When lemons are luxury, hill travel seems cool 

As the summer is increasing, the desire to tour in the mountains intensifies. This is the reason that hill stations are buzzing with tourists at this time. In such a situation, there is a demand for lemon water, but the rate of lemons has reached the maximum level. What happened last year was the cyclone that caused huge damage to lime cultivation in Gujarat and Maharashtra. To avoid further losses, farmers did not put as much emphasis on the cultivation of lemons, because sales were down during the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine and petrol and diesel prices went up. As a result, the yield of lemons decreased and the cost increased. The result is that lemons are being sold at the rate of Rs 350 to Rs 450 per kg in the open markets. The prices of lemons will now come down only when new batches of the crop start arriving. Whatever be the future, the tourism industry is happy that the season has arrived to make up for the losses of the last two years.

Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has said that the present time can be called the golden period of tourism in Kashmir. In the last few months, more than 8 million tourists have reached J&K to visit the valley. For the first time in 20 years this has happened. Currently 3500 Shikaras are serving tourists in Dal Lake. There has been a rapid increase in tourist movement in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as well. According to an estimate, more than 30,000 tourists are arriving in Himachal Pradesh every day. Most of the tourists visiting Himachal are from Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata and Chennai. However, this time fewer tourists have arrived from Gujarat than before. About 1.5 lakh tourists have arrived in Shimla in the last seven days. Even in Manali, 10,000 tourists are arriving every day. Room occupancy in Shimla hotels is currently running at 30 percent. Hoteliers expect that the month of May will be good for tourism. Similarly, hotels and roads in Mussoorie and Nainital are also seen full of tourists.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine war turned out to be a big trouble for the youth who wished to study abroad. With the efforts of the Government of India, more than 20,000 Indian students were safely evacuated from the land of bombs and missiles. But their studies hang in the balance. However, the government is pondering how to further the education of these evacuated youth. The final year medical students are more worried about their degree and future. For them, good news has arrived from Ukraine. The government of war-stricken Ukraine has promised to award degrees to the final year medical students so that their years of hard work do not go to waste. The Dean of Kharkiv University has said in a letter sent to the students of MBBS final year that – “We may not live, but before we die, we are trying to give your degree to you. The soft copy of the degree will be sent to the agents.” If this happens, it would be a truly lifesaving step.

(Writer is a senior journalist & columnist)