Bahrain may ink pact with India for space tech cooperation

Agencies
November 19, 2018

Manama, Nov 19: The Bahrain government is likely to sign an agreement with India early next year for cooperation in space technology, a Bahraini minister has said.

In February next year, the Gulf nation, hopefully, will sign a pact with Indian space agency ISRO for training and research purposes, Kamal Bin Ahmed Mohammed, Minister for Transportation and Telecommunications, Bahrain, said.

"The national science and space agency (Bahrain) and ISRO will sign an MoU. It has been approved by the Bahrain government and is in its final stage. And hopefully, I will be in India shortly, maybe in the next air show in February to sign the MoU," the minister, who also holds the space portfolio, said.

The agreement will be mainly for training purposes and both countries will cooperate on research and technology, he added.

"It is just a starting point. The government will send some Bahrainis to be trained in India from January for eight weeks...to study how they can design and build satellites,” Mohammed said.

Bahrain is also looking to forge closer economic ties with India to attract investment and tech companies.

"We are in continuous discussion with the private sector, CII and Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) which is the government agency to promote Bahrain and attract foreign direct investment, and India is one of the important markets for EDB. It has an office there. There will be a delegation there in December,” the minister said.

He further said India is an important market and it will become one of the superpowers in terms of economy.

On investment from India, he said: "I believe Indian companies are becoming bigger, they are expanding outside of India and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries offer them the best opportunity."

"We are more focussing on technology and knowledge-based industry and services."

India is an important business partner for Bahrain, and the kingdom is keen to further strengthen the relations with the private sector in India.

Trade relationship between the two countries also prompted many Indians to set up their businesses there.

"Located at the heart of the Middle East, Bahrain is the natural gateway to the Gulf region, with strong, efficient and cost-effective pan-GCC transport links and direct access to Saudi Arabia – the region’s largest market," Bahraini officials said.

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News Network
May 11,2020

New Delhi, May 11: Shares of Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) jumped 5 per cent in early trade on Monday after the Indian Railways said it will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12.

The company's shares gained 5 per cent to Rs 1,302.85 -- its highest trading permissible limit for the day -- on the BSE. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it rose 5 per cent to Rs 1,303.55 -- its upper circuit limit.

Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4pm on May 11 and will be available only on the IRCTC website.

The Indian Railways will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12 and will ask passengers to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure, the national transporter said on Sunday.

Initially, the all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train, it said.

The special trains will run from New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

All passenger services were suspended due to a lockdown announced on March 25 and the railways later started the on-demand Shramik Specials to ferry migrants stranded across the country. It, however, has been running freight and parcel services.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Bengaluru, May 27: Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa on Wednesday said that his government will re-open temples, mosques and churches in the state after May 31.

"We are going to open temples, mosques and churches in the state after May 31, he said while speaking to media in Bengaluru.

The Chief Minister added that the "guidelines will be followed" as suggested by experts for opening the worship places.

"We have no objections to open malls and cinema halls, but we are waiting for the guidelines of the central government, Prime Minister will take decisions to allow malls and cinemas to open," he added.

Yediyurappa has said that people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu will not be allowed in the state till May 31.

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Agencies
January 12,2020

Washington, Jan 12: The US State Department has described the recent visit of envoys of 15 countries to Jammu and Kashmir as an "important step" but expressed concern over the continued detention of political leaders and restrictions on internet in the region.

Alice Wells, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, tweeted on Saturday that she was "closely following" the visit of the envoys to Kashmir, describing it an "important step".

Wells, who will be visiting India this week, added: "We remain concerned by detention of political leaders and residents and Internet restrictions. We look forward to a return to normalcy."

The group of diplomats made a two-day visit to the Union Territory on Thursday and Friday to see the conditions thereafter Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status was removed last August.

While some US politicians and media have criticised the action by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, the US has officially appeared to support the abrogation of the Constitution's Article 370 on the special status.

Last October, Wells told the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific that the State Department supported the objectives behind it, while not directly mentioning the abrogation.

"The Indian government has argued that its decision on Article 370 was driven by a desire to increase economic development, reduce corruption, and uniformly apply all national laws in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in regard to women and minorities.

"While we support these objectives, the Department remains concerned about the situation in the Kashmir Valley, where daily life for the nearly eight million residents has been severely impacted since August 5," she had said.

Washington has banked on India's democratic institutions - the judiciary and public debates - being able to steer the country.

Bearing this out, the Supreme Court last week ordered the government to review its decision to shut down the internet in Kashmir, which it declared was a fundamental right, thus taking a step to address Wells's concern.

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