Arunachal Assembly website goes live

Arunachal Pradesh Governor Gen (Retd.) JJ Singh today inaugurated the Arunachal Assembly website during the 3-day Budget session of State Assembly which began today.

When I came across statement by the Speaker Setong Sena in local daily that the website would be interactive allowing people to judge the performance of their elected representatives and to send their observations, I could not help myself from visiting the site of Arunachal Assembly.

I was greeted with the landing page as pictured at LHS above. When I clicked through the 'click here' link, instead of taking me to the main page I was taken to message from Governor's page and then to message from C.M. before I was finally taken to the main page. The main page has a brief history of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

Contrary to Speaker's statement that the website is interactive allowing people to send in their observations on the government and the elected representatives, I did not find even single email id of the legislatures; leave alone how to interact with the government through the site.

Well, may be that is the case because the website has been launched today only and with passage of time, I hope they would add more interactivity :) to the site and would update information on proceedings of the house and various acts and motions passed in the house etc.

The new Amazing Arunachal site

It may take a while for Arunachal Pradesh to become a tourism hot-spot or for tourism sector to become a sustainable revenue earner for the state. The reasons are many; some attributable to government’s lackadaisical attitude in promoting the true tourism potential of the state, lack of infrastructure, tedious and cumbersome entry formalities, misinformation about the region etc., to name a few. But then, there are some who are so enamored by the beauty of the state: the landscape, the people, their custom and culture, their cuisine etc., that they think Arunachal Pradesh could become a tourism hot-spot and are hell bent on showcasing the charm of Arunachal Pradesh to the outside world through whatever possible ways and means they can; notwithstanding the governments' attitude and the bottlenecks that prevents Arunachal Pradesh to become a tourism hot-spot. One such person is Arif Siddiqui, who mailed in to tell me that the Amazing Arunachal site has been re-done, which earlier, if I am not mistaken, was started to showcase the Pangsau Pass Winter Festival and which mainly concentrated around this particular festival. Having known Arif for a while (though not personally but through net), I couldn't help myself from visiting the Amazing Arunachal site which the site says is an endeavor by a group comprising Tom Simai, Arif Siddiqui and Kamlesh Mehta to expose the beauty of Arunachal Pradesh, which has so far been eluding the contemporary world, through words and through pictures. In their words:

It is a petite attempt to exhibit the beauty and reveal the enigma of Arunachal Pradesh to the contemporary world through camera lenses.

And true to their words, you are greeted with breathtaking photographs on the front page. Having accessed the site on a slow net connection, I only wished the page could load faster (even though the photographs are eye candy when fully loaded) or there was an option to skip the flash content and enter the site. But I could find none and I had to wait for ages to let the page load fully and to enter the main page.

The home page contains brief on Arunachal Pradesh, from where one can navigate to various other sections like pages on how to reach Arunachal Pradesh, entry formalities, brief on 16 districts of the state, culture and traditions etc. However, the most anticipated section i.e., the photo section is yet to be updated, which Arif says is in the stage of finalization.

Juxtaposing Arunachal Tourism official site and Amazing Arunachal, I found the contents more or less similar. However, I must admit that some sections had more information than the official tourism site of Government of Arunachal Pradesh and some sections needed more information to be added. And with the launch of this new site, I guess it has given those interested on Arunachal Pradesh an another option to look for information on Arunachal Pradesh.

Having almost similar contents, I'm looking forward to the photo section to be updated which would exhibit the beauty and reveal the enigma of Arunachal Pradesh to the contemporary world through camera lenses and which would make this site stand apart from the official site of Tourism Department of Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

The new Amazing Arunachal site

It may take a while for Arunachal Pradesh to become a tourism hot-spot or for tourism sector to become a sustainable revenue earner for the state. The reasons are many; some attributable to government’s lackadaisical attitude in promoting the true tourism potential of the state, lack of infrastructure, tedious and cumbersome entry formalities, misinformation about the region etc., to name a few. But then, there are some who are so enamored by the beauty of the state: the landscape, the people, their custom and culture, their cuisine etc., that they think Arunachal Pradesh could become a tourism hot-spot and are hell bent on showcasing the charm of Arunachal Pradesh to the outside world through whatever possible ways and means they can; notwithstanding the governments' attitude and the bottlenecks that prevents Arunachal Pradesh to become a tourism hot-spot. One such person is Arif Siddiqui, who mailed in to tell me that the Amazing Arunachal site has been re-done, which earlier, if I am not mistaken, was started to showcase the Pangsau Pass Winter Festival and which mainly concentrated around this particular festival. Having known Arif for a while (though not personally but through net), I couldn't help myself from visiting the Amazing Arunachal site which the site says is an endeavor by a group comprising Tom Simai, Arif Siddiqui and Kamlesh Mehta to expose the beauty of Arunachal Pradesh, which has so far been eluding the contemporary world, through words and through pictures. In their words:

It is a petite attempt to exhibit the beauty and reveal the enigma of Arunachal Pradesh to the contemporary world through camera lenses.

And true to their words, you are greeted with breathtaking photographs on the front page. Having accessed the site on a slow net connection, I only wished the page could load faster (even though the photographs are eye candy when fully loaded) or there was an option to skip the flash content and enter the site. But I could find none and I had to wait for ages to let the page load fully and to enter the main page.

The home page contains brief on Arunachal Pradesh, from where one can navigate to various other sections like pages on how to reach Arunachal Pradesh, entry formalities, brief on 16 districts of the state, culture and traditions etc. However, the most anticipated section i.e., the photo section is yet to be updated, which Arif says is in the stage of finalization.

Juxtaposing Arunachal Tourism official site and Amazing Arunachal, I found the contents more or less similar. However, I must admit that some sections had more information than the official tourism site of Government of Arunachal Pradesh and some sections needed more information to be added. And with the launch of this new site, I guess it has given those interested on Arunachal Pradesh an another option to look for information on Arunachal Pradesh.

Having almost similar contents, I'm looking forward to the photo section to be updated which would exhibit the beauty and reveal the enigma of Arunachal Pradesh to the contemporary world through camera lenses and which would make this site stand apart from the official site of Tourism Department of Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

New look of Arunachal Tourism official site

While going through the recent comments section, I had to navigate to the post where I had written how the tagline-'Gateway to Serenity' came into being for the Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh (Read the story here.) The post led me to navigate to the official site of Arunachal Tourism. I was quite impressed by it's new simple look (see snapshot at left), which has elements of Web 2.0 design (if I'm not wrong) and I'm glad that the state government departments are trying to make their official site more vibrant unlike the NIC managed dull sites. Just check state government's official site. Coming back to the Arunachal Tourism site-Hey! where is the logo and the tagline? Have they forgotten to include the logo in the design or has purposefully refrained from using the logo...*wicked smile*...

One of the turn downs that makes both foreign and domestic tourists from putting Arunachal Pradesh in their itinerary is the Entry Formalities i.e., RAP & ILP and the lack of information on how to obtain them. The section Entry Formalities of the site just covers that and gives information on where to apply for ILP or RAP. However, it fails to address one pertinent question-How long does it take to obtain ILP or RAP? Also the section is updated with the information on recent relaxation in entry formalities for foreign visitors.

The Destination Section has a brief on existing travel circuits like places of interest, how to reach, where to stay etc. But I failed to understand why destination Tawang and West Kameng alone has been given dedicated full pages and not for other destinations?

Besides, the site has briefs on Festivals, Arts and Crafts, People, Wildlife and Orchids and information on government registered tour operators.

So head on to the official tourism site of Government of Arunachal Pradesh for information on entry formalities, travel circuits etc., if you are planning a trip to Arunachal, soon.

New look of Arunachal Tourism official site

While going through the recent comments section, I had to navigate to the post where I had written how the tagline-'Gateway to Serenity' came into being for the Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh (Read the story here.) The post led me to navigate to the official site of Arunachal Tourism. I was quite impressed by it's new simple look (see snapshot at left), which has elements of Web 2.0 design (if I'm not wrong) and I'm glad that the state government departments are trying to make their official site more vibrant unlike the NIC managed dull sites. Just check state government's official site. Coming back to the Arunachal Tourism site-Hey! where is the logo and the tagline? Have they forgotten to include the logo in the design or has purposefully refrained from using the logo...*wicked smile*...

One of the turn downs that makes both foreign and domestic tourists from putting Arunachal Pradesh in their itinerary is the Entry Formalities i.e., RAP & ILP and the lack of information on how to obtain them. The section Entry Formalities of the site just covers that and gives information on where to apply for ILP or RAP. However, it fails to address one pertinent question-How long does it take to obtain ILP or RAP? Also the section is updated with the information on recent relaxation in entry formalities for foreign visitors.

The Destination Section has a brief on existing travel circuits like places of interest, how to reach, where to stay etc. But I failed to understand why destination Tawang and West Kameng alone has been given dedicated full pages and not for other destinations?

Besides, the site has briefs on Festivals, Arts and Crafts, People, Wildlife and Orchids and information on government registered tour operators.

So head on to the official tourism site of Government of Arunachal Pradesh for information on entry formalities, travel circuits etc., if you are planning a trip to Arunachal, soon.