Explaining the precarious financial health of India's flag carrier, the government on Wednesday said Air India earns Rs 36 crore (Rs 360 million) a day from its operations while it spends about Rs 57 crore (Rs 570 million).
Already reeling under huge losses and facing a liquidity crunch, Air India has suffered a loss of Rs 3,450 crore (Rs 34.5 billion) in the first half of the current fiscal.
While a demand for allocation of Rs. 2,000 crore has already been made, sources said provision for Rs. 1,200 crore worth of equity could be made in the Budget.
It is alleged that Air India never got a level playing field, when it came to allotment of terminals, lounges, or check-in counters at airports.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent one of his officials to the 20, Akbar Road residence of the Speaker on Friday morning to convey his birthday wishes to Chatterjee. The official presented a bouquet to him on behalf of Dr Singh.
Kerala will have to wait. The next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be held in Chandigarh," and not in Thiruvananthapuram, said Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
The idea is "not easy to implement since there are many stakeholders, though the government has been able to fix a minimum wage structure for maids," Vayalar Ravi, the minister of overseas Indian affairs, told PTI. There are nearly five million Indian working in the Gulf countries, but rising inflation in the region has made the condition of the blue-collar workers difficult since they are unable to save money locally or remit them back to India.
In a move to help the party general secretaries in their duties, the Congress on Friday appointed eight senior leaders, including two Union Ministers, as coordinators to get its act together ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Those appointed to the post include Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Santosh Bagrodia besides Pawan Singh Ghatowar, Janardhana Poojary, Birendra Singh, P J Kurien, Satpal Maharaj and Rajiv Shukla.
The helpline, Open 24x7, could be used by NRIs in distress to address their problems to the concerned officials in the ministry.
India will soon make a comprehensive amendment to emigration laws to protect its labour force abroad, especially in the Gulf region, from being exploited by unscrupulous recruiting agents.
Vayalar Ravi, the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, announced that the 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held at Vigyan Bhavan from January 7 to 9 would focus on empowerment of rural women.
An amendment to the Indian Immigration Act governing the conduct of manpower agents is now waiting for the mandatory clearance from the union cabinet, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said in Dubai on Tuesday. Of the 56 complaints received so far this year, 13 licences were cancelled while 27 were suspended. Twenty-eight licences of recruiting agents were cancelled in 2006 and 65 were suspended.
In a radical break from the centuries-old dress code of the Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayur, the shrine's management on Thursday decided to allow women wearing churidars to enter it.
In the wake of the recent instance of Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Babubhai Katara attempting to smuggle a woman out of the country posing as his wife, the government is planning to make laws more stringent
Efforts are underway to ensure that Indian Medical Graduates are also allowed to appear unconditionally for the second round of recruitment that is likely to take place in April, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said.
The high command's choice of Thennala Balakrishna Pillai and Vayalar Ravi for the election to the Rajya Sabha appears to have prompted the resignation.
The proposals were discussed at a recent meeting between Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury, an official said.
Top leaders of UPA allies met on Friday to fine-tune their political strategy as the ruling coalition braced towards a trust vote in the Parliament in the wake of withdrawal of support by Left parties, plunging the government into a minority.
India plans to create a special centre to attract investments from overseas Indians as also to facilitate creation of a global Indian consortium to work with apex trade bodies, states of India and various associations of overseas Indians.
An estimated 1.5 lakh Indian workers have come back home from the United Arab Emirates due to economic crisis and recession, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The UAE and India have agreed to get rid of recruitment agencies by opening labour offices in India, Indian Minister for Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi said after a meeting with UAE Minister for Labour Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi. The offices will also educate overseas workers about UAE's labour laws and customs before they travel to the country.
The other new ministers introduced by the Prime Minister were Sushil Kumar Shinde, A R Antulay, Vayalar Ravi, Murli Deora, Ambika Soni and Saifuddin Soz, and 3 ministers given cabinet rank.
Pravasi centres to be set up in embassies
India has restricted all women under 30 years of age who have not completed high school from being permitted to work abroad.
Do they, these atheist ministers, known what the rituals are? To change something, you first have to know it, to understand it do they?'
It was high time that the priests and religious scholars introspected on giving up obsolete and superstitious practices like the 'punyaham,' he said.
Kodoth Govindan Nair has defied the Congress high command and filed his nomination.
'If any Pravasi attends the event he will not be disappointed,' says Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
He succeeded Allum Veerbhadrappa, who had expressed a desire to relinquish the post six months back.
The team, comprising Vayalar Ravi, Pranab Mukherjee and Ghulam Nabi Azad, is right now meeting party legislators at Sahyadri Guesthouse at Malabar Hills.
However, he refused to divulge details of the meeting.
The change of guard in Maharashtra was expected in view of the party's poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls in the state.
All efforts are being made to bring home the bodies of the 21 Indians, who were killed in the boat mishap off the Bahrain coast, as early as possible to their respective home states, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said.
The Indian government plans to make a database of its nationals imprisoned in various Gulf countries with a view to help them.
The mortal remains of Sunanda Pushkar, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances at a luxury hotel in New Delhi on Friday night, were consigned to flames on Saturday in presence of her family members.
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