ANNEXURE - A
Date : 20/05/97
Dear Mr. Rajat,
I have been watching ‘AWAAJ’ and ‘JANTAA KI ADAALAT’ on STAR Plus since very beginning. I haven’t watched all the series of these programs but definitely quite a many. I liked these two programs, especially ‘AWAAJ’. The main reason to like ‘AWAAJ’ more than another is that it is more based on problem solving rather than just discussing the issues.
As this is my first interaction with you let me introduce myself so that you understand my viewpoint. I am Nitin Gupta, a computer Engineer, currently working as consultant in Price Waterhouse Management Consultant Bangkok. I belong to very middle class family at Allahabad. Since I completed my Engineering from IET Lucknow in 1991 I have been working for Defense Ministry of India, CMC, NIIT etc. For last two years I have been in Bangkok. During this period I visited many places in Bangkok and also visited three times Singapore. In my spare time I read magazine, meet with Thai people and watch TV (STAR Plus, V channel, CNN, HBO etc.).
I would like to know India’s efforts to promote tourism. Maybe you can invite Tourism Minister/Officers, preferably on AWAAZ.
When recently I was in New Delhi, first time I visited ‘Kutubminar’. When I reached there I was delighted with overwhelming crowd gathered at main entrance. First impression I got that it was very nice place to visit that was why so many people had been there. But not long time passed when I realized how wrong I was. So much crowd was just because of mis-management. There was just one widow to buy ticket. There was long queue which continued to main road. We got the ticket after waiting for 30 minutes. During these 30 minutes I also saw how poorly car parking had been managed. I noticed three policemen who were on duty to maintain law and order situation. Mainly they were busy in telling tourist that car parking was full so the tourist would manage on their own somewhere else.
Anyway, We finally entered Kutubminar. Oh! sorry, I forgot to mention that each ticket cost us just five rupees which was much less than what I had thought. Inside the Kutubminar I couldn’t find anything good except the Pillar and some fence/ boundary. And within 20 minutes it was all over and we were on our way back to exit. Then I realized why the ticket was so cheap. Inside the campus I witnessed few people urinating near a wall and spitting ‘PAN’ on wall. I also witnessed a tea shop in shabby condition. Oh ! my apologies, I forgot to mention that I saw foreigners as well there, maybe 20%.
This was a real life experience in India. When I compare this pleasure with any of my visits to tourist places in Bangkok or in Singapore I find numerous differences. Mind you I haven’t visited many tourist places in India so I am not the right person to be called as critics. Anyway Now I am going to describe the differences I find when I compare my visit to Kutubminar with any other visit in Bangkok/Singapore.
Most of the places I found that the moment you reach at main entrance, you would be welcomed by the authorized personnel or guide. At some places they would also buy ticket for you and park your car or help you in locating the car parking area. You just need to sit at reception or at some comfortable place. You can also contact information counter which is well managed and lot of information can be gathered from there.
Once you go inside it is so well managed that you wish to be there as long as possible. You can’t come out without spending much money because they have many restaurants, special souvenir shops which have many gifts with the name or picture of the place engraved on it, book shops, many games, sports, music etc. etc. And if it is historical place which is not primarily meant for fun and entertainment, they have enough tourist attractions such as gift shops, library, restaurants, parks, and kids fun spots. I mean you can’t come out without spending money no matter you are a foreigner or a citizen of the country. Keeping in mind that Asians are not as rich as Europeans or American they have wide range varying from low cost articles which is affordable for common men to high and very high cost articles which foreigner doesn’t mind paying for if it is worth.
They have many guides to demonstrate the historical places and events related to the place. Anytime, anywhere inside the campus specially dressed security personnel can be seen. They are so polite and ready to help all the time that one time I talked to the guy for an hour. On your way back you would find some schemes (e.g. one-time admission card policy, Wildlife membership etc.). Not only this they also help you in going back to home. They have special bus services and also information regarding regular public transport system. Anyway, I can keep discussing many-many aspects but better I conclude something now and finish it.
By now you must be wondering how much one need to pay for all this. You may be arguing that we have 950 millions of people, most of them destitute and victims of hunger. How can we afford to have a place which is very costly. Anyway, you are right about the cost. Places with such facilities cost not less than Rs 300 or so.
If Thai government were given a chance to run “Kutubminar” there would be at least, at least Rs 100 worth of ticket. (This Rs 100 is after considering the low living standard and living cost in India.) Not only this Thai government would also make it sure that there are enough attraction inside to hold tourist at least for two-three hours and to let them spend money.
You know something ! I already talked about such issues (e.g. poor facilities, low ticket price etc.) with general public in India. I was shocked to learn that they considered it as offensive remarks. They argue that I am insulting Indians. They say how can a common man afford to pay Rs 100. In fact they are right when they say “how can a common man afford to pay Rs 100 ?” In fact they are wrong when they use “common man”. One has to define what a common man is.
Kutubminar is not meant for a man who can not make ends meet. It is meant for those people who have their stomach full and have enough energy, time and resources to see, afford, and appreciate the legacy of Kutubminar. Because of increase in ticket price total number of tourists may be less but profit still would be more. Just increasing the ticket price is not the end of story. This action has to be accompanied by increasing more facilities/attractions and also increasing quality of these facilities.
“Kutubminar” is a historical place and in no circumstances such tourists who have no civic sense should be allowed to visit. I think ticket should be Rs 150. Government must provide better public convenience/facilities inside, more guide, more attractions. And it should be well maintained. The only way to maintain is to increase the ticket cost which would result in more civilized tourist only. It may reduce number of tourists but definitely will increase the quality of tourist which would help in maintaining the standard.
When we visit any tourist place in Bangkok/Singapore. We shoot at least 2-3 role of photography film, and sometimes carry our VDU camera too. In Kutubminar, I hardly saw people interested in photography. The reason is simple. Any place which can be visited by spending just Rs 5 and the place is in such a shabby condition how can anybody think of spending Rs 500 (250 per role, including developing charges) on photography.
I am not saying that all the places in India are in bad condition as Kutubminar is. There may be better places (e.g. Taj Mahal, Ajanta, etc. etc.). Even though I strongly believe that there is greater need for improvements.
I watch “The Great Escape” on STAR Plus. This is a good program and it does tempt viewers to visit the recommended places. But I would like to add something in this program. Suppose sitting in Bangkok we plan to visit the places which has been explored in your program. We need to know whom to contact. Is there any travel agent in New Delhi/Bombay/Banglore who can provide us information regarding lodging, mode of conveyance, and ticket/reservation if required etc.? Or maybe if I write “The Great Escape” can I get the required information/services?
I know purpose of program is to make viewers aware about tourist places in India. But it could be of greater use if above suggestion is implemented which would really bring tourists, something more than just kindling.
Another issue I want to be discussed is “Population growth” or “Efforts to control/ discourage population”. Until Mr. Gujral became Prime Minister I never heard any leader/MP talking about population control in last 5-6 years. I guess most of MPs too shy talking about this issue and the main and the only reason I could think of that they themselves have many-many children. I think it is not unnatural. Definitely if I am defaulter how can I urge others to stop doing that.
I believe that it is high time we must take strict steps so that population doesn’t grow like grass and then people have no values. According to me our ration system must be changed. Instead of providing certain quantity of foodgrains to each family member, certain quantity would be provided to each family irrespective of the size of family. I don’t say implement this rule from now. Simply fix that a family, having x no. of members, wouldn’t get more than x*y quantity (y is the quantity allocated to per member as on now.) even the size of family (i.e. value of x)goes higher in future.
For ex. a family has six members and per member government has fixed 1 kg of sugar per month, tell them they are not going to get more than 6 kg of sugar per month, no matter they give birth to 10 more kids. In this way the family who already has astronomical size won’t be sufferer and at the same time probability of increasing family size further would be less.
And now top of this rule make another rule that average family size should be 4 and from now onward whosoever has less than 4 members would get (4*y) kg of foodgrains throughout his life, regardless of further increase in family members. The value of y should be just enough for a person and any family having size of three would be benefited because he would also get the ration enough for four person.
I know this way only poor people can be controlled. There should be some mechanism to rein high income class people too. However it shouldn’t be forgotten that population growth is much higher among low income class people than that of high income class people. High income class people hardly goes to ration shop. For them there should be extra society tax. There are following two reasons for imposing extra society tax on them :-
Government should also introduce some benefits which encourages people to adopt children instead of giving birth of their own. Some taxes should be waived for those families who adopt kids.
Not only this, we should also learn from our neighboring countries. In Thailand population growth has been controlled such a way that according to recent survey it is almost zero. One day in a year condoms are distributed free of cost in attempt to campaign birth control and AIDS control. I believe it is done on AIDS day or population control day.
I know nobody would do such things. MPs won’t even discuss such solution which may hurt illiterate/uneducated people, because probably in next election they may have to face defeat.
This is my experience that we, Indians are too proud of performing marginally better than other countries in South Asia region. We must realize that South Asia is not the end of the world. We have to widen our horizon and become more result oriented. We have to do something more than just talking and just giving the figures. If I talk what other countries (e.g. China, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea) have done many people condemn their efforts. People argue that we value for human beings, we care for our people, we respect democracy and believe in democracy and that is why we need to educate our people what to do what not to do. We admit that educating people may be a slow process but it is more effective in long run. But I guess this process (making people realize by educating them) is taking too long and each year number of people we educate is lot less than the children we give birth.
I also disagree to the fact that we respect and value our people and that is why we don’t want to impose any rule. The bitter fact is that we never care about our people. We incite riots and let thousands of people destitute. There are so much corruption which shows negligence of our needy people. By imposing few harsh rules we may take some of their freedom but in long run that would pay to all of us.
I watch “Priya Tendulkar Show”. I liked the show. But I get shock when I see Priya Ji not connecting the problem with population growth. I have seen many shows where she discuss the problem in detail but at last she doesn’t conclude that real problem is because of population growth. We all know that no matter which social problem we discuss to great extent it is directly or indirectly related to population growth and illiteracy.
To increase awareness regarding population growth, just before beginning of any TV program our population should be displayed and at the end of the program (maybe 30 min. or 60 min.; whatever is the program duration) increased no. of population should be displayed along with the growth rates of infrastructures. That would arise a question in everybody’s mind is it worth to have population so high without infrastructures. For example following few lines can be shown :-
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At the beginning “Our Population : xxx,xxx,xxx”
At the end “Our population : xxx,xxx,xxx + yyy”
According to current growth rate in infrastructures (e.g. medical facilities, school, housing, etc.) only .2 school, .5 hospitals and 2 flats have been built. And these facilities are enough only to
accommodate zz people. To built these facilities we sacrificed xx sq. meter of land.
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Maybe government should make compulsory that every TV program must support at least one advertisement on population control and/or on improving our life standard. We have to accept that it is a real challenge to show something interesting regarding population growth. Normally viewers consider such advertisement so embarrassing or so boring that they change the channel.
I am definitely not the best person to tell how to do advertisement. You would find many intelligent person in INDIA. But I think there is a need to take initiative now. We already are lagging.
Whenever you wish to telecast any program related to these issues, please let me know so that I can make it sure that I don’t miss it.
Nitin Gupta
Barbos Apartment (617)
44/1 Soi Barbos, Sukhumvit 42 Road,
Bangkok - 10110 THAILAND
Phone : +66-1-8413208 Mob; +66-2-3671365 off
E-mail : nitin_g@cheerful.com
