Modi to visit Ramallah on February 10, will be first ever Indian PM in Palestine

Agencies
February 5, 2018

New Delhi, Feb 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a historic visit to Palestine starting Saturday. During his visit, he will hold a meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Apart from visiting Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the prime minister will also go to the Palestinian capital, Ramallah.

In July 2017, he was on a three-day visit to Israel on a special invitation from his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, however, he did not visit Palestine then.

Modi will be in the UAE on February 10 and 11 and will address the sixth World Government Summit in Dubai. This will be Modi's second visit to the UAE after August 2015.

According to authorities and business leaders, this visit of the Prime Minister signifies the special importance that India attaches to its ties with the oil-rich nation and will help in furthering cooperation in diplomatic, economic and security issues.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi?s second visit to UAE is an indication of the special importance we attach to the India- UAE relationship," India's Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri said.

According to him, the visit builds in the momentum that has developed since India hosted Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed as chief guest on Republic Day in 2017.

Besides bilateral engagements, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to address members of the Indian community at the Dubai Opera House.

"During the year, we have seen major UAE investments into India, a significant increase in defence and security cooperation, a transformation in our energy ties from a buyer-seller relationship to a strategic partnership.

"For the community, the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi will be great news," Suri said.

Echoing Suri's sentiments, the UAE ambassador to India Ahmed Al-Banna said the visit "tells us the direction that India and the UAE have in mind and also the characteristics of our respective leaderships."

"The leadership has put us on a challenging and interesting track where the relationship is very important, on many sectors, and our leaders are pushing to rewrite future plans for both nations," Al-Banna said.

While Ambassador Suri highlighted the trade and investment component of this rapidly-evolving relationship, Ambassador Al-Banna chose to emphasise on the connectivity aspect of it.

"There are 1,076 flights a week between India and the UAE, which is the largest operation of its kind. More than 50 per cent of Indians, who travel outside India to different destinations, such as Europe or America, use Dubai and Abu Dhabi as their transit hub," he said.

It is obvious that both sides are banking on prime minister's visit to go over and above the 17 bilateral agreements signed in January 2016, and 14 agreements in February 2017.

With an eye on India, some leading Gulf businesses with Indians at the helm see this as realisation of long-held dreams.

Yusuffali MA, chairman Lulu Group International and member of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, said India had been on an aggressive forward march with regard to attracting FDIs.

"The recent report by leading rating agencies and financial institutions have all lauded India?s fiscal policies and ease of doing business, so obviously India does look like a hot destination for investment.

As far Indo-UAE business relationship is concerned, it is at all time high with both countries being each other's top trading partner," Yusuffali said.

According to him, till recently India was seen as an investment destination only, but of late UAE has been trying to woo Indian businesses to invest and set up operations here.

"This move shows the kind of confidence UAE has on Indian economy and I am sure business houses in both countries will be eagerly looking forward to this visit to open up new areas of co-operation," Yusuffali said.

Manoj Prasad, Executive Chairman, of DIFC-based investment banking firm, Que Capital Limited, believes this visit truly signifies the seriousness among top Indian leadership toward making an ever growing relationship between two countries more meaningful.

"The ambition is obviously growth to which both countries have already started contributing, be it through India investing in infrastructure or the bilateral investment fund which is in the process of being setup," says Prasad.

According to him, businesses among the two countries have witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years.

"The comfort and mutual respect for leaders of both the countries are clearly visible and the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the land with highest NRI diaspora in the world would further enhance it," he said.

A wide spectrum of companies stands to gain from improving bilateral relations facilitating business climate on both sides, he said.

Kulwant Singh, the founder and managing director of Lama Hospitality group, feels the visit signifies that we are serious about our relationship and take our commitments, business associations, joint opportunities, and strategic tie-ups seriously.

"We see the formula of successful businesses matching with the perfect platform of opportunities available in India. With the new budget in place, NRIs will have huge opportunities in sectors like healthcare, education, and infrastructure," Singh said.

Prasanth Manghat, CEO and Executive Director, NMC Health Plc, says the visit will not only develop his outreach to the Arab world but also offer a prospect to further the strategic partnerships in the region.

According to him, the visit is seen by many as cementing the close relationship Modi shares with the UAE leadership, also furthering cooperation in diplomatic, economic and security issues.

"At the ground level of delivery, the strategic partnership is being expanded and the UAE has announced plans to invest USD 75 billion over a decade to meet India?s infrastructure needs," he said.

Indian expatriates in the UAE actively participate in projects toward the development of the UAE and this visit will help further evolve the deep and historic relationship shared between the two countries, said Mehirr Nath Choppra, CEO Qasbah Group.

"It would certainly help to get an overview of the projects that have been announced in the past and their current status so serious players can set their timelines accordingly," Choppra said.

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News Network
May 30,2020

May 30: A Delhi court on Saturday granted interim bail for 10 days to former municipal councillor from the Congress Ishrat Jahan, who has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, to get married.

She has been booked under the anti-terror law in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi in February.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana granted the interim relief from June 10 to June 19 to Jahan on furnishing two sureties of Rs 1 lakh.

The court directed her not to tamper with any evidence or influence the witnesses in the case.

According to the interim bail plea, filed through advocates S K Sharma and Lalit Valeecha, Jahan's marriage was fixed in 2018 for June 12, 2020.

The plea further said that Jahan would not tamper with any evidence or influence the witnesses if granted bail.

The petition, also filed through advocates Tushar Anand and Manu Prabhakar, claimed that Jahan has been falsely implicated in the case.

It alleged that upon bare perusal of the contents of the FIR, no incident of violence can be attributed to her and the wild and baseless allegations made against her were not only irresponsible and false, but also caused serious harm to her reputation.

Jahan, who is also an advocate, was only a supporter of ongoing peaceful protests and it was one of the fundamental rights of the citizens to protest and register their dissent against any unreasonable measure of the government, the plea said.

Besides Jahan, Jamia Millia Islamia University students Asif Iqbal Tanha, Gulfisha Khatoon, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, president of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-Ur-Rehman, suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, activist Khalid Safi, JNU student Natasha Narwal and former student leader Umar Khalid have also been booked under the anti-terror law in the case.

The police had claimed in the FIR that Khalid and his associates had instigated people to start riots in the area and it was a "premeditated conspiracy".

Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.

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News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: When a reign of terror was unleashed by "masked goons" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday, Delhi Police registered two cases against varsity students union president Aishe Ghosh, who was badly injured in the attack, within a span of five minutes.

The registration of cases on two separate complaints against Ghosh and other students filed by JNU security department on January 3 and January 4 were registered on Sunday night when the violence was on, triggering questions about the motive behind the timing.

While the FIRs against Ghosh and others were registered between 8.44 pm and 8.49 pm after the JNUSU president was admitted to AIIMS, an FIR on the Sunday violence was registered on Monday at 5.36 am against unknown persons. The Sunday violence case has been transferred to Crime Branch for further investigations.

Questions are being raised over the registration of FIRs on Sunday while the complaints were filed on the previous days. Students allege that it was an afterthought from the police and authorities, as a nationwide outrage erupted as soon as the violence was reported.

Delhi Police is under attack for not coming to the aid of students targeted by the mob of ABVP activists armed with iron rods and sticks who went on a rampage on the campus. While no single person in the Sunday violence was arrested, the police are also accused of being a "mute spectator" by allowing the rioters to leave the campus without being arrested.

In its complaints, the JNU Security Department has alleged that Ghosh and others entered into a verbal and physical scuffle with security guards, including women, when officials tried to open the Centre for Information System (CIS) that was blocked by students protesting against the fee hike and registration process.

While the January 3 complaint claims that the students switched off the power supply to the CIS and evicted staff forcefully, the January 4 complaint alleged that they damaged the information system.

They also claimed the students damaged the servers, made it dysfunctional, severely damaged optic fibre cables and broke the biometric system in the CIS. The complaint also cited a Supreme Court order that prevented any protest within 100 metres of Administration Block and claimed the students violated the direction.

The FIR filed on Sunday violence on the basis of the statement of Inspector Anand Yadav said that the first phase of violence was reported at 3.45 pm when "40-50 unidentified" people who had "covered their faces" attacked students in Periyar Hostel and the situation was brought under control.

However at around 7 pm, "50-60 people with rods in their hands" targeted students in Sabarmati Hostel in which students were attacked and public property destroyed.

The FIR said that students were injured but skipped the mention of the attack on teachers, who were injured. At least two faculty members Sucharita Sen and Ameet Parameswaran were taken to AIIMS while several other teachers suffered minor injuries.

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News Network
May 11,2020

May 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said many states were amending labour laws, but the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic cannot be an excuse to exploit workers, suppress their voice and crush their human rights.

Gandhi said there cannot be any compromise on the basic principles by allowing unsafe workplaces.

"Many states are amending labour laws. We are together fighting against corona, but this cannot be an excuse to crush human rights, allow unsafe workplaces, exploit workers and suppress their voice," he said.

"There cannot be any compromise on these basic principles," he added.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also said it would be dangerous and disastrous to loosen labour, land and environment laws in the name of economic revival and stimulus.

"In the name of economic revival and stimulus, it will be dangerous and disastrous to loosen labour, land and environmental laws and regulations as the Modi govt is planning.

"The first steps have already been taken. This is a quack remedy like demonetisation," Ramesh tweeted.

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