Kumar is an IAS officer of 1989 batch of Haryana cadre.
The Centre has appointed senior IAS officers Vumlunmang Vualnam and Neeraj Mittal as new secretaries in the ministry of civil aviation and the department of telecommunications respectively in a major secretary-level bureaucratic reshuffle, a government order stated.
'A few answers for the reason of the crash will be known -- whether it was a technical fault, design issue, human error etc.'
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
'The ministry may like to consider setting up an ombudsman similar to electricity ombudsman and insurance ombudsman, to ensure a time-bound resolution of consumer issues within the airline sector.'
The Delhi airport, the country's busiest airport, on Friday early morning witnessed the collapse of a roof at Terminal 1 amid heavy rains that killed one person, prompting the government to order a detailed probe and an inspection of the structural strength of all airports.
The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.
Barring a few, such as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (74), Union Minister C R Patil (69) and Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna (71), most other ministers attending the WEF represent the next generation of India's politicians.
India is preparing to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, after a three-year hiatus. The decision comes as part of efforts to improve relations between India and China, which have been strained since a military standoff in 2020. The two countries have also agreed in principle to resume flight services between them.
Two pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter crashed and caught fire in Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday morning, police said.
A Pawan Hans helicopter on Tuesday made an emergency landing on a road due to inclement weather at Gohpur Balijan in Sonitpur district near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
The state presently has 17 airstrips and 16 helipads.
A threat about the presence of bombs on an Akasa Air flight at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar was received on social media, but it later turned out to be a hoax, an official of the airport said on Thursday.
There is no reason for keeping an entire ministry with a total staff strength of 2,300, just for the oversight of a few aviation sector laws and regulatory bodies, notes A K Bhattacharya.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the commerce ministry has floated a draft Cabinet note for inter-ministerial discussions on foreign direct investment in aviation.
The government on Friday announced it had entered into an agreement with the United States to establish an Aviation Cooperation Programme to modernise the sector's infrastructure.
Indian officials on Sunday said that an Indian plane was not involved in a crash in Afghanistan amid reports that an aircraft from India met with an accident there on Saturday night.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has suspended two employees of the air traffic controller department for "carelessness", according to CAAN spokesperson Jagannath Niroula.
The department of personnel and training has asked the Union Public Service Commission to recruit such specialists through "lateral entry" mode in 12 government departments/ministries, he said.
In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said a passenger travelling in business class was off boarded on the advice of the captain following some argument with members of the crew before the scheduled pushback.
The NCP leader said that he will be happy to cooperate with the ED so that the agency understands the "complexities" of the aviation sector.
Air India is owed a sum of over Rs 574 crore (Rs 5.74 billion) in outstanding dues by different ministries and departments, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Thursday.
Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the basis of the information provided by them in their online application, the statement said.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
The US has said that it was committed to work with India to help it get back the Category 1 aviation safety rating "as soon as possible", a day after Washington downgraded India's ranking, bringing it below Pakistan and at par with countries like Ghana and Bangladesh.
The planes had come on the same runway during take-off from the airport. The DGCA has asked UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to share its investigation report on this incident.
Former Indian football captain, Bhaichung Bhutia inaugurated the first ever Sikkim Paragliding Festival by taking the first jump from a cliff in Gangtok.
Pant, a 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, is currently secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
The Maharashtra government has become the owner of iconic Air India building with the Union government approving transfer of the asset on Thursday. The Maharashtra government bought the Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai for Rs 1,601 crore. "GoI has approved transfer of Air India building, Mumbai of AI Assets Holding Company Ltd (AIAHL) to Government of Maharashtra (GoM) at consideration of Rs.1601 cr. GoM has agreed to waive dues of Rs. 298.42 cr, which would have been otherwise payable by AIAHL to GoM for this transaction," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a post on X.
There was no loud noise of anything breaking when the rods of a portion of a roof collapsed at the Delhi airport's Terminal-1, Krishna Kumar, a cab driver who was at the site of the incident, said on Friday.
There was no damage to the plane and no one was injured, aviation industry sources said.
The presence of an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India could have prevented Go First airline from going "belly up", as sending engines abroad for servicing is not an efficient way to operate a carrier, Piyush Srivastava, senior economic advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a statement on Tuesday. On May 3, Go First suspended its flights and filed for insolvency, squarely blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its cash crunch. The airline claimed that about half of its 54 aircraft were grounded on May 3 due to a delay in the supply of engines by the US-based company. PW has denied the charges.
Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G services in high-frequency bands in and around airports following restrictions imposed by the Department of Telecom at the request of the civil aviation ministry, according to sources. Based on buffer and safety zone details provided by the aviation ministry, the DoT has asked telecom operators to not install 5G base stations in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band in the area of 2.1 kilometres from both ends of the runway and 910 meters from the centre line of the runway of Indian airports with immediate effect. "Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G service in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band only in and around airports based on the order.
So far, carcasses of 32 flamingos have been recovered from Ghatkopar area, the police said.
Jammu and Kashmir has spent Rs 12 crore on the maintenance and operation of Omar Abdullah's aircraft since he became the chief minister in January 2009.
Indian Air Force fighter planes will be on standby to keep a close watch on any suspicious activity in the Delhi sky, including UAVs or drones, as the national capital gets ready to host the G20 summit, a senior official from a department engaged in airport operations said.
The government on Monday decided to call off the strategic divestment of Pawan Hans as the successful bidding consortium Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd was disqualified in view of pending legal cases. Pawan Hans is a 51:49 joint venture of the government and ONGC. The government had in April last year decided to sell the helicopter service provider for Rs 211.14 crore to Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd -- a consortium of Big Charter Private Ltd, Maharaja Aviation Private Ltd and Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC.
Forty-five specialists will soon be joining key posts of joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries in different central ministries as part of the Modi government's ambitious plan to infuse fresh talent to further improve ease of governance.
In his second term in office, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has retained 34 portfolios.
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