The chances of postponement are nearly evident as only three days prior to the scheduled visit, the defence counsel have raised objections over sending the statement of Ajmal Kasab to India with the record and on the legality of the notification of government of Pakistan regarding the departure of the panel.

These objections were raised when the Judge of Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Shahid Rafique on Saturday resumed hearing of Mumbai attack case in Adiala jail. He, later, sought reply from the federal investigation agency (FIA) and adjourned the hearing till February 4.

white toques and are buzzing to pay a culinary tribute to a meal splashed with saffron, white and green colours.

The exhaustive spread of 26 dishes will include Indian dishes like Dhokla, Tamatar Kadhi and Mugachi Amti along with oriental and continental preparations like Malaysian Noodles, Mofu Rice and Assorted Vegetables Peking Style, Pasta Arrabiata and Veg Au Gratin.

“Transit, that’s home in Mumbai to both domestic and international travellers, is buzzing with demand for both local and international cuisine,” the hotel’s managing director Bharat Malkani told IANS.

“As part of India’s 63rd Republic Day celebrations, we are offering a unique Facebook discount where customers who like us and come in third, fourth goes free,” he added.

Keeping with the tricolour spirit, guests will be welcomed with Kiwi (Green), Mango (Saffron) and Litchi (White) coolers that bring alive the patriotic spirit.

Similarly, attracting foodies to indulge in the special tricolour preparations, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel will lay out an exhaustive buffet complete from appetizers to desserts.

Beginning with appetizers representing the colour saffron, Orange Fennel with Almonds, Chicken Tikka ki Chaat, Kombadicha Surva and Lentil Soup with Rosemary Garlic will pave the way for the main course buffet.

Delicacies like Dahi Bhalla, Curd Rice, Murg Meethi Malai and Parmesan and Herb Crusted Baked Fish will represent the colour white.

The patriotic gastronomical journey will end with greens like Mirchi ka Salaan, Lehsooni Palak Paneer and Beans Poriyal.

The meal will also showcase royal dishes like Tirangi Kofta, Veg Navratna, Nihari Gosht, Meen Moilee, Murg Chaamp Biryani, Tarkari Biryani and Aloo Jodhpuri.

Desserts like Chandrakala, Malai Moon, Dil Bahar, Tirangi Angoori Rabdi and Tirangi Burfi will provide the finishing touch to a resplendent meal fit for the most patriotic Indian.

At the MoMo Cafe of Courtyard by Marriott in Andheri in northwest Mumbai, the menu will rediscover the rich flavours of diverse states and indulge in their rich regional culinary heritage.

The buffet will include traditional specialities from different states like Kacche Gosht Ki Biryani or Lal Mirch Ke Methi Macchi from Andhra Pradesh, Malvani Fish Curry or Kothimbir Wadi from Maharashtra, Harey Moong Ke Gosht or Paneer Lababdar from Awadh, Gosht Beliram or Choley Bhature from Punjab, Meen Polichatu or Kerala Sambhar from Kerala and Paniaram or Urlai Pattani Kurma from Tamil Nadu.

Sinful traditional desserts like Srikhand, Khubani Ki Rabri, Param Puri, Jalebi, Gulab Jamun or special Tricolor Ladoos will ensure the best ending of the meal.

Also celebrating the spirit of the Republic, Hornby’s Pavilion at ITC Grand Central will salute the essence of freedom by offering a 50 percent special discount to armed forces personnel for their extensive buffet.

India currently bars foreign airlines from buying into Indian airlines, although foreign investors are allowed to hold a cumulative 49 per cent.

“The question was to allow other airlines to participate in FDI (foreign direct investment). I discussed it with the finance minister and he agreed,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters. “We realised that FDI is one of the factors that will help the industry survive the current financial problems.”

Shares of Indian airline companies surged by 7 to 12 per cent ahead of a meeting earlier in the day between Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

India’s loss-making airlines are grappling with high jet fuel prices, low fares and an economic slowdown.

The total debt of the industry is expected to rise to $20 billion for the fiscal year ending in March, according to an Aviation Ministry report.

A decision to open up the sector would be especially welcome to debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines (KING.NS), which has long lobbied for the change.

“It is strongly welcomed. It has been long long overdue,” said Kapil Kaul, regional head of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consulting firm.

“This will lead to capital, strategic expertise. This will also lead to foreign and domestic fund flows to the sector.” Kaul told Reuters.

U.S. billionaire Wilbur Ross briefly invested in budget airline SpiceJet in 2010, making it the only Indian carrier to get major foreign investment in recent years.

British Airways has been speculated as a possible candidate to pick up a stake in Kingfisher, which said last month that it would join the global oneworld alliance from February to help boost its competitiveness and finances.

“The current losses of the airlines make the valuations attractive,” said Amber Dubey, director of aviation at KPMG.

An analyst at a Mumbai brokerage, who did not wish to be identified, said airlines such as Kingfisher and Jet Airways, with large founder stakes, would be comfortable with diluting their shares to allow investment by foreign carriers.

The regulator’s report highlighted a backlog in training of Jet’s pilots and cabin crew and noted an “acute shortage of operating personnel” in the group’s budget airline, JetLite.

“With reference to the recently concluded financial audit carried out by the DGCA, both Jet Airways and JetLite have duly submitted ‘action taken reports’ in line with industry practice,” Jet said in a statement.

“As such Jet Airways and JetLite are in compliance with all regulatory requirements to ensure safe operation.”

The DGCA report said financial problems in India’s cutthroat airline industry had exposed potential safety issues, and it demanded that airlines take steps to ensure that their operations remained safe.

The report said Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express, the budget carrier of state-run Air India, were in “major financial distress”.

The DGCA also said there was a need to review the fleet expansion plans of budget airline IndiGo in view of the serious nature of the report’s findings on IndiGo’s safety procedures.

Unlisted IndiGo placed an order for 180 Airbus planes worth $16 billion last year. It plans to add 12 aircraft to its current fleet of 48 aircraft within a year.

Shares of Jet Airways, valued at $304 million, closed up 2.72 percent at 190.50 in a firm Mumbai market.

Kingfisher closed up 7.14 percent after the government said it had paid 200 million rupees ($3.8 million) in outstanding service taxes due for December, including arrears.

Shares of SpiceJet, India’s other listed airline, closed up 4.9 percent at 18.25 rupees.

Union Tourism Ministry in a statement said that India welcomed 6.29 million tourists in 2011 comparing to 5.74 million in 2010. However India could not sustain 11.8 per cent growth of 2010 and came down to 8.9 per cent for 2011.

Despite that growth remained in line with 9 per cent projection for Asia Pacific by the UNWTO. Indian tourism remained strong despite travel advisories during Diwali and global economic slowdown. While visa on arrival remained non factor throughout the year, several road shows and new markets like Gay tourism helped India post strong growth for 2011.

The December alone was great month for tourism with growth of 5.2 per cent comparing to 4.7 per cent in November. In December 715,000 foreign tourists visited India. In 2010 680,000 tourists visited for the same month.

Tourism Ministry as well the tour operators expects another strong year for India tourism despite growing economic worries around the world.

Airport officials informed that early on Sunday morning, passengers of Air India’s Mumbai-Nagpur and Delhi-Nagpur flights were pleasantly surprised to learn that they were among the first domestic passengers to use the aerobridge while disembarking at city airport.

TOI had many times highlighted the reluctance on part of domestic airlines to use the aerobridge that enables passengers to board and leave aircraft directly into terminal building. Taking cognisance of TOI reports that aerobridges at the airport were mere showpieces, Mihan India Ltd (MIL), the company operating the city airport, finally got Air India to start using the facility.

At present five Indian airlines Air India, Jet, Spice Jet, Indigo and Go Air, operate flights to various destinations from Nagpur. Passengers are transported from the airport building to the aircraft by buses. While disembarking, passengers have to walk from the aircraft or use buses. Sources at airport informed that after innumerable delays, MIL finally commissioned one of the two aerobridges on September 12. Rs 2 crore have been invested in two aerobridges. One of them became operational over two months ago but penny-pinching airlines are not using them to avoid paying charges involved.

A senior Air India official said, “we have operators and equipment like pushback tractors, toe bar etc for aerobridge operations. So we have decided to give its benefits to our passengers. On Sunday morning, almost 200 passengers disembarked at Nagpur airport from Delhi and Mumbai while same number of passengers boarded the planes that took off from here using aerobridge.”

MIL chief operating officer Abadesh Prasad said that after DGCA approval, MIL had commissioned only aerobridge No. 1 for operations. MIL has started resurfacing of old apron of 64,000 sq metre area and two existing taxiways ‘Alpha’ and ‘Bravo’ spread over approximately 18,500 sq metres. During resurfacing work of apron, aircraft will be parked at newly developed bays.

The second aerobridge will be commissioned after resurfacing work and completion of some internal facilities in terminal building, Prasad added.

“We are trying to talk to a few airlines in the Indian market to offer direct connectivity from Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad. We have a few airlines who are studying the market and maybe next year there might be flight connectivity to Kenya if not Dar-es-Salaam,” Badriya Kiondo, minister plenipotentiary in the Tanzanian high Commission in New Delhi said.

Tanzania has, in recent years, launched aggressive tourism promotion campaigns in the Asian markets of India, China and Japan as the tradition European market dwindles.

To supplement efforts to attract Indian tourists the Tanzaianian government would also open a consulate in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital. Indian tourists arrivals reached 17,000 last year.  The consulate’s mission would also be to seek Indian investments in the tourism sector in areas .

Some of the target areas for investment include luxury train tourism, recreation and entertainment facilities, Indian food restaurants, marine tourism and conference centres. Others are amusement parks and sea and lake cruising, accommodation and camping facilities, hospitality and tourism training institutions.  Kiondo said the tourism promotion would be done through conventions and travel marts.

“We will also look at advertising through various mediums, host FAM and study tours for the travel trade, workshops,” said Kiondo.

Can wildlife be saved in protected forests without the support of local communities? Wild animals do not follow man-made boundaries and are bound to use unprotected areas where their well-being depends solely on local goodwill. Where people are hostile, wild animals get killed.

But can we expect people, who pay almost the entire cost of conservation, to be sympathetic to wildlife? Commercial extraction of timber and forest produce is not allowed in a sanctuary. Regular crop raids by wild herbivores frustrate agriculture and predators kill livestock. Green laws restrict industries or mines, limiting opportunities for local employment.

So, can the local economy be boosted without compromising the wilderness, or better still, while creating incentive for conservation? Only eco-tourism can do the trick. Even converting agricultural fields into tourist camps is a win-win deal: the farmer’s liability — an invading herd of deer — is the hotelier’s asset to flaunt.

So why the debate? Is it because the government is shifting poor villagers from prime forests and the dilemma of entertaining rich tourists in the same space weighs heavy on some minds? Shifting villages out ensures less competition for resources because villagers use water, wood, forest produce and, on occasion, kill wild animals.

But does the equation change if tourists lodge inside forests? For example, Corbett’s Dhikala tourist complex is bigger than most forest villages. It is sheer hypocrisy to shunt villagers out and allow tourists to squander the same resources.

But do wildlife safaris take a similar toll on forests? Yes, the dust kicked up by vehicles is an irritant; as is crowding of the wild. But since there is no scientific study yet on the impact of such disturbances, jungle safaris should be acceptable in any part of the forest within a set of strict common-sense regulations.

The real danger of tourism is not inside the forest but around it. Hotels pump out scarce groundwater, often to fill swimming pools, dump garbage, burn forest wood in kitchen, even quarry local stone for construction. These walled properties allow little access to animals.

There are some economic spin-offs of having so many hotels. But, in the absence of local capacity-building, outsiders fill most of the lucrative positions. The locals who do benefit are only a small part of the population. More than two lakh people live in the 96 villages and two towns adjacent to Ranthambhore. Just about 5,000 are directly employed in tourism.

What we need are regulations within a 5-km radius of forests. For example, hotels should compulsorily maintain a certain built-up to open area ratio, limit use of resources, discard artificial fencing, halogen lamps and amplifiers, and follow a safe garbage-disposal policy. Hotels must also invest in local capacity-building and recruit two-thirds of workforce locally (paying them an equivalent proportion of the total wage) in a phased manner.

Many existing properties have little open land. While those blocking wildlife corridors have to be demolished, others can buy land and leave it for regeneration of vibrant buffer forests. Many quasi-wildlife tourists demand swimming pools and night clubs. Likewise, there are some who would sacrifice most creature comforts for an authentic wildlife experience.