India introduces liberal visa regime for Bangladesh

[email protected] (The Hindu)
December 3, 2012

India-Bangladesh-border

Dhaka, December 3: Living up to the promise made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove trade and non-tariff barriers between India and Bangladesh, India has decided to adopt a liberal visa policy for various categories of Bangladesh nationals, as a pro-active step, to promote economic engagement, people-to-people contact, cultural ties and tourism between the two nations.

It was in October this year when both countries agreed during the Home Secretary level talks to hold exclusive meeting to work out procedures and modalities at the earliest. However, India has not waited for joint working group (JWG) to be set up to sort out the liberal visa regime issue and has gone ahead unilaterally to simplify visa procedures for senior citizens, students, businessmen, medical patients and to promote tourism. “There is no formal agreement between India and Bangladesh on the visa regime. As a step towards showing India’s commitment to joining hands with Dhaka in giving a boost to the economic prosperity of Bangladesh and its people, we have decided to adopt a liberal visa regime,’’ India’s Ambassador to Bangladesh, Pankaj Saran told journalists here at the start of the “India Show” organized by Ministry of Commerce and Industry and FICCI. India at present gives nearly 500,000 visas to Bangladesh nationals every year and with a new visa regime in place, this figure is likely to witness a massive hike.

India has already signed a liberal visa regime with its other neighbour – Pakistan — introducing for the first time group tourist and pilgrim visas, multi-city and multi entry visa for businessmen, visa on arrival for senior citizens and other categories. However, the visa regime with Pakistan is yet to be formally implemented in ground.

But in case of Bangladesh, Mr. Saran the India mission in Dhaka has decided to grant liberal visa permits to businessmen, artists and for tourism purposes. “Earlier, businessmen and other categories would get five days visa with single entry condition. This was making it very difficult for even those people who have been dealing with Indian corporate world for the last two to three decades. Now we are granting six month multi entry visa and even longer term visas to various categories including artists from Bangladesh that is going to make things smooth and easy,” he added.

India is also looking to capitalize on medical tourism concept and in view of its strong medical facilities seeking to tap a huge market of citizens of Bangladesh would want to visit the country to seek medical treatment. Then there is another category which seeks to visit India with tourism purpose in mind. Then there is another category which seeks to visit their near and dear ones in west Bengal and other parts of India.

Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary in Commerce Ministry said his Ministry had been pushing for a liberal visa regime with not only Bangladesh with all the SAARC nations and be partners in their development. “It is a very encouraging development that Indian mission in Dhaka has paved the way for smoother and liberal exchange between the people and economic of the two nations. It will help in promoting Bangladesh as a major investment destination for Indian business houses,” he added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 9,2020

New Delhi, Mar 9: Petrol and diesel prices registered a drop across the country on Monday as global oil prices plummeted around 30 per cent after Saudi Arabia slashed prices and set plans for a dramatic increase in crude production in April.

In New Delhi, petrol price fell by 24 paise intra-day and stood at Rs 70.59 per litre. Diesel in the national capital was retailed at Rs 63.26 per litre on Monday as against Rs 63.51 on Sunday.

The retail price of petrol in Kolkata saw a drop of 23 paise to Rs 73.28 per litre. The diesel price fell by 25 paise in the eastern metropolitan city to retail at Rs 65.59 per litre.

In Mumbai, petrol price was Rs 76.29 per litre as against Rs 76.53 a day earlier. Diesel was retailed at Rs 66.24 per litre, 26 paise lower than on Sunday.

In Chennai, petrol was retailed at Rs 73.33 per litre, 25 paise lower than a day earlier. Diesel price saw a fall of 26 paise to retail at Rs 66.75 per litre in the southern metropolitan.

Global crude oil prices fell by as much as a third following Saudi Arabia's move to start a price war with Russia amid worries over the spread of coronavirus.

Brent crude futures were down 13.29 dollars or 29 per cent at 31.98 dollars a barrel by 04:33 hrs GMT after earlier dropping to 31.02 dollars, their lowest since February 12, 2016.

Brent futures were on track for their biggest daily decline since January 17, 1991 at the start of the first Gulf War.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 27,2020

Jan 27: Bollywood Film Director Anurag Kashyap, who has been vocal about his political views on social media, slammed Union Minister Amit Shah and accused him of being 'cheap'.

"How timid our Home Minister is. Its own police, its own goons, its own army and security increases and invades unarmed protestors. Amit Shah has crossed the extent of cheapness and inferiority. History will spit on this animal," Kashyap tweeted.

The film director has taken an active part in the anti-Citizenship Act protest rallies and was against the Jawaharlal Nehru violence. He also came in support of his contemporary Deepika Padukone when the latter faced backlash for showing up at JNU in support of the students.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: Facing criticism from social media and political quarters for holding a 'Free Kashmir' poster during a protest against violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Mehak Prabhu, a Mumbai-based storyteller, on Tuesday clarified that she meant to highlight the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir and wishes to see peace in the region, adding she had no other motive behind her actions.

"At around 7 pm yesterday, I reached where the protest was happening at the Gateway of India. Like anybody else who believes in democracy, I also joined that protest. We were standing for justice to the JNU students," Prabhu said in a video posted on Facebook.

"I saw a bunch of people who were painting placards on every issue like NRC, CAA and for JNU students. There was a placard lying on the side which said 'Free Kashmir'. The first thing which came to my mind when I saw that placard was about the basic constitutional rights of Kashmiris," she said.

Prabhu also said that she was not a Kashmiri and was brought up in Mumbai. She outlined that she was standing with a flower in her hand and asserted that the entire matter was "completely blown out of proportion".

"I was quietly standing with a flower in my hand. This means we need to make peace together. That was my only intention in holding that placard. The narrative that has been put out is absolutely wrong," she said, describing the reactions to the matter was "crazy".

The Mumbai-based storyteller underlined that the incident is scary and urged the people to spread the words of what she said and not hatred.

"The way it has gone, it is very scary. I am a simple person. As a woman, it is very scary for my safety right now. Spread this side of my story and let's stop it here. Let us not spread the hate. It has happened to me, it can happen to anyone. We should not live in fear," Prabhu further said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.