Delhi HC asks Arnab, Republic TV to respect Tharoor's silence

Bengaluru, Jan 30: The BJP government of Karnataka has given green signal to the proposal of hiking milk prices by Rs 2 per litre.

The new prices will come into effect from February 1. Seeking revision of prices, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) had submitted a proposal last week to the state government. Alongside the revision of milk prices, the state government has also hiked the prices of curd by Rs 2 per liter.

The sudden hike in the prices of milk, curd is likely to have a cascading effect on the milk related beverages such as coffee, tea, and milkshakes with hoteliers and eateries mulling to increase the prices of coffee and tea following the hike in prices.

Sources in the state government revealed to DH that out of Rs 2, farmers will be getting a lion’s share as their accounts will be credited with Rs 1. Another 40 paise will be given to the farmers towards the insurances of their livestock.

Another 40 paise will go to the milk salesmen in the form of commission. The remaining 20 paise will be distributed among the workforce at the milk cooperative unions as an additional incentive.

Newsroom, Jun 2: The government of India has announced operation of another 20 special flights to repatriate stranded NRIs from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under Vande Bharat Mission.

All the repatriation flights will take off from three major airports – Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah – between June 10 and June 16. Most of the flights will land in Kerala.

The first flight from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka in the new schedule will be operated on June 11. It will take off from Jeddah with passengers from both Kerala and Karnataka. After landing in Kozhikode it will continue its journey to Bengaluru. 

The next three flights  –  Dammam to Bengaluru on June 12, Jeddah to Bengaluru on June 13 and Riyadh to Bengaluru on June 15 – will directly fly to Karnataka. 

Even though thousands of Mangalureans are stranded in Saudi Arabian cities due to lockdown, the government has not announced any flight to Mangaluru International Airport.

The following are the newly announced flights from Saudi Arabia to India:

Feb 25: Two Customs Preventive officers allegedly involved in gold smuggling cases in Kerala were removed from service, a top official said in Kochi on Monday.

Sumit Kumar, Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Kochi, said that he took action against Radhakrishnan B, Superintendent of Customs, and Rahul, Inspector of Customs, who were allegedly involved in gold smuggling cases in the state.

Radhakrishnan was involved in attempted smuggling of gold weighing 24998.61 grams having a market value of over Rs 8 crore through Thiruvananthapuram international airport on May 13, 2019, Kumar said.

Rahul was involved in attempted smuggling of gold weighing 11,035.54 grams valued at over Rs 4 crore through international airport on August 19, 2019, the Customs Commissioner added.

Radhakrishnan is currently lodged in Central prison, Thiruvananthapuram after the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau under the Union Finance Ministry issued detention order under COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974).

Rahul, against whom detention order under COFEPOSA was issued, is absconding.

"Two Customs officers of the Customs Preventive Commissionerate, Kochi, who were involved in gold smuggling cases were removed from service by Sumit Kumar, Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Cochin," an official release said.

Kumar said that both the cases were booked and investigated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and while show cause notice under Customs Act 1962 has been issued against Radhakrishnan, investigation is under progress in the other case.

"Both the officers were removed from service, after due process of law under Rule 19 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965," the release said.