Military Tourism: A first in India Set to Debut

For the first time in India, tourists can get a ringside view of military life thanks to extreme tourism initiative titled ‘Veer Yatra’ organised by Maharashtra Ex-servicemen Corporation (MESCO) – a Government of Maharashtra undertaking.

It is a unique concept that encourages civilians to explore various facets of India’s defense forces and its evolution and aims to give citizens a glimpse into military way of life. The tours will be conducted by the brave men who once worked for the military.

The first-of-its-kind ‘military tourism’ initiative in India aims at strengthening the emotional bond that exists between the military establishment and the civilian population.

Commenting on the launch, Col (Retd.) Suhas S. Jatkar, MD, MESCO, said, “While Military Tourism is a well-established concept worldwide, it has not been explored in a structured way in India so far. Military, its intricacies, heroism, security, wars and its intrigues are such a big part of worldwide history that they generate considerable interest in military sites.

A military association is looked up to very proudly by every Indian and a thought of being part of the military establishment comes in the mind of every individual at some point in their life. Through Veer Yatra, MESCO aims to give the real-life experience to these aspirations – there is so much history, so much to see and so much to experience.

As ex-servicemen, we strongly feel the need to promote Military Tourism with a view to inculcate sense of patriotism among the children and youth of the country. Indian Military establishment has rich physical and emotional heritage that is worth exploring by all patriotic citizens.” Established in 2002, MESCO works towards the welfare and resettlement of ex-servicemen.

Vistara commences flights to Chandigarh

Vistara flew its inaugural flight to the city of Chandigarh from IGI airport, Delhi at 1320hrs on May 2. The fares for Delhi to Chandigarh flight start from Rs 3700+ one way on Economy super saver and Rs 4900+ in Premium Economy saver.

 

The airline will operate daily direct return flights to Chandigarh from Delhi and Hyderabad (same aircraft service between Hyderabad and Chandigarh via Delhi). The new service will also offer convenient connections via Delhi between Chandigarh and Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad. International travellers from the city will also be connected to global destinations via Vistara hub at T3 Delhi, making it a convenient connection for them to travel overseas with 12 global interline airline partners of Vistara.

Rajasthan Desert Tours - 5N - 6D

The Desert tour package is considered the best for exploring the destinations in Rajasthan. This travel package includes the visit to the major desert destinations which are worth visiting.
The beautiful Havelies of Mandawa and the glorious stretch of deserts can be seen during this package.

1. Delhi Sightseeing

On arriving at Delhi you will be received from the Airport/ Railway station and will be transferred to the pre booked hotel. Check in the hotel and after getting freshened up start the sightseeing tour of Delhi. You will be taken to the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, India Gate, Lotus Temple, Parliament House, Rashtrapati Bhawan etc. After the tour have an overnight stay at hotel in Delhi.

2. Delhi-Mandawa

After the breakfast in the morning start the travel to Mandawa. You can experience the villages of Rajasthan on the way. On arrival check in the hotel at mandawa and get freshen up.

After lunch start the sightseeing of the city. Visit the old paintings, beautiful ancient Havelies, natural colors of the streets etc. After the full day of sightseeing have a overnight stay at the hotel of Mandawa. 

3. Mandawa-Bikaner

After the breakfast in the morning start the road travel to the desert city of Bikaner. Check in the Hotel for stay on arrival. After lunch start the sightseeing visit to the Junagarh Fort, also witness the largest Camel Breeding Farm. Visit the local markets and have an overnight Hotel stay.

4. Bikaner-Khimsar

After the breakfast in the morning visit from Bikaner and start the travel to Khimsar. On reaching check in the hotel and get freshen up. Visit the Deshnok Rat temple, Royal Khimsar Fort, Jeep safari, sun set on sand dunes. Then return to the room to have dinner and have a comfortable overnight stay.

5. Khimsar-Jodhpur
After the breakfast from the hotel of Khimsar start the travel to Jodhpur. On the way visit the Mahavira Jain Temple also visit Jija Mata mandir. Then continue the sightseeing travel and the drive to Jodhpur. Check in the hotel of Jodhpur then visit Mehrangarh Fort, Jaswant thada, Sardar market clock tower etc. have an overnight stay at the Hotel in Jodhpur.

6. Jodhpur-Delhi

On the last day of the Tours after breakfast you will be a drive back to Delhi by evening. From there you would be directly transferred to the airport/ railway station for the onwards journey back to your home.

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Hyperlocal faces the heat with PepperTap shutting operations in 10 cities

As the hyperlocal business models continue to grapple with challenges in the country, yet another player in the space has started facing the heat. This time, the hyperlocal grocery delivery app PepperTap, has decided to shut down operations in ten cities including metros like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The app will now only operate in 8 cities and suburbs out of 18 it was presently catering to.

This move from the Snapdeal and Sequoia Capital backed company comes in the light of cost cutting due to fund crunch which is being faced by many hyperlocal providers in the recent times.

Company’s Co-Founder and CEO, Navneet Singh has recently confirmed the closure to media. As per Singh, larger chunk of PepperTap’s workers and delivery boys was on a contract basis and have now being let go in cities where the operations have shutdown. The company had around 2,500 employees including permanent staffs.

 

"Even though PepperTap has been able to establish itself as a leading hyperlocal grocery delivery service over the last one year, given the short- to mid-term investment climate outlook, we have decided to focus on depth rather than breadth,” said Singh.

“We are digging our heels in for the long term. We will focus on building a stellar customer experience by providing additional categories and services that differentiate us from our competition in cities where we continue to operate,” he added.

Though the company has shut operation in many cities but still operates in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Hyderabad and Pune which contributes as much as 70% of its total revenue. PepperTap had plans to expand into 75 cities when it announced its $36-million raise last year led by Snapdeal.

Though the hyperlocal grocery space kicked off on an exciting note and made investors pump millions of dollars into it, but with companies like Grofers and now PepperTap have started struggling hard for survival, viability of the industry is a big question. One of prime factors of this major crunch could be in the backdrop of eCommerce giants like Amazon etc who are stepping into the vertical for hyperlocal grocery delivery.

For the industry, hyperlocal in particular, fulfillment of orders without having an inventory-led model in place has now become one of the biggest challenges for players like PepperTap and Grofers.

The SoftBank-backed grocery delivery firm, Grofers, too ceased operations in nine cities last year saying non-metros and smaller markets did not contribute significantly to revenues.

The company secured about $120 million from SoftBank and now operations in 17 cities while other players like BigBasket covers 16 cities.