National, 27th September 2023: This World Tourism Day, which is coinciding with the long weekend, explore the beauty of India and travel sustainably to protect our planet and soak in the diverse cultures and experiences that India has to offer. Looking for quick getaways and making the most of the upcoming public holidays beginning from 29th September until 2nd October on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti? We have curated a list of cities that will give you a complete get away experience from your daily routine, from the picturesque splendours of North India to the cultural wonders of the South. So pack your luggage, and let’s go on an adventure unlike any other.

Top Destinations to visit this weekend:

Agra: For an exciting trip down India’s glorious heritage, visit Agra to witness one of the 7 wonders of the world the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and explore the rich Mughal history that surrounds this magnificent monument.

Dehradun: For a serene getaway, far from the hustle bustle of the city life, visit the picturesque Dehradun. Discover the serenity of the Himalayan foothills, where rich flora and quiet scenery awaits. Dehradun is one of India’s most beautiful and scenic cities, lying between the Himalayan foothills and directly in the Doon Valley, where two great rivers, the Yamuna and Ganga, meet.

Jaipur (Rajasthan): Discover the Pink City’s royal legacy and culture through its stately palaces, forts, and colourful markets. It is one among the most popular tourist spots and shopping destinations in Rajasthan.

Delhi: Dive into India’s capital city, where history meets modernity, with its iconic landmarks and diverse cultures

Bhopal: Discover the “City of Lakes” with its unique combination of natural beauty, architectural marvels and a delectable cuisine

Chennai: Enjoy the charm of the seaside, the rich cultural legacy, and the exquisite South Indian food. Chennai is a lovely city with many fantastic sites to visit, each guaranteeing a distinct experience.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad, India’s Telangana state capital is a mesmerising blend of heritage and progress. Immerse yourself in Nizami culture, try the famous Hyderabadi biryani, and see historic sites.

Tirupati: Seek blessings at the ancient Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, one of the world’s wealthiest and most visited temples.

Vijayawada: Discover Andhra Pradesh’s bustling metropolis, recognised for its rich history and vibrant local culture.

Bengaluru: Engross yourself in India’s Silicon Valley, where technology meets heritage, and enjoy the city’s lively nightlife and cafes.

Participate in the World Tourism Day celebrations and make your travels eco-conscious, in line with this year’s theme of “Tourism and Green Investments”, by booking an eco-friendly electric inter-city travel experience with NueGo and make a difference in your life’s journey and the environment both. Enjoy a seamless booking experience on www.nuego.in or through the NueGo App. By booking tickets through the NueGo website and using the promotional code “FUKREY”, users can also enjoy a flat 10% discount on all routes, applicable until 31st October, 2023.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to travel, learn, and leave the environment with lower carbon footprints this Gandhi Jayanti!

The Government has now decided to make a graded relaxation in visa and travel restrictions for more categories of foreign nationals and Indian nationals who wish to enter or leave India.  Therefore, it has been decided to permit all OCI and PIO card holders and all other foreign nationals intending to visit India for any purpose, except on a Tourist Visa to enter by air or water routes through authorized airports and seaport immigration check posts.  This includes flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission, Air Transport Bubble arrangements or by any non scheduled commercial flights as allowed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. All such travelers will, however have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding quarantine and other health/COVID-19 matters.

Under this graded relaxation, Government of India has also decided to restore with immediate effect all existing visas (except electronic visa, Tourist Visa and Medical Visa).  If the validity of such visas has expired, fresh visas of appropriate categories can be obtained from Indian Mission/Posts concerned.  Foreign nationals intending to visit India for medical treatment can apply for a Medical Visa including for their medical attendants. Therefore, this decision will enable foreign nationals to come to India for various purposes such as business, conferences, employment, studies, research, medical purposes etc.

Meanwhile India trend of steadily decreasing active cases continues unabated.  The Active Cases have been sustained below 10% of the total cases for the last three days suggesting only 1 in 10 cases are active COVID19 patients across the country.

Presently the active cases comprise merely 9.29% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 7,15,812.

Registering another milestone, the daily Positivity Rate has also been maintained to less than 5% over the past three days indicating that the spread of infection is being effectively contained through focussed strategies and actions of the Centre and the States/UTs. Today, the daily Positivity Rate is reported to be 3.8%.

The decrease in the daily positivity rate is simultaneously mapped by the falling active cases, which continue to be under 7.5L today (7,15,812).

The total recovered cases are close to 69 lakhs (68,74,518). The difference between active cases and recovered cases is consistently increasing and stands at 61,58,706 today.

79,415 patients have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases are 55,839. The national Recovery Rate has progressed to 89.20%.

Zonal Railways have been instructed to decide and notify opening of reservation counters as per local needs and conditions. These reservation counters will open from tomorrow in a phased manner, along with dissemination of information about their respective locations and timings as per the local needs and conditions.

Indian Railways has also allowed booking of Reservation Tickets through the Common Service Centers and Ticketing agents w.e.f tomorrow.

It may be noted that running of Shramik Special trains will continue to be handled by local State Governments as per the existing protocols.

Opening of all these booking facilities once again will mark an important step in the graded restoration of passenger railway services and making the task of ticket booking easy for all prospective travelers from all parts of India in reserved trains.

Zonal railways may adhere to standard social distancing guidelines and observe the hygiene protocols in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“What is particularly disturbing is that the Central government and the Rail Ministry are charging them for train tickets in this hour of crisis,” Ms. Gandhi said in a statement.

“The Indian National Congress has, therefore, taken a decision that every Pradesh Congress Committee shall bear the cost for the rail travel of every needy worker and migrant labourer and shall take necessary steps in this regard.”

Questioning the responsibility of the Union government, the Congress chief said there were lakhs of migrant workers who were ‘languishing’ in different parts of the country with neither food nor money to travel.

“Post the Partition of 1947, this is the first time India witnessed a tragedy with such a massive human cost as thousands of migrant workers and labourers were forced to walk home several hundred kilometres on foot — without food, without medicines, without money, without transportation, without anything except for the desire to return to their families and loved ones. The very thought of their plight is enough to break our hearts as there was also the outpouring of support from fellow Indians for their inspiring resolve,” she said.

‘“Our workers and labourers are the ambassadors of our nation’s growth. When our government can recognise its responsibility by arranging free air travel for our citizens stranded abroad, when the government can spend nearly ₹100 crores on transport and food etc. for just one public programme in Gujarat, when the Rail Ministry has the largesse to donate ₹151 crores to the PM’s Corona fund, then why can’t these essential members of our nation’s fabric be given a fraction of the same courtesy, especially free rail travel, at this hour of acute distress,” asked Ms. Gandhi.

The Congress chief stated that by making a “humble contribution” the Congress would stand “shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the workers”.

Cabinet Secretary took a review meeting of concerned officials from various Ministries/Departments,. During the meeting, he emphasized on the implementation of Social Distancing measures as detailed by guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He stated that social distancing would have a major impact in limiting the spread of the disease. He also reviewed preparedness of various states for quarantine facilities, hospital management and awareness campaigns.

In order to ensure effective and seamless coordination between the Centre and the States, 30 nodal officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above have been drawn from various Ministries to liaison, coordinate and help the States with respect to anything that is required from the Government of India. They will be deputed to the States, and shall work in close coordination with the State authorities for coordinating the preparedness and response measures. An orientation meeting of all the officers is being held tomorrow.

Secretary (HFW) has also written to the Secretaries of all Ministries/Departments, Govt. of India today requesting them to implement the various guidelines/advisories that have been issued and are applicable to them and the organizations under them.

In continuation of the travel advisory issued on 11th March, 2020 and 16th March, 2020, the following additional advisory is issued today:

i. Travel of passengers from Afghanistan, Philippines, Malaysia to India is prohibited with immediate effect. No flight shall take off from these countries to India after 1500 hours Indian Standard Time (IST). The airline shall enforce this at the port of initial departure.

ii. This instruction is a temporary measure and shall be in force till 31st March 2020 and will be reviewed subsequently.

BJP MP Suresh Prabhu has kept himself under isolation at his residence for the next 14 days as a precautionary measure even after testing negative. He returned from Saudi Arabia, where he had gone to attend the Second Sherpas’ Meeting on 10 March.

On Tuesday, Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan went into self-quarantine, but was later tested negative.

The recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries chaired by Cabinet Secretary were placed before GoM. After detailed deliberations on preventive measures, actions taken and preparedness for Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), the Group of Ministers took the following decisions:

• All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International Organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.

• Visa free travel facility granted to OCI card holders is kept in abeyance till April 15th 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.

• Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian Mission.

• All incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15th February, 2020 shall be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.

• Incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, are advised to avoid non-essential travel and are informed that they can be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days on their arrival in India.

• Indian nationals are strongly advised to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. On their return, they can be subjected to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.

• International traffic through land borders will be restricted to Designated check posts with robust screening facilities. These will be notified separately by M/o Home Affairs.

• Provision for testing primarily for students/compassionate cases in Italy to be made and collection for samples to be organized accordingly. Those tested negative will be allowed to travel and will be quarantined on arrival in India for 14 days.

Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is operating Tejas Express train on the New Delhi-Lucknow sector w.e.f. 04.10.2019. During the period 04.10.2019 to 31.10.2019, IRCTC has earned an approximate amount of ₹ 7.73 lakh, as operational earning, by operation of the said Tejas Express.

Indian Railways offers various kinds of train services to cater to the need of a diverse set of passengers. Trains like Gatimaan Express, Vande Bharat Express, etc. are provided with augmented facilities and are popular among the premium segment. Trains like Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express, Shatabdi Express etc. offer fully reserved accommodation and facilitate the long distance and inter-city passengers.

Further, other Mail Express trains and Antyodaya train are operated for the benefit of general passengers including those travelling on unreserved tickets. The fare of Sleeper and Second Class is highly subsidised and as a part of its Social Service Obligation, fare concessions are offered to various categories like Senior citizens, freedom fighters, Students, Divyangjans etc. even in the reserved classes.

Consequently, on an average, Indian Railways recovers only 57% of cost of travel. The scope and scale of trains operated over Indian Railways, which carries about 23 million passengers on a daily basis cannot currently be compared with the New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express being operated by IRCTC, in which fare is generally higher as compared to similar services on Indian Railways and no concession is admissible. However, systemic improvements over Indian Railways is a continuous and an ongoing process.

This press release is based on information given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today

He said “strong but necessary” restrictions would not apply to the UK where 460 cases of the illness have been confirmed. “Europe saw more cases because governments failed to stop travel from China, where the COVID-19 epidemic began,” Mr Trump said in his address to the nation.

The move comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday called the coronavirus outbreak – which has spread to over 100 countries – a “pandemic”, issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was due to “alarming levels of inaction”.

Europe has faced a mounting number of cases — including a slew of new countries clocking first deaths — prompting governments to roll out increasingly tough measures to slow the rapid spread of the virus.

Hours before his official address, Mr Trump, in a series of tweets, said that “US is making a policy to prevent, detect, treat and create a vaccine against coronavirus to save lives in America and the world.”

America is the Greatest Country in the world. We have the best scientists, doctors, nurses and health care professionals. They are amazing people who do phenomenal things every day….,” he wrote in another post.
Trump asked the media to view this as a time of unity and strength and said the country must beat the “enemy of the World, the Coronavirus as quickly and safely as possible”.

The Washington on Wednesday declared a state of emergency over coronavirus. The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, made the announcement as the US capital confirmed 10 cases of the infection

• This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.

• Visa free travel facility granted to OCI card holders is kept in abeyance till April 15th 2020.

• This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.

• Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian Mission.

• All incoming travelers, including Indians, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain & Germany after 15th Feb, 2020 shall be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days.

• The above will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.

• Incoming travelers, including Indian nationals, are advised to avoid non-essential travel and are informed that they can be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days on their arrival in India.

• Indian nationals are strongly advised to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. On their return, they can be subjected to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.

• International traffic through land borders will be restricted to Designated check posts with robust screening facilities.

• These will be notified separately by M/o Home Affairs.

• Provision for testing primarily for students / compassionate cases in Italy Italy to be made and collection for samples to be organized accordingly.

• Those tested negative will be allowed to travel and will be quarantined on arrival in India for 14 days.