According to the minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena, as per the WTO's International Statistics 2012, in merchandise trade, India is the 19th largest exporter in the world with a share of 1.7 percent and the 12th largest importer with a share of 2.5 pecent in 2011.

In commercial services, India is the world's eighth largest exporter with a share of 3.3 percent, and the seventh largest importer with a share of 3.1 percent.

The minister said exports played an important role in the economic development of countries and the government has regularly undertaken various policy measures to boost exports, such as its recent extension of a 32 percent interest subsidy scheme for labour intensive sectors.

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159,420 of the 6.1 million international arrivals in India in 2012, were Indians. Of these over 58,000 traveled to visit family and friends, 31,120 traveled on holiday, 28,860 traveled on business and 13,370 traveled for education.

The number of arrivals in 2012 was an increase of 4.6 percent relative to the previous year.

Indian visitors contributed 716 million Australian dollars and India is the 11th largest source market in terms of expenditure and accounted for 3 percent of all international expenditure.

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According to interventional cardiologist Rahul Patil, Indians around the world have the highest rate of heart diseases, mainly caused by lifestyle including the need for a healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoiding tobacco and smoking.

Dr Patil, speaking at a cardiovascular public health awareness programme in Pune, organised at Ruby Hall Clinic that included free medical checks and presentations on a range of topics, said heart attacks are mainly caused by a blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the heart, which was earlier treated by open heart bypass surgery. Now several treatments are available such as angioplasty and balloon angioplasty.

The aim of the programme is to reduce the high incidence of coronary artery disease among Indians, and save lives through a comprehensive programme, for which patients are given a kit that is available in local Indian languages and contains information and suggestions for avoiding heart disease.

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Fresh data from the Health Ministry shows that one of every four persons living in the urban slums of Chennai suffers from diabetes, which is three times higher than the national average of around 7 percent.

Medical experts say poor eating habits, the high consumption of fried foods and a sedentary lifestyle is the main reason for the rise among the urban poor who generally did less physical activity than their rural counterparts.

The union health ministry has targeted screening in urban slums in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Assam and must identify positive cases and refer them for treatment.

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The government of India's experience of the power of social media in mobilising protest crowds and speedy opinions, has now led it to strive to understand the dynamics of new media.

The I&B ministry has appointed a team of officials to track social media on various issues and has also significantly increased its own presence in the medium. The team is to track all social media including twitter, Facebook, and blogs, apart from tracking print publications, which is done by the Press Information Bureau and the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre that monitors TV news.

The ministry has increased its social media presence as AIR and DD host separate twitter accounts. The ministry also has a Youtube channel that can be downloaded to android phones through an app that will soon be available on blackberry and smart phones.

India has over 120 million Internet users. Twitter has some 16 million and Facebook over 60 million. In 2012, 221 million mobiles were sold in India and sales are expected to touch 251 million in 2013.

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