Three flights up, merger on cards?

PLAN READY SINCE 2019

Three flights up, merger on cards?

Reeba.Zachariah@timesgroup.com

09.10.2021

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran had told TOI in 2019 that he would not run a third airline in addition to Vistara and AirAsia India, unless they merged. Which means that an amalgamation of aviation interests is on the cards. But a person familiar with Tata Sons’s thinking said that the integration of multiple aviation units will be possible only after the chairman spruces up the business.

Moreover, the Air India acquisition comes with a provision restricting the new owner from transferring its shares directly or indirectly to any person for one year from the date of closing the transaction. A merger is, however, allowed provided the new owner holds more than 51% during the oneyear lock-in period.

Tata Sons threw its hat into the Air India bidding ring because it had been looking for a solution for its sub-scale aviation business. In the same 2019 interview, Chandrasekaran said he wanted to scale up the aviation business and needed “to find a solution” for it.

Since then, the dynamics at Tata Sons’s aviation business have changed. It had bought Malaysian partner’s 33% share in AirAsia India, increasing its holdings to 84%. Tata Sons now has the option to buy AirAsia’s remaining 16% by next year. Once the share-purchase happens and the brand-licensing agreement with AirAsia ends, the company will be offering a “white-label service”, which could then be combined with Air India or Vistara, said a different person.

The Air India acquisition has, however, put the spotlight on Vistara and its co-promoter Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines cancelled the non-compete clause in Vistara’s contract, allowing Tata Sons to participate in the Air India auction. But the island city-state is unsure of consolidation. “Singapore would like to wait and see how Tata Sons’s aviation business pans out,” said a source. Tata Sonswill have five brands — Air India, Air India Express, Indian Airlines, AirAsia India and Vistara — after the acquisition. Consulting firm Arthur D Little’s managing partner Thomas Kuruvilla feels the company could have multiple brands for different segments.

HC notice to med varsity on plea seeking CBI probe

MARKSHEET SCAM

HC notice to med varsity on plea seeking CBI probe

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal/Jabalpur:

A division bench of MP High Court on Monday issued notice to MP Medical University in response to a petition filed by some medical students seeking a CBI or court-monitored probe into marksheet scam in the university.

The petitioners Avinash Gaur, Aditya Jain and 7  more medical students said that they are students of a private medical college and that they had taken admission in MBBS first year in 2019. Their exams were postponed by 6 months in the wake of the Corona pandemic. Results of their exam was declared on October 21, 2021 and half the students failed to clear one paper or more. The university had decided to allow revaluation or spot valuation on payment of Rs 2000 but later, the provision of revaluation or spot valuation was scrapped, thereby leaving the students with no option for redressal if they are not satisfied with the marks obtained.

They said that a marksheet scam by the company which was given the contract to hold exams and prepare marksheet of students by the medical university has also surfaced. The university doesn't have answer-sheets of students.

Citing rulings of various high courts and the Supreme Court, advocate for the petitioners Aditya Sanghi contended that if the university doesn't have data of its students, it should have given average marks to all the students and declared them pass. He also demanded a CBI or a court-monitored probe into the marksheet scam of the university. The case will now come up for hearing on October 21.

AI Indore to Sharjah flight from Nov 1

AI Indore to Sharjah flight from Nov 1

09.10.2021

From November 1, Air India will start a flight from Indore to Sharjah. It will be the second international flight by AI from Indore, the first being to Dubai. “The flight will also connect Delhi and Mumbai from Mumbai to Indore, then to Sharjah. In return, it will come back to Indore and then fly to Delhi,” AI Indore station manager Vikas Shah told TOI.

Allow students to take exams, HC tells RGUHS

Allow students to take exams, HC tells RGUHS

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:09.10.2021

In huge relief for 20 medical students enrolled in different colleges in Karnataka, the high court directed Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to allow them to take their examinations later, if, for any reason including Covid-19, they could not appear for them when scheduled.

The exams commenced from September 20, but the high court ruled they will have to be conducted subsequently for these students.

Justice R Devdas issued this order, while disposing of petitions filed by Pani Yapung, a student from Arunachal Pradesh and 19 others. All the petitioners are from different states, including Kerala.

“Having gone through the advisory issued by the [state Covid-19] Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), this court finds that it is possible that some students arriving from Kerala may have tested positive,” Justice Devdas said in his order.

The judge added: “It is also possible that students other than those arriving from Kerala may also have tested positive. Therefore, under such circumstances, the respondent university [RGUHS] had issued a notification earlier enabling such students who were issued hall tickets but were unable to attend examinations to write examinations subsequently.”

Taj resonates with Air India’s heartbeat

BY INVITATION

Taj resonates with Air India’s heartbeat

By R K Krishna Kumar

09.10.2021

The return of Air India to its original home is a momentous event. It will take some time to fly AI again under the Tata banner. A man who will be truly happy is Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons and, at one time, chairman of AI, after nationalisation. This time, after a lot of hard work, and no doubt, deep study, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has boldly moved forward. AI is no ordinary brand. After J R D Tata founded it in 1932, he nursed the airline for several decades and made it a luminous star amidst other airlines like PanAm, TWA and Swiss Air, many of which have since disappeared. His passion for detail accompanied by his vision for India made AI what it became — a legendary leading global airline carrying the Indian flag.

I will touch upon the foundation of the relationship between the House of Tata and AI. In Tatas, one company that resonates with the heartbeat of AI is the Taj Group of Hotels. What connects them is the powerful focus on doing everything possible to make customers supremely comfortable and happy.

Long before management jargon coined phrases like ‘customer centricity’, the purpose of being an enterprise dedicated wholly to look after its guests was an overriding passion of both organisations. The secret of the Taj brand and AI’s legacy was the care and commitment that was crafted into their service philosophy, in some ways the trail leads to the founder himself, Jamsetji Tata, who founded the Taj Mahal hotel. Many will remember the supreme example of this passion when terrorists attacked Taj on November 26, 2008. Both Ratan Tata and I were witness to the horrible siege of the Taj for three days and three nights. It was extraordinary that so many employees of the Taj continued in their positions including the telephone operators and the staff of the kitchen during the attack. We unfortunately lost 12 of our employees. The world recognised this and the Taj dome under fire became a global symbol of service above self.

AI has historically shared the bonding with its customers in the same manner as the Taj. Perhaps, because AI for so many years had different leaders under government control the original philosophy of perfection including in maintenance, upkeep and profitability had become frayed and the brand lost its sheen over time.

It will be a challenging task not only to fully revive the airline but also make it profitable. It will summon the most intensive technological changes for which Chandra must have his plans ready. The Tata Group has investments in two other airline entities, viz Vistara and AirAsia, and with the acquisition of AI it will call for a major strategic restructuring reflecting market realities. We must also remember that when the shadow of the pandemic passes, international air travel, and importantly domestic air travel, will grow exponentially.

It was a bold and daring decision of the government to take forward its economic reforms agenda by privatising the fabled airline. With Ratan Tata’s guidance and Chandra’s consistent track record of delivering performance, I believe that AI will again become a flying beacon of India’s international success.

(The writer is Tata Trusts trustee)

Docs may be wrongly tagging patients as diabetics

Docs may be wrongly tagging patients as diabetics

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.10.2021

Several senior citizens may be wrongly tagged diabetic and pre-diabetic based on the elevated levels of blood sugar seen in the glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) – a standard test for diabetes, senior diabetologists say. They have now called for age-specific cut-offs for the test to minimise risks of needless treatment and its side effects.

Results from a pan India study, published in Acta Dibetologica, shows the HbA1c levels increase with age in nondiabetic individuals. “This means, we cannot have the same normal for all adults. Laboratories should report age adjusted normal values for all their lab tests,” said senior diabetologist Dr V Mohan from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. “Else, we will be initiating needless treatment in elderly people and increase risk of serious side effects of the medicines,” he said.

The test is done to find the average level of blood sugar over three months and is hence considered robust and reliable. When glucose builds up in the blood, it binds to the haemoglobin —a protein found in red blood cells. Since these cells live for three months, the test shows the average level of glucose in blood for the three months. If the level is below 5 and 5.6%, its considered normal and those who have values between 5.7 and 6.4% are considered prediabetic. The value for diabetics is above 6.5%.

Scientists used data collected from the Indian Council of Medical Research – INdia DIABetes (ICMR–INDIAB) study in people above 20 years from across India. The age-wise distribution of HbA1c from 14,222 people showed in this group. Scientists used data from 1,077 others from the CURES study conducted in Chennai for validation. Analysis showed HbA1c levels increased gradually with age from about 5.16 in the 20–29 years group to 5.49% in those above 70 years. The validation study (CURES) showed HbA1c was 5.35% in 20–29 years and 5.74% in above

70.

“The pan India data showed a 0.08% increase in HbA1c for every decadal increase in age. This increase was more significant in women and urbanites. “Many elderly people may have physiological changes in their ability to regulate blood glucose. This means marginally elevated HbA1c levels need not always be indicative of pathology,” said diabetologist Dr R M Anjana, who was a part of the study.

International passenger traffic at city airport spikes

International passenger traffic at city airport spikes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.10.2021

As travel has resumed, international passenger traffic has recorded a steady spike at the Chennai airport.

The airport handled 83,000 passengers in August as against 53,000 passengers in July. It is ranked third after Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Bengaluru handled 80,000 international passengers in August, as per statistics from Airports Authority of India (AAI). Sources said that the numbers for Chennai are projected to touch close to a lakh for September and October. In the pre-Covid days, the airport used to handle around 5lakh international passengers.

Though scheduled international flights are yet to resume, there is a huge demand from people travelling for education, business and leisure.

AAI and airlines officials said that the pent up demand for travel will help the airport touch pre-Covid level patronage by end of the year if scheduled flights are resumed in November.

Sri Lanka and Thailand opening up for vaccinated travellers following European countries, the ongoing Dubai expo and the IPL in the UAE are set to boost demand for travel for leisure and business in the coming weeks from the city. The government of India's decision to resume issuing visas for tourists arriving by charter flights from October 15 will also boost inbound travel.

Sri Lanka, Thailand, countries in the Middle East are the most popular destinations from Chennai. S Baskar, managing committee member of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said, “International travel is bound to increase in the coming months."

A sample survey by Thomas Cook and SOTC among their customers across metros showed that around 77% of the respondents wanted to fly abroad for leisure in October-November-December period.

Rajeev Kale, president & country head, Thomas Cook (India) Limited said, “Our survey highlights strong travel demand for the last quarter 2021."