Air India on Friday took back six out of its 57 employees, sacked following a flash strike days after the May 22 Mangalore air crash, and revoked the suspension of 27 others.
Indian tennis icon Leander Paes, who will participate in the Olympics for the sixth time next year, said he is keen to promote Indian football, perhaps in the role of a brand ambassador.
Taking a serious view of the strike by a section of Air India employees, the government on Wednesday asked the management to take 'strong' and 'decisive' action against them as they have indulged in an 'irresponsible' behaviour causing inconvenience to travellers.
The former India captain says he will consider contesting for the president of AIFF in the future.
The understanding was reached during a meeting between Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in New Delhi to decide the fate of the airport which has been embroiled in 'green' wrangle.
Having settled the leadership issue in Maharashtra, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday began talks on the sticky issue of portfolio sharing in New Delhi amid reported differences, especially over the key ministries like home, finance and power.
Ruling out the possibility of union ministers Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel resigning in the wake of the IPL controversy, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday dismissed reports about the involvement of any of its leaders or their relatives in any financial wrongdoings in the cricket league. Party spokesman D P Tripathi saw nothing wrong in Civil Aviation Minister Patel's 'personal office' forwarding projections of new franchisee valuations to Tharoor.
After months of uncertainty, there is finally a glimmer of hope for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport. Environment & Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh told a TV channel today that he had already spoken to his counterpart in the aviation ministry, Praful Patel, and hoped "to find a compromise soon". "There will be an agreement. Our team is going to Navi Mumbai," Ramesh said.
Hakim won the Santosh Trophy for Services in 1960 and continued to be a part of the squad till 1966. At club level, he played for City College Old Boys (Hyderabad) and Indian Air Force.
Air India will introduce new flights and also increase frequency of flights on various sectors from March 28, when summer schedule comes into effect.
But if the minister signals that he is on the side of the unions on key staff issues, he reduces the management's scope of action as well as the likelihood of better service.
The visual control tower at 95 metre would provide all-round view of the airport. The complex will also have meteorological facilities, search and rescue and anti-hijacking measures.
New Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Thursday sought the support of all employees of ailing Air India in restoring its lost glory and said the staff and the management should work in coordination to achieve this.
GAGAN or the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation to be launched by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel would not only help the civil aviation sector but also help in marine navigation, search and rescue operations, rail and road transport, survey and mapping as well as precision farming.
Union minister and Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh and two Nationalist Congress Party candidates were elected on Monday to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. NCP leaders Govindrao Adik and Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil were elected to the Upper House of parliament against the seats vacated by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Supriya Sule after their election to Lok Sabha.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel on Monday came out in strong defence of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar facing criticism for price rise and said all decisions on the issue were taken collectively.
After a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in New Delhi, Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta told PTI that six staffers, whose services were terminated after the two-day strike that had disrupted hundreds of flights, have been taken back 'after they submitted apology letters on our advice'.
Asserting that the government can't remain a mute spectator to the move by the air carriers, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said there can be 'no justification' for airlines to hike fares in an 'arbitrary manner'.
In a coalition era, the smallest of parties gets almost blackmail power and that power is in direct proportion to the weakness of the senior coalition partner. Which is why, for instance, even in an era of coalitions, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a lot more powerful than Manmohan Singh is.
Meanwhile, accusing Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel of being responsible for the state of affairs in Air India, the CPI(M) has demanded the immediate revocation of the order to derecognise the unions and sacking of employees for going on a flash strike.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
All India Football Federation president Praful Patel on Friday conceded there were "certain issues" between AIFF and Bob Houghton but asserted that the Englishman remains the national coach and will guide the team in next year's Asian Cup in Doha.
The government on Thursday claimed that the losses of Air India were coming down and admitted that there were "some issues" which were affecting the process of its merger.
In a veiled attack on Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday asked the party why it was shying away from demanding the resignations of Union ministers Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, for their alleged involvement in the IPL scam. Maneka said Patel and his daughter had flouted so many rules, but still the party had not demanded the minister's resignation.
Indian Premier League authorities on Friday dismissed media reports that Poorna Patel, IPL Hospitality Manager and daughter of Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel, leaked a confidential e-mail from the league's COO Sundar Raman's office.
Air India on Friday said it had operated a charter flight to carry IPL players from Chandigarh to Chennai as per rules and procedures and maintained that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter, Poorna, was not involved in this operation.
American companies have so far not evinced any interest in investing in the huge Indian infrastructure market, which is estimated to be worth over $200 billion, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
The civil work in T3 has been completed as per schedule on March 31 and extensive on-the-job trials of the facilities were being carried out by the airport operator involving over 10,000 personnel from all the service providers, including CISF, Immigration, Customs, airlines and other stakeholders.
The greenfield airport project at Navi Mumbai is likely to get the final environmental nod by October and the bidding process expected to begin by the year-end, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it wants to see the country's national team breach the top 100 of the world football rankings within three years.
The government had earlier warned that the management was free to take any action against them.
India's aviation sector would have a fully functioning satellite based navigation system (GPS) in place next year, Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
The political crisis faced by the Digambe Kamat-led government in Goa has blown over with the Congress leadership managing to convince the Nationalist Congress Party, protesting alleged irresponsible utterances against it by some Congress MLAs, to vote for the finance bill in the state assembly.
Interacting with media persons after the launch of the party unit, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said: "There are people here in the US who are passionate about India despite living here for so many years and we are here today to show our commitment to Indian Americans. We would like to lend a voice to their emotions, sentiments and thought processes and carry them back home."
The Leader of the Aviation Industry Employees Guild, George Abraham was also present at the meeting. The four pilots sacked by the management will be taken back and resume duties while the Registrar of Trade Unions will take a decision on the status of the National Aviators Guild (NAG) spearheading the stir, according to aviation sources.
Senior advocate and former additional solicitor general of India Amarendra Sharan was on Thursday appointed as the arbitrator to decide on the suspension dispute between Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia and Mohun Bagan.
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said he would be ordering an inquiry into the tragic accident, and added that notwithstanding the inclement weather, it was the pilot's duty to determine a flight could be taken or not.
The ministry of civil aviation will seek a complete rollback of service tax levied on domestic air travel in the recent Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday.In his Budget speech on February 26, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had proposed a service tax of 10 per cent on both domestic and international travel. Earlier, the service tax was restricted only for international travel.
The Union civil aviation ministry would take up the issue with the finance ministry, Patel said, expressing the hope that the latter would respond favourably to the civil aviation ministry's representation.
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