Social Groups Draft National Tourism Policy, 2015: A Mockery of Democracy Letters and Submissions Tourism is not just a holiday, it changes the entire social, cultural and economic nature of the place where it thrives. There are social costs: abuse of women, children particularly those forced into sex work, trafficking and child labour because of tourism. Ministry of tourism announced Draft National Tourism Policy of India in May 2015 and given only 10 day for public comments.While it is the prerogative of the elected governments to form policy based on its promises as articulated in its manifestos and other documents, it is equally important to ensure that the process of policy formulation in the country is transparent and democratically decided. For tourism, the only directive giving document is the National Tourism Policy. Therefore, we believe that this document needs to be given the same consideration as the passing of any legislation and therefore brought to the Parliament for a discussion and a wider consensus. The government's attempt to scuttle this process by introducing it in the Cabinet is a manifestation of its autocratic nature which will affect millions of people whose homes have been turned into products to be traded in the tourism market. Geographies India
