Incredible India: Now On YouTube

The Ministry of Tourism has tied up with Google to create a sponsored channel on Youtube, reports DNA India. The user India, first created in Dec 2005, has recently uploaded 18 videos.

Launching the channel here, Tourism Secretary Shilabhadra Banerjee said the online videos will increase the penetration of Incredible India campaign, especially among those who remain glued to the internet and computers.

“In using YouTube for their campaign, the ministry becomes the first in the world for its innovation in promotion,” Rao said.

The Ministry of Tourism had earlier launched a Incredible India website with 18 Incredible microsites. A few years back, posters of Incredible India started appearing on Edison and Metropark stations, townships with sizeable Indian population.

India experienced a 13% YOY increase in tourist arrivals and a 17% increase in foreign exchange earnings. However, the surge in Tourism has its downside as well. It’s a huge distraction to the locals affecting their livelihood and culture and impacting the very tradition that Incredible India is proud of, as Fareed Zakaria reports in this episode of Foreign Exchange (skip to min 18:23).

India: A tale of a young country and old Presidents

I haven’t blogged in almost a month and a lot has happened during this time. The biggest news coming out of India is the election of it’s first lady President. Even though the President’s role in India is mostly ceremonial, there was a lot of drama and controversy. I was talking to someone and she argued that the President’s post must be eliminated- her argument was the President has no real executive powers and is a burden on the taxpayer’s money (even after the end of term). This inspite of the fact that the President plays a key role in forming governments at the central and state level.

All controversy apart, she had one thing in common with her predecessors – at age 72, she followed the tradition of Indian President’s being well into their 60s or early 70s at the time of beginning their term. So bored out of my mind and out of curiosity, I pulled some numbers together and plotted a graph. Given that more than half of India is under 25 years age and a third under 15, doesn’t the country need a younger president?