Whenever the State Government or for that matter the North East Council or DONER talk about developing tourism and attracting foreign investments in the State, we cannot help but feel the gall rising in our stomach.

Simply put, the State Government does not have any agenda for developing tourism or attracting investments and for all practical purposes the trips to other parts of the country or to any foreign country end up being a paid holiday, at the expense of the tax payers.

At the moment, Chief Minister O Ibobi is at the US of A as part of the team to offer the North East region as a place for foreign investors to try their luck.

Nothing wrong in undertaking a foreign jaunt to woo investors, but as the past has taught us, the bureaucracy and the political leaders of the State have not learned any lesson and such trips have always been reduced to a paid holiday.

The question that merits some answer is whether the State Government roped in the services of experts in different fields, whether their inputs were sought to portray Manipur in such a way as to invoke the interest of potential investors or whether the plans were drawn up by the Babudom known as the bureaucracy which have been trained not to think outside the box !

This is not all, for after the New York trip, the Chief Minister is scheduled to visit Bangkok and then Tokyo to present the richness or poorness of Manipur in tourism, food processing, road communication etc.

The scheduled Bangkok meet gains importance given the fact that the theme is North East India Opportunities Week and is being jointly organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand.

As we understand it, the State Commerce and Industries Department has been entrusted with the task of preparing the profile of Manipur which will then be presented during the Bangkok meet.

While officials of the State Commerce and Industries Department may be entrusted with the task of working out a map to present Manipur in the right light, we wonder whether the State Government has sought the advice, suggestions and inputs from experts who can think outside the box.

Just as preparing the resume' of a job seeker or making the profile of an aspiring model is the first step to be taken, we are also of the opinion that presenting the State in the correct light is the first necessary step.

For instance, can the State Government promise any of the investors, that there will not be any red tapism, if they decide to set up shop here ?

To a certain extent the License Raj has been done away with, but what assurance can the Government give that the Babudom has come out from the mindset of such a Raj ?

For tourism, the less said the better. As one of our columnists, Amar Yumnam, pointed out in his column some days back, the Government should stop lying to the people whenever the topic of tourism comes up for the fact stands that the administration restricts the entry of foreigners to the State and tourist homes are occupied by security personnel.

To put it bluntly, instead of going on a foreign tour, our Ministers and officials concerned should visit Sikkim and learn a lesson or two from this tiny State.