FM Sitharaman proposes Rs 2,500 crore for tourism in 2020-21, eight new museums

Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman on Saturday proposed to allocate Rs 2,500 crore in 2020-21 for the tourism sector and construction of eight new museums, which includes building infrastructure around 5 iconic sites.

"To make India an attractive destination for both international and domestic tourists, we propose Rs 2,500 crore in 2020-21 for the tourism sector and Rs 3,150 crore for Ministry of Culture," said Sithraman while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 in Parliament.

Highlighting improved tourism revenues due to better ranking, the Finance Minister said, "India had moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (World Economic Forum)."

"Due to tourism revenues foreign Exchange earnings grew 7.4 per cent to Rs 1.88 lakh crore for the period January 2019 from Rs 1.75 lakh crore," she said.

She further proposed 8 new museums, which include building infrastructure around 5 iconic sites, besides proposing the renovation of 5 major museums across the length and breadth of India.

The 5 archeological sites to be developed as iconic sites with on-site museums are situated at Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu).

It also includes -- "Maritime Museum to highlight Harappan Age at Lothal, Ahmedabad, by Ministry of Shipping, Kolkata, Indian Museum: Re-curation of the oldest museum in India as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2020, Numismatics and Trade Museum to be located in the historic Old Mint Building, Support for setting up Tribal Museum in Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Renovation and re-curation of 4 more museums across India."

Recognising the role of states in the proposed scheme for growth and employment generation, Sitharaman said, "I expect State governments will develop a roadmap for certain identified destinations and formulate financial plans during 2021 against which specified grants will be made available to the states in 2020-21."

( With inputs from ANI )