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.
The decision to go for such a pact was taken at a meeting between European Union Foreign Affairs Minister Baroness Catherine Asthon and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi.
All the chief ministers from the northeast states have confirmed that will be attending the 9th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said on Wednesday.
After securing the resignation of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, Government on Monday said the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) will be under scrutiny including its funding and vowed not to spare any 'wrong-doer', as its top boss Lalit Modi came under the scanner of Income Tax authorities.
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said the government was considering extending financial support to Air India.
Australia will ask India to crack down on unscrupulous education agents in India who give misleading information to students willing to pursue studies in the private institutes Down Under.
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).
In a meeting with Minister for Overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi in New Delhi on Tuesday, Australian Education Secretary Lisa Paul said her country is committed to have a help line for Indian students to lodge their complaints and to seek other support.
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.
Blaming anti-social elements for the attacks on Indian students in Australia, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi today said Canberra was taking strict action to prevent such incidents after the Centre's intervention.
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.
Overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said on Wednesday investment promotion, sharing of knowledge and property issues relating to the expatriates will be among the main themes of the three-day meet to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 8.
Global financial markets plunged late last month after Dubai World, the government investment firm burdened with $59 billion liabilities, requested for deferment of the debt.
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.
Union Minister and Kerala Congress leader, Vayalar Ravi has reacted with shock at the death of former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunkaran. Ravi told rediff.com on phone from New Delhi that this is a great loss not only for Kerala but for the Congress as a whole.
The minister for Overseas Indian Affairs says he is aware of the problems expatriates face when they travel to India with their Overseas Citizen of India cards.
The Election Commission has directed Union Minister Vayalar Ravi to repay the money incurred by him during his travel to Kannur while campaigning for the Congress candidate for the by election slated for November 7.
Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi in reply to a question said India's remittance from abroad is $27 billion which is the highest in the world.
Conceivably, the deferment of the Parliament session to beyond the second week of September has more to do with the nuclear deal with the United States than the alienation of Kashmiris or the wheeling and dealing by the UPA and its allies.
The Election Commission will hold biennial elections on February 13 to seven Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Saif-ud-Din Soz as also National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. Elections would be held for four seats in Jammu and Kashmir and three in Kerala.
The economy is scheduled to dominate the seventh annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Chennai, January 7-9. Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told Rediff India Abroad that the ongoing economic meltdown has affected the Diaspora and could even impact on the numbers participating in the PBD, but said such impact could be marginal. "We are not getting any alarming report, so far," the minister said, adding that at least 1,200 prominent NRIs are expected to attend.
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin will celebrate its Convention 2009 in Chennai, India, January 6 and 7 at the Trident Hotel, just before the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2009 event.
The government has suspended the licence of Dewan Consultants and Mansur & Co, Mumbai and blacklisted the foreign employer -- Global Resources -- in connection with the 'sub-human conditions' of more than 100 Indian workers in Mississippi, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Ravi said that a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had been fixed with the agenda of proroguing them, to have a fresh session in February with the Presidential address on the first day.
M S Gill, V Narayanasami, Jitin Prasada, Raghunath Jha, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Santosh Bagrodia and Rameshwar Oraon were on Sunday inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she had wanted her son and All-Indian Congress Committee general secretary to become a minister, but he refused.
India's Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Vayalar Ravi, keynoting the 15th biannual convention of the National Federation of Indian Associations, said the election of Senator Barack Obama as the new President of the United States had rewritten not just the history of America, but the history of the world.
Don't marry Indians in America, including Canada,' Vayalar Ravi, India's minister for Overseas Indian Affairs often tells people back home.
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.
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.
The scheme has been launched in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Gulf, and is aimed at helping women who have been deserted by their overseas Indian spouses or are facing divorce proceedings.
There will be no requirement of emigration clearance from October 1 for Indians travelling abroad, with the government on Thursday admitting that the 'retrograde' scheme was a cause of 'harassment' and 'corruption'.
Ruling out any provision for a Non-Resident Indian nominee in Indian Parliament, Minister for Overseas Citizens Vayalar Ravi has asked the diaspora to make 'intellectual' contribution to their motherland along with financial investments.
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.
Ravi, who inaugurated the 15th national biennial convention of the National Federation of Indian Americans in Seattle, Washington, told rediff.com that the Government of India and his Ministry are committed to the safety and protection of Indian students in the US and anywhere in the world, and that during his visit he would meet with the relevant authorities in the US to make sure that the welfare of the Indian students is ensured.
The committee also decided to recommend to the government to amend the Guruvayur Devaswom Act for removal of the clause, which empowered the 'thanthri' (traditional high priest) as the supreme authority of religious matters.
'Ravikrishna's school certificate proclaims him a Hindu, his passport says he is a Hindu. What authority has the priest to overrule the Government of India, which issued the passport,' asks Kerala Dewasom Minister G Sudhakaran.
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.
Ravi, who attended the Ministerial Consultations on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labour for Countries of Origin in Asia in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, said the (wage) figure should be 'realistic' and needs to reflect the conditions in each of the countries where the workers are employed.
India and Kuwait have signed a landmark labour agreement, incorporating steps for job protection, checking exploitation of Indian workers and ensuring payment of salaries and other benefits promised at the time of recruitment.
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