Minister of State for Tourism Kumari Selja made the announcement at an International Buddhist Heritage Conference in Nalanda in Bihar.

According to a tourism ministry official, any tourist, domestic or international, can call the helpline for information about a place he or she intends to visit.

"They can also call the number when in distress or in an emergency," she said.

Selja added: "In December 2009, the foreign tourist arrivals in India saw a 21 percent increase over the same period in 2008. The future looks bright. We expect buoyancy to return to the sector soon."

The state, known for its breathtaking beauty, loads of adventure, national parks, and religious sites, will soon have a toll free number which will facilitate tourists to plan their itinerary.

The 24x7 helpline will be run through a dedicated call centre to assist tourists.

The toll- free number -- 18001808077 -- will be accessible to anyone within and outside the country to check on hotel bookings, travel plans, destinations and related information.

It will be operational once the call centre is set up.

" It is a new initiative by the department to promote tourism in the state. We would like to give all information related to different tourism products," said Arun Kumar, director of the department of civil aviation and tourism.

State government officials said every year close to 10 million tourists ( including four lakh foreigners) visit the state.

" The helpline will be of immense help to those tourists who otherwise had to depend on information from travel operators and secondary means, thus increasing their chances of getting fleeced. The helpline will provide information at a much easier level," an official said.

The helpline is also expected to give out weather- related information since often some tourist places remain cut off from the mainland either because of snowfall, heavy rain or landslides.

This facility would soon be available to the people, who will not have to stand in queue to get a common entry ticket.

The facility would cover all Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protected monuments across the country.

"The recently introduced common entry tickets have received a very good response.
Now, these tickets would be available online," said Jawahar Sircar, Secretary (Culture), on Wednesday.

Stating that it was an initiative of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also holds the portfolio of Culture Ministry, Sircar said the ASI monuments would soon get communicative signage, telling visitors about the importance of the places.

He was speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a non-profit organization working in the field of conservation.

The day also marked the NGO's two-day All India State Convener's Meet.

"Delhi has the largest number of monuments (but) heritage should not just mean monuments. Water bodies are equally important," said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. "There was a time when Delhi had more than 325 water bodies. Of these, few have been used for constructing houses." Praising INTACH for its 25 years of work, Dikshit said funds for heritage conservation should not be a problem at all.

The new rules state that those coming to India on business visas can't work until they get employment visas. There are 1,395 foreigners working on projects for the Defence Ministry and 159 for the Department of Atomic Energy, all on B-visas. So, the Centre will convert all their B-visas into E-visas.

China and Russia had taken up the matter of the new rules with the External Affairs Ministry.

"We are looking at flexibility on government-to-government category projects -- dealing with defence, DAE and nuclear power. Considering the sensitivity and national interest involved, visa conversion needs to be streamlined," a government official said.

As of now, the Home Ministry is expected to complete security vetting for an E-visa applications within 45 days. If this doesn't happen, the Indian missions "may" take it that the ministry has cleared the application and process it. "We need clarity on this," the official said.

Also, the official added, the "surge in projects" necessitates an examination of the old rule that foreigners should not exceed one per cent of the project workforce or a maximum of 20.

Citing the changes made by several countries like US and UK after terror strikes on their soil, senior officials here argued that it should be left to the home ministry to chalk out plans for securing the nation.

Ministry officials pointed out that the government had so far not received any formal complaint from any country, including the US or the UK, after the new visa rules were implemented. Only a few clarifications had been sought by Washington and they have been addressed, they said.

"When some foreign missions based in India sought clarity, we told them that if someone has to worry about tourist arrivals, it is India and not any other nation," said an official.

As per the new visa rules, no tourist having a travel document valid for 180 days would be allowed to return to the country before a cooling-off period of two months.

Source: Times Of India No change in new tourist visa norms: Govt

Indian security agencies are said to have pushed for the break following revelations about the activities of David Headley, the US citizen with alleged links with the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, who was arrested in October.
Investigations have shown that Headley was in and out of India repeatedly using tourist visas for two years before the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai last year, during which he reconnoitered many of the spots attacked by the terrorists on 26/11.

Details of precisely which categories of tourists will be affected, when and how, are not yet clear.

A message from the United States Mission in India to American citizens in the country on Wednesday, said: "The government of India is reviewing its regulations pertaining to the entry of American citizens holding long-term Indian tourist visas. To date, these new regulations are not finalized and are being implemented inconsistently."

"...It is clear that the rules will only affect those who wish to enter India on a tourist visa within two months of their last departure from India," it added.