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OROP stir: Veterans call off hunger strike, but protests are on

September 6, 2015

New Delhi, Sep 6: Former military personnel ended an indefinitie hunger strike on Sunday but said they would continue their protests over the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme till the government resolved the sticking points such as the period for revising pensions and the composition of a review panel, among other issues.

OROP stir

The move came on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that military personnel who retired prematurely will benefit from OROP, an issue that emerged as a bone of contention soon after the Centre announced the implementation of the scheme on Saturday.

Ex-servicemen, however, reiterated the revision of pension after a gap of five years as announced by the government -- in the face of their demand for a revision in every two years -- was not at all acceptable to them and raised objections against the appointment of a one-man judicial commission to examine various aspects of OROP.

Veterans want a deadline of 30 days for the panel to submit its report, while the government said it will take at least six months. Ex-servicemen also demanded that the panel have five members, including three veterans.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi's Jantar Mantra, Major General (retired) Satbir Singh, leader of the association leading the agitation, said protests will continue till four specific points raised by the ex-servicemen are not accepted by the government.

"We urge all those who are on hunger strike to withdraw it as the PM has clarified on the issue of premature retirement. But our protest will continue till the government accepts four points raised by us," he said, adding veterans may resume hunger strike again if the government failed to resolve the pending issues.

"We thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for fulfilling the promise of one rank-one pension. We thank the defence minister but there are four issues to be resolved including the period of equalisation of pension," Singh said.

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Agencies
February 20,2020

Tirupur, Feb 20: Nineteen people died in a collision between a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus and a truck near Avinashi town of Tirupur district on Thursday morning here.

The bus was on its way to Ernakulam in Kerala from Bengaluru in Karnataka when the mishap occurred.

Deputy Tehsildar of Avinashi Town informed, "19 people that include 14 men and 5 women, died in the collision between the bus and the truck near Avinashi town."

The bodies have been taken to Tirupur government hospital.
Further details are awaited.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 8: Former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday said that it is unfair and unfortunate to blame the pilots or the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the Kerala place crash which took place on Friday evening.

"It is very unfortunate and unfair when experts come under television channel and they try to put blame on the Airports Authority of India or the pilots. Airport authority in an institution which has had survived various tests of time for the last 65 to 70 years, or pre-independence, so it is unfair to blame them," he said.

While speaking to news agency, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the 737 Boeing aircraft is reliable and the pilots were experienced, and it was wrong to blame them.

He further said that there are many possibilities on what could have happened, and said, "It is an accident and we need to find the facts."
Rajiv Pratap Rudy also expressed his deepest condolences to the family members of those who lost their lives in the plane crash. "This accident is terrible and heart-rending. 

I offer my deepest condolences to the family members of the captain and first officer, and the families of passengers who died and were injured," he said.

At least 18 people died when a plane carrying 190 passengers came from Dubai met with an accident at Karipur airport in Kozhikode on Friday evening, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"Eighteen people, including two pilots, have lost their lives. It is unfortunate. 127 people are at hospitals, others have been released," said Puri on the Air India Express flight that crash-landed on Friday evening.

Air India Express Dubai-Kozhikode IX-1344 flight, carrying 190 people on board from Dubai under the Vande Bharat Mission, skidded off the runway at Karipur Airport in Kozhikode at 7.41 pm on Friday in which several people sustained injuries.

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News Network
July 18,2020

Washington, Jul 18: The government of India has agreed to allow US air carriers to resume passenger services in the US-India market starting July 23, the US Transportation Department said on Friday.

The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, had banned all scheduled services, prompting the US Transportation Department in June to accuse India of engaging in "unfair and discriminatory practices" on charter air carriers serving India.

The Transportation Department said it was withdrawing an order it had issued requiring Indian air carriers to apply for authorization prior to conducting charter flights, and said it had approved an Air India application for passenger charter flights between the United States and India.

A group representing major US airlines and the Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on Friday.

India's Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Twitter it was moving to "further expand our international civil aviation operations" and arrangements from some flights "with US, UAE, France & Germany are being put in place while similar arrangements are also being worked out with several other countries."

"Under this arrangement," it added, "airlines from the concerned countries will be able to operate flights from & to India along with Indian carriers."

The US Transportation Department order was set to take effect next week. The Trump administration said in June it wanted "to restore a level playing field for US airlines" under the US-India Air Transport Agreement. The Indian government had banned all scheduled services and failed to approve US carriers for charter operations, it added.

The US government said in June that Air India had been operating "repatriation" charter flights between India and the United States in both directions since May 7.

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