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Tavellers flying with select airlines from Dubai Airport can now check-in and drop luggage at The Dubai Mall’s Dubz Dnata station.

You can check-in for fl ights at Dubai MallDUBAI: Airline passen-gers are now able to check-in for flights and collect their boarding passes from the lower ground level of

Dubai Mall.The dnata-operated

service announced the launch of a check-in counter, which will offer passengers the option to

check-in, print their board-ing passes, weigh and secure their baggage, which will be delivered to the airport and loaded onto the aircraft. The

check-in station is located in the dnata Travel store of Dubai Mall. DUBZ provides its services to the passengers of nine airlines, including flydubai, Saudia, flynas,

China Southern, Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air, SaudiG-ulf, Royal Jordanian and Ethiopian Airlines.

The DUBZ check-in

station is open seven days a week from 10am to 10pm. The service is avail-able from Dh99, which covers the check-in fee for one (Contd. on page 2)

Renew passport four months prior to your travel, says Indian embassy

If you are travelling to India and returning to UAE, then even four- month validity of your passport is fi ne. But if you are applying for an international visa – they generally ask for the passport to have a six-month validity.

ABU DHABI: Here is some friendly advice from the embassy of India in the UAE as residents take advantage of the summer holidays to go on vacation.

“Check the validity of your passport, the number of blank pages left in your travel document and last[ly], don’t forget to check the ex-piry on your UAE residence visa,” said M Rajamurugan, Counsellor at Abu Dhabi.

The official said the em-bassy has seen instances where Indian expats come requesting passport renew-als after they were turned away at airports because their passports had expired or because there were not enough blank pages in their travel document. “We direct-ed them to BLS International Passport Services – UAE for the passport issuance. This situation can be avoided and a lot of time and money can be saved by just making due checks of your travel docu-ments every now and then.”

Rajamurugan said in the case of an emergency family situation and based on cer-tain humanitarian grounds, the Indian Embassy helps expats get their passports quickly, even on public holi-days and weekends. “This is only in severe cases where there has been a death of a close family member and

the passport holder did not realise his document had expired. In such a situation even if it is a public holiday or a weekend, we arrange for a new passport to be issued through BLS.”

The counsellor advises Indian expats to call a 24x7 hotline number listed on the Indian embassy website for any emergency.

The counsellor also asks parents to keep a regular

check on their minor chil-dren’s passports. “They are valid only for five years so ensure that they are renewed well in advance.”

So when is it the ideal time to renew your pass-port? “It all depends on the places they want to visit and how frequently they travel. Ideally there should

be enough space for the immigration stamps. So if you are just travelling to India and returning then a couple of pages would be ok. But if you are visiting a number of places then you would need more pages for the immigration stamps. So see according to your travel schedule. It is always advis-able for a frequent traveler to take a jumbo passport with 60 pages,” he said. In terms

of passport renewal, the counsellor advised people to start the process at least six months before wanting to travel. “Again if you are travelling to India and re-turning to UAE, then even four months validity is fine. But if you are applying for an international visa – they gen-erally ask for the passport to have a six months validity,” said Rajamurugan.

Another tip from Rajam-urugan: “If your residence visa is about to expire and your passport as well, renew your passport first and then your visa so that both will be in your new passport.” Neeraj Agarwal, acting con-sul-general and consul for the press , also advised trav-ellers to check their passport early. “I have been living in the Gulf for 10 years and it is quite a norm for people to for-get to renew their passports. Of course the frequency rises during this time when it is the summer vacation and more people travel.”

Priti Patel UK’s new Home SecretaryLONDON: Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris John-son appointed Indian-origin politician Priti Patel as Home Secretary.

The 47-year-old who is a Member of Parliament (MP) from Witham in Essex since 2010 and has played a leading role in Boris John-son’s leadership campaign, takes over from Sajid Javid, who has been appointed Chancellor by the prime minister. Javid, who was in the prime ministerial race, will be replacing Philip Hammond, who resigned in protest against the election of Johnson as the PM.

Patel has supported John-son’s bid for an early Brexit. She was sacked by Theresa May in 2017 for breaching the ministerial code after holding unauthorised meet-ings with Israeli politicians.

Priti Patel

Johnson also named Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab the Foreign Secretary.

Raab (45) was also named as Johnson’s effective depu-ty. He had resigned as Brexit minister in May’s govern-

ment last year objecting to the divorce deal struck with Brussels, saying it offered too many compromises. The new British PM, im-mediately after taking oath, reiterated that the UK will exit the EU by Oct 31.

NRI proxy voting very much under consideration, says EC

Sushil Chandra

LONDON: Election Com-missioner Sushil Chandra has called on all NRIs to register online to boost the numbers of such voters ahead of provisions being put in place for either proxy voting or voting through embassies and missions for them.

Addressing a gathering of the Indian Professionals Forum (IPF) at the Indian High Commission here on “Decoding Indian General Election 2019’, Chandra said the ease of NRI voting remains a focus for the Elec-tion Commission so that all Indians anywhere in the world can participate in its democracy. “I would call on NRIs to get themselves regis-tered as a voter online. They

are Indian and have a right to participate in the Indian democracy. It is very much a focus for us because their voice must be heard as it is their constitutional right to participate in the elections,” he said.

Chandra, part of the three-member panel of elec-tion commissioners in India, said that only 1.15 lakh NRI voters had registered in time for the 2019 general elections, which is not an entirely reflective figure for India’s NRI voter base. He indicated that besides proxy voting, the Election Commission is also looking at the option of using the electronic voting technique currently in use by diplo-matic staff worldwide.

“We are searching for op-tions, the proxy voting bill had been cleared by the Lok

Sabha but lapsed in the Ra-jya Sabha. But we want they

should be able to vote. We want to be ahead of each and every country in the world”,

said Chandra. At present, regis-tered NRI voters have to be physi-cally present in their constituen-cy in India to cast their ballots. The Election Commis-sioner also delved into the issue of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the success of the system of the Voter Verifi-able Paper Audit Trail (VVPT) to ensure complete

accuracy and transparency of the country’s seven-phase

electoral process this year.“These elections were

absolutely transparent with the use of technology. India has taken the lead through EVMs and VVPAT and every person could see what he or she had voted for. Not even a single error was found,” he said, adding that random checks conducted after some complaints had proved the reliability of the system.

“Technology is always a big challenge and when someone loses, they want to blame the machines and not the people It has been proved the most efficient and environment friendly system. Other countries have been sending queries about it, the election official added.

Hiring outlook positive for July-Dec period NEW DELHI: Recruiters are bullish about adding staff to their payrolls in next six months of this year and the maximum hiring is expected to be in the experience band of three-five years.

According to leading job site naukri.com’s bi-annual survey titled Naukri Hiring Outlook July -Dec 2019, as high as 78pc recruiters surveyed are anticipating hiring activity in the next six months, as against 70pc in the corresponding period last year. Nevertheless, though there is a positive indication of job creation, there still ex-ists some lingering concern over finding the right talent. As high as 41pc recruiters predict that the issue of tal-ent crunch could intensify in the next six months as against 50pc a year-ago. The report further said that 16pc of the recruiters are of the opinion that the coming six

months will only see replace-ment hiring, while five per cent indicated a scenario of no hiring at all and only one per cent of the total recruiters are anticipating layoffs.

The industries that might drive this wave of optimism are IT, BFSI and BPO with over 80 to 85pc of the recruit-ers indicating the creation of new jobs. On hiring across experience levels, the survey states that the maximum hiring would be in the ex-perience band of three-five years followed by one-three years. Almost 18pc of the total hiring is expected to be for professionals with over eight years of experience, the report said, adding that recruiters from BPO sector are inclined towards the experience band of zero-one year for almost 50pc of their hiring.

In the automobile indus-try recruiters are keen to hire

maximum professionals with more than 12 years’ of experi-ence. The hiring outlook ex-amines a positive sentiment with 78pc of the recruiters anticipating hiring activity in the next six months,” said Sumeet Singh, Chief Mar-keting Officer of InfoEdge India (which runs naukri.com). More than half of the recruiters surveyed expect attrition to be less than 10pc . Another 20pc of recruiters expect attrition to be in the range of 10-20pc. Attrition is expected to be the highest for people with one-five years of experience.

According to most of the recruiters and jobseekers, better compensation, better profile and career growth continue to top the chart as reasons for employees to change their job. However, some other reasons for job change include relocation and manager.

US to hike EB-5 visa chargesMUMBAI: The US is all set to effect a steep increase in EB-5 visa charges. As per information available on the website of US Citi-zenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the mini-mum amount required to be invested in the Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs) in the US will go up to $9,00,000 (Rs 6.2 crore), an 80pc hike from the existing $5,00,000 (Rs 3.5 crore). Also, the fees for standard investment (in urban areas) will go up to $1,800,000 (over Rs 12 crore) from $1,000,000 ( Rs6.8 crore).

The new EB-5 fee struc-ture, the first such move since the inception of the programme in 1990, will come into effect from Nov 21. Several high networth professionals, students, en-trepreneurs and families in India have been explor-

ing EB-5 in the last three decades as it is the easiest channel to get a green card and permanent residency in the US. As per USCIS Acting Director Ken Cucci-nelli, “Nearly 30 years ago, Congress created the EB-5 programme to benefit US workers, boost the economy and aid distressed com-munities by providing an incentive for foreign capital investment in the US.

“Since its inception, the EB-5 programme has drifted away from Congress’ intent. Our reforms increase the investment level to account for inflation over the past three decades and substan-tially restrict the possibility of gerrymandering to ensure that the reduced investment amount is reserved for rural and high-unemployment areas most in need.

This final rule strength-

ens the EB-5 programme by returning it to its Congres-sional intent,’’ he added, explaining the logic behind the fee hike. Interestingly, the Department of Home-land Security (DHS) has also taken away the power of defining TEAs from the state governments and given it to the Federal govern-ment. “Moving control over determining TEAs to the Department of Homeland Security is an integrity move that would prevent the ger-rymandering of unemploy-ment data that has allowed affluent areas like Manhat-tan in New York and Beverly Hills in California to qualify for EB-5 investment,” com-mented Matt Hogan, VP, project development, CMB Regional Centres, Illinois, an EB-5 advisory firm.

India will witness a scramble for EB-5 visas in

the next few months, be-fore the new rules kick in. Post-Nov , the demand will go down drastically, said immigration experts. With stricter norms on H1-B visa and now the hike in invest-ment amount, immigration options have really reduced for Indian applicants, say experts. As per Vivek Tan-don, founder and CEO, EB5 BRICS, a US-based visa advisory firm, higher invest-ment requirement would be a dampener for all investors, Indians included. “However, considering most Indians opt for the EB-5 visa with an eye on better educational and career prospects for their children, the hike is unlikely to cause Indians to explore alternative options.’’

Abhinav Lohia Esq, di-rector, south Asia and the MidEast, CanAm Investor Services (Contd. on page 2)

2 EMIGRATION Friday, July 26, 2019

Published by IPEPCIL Publications LtdRNI No.: MAHENG/2018/76663

Publisher: Supreet M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 1, Issue: 83

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LIPSYNCH “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

— John F Kennedy

Labour reforms

The Union government is now embarking on major labour reforms. No doubt, these reforms are pend-ing for a long time and it is heartening that the Modi

government is serious about these reforms.Former Niti Aayog chairman Arvind Panagariya best cap-

tured the complexities of India’s labour laws in these words: “The labour situation is incredibly complicated: when you go from six workers to seven in a firm, the Trade Unions Act kicks in. When you go from nine to 10, the Factories Act kicks in. And when you go from 19 to 20, something else kicks in, as happens again when you go from 49 to 50 and 99 to 100. The biggest killer is the Industrial Disputes Act, which says that if you are a manufacturing firm with 100 workers or more, you cannot dismiss any of them under any circumstances unless you get prior approval from the government.” This sums up the present labour situation.

Labour is on the concurrent list and more than 40 central laws and more than 100 state laws govern it. The centre is keen on consolidating the central laws into four codes --- relating to wages, industrial relations, social security and welfare and occupational safety, health and working conditions - and bring about reforms to ensure ease of business. But, workforce entitlements should not be disre-garded in the urgency to ease the conduct of business. This simplifies access to numerous provisions of the law by all stakeholders concerned. As part of this exercise, the cabinet recently approved the tabling of the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Bill in Parliament, which encapsulates 13 laws. The Wage Code Bill, on which the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour drew up its comments last year, will be introduced in parliament soon. While piloting these changes, it is important that the Centre reaches out to a cross-section of stakeholders, some of whom have already expressed misgivings. Again, job security of existing workers may be the concern for policymakers at the cost of encouraging employers to adopt labour-displacing techniques of employment.

The Code on Wages has some positive proposals, such as extending the minimum wage law to all fields, not just the 45 scheduled ones. A benchmark national minimum wage will set a floor. Nevertheless, the definition of worker is not clear. The calculation of the level of minimum wage by an expert committee is at variance with ILO parameters. A lean inspec-tor regime is all very well, but it must monitor workplace safety. The code on industrial relations has evoked strong reactions, as the right to form unions and accord them powers of representation have been severely curtailed. This can be both anti-democratic and economically counterproductive. An approach that regards workers as partners in production is likely to promote industrial harmony.

An approach to labour regulation that cuts out cumber-some procedures and improves the lot of the employees should be the guiding principle of labour reforms.

Editorial

New British PM seeks special relationship with India

Luxury cruise ships to act ashotels for Tokyo Olympics

The 1011-cabin Sun Princess cruise ship.

TOKYO: Tokyo will be fac-ing a shortage of accom-modation when Olympic fans pour into the Japanese capital for next year’s games -- so officials are looking offshore — to moored cruise ships operating as floating hotels.

Despite a construction boom, Tokyo could be short as many as 14,000 rooms given an expected surge of Olympics-related tourism. Local officials think one solution could be to put people up in giant ships temporarily docked off To-kyo and nearby Yokohama during the Games.

Among those on board with the idea is Japan’s largest travel agency JTB, which has chartered the 1,011-cabin Sun Princess for the Olympic period, complete with everything from jacuzzis to a theatre. The agency is offering pack-ages that combine rooms with Olympic event tickets,

but they don’t come cheap.Two nights in a room

with a balcony combined with tickets to an Olympic football match will run 200,000 yen ($1,850), while two nights in a 50-square-metre suite combined with baseball tickets will go for 724,000 yen ($6,700). The agency said it was confi-

dent about demand, partly because “we will have a shortage of hotels of a cer-tain standard”, said Mi-noru Kuge, head of JTB’s Tokyo2020 Project Office. “Although we can’t disclose the actual numbers, we have received an excellent reaction from our custom-ers”, he said.

And Kuge said he ex-pected the package to have a special draw — “a sense of unity” among customers who will all be cheering on Olympic athletes. Else-where, plans have been negotiated for the 928-cabin Explorer Dream ship to dock in Kawasaki, in west-ern Tokyo bay.

WASHINGTON: The im-migration enforcement op-eration touted by President Trump that targeted some 2,000 people resulted in 35 arrests. Trump billed the operation as a major show of force in an effort to “de-port millions” of people in the country illegally as the number of Central American families cross-ing the southern border has skyrocketed.

Of those arrested, 18 were members of families and 17 were collateral ap-prehensions of people in the country illegally en-countered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. None of those arrested resulted in a sepa-ration of family, officials said. While the operation was demonised by Demo-crats as a full-force effort to deport families and Trum-peted by Republicans as a necessary effort to show there are consequences for people here illegally, ca-reer ICE officers described it as a routine operation,

US immigration raids net 35 arrests

one expected to net an av-erage of about 10 to 20pc of targets.

It targeted families who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge in 10 cities around the coun-try who were subjected fast-track proceedings. It was cancelled once after media reports telegraphing when and where it would begin, though Trump an-nounced it would be post-poned following a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who urged him to do so. The sec-ond round began on July 14 and again was met with media attention not-ing when it would begin, including from Trump who announced the date. Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Di-rector Matthew Albence conceded the number was lower than other opera-tions. He said Trump’s comments didn’t hurt the effort because it had al-ready been the subject of media reports for weeks.

A file picture of Boris Johnson with Prime Minister Modi.

LONDON: New British Prime Minister Boris John-son is set to push for closer ties with India and his de-clared personal connect with Prime Minister Modi to deliver a “truly special” UK-India relationship, sources close to him said. In a letter earlier this month, Johnson had played up his personal relationship with Prime Minister Modi.

The 55-year-old former London Mayor, one of the foremost proponents for Brexit in the ruling Con-servative Party, had made a special effort to reach out to the Indian diaspora base of the party during the month-long leadership race and pledged not only closer trade ties but also easier access for Indian professionals and students. “Boris is committed to se-curing a new and improved trading relationship with our friends in India and

ensuring that the values we share the rule of law, democracy and dynamic en-

trepreneurial spirit should be at the heart of one of our most important partners on the global stage,” said Priti Patel, one of the senior-most Indian-origin Tory MPs who

is part of the new premier’s ministerial team.

Johnson beat foreign

secretary Jeremy Hunt in the race to be crowned the new Conservative Party leader amid the political uncertainty over the coun-try’s divorce deal with the

European Union. In a letter earlier this month, Johnson had played up his personal

relationship with Modi as he promised to deliver a “truly special UK-India relationship”.

“When I was with Prime Minister Modi, I stressed

that the UK and India are two modern democracies who should work closely together to promote trade and prosperity, improve global security and tackle the challenges our countries face,” Johnson wrote in an open letter addressed to the Indian diaspora Tory mem-bership base.

“If I am elected Con-servative Party Leader and Prime Minister, I will work closely with our friends in the Indian government, business and society to deliver a truly special UK-India relationship,” he said.

In keeping with his firm pro-Brexit stance and de-termination to leave the EU by the Oct 31 deadline, the senior Tory MP brand-ed it a “travesty” that the 28-member economic bloc had failed to treat free trade agreement (FTA) talks with India as a priority for over a decade.

You can check-in for...(Contd. from page 1)passenger with one piece of luggage. Additional pieces of luggage can be added for a fee of Dh40 each. The service price is capped at Dh249 covering up to 10 bags.

Omar Abou Faraj, CEO and Co-Founder of DUBZ, said: “Traveling and shop-ping in one of the world’s largest malls on the same day has never been so easy. We are thrilled to be launch-ing our popular remote check-in services at The Dubai Mall, adding more value to our offering. We stay focused on ensuring a hassle-free travel experi-ence for the residents and visitors of Dubai through innovative and secure ser-vices.”

Antonio Fellino, Vice President of Retail & eCom-merce for dnata Travel UAE, said: “We are delighted to partner with DUBZ to offer travellers a convenient way to check-in for their flights from our flagship store at The Dubai Mall.”

US to hike EB-5 visa...(Contd. from page 1)said, minimum investment amount in EB5 coupled with retrogres-sion caused by over subscription of employment-based green cards such as EB2, EB3 and EB5 would dampen the spirit of not only In-dians living in India but also Indians living in the US on H-1B visa.

MUMBAI: India’s largest bank -- State Bank of India (SBI) -- has announced the launch of a scheme providing home loans to NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs). The maximum home loan repay-ment tenure has been fixed at 30 years. NRIs and PIOs are required to fulfil certain criteria and submit a set of prescribed documents to avail of the option. SBI charges the interest rate on the principal home loan amount on daily reducing balance. As per the prescribed SBI guidelines, borrowers between the ages of 18 and 60 years are eligible for the loan, also available as an overdraft. SBI charges a pro-cessing fee at a rate of 0.35pc of the home loan amount ex-cluding service taxes between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000.

The document list required by the bank includes an em-ployer ID card, attested copy of valid passport and visa, address proof mentioning the current overseas address, copy of continuous discharge certif-icate (for applicants employed in the merchant navy), PIO card issued by government of India (in the case of PIOs). Ac-cording to SBI, the attestation

SBI offering home loans to NRIsof documents may be done by Foreign Offices/Rep. Offices or Indian embassy/consulate or Overseas Notary Public or officials of branch/sourcing outfits based in India.

Property papers re-quired by SBI: Permission for construction (wherever applicable), registered agree-ment for sale (only for Ma-harashtra), allotment letter, stamped agreement for sale, occupancy certificate (in case of ready to move proper-ty), share certificate (only for Maharashtra), maintenance bill-- electricity bill, prop-erty tax receipt, approved plan copy (xerox blueprint) and registered development agreement of the builder, conveyance deed (for new property), payment receipts or bank account statement showing all the payments made to the builder or seller.

For salaried NRI and PIO applicants, co-applicants and guarantors are required

to provide: valid work per-mits, employment contract (in English) duly attested by the employer, consulate, SBI foreign office or embassy in case it is in any other language, last three months’ salary slip,last six months’ bank statement showing sal-ary credit, latest salary slip in original, copy of identity card issued by the current employer, duly acknowl-edged copy of last year indi-vidual tax return (except for NRIs/PIOs located in Middle East countries and employ-ees in the Merchant Navy)

For non-salaried NRIs and PIOs: Business address proof, Proof of income, au-dited balance sheet of the last two years and P&L accounts, Individual tax returns for the last two years (except for NRI/PIO located in MidEast coun-tries), Six months’ bank state-ments of overseas accounts in the name of the individual as well as the company.

Republican Harmeet Dhillon namedto ‘Women for Trump Coalition’CALIFORNIA: California Republican Harmeet K Dhillon snagged what may be a very challenging position in Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign — she was named a co-chair of the newly-formed “Women for Trump Coalition.”

Dhillon, a San Francisco-based lawyer and Sikh activist, was among seven women named at a conference held in

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania on July 16. A hyperpartisan Republican and frequent guest on Fox News opinion shows, Dhillon is also member of the Republican National Committee from California. She is also the vice president of the Republican National Lawyers Association. In the MeToo era, rallying women for Trump, who lost the suburban white women’s vote in last year’s mid-term Congressional

races, may be a task cutout for Dhillon, who valiantly defends conservative causes in bluest of the blue states in the lower 48. “In a state in which Republican voter registration has declined to just north of 25pc ,” Politico writes, Dhillon, “has become a rare voice for conservative causes in the era of President Trump.” Recently, she was active in defending controversial conservative pundits and flame-throwers, including Ann Coulter, who were disallowed by UC Berkeley students from speaking at campus events.

Harmeet Dhillon

3GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIESFriday, July 26, 2019

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4 GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES Friday, July 26, 2019

NEW DELHI: The Union Human Resource Develop-ment (HRD) Minister, Ra-mesh Pokhriyal in a tweet stated that Over 67000 stu-dents from across the world

have been recommended for admissions in higher education institutes in In-dia including Indian Insti-tutes of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Mass

Over 67,000 global students eligible to join Indian colleges

Communication (IIM), and National Institute of Tech-nology (NITs).

Study in India is a pro-gramme by the Indian gov-ernment to promote India

as a global educational hub and invite foreign students to study in India-based in-stitutes. This year, a total of 807 students applied for admissions to IITs. Of

this, only 53 appeared for the exam. Ironically there are 1,100 seats reserved for foreign-nationals across IITs.When is the right ti me to

apply?In the Universi-

ty of Delhi (DU) as well the number of foreign applicants has increased from last year despite imposing a fee of Rs 1500. Over 6 ,000 s tudents have registered for admission under foreign quota. The number of appli-cants is over 2,200

for far, as per the official data. Last year, the number of applications was nearly 2,800 of which only 456 students finally enrolled at the varsity.

While foreign students are applying at Indian institutes, most of the ap-plications are coming from neighbouring countries such as Africa, Indonesia among others. To make Indian universities at par with the globally top-rank-ing higher education insti-tutes (HEIs), much needs to be done.

Earlier, dean, IIT-Ma-dras, Jagdeesh Kumar had said, “Even though the cost of living is comparative-ly cheaper here in India, many students chose to go to Western countries as the students are unsure about the jobs prospects in India. While many universities in Australia or the US provide jobs or stipend, unfortu-nately, such an opportu-nity is not yet explored in India.”

NEW DELHI: With the ad-mission process in colleges across the nation is clos-ing, the University Grants Commission has released a list of 23 fake universities that are operational across the country.

Among them, most are located in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The eight edu-cational institutions in the former are labelled as fake, while seven are from Delhi.

The fake universities which have been found functioning in Delhi in-clude Commercial Uni-versity, United Nations University, Vocational University, ADR-Centric Juridical University, Indian Institution of Science and Engineering, Viswakarma Open University for Self-employment, Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya and Va-ranaseya Sanskrit Vish-wavidyalaya.

NEW DELHI: Border Secu-rity Force (BSF) has post-poned the date of conduct-ing recruitment exam for the posts of head constable radio operator and radio mechanic.

The OMR base screening test that was scheduled to be held on July 28 has been postponed to September 22. Moreover, the PST/PET/DV that was to be conducted on October 9 will be con-ducted on December 2. The final medical test that was to be held on January 30, 2020 will now be held on April 13.

BSF is hiring 1075 head constable (Radio Operator) and head constable (Radio Mechanic) through this recruitment exam.

UGC releases fake varsities list

BSF head constable exam postponed

State-wise fake university listUttar Pradesh: National

University of Electro Com-plex Homeopathy, Kanpur

Netaji Subhash Chan-dra Bose University (Open University),

Aligarh Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya, Kosi Ka-lan, Mathura

Maharana Pratap Shik-sha Niketan Vishwavidya-laya, Pratapgarh

Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya,

Varanasi Mahila Gram Vidyapith/Vishwavidyalaya, (Women’s University), Al-lahabad

Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith, Prayag, Allahabad

Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad, Institutional Area, Khod

Delhi: ADR-Centric Ju-ridical University

Indian Institute of Sci-ence and Engineering

Viswakarma Open Uni-versity for Self-Employment

Commercial University Ltd., Daryaganj

United Nations Uni-versity

Vocational UniversityAdhyatmik Vishwavidy-

alaya (Spiritual University)Varanaseya Sanskrit

VishwavidyalayaOdisha: Nababharat

Shiksha Parishad, Anu-poorna Bhawan, Rourkela

North Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology

West Bengal: Indian In-stitute of Alternative Medi-cine, Kolkata

Institute of Alternative Medicine and Research, Kolkata

Karnataka: Badaganvi Sarkar World Open Uni-versity Education Society, Belgaum St John’s Univer-sity, Kishanattam

Maharashtra: Raja Ara-bic University, Nagpur

Puducherry: Sree Bodhi Academy of Higher Educa-tion

Check official notice at BSF head constable exam revised schedule (bsf.nic.in).

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The local centre of Delhi Academy of Medical Sciences has announced scholarships for doctors who want to take admis-sion into PG medical preparation courses. An eligibility test will be held on September 3 at 95 centres across the country and the last date to apply August 22, said Sumer Sethi, Director, Delhi Academy of Medi-cal Sciences.

Selected students will be rewarded ac-cording to their all-India rank. Those ranked in the top 10 will be admit-ted free into the course that covers classroom sessions, an online test series and the postal course.

Scholarships for doctors

KOTA: Extramarks, a lead-ing education technology company, has opened Ex-tramarks EduCafe -- India’s first lounge for students to unwind and learn at leisure -- in Kota, the city famous for engineering and medical college aspirants training at a grueling pace.

The EduCafe is Extra-marks’ way of doing its bit to provide students some respite using technology as an enabler. The state-of-the-art learner’s lounge is equipped with Extramarks tabs and computers, where students can walk in and explore learning solutions focused at entrance exami-nation for IIT-JEE, NEET,

Extramarks opens EduCafe for students in Kotaincluding for K-12. This also includes unlimited online adaptive testing and practising through interac-tive modules.

While Kota has achieved repute by producing around 10pc of all successful IIT aspirants, a lesser publi-cised fact is the stress that

the students undergo while preparing themselves to take the tests in a mechani-cal and archaic fashion.

“Students in Kota battle hectic schedules, leav-ing them with little time for themselves,” said Atul Kulshrestha, the founder and CMD of Extramarks, after the launch. “They need to de-stress. Students

deserve a space where they can not only relax, but can also get access to quality study material in a stress-free ambience,” said Kulshrestha.

Dedicated to the growth and well-being of competi-tive exam aspirants, Extra-marks EduCafe provides

them an outlet to prepare for their exam in a relaxed and computer enabled environ-ment.

Kulshres tha feels , Educafe will soon become a hub of conver-sations and cul-ture in Kota. More than 150,000 IIT-JEE and NEET as-pirants arrive in

the city for training in its institutes every year.

The Educafe is but a manifestation of Extra-marks’ vision, which has always been about making learning easy, effective and personalised by imple-menting latest technology to fulfill the needs of the students and pave the way for their success.

NEW DELHI: With a target of enrolling 500 foreign students within the next five years, the IIT Delhi has organised a summit

meeting for diplomats from various countries to show-case the opportunities at the premier institution.

“Globalisation of IIT Delhi: New opportunities for Higher Studies in In-dia” was attended by Am-bassadors and Education Attaches of 12 countries including South Korea, In-donesia, Sweden, Britain, and Mexico.

In his address at the summit, IIT Delhi Direc-tor, Prof V Ramgopal Rao said: “Our target is to have at least 10 per cent for-

IIT Delhi aims at min 500 foreign students by 2024

NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet has cleared a bill to set up a National Medical Commission (NMC), which will have responsibilities such as approving and as-sessing medical colleges, conducting common MBBS entrance and exit examina-tions and regulating course fees.

The National Medical Commission Bill 2019 pro-poses to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. NMC will replace the Medi-cal Council of India (MCI), which was dissolved in 2010 following corruption charges.

The common final year MBBS exam will now be known as National Exit Test (NEXT) to start medical

Govt clears NMC bill to revamp medical education systempractice, seek admissions to post-graduate medical courses and as a screening test for foreign medical graduates.

The bill also seeks to make the national medi-cal entrance exam, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), com-mon counselling and NEXT applicable to Institutes of National Importance (INIs) such as the All India Insti-tutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ensure uniform standards.

The bill, which was first presented in 2017, lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, and will now be tabled in the ongoing session.

“At present, we are hav-

ing NEET and entrance exams for AIIMS. Now, we will also have an exit exam that will be for everyone for getting a licence to practice medicine in the country,” Union minister Prakash

Javadekar said.NMC will also regulate

fees and all other charg-

es for 50pc seats in pri-vate medical colleges and deemed universities. The Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) under NMC will assess medical colleges and develop a

system for ranking them.“ T h e s e m e a s u r e s

through an autonomous

commission will ensure a transparent admission process and also bring down the admission fee, as we have long been talk-ing about fee regulation in private colleges,” said Javadekar.

Apart from MARB, there will be three other au-tonomous boards under NMC, the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board, the Post-Graduate Medical Education Board, and the Ethics and Medical Regis-tration Board. NMC, with the help of these boards, will ensure a dynamic and modern educational envi-ronment, decreasing the emphasis on physical in-frastructure, achieving the norms in global standards

and an effective grievance redressal mechanism, ac-cording to an official state-ment.

The bill also proposes to set up a Medical Advisory Council as a separate entity. It will serve as the primary platform through which the states will put forward their views and concerns before the NMC and help shape the overall agenda in medi-cal education and training. Autonomous boards will be under state medical councils.

The strength of autono-mous boards under state medical councils has been increased from 3 to 5, in-cluding 2 part-time mem-bers. One of them will be a doctor selected by the state

government and the other will be an doctor chosen by the State Medical Council.

“The Medical Assess-ment and Rating Board will grant permission for new medical colleges, starting PG courses and increasing seats based on the stan-dards set by the UG and PG boards. The annual renewal permission for new medical colleges before recognition is being done away with,” according to the statement.

The health ministry has been pushing the NMC Bill amid resistance from the Indian Medical Asso-ciation, which has claimed that replacing MCI with an-other body may just result in people coming up with new forms of corruption.

eign students in our Ph.D. programmes and make them work on technology platforms that can serve global needs.”

Foreign students can apply for PhD in 28 academic units at the IIT, including applied mechanics, atmospheric sciences, biochemical engineer-ing, among others.

During the sum-mit, IIT Delhi presented the newly launched Inter-national PhD Fellowship Programme (IPFP), which provides liberal financial assistance to the meritori-ous international students. The aim of IPFP is to en-courage best talents from across the world to join PhD programmes at IIT Delhi.

The institute will also be looking towards attract-ing teachers from various academic institutions in different countries to join the IIT Delhi’s faculty.

NEW DELHI: The government has de-cided to launch within a month a portal on the lines of Alibaba in China and Amazon in the US for selling products manufactured by small industries, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister Nitin Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha.

He expressed confidence that it will generate a turnover of Rs 10 lakh crore in the next two years of its launch.

MSME portal to be launched soon: GadkariIt will provide a good opportunity to

the MSME sector which contributes sig-nificantly in job generation and promot-ing growth of the country, Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

Like what Alibaba has done to China’s growth and Amazon in the US, India has also decided to have a portal dedicated to the MSME sector, he said.

“We have also decided to launch a portal for promotion of MSME...we have

also talked to GeM (Government e-Market place) and I have also discussed with Piyush Goyal (Commerce and Industry Minister). We are launching a new por-tal for MSME. It will be launched in a month,” he said.

The minister further said that banks have sanctioned 36,000 loans under the ‘psbloansin59minutes’ portal.

Initially it was taking time, he said, adding “it is our endeavour to reduce the

time taken for disbursement”.With regard to loans given to Micro,

Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Gadkari said bank credit to the sector has increased from Rs 10.70 lakh crore at the end of March 2017 to Rs 14.97 lakh crore in March 2019.

He said the government has taken several steps to promote MSME sector including 2pc interest subvention pro-vided they have Udyog Aadhaar Number

(UAN) and GST registration.Besides, he said, public procurement

policy mandates the central ministries and PSUs to procure at least 25pc of annual procurement from MSEs in place of 20pc stipulated earlier.

He also said that the government has adopted Cluster Development Approach as a key strategy for enhancing productiv-ity, competitiveness and capacity building of MSEs.

GULF JOBS & CAREERS 5Friday, July 26, 2019

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Sudoku Puzzle Rules: To solve a Su-doku puzzle, every digit from 1 to 9 must appear in each of the nine verti-cal columns, in each of the nine horizontal rows and in each of the nine boxes.Solution for Puzzle # 82 will be in next issue.

Fun Corner

Sudoku Puzzle 81 Answer

Your wellness

Swine flu, also denoted as H1N1, is an infec-tion caused by any

one of several types of swine influenza viruses.

All about Swine Flu: treatment, tips to stay safeThis is a highly infectious disease that can spread even through bare mini-

mum contact with a person infected with the H1N1 vi-

rus. When infected people cough, spit or sneeze, tiny drops of the virus are re-

leased into the air. If a per-son touches any surface on

which these droplets may have landed — like eleva-tor buttons, door knobs, or flush knobs — they are at an increased risk of catch-ing H1N1 swine flu.

So far, a total of 1,772 H1N1 flu cases and 191 deaths have been recorded across Maharashtra this year, according to officials. Also, an 18-year-old youth from Kshetrigao village in Imphal East district died of swine flu, while five persons who came in close contact with the deceased are undergoing treatment.

“It is imperative that people identify early symp-toms of this infection and seek appropriate preven-tive care before it’s too late,” says Dr Kirti Sabnis, Infectious Disease Special-

The health ministry has proposed “mini-mum standards of

facilities and services” for clinical establishments. The standards will be ap-plicable to clinics offering both Ayush and allopathy services.

According to the mini-mum standards proposed in the amendments for the Clinical Establish-ment (Central Govern-ment) Rules, 2019, health facilities not complying with prescribed norms in terms of infrastructure, manpower, equipment, drugs, support service and record registration will not be granted registration.

Clinical Establishment

Minimum standards for clinical establishments mooted(Registration and Regula-tion) Act, 2010, makes registration a must for run-ning a clinical establish-ment. However, the Act is currently applicable only in 11 states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Him-achal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

“At present, minimum standards are available only for medical diagnos-tic labs which were noti-fied in May 21, 2018. The proposed amendments are aimed at bringing unifor-mity in standard of health-care services provided by several establishments,” an official source said.

According to the pro-

posed standards, the physical facility shall be developed and maintained to provide safe and secure

environment for patients, their families, staff and visitors and should be situated in a place having

clean surroundings and shall comply with local by-laws in force, if any, from time to time.

There has to be a mini-mum space requirement for carrying out basic func-tions of the facility as

prescribed in the rules.“The clinic facility

shall be well-illuminated, ventilated and clean with adequate water supply. It shall have a prominent board or signage display-ing the name of the clinic in local language at the gate or on the building of the clinic,” the draft amendments say.

Besides, the name of the doctor with registra-tion number, fee struc-ture of various doctors or specialists, timings of clinics and services pro-vided within the facility should be well displayed in signages in language understood by the local public in the area.

ist & HIV Physician, Fortis Hospital, Mulund & Kalyan.Early symptoms:

H1N1 symptoms are very close to the symp-toms of common flu, and therefore it is very important to differ-entiate be-tween the two. Symptoms of swine flu include:•High grade fever lasting for more than three days•Persistent cough and cold•Coughing blood•Difficulty in breathing•Nausea and vomiting•Runny nose•Weakness and fatigueAdditional care and pre-caution is essential for:•Children less than six years old and senior citi-

zens above 65 years•Pregnant women•Individuals who have undergone a transplant•Individuals undergoing dialysis

•Individ-uals on drugs to improve/ b o o s t

their immunity•Individuals suffering from chronic diseases•Stay hydrated•Avoid crowed places•Wear N95 mask while travelling (available at medical stores)•Consume high protein foodsUnderstanding treatment:

One should avoid taking over the counter medicines if you notice the symptoms of swine flu. You should immediately contact your nearest doctor or an infec-tious disease specialist.

One will have to take a vaccination through injec-tion or nasal sprays (this is you are allergic to eggs).How it is treated:

Some antiviral drugs that are commonly used to treat seasonal flu also work against H1N1 swine flu. These drugs work best when taken within 48 hours of spotting the flu symptoms.In case you are recovering from the flu: •Consume at least 2-3 liters of water or fluids (juices, soups etc.) each day•Avoid flavored vegeta-bles like capsicum and cabbage•Avoid deep fried food•Include probiotic foods in your diet•Cut down on sugar in-take and processed food•Consume home cooked food

The Oil and Natu-ral Gas Corporation Limited has adver-

tised for around 214 ap-prentice positions. The online application process for the apprentice posi-

tions is available from July 23 to August 5, 2019.

There are 214 vacancies for the posts of apprentice, and the candidates have to send their duly filled application form to the address mentioned on the notification.Vacancy details; Total va-cancies: 214

ONGC to fi ll up 214 apprentice postsPost wise vacancy details:

Accountant - 5; Assis-tant HR – 125; Secretarial Assistant – 46; Electrician – 5; Electronics Mechanic – 3; Instrument Mechanic – 8; Laboratory Assistant - 12

Computer Operator & Programming Assistant - 10Eligibility criteria:Educational qualification:

Accountant: The can-didates need to possess Bachelors degree in Com-merce from a government recognised university or institute.

Assistant: The can-didates need to possess Bachelors degree in Arts or in Business Adminis-tration.

Electrician: The candi-dates need to possess ITI in Electrician Trade.

Age Limit: The upper age limit of the candidates should not be above 24 years of age. The minimum age of the candidates need to be less than 18 years.

Selection process: The merit list will be released on the basis of marks ob-tained in various academic degrees.Important dates:

Commencement of on-line application: July 23

Last date to apply on-line: August 5How to apply:

The candidates can apply online through the official website, ongcap-prentices.co.in on or before August 5, 2019.

The Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) has opened its doors

for its second year of aca-demic instruction. In the last year, the premium hospitality and culinary arts college founded by Dilip Puri, veteran hote-lier and former Head of Starwood Hotels & Resorts South Asia has become the first institute to enter into an academic alliance with Asia’s premier culinary school At-Sunrice Global-Chef Academy, Singapore, alongside their existing academic affiliation with world leaders in hospi-tality education, École hôtelière de Lausanne.

The second academic intake of students at ISH has doubled over the last year – with 120 talented new students enrolled into the college across the bachelor’s in hospitality

Hospitality learning takes off in Indiamanagement, bachelor’s in culinary arts and diploma

programmes in culinary arts and pastry and bakery. ISH expects to have over 200 enrolled students at its state-of-the-art Gurgaon campus by the end of 2019.

This academic year also marks the joining of Ms Martha Collett, an inter-national expert in higher education in the position of Dean of Academic Af-

fairs, signaling a new era of continuing educational

excellence and upholding of international standards.

Dilip Puri, Founder & CEO of ISH, commented on the new intake of the institute, saying, “It is quite overwhelming to see the traction that ISH has got within a year of its opening. We have not only attracted a significant number of new students

but have a much broader pan India representation of students this year and an amazing gender diversity ratio of over 40pc female students. The continued rise in interest for culi-nary programs is also a great sign for the food and beverage and culinary sectors of the hospitality industry.”

All ISH students who completed their first year secured internships with the best hospitality brands in India with students interning at Oberoi, Taj, Marriott and Hyatt hotels across the country.

One of the key focus areas for the coming year is to roll out executive education programs for continuing education for hospitality and allied ser-vice industries through the ISH Center for Professional Development.

The Indian Navy will conduct a comput-er-based examina-

tion for recruitment of sailors in September.

The Navy said in a statement said that un-married men born be-tween April 1, 2000 and March 31, 2003 will be eligible to apply for the Indian Navy Entrance Test (INET).

“Candidates need to have passed Class X. Ma-triculate recruit entry sailors serve in the Indian Navy as chefs, stewards and hygienists,” the state-ment said.

Indian Navy Sailors Recruitment

Computer-based exam to be conducted in Sept

Online applications will be accepted through www.joinindiannavy.gov.in, it

said.There is no other web-

site or app for registration.

“On comple-t i o n o f I N E T, short-listed can-didates will be called for the next phase of selection, i.e., physical fit-ness test and pre-liminary medical examination. On completion of this phase, a merit list shall be published and successful candidates will be called for enrol-ment at the train-ing establishment,

INS Chilka in Odisha,” the statement said.

Jamia Millia Islamia has introduced four new courses f rom

this academic session, including two in post-grad-uation. The university has also increased the number o f sea ts in M.Tech Me-chanical En-gineering from 18 to 30.

The va r -sity has also i n t r o d u c e d PG Diploma in Molecular Diagnostics (PGMD-Self Financed) in Multidisci-plinary Centre for Advance Research and Studies with 30 seats and Advance Di-

Jamia Millia Islamia introduces four new coursesploma in Turkish Language (part-time) in the MMAJ Academy of International Studies with availability

of 20 seats.Four courses that have

been revived are the ad-vanced diploma in Modern Persian in the Department of Persian with intake of

20 seats, the advanced diploma in Pashto in the Director of Persian with 10 seats, the diploma pro-

gramme in Uzbek in the MMAJ Ac a d e m y o f In t e r -n a t i o n a l S t u d i e s w i t h 1 0 seats and t h e c e r -tificate in Uzbek in the MMAJ Ac a d e m y

of International Studies with 20 seats.

The university will con-duct an entrance examina-tion for admission in the courses.

6 IN FOCUS Friday, July 26, 2019

I am employed by a company in UAE since May, 2018. Last month, I had ap-plied for annual vacation, but it was rejected by my employer. Thereafter, I applied for my annual leave again this month and was allowed an unpaid vacation for two months. Further, I am also entitled to an air ticket to my home country, but the employer said that they will provide me with the air ticket fare in August. The company further informed me that my salary will be reduced. How do I handle this problem?

We assume that you are employed by an employer based in the mainland of UAE and therefore, your employment is subject to the provisions of the Federal Law No. (8) of 1980 regulating employ-ment relations in the UAE (the “Employ-ment Law”). You are entitled to 30 days of annual leave upon completion of one year of employment with your employer. This is in accordance with Article 75 of the Employment Law which states: “An employee shall, for each year of service, be entitled to an annual leave of not less than: 1)Two days a month, where the employee’s period of service is more than six months but less than one year.

2) 30 days a year, where the em-ployee’s period of service is more than one year.

Nevertheless, your employer has the discretion related to fixing the dates of commencement of your annual leave as mentioned in Article 76 of the Employ-ment Law. Since your employer has approved your annual leave, you are entitled to salary, which includes basic pay and housing allowance if applicable as part of your annual leave salary. This is in accordance with Article 78 of the Employment Law, which states: “Each employee shall be entitled to his basic remuneration and the housing allow-ance, if applicable, in respect of his days of annual leave. Where it was imperative for the work interest to put an employee on duty during all or part of his annual leave and if the leave days on which he worked were not carried forward to the following year, the employer shall pay him his normal remuneration plus an allowance in lieu of leave, for the actually worked days, calculated on the basis of his basic remuneration. In no case shall an employee be made to work during his annual leave more than once in two successive years.”

Based on the aforementioned provi-sion of law, your employer is obligated to pay you salary for the annual leave which are accrued to you as on the date of commencement of your annual vacation. The annual leave salary may be paid by your employer prior to the commencement of your vacation. Any leave taken by you beyond your entitle-ment to leave will be unpaid leave. This is in accordance with Article 80 of the Employment Law, which states: “Before the commencement of an employee’s an-nual leave, his employer shall pay the full remuneration due to him plus the leave pay prescribed for him under this law.” Further, you are entitled to an an-nual air ticket fare if your employment contract states so. As your employer has not denied the same, you may wait until Aug 2019 for the reimbursement of airfare. In the UAE, an employer cannot reduce the salary of the employee with-out his/her consent. Even if the employee agrees for the reduction of the salary, the same needs to be approved and registered with the Ministry of HR and Emiritsation (MOHRE) through amended employment contract signed by both the employer and the employee. Article 60 of the Employ-ment Law states: “No amount of money may be deducted from an employee’s remuneration in respect of private claims, except in the following cases: 1) Repayment of loans or money advances paid to the employee in excess of his entitlements, provided that the amount deducted in this case shall not exceed 10pc of his remuneration. 2) Contribu-tions that an employee is required by law to make from their remuneration, towards

Employer can’t deny annual leave salary

social security and insurance schemes. 3) The employee’s contributions to a provident fund or repayment of loans due thereto. 4) Contributions towards any welfare scheme or in respect of any other privileges or services provided by the employer and approved by the labour department. 5) Fines imposed upon the employee for any offence he commits. 6) Any debt exacted in execution of a court ruling, provided that the deduction made should not exceed one-quarter of the remuneration due to the employee. Where there are several debts or credi-tors, the maximum deduction shall be half the employee’s remuneration, which shall be divided pro rata among the creditors, after payment of any legal alimony to the extent of one quarter of the employee’s remuneration.”In the event your employer does not pay your salary for the accrued annual leaves and if they reduce your salary without your consent, you may file a complaint against your employer with MOHRE.

Recruitment expensesI am currently in India and I got a job offer from Abu Dhabi. My employer/sponsor has stated before the Ministry of Labour in signing that my visa expenses will be borne by him and I have to pay only the flight charges. But, during the process he told me that as per new regu-lations, visa process has been shifted to the employee’s country and hence I will have to bear the cost including that for the medical tests. Since I completed all the process by spending from my pocket his version is that he never offered to reimburse visa and medical expenses. As I already spent the money and the visa is stamped on my passport, I am confused whether to take up the job or leave it since I still have options in my home country. Please advise what will be the consequence if I don’t take up the job after the visa is stamped on my passport. What will happen if I get another job in the UAE later?

In pursuance of your queries, it may be noted that the procedures for your visa processing which commenced in India, has been done in accordance with the new measures taken up by the Ministry of HR and Emiratisation of the UAE, with a view to outsource the visa processing procedures to the country of a prospective employee. And, it is presumed that your employment visa was also stamped into your passport following this process. However, it may be noted that in the UAE, in accordance with the prevailing laws, the employer is liable to bear the recruitment and spon-sorship expenses for recruitment of its employees. This is in accordance with Article 6(a) of Ministerial Resolution No. 52 for 1980 regarding ‘The Rules and Procedures to be adopted at the Labour permits sections with respect to the recruitment of non-national labours for the employment in UAE’ which states:

“The employer or its legal representa-tive shall sign the recruitment applica-tion form prepared by the ministry for this purpose, such form shall include an undertaking from the employer to the effect that he shall sponsor and be responsible for the recruited labourer, the bearing of his recruitment expenses and his employment in accordance with the employment contract in a way not prejudicing the provision of the Federal Law No. 8/1980 referred to herein.” In view of the foregoing, it may be noted that your employer is liable to pay you for the costs involved in respect of is-suance of the employment visa and as such, he may not refuse to reimburse the expenses incurred by you. If how-ever, your employer altogether refuses to pay you for the costs of visa, you may choose not to commence employment with the concerned employer. And for good order, you may also contact the centre where your employment visa was processed, or the Ministry of HR and Emiratisation of the UAE or the UAE Diplomatic Mission in India, stating that your reasons for non-commencement of work.

GULF FAQs

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed shakes hands with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo as he arrives in Jakarta.

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has become the first state in the country to reserve 75pc jobs in private factories, joint ventures, industries, public private partnerships etc, for locals. The state assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Em-ployment of Local Candi-dates in Industries/Factories Act, 2019, under which private jobs across the market will be reserved for local Andhra people.

The state assembly passed the Bill after hold-ing a debate on it. The bill is said to be one of the main Bills out of the six introduced in the House during the ongoing budget session. An election prom-ise, the move has been re-ceived well within the state as it is expected to check

Andhra reserves 75pc jobs for localsthe migration of youth in search of jobs.

The state is also going ahead with 50pc jobs for economically weaker sec-tions in government jobs, trusts, and agricultural markets. Besides Andhra Pradesh has also moved a Bill to secure 50pc res-ervation for women in government services and contracts. The Andhra as-sembly has also approved the setting up of a perma-nent BC Commission in the state.

The state cabinet has approved these draft Bills which would easily be passed by the state assem-bly where the YSRCP has a brute majority—holding all seats but 23 out of 175. The move has been widely hailed with the exception

of some reservation on the ground that the state may not find enough local tal-ent, especially in the highly skilled sectors like IT. Dur-ing his statewide Prajasank-alp Padyatra before the 2019 state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Jaggan Mohan Reddy had promised to create jobs for locals.

“The proposed Bill will ensure employment to 75pc of the local candidates in industries/factories, joint ventures and projects taken up under the PPP mode,” a government notification said.

The Jagan Mohan Red-dy-led YSRCP government has introduced six bills pertaining to the above reservations that have been passed. The opposition

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led by former chief min-ister Chandrababu Naidu has been demanding a de-bate in the House over the scrapping of the Amravati Project and the withdrawal of financial support by the World Bank, leaving the fate of thousands in limbo.

Y S R C P M L A K Parathasaradhi said that the law would now re-quire private companies to train locals if people with suitable skills are not available. “This will help the person who has lost their lands and their occupations for facilitat-ing the establishment of industries and other unem-ployed youth by ensuring that their livelihoods are guaranteed and sustained,” he said.

NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator DGCA has sus-pended the licence of an Air India Express pilot for a year who overshot the runway while landing an aircraft at Mangalore airport on June 30. The flight IX-384 was coming from Dubai.

“The investigation by the regulator has found that the final approach of the B737 aircraft was ‘’unsta-bilised’’. The aircraft speed was high and it touched down late, around 900 metres (2,952 feet) from the threshold area of runway 24, which resulted in run-way excursion and damage to the aircraft,” a TV chan-nel reported. The threshold

Air India Express pilot’s licencesuspended for overshooting runway

area is from where the runway strip begins. Next to threshold area is the touchdown zone, where the aircraft should touch down during landing.

The source said the li-cence of pilot Capt Pravin Tumram was suspended on Tuesday by the Di-rectorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a period of one year. “The period of one year would be counted from the date of the incident,” the source said. The airport had seen a similar incident on that very runway nine years ago involving an aircraft of the same airline.

In May 22, 2010, an Air India Express flight, which

was coming from Dubai airport to Mangalore airport, had overshot the runway 24, hit the boundary fence and fell into a gorge, killing 152 passengers and six crew members. There were only eight survivors in this crash.

A Court of Inquiry, es-tablished by the Centre had found that the cause of the 2010 incident was the pilot-in-command’s failure to discontinue the ‘’unstabilised approach’’ and his persistence in continuing with landing, despite three calls from the First Officer to ‘’go around’’ and a number of warnings from enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS).

KOCHI: Sandhya Menon, a 37-year-old nursing profes-sional and mother-of-two, died a tragic death due to an alleged “anaesthesia mishap” caused by medical profes-sionals in Aluva, alleged her amily sources. Nevertheless, she was declared dead at the Rajagiri Medical College, where she was transferred for emergency treatment, a few hours after she went into surgery.

Sandhya, her husband Anoop, and sons aged 12 and six travelled to India for the summer holidays earlier this month. MS Rajeevan, Sandhya’s relative, said her mother accompanied her for the minor procedure. “Since it was a small treatment, she decided to do it during the holidays so that she has time

Gulf NRI dies in Kerala after botched surgeryfor recovery. After being ad-mitted, she was taken into a pre-operative holding area, where she told her mother

there is a mistake in her case file,” alleged Rajeevan.

He added: “We think she knew this because she was a trained nurse. The nurses and doctors at the hospital were alerted of this mix-up, and they got hold of her file.” Later, she was wheeled into the operation theatre, where the family said she was given a test

dose of anaesthesia. The mother was informed they would start the procedure in 10 minutes. Unfortunately, an hour into the surgery, the mother noticed that the staff were running around panicked.

“Her mother realised something was amiss and demanded answers. The staff told her that immedi-ately after the anaesthesia was administered, she be-came unconscious and was not responding to CPR,” alleged another relative Jaya-kumar. Later, Sandhya was transported to Rajagiri Medi-cal College, where she was confirmed dead. “The medi-cal college doctors said she may have suffered a cardiac arrest moments after the an-aesthesia was administered,”

added Jayakumar.The family has sent

Sandhya’s body for a de-tailed post-mortem to the Kalamassery Medical College in Ernakulam and have filed a case against the hospital at a local police station. “Sand-hya’s younger brother is in the US and we are waiting for him for the funeral”, Rajeevan said.

Sandhya’s husband is a mechanical engineer work-ing in Abu Dhabi. However, after working as a school nurse in Abu Dhabi for a short while, Sandhya chose to discontinue work-ing after some time. “She completed her BSc Nursing from Kozhikode Medical College. She moved to the UAE immediately after her marriage,” said Jayakumar.

MUMBA: Six suspected dacoits have been arrest-ed for allegedly killing a 48-year-old business-man, who ran a hotel in Dubai, at his bunga-low in Shahapur taluka in Maharashtra’s Thane district last week. The deceased, Suresh Munaje, was found strangulated with his hands and legs tied on the intervening night of July 19 and July 20. Police had also found the window grills of the bungalow cut and cash and valuables stolen.

Additional Superin-tendent of Police (Thane Rural) Sanjay Patil told reporters that nine more persons, including some women, are absconding.

Held for killing Dubai hotelier

CORPORATE NEWS 7Friday, July 26, 2019

The government is considering an op-tion to raise $10 bil-

lion in one go from its first overseas bond sale as early as October, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The government would prefer to sell yen or euro-denominated debt so as to offer lower yields, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plan is still under discussion. A dollar bond isn’t ruled out given there would be more liquidity, while it could also decide to sell the debt in multiple sales over a longer period.

India is banking on the novelty of a debut offering at a time when investors

India may launch $10b global bond in Octare desperate for returns as the world’s pile of neg-ative-yielding debt grows to a record $13.4 trillion. While Saudi Arabia and

Argentina have raised more money in recent years from international bond sales as emerging markets return in popularity, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s govern-ment will be working to a tight timeline. “Market technicals are very strong, and the country is on a

positive political trajec-tory, so why not strike while the iron is hot,” said Todd Schubert, the head of fixed-income research at

Bank of Singapore Ltd. The surprise would be if there’s no dollar tranche as “one would think that building an Indian sovereign curve

would also be a stra-tegic goal, and that can only be done in dollars.”

Finance ministry spokesman DS Malik didn’t immediately respond to calls.

The maturity of the bonds could be 10 years or more, the people said. The cur-rent thinking among officials is that a

larger sale would be more attractive to investors than breaking the fundraising task into smaller parts, be-cause costs would be lower.

Hewlett Packard En-terprise (HPE) has announced its plans

to invest $ 500 million in India over the next five years to expand its operations, strengthen manufacturing capabilities and hire more people in the country.

The company plans to in-crease its workforce in India by 20pc over the next three to five years. It will hire new engineering talent with expertise in areas of critical importance to customers such as artificial intelligence (AI) and networking, HPE said in statement.

It will also begin con-struction of a high-tech ex-tension to its Mahadevapura campus in Bengaluru that will be able to house more than 10,000 employees, as

Hewlett Packard to invest $500m in Indiawell as state-of-the-art R&D facilities, it added.

When complete, the 1.3-million sq ft campus will support a broad range of functions including R&D, engineering services, finance and sales.

“This strategic invest-ment (of $ 500 million) underscores HPE’s long-term commitment to India and will enable the company to grow its operations, manu-facturing and employee base in the country, increase its R&D and services exports, as well as invest in tech-nology initiatives to drive positive change for local Indian communities,” the statement said.

HPE said it also plans to commence manufacturing in India.

The company is sched-uled to start manufacturing its subsidiary Aruba’s portfo-lio of mobility and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in India before the end of this year.

“The manufacturing ca-pability in India will allow Aruba to rapidly innovate networking solutions that will deliver benefits in sup-port of the Digital India agenda and to customers across the country,” it said.

Antonio Neri, President of HPE and a member of the US-India CEO Forum, said India is one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world, and the investments will further develop the country as a critical market for HPE’s global business.

State-owned Punjab and Sind Bank is looking to scale up

its presence in the eastern States of Bihar, West Bengal, and Jharkhand.

Plans are afoot t o o p e n m o r e branches in the re-gion and focus on growing the retail business.

Bihar, West Ben-gal, and Jharkhand together constitute near ly 10pc of the bank’s total business, which stood at around Rs 72,747 crore as on March 31, 2019.

Of this, nearly Rs 7,000

Punjab and Sind Bank eyes eastern States for expansion

crore comes from these States, a senior bank of-ficial said.

“The eastern region has been growing at 10-15pc on a year-on-year basis. Retail accounts for a bulk of the total advances in the

region,” the official said.Punjab and Sind Bank,

which currently has around 74 branches in the region, will open more number of branches to in-crease its penetra-tion and grow its retail lending in these markets.

The bank re-cently shifted one of its branches in the Bansdroni area in South Kolkata to a new location

near Naktala to provide its customers additional features, such as lockers and modern digital bank-ing facility.

Corporation Bank has launched a month-long ‘SB Challenger’

campaign to expand its

savings account base. The campaign ends on August 23.

“The campaign is tar-geted at garnering cus-tomers under the bank’s premium savings account variants – ‘Corp Elite’ and ‘Corp Delite’ – customised for salaried employees of public sector undertakings and the government sec-

HDFC Life Insurance reported a near 12pc increase in net profit

for the first quarter of the fis-cal, led by robust growth in new business premiums. The insurer’s net profit rose to Rs 425 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, register-ing an 11.8pc increase from Rs 380 crore in the same period a year ago.

Its total premium in the first quarter of the fiscal grew 29pc to Rs 6,536 crore, against Rs 5,058 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

New business premium rose by 47pc to Rs 3,926 in the first quarter, against Rs 2,678 crore a year ago. New business margins were at 29.8pc in the quarter

Corporation Bank launches SB Challenger campaign

HDFC Life Q1 net up 12pc

tor,” said a press release.‘Corp Delite’ offers term

life insurance cover and personal accident cover of

Rs 10 lakh each. Employees with a gross salary of Rs 75,000 and above are eligible under the variant

and are covered under the insurance on opening the account, it said.

‘Corp Elite’ is targeted at customers earning sal-ary between Rs 15,000 and Rs 74,999, and offers term life insurance cover and personal accident cover of Rs 5 lakh each in addition to the regular SB account features, the release added.

under review, from 24.2pc a year ago. The 13th-month persistency also improved to 88.8pc in the first quarter of the fiscal, from 85pc in the year-ago period. “We ex-panded our market share in the private sector to 25.1pc compared to 22.3pc in the first quarter of last fiscal, based on total new business received premium,” said HDFC Life.

Vibha Padalkar MD, HDFC Life Insurance, said: “We have stepped up efforts within the protection and retirement space, which we expect would fuel our growth across market cycles. Our digital capabilities put us in a good position to maximise the potential of the life insur-ance industry.”

Mobile marketing company Affle (India) Ltd, the

Indian unit of Microsoft-backed Affle Holding, is planning to raise up to Rs 459 crore through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that will open for subscription on July 29.

The company has fixed a price band of Rs 740-745 a share, with the IPO comprising a fresh issue of up to Rs 90 crore and an offer for share of up to Rs 369 crore. The issue will close on July 31, the company said.

The company intends to use the proceeds for work-ing capital requirements and general corporate pur-poses.

ICICI Securities, No-mura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) are the Book Running Lead Managers to the issue, while Karvy Fintech is the

Affle India IPO opens on July 29registrar. Following the IPO, the firm intends to list the shares on both BSE and NSE.

Affle India, is part of Singapore-based Affle Holdings, in which Micro-soft holds a 6.48pc stake. It is also backed by investors

such as Ascent Capital, NGP Capital and Inventus Capital Partners.

The firm is a consumer intelligence-driven mobile marketing platform, which is used by business-to-con-sumer firms. Malabar India Fund and Malabar Value Fund, collectively known as Malabar Investments, had acquired a 7.83pc stake

for Rs 136 crore in Affle India ahead of the IPO.

In September 2018, Affle had acquired Benga-luru-based Vizury Interac-tive Solutions’ commerce business and brand in an undisclosed all-cash deal.

Founded in 2008, Vizury i s a data -driven mo-bile market-ing company with three b u s i n e s s lines — push messaging, re-targeting

and financial products. Its commerce business is spread out across India, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and the US, among other geographies.

Prior to that in March 2018, Affle (India) had acquired the ‘Markt’ plat-form to expand its online-to-offline (O2O) commerce business.

Industrial conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has reported a rise of

20.5pc increase in its con-solidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30 of the financial year 2019-20.

Accordingly, the consoli-dated net profit from con-tinuing operations for the quarter under review rose to Rs 1,361 crore from Rs 1,129 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.

“The overall PAT, includ-ing the PAT from discon-tinued operations for the quarter April to June, 2019 grew by 21.2pc to Rs 1,473 crore vis-Ã -vis Rs 1,215 crore for the correspond-ing quarter of the previous year,” it said.

The company’s consol-idated gross revenue of Rs 29,636 crore from con-tinuing operations for the quarter ended June 30, achieving y-o-y growth of 10pc.

L&T’s consolidated profi t rises 20.5pc

Gl a x o S m i t h K l i n e (GSK) Pharmaceuti-cals has announced

35pc jump in its net profit to Rs 113.5 crore during the first quarter of current fiscal from Rs 88.6 crore in the corresponding quarter

ended June 30 last year. The total income also

rose by seven per cent to Rs 818 crore as against Rs 753 crore in the same period. At the same time, total expenses increased from Rs 607 crore to Rs 642 crore.

Profit before tax in Q1 FY20 was Rs 176 crore com-pared to Rs 138 crore in Q1 of FY19, the company said.

GSK Pharma net profi t up Rs113crThe earnings per share

of Rs 10 each works out to Rs 6.70 in the quarter ended June 30 compared to Rs 5.23 in the first quarter of the previous year.

GlaxoSmithKline Phar-maceuticals business has been serving healthcare

ZestMoney, an EMI financing firm, has collaborated with OYO Total Holidays through which OYO customers can get EMI financing of up to Rs 2.5

lakh for travel packages at zero per cent interest for three months EMI tenure.

ZestMoney was founded by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman in 2015. The com-pany is built as a platform for those who currently have no access to credit cards or any other formal financing options because of insufficient credit history.

“Travel has become a fundamental desire of aspira-tional India, and while OYO Hotels & Homes is leading the front by offering a seamless and affordable hospitality experience, Zest Money will be empowering OYO custom-ers with innovative financing solutions,” said Chapman.

ZestMoney partners with OYO for travel EMI financing

needs in India for more than 90 years. It has a wide range of prescription medi-cines across areas covering anti-infectives, dermatol-ogy, gynaecology, diabetes, oncology, cardiovascular disease and respiratory diseases.

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Energy plans to raise around $750 million

from international bond sale to fund expansion plans as well as to repay some of its existing debt of over Rs 10,050 crore.

The company has also set a target of achieving 10,000 MW of installed capacity by 2020, a quarter of which will be contrib-uted by renewable energy sources.

JSW Energy has sought shareholders’ approval for the fund raising plan and said the proposed $750 million of long-term debt will be raised by selling non-convertible foreign currency denominated

JSW Energy to raise $750m via bondsbonds or masala bonds, the company said in the annual report.

Chairman Sajjan Jindal in his address to the share-holders said as a growth-focused company, it has a strategic vision to build a portfolio of 10,000 MW through both organic and inorganic means.

The company, sitting on a debt of over Rs 10,050 crore, will continue to look for value-accretive acquisi-tions while balancing the risk-return dynamics, he added.

He said the company will also continue to focus on growth opportunities in the core power sector as well as related areas, as it

has scrapped its plans to enter the electric vehicles manufacturing business.

“During the first half of FY18, we had announced our plan to enter electric vehicle manufacturing, and associated businesses of energy storage systems and charging stations. Af-ter careful evaluation of these business segments, we found higher than an-ticipated uncertainties and hence, decided to discon-tinue these ventures and focus on growth opportuni-ties in the power sector and related areas,” Jindal said.

The company also plans to increase its long-term PPA proportion to 85pc from the current levels.

Tata Power plans to install 500 Electric Vehicle (EV) charg-

ing outlets across five cities over the next one year as the integrated power company readies the ground for the transition to battery-powered vehicles.

Tata Power Managing Di-rector said, the charging sta-tions are being installed in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad. In Hyderabad, the company is working with fleet owners.

Till date, most EV owners have been charging from their homes or offices. “However, as the adoption goes up, there

Tata Power to install 500 EV charging stations across 5 cities

will be a requirement of slow and fast charging,” he said. The Centre recently lowered the GST rate on EVs to 5

pc from 12pc and has made EVs affordable for consumers with additional income -tax deduction.

The government is look-ing to up the ante for EV sales as the country is far behind China, the US and

Europe. Industry watchers opine that if the government target of seven million elec-tric vehicles by 2020 is to be achieved, then the cost has to come down and the ecosys-tem such as battery-charging points need to be in place.

“For us, EV is beyond just electricity vending. We are putting together a mechanism to source energy in such a way that it is available in large numbers, in real time,” said Sinha.

For example, he said, if 20 or more cars come to a charging station and each car requires 15 kW for fast charge that is almost 1 MW of power

(to put it in context, a data centre uses up 1 MW). So, the question then arises, how to move this load in real time from different sub-stations. This is where Tata Power is using technology to make its networks cater to power requirements dynamically.

“Also, we plan to come up with an app that can tell the user which station has larger number of fast-charging op-tions available, what is the cost of charging at peak, off-peak hours. Our understand-ing of the power business will help us in providing answers to such complex questions,” said Sinha.

8 Travel / Entertainment

Printed by Supreeth MJ and published by him on behalf of IPEPCIL Publications Pvt Ltd. and printed at Inquilab Off set Printers Ltd.,156, D J Dadaji Road, Tardeo, Mumbai-400 034, Maharashtra and published from Offi ce No. 1001, 10th Floor, Navjivan Commercial Premises Co-op. Society Ltd., Lamington Road, (Dr.D.B.Marg), Mumbai Central, Mumbai - 400 008. • Editor: E.L. Vaidyanathan • Volume No.: 1, Issue No. 83 • RNI No. MAHENG/2018/76663.

Friday, July 26, 2019

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EXCHANGE RATESEXCHANGE RATES

Rates are subect to change without notice. Errors &omissions excepted

As on 25th July, 2019 (In rupees)

Currency Buying Selling

Australian Dollar 46.55 49.55Bahraini Dinar 178.40 188.40British Pound 84.50 87.50Canadian Dollar 51.00 54.00Emirati Dirham 18.25 19.25 Euro 75.25 78.25Kuwaiti Dinar 221.55 231.55Omani Rial 174.35 184.35Qatari Riyal 18.45 19.45Saudi Riyal 17.90 18.90Singapore Dollar 49.00 52.00Swiss Franc 68.45 71.45US Dollar 67.95 69.85

Source:

Footprints tracedby Prince Manjalil

Dr Sureshkumar Madhusudhanan

GOVT MUST REMOVE GST ON JOB SEEKERS

Indian labour has great potential; India to be world’s skilling capitalInterview with Dr. Sureshkumar Madhusudhanan, General Secretary, Indian Personnel Export Pro-motion Council (IPEPCIL) and Managing Director of Seagull Group of Companies.

1) Please tell us about the present business scenar-io, the Gulf labour market has become a little bit cycli-cal as against the constant booming business of the 1980s or 90s. When you think another labour boom will emerge in the Gulf?

Honestly it is highly un-likely, that the kind of labour boom witnessed in the ‘80s and ‘90s in the gulf, will be experienced again. As these are single commodity export based economies, the price of oil and gas has a major impact on rest of the economic activities in the region. The advent of shale oil processing technol-ogy has compounded the adverse situation. Coupled with the above scenario, ac-tive focus on climate change and increasing investments into alternate and renewable sources of energy is going to maintain downward pres-sure on oil price, barring short term geopolitical un-certainties

2) Do you think the Union as well as the state governments are exercising too much restrictions on recruitment agencies?

The Recruitment indus-try as a whole annually, has provided jobs to over 2 million Indian professionals within the GCC region until 2015! The Indian recruit-ment fraternity has been an enabler, by direct and indirect contribution to the Indian foreign exchange re-serves to the tune of US $ 80 Billion per annum, approxi-mately 30+ Billion from the GCC countries alone! This contribution is due to the remittances sent home by the millions of Indian work-ers across many countries of the World, especially in the ME Region. The recruitment industry takes the initia-tive to bring employment to India. We collectively create hundreds of thou-sands of job opportunities every year for the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled job aspirants in India. This benefits the unemployed youth, both from the urban and rural areas across the country. Even the unskilled and semi-skilled workers who work abroad for two to three years come back to India as highly skilled technicians having worked with the latest equipment and facilities abroad. This creates a huge skill base for the Indian industry at zero cost to the country. But disappointingly neither the Government nor the society

recognise the efforts of our industry. There has been a sharp downward trend on the manpower export graph - recruitment has decreased significantly by 40-50% due to a number of factors, beginning with the decline in oil price, compounded by political instability and focus on localisation of manpower in major manpower hiring countries. Implementation of minimum referral wages (MRW) by the Ministry of External Affairs in India has further aggravated the chal-lenges faced by the Indian Recruitment Fraternity.

Ministry of External Af-fairs had issued a circular stating the Minimum wag-es for various categories, below which any Indian worker, whose passport has Emigration Check Required (ECR) is prohibited from accepting. The minimum wages have been arrived at arbitrarily, derived from questionable data shared by Indian Missions. Wages notified in the MRW are 30-40 percent higher than the prevailing market, hence resulted in huge job losses for Indians. An individual having Emigration Clear-ance Not Required (ECNR) passport, doesn’t have to go through this and can work abroad on any given salary. Hence, ironically we see Graduates willing to take up job for 1000 Riyals whereas uneducated unskilled or semi-skilled workers can’t go because the minimum salaries in e-migrate start from 1700 Riyals. This farce has led to the birth of a new business of arranging ECNR passports for these unedu-cated job seekers at a heavy price and through forging or fraudulent means. A fallout of the implementation of MRW, is the dramatic rise in non-licensed recruitment agencies, over last three years, who approach Foreign Employers and promising them ECNR candidates by circumventing mandatory registration on eMigrate. Large scale recruitment drives in remote areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Borders of Eastern UP and Bihar have witnessed mush-rooming of such traffickers. Many of these agencies are sending emigrants on visit visa especially to UAE, which are converted to em-ployment permit once they reach the destination coun-try. All of this has resulted in transition of business to the unorganized sector resulting

in large scale of trafficking. Combination of MRW and resultant illegal recruit-ers has resulted in driving genuine and honest Foreign Employers to other markets.

3) The recent notifica-tion of the Kochi police commissioner imposing curbs on the legitimate operations of recruitment agencies should be worry-ing you. You are the General Secretary of Indian Person-nel Export Promotion Coun-cil (IPEPCIL), the trade body which represents ma-jority of recruitment agents. Already, the eMigrate sys-tem is safeguarding the concerns of the candidates. Pl tell as how are you going to face these police restric-tions?

As per the Emigration Act, 1983, the empowered authority is the Protector of Emigrants, Ministry of Ex-ternal Affairs, Govt. of India. The ministry has its own portal www.emigrate.gov.in for governing the entire process, including obtaining permission for all recruit-ment activities viz. releas-ing of advertisement, con-ducting interviews etc. The licence issued to Recruit-ment Agencies is valid Pan - India, hence authorised to recruit from anywhere in India with the permission of PGE. While we denounce the recent scam that was executed by rogue elements,

the knee jerk reactions of Po-lice Commissioner in Kochi challenges the authority of the PGE, the law enforcers would be better advised to work in tandem with the lo-cal POE who represents the Ministry of External Affairs and the PGE.

4) There is a general im-pression that the recruitment agencies are profiteering too much. How IPEPCIL on your own behalf plan to change this image? Black sheep are there in every field!

As per the Govt. rule, a Recruitment Consultant can collect Rs. 30,000/- as service charges excluding 18% GST of Rs. 5,400. All the authorised agencies are charging as per this rule. As per the Emigration Act, Recruitment Agencies have to prominently display the amount in their office. The menace of overcharging is mainly happening due to the illegal agents; they charge exorbitant amount from the candidates. Govt. of India has spent Rs.12 crores

last year for the awareness campaign without much success. The cooperation of citizen can be the solution, they should approach rec-

ognised agents, their details are available in the emigrate portal www.emigrate.gov.in

5) Of late, the Protec-tor of Emigrants ( POE) in Mumbai and the Protector General of Emigrants (PGE) based in New Delhi are doing a wonderful job in handling the various issues and grievances of recruit-ment agents. What’s your opinion?

Both the PGE and POE (Mumbai) have a positive approach and are very sup-portive of the Recruitment Agencies (RAs). The number of complaints from emi-grants against Recruitment Agents is alarming. IPEP-CIL and other likeminded representative associations should work with the MEA to root out the black sheep and end the menace that

brings misery on the unedu-cated migrant.

6) Former Union Min-ister of External Affairs Mrs Sushma Swaraj has been very understanding in dealing with the issues related to foreign jobs and recruitments. What will be your expectation from the present Ministry?

Smt. Sushma Swaraj was well versed with the recruit-ment policies and proce-dures, during her tenure we have had the opportunity to interact with her on many occasions and she has sorted out many issues that the fraternity was facing. We hope the present External Affairs Minister and MOS of External Affairs will ex-tend a similar helping hand to the fraternity facilitating smooth movement of man-power to various countries in near future by relaxing the policies including the minimum referral wages, curbing of illegal recruit-ment etc.

7) Two world expos are

due in the UAE and Qatar in near future. This needs lot of infrastructure proj-ects and labour imports. How do the Indian agencies handle this?

Majority of the infra-structure projects in these counties are almost on the final stage of completion and handover, but lot of manpower will be required for the support service for both - Expo 2020 in Dubai and FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, the fraternity is optimistic that significant manpower will be sourced from India.

8) Don’t you think that the Indian HR companies should explore other labour markets, Africa is opening up in a big way. Nearer home, Vietnam is planning major projects. Pl comment.

It is estimated that glob-ally there will be a skilled workforce shortage of 56.5 million by 2020, 54% of Indian population below the age of 25, 62% population in the working age group (18-59 years). It is expected that, in 2020, India will become the world’s young-est country with an average age of 29, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan. Sixty-five per cent of India’s population will be in the working age group by 2020. India can be the skilling capital of the world. 15 Mil-lion enter job market annu-ally and around 7 million formal jobs being created in India, this will continue for next 10 years, while there is an urgent need to engage the remaining 8 million youth entering the workforce an-nually either within the country of foreign destina-tions. It is clear that with a surplus workforce India need to identify domestic and global pockets of op-portunities.

India and our fraternity could leverage this opportu-nity if appropriate and time-ly reforms and interventions are implemented to skill

Indian youth to the global need and standards. There is already stiff competition from countries with young demography and cheap labour like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines etc on terms of supplying skilled work force to Gulf region, Japan, USA and other developed na-tions. The fraternity should focus on other countries like Japan, Vietnam, Mangolia, Khazakistan, Uzbekistan, certain countries in Africa, Europe etc to diversify their location for more upcoming opportunities. Lot of man-power will require when the rebuilding of Iraq, Libya, Syria happens.

9) What are the major achievement during your tenure as the General Sec-retary of IPEPCIL?

i) The much awaited in-crease in service charge from Rs. 20000/- to Rs. 30000/- + GST was implemented.

ii) Permit of Individual FE registration has been implemented, which has resulted in slight improve-ment of business for RAs.

iii) Abolishment of Or-ange Passport

iv) Abolishment of Good Conduct Certificate for UAE.

v) Abolishment of Khad-amat for Premedical Check-up and Mawared Services for Kuwait visa facilitation

vi) Implementation of Online facility for Pre Medi-cal Check by Gulf Heath Council.

vii) MEA has taken up the GST issue with the Fi-nance Ministry to exempt GST levying from unem-ployed youths seeking em-ployment abroad. This is under consideration by the Finance Ministry.

Dr. Sureshkumar reiter-ated that all these could be achieved due to the team work of IPEPCIL Manage-ment Committee and its members.

10) How and when you started Seagull Interna-tional Human Resources Consultants? Are you a first generation entrepre-neur?

My father Late. Shri Mad-husudhanan had started the business in 1985 as a travel agent later we started over-seas recruitment as a back-ward integration. I joined him during my student days and began independently handling from 1990, when my parents left for our na-tive place.

India top Asian destination for UK tourists

India has emerged as the top tourist destination in Asia this summer for

travellers from the UK, ac-cording to analysis con-ducted by trip booking plat-form Travelport. Globally, it ranked just behind the US, the most popular long-haul destination for UK travel-lers. The data highlighted the push to develop closer ties with India at all levels post-Brexit.

As of June 14, 2019, just under 87,000 advanced bookings had been made in

the UK through all global distribution systems (GDS) for return flights to India scheduled between June 28, 2019 and Sept 8, 2019. Flight bookings to other

Asian countries like Thai-land and China stood at 49,137 and 29,870 respec-

tively. The data highlighted the push to develop closer ties with India at all levels post-Brexit. Martin Herbert, Regional Managing Direc-tor - India and Sri Lanka at Travelport, said, “It’s excit-ing news for Indian tourism to see the country attracting more bookings than both China and Thailand com-bined. This trend is fuelling increased booking volume and we expect to see it con-tinue in the years to come.”

Global distribution sys-tems (GDS) are vast hi-tech

reservation networks that allow travel agents, travel management companies and large corporations, among others, to search and book airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars and other travel-related items. Globally in 2018, Travelport alone pro-cessed one trillion transac-tions through its platform. The company also delivers mobile services and apps to the travel industry as well as advanced analytics products, such as Travelport Business Intelligence.

Emirates offers huge discounts on airfares

If you are planning a sum-mer holiday this season, here’s an offer that’s defi-

nitely worth your time.Dubai-based Emirates

is offering UAE travellers a chance to explore cities in Europe, Asia and South America this summer. UAE travellers can also fly back home to Emirates’ destina-tions within Europe and the MidEast to spend the sum-mer holiday with family and friends.

Emirates economy and business class passengers can choose one from the

many available destina-tions within its network. The offer is valid for book-

ings made till Aug 4, 2019 applicable for travel until April 30, 2020. Emirates customers travelling in all classes can enjoy regionally inspired meals, 4,000 enter-tainment channels on ice

--- the airline’s award win-ning in-flight entertainment system --- and up to 20MB complimentary Wi-Fi to stay connected with friends and family during the flight. Pas-sengers can also enjoy Emir-ates’ home check-in service which allows customers to check in for their flights from anywhere in Dubai. The service is available for customers across all classes travelling on Emirates flights and enables passengers to complete the security check and check-in, from the com-fort of their home.