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Easy trip to India for foreign tourists(The Times of India Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)NEW DELHI: India finally plans to lift the visiting white man's burden. An order issued by PM Manmohan Singh will put an end to the double-tariff regime seen by foreign tourists and even expatriates as an act of hurting discrimination. For some time now, the Prime Minister's Office has been receiving complaints from Indian missions abroad and through other channels about the discriminatory tariff regime that visiting foreigners are subjected to. India is one of the few countries where a foreigner needs to pay more for checking into a hotel, air travel, subscribing to periodicals and even to visit historical monuments. The system has been described by many as 'Raj in reverse'. Now, PM's principal secretary T K A Nair has written to cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi, listing some of the areas where the double-tariff regime prevails. There is no dearth of instances. For the same medical treatment at a hospital, the foreigner has to foot a bigger bill. Participants from other countries have to pay a higher registration fee for attending conferences here. The entry fee for outsiders is higher at the Taj Mahal and other monuments. The differential pricing is out of line with incentives being offered to lure in foreigners, as well as the cash-rich expatriates. |