African elephant in Tourism Ministry ad; Ramesh protests

NEW DELHI: A full-page advertisement of the tourism ministry published on Monday in leading newspapers has come under the scanner of the environment ministry with Jairam Ramesh protesting against depiction of an African-origin elephant in it instead of an Indian tusker.

Sources in the ministry said that environment minister Ramesh has written to tourism minister Selja Kumari to register his protest against the "bloomer".

The full-page advertisement in the question was released by Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) on behalf of the tourism ministry to mark World Tourism day with "Tourism and Biodiversity" as the theme for this year.

A part of the tourism ministry's Incredible India! campaign, the advertisement has shown a string of stamps on endangered wildlife species such as peacock, rhino, tiger and tourist hotspots in the country with slogan "Biodiversity: our Greatest Treasure."

However, it is the image of the African elephant on the stamp that has annoyed the Environment Ministry.

Such goof-ups on the part of the government departments is not new. In early March, Indian railways had to face embarrassment when its advertisement in almost all the leading newspapers on the day of inauguration of Maharajas' Express from Kolkata to Nalanda showed Delhi in Pakistan.