Beijing, Aug 29 : Incidents of lynching have hurt India's image, Tourism Minister K.J. Alphons, who is in China to draw in more tourists, has admitted.
The minister, however, said that the ban on beef has not affected tourism in the country and sought to debunk a survey showing India as the most unsafe country for women in the world.
"Well, it (lynching) shouldn't happen. Simple. And, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has called them criminals. And, he told the states you have to take action because law and order is a state subject," Alphons said on Tuesday interacting with Indian journalsits.
Asked if incidents of lynching have affected tourism in India, the Minister said: "Well, not on a big time basis...not really. But anything happening like that is bad for the reputation of the country. We won't say it's good for the reputation of the country."
Has the ban on beef kept foreign tourists away from India, Alphons said that was not the case. "Not really... you see there are states like Kerala, Goa and the Northeast... these are all beef eating states."
"These are all big tourism destinations... So people would go wherever they are comfortable "I think we need to respect the sentiment of the people anywhere... that's so fundamental."
India has witnessed incidents of lynching over cow slaughter and beef eating in the country. The majority of Hindus in the country consider the animal as sacred.
Alphons is visiting China to attract Chinese tourists who currently generate some 21 per cent of tourism receipts in destinations in the world. He opened a road show in Beijing on Tuesday and will visit Shanghai and Wuhan.
Despite swelling number of outbound Chinese tourists, Indian receives only a very small fraction of them. "Last year, 144 million Chinese were abroad, but only 300,000 came to India," the minister said.
He said India plans to get at least 14 million Chinese tourists in the next three years.
Asked about women's safety, an issue which is among the prime concerns among Chinese to visit India, Alphons said it was "a perception battle".
He tore apart a recent survey by Thomson Reuters which said India is the most unsafe country for women.
"Thomson Reuters put out a story saying it's (India) unsafe. We asked them how? They say they interviewed 540 people or something out which 43 from India."
"You can't ask the 43 so-called knowledgeable people of India whether India is safe or not because most of these so-called feminists would be anti-government ... it is the politics of it," he said.
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(Press Release) - In continuation with the sustained efforts to empower our sales force and ensure seamless services to policyholders digitally, on a 24 x 7 basis, LIC today unveils the “One Man Office” (OMO) online service through its Agents. Through the One Man Office, LIC aims to provide a comprehensive digital ecosystem for its sales force consisting of Agents, Development Officers, Senior Business Associates, Chief Life Insurance Advisors, LIC Associates and Chief Organizer to aid in their day to day operations, strengthen their efficiency and productivity and ensuring better services to our customers. The service has been launched on 17-02-2025. Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Siddhartha Mohanty, CEO & MD, LIC of India, said it will be a vital tool at the hands of the sales force to promote life insurance and render service to LIC’s customers anytime and anywhere. It will be a shot in the arm for achieving the objective of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’.
OMO aims to aid our agents in digital sale of policies, after sales servicing for the customers for different types of services, tracking their business and act as a training cum knowledge pool for them. In short, it is a mobile digital office at the hands of sales force and plans to evolve as an easy-to-use one stop solution for all business and servicing needs, which will be available through their mobile phones, thus making them truly Atma Nirbhar in every sense.
These services are offered through the ANANDA (Atma Nirbhar Agents New Business Digital Application) platform for onboarding of customers and will have features like Premium calculator, benefit illustration, E-NACH registration, change of address, online loan request, renewal premium payments, claim related requirement submission etc. It will also have a knowledge centre, various insurance and health related calculators, office locator, NEFT search etc. for assisting Agents to help the customers.
LIC plans to add further features to this application in phases to cater to the changing needs of the users.
Dated at Mumbai on February 17th , 2025
For Further Information please contact: Executive Director (CC), LIC of India, Central Office, Mumbai.
Email id: ed_cc@licindia.com
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