Former IAF chief admits he met middleman in copter deal

February 14, 2013

New Delhi, Feb 14: Former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi on Wednesday admitted meeting an Italian middleman who allegedly took money from Italian arms major Finmeccanica to secure a Rs 3,600-crore (€560 million) contract for purchasing 12 VVIP helicopters for the IAF's Communication Squadron.

Tyagi admitted meeting Italian middleman Carlo Gerosa at his cousin's place but went on to claim he had no further contacts with him.

“There is no denial of the fact that needle of suspicion is on me. I welcome the Central Bureau of Investigation probe, which will establish my innocence,” he said.deal

Tyagi went public with his comments hours after Italian prosecutors named three Indian brothers with family ties to the former IAF chief who reportedly took money to secure the VVIP helicopter contract for Agusta Westland, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica.

In their warrant, Italian prosecutors at north Italian town of Busto Arsizio named three Tyagi brothers—Julie, Docsa and Sandeep—for accepting money from two middlemen for swinging the Rs 3,600-crore deal in favour of Agusta Westland.

Quoting the Italian warrant, Reuters reports from Busto Arszio that Tyagi brothers received € 100,000 (about Rs 72 lakh) and two Italian middlemen Gerosa and Guido Haschke € 400,000 (about Rs 3 crore).

“I asked my brothers why were you named in the Italian probe. They said they had other business links with the company (Finmeccanica) but nothing in defence,” said Tyagi.

In October 2012, Agusta Westland claimed it never appointed, formally or informally, Guido Haschke as its agents and intermediaries in the VVIP programme and never paid any commission to him.

Tyagi said technical specifications for the aircraft—called air staff qualitative requirement (ASQR)— were frozen in 2003 before he took over. The flying height was brought down from 18,000 feet to 15,000 feet to avoid single vendor situation.

George Fernandes was the defence minister when the ASQR was fixed.

Since Fernandes was a regular visitor to Siachen—world's highest battlefield—it was initially thought the VVIP copter should be capable of flying up to Kumar Post which is at an elevation of 18,000 feet. But when the search for an appropriate product began at the Vice-Chief's office, it was realised only one company would make the cut.

Subsequently, the requirement was lowered to 15,000 feet, height of the Siachen base camp. When asked about the ASQR modification, S Krishnaswamy, who preceded Tyagi as the IAF chief, told Deccan Herald that he did not remember those figures and details.

The tender was issued in 2006, when Pranab Mukherjee was the defence minister. A defence ministry official said once the tender was issued, there was no deviation from the process.

In due course the project received approval from the Finance Ministry, where incidentally Mukherjee was minister when it received the approval. The contract was signed in 2010 after the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security.

Chopper chaos

-Former IAF chief Tyagi says specifications fixed before his tenure; NDA’s George Fernandes was defence minister then

-Pranab Mukherjee was defence minister when tender was issued; gave approval when he was finance minister and endorsed by Cabinet Committee on Security

-Defence Minister A K Antony says deal can be cancelled at any time as the government will get back money; says no one involved will be spared

-Govt can take action on preliminary report by CBI, will decide on delivery of remaining nine choppers after report submission

- BJP senses “making of another Bofors scam”

-CPM?demands Supreme Court monitoring of CBI probe

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Agencies
January 15,2020

Mumbai, Jan 15: Michael Debabrata Patra took over as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday.

He was an Executive Director of India's central bank before being elevated to the post of Deputy Governor.

An RBI release said that as Deputy Governor, Patra will look after Monetary Policy Department including Forecasting and Modelling Unit (MPD/MU), Financial Markets Operations Department (FMOD), Financial Markets Regulation Department.

He will also look after Market Intelligence (FMRD/MI), International Department (Intl. D), Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), Department of Statistics and Information Management (including Data and Information Management Unit) (DSIM/DIMU), Corporate Strategy and Budget Department (CSBD) and Financial Stability Unit.

Patra, a career central banker since 1985, has worked in various positions in the Reserve Bank of India.

As Executive Director, he was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI, which is invested with the responsibility of monetary policy decision making in India. He will continue to be an ex-officio member of the MPC as Deputy Governor.

Prior to this, he was Principal Adviser of the Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India between July 2012 and October 2014.

He has worked in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Senior Adviser to Executive Director (India) during December 2008 to June 2012, when he actively engaged in the work of the IMF's Executive Board through the period of the global financial crisis and the ongoing Euro area sovereign debt crisis.

The release said that his book "The Global Economic Crisis through an Indian Looking Glass" vividly captures this experience.

He has also published papers in the areas of inflation, monetary policy, international trade and finance, including exchange rates and the balance of payments.

A fellow of the Harvard University where he undertook post-doctoral research in the area of financial stability, he has a PhD in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

He will hold the post for three years or until further orders. The post fell vacant after Viral Acharya resigned on July 23 last year.

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News Network
May 24,2020

New Delhi, May 24: New rules for domestic travel during the lockdown were released by the government today, including advising passengers to download the Aarogya Setu application on their mobile devices and asking states to ensure thermal screening at departure point of airports, railway stations and bus terminals. The guidelines were shared by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who also shared new rules for international travel.

The minister had recently said that international flight operations may start by mid-June or end-July if the COVID-19 virus "behaves in a predictable manner".

"Prescribed clinical protocol will be followed in case any domestic or international traveller shows symptoms of COVID-19. States can also develop their own protocol for quarantine and isolation as per their own assessment," Mr Puri said.

The guidelines come a day before the resumption of air travel after nearly two-months hiatus following lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Indian Railways has also issued a list of 100 pairs of trains that it will operate from June 1, putting in operation popular trains such as Durontos, Sampark Krantis, Jan Shatabdis and Poorva Express.

Dos and Don'ts shall be provided along with tickets to travellers by agencies concerned, said the Health Ministry's guidelines for domestic travel (air/train/inter-state bus travel).

Latest guidelines on domestic & international travel have been issued by @MoHFW_INDIA.

I hope travellers strictly follow these self-regulatory norms & strengthen India's hands in this fight against COVID19. Remember, each one of us is a soldier against the pandemic.@MoCA_GoIpic.twitter.com/xVbTG1K44n

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 24, 2020
Travellers shall give 14-day quarantine undertaking before boarding

The states and Union Territories shall ensure that all passengers undergo thermal screening at the point of departure and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to board the flight, train or bus. Asymptomatic passengers, however, will be permitted to travel after they give an undertaking to self-monitor for 14 days, the ministry said.

Those having moderate or severe symptoms will be admitted to dedicated COVID health facilities and managed accordingly, the guidelines said.

Those having mild symptoms will be given the option of home isolation or isolated in the COVID Care Centre (both public and private facilities) as appropriate and tested as per ICMR protocol, they said.

"If positive, they will continue in COVID Care Centre and will be managed as per clinical protocol. If negative, the passenger may be allowed to go home, isolate himself/herself and self-monitor his/her health for further 7 days," the health ministry said.

In case, any symptoms develop they shall inform the district surveillance officer or the state or the national call centre (1075), it said.

Use of face covers, following respiratory hygine during travel

During boarding and travel, all passengers shall use face covers or masks and will also follow hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene and maintain environmental hygiene, the ministry said in its guidelines.

At airports, railway stations and bus terminals, required measures to ensure social distancing shall be taken, the guidelines said.

Airports, railway stations and bus terminals to be regularly sanitised

Airports, railway stations and bus terminals should be regularly sanitised or disinfected and the availability of soaps and sanitisers shall be ensured, the health ministry said.

The ministry said that states can also develop their own protocol with regards to quarantine and isolation as per their assessment.

Guidelines for International Travel

The guidelines for international travel include mandatory undertaking for quarrantine for 14 days. "Only for exceptional and compelling reasons such as cases of human distress, pregnancy, death in family, serious illness and parent(s) accompanied by children below 10 yrs, as assessed by the receiving states, home quarantine may be permitted for international travellers for 14 days," the Civil Aviation minister said.

Asymptomatic travelers will be allowed to board flight/ship

At the time of boarding the flight or ship, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening, the health ministry said.. Passengers arriving through land borders will also have to undergo the same procedure, it said.

"Self-declaration form in duplicate shall be filled by the person in the flight/ship and a copy of the same will be given to Health and immigration officials present at the airport/seaport/landport. The form will be made available through the Aarogya Setu app," the new order said.

Passengers found to be symtomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to medical facility as per health protocol. "These passengers will be kept under institutional quarrantine for a minimum period of 7 days and should undergo necessary tests as per ICMR protocol," the guidelines said.

Sanitisation and disinfection must inside flights

Authorities must take adequate measures to such as environmental sanitation and disinfection at the airports as well as within the flights, the guideline said.Suitable announcement about COVID-19 including precautionary measures to be followed shall be made at airports/ports, it added.

While on board flight, ships, passengers and crew required precautions such as wearing of masks, environmental hygiene, respiratory hygiene, hand hygiene, the ministry said.

This morning, India registered the biggest-single day jump in the number of coronavirus cases as 6,767 new patients were reported in the last 24 hours. This is the third consecutive day that India has reported more than 6,000 COVID-19 cases with a record number of new patients each day. The county has officially logged 1,31,868 cases, 3,867 deaths linked to the highly infectious illness since the pandemic began. Of these, 147 patients died in the last 24 hours. The global number of novel coronavirus cases has passed 5.25 million with more than 339,000 deaths. Since the outbreak first emerged in China in December, 5,260,970 cases have been recorded across 196 countries and territories, with 339,758 deaths attributed to the virus.

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News Network
July 24,2020

New Delhi, Jul 24: India reported the highest single-day spike of 49,310 coronavirus cases on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 12,87,945 including 4,40,135 active cases, 8,17,209 cured/discharged/migrated.
With 740 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll reached 30,601.

Maharashtra has reported 3,47,502 coronavirus cases, the highest among states and Union Territories in the country. A total of 1,92,964 cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu till now, while Delhi has recorded 1,27,364 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 3,52,801 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday and overall 1,54,28,170 samples have been tested so far. 

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