Govt to review security nod to Chinese firms after Bejing's veto on Masood

April 5, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 5: The security establishment is considering a review of the liberalised investment regime being offered to Chinese investors after Beijing snubbed India by blocking its latest bid to have JeM chief Masood Azhar designated terrorist by the United Nations.

masoodOfficial sources said the view in the security establishment is that security clearances given to Chinese companies should be reviewed after China's action in the UN on India's bid in the wake of terror strike at the Pathankot airbase.

Investments from China, which was once considered "a country of concern", has been offered red carpet welcome by the government with the aim of boosting bilateral relations, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh had visited the country.

However, Beijing's latest action in the UN led to security establishment's re-thinking of the China policy, especially while granting security clearance to investments from China.

"The country of concern tag was removed from China. But the liberalised policy is not getting the desired results. There may be a re-thinking of the policy to grant security clearance to Chinese companies," a source said.

Now the security establishment feels that China has shown insensitivity as far as core security national issues relating to India are concerned.

Around 25 Chinese companies were given security clearance by the government in the past two years for setting up industrial projects mostly in power, telecom, railways and infrastructure.

According to Department Of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), India had received Rs 3,066.24 crore investment from China in 2014-15 and Rs 2,196.11 crore in 2015-16 (up to September 2015).

As per DIPP records, the Chinese companies which have invested in India in last 15 years were Saic General Motors Investment Ltd, Beiqi Foton Motors Co Ltd, Tbea Sheyang Transformer Group Ltd, Cina Steel Corporation, Boasteel Resources Co Ltd, Gaungxi Liugong Machinery Co Ltd, Shanghai Hitachi Electrical Appliances C, Xiangfen County Hongda Group Cement & BL, Dongfang Electric Corporation Ltd and ZTE Corporation.

To give impetus to Make In India initiative, Home Ministry gave security clearance to more than twice the number of fresh investment proposals coming from across the globe in 2015 compared to previous year after conducting national risk assessment.

As many as 1,744 industrial projects were given security clearance to companies belonging to different countries in 2015. In comparison, 815 investment proposals were cleared in 2014 and 712 proposals in 2013.

The huge jump in investment proposals getting the nod came after the Home Ministry issued policy guidelines for assessment of proposals for national security clearance on July 1, 2015.

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News Nerwork
June 7,2020

New Delhi, Jun 7: Rain lashed some parts of the Delhi-NCR on Sunday morning.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted partly cloudy sky with possibility of development of thunder lightning for three days from June 10 onwards with minimum and maximum temperature will hover around 29° Celcius and 42° Celcius respectively.

Strong surface winds during day time have been predicted for today by IMD.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Apr 24: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in bringing bodies of Keralites who died in the Gulf countries due to non-COVID-19 reasons to the state without any delay for performing last rites in their home towns.

In a letter, he wanted Modi to direct Indian embassies to issue necessary clearances without seeking individual approvals from the Ministry of Home Affairs and avoid any delay so that the remains reach Kerala early. It has been learnt that a 'clearance certificate' from the Indian embassies concerned was required to process the application for bringing home the bodies.

The embassies are insisting on production of no-objection certificate from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, he said in the letter, a copy of which was released to the media here on Friday. The Centre had already agreed that in case the deaths are not COVID related, such certificates are not necessary.

The bodies are now being brought in the cargo planes as passenger flights are not being operated due to the lockdown. Chief Minister said he had received several grievances from the NRKs in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on the delay in bringing home the bodies of those who died there. "They are already under tremendous stress and anxiety due to the lockdown imposed in those countries and the consequent stoppage of international flights", Vijayan said.

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