So the final outcome of this thread says that a prime minister should not go out on tour for official business unless rapes are stopped totally, be it foreign or local women. Now this should settle the issue.

I think that Prime minister should undertake tour only on the theme of preventing rapes. When this issue is addressed, other issues can be discussed. :laugh:

Both these posts are, sadly ridiculous and insensitive! If all the above posts should have been read carefully and the underlying meaning understood then it would have been very apparent as to what is being said in relation to rapes and the expenditure etc. But since such sensitivity cannot be expected from the male species of any kind, it is quite acceptable to say that you two guys are right! :blink: :blink: Very very sad and unfortunate! I have no further comments to ad to this, not to say the least was expected from those who see themselves as quite intelligent and wise!

I do not deny that issues of rapes, other political issues, corruption, robberies and murders are big issues which our country is facing today and no one in his right mind can overlook these but at the same time we shall have to keep in mind that this thread has a particular subject as theme and we should not interlink it with different issues. We certainly can discuss and we do discuss other issues whenever these brought to forums. Thank you all.

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

We need to see overall budget expenses on foreign travel as a ratio of total expenses of government. Also compare Prime minister's tour expenses with the total travel expenses of government. If there is increase in travel expenses over the previous years, inflation factor also needs be considered. We have also to bear in mind that travel expenses are overhead expenses and there can be no direct co relation between amount spent and benefit gained. The impact of travel is not felt just in one year.

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

We need to see overall budget expenses on foreign travel as a ratio of total expenses of government. Also compare Prime minister's tour expenses with the total travel expenses of government. If there is increase in travel expenses over the previous years, inflation factor also needs be considered. We have also to bear in mind that travel expenses are overhead expenses and there can be no direct co relation between amount spent and benefit gained. The impact of travel is not felt just in one year.

That's the wonderful thing if it gets implemented. I bet the amount will be over 1k crore for all states combined. Any idea why so called activists not protesting against such a big spending, leave along all of us who never care about it?

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 ( six hundred and twenty ) crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

First of all, are the ministers and the corporators legally entitled to spend such huge amounts of public money on themselves? Manmohan Singh , as a PM may have some benefits that are due to him because of his position, but considering that they go there as state guests, I find it ridiculous when people suggest spending crores as peanuts involved...There should be accountability for the money spent, even if it is the PM and of course inflation and its effect is something anyone with an iota of common sense would know !
When we take the collective amount spent by the current government - 620 ( six hundred and twenty) crores by the PM, 205 crores by Pratibha Patil, 26 crores by Meria Kumar and so on...we see that that becomes a really huge amount!
Can a country like India which still has people dying from hunger and starvation and farmers committing suicide because they cannot pay back loans need such luxury? can any responsible citizen support such an act and say it is needed , if so for what ? I am amazed that educated people support such an act..

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

First of all, are the ministers and the corporators legally entitled to spend such huge amounts of public money on themselves? Manmohan Singh , as a PM may have some benefits that are due to him because of his position, but considering that they go there as state guests, I find it ridiculous when people suggest spending crores as peanuts involved...There should be accountability for the money spent, even if it is the PM and of course inflation and its effect is something anyone with an iota of common sense would know !
When we take the collective amount spent by the current government - ^20 crores by the PM, 205 crores by Pratibha Patil, 26 crores by Meria Kumar and so on...we see that that becomes a really huge amount!
Can a country like India which still has people dying from hunger and starvation and farmers committing suicide because they cannot pay back loans need such luxury? can any responsible citizen support such an act and say it is needed , if so for what ? I am amazed that educated people support such an act..

It is right that peoples are dying with hunger and also committing suicide for non payment of loans. But all these are not for reason that India have sources to save them. For all these our system is responsible. Corruption is responsible. It better to spend public fund with care. But remember one thing if some always crying for poorness no one like to listen them. System and politics of India is faulty but India is not a week country.

First of all there is no provision for ministers to take families along with them when they go to foreign countries on official tours and if they do, they have to bear the expenses and they do have travel expenses paid by the government once every three years which is also meant for study tour and not pleasure trip....In fact now the ministers are demanding that they be given an opportunity to take their families along officially , not that they have not been taking but on the sly !

:lol: Well, it does seem like 620 crore looks quite a small amount to many!
There would have been no problems if he had spent more than this in the 9 years' duration had there been even an iota of a difference made in the relations between India and other countries as a result of the multiple visits. But sadly, the difference cannot be seen anywhere neither these officials seem to have learned anything from such official visits and taken efforts to implement any of their observations here in India. I totally agree that official visits are an essential and integral part of the post but then they are also obliged to make use of those opportunities to improving the status of our country, which I am sure everyone agrees with me, has not been the case!

Exactly and if Obama pends 200 crores, I am sure a lot of thought and research has gone into t because people are politically aware there and will not let him while away the money unlike here...First of all if we clean up the filth and take care of our infra structure and basic amenities , that is sure to attract foreign investment. No amount of foreign tours with spouses and family will make things better for our country! I was reading up about other developing countries and I dont see their officials lobe trotting so many times ( unnecessarily) like our ministers do...Of course they always make sure to put t n record that it was very essential...

Obama does not spend 200 crore or more (which are not counted for security reasons) annually but every trip and his overall expenditure per annum is in billions. But they know how to take best advantage because they know the value of investment. Yes traveling by public representatives as important as by marketing professionals for their companies. The president of US travels in 3 planes( Air Force 1)at a time while many fighter planes surround him , and as learned members know Air Force 1 is perhaps the most fuel consuming plane in the world for its vastness and facilities but no American ever questions their presidents traveling so lavishly.
That is business and they do not succeed always like Obama failed miserably when he visited China last time around where he spent almost 250 crore if we convert it into Indian Rupees. No one can always get success on business missions.
Our problem is that we go to foreign missions for beating the track, in fact, we are neither good politicians nor good businessmen. But we do it for the sake of doing it and that's all. Unless we appoint good professional people for carrying out good business deals, we should not expect good results.
And this al should begin from beginning, we must have good infrastructure and proper law in our country to start with before inviting foreign investment. We should have good governance that works properly otherwise all efforts will prove futile. Mere visits won't work but we shall have to make proper policies before starting the campaign. Unfortunately we lack in every department and once again had it not been for private sector the country had almost gone to dogs. I hope we shall learn the value of public relation and I ask for your pardon before hand if I add once again that spouses and family members are part of the tours when a head of state/government traveling on official invitation.

Thank you for giving well informed and logical comments on foreign tours. The importance of using services of skilled professionals during negotiation with foreign countries during official visits of P.M. and others can hardly be over stated. There is no use lamenting over the figure of expenses and accompanying of spouses.

What needs to be lamented and discussed needs o be done so, since in some way or the other it concerns all of us, some may not bother but some do.If we dint have a media to highlight such things , probably we would never have come to know about all the wrong doings of our netas and comparing it to any other country seems foolish given the vast difference in our entire economical and political perception...

It is also a fact that our media does not make an objective analysis of facts but only caters to wider circulation and TRP by fanning sentiments on basis of half truths and half baked facts. The citizens need to take an objective view and not blindly accept all that media may vomit. We see that media just picks some thread and repeats the same through day and some times even for a week. In the process, media even ignores other important events.

I agree that the media does that more often than is needed or even desirable just to tweak their TRP ratings. But there are some educated people who are well aware of the fact and are capable enough of reading between lines. The point here is that no one is objecting per se to such an expenditure, the only thing we are asking for is that that expenditure should be made for the benefit of our country. Dr. Singh is an illustrious and highly honoured scholar and it was expected that he make a lot of difference to the relations with other countries, but instead of improving, sadly they are only disintegrating more. So what was the outcome of so many visits? In other countries which our esteemed leaders often visit, they have successfully implemented a lot of sanitation and public hygiene, transportation, social welfare and healthcare facilities, not to mention education, Do our leaders never notice that? Have they, at any point of time, tried to implement them here in India? :blink:

We may keep on arguing about the necessity or otherwise about such issues here, but we can not avoid the glaring fact that, India as a growing superpower has glaringly failed in all such areas. What is more disturbing is that our esteemed leaders have also failed to provide the basic security to women, native and foreign, both alike and our capital city is now notorious as the Rape capital. So when we take sides of these leaders, let us not forget such issues!

Exactly, under the present travel hungry government the situation has deteriorated so much that women feel threatened like never before! The number of foreign nationals that have been raped is alarming and we talk about prime minister spending some more for his foreign tours...

Rape of any women- Indian or foreign tourists is a matter of disgust. But how is this issue related to official tour of Prime Minister?

Naturally, if foreign women are going to be raped left rigfht and center when they visit our country, it shows that the leader has failed in providing security and it does effect our relationship with other countries. I doubt if foreign rulers would have any favorable impression of a parist nation. So instead of spending crores on globe trotting the best thing to do woyld be to tighten the internal security and clean up the cities and try to stem the rot ! But that is an impossible task for the presenr prime minister and his team sincw they neither have the committment nor the vision...

How many foreign women raped in last one year. I think relation between two country not affected by these things. Other country also wants to have business with India.

You seem to think that such incidents are only matter-of-fact and not very important. And we should not dwell upon how many foreign women were raped and so on. even if one such incident occurs it is a matter of extreme shame for us and strict measures need to be implemented immediately. Raping any woman, native or otherwise is extremely disgusting and when it happens on an international level, we stand to lose our credibility as a nation. So do not take up the issue of statistics in such cases!

Rape is definitely a serious matter. Rape of foreign tourist- even mistreatment is serious enough. But this is not relevant to Prime minister's foreign visit expenses.

They are all inter connected, and for any discussion to be complete one should explore all related avenues, it is not as if any personal issue or unrelated issue is being discussed here ...