No passengers on Vande flights to Dubai, UAE tells Air India

No passengers on Vande flights to Dubai, UAE tells Air India

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:25.06.2020

The United Arab Emirates has told Air India that transporting passengers, whether UAE nationals or not, to the emirates on repatriation Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flights is not allowed.

The UAE said that if anyone wishes to fly on a VBM flight from India to Dubai, he or she will require “specific approval from the embassy of UAE in New Delhi and UAE ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation”, an Air India spokesperson said on Wednesday after getting a response from the UAE on the issue.

A UAE carrier on Wednesday sought India’s nod to operate charters — where its planes will fly with only crew to India and pick up passengers from here — as Dubai has allowed foreign nationals holding residency visas issued in Dubai to return to the emirate from June 22. International tourists are conditionally allowed to go to Dubai from July 7.

‘Passengers holding valid residential permits of UAE and approvals from embassies, can fly’

Just like AI is allowed to fly passengers one way (UAE-India) on its repatriation VBM flights, this airline wants to fly passengers one-way (India-UAE),” said a person in the know.

Following UAE’s announcement, AI had sought permission from Dubai to fly people on the India-Dubai legs of its VBM flights given the massive demand for travel from people here who wish to return to their jobs, homes and families there. The AI spokesperson said the airline is currently operating repatriation flights between India and the UAE under the Vande Bharat Mission. “All foreign airline operators to UAE have to adhere to the conditions and restrictions mentioned during repatriation clearances. As per guidelines issued by the General Civil Aviation Authority of UAE (on June 23)… transportation of passengers (UAE nationals and non-UAE nationals) to UAE on repatriation flights is not allowed.”

“In view of the foregoing, all passengers, including Indian nationals holding valid residency permits of UAE and have procured approval of the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship would need to have approval from the embassy to travel from India,” AI said.

Kerala town wants to change name of road linked to China

Kerala town wants to change name of road linked to China

JaikrishnanNair.P@timesgroup.com

Kottayam: 25.06.2020

All these years it was considered a back-handed compliment to Konni town in Kerala, conferred by someone no less than India's first prime minister, but has now become an embarrassment following the bloody Galwan Valley clash last week. The Konni gram panchayat in Pathanamthitta district is demanding that one of its popular junctions called China Mukku (China Junction) be renamed.

“The name should be replaced in the wake of the warlike situation created by China and the martyrdom of the Indian soldiers,” panchayat committee vice-president Praveen Plavilayil wrote on Tuesday, while serving a notice to the panchayat president for moving a resolution on the name change.

“After the Galwan clash, people here don’t feel like saying that name. Many want to change it,” he said.

Local lore says the town’s name has more to do with Jawaharlal Nehru than China. Congress MP Adoor Prakash, who has represented Konni constituency in the assembly for 23 years, said it goes back to the election campaign for the first Lok Sabha polls held in 1952.

“Nehru was passing through the area in an open jeep. Congress flags were fluttering among buildings along the streets in most areas but when his jeep reached a particular area, he saw only red flags everywhere. It was a communist-dominated area. Nehru asked a person sitting next to him whether it is ‘China Junction’. Ever since, the junction has been called China Mukku,” Prakash said.

Even if the panchayat passes the resolution, it is up to the state government to take a call on name change. “We will approach the collector and the government,” Prakash said. No alternative name has been shortlisted yet.

Police walk past China Bazar, a shop selling China-made goods, after it was closed and renamed as India Bazar, on Wednesday

UoH among top 101-150 growing univs

UoH among top 101-150 growing univs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:  25.06.2020

The QS 2021 World University Rankings has for the second consecutive year placed University of Hyderabad (UoH) among the Top 101-150 fastest growing institutions in the world “Under 50 years old”.

“Classified as a medium sized public institution with high research intensity, the UoH is the only Multidisciplinary Public University among the 2.67% institutions (four institutions) from India to figure in the list,” read a release issued by University of Hyderabad. QS World University Rankings is a publication of university rankings, published annually by British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

Going to college a distant dream, but mgmts extract fee

Going to college a distant dream, but mgmts extract fee

Preeti.Biswas@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 25.06.2020

After schools, it’s colleges offering professional courses that are forcing students to shell out fee. This, despite the University Grants Commission (UGC) categorically asking colleges not to insist on immediate payment of annual tuition or semester fee.

Students allege several engineering, pharmacy and management institutions have asked them to clear tuition fees on or before June 30, failing which they would not be allowed to attend online classes or even appear for semester exams.

“Parents of many students have lost their jobs, not receiving salaries and facing financial crisis. How can the college management force us during such a pandemic?” asked Mir Mahmood Ali, a final year BTech student at a private engineering college.

Notice issued by one such private engineering college, (TOI has a copy), states: “Those students of convenor, management and foreign students who have not yet paid tuition fee and common service fee for academic year 2019-20 are directed to pay the fee on or before June 30 positively. Otherwise they will not be allowed to attend the exams.”

Student of a deemed to be university at Moinabad, Satwik Reddy (name changed) said,” Our annual fee is ₹2.50 lakh, which also includes transportation. Management has said if we don’t pay it, we will not be eligible for the next semester,” sharing the circular which instructs all BTech students “to pay the even/odd semester fee (tuition and transport/hostel) dues” on or before June 30. “Without fee payment, you will not be allowed to enrol for ERP (enterprise resource planning) registration to attend the classes,” it adds.

College managements attributed this to the Telangana government’s failure to clear fee reimbursement dues. “Some college managements must be forcing students to pay tuition fee as they have to clear salaries of teachers, which is a pre-condition for affiliation. The state government has not released fee reimbursement dues for the last two years due to which many colleges don’t have sufficient funds,” said KVK Rao, general secretary of the All India Federation of Self-Financing Technical Institutions. He added that institutions face curbs on collection of fee for the 2020-21 academic year and not for 2019-20.

Students missing edu institutes: Guv

Students missing edu institutes: Guv

Hyderabad:  25.06.2020

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday said online classes cannot substitute regular classroom teaching. Participating as the chief guest at a webinar on ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Higher Education Human Resources’ at Gandhigram Rural Institute, she expressed concern that students are missing their educational institutional surroundings, friends, and even the canteen. She said that it must be ensured that students are not depressed. TNN

T workers in Saudi to fly home

T workers in Saudi to fly home

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 25.06.2020

Hundreds of workers from the Telugu states are set to return home from Saudi Arabia as a company they were employed with has organised chartered flights for them.

The first such flight will land in Hyderabad on Wednesday from Dammam, Saudi Arabia. However, getting permission to land has not been easy for the company.

Social worker and MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan told TOI that the workers could not travel by the Vande Bharat flights as they could not be accommodated.

Expertise Contracting Company, which had employed the workers, organised chartered flights to ferry the workers to their respective states in India. Amjed Ullah Khan brought to the notice of the union civil aviation ministry the plight of workers stuck in Saudi Arabia though the company had taken the responsibility to fly them back in chartered flights. The issue was also taken up with the state government.

In a letter to the secretary, ministry of external affairs, the principal secretary (political), general administration department of Telangana on June 20 informed that the state had approved landing of a chartered flight from Dammam on June 25 in Hyderabad following a representation from Mohammed Ashraf of Expertise Contracting Company.

The company has so far arranged nine flights to Chennai, Mangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi and the plan was to operate a flight to Hyderabad on June 13, but it did not get permission to land in Hyderabad.

Stranded to return from Bahrain

Hyderabad:

As many as 279 people from Telangana stuck in Bahrain will soon return to the state . The stranded include workers who lost their jobs and those who had gone on a tour. A special flight has been arranged by the Indian Club in Bahrain to send back the stranded. TNN

‘Falling asleep after rape unfitting of Indian woman’

‘Falling asleep after rape unfitting of Indian woman’

HC: Rape Claim Tough To Believe At This Stage

Vasantha.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: 25.06.2020

Granting anticipatory bail to a 27-year-old man accused of raping his employer, the Karnataka high court has observed that the 42-year-old survivor’s statement about being tired and falling asleep “after the perpetration of the act” was “unbecoming of an Indian woman” because “that is not how our women react when they are ravished”.

The Bengaluru woman had lodged a complaint of rape against her employee at RR Nagar police station on May 2, following which an FIR was registered under IPC sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation), along with Section 66-B of the Information Technology Act, 2000. A city court rejected advance bail to the accused on May 19, after which he approached the high court. Justice Krishna S Dixit said during the bail hearing on Monday that the complainant’s claim about being raped on the false promise of marriage was a bit difficult to believe at this stage, given the circumstances of the case. “There is a letter allegedly written by the complainant herself to the effect that she was ready to withdraw the complaint if a compromise is brought about,” the judgesaid.

On the complainant’s statement that she had been to a hotel for dinner when the accused came and sat in her car in an inebriated state, the court said, “…Even if (the version) is assumed to be true, there is no explanation offered for not alerting the police or the public about the conduct of the petitioner.” The judge said, “Nothing is mentioned by the complainant as to why she went to her office at 11.00pm; she has not objected to consuming drinks with the petitioner and allowing him to stay with her till morning...The explanation offered that after the perpetration of the act she was tired and fell asleep, is unbecoming of an Indian woman; that is not the way our women react when they are ravished.”

‘There is a letter allegedly written by the complainant herself to the effect that she was ready to withdraw the complaint if a compromise is brought about,’ Justice Krishna S Dixit pointed out