BANK P .O.

SPECIAL

Descriptive Questions
Promotion of tourism
Q. Suggest three effective measures to promote tourism, especially by foreign tourists. Elucidate or explain how the steps suggested by you would motivate foreign tourists to include India in their itinerary. Ans. With a treasure trove of tourist spots, both natural and man-made, it is a pity that we in India have failed to fully explore and exploit the potential of tourism. Our age-old monuments, historical buildings, temples, places of worship, parks and sanctuaries, sea resorts, hill stations, vast deserts and so on, can attract a large number of tourists provided the following measures are taken in the right earnest. Today, tourism has become a big business, thanks to the state of art means of transport and communication. And, all business and commercial activities require safe and secure environment; tourism is no exception to the rule. Before making all-round efforts to attract foreign tourists to India, no effort should be spared to make tourist spots free from the scourge of neglect and the feeling of insecurity. The World Tourism and Trade Council (WTTC) has suggested a number of measures to help tourism become Indias foremost economic driver. These include altering the decision-making process on tourism, according tourism a radically elevated status in priority and investment, and liberalising Indias visa regime. For foreign tourists, time is the most important element in their itinerary. If it goes waste in trivial matters like getting visas, gathering information about tourist centres, nearest airports, hotels etc, most tourists are likely to skip India, as it has been happening in the past. Hence, this aspect of tourism traffic/ promotion needs to be improved. Last but not least, is the robust role that updated infrastructure in and around tourism centres plays. Innumerable business councils and committees have pleaded with the government to recognise the tourism potential in India and turn it into a roaring reality. paramount principle of performance. If the powers-that-be have failed to apply this principle on those who have been entrusted the job of providing foodgrains to the people living at the lowest rung, under various schemes, they need to be shown the door, or at least hauled up. That much of the foodgrains meant for PDS should find its way in the open market, cries for a drastic overhauling of PDS. The Apex Court rightly and timely directed some of the sluggish States and Union Territories to identify people living Below Poverty Line. Once this task is completed, foodgrains under the newly launched Antodya Scheme can reach the most poor and deserving. For any system/scheme to succeed, change in philosophy of the scheme is more meaningful than the change in policy. What is needed is not more procurement, but efficiency and accountability of food distribution.

Overhauling the PDS

Q. The news of starvation deaths anywhere in India brings to the fore the gulf between availability and accessibility of foodgrains. In the light of this perplexing paradox, there is an urgent need to overhaul the PDS (Public Distribution Scheme/System) so as to make it more purposeful and people-oriented. Your views on the subject are solicited. Ans. Quite often paradoxes are painful. They have the tendency to become a thorn in the flesh of the national psyche if the causes that feed and fuel them are not addressed in time. The news of starvation death in some parts of India is an exasperating example of such a paradox. When the godowns are bursting at the seams with foodgrains, the gulf between availability and accessibility shows how palpable is the paradox between the two realities of Indian life. More than the poverty of the people who are forced to go without two square meals a day, it is the poverty of action on the part of those who are supposed to run the PDS, as a vehicle for delivery of foodgrains to the most needy. Instead of scoring points over polemics and indulging in platitudes and promises, it is better that those incharge of fair price shops show their acumen in performance. Accountability is the
638 s FEBRUARY 2002 s THE COMPETITION MASTER

Economic revival or growth

Q. There are some fundamental factors that hinder or discourage economic revival or growth in the country. In view of the many challenges that the Indian economy faces, point out some important factors and elucidate how the slow Indian economy can gain momentum to achieve the target of 8 to 10 per cent annual growth. Ans. In nearly ten years of economic reforms-cum-globalisation, the Indian economy has witnessed both the high and now the lowest ever growth, with no visible signs of gaining momentum unless some basic barriers to growth are removed. The recipe to the success is certainly not very sweet and smooth. The three main barriers that hinder

BANK P .O. SPECIAL

growth and the revival of Indian economy are multiplicity of regulations governing product markets, distortions in the land markets and widespread government ownership of business. In addition to the basic barriers, are lack of growth in infrastructure, high borrowings and a rising non-plan expenditure. With exports showing a decline, inbound tourism registering no increase, competition becoming more and more fierce, unemployment on the rise, the prospects of achieving a growth rate of 8 to 10 per cent seem quite a pipe dream. Under the prevailing conditions it would be naive to expect a substantial jump in FDIs, FIIs, disinvestments in loss-making public undertakings, etc. The question that stares in the face is: How can the Indian economy pick up speed and show significant signs of revival? The 14-point reform agenda announced by the Prime Minister could, it is hoped, reverse the economic slowdown. Weak finances of Centre and States, downsizing, power, labour and financial reforms should get urgent attention, besides recovery of agricultural, industrial and services sectors. In addition, introducing sweeping changes to promote competition would be a doughty dose for the economy. We have a very critical small industry sector too. Short of giving protection to this sector, we should also not be ready to open this sector to foreign players without providing a level playing field. Some experts suggest that the government must permit banks to finance upto Rs 10,000 crore for trading. Cutting interest rates, import duty on inputs and intermediaries are some of the other measures that can revive industry and also fit into recommendations made by economists at the economic advisory council. consequences if such a mishap happens. Ans. Faith as an impulse or instinct in something or somebody is neither an encouragement to frenzy nor a boost to fanaticism. Like love, it is the highest state of trust in matters that are subtle and sublime. It is neither blind nor baneful in nature and nuance. When other human faculties fail to fathom the enigmatic events that overwhelm us from time to time, it is the element of faith, whether in God or religion or in ones righteous convictions, that steers the ship of life from the enveloping doubts and darkness. If for some inexplicable reason(s), the edifice of faith is razed to the ground or as a result of some mysterious development it disappears from life, the following consequences would follow: With faith disappearing from life, the existence of God as the sheet anchor of our raison detre would become a subject of speculation. The tenets or teachings of religion, wise sayings of saints, sages and seers, on the one hand, prophets and philosophers, on the other, would lose much of their sweeping sway and supremacy over human perceptions. Forced to live in a state of vacuum, human beings would find their existence like a rudderless boat on the stormy waters. Faith, which lays the firm foundations of many an institution and human relations in the sweet confines of a home and nurtures the plant of friendship, will receive a severe set-back the moment we find it has slipped out of our lives. Without faith standing by us through thick and thin, living will be an ordeal and we shall find ourselves at odds with everything around. Such a sordid scenario will become a nagging nightmare both for the faithfuls and believers. Many of the mundane transactions that are conducted and carried on with faith or thrust in each others bona fides, will become a thing of the past. For every activity, whether personal, impersonal, business-like and so on, the word of the mouth will not carry weight and everything will have to be put in black and white. Indeed, the world without faith, and specially life sans trust, whether in God, religion or human nature, will become an unbearable burden.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE REFRESHER

BY

O.P . KHANNA Recommended for all Competitive Examinations

Revised and Updated

2002 Edition

Disappearance of faith from life

Q. If the impulse or instinct of faith disappears from life of all human beings, what would happen? Give three possible/important

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