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REFER PAGE 3 & 4 FOR GULF JOBS

Rami Ranger with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Indian origin nominated to UK’s House of LordsLONDON: Indian-origin entrepreneur Rami Rang-er was nominated to the UK Parliament’s House of Lords for his outstanding service to the business fraternity, the Conserva-tive Party and the public.

Ranger’s name had been recommended by former British Prime Minister Theresa May in her resignation letter. “I dedicate this honour to build friendship between India, Pakistan and Brit-ain. I will work very hard to build bridges among various communities now living in Great Britain,” Ranger told a TV channel.

After obtaining a bach-elor’s degree from the

Chandigarh Government College, Ranger studied law in the UK.

He began his first cargo shipping business with just two pounds. Today, he is the

chairman of Sun Mark and Sea Air and Land Forwarding.

He is also presently the chairman of the Brit-ish Sikh Association.

Airfares likely to rise this fi scalNEW DELHI: Air passengers are likely to shell out the highest fares for domestic travel this fiscal with the ticket prices expected to spike seven to nine per cent during the period because of limited capacity additions since the grounding of Jet Airways, rating agency Crisil Research has said.

Crisil also forecast do-mestic passengers traffic to grow just six to eight per cent in FY20 as against a healthy 19pc growth reg-istered in the year ended March 2019, on account of non-revival of Jet Airways, which ceased all opera-tions in April due to liquid-ity crisis and is now under insolvency proceedings. The seven to nine per cent

expected the rise in airfares will be the highest since fiscal 2013, which had seen then Kingfisher Airlines go-ing bust, it remarked.

“This is way below the 14pc growth logged in fiscal 2019 and the compound an-nual growth rate (CAGR) of 18pc was seen in the last five years. Nevertheless, is high-er than our earlier estimate of two per cent growth and factors an upward revision in capacity addition plans of low cost carriers (LCCs),” Crisil added. Even if Boe-ing 737 Max aircraft, which have been grounded glob-ally since March following two fatal crashes, resumes operations post H1FY20, the domestic passenger traf-fic growth for the industry

could grow faster by about 80-100 bps at best to seven to nine per cent it said.

The LCCs, led by a ro-bust expansion of domestic capacity by SpiceJet and IndiGo, on their part are ex-pected to post strong double-digit growth of 25-30pc in passenger traffic for fiscal 2020, it said. Consequently, Crisil Research expects do-mestic passenger load fac-tor (PLF) for the industry to remain flat at around 86pc in fiscal 2020, the rating agency said. PLF is a metric that measures how much of an airlines passenger-carrying capacity is used.

With the improvement in fares and a likely ro-bust growth in passenger traffic for budget carriers,

Crisil said it anticipates the EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and restructur-ing or rent costs) margin to rebound to 24-25pc this fiscal from 15-16pc in fiscal 2019. The carriers operating margin had come off after touching a decadal high of around 30pc in 2016, Crisil said adding the recovery this time will be led by a significant jump in airfares due to sudden squeeze in capacity by airlines, follow-ing the grounding of the Jet Airways. With the improve-ment in EBITDAR margin, the LCCs operating cash flows are expected to touch a decadal high of Rs 4,700-5,200 crore this fiscal, Crisil Research said.

LONDON: The Boris Johnson government has announced the return of the two-year post-study work visa that was popular with self-financ-ing Indian students, revers-ing a 2012 decision that led to a major drop of Indian students coming to the UK.

The announcement means that Indian and other international students who join a UK educational insti-tution from the 2020-21 aca-demic year and complete an undergraduate or post-grad-uate degree in any subject will be able to stay for two years and take up any job. The visa route was scrapped by Theresa May when she was home secretary in April 2012 on the ground that it was too generous, along with other measures such as clos-ing bogus colleges that were admitting international “stu-dents”. Before its closure,

UK’s new visa offer to benefi t Indian students

Indian students with loans used the two-year period to find work and recover some of the expenses of studying in the UK. However, there were also claims that it was abused by Indian students in the bogus colleges, which have since been closed.

Scrapping the visa led to the perception that the UK is less welcoming, prompting a

fall of Indian students from the high of 39,090 in 2010-2011 to 16,550 in 2016-17. Latest figures show Indian students numbered 21,165 in the year ending March 2019. The announcement takes account of the realities of Brexit, which includes the fact that EU citizens will not be able to freely take up jobs in the country after the UK leaves the EU (the current Brexit date is Oct 31). The

announcement was widely hailed by stakeholders, in-cluding universities, student organisations and the For-eign Affairs Committee of parliament that campaigned for the visa’s return, but were consistently rejected by May as the home secre-tary and the prime minister.

Johnson announced the new visa route while launch-ing a whole genome sequenc-ing project, which he held up as an example of the UK’s pioneering research and international collabora-tion: “Breakthroughs of this kind wouldn’t be possible without being open to the brightest and the best from across the globe to study and work in the UK. That’s why we’re unveiling a new route for international students to unlock their potential and start their careers in the UK”, he said. (Contd. on page 2)

Edit on page-2

Over 300 Sikhs removed from adverse listNEW DELHI: At least 312 Indian-origin Sikhs living in foreign countries have been removed from an “adverse list,” enabling them to ap-ply for Indian visas and visit the country. “Government of India has reviewed the Adverse List containing 314 foreign nationals belonging to Sikh community and brought it down to just two,” an official said.

The official explained that in the 1980s, when Sikh militancy was at its peak, many members of the com-munity in India and abroad were influenced by anti-India propaganda. “Some Sikhs fled India to escape Indian authorities, acquired foreign nationality and took asylum outside India. They were placed in the adverse list till 2016, making them ineligible to avail visa ser-vices to visit India,” said the official. (Contd. on page 2)

Japan, India boost Oman crude salesNEW DELHI: China, long the leading destination for Omani crude exports, saw its share slide to 55.5pc of total exports of 29.741 million barrels during Aug 2019, the ministry of oil and gas said in its month-ly report of hydrocarbon production export trends. The decline represented a 22.54pc fall over the previ-ous month’s level.

Japan saw its share rise notably in Aug to 16.05pc of total Omani exports for the month, representing a 13.71pc increase over the previous month’s figure. In-dia too posted an uptick in the import of Omani crude, its share rising to 13.19pc in Aug, entailing an increase of 8.49pc over the previous

month. Malaysia accounted for 8.42pc of total Omani crude exports in Aug, fol-lowed by Myanmar, with a 6.84pc share.

Oman’s total crude and condensate production amount to 30.079 million barrels in Aug, represent-ing a daily average output of 970,305 barrels. Ex-ports averaged 959,406 barrels per day during the month.

Crude oil prices have slipped down during the Aug 2019 futures settlement compared with July 2019 for the major crude oil bench-marks around the world. The West Texas Intermedi-ate crude oil at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) averaged $54.81

per barrel, down by $2.80 compared with July 2019 trading. North Sea Brent blend on the ICE in London averaged $59.42 per barrel, down by $4.80 compared to July 2019.

Likewise, the average monthly price for Oman Crude Oil Future’s Contract at the Dubai Mercantile Ex-change (DME) dipped 6.6pc compared with previous month. The official sell-ing price for Oman Crude Oil during trading of Aug 2019, for the delivery of Oct 2019, settled at $59.68 per barrel, declining by $4.20 compared with Sept 2019 delivery. The daily trad-ing marker price ranged between $57.59 per barrel, and $63.66 per barrel.

DUBAI: For NRIs, the UAE is their home away from home. Each has an amazing story to tell — business op-portunities brought some, while the allure of a quality lifestyle made others settle their roots here since the early 1970s and 1980s.

The strength of approximately 3.3 million NRIs in the UAE, 30pc of the population, is the highest concentra-tion in any single foreign country. And through hard work, fortitude and im-mense support afforded by the hosts, NRIs have prospered personally and professionally. While historic trade ties have long existed between the two economies, the presence of a vibrant Indian community is helping propel cultural, trade and investment relations prominently. India is the UAE’s second largest trade partner and the UAE has become India’s third largest trading partner, with the total non-oil trade be-tween the two at $35.9 billion in 2018.

Estimates from a recent HSBC sur-vey indicate that by 2030, India will

UAE: home away from home for NRIsovertake China to become the single largest source of imports into the UAE.

Many Indian expats have estab-lished flourishing family businesses in the real estate, wholesale, technol-ogy and retail trade sectors. Now with growing wealth and the opportunity presented by the generous gold card residency and investor visa arrange-ments, they must think harder about the legacy they build in the UAE, back home and globally. Apart from supporting families financially and funding a mortgage back home, the most common financial activity among NRIs remains savings and investments followed by remittances. Of the Dh169 billion in outward personal remit-tances in 2018 from the UAE, India had the lion’s share at about 38pc. NRI investors

In recent years, property in the UAE has also been added to the portfolios of affluent Indians. In 2018, among non-GCC buyers, Indian expats were the top investors in Dubai’s real estate

market investing around Dh10.8 bil-lion. To add to the complexity, we are seeing NRI investors holding more and more assets in different jurisdictions, which makes wealth management and planning more important than ever. Everyone’s circumstances are different and there is no standardised solution that works for all. Some seek growth and income-generation for the future while for others wealth preservation is paramount. For some, legacy plan-ning is not so much about leaving large amounts of wealth for their children as it is about investing in their education and growth. Whatever the motivation, the one cultural tenet that every gen-eration shares is the focus on tradition and family, which tends to guide their views on inheritance. The transfer of wealth from one generation to the next is part and parcel of wealth planning.

Nevertheless, the increasingly blurred lines between business and personal affairs can make this task ever more daunting.

IPEPCIL AGM, election on Sept 28MUMBAI: The 40TH Annual General Body Meeting and Manage-ment Committee Election of Indian Personnel Ex-port Promotion Council (IPEPCIL) will be held on Saturday, Sept 28, 2019 at 3 pm at Diwan -e-Khas, ground floor, Is-

lam Gykhana, Marine Lines, Mumbai-400 002, according to IPEPCIL President Abdul Rehman CH and General Secretary Dr Sureshkumar Madhusudhanan.

Notice/ agenda of the AGM and audited balance sheet for the assessment year 2018-2019 (April 1,

2018 to March 31,2019) have been sent to the mem-bers.

Members are requested to attend the meeting and management committee election on time. Only one member (proprietor/partner/director/managing director) from one agency is allowed

to attend the AGM and election. Members are requested not to bring any non-member. If the registered member can’t attend, the member can depute the representa-tive from his organisation with an authority letter as per the specimen.

2 EMIGRATION Friday, September 13, 2019

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

Publisher: Supreet M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 1, Issue: 97

Published at: Office No. 1001, 10th Floor,Navjivan Commercial Premises Co-op. Society Ltd.,Lamington Road, (Dr.D.B.Marg), Mumbai Central,

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Road, Tardeo, Mumbai-400 034, Maharashtra, India.

LIPSYNCH “Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.”

— Ray Kroc.

Hail UK’s new visa policy

No doubt, the new visa policy announced by Britain for expatriate students is highly welcome . The new post-study work visa route announced by the

Boris Johnson government will enable Indian students to stay back in the UK for two years to find work after gradu-ation. The visa will be for two years and will be a separate visa, requiring a new application, including payment of a visa fee and immigration health surcharge. The route is non-extendable and does not count towards settlement. Nevertheless, graduates who find appropriate jobs and meet the requirements will be able to switch into skilled work, which is a route to settlement. Those who graduate and whose leave expires before the route is introduced will not be eligible for it, however, most of these students will have had no expectation of benefiting from such a route when they applied to study in the UK.

Around 22,000 Indian students got Tier-4 study visa in the year ending June 2019. This number was 42pc higher compared with 15,000 students who received the visa the previous year. Overall, around 610, 000 Indian nationals were granted a UK visa last year — over one in five of all the visas that were granted.

Students entering the UK in the 2020-21 academic year batch will be eligible for this route. It has been announced now so that universities, stakeholders and customers pre-paring for the next academic year are aware of this change and could factor this as part of the plans, says British High Commissioner to India Jan Thompson. At present, there are about 4.5 lakh internation-al students a year studying in Britain which the government wants to take it to six lakh.

Though not official, it is possible an applicant’s English language skills are likely to be ranked according to levels of proficiency in a new post-Brexit visa regime being finalised by UK home secretary Priti Patel. She is the senior-most Indian-origin cabinet minister in the Boris Johnson-led government which commissioned a major review to kick-start her plans to implement an Australian-style points-based system of immigration. Along with English language proficiency, educational qualifications and work experience are some of the other factors that are likely to be at the heart of a new immigration system at the end of Freedom of Movement rules, which currently apply as part of the UK’s membership of the European Union. Australia’s points system awards 20 points for skilled migrants with “superior” English – based on scoring an eight or more in an internationally-recognised language test – and 10 points for “proficient” English, based on a score of seven.

The original visa route was scrapped by Prime Minister Theresa May when she was home secretary in April 2012 on the ground that it was too generous, along with other measures such as closing bogus colleges that were admitting international students. Before its closure, Indian students with loans used the two-year period to find work and re-cover some of the educational expenses in the UK.

Editorial

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan presents the First Class Order of Zayed II honour to Navdeep Singh Suri in Abu Dhabi.

Outgoing Indian envoy Suri honouredABU DHABI: President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has bestowed the First Class Order of Zayed II on out-going Indian Ambassador Navdeep Singh Suri, in recognition of his efforts and his contribution to the development and strength-ening of friendly relations and co-operation between the two friendly countries.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and In-ternational Co-operation, presented the honour to the ambassador during a meeting at the ministry in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Abdul-lah lauded the ambassador’s role in bolstering the UAE-Indian ties. The Indian ambassador paid tribute to the UAE president, praising his prudent policy and his prominent role regionally and globally.

Suri said: “I am truly humbled that Sheikh Khal-ifa has conferred this rare

honour on me. I have been privileged to represent India in the UAE during a period that has seen such a remark-

able transformation in our bilateral ties. We are indeed fortunate that we have had this ringside view of history being made.”

He also extended grati-tude to government depart-

ments, officials and staff members, with whom he worked through the years. “This award is not for me

as an individual. I gratefully accept it on behalf of our wonderful team at the em-bassy and at our consulate in Dubai --- and on behalf of the amazing Indian commu-nity that constitutes such a

strong bridge between India and the UAE,” the envoy said.

Suri has been heading

the Indian mission in the UAE since October 2016. During his tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UAE twice. Pa-van Kapoor will succeed Suri as the next ambassador.

WASHINGTON: Address-ing the growing media criti-cism of India’s crackdown in Kashmir, India’s Am-bassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla told the media that some sections of the American media, especially the liberal media, is focused on a perspective on Kashmir that has being “pushed forward” by those who are “inimical” to In-dia’s interest.

He argued that New Delhi’s move to abrogate Jammu and Kashmir’s spe-cial status last month and bifurcate it into Union Ter-ritories was done for the “benefit” of the people, and described Article 370 that provided special status to Kashmir as an “anachro-nistic provision” that was “stifling the economy and encouraging the inflow of Pakistani terrorism.” “Un-fortunately, some of the me-dia in the US -- particularly the liberal media -- have, for reasons of their own, chosen not to provide this perspective, which is very important,” Shringla said. “Instead (they have) focused on a perspective that has been pushed forward by those who are inimical to

India’s envoy defends Kashmir crackdown

Harsh Vardhan Shringla

our interest.”The ambassador said

he and the Indian embassy here had started a massive outreach to the members of the Congress, senators and the think-tank community about the factual positions on India in that the recent changes in Kashmir would bring change for the better and in the interests of the residents of Jammu and Kashmir and help them get rights that have been “denied to them for many decades”.

“That is the point of view that we are trying to bring across,” said Shringla, who earlier had posted lengthy video on YouTube to reflect on the “real reasons”

for changes in the status of J &K. “As we go along, this perspective -- with the res-toration of services, more than 90pc of J &K being free of any restrictions with-out any violence, without any shot being fired -- are important signals to the international community that a lot is being done in a manner that is in the best interest of the people of Kashmir,” he said. Shringla in his YouTube video had bemoaned that “over the past few weeks we have seen a great deal of specula-tion, some pedaling of half-truths, untruths, factually incorrect information that disseminated in the media, primarily in the US.”

Anuraag Singhal appointed Florida judgeWASHINGTON: US Presi-dent Donald Trump nomi-nated an Indian American as a federal judge in Florida. Anuraag Singhal is among the 17 judiciary nomination sent by the White House to the Senate. If confirmed by the Senate, the Indian-American would replace James Cohn as the US dis-trict judge for the southern district of Florida. Singhal is the first Indian-American to be nominated to this position in Florida. Singhal currently is on the 17th Circuit Court in Florida, a position he has held since 2011. A graduate from the Rice University, Singhal studied at the Wake Forest University School of Law. His parents migrated to the US in 1960. His father from Aligarh was a research scientist with Exxon. His mother was from Dehra-dun. Singhal is perhaps best known for representing the infamous Aileen Wuornos, a serial killer who murdered seven men in Florida.

Diaspora’s well being integral to India’s foreign policySINGAPORE: Dr. Subrah-manyam Jaishankar’s ap-pointment as external af-fairs minister marked a fresh chapter in the nation’s foreign affairs. Lauded as a brilliant choice by Prime Minister Modi to fill the mega shoes of the late Su-shma Swaraj, as a foreign secretary during the BJP government’s first term, he played a key role in imple-menting diplomatic policy.

Dr Jaishankar’s grasp of global affairs and geo-

politics was evident when he talked about the role of the diaspora in expanding India’s image across the

world. “As far as the Indian government is concerned, we value the diaspora enor-mously because we think in many ways they are the image of the country in the world. The success of the diaspora in different parts of the world leads to stronger connections with other societies,” he said. Over the course of his ex-tensive diplomatic career, Dr Jaishankar has served as ambassador to the US and China. No stranger to

Singapore, he served as the Indian High Commissioner to the Lion City from 2007 to 2009.

Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar

DUBAI: Credit cards may seem like tools for easy money, but the inability to handle them well has pushed many into the quicksand of debt. Debt is a recurring story for many in their adult life, and many such stories are inadvertent-ly linked with how people use or abuse their plastic money.

“I used two credit cards for quite some time. I used them to their maximum limit and always paid back in time. In June, due an unforeseen event, I had to leave Dubai in a rush, and hoped to be back by August to resume work. However, my work visa was cancelled and eventually I became jobless. Meanwhile, I de-faulted on my credit card payments and bank officials have been chasing me for repayment. I have reached a final settlement with them, but the experience and my inability to return to Dubai has taught me one lesson:

How to avoid credit card debt in UAEAlways spend within your limits and be mindful of to-morrow because we’ll never know what will happen,” wrote a a reader.

This reader is not alone. A lot of us borrow to bridge the gaps, to fund wedding parties, make impulsive decisions or even have holi-

days --- when most such heavy expenses should be planned in the first place. Add to that an unexpected job loss and households get off-balance. In fact, the most common reasons why peo-ple get into unmanageable debt are unexpected job loss and drop in incomes. “The kind of environment

we are in, people are likely to get this shock (of job loss or pay cuts) at least once in their lifetime, if not more. It is prudent to be prepared. It pays to have financial pri-orities right and a rational spending behaviour,” Vishal Dhawan, a financial advisor offering services in India

and the UAE, said.There’ll be always calls

from banks, financial com-panies urging you to take more loans, top-ups or con-vert big purchases into easy monthly instalments, but don’t fall for it.

What you should (and should not) do if you de-fault on credit card debts?

Credit card delinquen-cies can land you behind bars. “As per the penal code of the UAE No. 401, in the case of default of payments, banks can deposit the secu-rity cheque for collection of the payment. If the cheque bounces, the bank can pro-ceed with criminal charges against the defaulter which can land the defaulter in jail,” said Barney Alma-zar, a legal advisor. But spending time behind bars won’t free you from the shackles of debt. Banks can approach the civil court to recover the payments. So, what should a person do in such a situation? Fleeing the UAE surely won’t help, Almazar advised. “Talk to banks. Look for ways to consolidate your debt. In most cases, people reach a settlement with banks that is amicable for both parties. Just recently, we settled the case of a Filipina. She owed some Dh1.7 million to the banks. The case was

settled for Dh15,000. Talk to financial experts, lawyers ... there is always hope.”Try these methods

>Revisit your situation and try to consolidate debt on different credit cards.

>Explore the balance transfer facility by another card company. It usually offers interest-free period of three to six months.

>Approach banks to restructure the outstanding balance into a fixed-interest loan, which will stop the accumulation of heavy in-terest and save you from further late payment fees.

>If you are employed, take a salaried loan (a per-sonal loan from your bank) to pay off high-interest debt.

>In case of redundancy, check if you have any in-surance cover on the card. Unsecured loans usually have a credit shield.

>If none of these op-tions are available to you, visit a legal expert, and explore your options.

UK’s new visa offer to...(Contd. from page 1)

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, the umbrella body of all UK universities, said: “This is very posi-tive news. Evidence shows that international students bring significant positive social outcomes to the UK as well as £26 billion in economic contributions, but for too long the lack of post-study work opportunities in the UK has put us at a competitive disadvantage in attracting those students”.

“The introduction of a two-year post-study work visa is some-thing universities UK has long campaigned for and we strongly welcome this policy change, which will put us back where we belong as a first choice study destination. Not only will a wide range of employers now have access to talented graduates from around the world, these students hold lifelong links in the UK”.

Over 300 Sikhs removed from...(Contd. from page 1)

The list prepared by the intelligence agencies was available with all Indian missions and it was a major roadblock in avail-ing visas even for their family members who were not on the list. “This practice has also been discontinued. Consequently, all Indian Missions have been advised to grant appropriate visa to all categories of asylees and derivative asylees (family members) whose names do not figure in the Central Adverse List, in line with the procedure followed for other categories of applicants of that nationality,” said the official. The official said that, in future, Sikhs mentioned in the list could eventu-ally apply for registration as Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) after they have applied for and held normal visas for a period of two years.

Friday, September 13, 2019 3GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES

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D I S C L A I M E R

NEW DELHI: Public sector banks (PSBs) continue to make lateral hires in specialised positions as they pivot to an era of increased digitisa-tion and focused lending to small enterprises. Recently, State Bank of India has sought applications to fill vacancies for 477 information technology (IT) roles.

Its smaller peer Bank of Baroda (BoB) has also advertised 15 vacan-cies for specialist product managers to work on an Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). BoB is also on the lookout for an executive to head its new MSME business vertical.

Much of the hiring happening at PSBs now is on a contract basis for specialised roles. In April, IDBI Bank had called for applications for nearly 950 positions, many of them in specialised roles, after the bank

PSU Banks to hire specialists through lateral entrywas taken over by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India.

SBI will make the new appoint-ments across four different pay grades and the new hires are likely

to be aged between 30 and 40. Most PSBs experience a natural attrition rate of 5pc to 10pc. They choose not to replace all the outgoing employ-ees. In recent years, a large number of new hires has been in roles that demand specialisation like treasury, sales and IT.

According to SBI’s annual report for 2018-19, the size of its workforce shrunk to 2.57 lakh at the end of FY19 from 2.64 lakh at the end of FY18. “Your bank is actively recruit-ing specialised talent on lateral and contractual basis in the areas of wealth management, information technology, information security, risk, credit, among others, in order to meet the demands of the fast-changing business landscape,” the lender said in its annual report. In FY19, 692 specialists were hired by SBI.

It further said that it has made specialised recruitment in func-tions where requisite skills are not available and where skill develop-ment could turn out to be time-consuming. This includes the fields of marketing, IT, credit and risk, human resources, analytics and wealth management.

CHENNAI: Private sector educational institution Vel-lore Institute of Technology (VIT) has said that a total of 245 companies have v is i ted its campus in the placement season so far, recruiting 2026 students.

VIT placement drive 2019:

245 companies recruit 2026 studentsA total of 150 companies,

including Amazon and Intel, participated in the intern-ship recruitment drive that

started on May 1. Can-didates selected for in-ternships are expected to be absorbed by the companies.

According to the institution, Microsoft has recruited 7 stu-dents with a CTC of Rs 41.6 Lakhs per an-num, the highest so

far. TCS and Wipro have hired 244 and 278 students, respectively.

In the core sectors, Sch-lumberger, Bajaj Auto and L&T Construction were some of the companies that con-ducted campus recruitments at VIT.

Consulting Companies like Deloitte, JP Morgan and PWC have recruited 105 students, VIT said.

GULF JOBS & CAREERS 5Friday, September 13, 2019

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Fun Corner

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Sudoku PuzzleMalaria eradica-

tion is one of the top priori-

ties of the government, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, and reaffirmed the Centre’s resolve to also eliminate diseases like tuberculosis, encephalitis and ‘kala azar’.

He said efforts are also being made to develop a vaccine for dengue, and the government has also set up a strong surveil-lance system for viral diseases like Ebola.

There are a couple of diseases which are on the radar of the health minis-try and malaria is one of

Malaria eradication top priority for govt: Harsh Vardhan

them, he said.“We are working to-

wards ending malaria as soon as possible. Simi-

larly, we are aiming at eradicating leprosy, en-

cephalitis and kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis). These are on high pri-ority. Malaria is one of

the topmost priorities,” the minister told media

persons.Malaria is caused by

a parasite which is trans-mitted to humans through the bites of infected mos-quitoes.

The minister said the international target set for eradication of tuberculo-sis (TB) is 2030, but the Union government wants to eliminate it by 2025.

The World Health Or-ganisation (WHO) had set 2030 as the target, as part of its ‘End TB Strategy’ ad-opted in the World Health Assembly in 2014.

The minister was inter-acting with the media on the sidelines of the inau-guration of a new vaccine

research and development plant at the Serum Insti-tute of India.

Asked about a lot of infectious ailments re-emerging and how pre-pared the country is to tackle diseases like Ebola, he said a robust surveil-lance system of interna-tional standard has been developed to check vari-ous diseases.

“Because of the power surveillance system, we are quite thorough in handling these diseases. When Ebola happened in 2014, I was the one who handled it and everyone knows how effectively we handled it,” he said.

A new study suggests that mushroom con-sumption by mid-

dle-aged and elderly men can reduce their chances of developing prostate can-

cer. A total of 36,499 men, aged 40 to 79 years who participated in the Miyagi Cohort Study in 1990 and

Eating mushrooms can reduce risk of prostate cancer

in the Ohsaki Cohort Study in 1994 were followed for a median of 13.2 years, re-ported the study published in the International Journal of Cancer.

D u r i n g follow-up, 3 . 3 p c o f participants developed p r o s t a t e c a n c e r . Compared with mush-room con-sumption of

less than once per week, consumption once or twice a week was associated with an 8pc lower risk of pros-

If children’s sleep pat-terns and behavioural problems aren’t taken

care of by parents, they are likely to develop severe insomnia in middle age, says a new study.

Insomnia, the most common sleep disorder in adults, is estimated to affect almost one in three people. Chronic insomnia is asso-ciated with an increased risk of mental health and other health, wellbeing and

economic c o n s e -quences including working

capacity.The findings of this

study published in JAMA Network Open journal used

Sleep problems linked to troubles in early lifedata from a long-running UK population study to find links between mod-erate to severe childhood behavioural problems and insomnia in adults by the age of 42 years old.

“This study shows a consistent association of

behavioural problems dur-ing childhood, particularly at ages 5 and 10 years, with insomnia symptoms in adulthood,” said senior au-thor Flinders University’s Robert Adams, Professor

of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH) - a leading Austra-lian research centre.

“Early intervention to manage children’s exter-nalised behaviours, such as bullying, irritability or constant restlessness, may reduce the risk of adult in-

somnia,” the author added.“Given the cost of sleep

disorders, including in-somnia, to every economy and society in the world, it’s another important step towards managing this endemic problem in the community,” said Flinders University lead author, Dr Yohannes Adama Melaku.

Researchers included people from the 1970 birth cohort study aged 5 (8550 participants), 10 (9090 people) and 16 years (7653) followed up to age 42 years (2012). Statistical analysis was performed from Febru-ary 1 to July 15, 2019.

It focused on exter-nalised behavioural prob-lems reported by parents, including cases of rest-lessness, disobedience, fighting, bullying, prop-erty damage and theft and irritability.

They found unattended sleep patterns and prob-lems in behaviour might be the reason behind in-somnia.

tate cancer and consump-tion three or more times per week was associated with a 17pc lower risk.

“Since information on mushroom species was not collected, it is difficult to know which specific mushroom(s) contributed to our findings. Also, the mechanism of the beneficial effects of mushrooms on p r o s t a t e cancer re-mains un-certain,” said lead author Shu Zhang, PhD, of the Tohoku University School of Public Health in Japan.

India Post has extended the last date for the ap-plications for the posts

of Gramin Dak Sevak. The interested candidates can now apply online on the official website- appost.in by September 22, 2019.

T h e t o t a l number of vacant posts is 10166 and the vacan-cies have been released for As-sam, Bihar, Gu-jarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Pun-jab posts.

According to the official web-site, the registra-tion process and submis-sion of the online applica-tion process are extended up to September 22, 2019.Vacancy details:

Assam: 919 posts; Bihar: 1063 posts; Gujarat: 2510

India Post: Last date for application extended to Sept 22

posts; Karnataka: 2737 posts; Kerala: 2086 posts and Punjab: 851 posts.Dates to remember:

• Online application ends: September 22, 2019Age limit:

• Interested candidates should be in the age limit of 18 to 40 years of age.

• However, reserved category candidates will get age relaxation according to government norms.

Academic qualification:• Interested candidates

should have passed class 10 with passing marks in Mathematics and English.

• The interested can-didates should also have

studied the lo-cal language at least up to 10th standard.How to apply:

• Interes t -ed candidates should apply online on the of-ficial website-ap-post.in by Sep-tember 4, 2019.

• Alternative-ly, candidates can also click on

the direct link given here to register online.

For more information and official notification for various zones, the can-didates should check the official website.

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is planning to

launch a diploma course in counselling, which will fill in the growing need for coun-sellors in schools. Speaking to indianexpress.com, NCTE chairperson, Satbir Bedi said there is an acute shortage of jobs for candidates who have cleared BEd and TET, and that this bridge course will help them get jobs.

“We have the capacity to train 19 lakh teachers every year but only 2.5 to 3 lakh new jobs are created annu-ally. The major source of these jobs is the retirement of already working teachers in schools. Above our capacity, we always have around 5 lakh extra enrolment across the country every year. To provide jobs for all these candidates is an acute issue,” said NCTE chairperson, Satbir Bedi.

The NCTE believes that

NCTE to launch course for training school counsellors

the course on counselling can work as an alternative for these candidates.

“Now it is compulsory for every school to have counsel-lors but there are not enough trained people available. Bar-ring 2-3 short term courses,

there is no mainstream full-time course in the same either. We are working out to formalise a new course to prepare counsellors to handle academic, behavioural, ado-lescent as well as parental issues,” said Bedi.

She informed that the course will be available from the coming academic year

2021. Earlier, it was being speculated that a new BEd degree in counselling would be available. However, after a meeting of stakeholders held on Friday, it seems the course would first be introduced as a one-year focused course.

“The course is first to be introduced for BA Psychology students. Since these students have a deep understanding of Psychology already, it would be possible to sum-up all top-ics in one year. This it might be called a diploma course,” informed Bedi.

“There is an increased need for counsellors in

schools for academic, behav-iour and career aspects. Teen-agers also need counselling to deal with several issues. Such a need was not felt earlier. We have to create a new cur-riculum to train counsellors who can train the teens as well as their parents. We have started discussions on how to define and develop such a course. First candidates having Psychology in their bachelors will be eligible for the same,” said Bedi.

A council is deciding the syllabus and crafting the entire curriculum for the en-tire course along with other changes to be introduced in BEd curriculum. The HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhri-yal had called for a revised teaching curriculum which is future-oriented to train the upcoming generations. He also gave nod to launching integrated BEd programmes to create specialist teachers.

Mumbai Metropolitan Re-gion Development Author-ity (MMRDA), has invited

applications against 1,053 non-executive vacancies from engineers. The application process will begin on September 16 and the last date to apply is October 7.

MMRDA is offering a package of Rs 9,300 to Rs 34,800 will be paid to Section Engineer, Station Controller and Store Supervisor which will be in accordance with 7th pay scale.

Eligibility: For most of the posts, candidate should have a degree or diploma in engineering with

electrical, electron-ics, electronics and telecommunication branch. For some other posts, ITI/ NCVT/ SCVT cer-tificate is required while for manage-rial posts, degree in MBA, MMS / PGDBM in Finance is required.

Details of post and vacancy:

Station Manager: 18; Station Control-

ler: 120; Section En-gineer: 136; Junior Engineer: 30; Train operator (shunting): 12; Chief Traffic Controller: 6; Chief Controller: 8; Junior Engineer (S&T): 8; Safety Supervisor- I: 1; Safety; Super-visor-II: 4; Senior Section Engineer: 30; Technician-I: 75; Technician-II: 287; Sr. Section Engineer (Civil): 07; Section

MMRDA to hire for 1053 non-executive postsEngineer (Civil): 16; Technician (Civil)-I: 09; Technician (Civil) -II: 26; Sr. Section Engineer (E and M): 03

Section Engineer (E&M): 06; Technician (E&M)-I: 05; Technician (E&M)-II: 11

Helper: 13 Vacancies; Sr. Sec-tion Engineer(S&T): 18; Section Engineer(S&T): 36

Technician (S&T)-I: 42; Technician (S&T)-II: 97; Security Supervisor: 04; Finance Assistant: 02; Supervisor (Customer Relation): 08; Commercial Assistant: 04; Store Supervisor: 02; Jr. Engineer (Stores): 08; HR Assistant-I: 01; HR Assistant-II: 04.

6 IN FOCUS Friday, September 13, 2019

GULF FAQs

I filed a case against my company for my pending salary and end-of-service benefits. Since 2018, the case is ongoing at a Dubai court. My visa expired on April 23, 2019. Who will be responsible for the overstaying fines? Will it be me or my company? Is there a legal way for me to stay on and fight my case? If I get a new job, what is the procedure to apply for and get the visa?

It is understood that you had filed an employment case against your employer, claiming your unpaid salaries and end-of-service benefits and the case is still pending at the Dubai Court. As your employment visa expired on April 23, you are eager to know if your employer should be held responsible for the over-

stay fines. Further, you want to know if you can legally stay in the UAE while the employment case is still pending in court and what legal procedures are required to apply for a UAE visa once you find a new job. It may be noted that upon the expiry of an employment visa, the employee may continue to legally stay in the UAE for a maximum grace period of 30 days from the date of expiry, without any overstay fines. Staying in the country beyond the grace period incurs a penalty for the visa-holder and not for the employer. However, if there is an employment case which is pending at a court in the UAE, an employee may continue to stay in the country until the case is finally dismissed. As you are a party to a pending employment case, you require an authorisation from the court to continue to stay in the UAE until the end of litiga-tion. Hence, you may immediately apply for such an authorisation. Subsequently, in order to justify your reason for staying in the country and avoid the payment of penalties, you may approach the office of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) and present the authorisation from the court, along with the documents pertaining to your employment dispute. Further, it may be noted that a temporary work permit, usu-ally with a six-month validity, is issued by the Ministry of HR and Emiratisation (Mohre), allowing the employee to take up a job and sustain his livelihood during the period of the ongoing litigation. In line with this, it may be noted that upon the expiry of one’s original employment visa, one may continue to work, subject to the approval of the court. Hence, once you get a new employment, you may approach Mohre and apply for a temporary work visa. On the other hand, if you find a new, full-time job, you may request the court to issue a letter to cancel your work permit and employment visa with your existing employer, and this shall be submitted to the GDRFA and Mohre. Then, you may request your new employer to apply for your work permit and employment visa. While the employment case that you have filed will continue, getting the new job will have no effect on your case, upon following the procedure.

Child’s custodyMe and my wife have decided to go for a divorce in the near future. A couple of months back, my wife travelled with our daughter out of Dubai and has not returned here as agreed. My wife is hesi-tant to come back to Dubai as she fears a travel ban which may be imposed on the child. For a few days now, she has been ignoring my messages and I do not have any contact with my daughter.

We assume that your wife has trav-elled to her home country along with your daughter. It may be noted that the provisions of Federal Law No. (28) of 2005 concerning Personal Status (the “Personal Status Law”) are applicable. In the UAE, parents are the custodians and guardian of their children in various capacities. Article 142 of the Personal Status Law

Work permit and employment visa

of the UAE defines custody as “keeping, bringing up and taking care of the child without interfering with the right of the guardian of the person”. Further, it may be noted that usually the mother is considered as the custodian of the child as having physical custody whereas the father is considered as the guardian of the child as per the local laws. As per the Personal Status Law, the custody of a girl child lies with the mother and it terminates when she attains the age of 13. This is in accordance with Article 156 (1) of the Personal Status Law which states: “The custody awarded to women shall terminate upon the child reaching the age of 11 years, if a male, and 13 years, if a female, unless the court deems that

extending this age to the age of maturity, for the male, and up to her mar-riage, for the female, is in his/her best interest.” We assume that your daughter is yet to attain 13 years of age, and there-fore she would still be under the custodianship of your wife. It may also be noted that the custo-dian (may be mother) of

a child may not take the child to travel outside the UAE without a written consent issued by the guardian (may be father) of the child. This is in accordance with Ar-ticle 149 of the Personal Status Law which states: “The custodian may not take the child for travel outside the state without the written consent of the guardian of the person. If the guardian abstains from approving, the matter shall be referred to the judge.” Usually in the UAE, the father is the guardian of their children and we assume that your daughter is residing in the UAE under your sponsorship. Fur-ther, it is unlawful for the mother from travelling or moving the child out of the conjugal home without the written permis-sion of the father. This is in accordance with Article 150 of the Personal Status Law which states: “(1) The mother may not take her child for travel or move him out from the conjugal house during the existence of a conjugal relation or during the revocable divorce waiting the period without his father’s written consent. (2) After the irrevocable divorce, the mother may move the child to another city within the state unless such movement affects the child’s education or causes harm to the father or makes him suffer unusual hardship or costs for visiting the child.”

Based on the aforementioned provi-sions of law, in the UAE both the father and the mother of the child may apply for his/her custody in case of differ-ences arising between them, provided the mother leaves the conjugal home even if the bond of marriage has not been dis-solved. This is in accordance with Article 146 (7) of the Personal Status Law which states: “Both the father and mother may join the children to them if they have a dispute and the mother has left the conjugal house even if their conjugal relation is still existent. The judge shall decide on their application depending on the children’s interest.” Therefore, it may be noted that since your wife has left the conjugal home with your daughter despite the conjugal relation prevailing, you may seek the custody of your daughter and also seek to bestow your guardianship rights in the UAE. As a father and as a guardian you are entitled for visitation rights of your daughter even though you are legally divorced or separated. Based on the aforementioned provisions of the Personal Status Law, in case your wife returns to Dubai/UAE with your daugh-ter, you may approach the Dubai Courts in order to apply for a travel ban which would prohibit your daughter from trav-elling outside of the UAE without your consent. Further you may approach the courts in your home country and file ap-plication for divorce and custody of your daughter under the prevailing personal laws in your home country or under the provisions of the law under which you are married. Prior to this, you may also approach your embassy/consulate in the UAE and report that your wife has left the UAE along with your daughter, without your consent and is not allowing you to contact your daughter.

DUBAI INCUBATOR FOR TALENT

Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum met Founder and CEO Divyank Turakhia, whose company a Media.net was sold for over Dh3.3million. Turakhia is an Indian.

DUBAI: Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Moham-med bin Rashid Al Maktoum met Founder and CEO Divyank Turakhia whose ad-tech company, a Media.net based in Dubai Internet City, was sold for over Dh3.3 billion. Sheikh Mohammed said: “Dubai has become the Silicon Valley of the MidEast. We are witnessing the prominent role of Dubai Internet City in creating

new economies and nurturing global entrepreneurs.” Dubai has witnessed similar multi-billion tech deals including the Dh11-billion acquisition of the Dubai-based Careem by Uber and Souq.com that was earlier acquired by Amazon for over Dh2 billion. The Ruler reaffirmed that Dubai will remain an incubator for talent and an ideal hub for tech entrepreneurs.

DUBAI: Recognised as one of the top Indian busi-ness leaders in healthcare in the MidEast, Alisha Moopen, Deputy Manag-ing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, becomes one of the first Indian female business leaders to receive the long-term residency visa. In accordance with UAE government’s recent announcement to grant leading entrepreneurs, in-vestors and business pro-fessionals with the long-term visa, Alisha, newly elected Deputy Managing Director of the Aster DM Healthcare Group has now been awarded the 10-year long term Gold Card visa.

Alisha Moopen gets 10-year UAE Gold visa Commenting on the

honour, Alisha said: “I am truly honoured that the UAE government has

recognised me as one of the first woman business leaders worthy of receiving

this status independently. Receiving this residency status has not only encour-aged me to work towards

newer and better health-care innovations through our work at Aster, but also

motivates me further that the government of UAE has recognised me as an agent of change in the healthcare sector. We sincerely thank the government of UAE for this visionary initia-tive and remain commit-ted to the progress of the country.”

In her newly elected role, she is managing the company’s operations in India and GCC. Earlier, the long-term visa was also awarded to Dr Azad Moo-pen, Founder Chairman of Aster DM Healthcare along with his wife Naseera Azad as well as Anoop Moo-pen, Director of Aster DM Healthcare and his family.

Alisha Moopen receiving the 10-year UAE Gold Card visa.

DUBAI: Around 200 In-dian workers in the UAE are likely to receive their salaries and return home. The Indian workers are among the 300 workers also from Bangladesh, Paki-stan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Egypt who were employed with the Al Wasita Emirates Cater-ing Services and did not receive their payments for months.

“The issue will be re-solved shortly. They will receive their unpaid sala-ries, air tickets and visa cancellation done hopefully in the next week or so,” Pooja Vernekar, first secre-tary (community affairs),

Over 200 Indian workers in UAEto get their long-pending salaries

Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi, said. The workers are sure of getting their salaries since the confir-mation has come from the Indian embassy. “We have been hearing this for a while--that things will be sorted out. The stress we are facing without food to eat and money to send home is unexplainable. Since the Indian embassy has confirmed this, we are hopeful. Insha Allah, I hope this is true,” an Asian worker was quoted as saying.

The majority of the Indi-an workers are from Kerala and they said it was their Onam gift.

NEW DELHI: Delhi-NCR is home to 10 unicorns or those with a valuation of at least $1 billion, with at least one added each year since 2013, compared with the nine and two unicorns that Bengaluru and Mumbai had added, respectively, in the first-half of 2019, according to the “Turbocharging Delhi-NCR Startup Ecosystem” report.

A total of 7,000 startups were founded in Delhi-NCR since 2009, according to the report. Bengaluru—consid-ered India’s “Silicon Val-ley”—had 5,234 startups in the same period, followed by Mumbai with 3,829 and

Delhi-NCR new startup capital of IndiaHyderabad with 1,940 start-ups. With 10 unicorns, the cumulative private market valuation of startups in the Delhi-NCR region is currently $46-56 billion, followed by Bengaluru at $32-37 billion followed by Mumbai at $10-12 billion. Some of the unicorns in the Delhi-NCR region are MakeMyTrip, Info Edge and Indiamart.

The pace of founding new startups has, however, slowed over the past two years across India, including in the Delhi-NCR region, according to the report. The reasons include lack of af-fordable co-working spaces,

less number and quality of accelerators and incubators, shortage of technical talent, lack of seed and early-stage funding and low corporate participation.

Rajan Anandan, presi-dent of TiE Delhi-NCR, said accelerating growth of the ecosystem will require “a lot more seed and early-stage funding, creating more affordable co-working spac-es, increasing the number and quality of accelerators and incubators, developing deeper pools of techni-cal talent and developing sector-specific policies”.

The report said that with suitable government and

private sector interventions, Delhi-NCR could become one of the top-5 global startup hubs, with 12,000 startups, 30 unicorns and a cumulative valuation of about $150 billion by 2025.

Unlocking the true po-tential of the Delhi-NCR startup ecosystem would require focusing on several core areas including build-ing “three world-class af-fordable startup hubs, one each in Delhi, Noida and Gurugram” along the lines of T-Hub set up in 2015 by the Telangana government. The report said there is a need to boost seed and early-stage investments in Delhi-NCR.

MANAMA: Bahrain is the best country in the GCC for expatriates to live, but dropped globally, according to the annual Expat Insider poll by InterNations.

Out of 64 countries, the country chosen as the world’s best expatriate city in 2017 and 2018, still tops the region, but slipped to seventh place overall. Other GCC countries to feature include Oman in 32nd position and the UAE in 40th, retaining the same ranking as last year. Kuwait came in last place for the fifth time and Saudi Arabia was not included. Over 20,000 expatriates took part in the survey, representing 182 nationalities living in 187 countries or territories.

“2019 brings a mixed bag of results for the Gulf states,” the report said. The survey, now in its sixth year, covers five indices: quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, family life and personal finance. The indices, along with the responses to the question “how satisfied are you with life abroad in general?” were averaged to arrive at the overall country ranking. A separate cost of living index provided insight into expatriates’ perception of living expenses, but did not factor into the overall ranking.

Bahrain best expatdestination in GCC

CORPORATE NEWS 7Friday, September 13, 2019

Stone laid for new building of Indian Skill Institute in Mumbai

Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dr Mahendranath Pandey lighting the lamp at the laying the foundation stone ceremony of new building of Indian Skill Institute (In association with Govern-ment of India, Government of Maharashtra ant Tata ) in Mumbai.

Canara Bank is expect-ing at least Rs 1,000 crore through dis-

investment of its 29.99pc stake in its subsidiary Can-Fin Homes Ltd in a month’s time.

Speaking at the side-lines of the IBA’s 72nd

AGM, RA Sankara Naryan-an, Managing Director and CEO, said there are about 12 serious suitors keen on buying the entire stake, including foreign players and domestic non-banking finance companies.

The Bengaluru-head-quartered public sector bank is looking to com-pletely exit from the hous-ing finance company.

Besides Canara Bank, Caladium Investment Pte

Canara Bank hopes to garner Rs 1,000cr through divestment

Ltd and Chhattisgarh In-vestment are the major shareholders in Can Fin Homes with 13.45pc and 9pc stake, respectively, as at June-end 2019.Amalgamation plan

The government had on August 30 announced

its decision to amalgamate six banks with four banks, including amalgamating Manipal headquartered Syndicate Bank with Ca-nara Bank.

The proceeds from the disinvestment of CanFin Homes, the expected capi-tal infusion of Rs 6,500 crore, and the amalgama-tion will help Canara Bank with growth capital and increase capital adequacy ratio from 11.9pc to 13pc.

After the Board approv-al for the amalgamation, which is expected in a few days, Canara Bank will form committees, compris-ing top officials of Canara and Syndicate Banks, to en-sure smooth amalgamation.

Sankara Narayanan said his bank will appoint a consultant to conduct fi-nancial and legal due dili-gence and give fairness opinion.

“The swap ratio has to be transparent, just and right for the minority shareholders. If you satisfy that then the book integra-tion is simple. The major issue is HR and IT,” said the Canara Bank chief. The combined entity will have 10,400 branches. There will be an overlap in the case of 800-900 branches.

“There is no question of merger or closure of the branches immediately. We can create efficiencies by integrating the administra-tive offices to start with. We have 130 administra-tive offices and they have about 100. Staff at both levels can be more effec-tively utilised,” he said.

To further strengthen its relationship with parent Life Insurance

Corporation of India, IDBI Bank is planning to launch a co-branded credit card, which will be marketed to customers, agents, and em-ployees of the corporation and its subsidiaries.

The co-branded cred-it card will be launched in association with LIC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, LIC Credit Cards Services (LIC CSL), before the fes-tival season of Diwali gets underway, said Jorty M Chacko, Executive Director, IDBI Bank.

Currently, IDBI Bank offers five credit card vari-ants. LIC CSL, which has a tie-up with Axis Bank and Corporation Bank for issuance of credit cards under co-branded/white label agreements, provides credit card services to LIC employees, club member agents, and policyholders.

IDBI to launch co-branded credit card with LIC

Sees huge potentialChacko emphasised that

IDBI Bank sees a huge potential customer base in LIC’s 29 crore policyhold-

ers, 11.80 lakh agents, and 1.12 lakh employees to cross-sell, among others, credit cards and home loans, and source deposits.

As per LIC’s 2017-18 annual report, LIC CSL had a credit card sub-scriber base of 2,06,681 as of March-end 2018. IDBI Bank currently has a credit card subscriber base of about 35,000.

LIC completed the ac-quisition of 51pc control-ling stake in IDBI Bank in January 2019 for about Rs 21,600 crore. Prior to

the acquisition, LIC held 10.82pc stake in the bank.

The government now holds 46.46pc stake in IDBI Bank, against 80.96pc stake held prior to the disinvest-ment in favour of LIC.

According to IDBI Bank’s latest annual report, the majority stake acquisi-tion by LIC has opened up several business avenues for the bank.

To develop driverless cars, build metal 3d printing machine

IT major Wipro is col-laborating with Indian In-stitute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to develop ‘driv-erless cars’ and build the country’s first indigenous ‘Metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing) machine’.

Azim Premji, founder of Wipro, delivering the convocation address at the IISc, said “We have im-mense gratitude towards your wonderful institution. This is our birthplace. Let me thank you – all of you who are here and the generations that have built IISc.”

“I am also happy to note that our association has continued over the past 40 years — we have continued to recruit from your institu-tion and do collaborative projects at the cutting edge of technology; it is here we are collaborating to develop ‘driverless cars’ and build the country’s first indig-

Now, with the chang-ing times, there are no barriers

between chemistry, zool-ogy and botany. “All three streams are a scientific conglomerate. There are no barriers any more, but a convergence of knowl-edge,” said Kiran Mazum-dar-Shaw Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon.

Speaking at an event to mark the centenary year of the Botany Department of Central College, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said bot-any and related subjects are breaking new ground. “Technology has advanced so much since my student days that by merely peer-ing into a microscope, the whole genome sequence can be figured out now.”

“When I was a student,

The State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corpo-ration (ONGC) has

announced that it will invest over Rs 13,000 crore in Assam over the next five years.

The oil and gas company has signed a memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) with the Assam government for boosting its exploration and pro-duction activities in the state. The company will make investment for drill-ing more than 220 oil and gas wells across the state, it said.

“ONGC is giving im-petus to its activities in alignment with the Prime Minister’s call to cut im-port 10pc by 2022 and Northeast Hydrocarbon Vi-sion 2030,” the statement added.

ONGC, in a new vision

Wipro to collaborate with IISc

Tech breaking down barriers between sciences: Biocon CMD

ONGC to invest Rs 13,000cr

enous ‘Metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing) machine.’

By associating with IISc, Premji said, “I think that there are two lessons in our association with the great institution. The first one is that collaboration mat-ters more than we realise. We must encourage and foster collaboration across different sectors — across education and research institutions, industry, civil society and government.”

The second lesson, he said, is the role and contribution of good and open-minded institutions in society, which cannot be measured in money terms. They have far-reaching and deep impact. “We must build more such institu-tions, which pursue ex-cellence in their chosen fields — and are deeply engaged with society. IISc is an excellent example of this — but we have too few such institutions in India, we must build many more.”

genetics as a subject was not there and gene research started only a few years later. I studied my honours programme here 50 years ago and I am extremely delighted that the botany department of Central Col-lege is celebrating its 100th year,” she said.

Talking about how tech-nology is fast changing the life science field, she said “Today, life sciences is very different. We use Artificial Intelligence, bio-informatics and other advanced tech-nology. Synthetic sciences are also being integrated and Enzyme technology is gaining importance.”

The centenary celebra-tion was organised by Cen-tral College Botany Depart-ment Alumni Charitable Trust and the Bengaluru

document for 2040, has set a target to double oil and gas output from its do-mestic and overseas fields

and expand its refining capacity threefold, apart from diversifica-tion into renew-ables. India’s top oil and gas pro-ducer plans to invest $15-16 bil-

lion to achieve this target.As per the company’s

annual report, the ONGC Board recently approved the business roadmap for the company and its other group entities.

The firm produced 24.23 million tonnes of crude oil in the financial year 2018-19 and 25.81 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from its domestic fields. Another 10.1 million tonnes of oil and 4.736 bcm of gas were produced from its overseas assets.

Ties that go backRecalling Wipro’s old as-

sociation with IISc, Premji said, “in 1979, Wipro ap-proached the newly set up Centre for Scientific and Industry Consultancy at IISc for a consulting project. We had just set up our information technology division, having decided to diversity into IT.

“The institute consti-tuted a committee to advise us on what computer we should make. This consult-ing priejct involved survey-ing literature on the com-puters being made all over the world. And it was also a platform for technical dis-cussions, conceptualisation and design review between Wirpo’s R&D team and IISc. It was here that we began to think about what chips, bus and microprocessor should be used in the first Wipro computer,” he said.

On the technology trans-fers and expertise, Wipro chairman said IISc helped build R&D manpower of

Wipro. “Victor Jayakaran, the first employee of our IT division, was an M tech student of IISc and was hired to anchor the project in its initial stages. Sridhar Mitta, from ECIL, joined us soon after. In the first few months of their joining they worked out of the digital lab of IISc.”

However, there is some-thing that is even more fun-damental than the pursuit of excellence that shapes the institutions and their contributions. This most fundamental of things is the values of the institu-tions, he said. “And when I mention values, I mean what is lived and practised every day in institutions, not merely what is pro-fessed.”

Premji cited three val-ues that he believed were critical to a good institution and its contributions to the world, namely integrity, empathy and humaneness, and third, fairness, equity and justice.

Aditya Birla Capi-tal said that its board has given

an approval to raise Rs 2,100-crore equity capital,

to fund the firm’s business growth.

The non-banking finan-cial company will take up the proposal for the consid-eration of shareholders at its extraordinary general meet-ing to be held on October 5. “The board has approved the creation, offer, issue and allotment of 21 crore

Aditya Birla Capital to raise Rs 2,100-cr equity capital

equity shares at a price of Rs 100 per share including a premium of Rs 90 for an aggregate consideration of Rs 21,000 million by way of

preferen-tial allot-ment to the pro-posed al-lottees,” it said in a regula-tory fil-ing.

A d -itya Birla

Capital said that in view of the future outlook of the company, its growth targets and prospects, the company requires additional funding to augment its long-term resources including for ser-vicing/repayment of indebt-edness, capital expenditure, investment in subsidiaries or joint ventures.

Central University.Addressing former

professors, alumni and current students, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said the way we understand im-mune system is very dif-ferent now. “Immunology is key to life sciences in both plants and animals. There is a huge trans-formation in healthcare, especially cancer. To-day, biological science is helping cure cancer. The world’s focus is shifting from radiation and che-motherapy to immuno oncology to fight cancer.”

S Japhet, vice-chancel-lor of Bengaluru Central University, said the motto of BCU will be “Namma Bengaluru, Namma BCU” to make the university a premier brand of the city.

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8 Travel / Entertainment

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Friday, September 13, 2019

EXCHANGE RATESEXCHANGE RATES

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

As on 12th September, 2019 (In rupees)

Currency Buying Selling

Australian Dollar 47.30 50.30 Bahraini Dinar 183.80 193.80British Pound 86.90 89.90Canadian Dollar 52.15 55.15Emirati Dirham 18.85 19.85 Euro 77.25 80.25 Kuwaiti Dinar 228.50 238.50Omani Rial 179.60 189.60Qatari Riyal 18.00 20.00 Saudi Riyal 18.45 19.45 Singapore Dollar 50.20 53.20 Swiss Franc 69.95 74.50US Dollar 69.75 72.25

Source:

Roa’a Al-Sahhaf performing aerial yoga.

Saudi trapeze artiste’s soaringsuccess with aerial yoga

Modern yoga classes have proved so popu-lar among Saudis that Roa’a Al-Sahhaf is al-ready looking to expand throughout the Kingdom.

A Saudi flying trapeze artiste has found soaring business

success just months after launching the Kingdom’s first aerial yoga studio. Roa’a Al-Sahhaf, the country’s first female circus performer, said her modern yoga classes have proved so popular among Saudis she is already looking to expand through-out the Kingdom.

The 42-year-old mother of three girls, opened Saudi Arabia’s first certified aerial arts studio in the coastal city of Jeddah in March this year offering yoga, pole dancing, Pilates, family dance classes and boxing. Aerial yoga uses a hammock to support, either fully or partially, the weight of students while they work on traditional yoga postures. Not only does it enable them to perform advanced yoga moves that would normally take years to learn but hanging upside-down can be good for the

spine and builds confidence.Al-Sahhaf graduated

from the Prince’s Founda-tion School of Traditional Arts in London and has been practicing aerial silks, as they are known, since she was a child. Nevertheless,

she only began to make a career of it in 2009. “I was the first Saudi female circus performer. Actually, it was my childhood dream to per-form in a circus and thanks to Taif Season it came true in Circo Americano,” she said. I started loving aerial arts as a kid, but we did not

have gymnastics here so the first time I saw this studio, I pursued it.

During the recent Taif festival season of activities, Al-Sahhaf performed in fly-ing trapeze and aerial shows with the famous circus. “I

tried to join Circo Ameri-cano a year ago, but it was not allowed for females to participate,” she added. “But when things changed, I leapt at the opportunity to shine.”

The Pole Spirit Paris stu-dio was where Al-Sahhaf learned the discipline of pole dancing and other aer-

ial moves in 2012 and she is now a certified coach from a number of top US and European institutes. Armed with her qualifications, she decided to introduce her passion for aerial arts to Jeddah. “I had times where I

could not travel, so I wanted to practice it here in my city. I decided to open a studio room in my house, and it worked. It started with fam-ily and friends of friends, and little by little gyms and studios began to call and ask me to give classes,” she added.

The Australian govern-ment’s global tourist promotion arm, Tour-

ism Australia, expects the number of Indian visitations to reach five lakh by 2020 and cross 10 lakh by 2025 from some 3.72 lakh during the year ended March 2019. Nis-hant Kashikar, country man-ager, India and Gulf, Tour-ism Australia said India was the fastest growing inbound market for Tourism Australia with five consecutive years of double-digit growth.

“In the last five years, there has been a 16pc CAGR growth in Indian tourist inflows while the spending by them has gone up by 18pc during the period,” he said. A large number of Indian population was al-ready in Australia — a huge Indian diaspora of 7.5 lakh people in addition to 90,000 students and a large base of Indian tech workers, he said. “Our 2020 arrival goal for Indians was three lakh, but we had achieved this goal three years ahead of the target date in Dec 2017. That’s the kind of interest we see among Indians for Australian destinations,” he explained. As the host nation of the ICC T20 World

Over fi ve lakh Indians to visit Australia

Cup for Women and Men in 2020, Australia is anticipat-ing to sustain its growth trajectory in tourism.

The country has recently made its online visa pro-cessing simpler and more convenient with no personal visits or need for biometrics. Also, it believes that its currency stabil-ity gives it an added attraction among for-eign tourists.

Kashikar further said: “We expect an additional, up to 40,000 Indian visitors to Australia in connection with these two sports events. We want to make the ICC T20 World Cup for Women a very big event as part of our focus on popularising wom-en sports.“We are working with ICC and travel partners to make these events a huge success.”

Commenting on the emerging travel trends in India, he said: “We see interesting trends emerging around tour and travel in India. For instance, the age of first time international travellers from India has been dropping from 55 to 25 and now, five years. A few generations ago, travelling

overseas was a senior thing, it became a young thing and now a large number of small kids are part of the global travel from India.”

Maharashtra leads in the number of visitors to

Australia followed by Delhi and Karna-taka. Some 3.72 lakh Indians who trav-elled to Australia last year contributed Rs 8,500 crore to the Australian econo-

my. Interestingly, friends/family and leisure segment accounted for 52pc of these travels while the rest came from business, education and employment. Tourism Australia has decided to invest A$5 million million to hold a a comprehensive campaign to promote these sports events in India. The exercise will also includ-ing training airlines, tour and travel bodies and some 2,400 select travel agents.

New Zealand, the US, UK, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia are the key tourism markets of Australia. India currently is in the sixth position in terms of tourists spend and on an average each Indian tourist spend around A$ 5000 per visit.

The countless shopping centres and endless names of fashion la-

bels have enticed tourists to do most of their shopping in Dubai, according to new research published by Mas-tercard’s Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI) 2019.

The study revealed that tourists spent a total of $30.82 billion last year with 15.93 million visitors flocking to Dubai, placing the city in the fourth spot for the top 20 city destinations in the world. The report also indicated that tourists stayed an average of 3.5 nights in Dubai and spent around $553 per day. Bang-kok was ranked as the most visited city for the fourth

Dubai where tourists spend mostconsecutive year while Paris and London were in second and third place respectively.

“While there has been significant movement in visitors to smaller cities, the top 10 has remained largely consistent. London, Paris, and Bangkok have been the top-3 since 2010, with Bangkok as No. 1 six of the past seven years. New York is another top 10 stalwart, with 13.6 million overnight visitors this year,” said Diana Munoz Robino, Senior Vice President of Global Tour-ism Partnerships, Master-card. The study also found that the city of Makkah was the second destination where tourist spend the most at $20.09 billion in

2018, followed by Bangkok with $20.03 billion. “[The] rise of Asia-Pacific Interna-tional Travellers, cities in Asia-Pacific, have seen the largest increase in interna-tional travellers since 2009, growing 9.4pc. In compari-son, Europe, which saw the second highest growth, up 5.5pc. This is spurred on by the growth in mainland Chi-nese travelers. Since 2009, mainland China has jumped six places to be the No. 2 origin country for travelers to the 200 included destina-tions—behind only the US,” said Robino. Established in 2011, the Global Destination Cities ranks 200 cities based on visitor arrivals and cross-border spending.

MP tourism to focus on air connectivity

Dubai Global Village to open on Oct 29

Film star Kamal Haasan felicitated legendry actor and dancer Vyjayanthimala Bali with a Life-time Achievement award at the 11th JFW Magazine Awards 2019.

The Madhya Pradesh government is for-mulating a new tour-

ism policy to ensure better air connectivity to visitors and to provide jobs to local youths, Tourism Minister Surendra Singh Baghel said. It will also promote scenic locations and heritage ho-tels in the state as wedding destinations, he said.

“We are framing a new tourism policy which is more employment-oriented, especially for local youths. We will also provide better air connectivity and chop-per facilities to domestic travellers for visiting differ-ent tourist destinations in

the state,” Baghel said. He was addressing a function organised by the Associa-tion of Domestic Tour Op-erators of India’s (ADTOI) Madhya Pradesh chapter.

“The tourism depart-ment will also promote picturesque sites and heri-tage hotels as wedding des-tinations,” he said. It will also organise activities with tour operators for promot-ing tourism in the state, he added. The government is also working on schemes to promote tourism in forest areas and to provide better medical facilities to visitors, state tourism secretary Faiz Ahmed Kidwai remarked.

Dubai’s most excit-ing and most visited multicultural theme

park Global Village is set to open on October 29 this year. The 166 days 24th edition of the popular event will end on April 4, 2020, Global Village organisers announced. The last 23th edition of the Global Village which was held from Oct 30, 2018 to April 13, had received a record breaking seven million visitors. In its 23rd season, Global Village featured more than 3,500 outlets showcasing the cul-tures of 78 countries. Global Village is a hub for family-

friendly fun in Dubai with outdoor activities during the cooler months. Currently, preparations are at its peak to make the park ready for opening. Global Village is a multicultural festival park and the region’s first family destination for culture, shop-ping and entertainment.

Global Village achieved an impressive 9/10 score on the Happiness Index last year and has responded to guest reviews by making improve-ments that reflect its cultural and family-orientated ethos.

Cathay Pacifi c freezes fresh hiring

Cathay Pacific Airways has put a freeze on new hiring, according to an internal memo as the airline battles a slump in demand from fliers avoiding Hong Kong

amid massive anti-government protests in the city.In a memo to staff, new Chief Executive Augustus Tang

said he had asked executives to examine spending and focus on cutting costs. The airline will also not replace departing employees in non-flying positions unless approved by a spending control committee, he said. Cathay has said it will cut capacity for the upcoming winter season after reporting an 11.3pc fall in passenger numbers for August. The airline does not expect Sept to be any less difficult, while analysts have projected it could swing to a loss in the second-half. Cathay shares fell 2.4pc early on Thursday, lagging the benchmark Hang Seng Index that was down 0.4pc.

The weak demand and cuts to capacity will heap more pressure on Cathay and its new management, appointed after CEO Rupert Hogg quit last month in a shock move and the resignation of Chairman John Slosar last week. Cathay, which is trying to complete a three-year financial turnaround plan, has become the largest corporate casu-alty of the Hong Kong protests after China demanded it suspend staff involved in, or supporting, the demonstra-tions that have plunged the former British colony into a political crisis.

Emirates wins Best EntertainmentPrize at APEX Passenger Awards

Emirates (airlines) has clinched its third consecutive award for Best Entertainment at the 2020 Passenger Choice Awards held during the APEX EXPO in Los

Angeles. The airline was also given a Five-Star Global Air-line Official Airline Rating, the highest rating in the first airline rating programme based on verified and certified passenger feedback.

Emirates has been at the forefront of the industry from being the first airline to install TV screens in every seat in 1992 to allowing customers to create and sync entertain-ment playlists on its mobile app since last year. Today, Emirates provides one of the most comprehensive and

state-of-the-art entertainment and communications ser-vices in the skies. ice, its award-winning inflight entertain-ment system, now offers over 4,500 channels of entertain-ment, including well over 1,000 world movies. Customers across all classes view these entertainment options on the largest screens in the industry for each cabin at 13.3 inches for Economy Class, 23 inches for Business Class and 32 inches in First Class. The airline has also been investing to provide connectivity and Live TV for its customers. Over 176 Emirates aircraft are equipped with Live TV and at any time 70,000 passengers and sport enthusiasts could be watching global sporting events live at 40,000 feet.