets and value-added products around the world.
- The government has invited farmers, exporters, and traders to participate in 16 international trade expos and Buyer Seller Meets (BSMs).
- India is one of the world’s leading millet producers, accounting for approximately 41 per cent of global production.
- According to FAO, global millet production in 2020 will be 30.464 million metric tonnes (MMT), with India accounting for 12.49 MMT or 41 per cent of total millet production.
- In 2021-22, India recorded a 27 per cent increase in millet production compared to the previous year’s millet production of 15.92 MMT.
- India’s top five millet-producing states are Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
- The share of export of millet is nearly 1% of the total millet production.
- India’s major millet exporting countries are U.A.E, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Oman, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, U.K and U.S.A. Bajra, Ragi, Canary, Jawar, and Buckwheat are among the millets exported by India.
