Hamid Ansari leads Indian delegation to Saudi king's funeral

January 24, 2015

Hamid Ansari

New Delhi, Jan 24: Vice President Hamid Ansari Saturday will lead the Indian government delegation at the funeral of king Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud who died early Friday.

The government has declared a day's mourning Saturday and flags are being flown at half-mast.

An official statement said "the government and people of India have received with deep sadness and shock" the news of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud who died of complications from pneumonia early Friday.

"India has maintained close and friendly relations with Saudi Arabia under the leadership of King Abdullah. These bonds have been especially strengthened by the presence of the large expatriate Indian community which has found a home in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the statement added.

Ansari is a former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have sent messages of condolences to King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, who has succeeded him.

The president said: "In his passing away, Saudi Arabia had lost a beloved leader, India a close friend and the world, an elder statesman."

"King Abdullah had genuine warmth and affection for India and our people. He was personally committed to improving bilateral ties with India," a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Modi described the Saudi King as a guiding force, and said: "In King Abdullah, we have lost an important voice, who left a lasting impact on his country. I condole his demise.

"Our thoughts are with the people of Saudi Arabia, who have lost a guiding force in King Abdullah, during this hour of grief. A few days ago I spoke to Crown Prince Salman and enquired about King Abdullah's health. News of King Abdullah's passing away is saddening," he added.

India's energy security depends a lot on Saudi Arabia which accounts for 20 percent of the country's oil imports.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy recalled the Saudi King as one who in general was considerate to Indians, particularly to Keralites.

He said he fondly recalls that during the period when Nitaqat (a Saudi government initiative to boost local employment) was in force in the oil-rich kingdom in 2013, it was through the King's intervention that many requests to the Saudi government were accepted

"Over the past many decades, Saudi Arabia has been home to lakhs of Keralites, who earn a living by working there and the departed's vision made this happen," Chandy said in a message.

According to a recent study on the diaspora by the Centre for Development Studies, out of the 2.36 million Kerala diaspora, 25.2 percent are in Saudi Arabia.

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News Network
April 27,2020

New Delhi, Apr 27: A private hospital here claimed that a coronavirus patient, who was administered plasma therapy for the first time in the facility, was discharged on Sunday after being completely cured.

The 49-year-old man had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 4 and was admitted to Max Hospital, Saket, it said in a statement.

As his condition deteriorated, he was put on ventilator support on April 8, the hospital added.

When the patient showed no signs of improvement, his family requested for administration of plasma therapy on compassionate grounds, it said, adding that the family arranged a donor for extracting plasma.

The patient was administered fresh plasma as a treatment modality as a side-line to standard treatment protocols on the night of April 14, the statement said.

Subsequently, the patient showed improvement and by the fourth day, was weaned off ventilator support and continued on supplementary oxygen. He was shifted to a room with round-the-clock monitoring on Monday after testing negative twice within 24 hours, it said.

He has now fully recovered and was discharged, the hospital said, adding that he will stay at home for another two weeks.

Group medical director of Max Healthcare and senior director of the Institute of Internal Medicine Dr Sandeep Budhiraja said, "We can say that plasma therapy could have worked as a catalyst in speeding up his recovery. We cannot attribute 100 per cent recovery to plasma therapy only, as there are multiple factors which carved his path to recovery."

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News Network
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: Delhi recorded 1,366 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, taking the tally to 31,309, while the death toll mounted to 905, authorities said on Wednesday.

According to a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government's health department, there are 18,543 active cases, while 11,861 patients have either recovered, been discharged or migrated.

No health bulletin was issued on Tuesday.

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Agencies
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: The government is set to privatise Central Electronics Ltd, a CPSE under the Department of Science and Technology, by selling its 100% stake with management control and has invited the Expression of Interest for the same by March 16.

The selected bidder will be required to lock in its shares for a period of three years during which it cannot undertake the sale of its stake in CEL, the PIM (Preliminary Information Memorandum) said.

"The government of India has 'in-principle' decided to disinvest 100 per cent of its equity shareholding in CEL (which is equivalent to 100 per cent of the total paid up equity share capital of CEL) through Strategic Disinvestment with transfer of management control (Strategic Disinvestment or Transaction)," DIPAM, the Disinvestment Department, said.

The process for the transaction has been divided into two stages, namely, Stage I and Stage II.

After BPCL and Air India, this is yet another CPSE which government is slated to privatise if it gets offers from bidders.

The government has set a challenging target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore disinvestment proceeds from CPSE sell-offs and IPOs, OFSs (Offer for sale) in the next fiscal and it going out all guns blazing to meet that target after revising this fiscal target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore to Rs 65,000 crore.

The Interested Bidders (which can also include employees of CEL) must have a minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore as on March 2019. DIPAM has released complete invitation Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) of CEL. Resurgent India Limited is the advisor to the Transaction.

CEL is a pioneer in the country in the field of Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) with the distinction of having developed India's first Solar cell in 1977 and first Solar panel in 1978 as well as commissioning India's first solar plant in 1992.

More recently, it has developed and manufactured the first crystalline flexible solar panel especially for use on the passenger train roofs in 2015.

Its solar products have been qualified to International Standards IEC 61215/61730. CEL is further working on development of a range of new and upgraded products for signaling and telecommunication in the railway sector.

In the SWOT analysis of the CPSE, DIPAM has stated under weakness that "the company has weak financial loss due to past losses, high manufacturing cost and non payment of dues by state nodal agencies affecting the financial position of the company".

The CPSE has adequate land for expansion, the SWOT analysis said adding "the CPSE faces threat of dumping of solar cells at very low rates which makes solar PV manufacturing industry unviable".

Entry of new players in the market for solar products and railway signalling systems also is cited as a threat.

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