India was elected to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member with a thumping majority of votes, including that of Pakistan, in what was quickly described by New Delhi as significant.
At a brief ceremony at India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri handed the check for $5 million and documentation relating to the transfer of money to Ambassador Leo Merores, permanent representative of Haiti to the UN.
Agnivesh was critically ill and was on ventilatory support since Tuesday
'Many people are still not taking the lockdown seriously. . I request state governments to ensure rules and laws are followed'
"You cannot have a fight against international terrorism which is compartmentalised. The snakes that bite us wherever come from the same pit," Indian Ambassador to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri told CNN; wherein he along with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts to the world body had a rare combined appearance on a TV show.
India has strongly protested the inclusion of the Naxal issue under the realm of 'armed conflict' in a United Nations report, saying the violence being perpetrated by these groups does not make it a zone of armed conflict, as defined by international law.
Presently, women comprise only 8 per cent of UN police officers and about 2 per cent of the military personnel deployed in peacekeeping operations.
"Is it any surprise that the new Parliament is being consecrated with typically false narratives from WhatsApp University? The BJP-RSS distorians stand exposed yet again with maximum claims, minimum evidence," Congress general secretary communications Ramesh said in his tweet.
In a historic transition, the Parliament moved into a swanky new complex on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging MPs to forget all past bitterness and start a new chapter and the introduction of the women's reservation bill taking centre stage.
In his hard-hitting maiden address to an informal session of the 192-member Assembly on reform of the 15-member Council, Indian ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri lambasted a 'small group' of countries for trying to derail the process by insisting that expansion be limited to non-permanent category.
L Murugan, 44, is the only newly-sworn minister who is not a member of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
Offering its wholehearted support to flood-stricken Pakistan, India has vowed to do all it can to assist the country in relief efforts, apart from the $ 5 million in aid already extended by it.
On Thursday, both countries announced that they would develop Kartarpur corridor in their respective areas, linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.
Air travel will now become a little expensive as the government has decided to increase the lower limit on airfares by five per cent amid rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday. The upper limit on airfares will remain as it is for now. Just a month back, the Centre had increased the lower and upper limits on domestic airfares by 10-30 per cent due to rising ATF prices. While announcing resumption of scheduled domestic flights in May last year, the aviation ministry had placed limits on airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration.
Securing a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council is India's top priority for the year and it seems "eminently doable" with India putting a concerted effort, Indian envoy to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri has said.
The aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday that it was extending the suspension of scheduled international passenger flights in the country till July 31 but added that some international scheduled services on selected routes may be permitted on a case to case basis. Scheduled international passenger flights were suspended in India on March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He also asserted that ease of living and ease of doing business were behind the spirit of the work being done under the Central Vista project.
Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19.
The new Council of Ministers comprises of 25 Cabinet ministers, nine Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 24 Ministers of State (MoSes).
Russia has welcomed India's decision to not support the price cap on Russian oil announced by G7 and its allies and offered it cooperation on leasing and building large-capacity ships to overcome the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in the European Union and Britain to continue buying discounted oil. The offer came as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Indian Ambassador to Moscow, Pavan Kapoor, on Friday. "The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed India's decision not to support the price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed on December 5 by the G7 countries and their allies," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
International oil prices have hit a six-month low, helping Indian fuel retailers breakeven on petrol but they continue to lose money on diesel - the most used fuel in the country, officials said. The world's best-known crude benchmark, Brent was trading at $94.91 per barrel on Thursday after concerns of a global recession led to it slipping to a six-month low of $91.51 on the previous day. The current rates are a relief to India, which is 85 per cent dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs.
Aviation minister said if the scheduled domestic flights reach pre-COVID levels by the end of the year, he will have no hesitation in removing the fare limits at that time.
Yoga was the mantra and asanas the discipline on Wednesday as millions across the globe and distant corners of India stretched for the skies and dived for their toes, breathed in and out -- mindfully -- and twisted and turned to celebrate the International Day of Yoga.
Global oil prices have slumped and India has access to larger amounts of discounted Russian crude oil, yet refiners are not passing on their savings to consumers
President Pratibha Patil walked into a near empty Brazilian Senate for her address, leaving Indian Embassy officials and the hosts red-faced. Only 15 of the 81-member House turned out on Tuesday to greet 73-year-old Patil. A senior Brazilian government official said it was not unusual for sparse attendance during special sessions since only leaders of political parties are invited.
Petrol doped with 20 per cent ethanol was rolled out on Monday at select petrol pumps in 11 states and union territories as part of a programme to increase use of biofuels to cut emissions as well as dependence on foreign exchange-draining imports. At present, 10 per cent ethanol is blended in petrol (10 per cent ethanol, 90 per cent petrol) and the government is looking to double this quantity by 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the higher 20 per cent ethanol blended petrol two months ahead of the planned rollout in April, at the India Energy Week (IEW) 2023 in Bengaluru.
The government has initiated the process for inviting financial bids for the sale of national carrier Air India and the deal is likely to conclude by September, sources said. Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group was among the "multiple" entities that had put in preliminary bids for buying loss-making Air India in December last year. The sources said that after analysing the preliminary bids, eligible bidders were given access to the Virtual Data Room (VDR) of Air India, following which investors' queries were answered.
The Union health ministry said 6 persons who returned to India from the UK have tested positive for the new strain of the virus.
The 77 ministers have been divided into eight groups to develop technology-based resources, create a pool of professionals for recruiting in their teams and other similar initiatives to be adopted in the offices of all ministers' offices to bring more transparency and further improve and efficiency of the Modi government, the sources said.
The government is looking at a new timeline for Air India disinvestment and financial bids will be invited in the coming days, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday. Noting that there is no choice but to either "privatise or close" Air India, he said the government will have to keep the airline running till it gets divested. "We are looking at another timeline now, what is called data room for prospective bidders to look at... that is opened up, 64 days for the financial bids to come in. "After that it is the question of taking a decision and handing over the airline," the Minister of State for Civil Aviation said.
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday did an hour-long session of yoga exercises in the open air as he led corporate India to join the International Day of Yoga celebrations. Several public and private sector companies held yoga sessions at their offices to promote the adoption of exercise in daily routines to stay fit and healthy. Adani, chairman of logistics-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, and his wife Priti, who heads the Adani Foundation, "participated with more than 1,000 members of the Adani Parivaar team to celebrate health, mindfulness and meditation," the group said in a statement. The session was held at a football ground at Adani Shantigram in Ahmedabad. Several other business leaders tweeted pictures of their yoga sessions.
"Let me explain to you that we were not trapped by your 'googlies'. Our two Sikh Ministers went to Kartarpur Sahib to offer prayers in the Holy Gurudwara", she said.
Earlier in the day, state home minister Anil Deshmukh, also of the NCP, said that it was "extremely ill-advised" to reopen airports in red zone amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the growing tension between Ukraine and Russia, evacuated Indian nationals from the war-torn country have refused to leave their pets behind.
The Airports Authority of India issued a standard operating procedure to airport operators on Wednesday for recommencement of domestic flights from May 25 onwards.
The civil aviation ministry had last week suspended all flights between the European country and India from December 23 to December 31 as a mutated variant of the coronavirus was detected there.
Sidhu had attended the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan last year.
Initially, starting with a slightly curtailed capacity, the airline will increase the operating capacity over the subsequent months, also reopening selected international flights, depending on the existing international travel guidelines: IndiGo.
Turned away by the Foreign Correspondents Club and the Press Club of India, The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri says he has been banned "undemocratically" and will go ahead with a press conference at a five-star hotel on Thursday.
Officials also said that the move to send out the emails was a conscious choice as part of a communication strategy for public interest.
