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Happy 48th National Day UAE2nd December 2019

UAE National Day (2nd December, 2019)Special Supplement along with

29th November, Friday 2019 issue.For advertisement booking: Contact 88982 61303 / 99232 71801Email: prince.manjalil@newsandnri.com / media@newsandnri.com

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His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

President of the UAEHis Highness

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al MaktoumVice President and

Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

President Ram Nath Kovind administering the oath of office to Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde as the Chief Justice of India at a swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Visa on arrival for UAE nationalsNEW DELHI: UAE nationals coming to India can get on arrival visa with immediate effect. This facility is aimed at further strengthening people-to-people and trade links as well as strategic ties between the two countries. Visa on arrival will be avail-able to UAE nationals for a period of up to 60 days with double entry for business, tourism, conference and medical purposes.

This facility will be available at six designated International airports ----

Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Visa on arrival will be available only to those UAE nationals who have earlier obtained an e-visa or a normal paper visa for India, irrespective of whether the person actually visited India or not. Those UAE nationals coming to India for first time, are ad-vised to apply for e-visa or a normal paper visa.

Conditions * Visa on arrival Scheme

is applicable for such UAE nationals who had earlier obtained e-visa or regular/paper visa for India.

* UAE nationals who are coming to India for the first time are advised to apply for e-visa or regular/paper visa.

* Pakistan-origin UAE nationals will not be eli-gible for the visa-on-arrival scheme.

*All other terms and conditions applicable to Japanese and South Korean nationals will also be ap-plicable to UAE nationals.

VALUATION AT $1.71 TRILLION

Aramco share price between SR 30-32DUBAI: Saudi Aramco’s multibillion-dollar initial public offer (IPO), probably the largest in history, shift-ed to full gear as its share price was announced and subscription to the world’s biggest oil company com-menced on Sunday.

Saudi Aramco set an in-dicative share price between SR 30 and 32 for the 1.5pc of its shares – or about three billion shares of its 20 bil-lion regular shares – that it would offer for the domestic part of its public offering. The blockbuster IPO could be worth least $24 billion, and values the state-owned oil giant at up to $1.71 tril-

lion. The offering – or book-building – period for insti-tutional subscribers, which closes on Dec 4 while the retail offering for individual investors will begin on Nov 21 and will end on Nov 28.

The final pricing for the Aramco shares would be an-nounced on Dec 5.

Samba Capital & Invest-ment Management Company has been designated as is-sue manager while National Commercial Bank, Saudi British Bank, Samba Finan-cial Group, Saudi Investment Bank, Alawwal Bank, Arab National Bank, Albilad Bank, Aljazira Bank, Riyad Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Alinma Bank,

Banque Saudi Fransi and Gulf International Bank were named as receiving banks.

If there are applications for more than the 0.5pc on offer — amounting to one billion shares — allocations to private investors will be scaled back proportionate to demand; if there are fewer applications than the 0.5pc when all maximum applica-tions are satisfied, private investors can have the over-payment refunded either in cash via the receiving banks or in the form of extra shares in Aramco.

There is an incentive mechanism in the IPO whereby Saudi investors

will receive a bonus one-for-10 allocation of shares, up to a maximum of 100 shares, if they do not sell shares in the market for a period of six months after dealings begin in Dec, at a date still to be determined. Aramco also intends to buy $1 billion worth of shares for employees under a plan to incentivise executives and staff members alongside the IPO next month.

The plan — which was disclosed in the IPO pro-spectus — will involve Ar-amco buying the shares from the government and making them available for employ-ees under special terms.

Sensex up by over 100 pointsMUMBAI: Equity bench-mark BSE Sensex jumped over 100 points in early trade on Monday led by gains in index heavyweights RIL and ICICI Bank amid positive cues from global markets.

After hitting a high of 40,542.40, the 30-share in-dex pared some gains to trade 72.26 points or 0.18pc, higher at 40,428.95, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 17.80 points or 0.15pc to 11,913.25. Top gainers in the Sensex pack in -c l u d e d Bharti Air-t e l , SBI , Tata Mo-tors, Sun P h a r m a and L&T, rising up to 3.09pc. On the other hand, Yes Bank, M&M, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, HUL and Bajaj Auto fell up to 1.46pc.

On Friday, the Sensex had ended 70.21 points or 0.17pc higher at 40,356.69. Similar-ly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 23.35 points or 0.20pc to end at 11,895.45. Foreign insti-tutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,008.37 crore in the capital market in the previous session, while domestic institutional inves-tors purchased equities worth Rs 537.74 crore.

MUSCAT: The Oman’s min-istry of manpower has an-nounced a six-month ban on hiring expats in private sector establishments deal-ing with construction and cleaning work.

In a statement issued on Monday, the ministry said: “The authorisation for the recruitment of non-Omani manpower in private sector establishments engaged in construction and cleaning works shall be suspended for six months. The permit will continue with an outgo-

Temporary ban on work visas inOman for construction workers

ing allowance.”Nevertheless, compa-

nies with over 100 work-ers will not be affected by the move, according to Ar-ticle (2) of the decision. Besides this, the decision also specifies that those establishments operating in implementation of gov-ernment projects, enter-prises owned by full-time employers registered with the Public Authority for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, and establishments registered

in the world category and based in free zones, will also not be affected. In Oman, there is a decline of 17pc in total number of expatri-ates working in construc-tion sector in the last two years. According to National Centre of Statistics and Information, of a total of 17 lakh foreign workers are em-ployed in the Sultanate and of them 508,690 are working in the construction sector as in 2019. In 2017, there were 619,744 expatriates working in construction sector.

NEW DELHI: Aviation regu-lator DGCA has suspended the flying licence of two pilots of IndiGo for three months for a runway incur-sion at Chennai airport. On July 14 this year, the pilots of a Chennai to Ahmedabad flight were asked by the Chennai Air Control (ATC) to stop at runway holding point before taking off but the pilots crossed the point.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its probe report said the inci-dent violated the DGCA ad-

Two IndiGo pilotslose fl ying licence

visory circular which “states that flight crews should use a continuous loop process for actively monitoring and updating their progress and location during taxi.”

“This includes knowing the aircraft’s present location and mentally calculating the next location on the route that will require increased attention. The above action of the crew jeopardised the safety of the aircraft and pas-sengers,” said the DGCA in its probe report. The DGCA issued show-cause notices to

the pilots seeking an expla-nation in writing as to why action should not be taken against (them) for “endan-gering the safety of aircraft and passengers on board”.

“The pilot-in-command accepted his mistake, fol-lowing which the regulator suspended both the pilots’ flying licences for three months,” said the DGCA . Earlier in Oct, the flying licences of two IndiGo pilots were suspended for another incident of runway incur-sion at Delhi airport.

Los Angeles Tourism opens Mumbai offi ceMUMBAI: Sunny Southern California is calling Indian millennials who love to live the jet set life. Leveraging the burgeoning Indian mil-lennial segment that is in-creasingly looking at offbeat travelling destinations, Los Angeles Tourism & Conven-tion Board opened its first tourism office in India, lo-cated in Mumbai. The office will focus on driving travel aspiration and motivate Indian visitors to increase length of stay and spend in Los Angeles. The office will work with the travel trade to develop customised and tailored product itineraries in line with consumer and travel trade interests.

Encouraged by growth indicators in India – es-pecially the growing out-bound travel segment -– Los Angeles Tourism’s latest visitation forecast projects a year-over-year growth of

Universal Studios

4.4pc in 2019 with 1.35 lakh Indian visitors. Indian visitation to Los Angeles is expected to grow by a year-over-year average of five per cent over the next five years with nearly 1.65 lakh Indian

travellers estimated to visit by 2023.

“We target high-end lux-ury travellers belonging to SEC A segment in India.

Our marketing promotions are only on digital and social media platforms because we are trying to convince millennials between 18 and 40 years. Our focus has also shifted from independent

travellers to family travellers as well,” said Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer, Los Angeles Tourism.

The tourism board has

also appointed Seema Kadam as its first regional director for India. In terms of spends by foreign tourists, the Indian outbound travel market of-fers immense potential with India being the fifth largest foreign exchange generator for the US at ($15.8b), af-ter China ($36.4b), Canada ($22.1b), Mexico ($21.1b) and Japan ($16b).

In order to create aware-ness and higher recall about the destination, the tourism board has been running an advertising campaign --- “Everyone is welcome”-- featuring Bollywood in-fluencers such as Malaika Arora, Sonam Kapoor and husband Anand Ahuja. Los Angeles Tourism is looking at launching yet another in-fluencer advocacy campaign in the coming months.

Known for its movie studios such as Universal Studios, (Contd. on page 2)

US Senate honours Sikh communityWASHINGTON: The United States Senate has unani-mously passed a resolu-tion recognising the histori-cal, cultural and religious significance of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, besides the Sikhs’ contribu-tions in the US’ growth.

Introduced by Repub-lican Senator Todd Young from Indiana and Demo-cratic Senator Ben Cardin from Maryland, the first of its kind resolution on Sikh-ism was passed by the US Senate. The resolution said Sikhs in the US and around

the world live as per the values and ideals of equal-ity, service, and devotion to God, first preached by Guru Nanak. The Senate resolution also mentioned four eminent Sikhs for their contribution to the US.

The Sikhs figured in the resolution included Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian-American Congressman, elected to the office in 1957, Dr Narinder Kapany, the inventor of fibre optics, Di-nar Singh Bains, the largest peach grower in the US

and Gurinder Singh Khalsa, the recipient of the

prestigious Rosa Parks Trail-blazer Award.

The resolution also rec-ognised the contribution of Sikh women Grammy-winning artist Snatam Kaur, New York police officer Gur-soach Kaur and University of California, Berkeley pro-fessor Supreet Kaur. Indiana-based Khalsa welcomed the passage of the resolution. “This is a historic moment for the global Sikh commu-nity. We Sikhs of America are grateful to the US Sen-ate and Senator Young for introducing the resolution,” he said. (Contd. on page 2)

2 EMIGRATION Tuesday, November 19, 2019

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

Publisher: Supreet M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 2, Issue: 12

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

The Sri Krishnan Temple along Waterloo Street, Singapore.

Tourists thrilled by Singapore’s cultural diversity, commonalities

The fi rst of the three walks is Harmony Walks --- Queen, Waterloo and Bencoolen Streets. It will cover a total of seven religious institutions -– Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Sri Krishnan Temple, Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Kum Yan Methodist Church and Masjid Bencoolen.

SINGAPORE: It is not un-common to see a devotee from the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple along Wa-terloo Street walk two doors down to the neighbouring Sri Krishnan Temple to offer prayers.

In the Bugis precinct, t emples , churches , a mosque and a synagogue are within a stone’s throw of one another. These houses of worship stand as testa-ments to the diverse com-munities who lived, worked and played side by side around Queen, Waterloo and Bencoolen Streets in Singapore’s Bras Basah.

The National Heritage Board has launched a new programme titled Harmony Walks, a series of free guided walks for the public. They will cover three selected areas of historical signifi-cance and allow attendees to learn more about the

commonalities shared by diverse communities in the areas of religion, culture and built heritage in Singapore. “Through Harmony Walks, we hope to contribute to ongoing efforts to build and boost trust amongst different

communities and encourage Singaporeans to embrace ra-cial and religious diversity,” said Alvin Tan, Deputy Chief Executive (Policy & Commu-nity) of NHB.

The Singapore Town Plan, showing Queen, Wa-terloo and Bencoolen Streets to be part of a “European Town”, late-19th century. Despite being originally designated as a European quarter, significant numbers of Eurasians, Chinese, Indi-ans, Jews, Malays, amongst other communities, also settled in the area. Despite being originally designated as a European quarter, sig-nificant numbers of Eur-

asians, Chinese, Indians, Jews, Malays, amongst other communities, also settled in the area.

The first of the three walks is Harmony Walks: Queen, Waterloo and Ben-coolen Streets. It will cover a total of seven religious in-stitutions – Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Sri Krish-nan Temple, Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Church of Saints Peter and Paul,

Kum Yan Methodist Church and Masjid Bencoolen. The three strees were originally part of a European quarter

according to the Raffles Town Plan, which was pub-lished in 1828. However, by the mid-1800s, significant numbers of Eurasians, Chi-nese, Indians, Jews, Malays, and other communities had settled in the area, bringing with them their respec-tive religions and cultural practices.

These communities en-gaged with and embraced one another and continue to do so to this day, estab-

lishing a brand of cultural and religious harmony that is integral to Singapore and its people. Each guided walk lasts two hours, and they will be held weekly from Nov 23, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Two subsequent trails at Telok Ayer and South Bridge Road will be rolled out progressively in 2020.

MUSCAT: In a charity gesture, a young business-man from Kerala is giving away the entire sports goods that he has in his shop to the needy.

“This country has helped me make a living when I came here search-ing for a livelihood. I wanted to do something different to help the less privileged. So I am donat-ing all the sports goods on the occasion of the 49th National Day of Oman,”

Kind gesture from NRIsaid Najeeb Rahiman. He said that the goods will be donated to Dar al Atta’a and Bait al Rahma so that needy children in the far flung places in

the Sultanate can benefit from them. “It is kind of a dream come true for me,” Najeeb, who hails from Alappuzha in Kerala, said. The goods range from gears needed for almost all sports activities, jersey, boots, football, badmin-ton and the like.

Will UK Sikhs get separate ethnic recognition for 2021 census?LONDON: The United King-dom High Court here con-cluded hearing a British Sikh group’s case for a separate Sikh ethnicity tick box in the next UK census in 2021.

Judge Beverley Lang re-served her judgment after the two-day hearing con-sidered the submissions presented by the Sikh Fed-eration UK and the counter-arguments of the UK Cabinet Office. The Sikh Federation UK, represented by the law firm Leigh Day at the Royal Courts of Justice, believes it would be “unlawful” for the Cabinet Office to lay before parliament a census order based on the proposals set out by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its Dec 2018 White Paper, which had rejected the need for a separate tick box.

“There is overwhelming public, Sikh community and cross-party support. We have been forced to go to the High Court on Guru Nanak 550 to tackle discrimina-tion,” Sikh Federation UK said in a Twitter statement in reference to the proceed-ings coinciding with the 550th Guru Nanak birth

anniversary celebrations on Tuesday. Sikhs are recog-nised as a separate religion in the optional religious question introduced in the 2001 Census.

The Sikh Federation UK, which claims the backing of hundreds of UK Gurd-waras, stated that public bodies tend to only refer to the ethnic groups used in the census and demanded a separate Sikh ethnic tick box to ensure Sikhs have fair access to all public services. The Network of Sikh Or-ganisations (NSO), a British Sikh group led by Indian-origin peer Lord Indrajit Singh, took a different stand on the issue, saying that the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak should be reflec-tive of his principles of one common humanity, away from “artificial labels” like caste, denomination, status and ethnicity. “Sikhs are adequately recorded in the Census under religion and the ONS made the right de-cision in rejecting the Sikh Federation UK’s calls for a Sikh “ethnic” tick box,” said a spokesperson for the NSO.

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has notified the rules for resolution of systemically important financial services providers (FSPs) under the bankruptcy law.

The new rules will ensure that problems in system-atically important NBFCs such as Dewan Housing Fi-nance Corporation (DHFL), IL&FS Financial Services and India Bulls do not create trouble for the entire sector. The rules provide a generic framework for insolvency and liquidation proceedings of systemically important FSPs other than banks.

The government will no-tify specific categories of FSPs that do not fall under the systemically important cat-egory and shall be resolved under the normal provisions of the Code as ordinarily ap-plicable to corporate debtors.

New bankruptcy laws forfi nancial service providers

This will be decided in con-sultation with appropriate regulators that, in most cases, would be RBI. Section 227 of the Insolvency and Bank-ruptcy Code, 2016 enables the Central government to no-tify FSPs or categories of FSPs for the purpose of insolvency and liquidation proceedings. The special framework under the said section, however, shall not apply to banks.

“The special framework provided under Section 227 of the Code for financial service providers is essen-tially aimed at serving as an interim mechanism to deal with any exigency pending introduction of a full-fledged enactment to deal with finan-cial resolution of banks and other systemically important financial service providers,” said Corporate Affairs Secre-tary Injeti Srinivas.

The insolvency process

for the FSPs will be different for other corporate debtors. The corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of an FSP will be initiated only on an application by the ap-propriate regulator and indi-vidual investors or depositors would not be able to take an entity to the National Com-pany Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The regulators in the case of FSPs will also appoint the individual for the initia-tion of CIRP, as the admin-istrator who will play the same role as being played by insolvency resolution professional (IRP) in case of other cases. Under the terms of resolution for FSPs, an interim moratorium will commence on and from the date of filing of the applica-tion for initiation of CIRP by the appropriate regulator till its admission or rejection by the Adjudicating Authority.

Goa pavilion at India Trade FairNEW DELHI: The Goa state pavilion setup at the 39th edition of India International Trade Fair was inaugurated at iconic Pragati Maidan in the national capital.

Speaker of Goa legislative assembly Rajesh Patnekar inaugurated the Goa pavil-ion by cutting the ribbon in the presence of Swapnil Naik and personal secretary to Union Minister of State for Ayush Meghana Shet-gaonkar. The Goa pavilion is erected on an area of 56 sqm in 12 A – 05B at Pragati Maidan which is aestheti-cally designed depicting Goan architecture with the flavor of this year’s IITF theme “Ease of Doing Busi-ness” showcasing Goa as land of business opportuni-ties. After the inauguration, Patnekar evinced keen inter-est in the handicraft items displayed at the pavilion.

Los Angeles...(Contd. from page 1)Warners Brothers Studio, Hollywood Walk of Fame, the tourism board will tweak its strategy to start promot-ing its varied culinary expe-riences as well as booming fusion foods culture. LA boasts of 32 Michelin rated restaurants. Apart from food experiences, Los Angeles Tourism will also be pitch-ing the destination to sports lovers as it looks to host Su-perbowl 2022 and Summer Olympics in 2028.

US Senate...(Contd. from page 1)A similar resolution intro-duced in the US House of Rep-resentatives too is likely to be passed soon. The two different House resolutions said Sikhs have been living in the US for more than 120 years, and during the early 20th century thousands of Sikh Americans worked on farms, in lumber mills and mines, and on the Oregon, Pacific, and Eastern Railroad.

UK to leave EU by Jan 31 nextLONDON: UK Prime Minis-ter Boris Johnson reiterated

that the country would leave the European Union (EU) by Jan 31, 2020, following the Dec 12 general election.

“There is absolutely no reason why between Jan and the end of next year we shouldn’t complete that free trade deal and have a wonderful new partnership with the EU based on zero tariffs, zero quotas and get-ting on with all the other ways in which we want to be a pro-European coun-

try,” Johnson told the BBC Breakfast programme. The UK is currently due to leave the EU by Jan 31, 2020, the end of the current extension period granted by the bloc.

“The deal that we’ll be doing with the EU is unlike any other deal they have ever done. They’re doing it with a state that is already in perfect harmony with their arrangements,” Johnson said. “All we have to do is protract those arrangements

where appropriate, come out of regulatory alignment and set up a joint committee so that we can discuss if there are any further changes we want to make, we can dis-cuss those together.”

After that, he said that the UK could get on with “doing things differently”, on “everything from cutting VAT on tampons... to putting free ports around the UK”. Re-sponding to the assertion that the government has delayed

Boris Johnson

Brexit, the prime minister said: “Parliament blocked us, which is why we’re having this election. I don’t want to have this election now.”

His appearance on the BBC Breakfast show was one of the programme’s first in-terviews with party leaders ahead of the election.

A major focus of the elec-tion will be on areas that voted strongly to Leave or strongly to Remain in the 2016 EU referendum.

GST deadline extendedNEW DELHI: In a relief to taxpayers, the government extended the due dates for filing GST annual returns for 2017-18 to Dec 31 and for the financial year 2018-19 to March 31 next year. The dates for filing the recon-ciliation statement have also been extended accordingly.

In another relief, it has also decided to simplify the two GST forms by mak-ing various fields of these forms as optional, the Cen-tral Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a statement. “The government

has decided to extend the due dates of filing of Form GSTR-9 (Annual Return) and Form GSTR-9C (Reconcilia-tion Statement) for 2017-18 to Dec 31, 2019 and for 2018-

19 to March 2020,” it said. The earlier deadline for filing of GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for 2017-18 was Nov 30, 2019,

while that for 2018-19 was Dec 31, 2019. Notifications regarding the extension of the dates have been issued.

The CBIC in the revenue department has also notified the amendments regarding the simplification of the annual return and recon-ciliation statement forms. A reconciliation statement allow taxpayers to not pro-vide split of input tax credit availed on inputs, input services and capital goods for 2017-18 and 2018-19.

CBIC further said it is expected that with the sim-plifications in the two forms and the extension of dead-lines, “all the GST taxpayers would be able to file their annual returns along with reconciliation statement in time”. Various representa-tions regarding challenges faced by taxpayers in filing of GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C were received on which by the government has “acted in a very responsive manner”, the CBIC statement added.

Rajapaksa, Lanka’s presidentANURADHAPURA: Gotabaya Rajapaksa was on Monday sworn in as Sri Lanka’s seventh President at an ancient Buddhist temple, a venue chosen to reflect the massive mandate he got from the Sinhalese majority, as he vowed to protect all communities while giving foremost priority to Buddhism. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Ruwanweli Seya, a stupa and a hemispherical structure containing relics and considered sacred to Buddhists all over the world, in the ancient north central town of Anuradhapura, around 200 km from the national capital Colombo. Rajapaksa is the first president to be sworn in

outside Colombo. Clad in immaculate white, Rajapaksa (70) signed the official document in the presence of Chief Justice Jayantha Jaya-suriya at the auspicious time of 11:49 am after being administered the oath by the president’s secretary Udaya R Seneviratne.

Rajapaksa was credited for ending the military campaign of the LTTE who ran a 30-year war to create a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island.

In a short speech, he thanked the power-ful Buddhist clergy in the country for back-ing his presidential bid.He also thanked the Sinhala-majority people for electing him.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 3GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES

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4 GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES Tuesday, November 19, 2019

FOR CIRCULATIONcirculation@newsandnri.com

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GULF JOBS & CAREERS 5Tuesday, November 19, 2019

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Fun Corner

Sudoku Puzzle 113 Answer

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Sudoku Puzzle

Your wellness

The weather seems to be fluctuating by the day and this can cause

illnesses and weakness. It brings a host of health prob-lems like indigestion, food poisoning and other infec-tions. Eating what is in the season is an easy way to beat the illness.

The diet should be changed according to the

s e a s o n , and hy-dration is an impor-

tant factor for keeping people of all ages healthy. Foods that boost immunity and reduce cold has to be included in the diet. Diet with cereals like bajra, wheat, millets, lentils and soybean which contain all the vitamins help increase immunity and prevent illnesses.

Though many don’t re-alise, foods that are eaten during winter don’t necessar-

Eat according to season, stay healthyily have to be in the summer diet. In fact, eating seasonal fruits and grains, and adjust-ing one’s eating habits to the season can make people healthier. Getting the right vitamins, minerals and nutri-tion is important.

Dr Priyanka Rohatgi, Chief Consultant Nutrition-ist, Apollo Hospitals, said, “As seasons change, your body changes too. During summer, vitamin D intake is higher naturally, while in winter it is less and one needs to get vitamin support through supplements. The more people learn about the changing dietary needs between seasons, more they can make sure of getting the right energy into their system.”

Research has proved that natural foods are nutrition-ally richest when they are picked and eaten during their season.

Cooked, boiled and warm food with protein in the form of soups and stews with added jeera, black pep-per, ginger and garlic has to be followed by all to stay healthy. For a person, about 12-20pc of daily calories should come from proteins.

When the intake of vitamins A, D, E and K is more, it leads to hypervitaminosis which invites serious health hazards.

Dr Karthigai Selvi, Chief Dietician, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals, said, “Dur-ing this season, viral infec-tions are common because of

constant change in weather. Vitamin C is a versatile nutrient that works to sup-port our immune system, circulatory problems and skin conditions like eczema. It reduces inflammation and boosts production of col-lagen. The same way, zinc,

vitamin D, protein, vitamin B12, Omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin E and chromium help you stay healthy this season. Try to include cere-als, pulses, crabs, oysters, pumpkin seeds, nuts, citrus fruits, egg, ginger, garlic, mushroom and mint in cooked form.”

Unicef Execut ive Director Henrietta Fore has warned

that air pollution toxicity can affect children’s brain development and called for

urgent action to deal with the crisis gripping India and South Asia.

“I saw first-hand how children continue to suffer from the dire consequences of air pollution,” Fore, who recently visited India, said.

“The air quality was at

Air pollution affects children’s brain development

a crisis level. You could smell the toxic fog even from behind an air filtra-tion mask,” she added.

Air pollution affects children most severely

and its effects continue all their lives because they have smaller lungs, breathe twice as fast as adults and lack immunities, Fore said.

She added that it “dam-ages brain tissue and un-dermines cognitive de-velopment in babies and

young children, leading to lifelong consequences that can affect their learning outcomes and future po-tential. There is evidence to suggest that adolescents exposed to higher levels of air pollution are more likely to experience mental health problems”.

“Unicef is calling for ur-gent action to address this air quality crisis,” affect-ing 620 million children in South Asia.

Schools were closed in Delhi till Tuesday because of the severe environmental situation caused by post-harvest burning of stubble in neighbouring states.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday touched 625, considered “severe plus” level.

IGNOU Dec term-end exam dates revisedThe Indira Gandhi Na-

tional Open University (IGNOU) has decided

to revise dates for December term-end exams 2019 due to Jharkhand Assembly elec-tions. The exams that were earlier scheduled to be held from December 7, will now be held from December 31.

“In view of the Assembly elections announced in the state of Jharkhand, which are clashing with university term-end examination De-cember 2019, the following rescheduled dates will be effective across the country,” a notification issued by the university said.

As per the datesheet, the exams that were earlier to be held on December 7, will now be held on December 31. Those exams earlier to be held on December 12, will now be on January 1, 2020, December 16 exams shifted to January 2, 2020 and December 20 exam will now be on January 3, 2020. Candidates may check at of-ficial website ignou.ac.in for more details.

Meanwhile, the univer-sity has started admission process for the January ses-sion. Those interested may

apply through official web-site ignou.ac.in.

Those applying for the first time are suggested to click available programme tab at the homepage of the website of the online admis-sion system. Candidates then may choose the programme they are looking to apply.

After this they are advised to read the details of pro-gramme including fee details, eligibility criteria, duration, etc. carefully.

The admission procedure is underway for over 150 programmes in masters as well as bachelors degree for the upcoming January 2020 session.Programmes being offered:Bachelors degree

Online mode: Bachelor of Social Work (BSW); Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA); Bachelor of Arts (BA); Bachelor of Library & Infor-mation Science (BLIS); Bach-elor of Science (B.Sc); Bach-elor of Commerce (B.Com).

Offline mode: B. Com (CA&A) B. Com (A&F) and B.

Com (F&CA) in coordination with Institute of Company Secretaries of India and In-stitute of Cost Accountants of India: BBA (Retailing), with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.Masters degree

Online Mode: Master of Science (Food Nutrition); MA (Rural Development); Master of Computer Applications (MCA); Master of Tourism

and Travel Management (MTTM); Master of Science (Counselling and Family Therapy); MA (Hindi); MA (English); Master of Social Work (Counselling); Master of Social Work (MSW); MA (Economics); MA (History); MA (Philosophy); MA (Public Administration); MA (Po-

litical Science); MA (Gandhi & Peace Studies); MA (So-ciology); Master of Library and In-formation Science (MLIS); MA (Psy-chology); MA (De-velopment Studies); MA (Anthropology); MA (Gender & De-velopment Studies); MA( Adult Educa-tion); MA(Women and Gender Stud-

ies); MA (Distance Educa-tion); Master of Commerce (M.Com); MA (Translation Studies)

Offline mode: M. Com (F&T); MA (Education); M. Com (MA&FS) and M. Com (BP&CG) in coordination with Institute of Company Secretaries of India and In-stitute of Cost Accountants of India, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

UPSC releases personality test schedule for IES/ISS examThe Union Publ ic

Service Commission (UPSC) has issued

a notification in which it has released the Personality Test Schedule for the Indian Economic Service and the Indian Statis-tical Service examination. The interest-ed candidates who have al-ready cleared the mains ex-amination can check the Per-sonality Test Schedule by visiting the of-ficial website at upsc.gov.in.Important dates-

Interview for Indian Eco-nomic Service examina-tion- December 16, 2019, to December 23, 2019

Interview for Indian Sta-tistical Service examina-tion- December 23, 2019, to January 3, 2020

A total of 69 candidates have been called for Indian Economic Service examina-tion interview while about 84 candidates have been called for the interview of

Indian Statistical Service examination.Know how to check-

1) The interested indi-viduals need to visit the official website of Union Public Service Commission

at upsc.gov.in.2) After visiting the

homepage, click on the link at the right side un-der- What’s New- Interview Schedule. There are two separate links for Indian Economic Service and In-dian Statistical Service ex-amination.

3) After clicking on the link, a pdf format page will appear,

4) The candidates need to check their name with their roll number with their date and timing.

5) For future reference, take a hard copy of the pdf page.

The result of the written examination was released in October. The Mains ex-amination was held in June

2019.At the time of

the Personality Test Schedule, the candidates are required to carry original documents or certificates in support of their age, educational

qualifications, community, physical disability (if any) and others.About UPSC-

The function of UPSC is required to be consulted on all matters relating to recruitment to civil services and posts. Arvind Saxena is currently the Chairman of the commission. The com-mission has a facilitation counter at its campus in the national capital where one can get details about their examination on all work-ing days.

* As a rich source of vitamin C, lemon juice protects the body from Im-mune system deficiencies.

* Drinking lemon juice with warm water every morning helps in main-taining the pH balance of the body.

* With its powerful antibacterial properties, lemon juice helps fight infections

* Acts as a detoxifying agent.

* Helps with maintain-ing digestive health.

Benefits of drinking lemon water in morning empty stomach* Along with vitamin

C, lemons are also a rich source of potas-sium, calcium, p h o s p h o r u s , magnesium etc.

* Helps fight common cold

* L e m o n water is also a popular remedy for many kinds of skin problems ranging from acne, rashes and wrinkles to dark spots.

* Lemon juice with

warm water helps in quick weight loss as it promotes

digestion and increases the metabolic rate.

* Lemon juice is also very effective at cleansing

the liver as it promotes the liver to flush out toxins

* Lemon’s anti-inflamma-tory properties help in fight-ing respiratory tract infections, sore throat and inflammation of tonsils.

* Lemon juice with warm water helps keep

the body hydrated as it provides electrolytes to the body.

* Drinking lemon juice with warm water also helps reduce joint and muscle pain.

* Lemon juice with warm water is also good for your dental health as it helps with toothache and prevents gingivitis.

* Lemon juice with warm water helps with digestion and hence, helps regulate natural bowel movement.

IN FOCUS6 Tuesday, November 19, 2019

GULF FAQsHow can a job applicant from India avoid visa and job frauds in UAE?

It is helpful to know the visa procedures and rules of a country before visiting the place. Considering the increase in visa fraud cases, it is essential to understand the areas one could be trapped. People visit UAE for several purposes. It could be for work, visit, investment, residence or legal matters. Here’s a look at some tips for those who would like to visit UAE.

If you get a job offer in the UAE, make sure that you get an offer letter issued by the UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). The prospec-tive employees/candidates can verify the job offer’s validity at the UAE embassy in their country. You can use the job offer number to verify employer’s validity at the MOHRE’s website (enquiry service - application status). Once you sign the offer letter, the employer will send you an employment visa to enter the UAE. You don’t have the right to work in the UAE, if you are in visit or tourist entry permit/visa. If you work under visit or tourist visa, it will bring you penalties and deportation. The sponsor (the employer) is responsible for payment of recruitment expenses, according to the labour law. You can search the company’s English and Ara-bic name in the National Economic register and get company details to check whether the company legally exists. Your queries will be answered by MoHRE at telephone number 0097168027666 or you can email them: ask@mohre.gov.ae. You can check its validity at the GDRFA’s website, if you have entry permit/visa issued from Dubai.

Tourist visa is issued by UAE-based airlines. It is also issued by the UAE-based hotels and travel agencies. Learn more about the fees of visas and entry permits issued from Dubai. Get help on visas and entry permits issued from Dubai through Amer’s chat service. Get more information on visas and entry permits issued through the chat service on the eChannels platform.

Besides, there is no independent em-ployment visa. You are supposed to work for your sponsor/employer. Your sponsor may give you a permit to work for another employer under approval from the MOHRE. A residence visa cannot be processed for anyone while the applicant is outside the UAE. A residence visa can be issued only when the applicant is inside the UAE hav-ing entered the country on entry permit.Dumping goods in corridors

I am a tenant in an apartment situated in the Deira locality of Dubai. My tenancy contract is valid up to May 31, 2020. How-ever, I am eager to terminate the agreement before its completion period and intend to vacate the apartment by Nov 30, 2019, as I am facing certain issues. Certain corridors and hallways are dumped with furniture, home appliances and personal items. Be-sides, the tenant residing in a neighbouring apartment is carrying out catering services and I have noticed strangers visiting the apartment at odd hours. Can the tenancy contract be terminated prior to the comple-tion of the agreement period? Do I have to pay the penalty for an early termination of the tenancy contract?

Law No. (26) of 2007 regulating the re-lationship between landlords and tenants in the emirate of Dubai (the “Tenancy Law”), Law No. (33) of 2008 Amending Law No. (26) of 2007 regulating the relationship be-tween landlords and tenants in the emirate of Dubai (the “Amended Tenancy Law”) and Law No. (27) of 2007 concerning ownership of jointly owned real property in the emir-ate of Dubai (the “Jointly Owned Properties Law of Dubai”) are applicable in this case.

It may be noted that as a tenant, you are entitled to peacefully reside in the rented apartment. The corridors and hallways of a property are designated as common areas. This is in accordance with Article 7(1)(a) of the Jointly Owned Properties Law of Dubai. Further, common areas are defined in Article-1 of the Jointly Owned Properties Law of Dubai as “those common parts of a property designated for common use by unit owners and occupiers and shown in the site plan”. It may, therefore, be con-strued that the accumulation of furniture, home appliances and personal items in the corridors and hallways of the property is prejudicial to the rights of other tenants and owners to use the common areas. Such obstruction of the building’s corridors and hallways may also endanger the safety of the other residents and the safety of the property which may lead to a violation of Article 24 of the Jointly Owned Properties Law of Dubai. The neighbouring tenant is conducting catering services and may not be utilising the apartment for residential

How to avoid labour, visa frauds in UAEpurpose as mentioned in their tenancy contract. Therefore, the landlord of that apartment may demand the eviction of such tenants as mentioned in Article 25(1)(e) of the Amended Tenancy Law. You may, therefore, approach the landlord and the building management regarding the distur-bance caused to you by your neighbour. In response to your first query, it may be noted that the tenancy contract is binding on the tenant and the landlord and none of the parties may unilaterally terminate the tenancy contract without the consent of the other party. This is in accordance with Article 7 of the Tenancy Law. Neither the landlord nor the tenant may terminate the tenancy contract unless there is a provi-sion mentioned in the agreement pertaining to its early termination. In the absence of an early termination provision, if the ten-ant terminates the tenancy contract, the landlord may be entitled to receive com-pensation. You may, therefore, be liable to compensate the landlord by forfeiting the rental amount for the rest of the term of the tenancy contract if your landlord initiates legal action against you by approaching the Dubai Rental Dispute Settlement Centre at the Dubai Land Department in order to claim compensation from you. It would be prudent to first approach the landlord of your apartment and the building man-agement pertaining to the aforementioned issues you are facing as a tenant before terminating the tenancy contract and vacat-ing the rented apartment. If the landlord or the building management do not address your grievances, you may approach the Dubai Municipality and submit a written complaint against your neighbour.Don’t work on visit visa

I worked in the UAE for more than four years before leaving the company and the country a year ago. I recently returned on a tourist visa and saw a vacancy to work at an exhibition for four days. I went for the interview and the organiser asked if I could work on a visit visa. The company is based in the UK, so the employer can-not apply for a visa for me as he is also on a visit visa. Can I do this?

The law in the UAE is very clear: no one is permitted to work unless they have firstly a residency visa and secondly, a work permit. Even someone setting up their own business must have a visa. Individuals caught working illegally when on a visit visa can be fined up to Dh50,000 and deported. Any company who employs someone on a visit visa can also be heavily fined. The person offering this temporary role is techni-cally not permitted to work in the UAE but there can be exemptions for those exhibiting at recognised shows.

To clarify, you are not legally permitted to undertake any work in the UAE and the organ-iser can only employ someone with a residency visa from a licensed agency in the UAE.Labour Law 127

I have been offered a job working for a company in Sharjah. I am currently on a visit visa and would like to know more about UAE Law number 127 because my company has this in the contract. Will this affect me?

You are referring to Article 127 of UAE Labour Law, which says: “Should the work entrusted to the worker enable him to meet the clients of the employer or know the business secrets thereof, the employer may require from the worker not to compete with him or participate in any competing project upon the termination of the contract. For the validity of such agreement, the worker shall be 21 years old at least upon the conclusion thereof, and the agreement shall be limited, with regards to time, place and type of work, to the extent necessary for the protection of the legal interests of the employer.”

An employer can choose to include this clause in a contract of employment, and it is common, but there are limitations. There is an expectation that such clauses are relevant to employees in senior positions, who are party to corporate information, not just applied to anyone in a misguided effort to stop staff leaving a job and moving on in their career.

In addition, the clause has time limita-tions and would not be expected to be for longer than six months. Any claim for lon-ger is unlikely to be upheld, doubly so for non-management roles. Such clauses must be specific in relation to geographical scope and the actual role. The onus is also on the employer to prove to a court they will suffer an actual financial loss should the employee work for another company and an employer has to go to court to enforce the clause for which there is a cost. Too often I see employers trying to misuse this non-compete clause as a way of retaining staff, even where it is really not relevant.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the media ahead of the winter session of parliament in New Delhi on Monday. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, PMO Minister Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal and the Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan are also seen.

WASHINGTON: India sent more than 202,000 students to the US in 2018-19, the second largest after China which for the 10th con-secutive year remained the largest source of foreign students in America. The “2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange” said the number of foreign students in the US set an all-time high in the 2018/19 academic year, the fourth consecutive year with more than one million international students.

The data from the US Department of Commerce stated that international students contributed $44.7 billion to the US economy in 2018, an increase of 5.5pc from the previous year. For the 10th consecutive year, China has remained the larg-est source of international students in the US in 2018-19 with 369,548 students and India with 202,014 stu-dents sends second largest

Over 2.02 lakh Indian students in US in 2018-19

number of foreign students to the US. The total number of international students was 1,095,299, a 0.05pc increase over last year, it said, adding that international students make up 5.5pc of the total US higher education popu-lation.

Students from India and China account for more than 50pc of international students, said the report that was released by Institute of International Education (IIE) and US Department of State’s Bureau of Education-al and Cultural Affairs. “We are happy to see the contin-ued growth in the number of international students in the US and US students studying abroad,” said Marie Royce, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs. “Promoting international student mobil-ity remains a top priority for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and we want even more students in

the future to see the US as the best destination to earn their degrees,” she said.

According to the report, China remained the largest source of international stu-dents in the US in 2018-19 with 369,548 students in undergraduate, graduate, non-degree, and optional practical training (OPT) programmes, a 1.7pc in-crease from 2017-18. India (202,014, +2.9pc), South Korea (52,250), Saudi Ara-bia (37,080), and Canada (26,122, +0.8pc) round out the top five. Emerging market countries showed some of the strongest growth year over year, especially Bangladesh (+10pc), Brazil (+9.8pc), Nigeria (+5.8pc) and Pakistan (+5.6pc).

As many as 51.6pc of international students in the US pursued STEM fields in 2018-19 and the number of international students in math and computer science programmes grew by 9.4pc

, surpassing business and management to become the second largest field of study for international students. Engineering remained the largest academic field for international students in 2018/19, with 21.1pc of all international students. The number of students enroll-ing for the first time at a US institution in 2018-19 declined by 0.9pc, recover-ing from sharper declines the year before, it said. According to the report, in the 2017-18 academic year, 341,751 US students participated in study abroad programmes for academic credit, a 2.7pc increase over the previous year. European countries remain the most popular destinations for US study abroad students with 54.9pc of study abroad students going to Europe in 2017-18. The UK, Italy, Spain, France and Germany hosted the most US study abroad students.

Fancy number plates sold for Dh13.5m SHARJAH: Around Dh13.5 million in proceeds from the distinctive car num-ber plates public auction by Sharjah Police Headquarters in co-operation with Emirates Auction were raised at Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre. Unique number plates auc-tioned off for Dh13,495,000.

Number plate “9” of category “3’ topped the auction, sold for Dh3,610,000, followed by plate “16” which brought back Dh1,200,000. Around 50 plates of two, three, and four digits were offered in this auction, where plate “88” came third by Dh1,030,000, followed by “25’ which was sold for Dh1,020,000, plate “343” by Dh190,000 and plate “108” by Dh170,000.

Brig-Gen Dr. Ahmed Saeed Al Naour congratulated all the winners in the auction, expressing Sharjah Police’s keenness on the continuity to organise such events and initiatives aiming to bolster the development process in Sharjah and advance community police services to the highest levels and ac-cording to best international practices. Al Naour underlined that these efforts would serve the interest of the com-munity in line with the vision of the wise leadership, noting that the auction came in response to the wishes of a large number of citizens and residents inside and outside the Emirate.

“Principles of transparency and equal opportunities are our goals at Sharjah Police and we are instilling these principles in all of our duties and services for community members,” he added.

KUWAIT CITY: Signs are growing of a breakthrough in resolving a two-year row involving Qatar and a Saudi-led bloc, Kuwaiti news-paper Al Qabas has reported. The reported headway comes amid Kuwait-led moves to end the bit-ter row, the paper added. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid this handed Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz a message from Kuwait’s Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad, who has recently urged an end to the Gulf dispute.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar over its support for extremist groups. The quartet has set several conditions to mend ties with Qatar, including the emirate’s severance of links with militant and terror groups. Doha has refused the conditions, saying they violate its sovereignty. The US, an ally of the five countries, has also renewed its efforts to defuse Gulf tensions as Washington is seeking to build an anti-Iran alliance.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Qatari Foreign Minis-ter Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman, days after he had talks with Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain said they will participate in the Gulf Cup football championship which Qatar is hosting later this

Breakthrough in ending Gulf-Qatar dispute soon

month, in a sign of de-escalation. The four countries are members of the GCC l, which also comprises Kuwait and Oman.

“Kuwait was and is still con-tinuing its efforts to heal the Gulf rifts and solve the crisis among the brothers within the framework of

the GCC ,” Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al Jarallah had said recently.

“Since the first day, Kuwait has confirmed that it will not rest until the Gulf rift is settled and relations inside the GCC return to normal,” Al Jarallah had told Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai. “We are today nearer to optimism than to pessimism in this regard,” he added without elaborating. The Kuwaiti official’s remarks came a day after Saudi Arabia said the row will be resolved by Kuwaiti mediation ef-forts and within the GCC, which comprises in addition to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.

CORPORATE NEWS 7Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The government is working on two policies to increase

MSME exports and bring down imports by encourag-ing local production, Union MSME and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

While addressing the gathering at Small Micro Enterprise (SME) confer-ence at Nagpur, Gadkari mentioned that the MSME sector has 29pc contribu-tion in country’s growth and 48pc of export is done through MSMEs.

Similarly, about 10-11 crore jobs have been cre-ated in MSMEs. “The gov-ernment is working on two policies. Firstly, on the industries which are into export business - how to support and increase their export,” the minister said.

The Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank (AIIB) has ramped

up its investments in In-dia with total in-country financing now standing at $2.9 billion.

Two of its most recent projects—approved by AI-IB’s Board of Directors in October totalling $575 mil-lion—are expected to ease congestion in the country’s financial hub and boost private capital investment in renewable energy, power transmission and water infrastructure.

A loan of $500 million granted to the government of India is expected to fast-track work on Mumbai’s suburban railway network, improving the safety and daily commute of millions of passengers across the

Govt working on policy to push MSME exports

AIIB investment in India nears $3b

The leather industry has a total turnover of Rs 1,40,000 crore of which Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 90,000 crore is domestic and

around Rs 45,000-50,000 crore is from export.

“I have suggested them on working on modernisa-tion, up-gradation, product designing and how to re-duce the cost of production and improve quality so that our share increases in the international market. We

city. A loan of $500 million granted to the government of India is expected to fast-track work on Mumbai’s suburban railway network, improving the safety and daily commute of millions of passengers across the

city. The funds will con-tribute to a quadrupling of Virar-Dahanu Road corridor (64 kilometers) to provide an extension of the sub-urban railway service to connect peripheral areas with Mumbai. The project will also see the construc-tion of a new suburban railway corridor between Panvel and Karjat localities

are working on a policy on how to strengthen export business,” Gadkari said.

He further said that secondly, the government

is working on a policy to increase indigenous pro-duction of prod-ucts that are be-ing imported.

“The prod-ucts that being particularly im-ported should get manufactured in

the country itself. We are in talks with the commerce ministry on these two poli-cies and it is in the final stages,” said Gadkari.

Gadkari emphasized on three important factors - re-ducing capital cost, power cost and logistics cost - to become competitive in the

(28 kilometers) to cater to commuters in the area un-der rapid urbanization and population growth.

Additionally, there will be an installation of control measures on 36 priority sections of existing lines

to reduce fatal accidents. These measures include track segregation by fencing or using reinforced con-crete walls and pedestrian crossings over or under the tracks. With a population of about 12 million, rail is the primary means of trans-port in Mumbai, where the suburban network totals almost 400 km and carries

international market and these factors have also been discussed while making the new policy.

Gadkari also spoke about the contribution of MSMEs in the defence sec-tor. Gadkari raised concern over defence procurement procedure saying that the files are stuck for many years and when the product is finalised and tenders are issued till then the product becomes outdated.

He asked for a change in Defence procurement system. Gadkari also said that MSMEs does not get that much work from the defence sector as these should get and asked for the study to make a good policy which can facilitate work for MSME in the de-fence sector.

more than 7.5 million pas-sengers a day.

“Over the past four years, AIIB’s investments in India have grown expo-nentially,” said AIIB Vice president and chief invest-ment officer DJ Pandian. “This is a clear sign of our valuable partnership. AIIB will continue align-ing its commitments with the government’s priorities, with the Bank serving as a catalyst to India’s contin-ued development.”

As part of its firm com-mitment to financing sus-tainable infrastructure, the Bank also approved in October a loan of $75 million to Tata Cleantech Capital Limited (TLLC), a leading financier of renew-able energy in India. The Tata Cleantech Sustainable

Infrastructure On-Lending Facility project aims to increase private capital investment in renewable energy, power transmission and water infrastructure. The project will increase the provision of affordable and clean power, reduce greenhouse emissions and expand the power’s net-work reach and capacity. Under the Paris Agree-ment, the Government of India plans to reduce the country’s carbon intensity by 30-35% of 2005 levels.

To date, AIIB, which commenced operations in India in 2016, has con-tributed to 13 projects to assist its second largest shareholder develop in-frastructure and services in transport, energy, water and finance.

With a good growth in the retail, ag-ricultural sector,

micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Ker-ala, the Syndicate Bank expects a 10pc growth in business this year, said its MD and CEO Mrutyunjay Mahapatra.

Speaking to media per-sons after inaugurating Syndicate Bank’s new zonal office (ZO) in Kochi, Ma-hapatra said the bank’s business in Kerala stands at Rs 20,093 crore.

He said the PSU bank is confident of achieving a growth of 13-14pc in the country this fiscal.

“We are projecting a growth of roughly around 13-14pc during the current year. We have a total of 237 branches in Kerala and the

Syndicate Bank expects 10pc growthErnakulam ZO will have six regional offices in the state reporting to it,” he said.

“Kerala has been a very important state for the bank and has contributed

significantly towards the bank’s growth story so far. It was high time it had its own zonal office which will only improve banking ser-vices and thereby improve customer services and their overall banking experi-ence,” said Mahapatra.

He said the Kerala flood has not affected the busi-ness of the bank.

“The MSME growth was affected in the flood

which has picked up now. Since our major focus is on the agricultural sector, we have the highest takers for agricultural gold loan, a loan given to farmers for

the emergency re-quirement against the gold jewel-lery they have in possession,” said Mahapatra.

Though Syndicate Bank is going to merge with Ca-nara Bank, he said there would not be any retrench-ment or closing down of its branches across the country, he said.

“We have 4,200 branch-es as of now and we are not expanding any further. It will take over 10 to 15 months for the amalgama-tion process to end,” he said.

After the death of in-dustrialist KK Modi on November 02, his

wife, Bina Modi has been ap-pointed as the new Chairper-son o f Modi enterprises. She has been cho-sen unanimous-ly and elected for the position of president and managing director of Godfrey Phillips India Ltd and chair-man and managing director, Indofil Industries Limited.

“I am honoured to be be-stowed this responsibility and it will be my constant endeav-or to keep my husband’s vi-sion alive. KK took his father, Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi’s legacy forward and I believe

Bina Modi appointed as new chairperson of Modi Enterprises

it is now our responsibility and duty to ensure that his vision, philosophy and val-

ues continue to guide us on the path to growth, d e v e l o p m e n t and success. His extraordinary vi-sion is daunting no doubt, but we, the family and the man-

agement of the Group Companies, are com-mitted to see it reached,” said Bina on her appointment.

Modi Enterprises, founded in 1930s, values over $ 1.5 billion. The group has di-versified businesses across the country, mainly in the fields of medicines, educa-tion, cosmetics, Fashion and chemicals.

Bina Modi

Sony Corporation has announced to estab-lish a research and

development centre in Ben-galuru, with plans to open more such R&D cen-tres in the country.

R e -cruitment will start in the area of applied Artificial I n t e l l i -gence and details will be announced soon, the com-pany said in a statement.

The company which is carrying out software devel-opment with local talent for over 20 years in the coun-try, aims to strengthen its

Sony India to open its fi rst R&D centre in Bengaluru next year

research and development capabilities in the country.

The company currently has over 5,600 staff includ-ing outsourced employees

in India.S o n y

India also has over 3 0 0 a u -t h o r i s e d s e r v i c e centres in the coun-try.

“ S o n y is also promoting open innovation with local uni-versities through research sponsorships as well as collaborative partnerships with faculty and research-ers in India,” said the company.

As healthcare turns costlier in developed countries, India’s

medical value travel (MVT) market is expected to reach a volume of nine billion dol-lars (about Rs 65,000 crore) by next year, according to a new knowledge paper released by industry body FICCI.

The global MVT market estimated at 54 billion dol-lars is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13pc till 2025. With its growing emphasis, sev-eral Asian countries have developed ecosystems neces-sary to become a MVT hub.

“Among these economies, India is viewed as one of the preferred destinations and holds the fifth posi-tion among 41 major medi-

Indian medical travel market poised to reach Rs 65,000cr: FICCI-EYcal tourism destinations,” said the paper titled ‘India Building Best Practices in Healthcare Services Glob-ally’ prepared in collabora-tion with consulting major Ernst and Young.

The key drivers of growth of MVT are affordability and accessibility of good healthcare services, avail-ability of the latest medical technologies and accredita-tions, facilitation around hospitality services and minimal waiting time.

The report says India is more affordable in terms of medical treatment and travel when compared to western countries. Medical travellers can save up to 50 per cent as the average daily cost of travel within India is 31 dollars (about

Rs 2,232) compared to the United States having 223 dollars (about Rs 16,056).

Besides, the quality of medical service is one of

the hallmarks of India’s position in global MVT. Currently, there are 38 hos-

pitals accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) and 619 accredited by the National Accredita-tion Board for Hospitals

and Healthcare Providers (NABH).

Even being affordable,

the mortality rate after 30 days of surgery is less in India (1.4pc) compared to the United States (1.9pc) which shows the quality

of post-operative care provided by the Indian health service provid-ers.

However, there is a need to improve on post-operative care in terms of environment, hygiene and precau-tions required after a patient is being oper-ated, said the report.

Besides, India is performing low when it comes to regula-tions. As of today, there are no regula-

tions applicable to the in-dustry pertaining to facili-tators, hospitals, insurance,

legal or medical issues, and promotion activities carried out by stakeholders.

“With a lack of regula-tions, MVT in India might not be able to thrive at a steady pace. Hence, the formulation of regulations is important to make this industry sustainable,” said the report.

Significantly, there are no government-to-government institutional arrangements between India and patient source countries. The insti-tutional tie-ups are main-tained by hospitals and facilitators without govern-ment interference.

In addition, there is no grievances or redressal mechanism in place for in-ternational patients to raise any complaints. There is no

policy arrangement in place to insure patients in case of unexpected complications in treatment.

Gaurav Taneja, National Director and Leader for Gov-ernment and Public Sector practice at EY India, said the government must form in-stitutions for regulation and implementation of MVT. There is a need to build a robust platform for patients to interact with different stakeholders of industry and define a code of conduct for MVT business.

“With a branding and marketing campaign ‘Heal in India,’ I am sure the country will elevate its existing position to rank among the most preferred MVT destinations,” he said in the report.

Karnataka Bank has l aunched CASA campaign of FY

2019-20 a nationwide ac-count mobilization cam-paign from November 15 to February 29, 2020. Dur-ing this campaign Bank intends to mobilize more than 4.18 lakhs Current & Savings accounts by active involvement of its 8000 + work force in all the 846 branches across India.

Bank offers host of Sav-ings / Current Account Schemes loaded with mul-tiple add-on facilities / services to suit the needs of varied segments. To ensure round the clock banking experience to its valued customers, Bank is extend-ing various user-friendly digital channels such as

K’taka Bank launches current, savings a/c campaignInternet Banking, Mobile Banking [KBL Mobile Plus], KBL BHIM UPI App, KBL ApnaApp, SMS Banking, Debit / Credit Cards etc.

These self-service channels will empower customers to do the banking at their own comfort & convenience. Bank also provides Per-sonal Accident Insurance cover of upto Rs 10.00 lakh

under “KBL Suraksha” to its Savings Bank custom-ers with a nominal annual premium of Rs 125.00 + GST only.

The customized sav-ings products of the Bank include ‘KBL SB- TASC’ – a savings bank account packed with premium fea-tures exclusively for Trusts, Associations, Societies and

Clubs, ‘KBL SB Salary’ - in 3 variants namely, SB Sal-ary Executive, SB Salary Prime and SB Salary Clas-sic which are bundled with digitally powered features and without any minimum balance criteria etc. and catering to the varied tastes of salaried section of the society.

Bank has opened a Digi Branch at Bengaluru, using technologies like Robotic Process Automation and Biometrics which enables operations without hu-man intervention. This branch provides 24x7 in-stant banking services to the customers.

“It is our endeavour and commitment to en-able banking facilities to the hinterland and un-

banked sections of the society through our vari-ous banking outlets across the length and breadth of the country. In tune with the changing aspirations of consumers, the Bank has recently launched a host of tailor made value added savings products which can be operated by the customers 24x7 through our well secured digital touch points. With the support of our strong and dedicated workforce, I am optimistic that during this three-month intensive CASA campaign we will be able to on-board good number of prospective clients and shore up our CASA balances also” said Sri Mahabaleshwara M.S, MD & CEO of the bank.

8 Travel / Entertainment Tuesday, November 19, 2019

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Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh meeting with Defence Minister of Czech Republic Lubomir Metnar in Bangkok, Thailand.

Airlines slash fl ights to Hong Kong amid unrest

Several Asian airlines have cut flights to Hong Kong over the

coming weeks, an indus-try scheduling publication showed, as anti-government protests in the city grow increasingly violent and disrupt daily life.

Routes Online said the latest schedules showed can-cellations from PT Garuda In-donesia (Persero) Tbk, India’s SpiceJet, Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Bhd, South Korea’s JejuAir and Jin Air and the Philippines’ PAL Holdings and Cebu Air Inc. The cuts come as Hong Kong police on Monday fired tear gas at protesters trying to escape a besieged university, while

others armed with petrol bombs awaited an expected operation to oust them.

The unrest, raging for almost six months, and an escalating Sino-US trade war has pushed the Asian finan-cial hub into recession for the first time in a decade. On Sunday, Airport Authority Hong Kong reported an Oct decline of 13pc in passen-gers and 6.1pc in the number of inbound and outbound flights --- the steepest falls since the unrest began. It said a growing proportion of travellers were using Hong Kong as a transit point rather than a destination. On Mon-day, Routes Online showed Garuda has reduced weekly

flights to Hong Kong to four from 21 through mid-Dec, SpiceJet has suspended its Mumbai-Hong Kong route through Jan 15 and AirAsia has cut flights from Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu in Decr and Jan. A spokes-woman for PAL Holdings’ Philippine Airlines said the carrier was using smaller planes than usual for Hong Kong as passengers were postponing travel due to safety concerns. It has also cut daily flights from Manila to four from five, she said.

A spokeswoman for Cebu Air’s Cebu Pacific said the budget carrier has cut flights from Cebu and Clark through Dec and Jan respectively

due to softened demand. She said the airline never-theless launched its Puerto Princesa-Hong Kong route on Sunday as scheduled. A Jeju Air spokesman said the low-cost carrier has reduced daily flights from Seoul to Hong Kong to one from two through Dec 17 due to weak demand. A spokesman for rival Jin Air said the budget airline had suspended Seoul-Hong Kong flights through Dec 24. Last week, Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, Cathay Pacific said its business out-look was “challenging and uncertain” and that it has cut capacity and delayed four plane deliveries due to falling demand.

With strong funda-mentals, India’s civil aviation sec-

tor is in its “golden age” and there is also healthy compe-tition among domestic car-riers, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta has said.

Interestingly, the coun-try’s civil aviation sector has been experiencing lower growth in traffic compared with previous years and there has also been softness in fares in Oct, according to industry experts. The traffic grew just 1.18pc in Sept as per the latest available of-ficial data. IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, is the country’s largest air-line with a market share of 48.2pc.

‘Golden age’ for Indian aviation, says IndiGo chief

While acknowledging that there are problems, including high taxes on jet fuel, Dutta said there are also huge opportunities go-ing forward. “We are in the golden age of Indian avia-tion and there are huge op-portunities going forward... There are always problems, there are always issues and economic cycles. But, the fundamentals are strong,” he told a TV channel.

According to him, tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is 30pc higher than rest of the world. Bringing ATF under GST has been a long pending demand of the air-line industry. “Then there are throughput charges for which we should be get-

ting credit for taxes paid,” he added.

IndiGo has been aggres-sively expanding its op-erations and has started 11 overseas routes in the last one year. Recently, it placed an order for 300 more planes from Airbus and is also considering wide-body aircraft for long haul routes. On whether there is healthy competition among local carriers, Dutta replied in the affirmative. “We have a commonality of interests. Airlines around the world have commonal-ity (of interests). It extends to ATF taxes, infrastructure issues. In terms of who gets which rights and who flies where, it is all fierce com-

petition,” he noted.He also made it clear

that there are no plans for a loyalty programme for pas-sengers. “We have studied it. We have rejected that option... It is too expensive. We are a low cost carrier and we have to keep our costs low,” Dutta said.

When asked whether passenger volumes could balance the costs arising out of a loyalty programme, the IndiGo chief replied in the negative. “We have the volumes already. The ques-tion is will the incremental volumes pay for it. Given the cost, the incremental volumes do not pay it,” he noted. In Sept, the carrier flew 55.59 lakh passengers.

New SpiceJet fl ight to Aurangabad

Aurangabad will g e t a s econd flight to Delhi

and an inaugural one to Bengaluru, both oper-ated by SpiceJet from Nov 25. Aurangabad had become SpiceJet’s 53rd domestic destination with the introduction of a daily non-stop flight on the Delhi-Aurangabad route.

The New Delhi-Au-rangabad flight will be a daily service. It will take off from the capital at 8:45am and reach Au-rangabad at 10:35am. On the return leg, it will take off from Aurangabad at 11:05 am and land in Delhi at 12:50 pm,” DG Salve, Aurangabad Air-port Director said. The Bengaluru-Aurangabad flight will take off from the Karnataka capital at 10:10am and land in Aurangabad at noon, Salve said. “It will take off from Aurangabad at 12:20pm and land in Bengaluru at 2:10pm. It will be operational on all days except Tuesday,” Salve added.

Abu Dhabi hosts 1.3m hotel guests

The number of hotel guests staying in Abu Dhabi Emirate during

the third quarter of 2019 exceeded 1.3 million, an increase of 1.7pc compared with the same period in 2018, according to the fig-ures released by the Depart-ment of Culture and Tour-ism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). In the year-to-date in 2019, there have been almost 3.8 million hotel guests, a 2.9pc increase on 2018.

The latest report from DCT Abu Dhabi also shows that total hotel revenues for the third quarter were up to Dh1.1 billion, a rise of 1.7pc from the previous year, ho-tel occupancy was up four per cent to 69pc while av-erage length of stay (ALOS) was up 5.6pc to 2.5 nights.

These figures were spear-headed by impressive visitor number statistics from key markets, with hotel guests metrics from India, the UK, Oman and Saudi Arabia all showing solid increases for the July to Sept period. Indian guests increased by 8.1pc, UK guests by 5.3pc and guests from Oman (18.6pc ) and Saudi Arabia (2.1pc) also increased dur-ing this quarter.The report also provides a breakdown

of each region of Abu Dhabi, with the figures showing that hotels on Saadiyat Island and in the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, ADNEC, area performed especially well.

On Saadiyat Island, hotel guest numbers for the third quarter saw an incredible 71.3pc increase, with 43,976 visitors staying between July and Sept, whilst ALOS in-creased by 13.4pc per cent, to 3.5 nights. Total revenues increased by 48.7pc and oc-cupancy rates increased by 20.5pc.

Hotels in the ADNEC area posted impressive increases with revenues for Q3 being boosted by 33.5pc revenue per available room saw a 36.4pc increase, ALOS saw a 30.4pc increase whilst oc-cupancy saw a 17pc rise. The third Quarter results were buoyed by several world-class events and activations, including the inaugural Abu Dhabi Showdown Week, which included the massive-ly popular UFC 242: Khabib vs Poirier event, Abu Dhabi Family Week, which fea-tured the MidEast’s first-ever Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, as well as the Sum-mer In Abu Dhabi events and Eid Al Adha celebrations.

IndiGo has decided to make a major strategic shift as it plans to connect far-flung

international destinations. Operating a single-aisle fleet until now, the airline will venture into widebody op-erations to provide non-stop connectivity to London. The airline will also be offering a business class option.

IndiGo was earlier ex-ploring connecting London with a one-stop with its A320 NEO planes, but it now seems to have some definite answers. “If you want to do Mumbai-London we have to do widebodies and we need a business class — that’s one decision we have

IndiGo may startnon-stop London fl ight

made. If we go all-economy, we can’t make the numbers work. The answer is a small business class and a dense economy. How big the busi-ness class should be – we have sized it, we have the answer to that,” CEO Rono-joy Dutta told a TV channel.

Asked about the London launch, Dutta said, “London is not far off, it is not five years [down the line], it is coming. But we don’t want to jump the gun.”

‘The airline is looking at three key airports near Lon-don--- Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. IndiGo could be leasing five to six wide-body planes, which would

be used to provide daily con-nectivity each from Mumbai and New Delhi. With the left-over aircraft, IndiGo could look at connecting Singapore or Istanbul.

But the airline is yet to decide on how big it would go with widebodies in its fleet. It is going to test the lease arrangement, and if that works, it may order 30 widebodies or be prepared to cut back. The airline has 245 planes, including A320s and ATRs, in its fleet. While In-diGo considers US unviable because of the amount of fuel burn, Australia is a market it is interested in, though it is not on the radar right now.

With immediate effect, Air India has revised the

schedule of flights from the US to India for the winter 2019/20 timetable under which flights will depart earlier than in the past. Air India flights will depart ear-lier than in prior seasons to

AI revises its US to India winter schedulereduce ground time at US airports in order to lower operating costs and improve fleet utilisation.

All passengers, especially those that purchased tickets well in advance, are advised to review their reservation confirmation to confirm if the departure time of their

flight has been advanced so as to avoid arriving late to the airport, missing their flight and being subject to no-show, cancellation and/or change of booking fees, the airline said.

“Passengers whose jour-ney originated overseas and are returning to India, and who have not provided a local US contact, without which there is no means of conveying schedule change details, are especially cau-

tioned to review the depar-ture time of their flights,” it said. Flight status can be checked at the “Manage Your Trip” link on the carrier’s website www.airindia.in, by calling Air India at 1-888-634-1407 or by checking with one’s travel agent. Air-line passengers are always encouraged to provide a val-id local contact in the event of an unforeseen schedule change or flight delay.

Dubai Tourism expects a million cruise visitors

Dubai is expecting to receive over 200 ship calls and around one

million cruise visitors in the 2019-2020 cruise season, the emirate’s tourism board said.

This would follow the 2018-2019 cruise season, which saw an increase of 51pc in cruise tourist foot-fall as nearly 8.5 lakh tour-ists arrived via 152 ship calls. This year’s cruise sea-son started on Oct 19 with the arrival of TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff -5 a ship carry-ing 6,000 passengers.

The cruise liners will homeport at Dubai’s Mina Rashid Cruise Terminal. “Last season, we witnessed remarkable growth in visitor footfall and international

cruise liners opting to dock at the award-winning Mina Rashid cruise terminal, re-flecting Dubai’s ongoing efforts to provide interna-tional visitors with holistic and world-class services throughout their journeys,” said Hamad Bin Mejren, senior vice president of Dubai Tourism. In a state-ment, Dubai Tourism said the arrival of Mein Schiff- 5 marks another step in efforts to promote Dubai as a must-visit cruise destination.

Qantas operates London-Sydney fl ightAustralia’s national

carrier Qantas suc-cessfully completed

a 19-hour, non-stop flight from London to Sydney, which was used to run a series of tests to assess the effects of ultralong-haul flights on crew fatigue and passenger jetlag.

The Boeing 787-9 Dream-liner took off from London’s Heathrow Airport on Thurs-

day morning and touched down at Sydney Airport 45

minutes behind schedule at 12:30 pm Friday. The

17,800-km (11,060-mile) journey was part of Project

Sunrise _ Qantas’ goal to operate regular, non-stop

commercial flights from Australia’s east coast cit-ies of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to London and New York. Last month, Qantas completed the first non-stop flight from New York to Sydney, which took 19 hours and 16 minutes. Another New York to Syd-ney flight is expected next month to round out the project.