Not joining Cong; ready to talk to Rahul on Dalit issues: Jignesh

Agencies
November 2, 2017

Ahmedabad, Nov 2: Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state, today said he has no plans as of now to join the Congress or any other party. 

At the same time, Mevani said he is ready to hold talks with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to know the party's stand on various demands of the Dalit community. 

"I want to make it clear that neither have I joined Congress nor I am going to do so in future. Not just Congress, I have no plans of joining any other party as of now," the young Dalit leader told reporters here. 

The remarks come even as the Congress and the BJP are making all efforts to win new block of voters and keep intact their traditional support base. The state goes to polls next month in two phases - December 9 and 14. 

Mevani, who has been leading the Dalit agitation in Gujarat following the Una Dalit flogging incident last year, said he was ready to have talks with Rahul Gandhi to know the Congress's stand on 17 demands of the community. 

The demands include allotment of five acres of land to Dalits for farming, alternative employment to those who are involved in skinning of cattle and manual scavenging, and the release of a probe report into the firing on the community members at Thangadh in Surendranagar district in 2012. 

"Since the BJP government is not even ready to hold talks with us about these demands, it is very clear that they are anti-Dalit," Mevani said. "And that is why we are also anti-BJP. But, that does not mean that we are joining another party." 

"However, I am ready to meet Rahul Gandhi to know his party's stand on these demands. I want to know what they can do for our community if they come to power," he added. 

Meanwhile, Jan Adhikar Manch president Pravin Ram held a meeting in Surat with Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki and state party in-charge Ashok Gehlot. 

Formed by Ram, the Jan Adhikar Manch says it has been fighting for the unemployed youth, contractual workers, fixed-pay employees, aanganwadis workers (government-run women and childcare centres) and accredited social health activists (ASHA), as well as farmers. 

Ram claimed if the Congress assures them to fulfil their demands, mostly pertaining to higher wages, better job opportunities, and better minimum support prices, the Jan Adhikar Manch may extend its support to the party. 

"I have discussed issues concerning various sections of the society, such as unemployed youth, contractual workers and others. The Congress leaders sought two-days time to come up with their vision on these demands. If they give a positive response, we may definitely support the party," he said.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Mar 16: A fourth batch of 53 Indians returned to India from Iran on Monday, taking the total number of people evacuated from the coronavirus-hit country to 389.

This comes a day after over 230 Indians were brought back from Iran to New Delhi and quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer, the third batch to be evacuated from that country.

"Fourth batch of 53 Indians - 52 students and a teacher - has arrived from Tehran and Shiraz, Iran. With this, a total of 389 Indians have returned to India from Iran. Thank the efforts of the team @India_in_Iran and Iranian authorities," Jaishankar tweeted.

The Indians came in a Mahan Air flight that landed at the Delhi airport at around 3 am, officials said, adding that they were later taken to Jaisalmer in an Air India flight for being quarantined.

The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran last Tuesday and the second group of 44 Indian pilgrim arrived from there on Friday.

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working to bring back Indians stranded there. Over 700 people have died from the disease in Iran and nearly 14,000 cases have been detected.

Jaishankar had told Rajya Sabha last week that the government was focusing on evacuating Indians stranded in Iran and Italy as these countries are facing an "extreme situation".

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Agencies
June 14,2020

Mumbai, Jun 14: A 42-year old man suddenly collapsed and died due to natural causes onboard Air India's Lagos-Mumbai flight on Sunday, the national carrier said.

The flight was part of Vande Bharat Mission, under which the Central government is operating special repatriation flights to bring back stranded Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Air India's flight AI 1906 departed from Lagos in Nigeria at 7 pm Indian Standard Time on Saturday and landed in Mumbai at 3.45 am on Sunday.

"A passenger aboard AI 1906 of June 13 from Lagos to Mumbai passed away due to natural causes today.

"A doctor onboard along with our crew, trained to handle such medical emergencies, made a valiant attempt to revive the passenger, aged 42, who had suddenly collapsed, through resuscitation etc but all their efforts went in vain," the airline's spokesperson said.

He was declared dead onboard by the attending doctor. Mumbai International Airport Limited doctors attended to the passenger after the flight landed at 3.45 am and after all the procedures were complete, the body was sent to a hospital as per protocol, the spokesperson noted.

Relatives of the deceased were informed and aircraft was taken for full fumigation as per the norms, the spokesperson said.

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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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