Wooing Indian tourists with visa-free entry (GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Why in news?
- Malaysia has become the latest country to extend the advantage of visa-free travel to Indian citizens.
- The facility will be extended to Indian travellers till December 31, 2024 and will be valid for 30 days from the date of entry.
- At present there are around 26 countries that extend visa-free entry to Indian citizens for various reasons.
What does the Malaysian decision imply?
- Tourism has emerged as one of the key focus areas for Malaysia’s post-COVID recovery strategy.
- According to the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, 10.7 million visitors chose to visit the country in 2022 bringing in more than $28 billion to the economy.
- The recovery can be measured by the fact that during the peak COVID period of 2021, only 0.13 million tourists visited Malaysia.
- The visa-free facility to Indian (and Chinese) travellers is, therefore, aimed at making the country a more attractive destination for recreation seekers from two of the major Asian economies.
Which are the other countries extending visa-free travel to Indians?
- Among the major regional tourism destinations, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the nearby economies that have also extended visa-free travel facility to Indians.
- Sri Lanka which was hit by an economic crisis in 2022 has a reason to make itself an attractive destination.
- Its visa-free policy for Indians is driven by both economic and political reasons.
What are the categories of visa exemption?
- India has visa exemption agreements with many countries in the world that cater to multiple categories of visas.
- At least 34 countries across the world, have agreements with India that exempt visas for the holders of Indian diplomatic passports. These include Germany, France, Iran, Japan, Norway, Turkey and others.
- That apart there are at least 99 countries with which India has operational agreements for “diplomatic, service/official passport holders”.
- There are 16 countries that offer visa-free travel facility for a certain period of time to ordinary Indian passport holders; this includes, Nepal, Bhutan, Fiji etc.
- According to the latest estimate available in the Passport Index website, there are at least 26 countries at present that provide visa-free facility to ordinary Indian passport holders.
Is the visa-free facility permanent?
- Countries extend visa-free facility to Indian tourists for a certain amount of time or for a period depending on their advantage.
- But there are factors on the ground that may also determine whether a particular tourist is suitable for such facilities. Malaysia, for example, has mentioned that the scheme will be subjected to security clearance.
- Similarly, visa-free facility does not mean relaxation of security protocol in the port of entry. For example, in Dominica and El Salvador strict checks are carried out in airports to prevent illegal or undocumented immigration to the Americas from India.
- There are reports from places like Guatemala that extended visa-free travel to Indians but withdrew in view of fear of undocumented immigration.
Is another prohibition survey needed in Bihar?
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- Recently, at a function to mark Nashamukti Diwas or ‘de-addiction day’, Chief Minister announced that there would be a fresh “house-to-house” survey to assess the impact of liquor prohibition in Bihar. The survey is likely to begin from mid-December.
When did the State ban liquor?
- To curb alcoholism, the Bihar government amended the Bihar Excise Act, 1915 and promulgated the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016 from April 5, 2016, introducing total prohibition in the State.
- On October 2, 2016 it promised to “enforce, implement and promote complete prohibition of liquor and intoxicants in the territory of the State of Bihar and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”. However, since then, the Act has been amended several times.
Has the ban served its purpose?
- Despite complete prohibition, illegal liquor bottles are known to have been funnelled into the State through States such as Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal and sometimes, even after crossing the porous border of the neighbouring country of Nepal.
- Innovative ways are used including ambulances, hearses, gas cylinders, under vegetable sacks in pick-up vans and trucks and in pantry car coaches of trains. In courts, there is a huge pile-up of prohibition-related cases across the State.
- In December 2021, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice N.V. Ramana, expressed concern over the (prohibition) law saying it was enforced with “lack of foresight” which has led to the “clogging of courts in the State”.
How many households will the survey cover?
- A form, in Hindi and English, will be circulated, seeking feedback from the people on whether they support the liquor ban, their family’s economic condition, social strata, and whether their quality of life has improved because of prohibition.
- The survey will cover a minimum of 2,500 households in all 38 districts and will be completed in 12 weeks.
- The data of the survey will be collected on a day-to-day basis digitally.
Have there been surveys on the ban earlier?
- There have been two surveys on the impact of the liquor ban in the State — in August 2018 and February 2023, initiated by the State government.
- The first survey, conducted by Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) said there has been a positive impact after prohibition on people of the State as 1.64 crore have quit drinking, and spent the money saved to buy milk, vegetables and clothes.
- The second survey was conducted by the Chanakya Law University in association with the Bihar Rural Livelihood Project (Jeevika) which had covered 33,000-odd villages in 534 blocks across all 38 districts of the State covering over 10 lakh people.
- The survey had revealed that 1.82 crore have quit drinking but 4.39% admitted that they were still consuming liquor.
What is the reason to conduct a fresh survey?
- Despite the fact that the prohibition law has been amended thrice since April 2016, illegal trade in both Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country-made brew has been thriving.
- The government has been conducting regular raids using drones, breath analysers, and setting up more check posts with personnel holding hand-held scanners at inter-State borders.
- As many as 74 special courts (excise) have been made functional and awareness programmes like street plays and posters are regularly put up but there has been no apparent let-up in the illegal supply of liquor.
- The Chief Minister said that based on the findings of the fresh survey, new measures will be introduced.
