Congress on edge as SP, Trinamool meet

April 20, 2012
Mamatha

New Delhi, April 20: With just over a month left for the close of nominations for the presidential elections, the ruling Congress is focusing all its energies on zeroing in on a candidate who will secure the approval of its allies in the United Progressive Alliance.

The UPA holds around 40 per cent of the votes, approximately 10 per cent ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. But given the unpredictability of its allies, particularly the erratic Trinamool Congress, the Congress would prefer not to risk a contest.

There are, of course, “friendly” non-NDA, non-UPA parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, both of which support the UPA from outside: however, their support cannot be taken for granted either.

Not surprisingly, therefore, an hour-long meeting between Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and SP supremo Mulayam Singh's emissary, Kiranmoy Nanda, on Tuesday in Kolkata on the possibility of the two parties joining hands for the presidential polls is causing unease in the Congress camp.

The two parties are apparently keen on a Muslim candidate and the name of the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — who is also well regarded by the BJP — is being taken in this connection. The Congress would be happy with a Muslim president, but is not keen on Mr. Kalam's candidature, sources said.

The choice of Mr. Nanda as mediator is interesting as he was a minister in successive Left Front governments in West Bengal, while Mr. Singh enjoyed — and continues to enjoy — a good relationship with the CPI(M)'s national leadership.

Of course, after this meeting, Mr. Nanda was at pains to publicly state that his association with the Left Front in West Bengal was a “closed chapter”. The meeting is significant for another reason: earlier this year, there was speculation in political circles that the SP might replace the Trinamool in the UPA.

If the SP and the Trinamool band together, they could play a role in deciding who the next President is. It is also learnt that the SP has been in touch with the AIADMK.

The SP, whose strength has gone up substantially since the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, is clearly in a mood to effectively deploy its newly acquired clout. There is even talk that senior SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, Mr. Mulayam Singh's cousin, is being pushed by his party for the post of Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, Lutyens's Delhi is awash with names for potential presidential candidates: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, senior Congress leader and former Maharaja of Kashmir Karan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, Union Non-Conventional Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah, the former West Bengal Governor and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

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News Network
July 31,2020

New Delhi, Jul 31: Air India has operated more than 2800 flights and flown over 3 lakh passengers worldwide till now under the Vande Bharat Mission.

"Air India under Vande Bharat Mission Operated more than 2800 flights and flown more than 3 lakh, 80 thousand passengers worldwide till now," Air India said in a tweet on Thursday.

The fifth phase of the Government of India's 'Vande Bharat' mission, aimed at evacuating Indian nationals stranded in various foreign countries owing to restrictions on air travel, will begin early next month, August 1.

"Under Vande Bharat Mission, we have already brought back more than 2.5 lakh stranded Indians from 53 commies," Air India had earlier said in a statement.

Over 7.88 lakh Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic have returned under Vande Bharat Mission till July 22, Ministry of External Affairs had said.

The government started Vande Bharat Mission on May 7.

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News Network
August 8,2020

The Kozhikode International Airport located at Karipur is not safe for the landing of flights in rainy season, according to an air-safety expert, who had warned the aviation ministry and the civil aviation regulator about this in 2011. 

The warning was particularly about the dangers of permitting passenger aircraft to land on runway 10 of the airport during rains and unfavourable wind conditions. 

Nine years later, on August 7, 2020, the warning became a reality when an Air India Express pilots landed in tailwind conditions and the aircraft overshot the tabletop runway to drop off the end and crash.

 “An aircraft landing on runway 10 in tailwind will experience poor braking action due to heavy rubber deposits … All such flights … are endangering the lives of all on board,’’ said Capt Mohan Ranganathan, in a letter sent on June 17, 2011 to then director general of civil aviation Bharat Bhushan and Nasim Zaidi, chairman of a civil aviation safety advisory committee, which was formed after the May 2010 Mangaluru air crash which killed 158 people.

“My warning issued after the Mangaluru crash was ignored. It is a table-top runway with a down slope. The buffer zone at the end of the runway is inadequate,” Capt Ranganathan said. Given the topography, he pointed out, the airport should have a buffer of 240m at the end of the runway, but it only has 90m (which the DGCA had approved). “Moreover, the space on either side of the runway is only 75m instead of the mandatory 100m,” he added.

Capt Ranganathan said there is no guideline for operations on a table-top runway when it is raining. “Runway 10 approach should not be permitted in view of the lack of runway end safety area (RESA) and the terrain beyond the end of the runway. RESA of 240m should be immediately introduced and runway length has to be reduced to make the operations safe,” his letter said.

If an aircraft is unable to stop within the runway, there is no RESA beyond the end. The ILS localiser antenna is housed on a concrete structure and the area beyond is a steep slope. “The Air India Express accident in Mangalore should have alerted AAI to make the runway conditions safe. We have brought up the issue of RESA during the initial Casac-sub group meetings. We had specifically mentioned that the declared distances for both runways have to be reduced in order to comply with ICAO Annex 14 requirement,” Capt Ranganathan said.

He said the condition of the runway strip was known to DGCA teams that have been conducting inspection and safety assessments. “Have they considered the danger involved? Did the DGCA or the airlines lay down any operational restrictions or special procedures?”

The letter also refers to Approach and Landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) training, which is supposed to be mandatory before every monsoon, but airlines don’t follow it, he said. “70% of accidents take place during approach and landing and that is why this training is essential,” he added.

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Agencies
January 14,2020

Microsoft's Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella on Monday voiced concern over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying what is happening is "sad" and he would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant create the next unicorn in India.

His comments came while speaking to editors at a Microsoft event in Manhattan where he was asked about the contentious issue of CAA which grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

"I think what is happening is sad... It's just bad.... I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or becomes the next CEO of Infosys," Nadella was quoted as saying by Ben Smith, the Editor-in-Chief of New York-based BuzzFeed News.

In a statement issued by Microsoft India, Nadella said: "Every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and set immigration policy accordingly. And in democracies, that is something that the people and their governments will debate and define within those bounds.

"I’m shaped by my Indian heritage, growing up in a multicultural India and my immigrant experience in the United States. My hope is for an India where an immigrant can aspire to found a prosperous start-up or lead a multinational corporation benefitting Indian society and the economy at large".

The Centre last week issued a gazette notification announcing that the CAA has come into effect from January 10, 2020.

The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11.

According to the legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

There have been widespread protests against the Act in different parts of the country.

In Uttar Pradesh, at least 19 persons were killed in anti-CAA protests.

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