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UAE FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS MODI

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan called on Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi in New Delhi.

India reaffi rms its vitalpartnership with UAENEW DELHI: India has affirmed that its strategic partnership with the UAE had deepened further after the official three-day visit of UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.

“The visit of the foreign minister provided an op-portunity to both sides to constructively build on the vision of the comprehensive strategic partnership and to broaden co-operation in various sectors,” the Union government said. Sheikh Abdullah also met Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar who hosted a dinner in his honour.

On Tuesday afternoon, he met Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi. The two discussed bilateral ties and the “means of boosting them across various sectors to realise the

goals and aspirations of the two countries”.

“Sheikh Abdullah and Prime Minister Modi also reviewed regional and inter-national developments and exchanged views on various issues of mutual concern,” it said.

Sheikh Abdullah passed on the congratulations of the

UAE leadership on Modi’s resounding victory in the elections and extended an invitation to visit the UAE. Modi thanked UAE Presi-dent Sheikh Khalifa and Crown Prince Sheikh Mo-hamed bin Zayed for confer-ring on him the prestigious Order of Zayed. He said he was proud to receive the award on behalf of 1.3 bil-lion Indians. “Both leaders expressed happiness at the current state of bilateral rela-

tions and discussed region-al issues,” Wam reported. “They also agreed to build on these growing strategic links as well as further their trilateral co-operation initia-tives, especially in Africa.”

Sheikh Abdullah’s visit comes at a time when energy security is high on India’s agenda after US sanctions on importing oil from Iran. “The UAE will be a key partner in energy, trade and security in India’s quest to become a $5 trillion economy dur-ing Modi’s current term to 2024,” said Rajeev Sharma, a global strategic affairs analyst. “Sheikh Abdullah’s India visit demonstrates the fact that the two sides are staying engaged at high levels. For India, energy se-curity is a high priority these days. In the wake of the continuing Iran conundrum and a significant drop in

Russian oil production, the UAE contribution to Indian oil imports assumes an even greater significance.” The UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner and fourth-largest energy supplier. The country is also home to the Gulf region’s largest commu-nity of Indians – 3.3 million.

Modi had visited the UAE in Aug 2015 during which the two countries decided to increase their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. He visited the UAE in February last year as well.

As the chair of Organisa-tion of Islamic Co-operation, the UAE invited India as the guest of honour at the 46th Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Abu Dhabi in March. Sheikh Mohamed had made state visits to New Delhi in 2016 and 2017. Dur-ing the (Contd. on page 2)

US removes country cap on Green CardsWASHINGTON: The US lawmakers passed a Bill aimed at lifting the current seven per cent country cap on issuing Green Cards, a development which would benefit thousands of highly-skilled Indian IT profes-sionals.

A Green Card allows a person to live and work per-manently in the US. Passed by the US House of Repre-sentatives, the Bill, on be-ing signed into law, would considerably reduce the agonising wait for talented professionals from coun-tries like India seeking per-manent work and residency permits in the US. Titled the Fairness of High-Skilled Immigrants Act, 2019 or HR 1044, the Bill was passed by

the 435-member House by an overwhelming majority of 365-65 votes.

As per the present sys-tem, out of the total number of family-based immigrant visas to be given by the US in a particular year, the peo-ple of a country can be given a maximum of seven per cent of such visas. The new Bill seeks to increase this seven per cent per-country limit to 15pc. Similarly, it also seeks to eliminate the seven per cent per-country cap on employment-based immigrant visas. Addition-ally, it removes an offset that reduced the number of visas for individuals from China.

The bill also establishes transition rules for em-

ployment-based visas from FY 2020-22 by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled and other workers) and EB-5 (investors) visas for individuals from other than the two countries that get the largest number of such visas.

As per another provi-sion of the Bill, not more than 85pc of the unreserved visas, would be allotted to immigrants from any single country.

Before it can be signed into law by the US presi-dent, the Bill, however, has to be passed by the Sen-ate, wherein the Republi-cans enjoy a majority. An identical bill sponsored by

Senators Kamala Harris and Mike Lee are likely to be taken up soon. The Senate bill S386 currently has 34 co-sponsors. Congressman John Curtis, speaking on the floor of the House, said the Bill will create a first-come,

first-served system provid-ing certainty to workers and families and enabling the US companies to flour-ish and compete in a global economy as they hire the brightest people to create products, services, and jobs, regardless of where they were born.

If President Donald Trump “is serious about merit-based legal immigra-

tion, he should help usher this bill into law,” said Con-gresswoman Zoe Lofgren. The passage of the Bill was hailed by Indian profes-sionals from across the US, particularly those from the Silicon Valley in California,

Seattle area in Washington state, the Greater Washing-ton DC area and the tri-state area of New York, New Jer-sey and Connecticut.

The Department of Homeland Security, how-ever, has said it does not support the Bill. “This bill would do nothing to move the current employment-sponsored system toward a more merit-based system,”

said Joseph S Joh, Assis-tant Director and Senior Adviser in the Office of Legislative Affairs, Depart-ment of Homeland Security. Top American IT companies welcomed the passage of the bill and urged the Senate to pass it at the earliest.

“Today the US House passed the legislation to en-sure people from all coun-tries are treated alike in the Green Card process. This promotes a fair high-skilled immigration system that’s good for the business and our economy,” said Micro-soft president Brad Smith. “This bill will help ensure those seeking permanent residency don’t have to wait for extraordinary long peri-ods -- projected at 50 years

or more for people from countries like India and China -- simply because of their country of origin,” said FWD US president Todd Schulte, hailing the passage of the FHSI Act.

FWD US is an advocacy organisation representing top Silicon Valley firms in-cluding Facebook, Google, Microsoft and DropBox. “Eliminating per-country caps for employment-based Green Cards and raising caps for family-based green cards will make the system fairer for immigrant families and strengthen the US’ abil-ity to recruit and retain top global talent by establishing a fair and predictable path to permanent legal status,” he said.

INDIANS TO BENEFIT MOST

DUBAI: The expensive gift that you receive from your Indian cousin or friend will attract tax from this year with the budget 2019-20 proposing to impose withholding tax all such transfers, plugging an earlier loophole that allowed its tax-free treatment. The Fi-nance Bill 2019 has imposed tax on any sum of money paid or any property situ-ated in India, transferred by a person resident in India to a person outside India, as it

NRIs should pay tax on giftsabove Dh2,700 from India

would be deemed to accrue or arise in India.

The changes will be ap-plied for all such transfers made on or after July 5, 2019.

As of the current provi-sions, gifts given by Indian residents to NRIs - apart from the specified list of rel-atives -- would be claimed as non-taxable. This is because the earlier tax put the onus on the recipient of the gift to make the disclosure and pay tax. As a gift to NRIs

means that income is ac-crued abroad, it remained outside the tax net.

But now, from July 5, all gifts to NRIs will be income accruing (originating) in India and would be taxed as per the normal slab rates ap-plicable to resident Indians. This means that the origin of the gift becomes important for tax purpose, instead of the destination of the gift abroad. The onus will be on the recipient (the NRI in this case) of the gift to disclose

such gifts received if they originate in India and then pay a tax on it. This also means that an NRI would now need to compulsorily file his income-tax returns if gift above Rs 50,000 is received from a person other than the specified relative.

So, if the value of the gift is above Rs 10 lakh (Dh53.5k), the recipient will have to pay 30pc tax. The tax rate would get higher if the value of the gift, be it payment (Contd. on page 2)

SBI cuts lending rates MUMBAI: State Bank of India (SBI) has reduced its benchmark lending rate by five bps across all loan tenures. The lender’s one-year marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) will be 8.4pc compared with 8.45pc from Wednesday.

“Interest rates on all loans linked to MCLR stand reduced by five bps with effect from July 10,2019. This is the third rate cut in the current fi-nancial year. With today’s MCLR cut, the reduction in the home loan rates since April 10, 2019 is 20 bps,” SBI said.

The move comes after RBI decided to cut its repo rate by 25 bps last month. RBI had reduced the repo rate by 75 bps in 2019. ICICI Bank had reduced its MCLR 10 bps earlier this month. The one-year MCLR of ICI-CI Bank is 8.65pc while HDFC Bank’s one year MCLR is 8.7pc.

GoAir fi xes Rs 8299 introductory offer to Abu Dhabi from MumbaiMUMBAI: GoAir has announced the launch of new international flights to Abu Dhabi.

The company is offering tickets at an introductory fare of just Rs 7,799 from Delhi to Abu Dhabi. For Mumbai to Abu Dhabi, the fares are starting from Rs 8,299, according to the car-rier’s website. The new flight service to Abu Dhabi from Mumbai and Delhi will start from July 19. “The daily di-rect flights to Abu Dhabi from Mumbai and Delhi starting from July 19 with in-

troductory fares at just Rs 8,299 and Rs 7,799 respectively,” GoAir mentioned. Tickets can be booked through GoAir’s official website or the app. The airline already flies to Abu Dhabi and Muscat from Kannur.

Flights from Abu Dhabi will depart at 5.45 pm and arrive at 10.20 pm in Mumbai. GoAir plane will depart at 3.05 pm from Mumbai and reach Abu Dhabi at 4.45 pm. From Delhi, the plane will depart at 6.25 pm and reach Abu Dhabi at 9.05 pm. However, from

Abu Dhabi, it will depart at 10.15 pm and reach Delhi at 3.50 am.

GoAir will be starting seven new international routes. Apart from daily flights to Abu Dhabi from Mumbai and Delhi, the airline will be starting daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Muscat and Bangkok. Flights will also be in operation from Kannur to Dubai and back, and to Kuwait and back. Out of the seven new international routes, Bangkok, Dubai and Kuwait are new markets for GoAir.

Now, passport in 11 daysNEW DELHI: Describing passport as a tool of em-powerment, the government informed the Lok Sabha that people are now issued the document within 11 days under normal circumstanc-es. Responding to supple-mentaries, Minister of State for External Affairs V Mu-raleedharan said the time taken to issue passport has been reduced to 11 days un-der normal circumstances.

Passports under the “Tat-kal” category are issued within a day’s time. He also said an application has been launched in 731 police districts for police verifica-

tion of applicants. Mura-leedharan said that this would cut down on delays and corruption which was long associated with police verification.

Responding to a question by Manish Tewari (Con) on why people find it difficult to get passports, the minis-ter said besides 36 passport offices in the country, there are 93 passport Seva Ken-dras and 412 post office passport Seva Kendras. Re-sponding to another supple-mentary, he said no private entity is involved in running the post office passport Seva Kendras.

Indians highest medianhourly earners in the UKLONDON: A new analysis by the UK’s Office for National Statistics showed that in 2018, employees of Chinese, In-dian and mixed or multiple ethnicity earn a higher median hourly pay than white British employees.

Meanwhile, employees in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups had the lowest median hourly pay said the report titled “Ethnicity pay gaps in Great Britain: 2018”. The report, which was released on July 9, found that em-ployees from Chinese, Indian and mixed/multiple ethnic groups had hourly earnings of £15.75, £13.47 and £12.33 respectively. Meanwhile, the median (Contd. on page 2)

2 EMIGRATION Friday, July 12, 2019

Published by IPEPCIL Publications LtdRNI No.: MAHENG/2018/76663

Publisher: Supreet M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 1, Issue: 79

Published at: Office No. 1001, 10th Floor,Navjivan Commercial Premises Co-op. Society Ltd.,Lamington Road, (Dr.D.B.Marg), Mumbai Central,

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Road, Tardeo, Mumbai-400 034, Maharashtra, India.

LIPSYNCH “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

— Winston Churchill.

NRI proxy voting

Staying abroad at their workplace and voting in elections in India still remains a pipedream for over three crore NRIs. Voting rights for NRIs is a long pending demand

and it was the then NRI Minister Vayalar Ravi who gave this promise at one of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) events. Fair to him, Ravi worked hard to achieve this goal, but noth-ing much has happened due to various legal hurdles.

The government’s move to introduce a fresh bill in par-liament to extend the facility of proxy voting to NRIs now stands withdrawn as the cabinet wants to study this proposal afresh. Actually, this unlucky bill had earlier lapsed in the Lok Sabha. There was also an earlier proposal to allow e-voting. But Indian laws do not support e-voting. The only way a voter can exercise his/her franchise is by personally visiting his polling booth. True, there are two more options --- postal ballots and proxy voting reserved for government and armed forces personnel. Postal ballots, in which a voter exercises his/her franchise through post, is available only for people on election duty, armed forces personnel and electors subject to preventive detention. Right now, the option of proxy voting is available only for armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India. The person can authorise another residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his/her behalf. This option is currently available for wives of the above mentioned personnel, but not for the husbands!

As of now, an NRI, who holds an Indian passport, can vote in his/her hometown after reg-istering as an overseas voter. The NRI must fill the Form 6A, which can be downloaded online or taken from the nearest Indian mission. The duly filled forms with supporting documents must be submitted to the Electoral Registration Officer in the constituency in person or via post. After verification, the ECI will add the NRI to the electoral rolls as an “overseas voter”. Once the person returns to India, he or she will have to re-register himself or herself as a general voter and obtain an EPIC card.

Presently, though NRIs want to vote, only a microscopic minority of them are able to do so. Out of the 3.1 crore NRIs, only 12,000 NRIs could exercise their franchise so far as they could not be physically present in their constituencies on the day of voting. It may be recalled that over 1.8 million overseas Filipinos voted in the mid-term elections in May. Many other countries also allow their overseas citizens to vote, but this right is denied to our NRIs. Many of our NRIs, particularly in the Gulf, actively follow the political devel-opment in India and they want to exercise their franchise. The right to vote will give them a sense of inclusiveness in India’s development. Our government should not delay this crucial legislation on some pretext or the other. NRIs, who pump in billions of dollar foreign exchange, should have the right to vote as well.

Editorial

Head of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism Zarina Doguzova met Minister of State for Tourism Prahalad Singh Patel in New Delhi.

OCI medical aspirant moves HCAHMEDABAD: Following the denial of admission to an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) candidate for a seat in a government medical college, the Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to the state government and the Admis-sion Committee for Profes-sional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses (ACPC).

The petition further stated that “Gujarat Pro-fessional Medical Educa-tional Courses (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Rules, 2017 were amended in May 2018. The amendments opened up admissions to OCIs for MBBS courses without any restriction.” The petitioner, who has been living in Gu-jarat since 2014, had earlier requested the ACPC this month to consider her case.

In the petition filed on her behalf, the candidate asked to be granted admis-sion to MBBS and other courses under the govern-ment seats, if otherwise eligible. The petition further stated that “Gujarat Pro-fessional Medical Educa-

tional Courses (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Rules, 2017 were amended in May 2018. The amendments opened up ad-missions to OCIs for MBBS courses without any restric-tion.” The confusion over admissions for OCIs to vari-ous undergraduate colleges was further increased when the Medical Council of India told the Supreme Court that it had no specific provision under its own regulations to define whether or not OCIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) should be treated at par with NRIs and left the definition of status to vari-ous state governments as per their own laws.

Considering a similar matter in Karnataka, the Supreme Court had last year overturned a Karnataka High Court 2017 ruling al-lowing OCI applicants ad-mission to medical colleges under the state quota, re-stricting them to NRI seats. The ruling also established that OCIs were to be treated the same as NRIs in terms of admissions in the state.

Centre bans US-basedSikh organisationNEW DELHI: The government has banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a US-based group that supports the cause of Khalistan, for its anti-national activities. A senior official in the ministry of home affairs said the decision to ban the outfit under Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,1967, was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Narendra Modi.

SFJ activist Paramjit Singh Pamma was seen during the Cricket World Cup match at Edgbaston advocating the cause of Khalistan before he was evicted. Pamma, say agencies, is member of a Khalistan terror group. “The banned outfit has openly been espousing the cause of Khalistan and has started an online secession-ist campaign, the so-called ‘Sikh Referendum 2020’ on the social media,” the MHA official said.

Noting that SFJ’s primary objective was to establish an “independent and sovereign country” in Punjab, the official said, a strong warning had been sent to “fringe groups operating from foreign soils that India will not toler-ate secessionist activities, whether carried out in India or abroad” and would take strong action against such entities.

He also said the ban decision was taken after wide consultations with “all major representative bodies of the Sikh community” and was “largely driven” by the report the Centre had received from the Punjab govern-ment”. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), Punjab Police and Uttarakhand Police have registered 12 cases against SFJ actvists in India and made 39 arrests. “Their presence is minor in India. However, there is potential of mischief and, hence, the decision,” the official said.

“Once the organisation is banned, the NIA can take up the issue with its counterparts across the world for further action,” he said, adding: “SFJ from time-to-time has been making numerous attempts to instigate Sikh soldiers and Sikh security personnel against the Union of India.

NEW DELHI: The Union government has rolled up its sleeves to amend laws to cancel passports of fly-by-night bridegrooms dream-ing up sham marriages as also to facilitate instant extradition of these dishon-est NRI husbands for legal proceedings.

The Modi government, which has cancelled pass-ports of 45 NRIs for leaving their wives in the lurch, is all set to re-introduce in Parliament the pending Registration of Marriage of NRI Bill 2019 which was tabled in the Rajya Sabha but could not be passed till the Lok Sabha was dis-solved on June 3 ahead of general elections. The Bill was introduced in the Up-per House in Feb with the hope of proscribing NRI husbands from using mar-riage as a tool of exploita-tion and creating cash by providing higher social con-trol of rights for the deserted woman.

According to this legisla-tion, any NRI from among the 30 million living in 120 countries who marries an Indian citizen or a fellow NRI abroad has to compul-sorily register the marriage within 30 days or face the prospects of their passports being impounded or even revoked. The Bill also allows courts to attach movable

Bill to prevent bogus NRI weddings soon

and immovable properties of NRIs who are declared “proclaimed offenders” for failing to appear before law. What’s more, the draft law allows courts to even send summonses and warrants to the accused through a specially-designated web-site of the MEA. Apart from the Bill, the government claims that it has taken action against 1,300 of the 4,274 applications from complainants and has been alerting gullible women, especially in the rural areas, against turning “honey-moon brides” or “holiday brides” by distributing lit-erature with useful advice to young girls and their parents, urging them not to view wealthy NRI grooms and their glamorous life through rose-tinted glasses. Interestingly, the MEA also provides an assistance of $3000 to deserted wom-en in developed countries and $2000 in developing countries through Indian missions for filing cases in the local courts or for legal counselling through the NGOs empanelled with Indian missions.

Complaints galore

In the past 10 years, the NRI cell of the National Commission for Women (NCW) has been flooded with as many as 4,274

complaints from “nowhere brides” who were aban-doned in foreign lands after being subjected to mental and physical abuse. The number of SOS complaints --- mostly from Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala --- re-garding desertion, domestic violence, harassment, child custody and appeal against foreign courts’ decision on divorce has shot up from 468 in 2015-16 to a record 828 in 2018-19.

According to renowned choreographer and dancer Dr Mallika Sarabhai, an activist who uses arts for women’s empowerment and societal education, there have been so many cases of fraudulent NRI marriages that families must take the utmost caution, adding that all marriages that were seen as transactions were liable to be misused.

The Citizen, an indepen-dent digital daily newspa-per based out of New Delhi, studied 44 such cases of “marriage of convenience” and found that 65pc of the duplicitous husbands resided in the US while others had settled mainly in Singapore, the UK, Canada, and Australia and not a single NRI had bothered to respond to the legal pro-ceedings and consequently, none of them had been ex-tradited back to India so far.

India reaffi rms...(Contd. from page 1)visit in Jan 2017, he was the chief guest at India’s Repub-lic Day celebrations. Dur-ing that visit, the UAE and India pledged to expand their trade by 60pc over five years. Last year in the UAE, the two leaders reviewed progress towards realising the $75 billion target for UAE investment in India’s infrastructure development.

In Oct 2017, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority signed an agree-ment with India’s National Investment and Infrastruc-ture Fund to invest $1b in India. Trade between India and the UAE is estimated to be about $50b. The UAE is one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in India and contributes signifi-cantly to its energy security. It was the fifth-largest supplier of crude oil to India in 2015 and 2016. By May this year, the UAE had passed Venezu-ela as India’s fourth-largest crude oil supplier. The latest industry estimates project an increase in bilateral trade that outstrips the official target, with direct and indirect trade reaching $100b by 2020.

NRIs should pay tax...(Contd. from page 1)for studies or a house abroad, is more than Rs 2 crore or Rs 5 crore. In such cases, the highest tax rate for super rich ie 35.7 and 42.7pc respectively would apply. For the purpose, gift will constitute shares, property, vouchers, cash etc exceeding Rs 50,000 (Dh2,676) made to anyone, apart from the specified relatives or blood relations. While making gifts to NRIs taxable, the budget has proposed that in a treaty situation, the relevant article of applicable DTAA (double taxation avoidance treaty) shall continue to apply for such gifts as well. This amendment will take effect from April 1, 2020 and will, apply in relation to the assessment year 2020-21 and subsequent assessment years. The specified relatives list in terms of Section 56 of the IT Act is fairly wide. It includes brothers and sisters and their spouses. Gifts to this category will not attract any tax.

Indians highest median...(Contd. from page 1)pay of white British employees was £12.03.

Chinese and Indian employees have consistently earned more than the average white British employee since 2012. For Indians, the gap has stayed relatively consistent since 2012 and in 2018 stood at negative 12pc. Comparing data across the country, the report also found that London, which has the largest portion of its population classified as ethnic minorities, has the largest pay gap, with ethnic minority groups earning 21.7pc than white employees on average. This statistics is, however, reversed in other parts of Britain. The report states that the existing pay gap between white British and other ethnic groups is generally smaller for younger employees than it is for older employees. Indian and Chinese ethnic groups also have the largest gender pay gaps despite having the highest rate of hourly pay. Chinese men on average earned 19.1pc more than women and Indian men earned 23.2pc more than women.

PITTSBURGH: Carnegie Mellon University recently unveiled its 2019 Great Im-migrants list, with Indian American Rahul M Jindal among the 38-person list. Jindal, a transplant surgeon and professor of Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, was the lone person who hails from India on the list.

Jindal is a professor in the Department of Surgery and Division of Global Health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sci-ences, the Maryland-based federal health professions academy that trains future military medics. He has also served as commissioner of the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism

US-Indian surgeon named to Carnegie Mellon’s Listin Maryland and as commis-sioner to the Montgomery County (Maryland) Human

Rights Commission.Some 30 million Ameri-

cans suffer from chronic kidney disease, the ninth leading cause of death in the country. Through his break-through kidney transplant surgeries, extensive hu-

manitarian service and long career working in American military hospitals, Jindal has saved countless lives in the US and around the world, the Carnegie Mel-lon report said. In 2008, Jindal led the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center team that performed the first living kidney trans-plant in Guyana, setting up the first comprehensive renal replacement therapy programme in the country, it said.

In 2009 Jindal was part of the Walter Reed team that performed the world’s first pancreas islet cell trans-plant, which can restore in-sulin production in diabetic patients, on a 21-year-old US airman wounded in Af-

ghanistan.Jindal has spearheaded

numerous blood and bone marrow donation drives in Indian American and other ethnic communities nation-wide. Building on his hu-manitarian work in Guyana, where he continues to lead several medical missions a year, Jindal is currently or-ganising the Global Kidney Support Network to em-power medical professionals and patients in developing countries, the university continued in its report.

Aarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2015, Jindal was honoured the same year with the Outstanding American by Choice Award from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Dr Rahul Jindal

Vistra to launch Mumbai-Singapore fl ightMUMBAI: Tata-SIA run Vistara airline on Thursday announced the launch of its international operations from next month with flight services to Singapore from New Delhi and Mumbai.

Vistara will operate two daily flights to Singapore,

one each from New Delhi and Mumbai, starting Aug 6 and Aug 7 respectively, the airline said in a release. The Delhi-based carrier currently operates to 23 domestic des-tinations. The international services to Singapore will be operated by a Boeing 737-

800NG aircraft with a two-class cabin configuration -- business and economy -- it said. “We are excited to start with Singapore as our first international destina-tion, which we see as a very important market, given the opportunities it presents for

corporate, business as well as leisure travel,” Vistara’s chief executive officer Leslie Thng said.

After the launch of the services to Singapore, Vis-tara will expand its foot-print to other international markets going forward.

3GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIESFriday, July 12, 2019

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LUCKNOW: Soon, overseas job oppor-tunities will come the way of nursing students of the state. The UP Finan-cial Corporation and Kuwait authori-ties have signed a memorandum of understanding for filling up nursing vacancies in government hospitals of the Gulf country.

The corporation, approved by the state government as a recruitment agency and registered with the min-

Jobs in Kuwait for UP nursing students very soonistry of external affairs, has asked nursing colleges to let students know about this employment opportunity.

“There are a number of vacancies of qualified and trained nurses in gov-ernment hospitals in Kuwait and we have entered into an MoU with the authorities there to recruit nurses for the same. We will soon get the num-ber of vacant positions from Kuwait,” said RB Verma, in-charge administra-

tor of the corporation, in a letter to Dr Rajesh Jain, secretary of the UP State

Medical Faculty, which monitors the quality of education in nursing colleg-es. “This opportunity is particularly for those students who are willing to go overseas for their work,” said Prof AA Mahdi, vice-chancellor, Era Uni-versity.

Dr Rajesh Jain has sent a letter in this regard to all the nurses training centres so that students could avail of this option. “The opportunity can help

a lot of nurses who have completed or are about to complete their course,” said Shashi Singh who is working as a nurse at a government hospital in Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh has over 12,000 unemployed nurses. An official said that although there was a need to ap-point 8,000 more nurses at govern-ment hospitals, the process was still to take off.

GULF JOBS & CAREERS 5Friday, July 12, 2019

Sudo u Pu le Rules: To solve a Su-doku puzzle, every digit from 1 to 9 must appear in each of the nine verti-cal columns, in each of the nine horizontal rows and in each of the nine boxes.Solution for Puzzle # 78 will be in next issue.

Fun Corner

Sudo u Pu le 77 Answer

Your wellness

Genes may play role in tooth decay

Everything you need to know about Dengue feverDengue fever, also

known as breakbone fever, is a mosquito-

borne infection that can lead to a severe flu-like ill-ness. It is caused by four different viruses and spread by Aedes mosquitoes.

Symptoms range from mild to severe. Severe symptoms include dengue shock syndrome (DSS) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). These usually re-quire hospitalization.

There are currently no vaccines. The best method of prevention is to avoid mosquito bites. Treatment is possible if diagnosis oc-curs before the patient de-velops DSS or DHF.Fast facts on D engue fever

Dengue is endemic in at least 100 countries in Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Symptoms usually begin

4 to 7 days after the mos-quito bite and typically last 3 to 10 days. Effective treat-

ment is possible if a clinical diagnosis is made early.Signs and symptoms

Symptoms vary depending on the severity of the disease.

Mild dengue fever: Symp-toms can appear up to 7 days after being bitten by the mos-quito that carries the virus.

They include: Aching muscles and joints, body rash that can disappear and

then reappear high fever, intense headache, pain be-hind the eyes, vomiting and

feeling nauseous.Symptoms usually disap-

pear after a week, and mild dengue rarely involves seri-ous or fatal complications.

A person with Dengue hemorrhagic fever may ex-perience:

Bleeding from the mouth, gums, or nose, clammy skin, damage to lymph and blood vessels,

internal bleeding, which can lead to black vomit and feces, or stools, a lower number of platelets in the blood, sensitive stomach, small blood spots under the skin, weak pulse.

Without prompt treat-ment, DHF can be fatal.

Dengue shock syn-drome: DSS is a severe form of dengue. It can be fatal.

Apart from symptoms of mild dengue fever, the per-son may experience:

intense stomach pain, disorientation, sudden hy-potension, or a fast drop in blood pressure, heavy bleeding, regular vomiting, blood vessels leaking fluid

Without treatment, this can result in death.

How to take care of dry eye problem

If you spend much of the day staring at a comput-er screen, you’re prob-

ably familiar with dry eye. Its symptoms are – itchy eyes, redness, light hyper-sensitivity and blurred vi-sion. “Eyes, like any other part of your body, get tired and need rest,” says ophthalmolo -gist Dr Rajib Mukherjee of Delhi. “Dry eye happens when you overuse your eyes. It is a common and often chronic problem, and can afflict just about anyone at work, provided they keep long hours working on the com-puter.”

Easy to-do things to minimise eye strain

Blink frequently: This is imperative if

you are working on a com-

puter in an air-conditioned environment. The rate of evaporation is more in an air-con room and there is tear loss that accentuates the dry eye condition, says Dr Mukherjee. Make time

to blink – tape a post-it on one corner of your screen as a reminder.

Tear drops: Apply tear drops to keep the eye lu-bricated but only at the frequency advised by the doctor. Do not buy over the counter.

Avoid smoking: Do not smoke as this only makes

the dry eye condition worse.

Workplace illumina-tion: Make sure that the work area is lit up prop-erly; that the computer screen is not too bright

and that it sits at a proper angle to your eye; and that you should be seated with a good posture before the computer. For an optimal angle, do not slouch.

Good diet: Green leafy vegetables are a must for good eye health. Do not give them a miss, especial-ly if you have dry eyes.

Hereditary traits and factors such as obe-sity, education and

personality may play a role in tooth decay and gum dis-ease, according to a study.

Tooth decay and peri-odontitis, also known as gum disease, are among the most common diseas-es around the world but unlike many other well-known diseases knowledge of how genes affect the risk of developing these den-tal diseases is still limited, said researchers at the Uni-versity of Bristol in the UK.

Two people who eat the same things and take care of their mouth the same way may end up with a dif-ferent number of cavities but researchers have not been able to explain why until now, they said.

“The study makes it clear that teeth are part of the body. Among other things, we can see that

there seems to be a causal link between risk factors for cardiovascular disease and tooth decay,” said In-

gegerd Johansson, from the Institute of Odontology at Umea University, Sweden.

Previous research has suggested several genes may be involved but none

had been confirmed. This is partly because complex diseases, such as tooth de-cay and periodontitis, re-

quire large studies to draw firm conclusions.

The study, published in the journal Nature Commu-nications, combined data from nine international

clinical studies with 62,000 participants together with data on self-reported den-tal health from the UK

Biobank including 461,000 participants, making it the largest study of its kind.

The analysis involved scanning millions of stra-tegic points in the genome

to find genes with links to dental diseases. The re-searchers were able to iden-tify 47 new genes with con-nections to tooth decay.

The study also con-firmed a previously known immune-related gene is linked to periodontitis.

Among the genes that could be linked to tooth de-cay are those that help form teeth and the jawbone, those with protective func-tions in saliva and those which affect the bacteria found on the teeth.

The researchers also looked at the genetic link to cardiovascular and meta-bolic health factors such as smoking, obesity, educa-tion and personality to try and understand connec-tions with dental health.

Using a technique called Mendelian randomi-sation, it appears there may be more than correla-tion but also a causal link

between decay and some cardiovascular-metabolic risk factors.

“In the future, stud-ies like this may pave the way to identifying people who are at particular risk of dental problems,” said Si-mon Haworth, from Bristol

Population Health Science Institute.

“However, no matter what genes people carry, good oral hygiene and diet are the most important things people can do to reduce the risk of tooth decay and gum disease,” Haworth said.

B ihar to hire over 1 .4 lakh teachersBihar Education min-

ister Krishnnandan Prasad Verma has

assured the state assem-bly that the state govern-ment would complete the process of recruiting new teachers for primary and secondary level by end of this year even as Opposi-tion RJD staged protests over the shortage of teach-ers in government schools.

Verma’s reply came during a starred question raised Vidya Sagar Singh Nishad of the JD(U), who sought to know what steps were being taken by the government to fill up va-cant posts of teachers at Morwa block high school and the high school at Ra-ghunathpur in Samastipur

district.“We are in the process of

recruiting teachers. There is a shortfall of teachers as many schools have been upgraded from middle to high school while the process of upgrading high schools to plus two level is also going on. But we will do the appointments soon,” said the minister.

However, opposition members remained uncon-vinced by the minister’s reply and demanded that the government inform the House about steps being taken for teachers’ appoint-ment. RJD’s Lalit Kumar Yadav, Bhola Yadav and Congress leaders, includ-ing Sadanand Singh, were vocal in slamming the gov-

ernment over the delay in filling up the vacancies.

In totality, the govern-

ment plans to appoint around 40,000 teachers

for the high and plus two schools and around 1 lakh teachers for primary and

middle schools. The gov-ernment has already initi-

ated the process. For sec-ondary teachers, applicants having qualified STET

(state teachers’ eligibility test) are eligible while for

primary level, those having qualified TET (teachers eli-gibility test) are eligible. At present, there are around 4 lakh government teach-ers including contractual teachers.

In another short notice question, education minis-ter said the government had started the process of trans-ferring money to students enrolled from class 1 to 8 in government schools via direct beneficiary transfer (DBT) to purchase course books from this year by re-placing the old practice of distribution of books after printing them through gov-ernment agencies. “Trans-fer of money to school stu-dents via DBT for purchase of books is proving much

useful and fast, unlike pre-vious times when the dis-tribution of books used to get delayed for months,” said, the minister.

He elaborated that the government has already transferred Rs 528 crore to around 1.47 crore students, covering almost 90pc of the students in govern-ment schools. “Out of the total students having given money through DBT, 70pc of the students have got books. We will ensure that rest of the students gets books early,” the minister.

Intervening at this point, deputy chief minis-ter Sushil Kumar Modi too emphasised how the DBT method had proven to be much easier.

ITI Delhi Rank List 2019 released

Department of Training and Techni-cal Education (DTTE), Delhi has released the tentative rank list for

admissions in ITI Delhi for the ses-sion 2019-20. Candi-dates who

had applied can check the tentative rank list on the online admission portal at iti-delhiadmissions.nic.in.

Registered candidates have the op-portunity to submit objections/correction

against tentative rank on July 11 and July 12 after which no objection will be enter-tained. The objections can be raised at the document verifying ITI of the candidate.ITI Delhi Tentative rank lists

Direct link to check Tentative Rank List 2019 (In order of 10th Rank)

Direct link to check Tentative Rank List 2019 (In order of Registration No.)

The final Rank will be displayed at the online admission portal http://www.itidelhiadmissions.nic.in on July 16 and the first allotment result will be declared on July 22.

Rail recruiting processing on for 2.94 lakh posts

More than 2.98 lakh positions were vacant at Rail-ways as on June 1 this year and recruitment pro-cess is going on for over 2.94 lakh employees,

according to the government. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Lok Sabha that more than 4.61 lakh people were recruited in Railways over the last decade.

Noting that filling up of vacancies is an ongoing pro-cess, Goyal said cadre strength is decided after taking into consideration various factors, including leave reserves and trainee reserves.

“The number of employees were 16,54,985 in 1991 and 12,48,101 in 2019. However, this has not affected the ser-vice of Railways,” Goyal said in a written reply.

Vacancies are filled through Railway Recruitment

Boards (RRBs) and Railway Recruitment Cells (RRCs).As per data provided in the written reply, there were

2,98,574 vacancies across A, B, C and erstwhile D catego-ries at the Railways as on June 1, 2019. The process for recruitment of 2,94,420 employees is going on. In 2018-19, action was initiated to fill up 2,94,420 vacancies.

“Examinations have been held for 1,51,843 posts and will be held for 1,42,577 posts in 2019-20, for which em-ployment notification were issued in 2019, duly taking the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota into account,” Goyal said.

According to him, output and quality of service de-pends not only on workforce but also on the extent of use of technology and automation of systems.

6 IN FOCUS Friday, July 12, 2019

Our neighbours’ kids play cricket in the hallway of our building. They are very noisy and the ball keeps hitting our door. I have told the boys several times that they are disturbing the people who are sleeping and even complained to the watchman. How can I complain against this officially?

We assume that you are staying in a rented or owned apartment in Dubai. As a tenant or owner, you are entitled to peace-fully reside in your flat. The hallways of a building are designated as common areas. This is in accordance with Article 7(1)(a) of the Law No. 27 of 2007 Concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Properties in Dubai (Jointly Owned Properties Law of Dubai), which states: “Unless otherwise indicated on the site plan, the common areas of a jointly owned property will in-clude ... structural elements of the jointly owned property, including the main sup-ports, foundations, columns, beams, struc-tural walls, steps, ceilings, ceiling joists, hallways, staircases, stairwells, emergency exits, entrances, windows located on ex-terior walls, facades and roofs.”

Further, common areas are defined in Article 1 as “those common parts of a property designated for common use by unit owners and occupiers and shown in the site plan”. It may be construed that the usage of the hallways in your building by your neighbours’ kids causes disturbance to other tenants and owners, compromising their ability to reside peace-fully in their owned or rented premises. And with the ball hitting the doors of the property, it may also endanger the safety of residents. Such an act may lead to a violation of Article 24 of the Jointly Owned Properties Law, which states: “Subject to the association constitution, unit owners and occupants and their guests must use the common areas in a way that does not compromise the rights of others to use those areas or disturb others or put their safety or the safety of the property at risk.”

Based on these provisions of the law, you may approach the landlord of your apartment or the building management and file a complaint against your neighbours’ kids and their parents. If the kids who play cricket in the hallways are residing in rented apartments, you may file com-plaint against them with their landlord. The landlord may demand the eviction of such tenants as mentioned in Article 25(1)(c)(e) and (f) of Law No. 33 of 2008 amending some provisions of Law No. 26 of 2007, regulating the relationship between landlords and tenants in Dubai. It states: “A landlord may demand the eviction of a tenant prior to the expiry of the tenancy period: (c) If the tenant uses or allows others to use the property for illegal or immoral activities. (e) If a tenant causes changes that endanger the safety of the property, in a way that it cannot be restored to its original condition or if he causes damage to the property inten-tionally or due to his gross negligence to take proper precautions or if he allows others to cause such damage. (f) If a ten-ant uses the property for purposes other than the purpose it was leased for or if he uses the property in way that violates planning, building and land using regula-tions.” In the event that the landlord of the neighbours’ apartments or the building management does not address your griev-ances, you may approach the Dubai Police and the Dubai Municipality and submit a written complaint against your neighbours’ kids and their parents.

Checking gratuity I have been with my company for nearly six years and have handed in my resigna-tion notice as I plan to leave the UAE. Over the years, I have been promoted a few times and my salary has increased each time so it is now more than two times what it was when I started. I have been given a calculation for my end-of-service gratuity but it is less than I am expecting. I was expecting 30 days for each year on my final salary but the company has worked it out as 21 days for the first few years but on lower salary figures for each period. The difference is large so I need to know that I am right so I can argue with them and get what they owe me?

In this case, neither the employee or the employer is wholly right. When someone resigns after having completed more than five years of service they are entitled to receive a full end-of-service benefit, but the law is very specific regarding how it

N oisy neighbours can be evicted from Dubai fl atis calculated. Article 132 of UAE Labour Law states: “The worker having spent one year or more in continuous service shall be entitled to an end of service gratuity upon the termination of his service. The days of absence from work without pay shall not be included in the calculation of the period of service and the gratuity shall be calculated as follows: 1. The wage of 21 days for each of the first five years of service. 2.The wage of 30 days for every additional year. Always provided that the total gratuity does not exceed the wage of two years.”

The salary used for the calculation is the employee’s last basic salary only. The UAE government website confirms this as it states: “The end-of-service gratuity is calculated on basis of last wage which the employee was entitled to, namely the basic salary. Hence, it will not include allowances such as housing, conveyance, utilities, furniture etc.” In this case, your gratuity must be calculated using your current basic salary only with 21 days payable for each of the first five years of service, and then 30 days for each full year over five years or pro-rata.

Lost licenceI’ve lost my UAE driving licence and don’t have a residence visa. Is there a way to get my licence re-issued?

While a UAE driving licence does not automatically expire if someone is no longer resident, only a resident can obtain a replacement licence. This ap-plies whether it is lost or needs to be renewed. A person must have a valid visa and Emirates Identity Card to go through either process, so you will not be able to obtain a replacement driving licence until you have residency again.

Extending visaMy son is in Grade 11 in Sharjah. He will turn 18 on July 25, 2021. His current Dubai-issued visa is valid till March 7, 2020. When I renew his visa, will it be valid till March 7, 2022 or until he turns 18 on July 25, 2021?

As your son will still be a minor when the current residence visa expires on March 7, 2020, you -- as a sponsor -- may apply for the renewal of his dependent residence visa in the UAE. Such renewal of the dependent visa may be valid till its expiry on March 7, 2022. Further, the Fed-eral Authority for Identity and Citizenship

announced on June 26 that parents may apply for the one-year residency exten-sion of their sons, who have completed their secondary or university education and are above 18 years of age. Such residence visa is renewable for another year from the day the son graduated or on attaining 18 years of age. To avail of this visa for your son, you need to sub-mit your son’s duly attested and legalised graduation certificates from a university, whether inside the country or abroad, to the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) and pay the respective visa fees. For further clarifica-tion, you may contact GDRFA.

Sales targetI am a salesman for a medium-sized company and I have a salary and also commissions. Sales are poor in the summer months, so I am not achieving my targets at the moment. My boss has told me that if I do not hit target of the company, he will deduct money from my salary. I do not think this is in the contract I signed as I would remember. Can the company do this to me?

In short, no they cannot. UAE Labour Law includes a section that covers disci-plinary rules and the conditions are clearly laid out. An employee can be fined if they break a serious rule but this does not apply to work-related performance in this way. In addition, if there is nothing in the contract of employment that states that the salary itself is performance related then the employer cannot change the way someone is paid. You can register a case with the Ministry of HR and Emiratisation or your local labour office.

GULF FAQs

UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed met his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar in New Delhi. Also present was junior NRI Minister V Muraleedharan.

UAE foreign minister meets JaishankarNEW DELHI: Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, held talks with his counterpart in New Delhi as part of a three-day tour of India. Sheikh Abdullah discussed efforts to bolster ties between the two nations during a high-level meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.The ministers exchanged

views on domestic and international matters and set out plans to enhance mutual partnerships in a variety of fields, including the economy and trade, investment and energy. They assessed ongoing developments in Syria, Libya and Yemen and stressed the importance of tackling terrorism and extremism

in all its forms.Sheikh Abdullah reiterated the UAE’s commitment to furthering its friendship with India, a sentiment that was echoed by Dr Jaishankar. The meeting in New Delhi was also attended by UAE Ambassador in Delhi Dr Ahmed Al Banna

Sheikh Abdullah had come to India in 2018 to meet Modi after attending a joint workshop, organised

by Adnoc and the Indian ministry of petroleum and natural gas, on expanding investments and partnerships in the oil and gas industry in the UAE and India. In 2017, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, attended a parade to mark India’s 68th Republic Day in New Delhi.

Fees cut for work permits, temporary permitsUAE reduces service centre feesABU DHABI: The Ministry of HR and Emiratisation (MOHRE) has reduced fees for transactions at service centres by upto 94pc.

The the ministry said fees for 145 services and 128 transactions at centres, including Tas-heel, Tadbeer and Tawjeeh, would be reduced by between 50pc and 94pc in line with a cabinet decision that aims to promote investment and boost businesses in the UAE. Fees for issuing work permits have been reduced for companies depending on their classification under a new system based on the skill level and diversity of their employees.

The new fee structure lists three main categories and within them are breakdowns for fees for skilled and semi-skilled workers for each type of company.

Supporting business owners and investors in the UAE, the new

cabinet resolution on the Fees and Administrative Fines in MOHRE declares new fees for 145 services and 128 transactions supervised by the ministry, decreased by a percentage reaching 94pc.

Companies will continue to be exempt from paying for work permits when employing an Emirati or GCC citizen. Fishing boat facilities are also exempt from work permit fees. The work permit fee for workers sponsored by their families has been reduced by half --- from Dh200 to Dh100. The fees for transferring a permit to move a skilled worker from one business to another, owned by the same person, has also been decreased by 50pc. Work permit application fees for teenagers, fees for temporary and part-time work permits have also been halved.

The ministry reduced the annual licence fee for employment agencies

by 50pc from Dh50,000 to Dh25,000. And licence renewals now cost Dh12,500 from Dh25,000.

The MOHRE Minister Nasser Al Hameli, said the reduction in fees were part of government efforts to promote investment and support entrepreneurship by reducing labour recruitment and operational costs. He said the move also aimed to increase Emiratisation in private companies.

He pointed out that the new reduced fees will enhance the flexibility of the labour market. Moreover, the move is expected to meet the needs of private sector businesses for workers already in the country, and enable those who are sponsored by their families to invest their energies through working in the private sector. At the same time, with the fee reductions, enterprises would have additional options to meet their operational needs.

NRI Narendra Gajria and his wife Heena.

Dubai NRI Narendra Gajria lost hiswife, Dh1m bank savings blockedDUBAI: Do you have a joint bank account with your spouse? If you think you are playing it safe by doing so, then take some time out to rethink as experts say otherwise.

Take the case of Dubai NRI Narendra Gajria whose Dh1 million was blocked in his UAE bank accounts after his wife Heena died at a young age of 47. Besides the fact that he had little time to mourn her death, Gajria found himself stuck in the UAE with no money. Reason being, the couple had joint bank accounts with various banks in UAE and no sooner she (Heena) died, Dubai Courts as part of the procedure to issue a succession certificate to the legal heirs temporarily blocked their accounts.

This meant Gajria could not withdraw money from the ATM, make online transactions or use his card to purchases like grocery and other basic essentials

for daily sustenance. Worse, he did not have a separate bank account in his name through which he could conduct transactions.

“I had close to a million

dirhams in various bank accounts which was blocked. As soon as I realised the accounts were blocked, I rushed to one of the banks I was dealing with and opened an account in my name. I put whatever little money I had in hand into that account. I came back to my office and provided my new account details. Luckily for me, the next day was pay day. So I received some money into that account.” Gajria told a TV channel that it took

five months for his money from the various accounts to come back to him.

“My wife and I did not have a will made in the UAE. There was a will in India, but that was not valid here as it did not cover monies and investments here in the UAE. Dubai Courts transferred his monies, however, five months later and distributed it to the heirs on the Sharia Law principle. So my son received 50pc, my daughter 25pc and I received 25pc. This was not a problem for me as it is not an issue because it is all in the family.”

Gajria said he never imagined having a joint account would cause inconvenience. “Back home in India, it is common for couples to have joint bank accounts. If you see the terms are usually Mr and or Mrs, either or survivor. I assumed this would be the scenario here as well. The whole reason I did a joint account with my wife was

to secure both our futures. So what transpired after her death was actually a revelation.”

Gajria explained: “When somebody dies here, the successor has to go to the court to apply for a succession certificate. For this, the successor has to fill out a form at the court and give details of your bank accounts. The moment this is submitted, the court gives order to freeze the bank accounts. It actually happens within a few hours of submitting the form. The funds from the bank account is transferred to courts. Once the court does its due process, the monies are distributed to the account holder’s successors. If the deceased has a registered will in the UAE, the monies will be distributed according to the will. In the case there is no will, the Shariah Law come into effect. In my case since we did not have a will, the Shariah Law was applied.”

CORPORATE NEWS 7Friday, July 12, 2019

Aimed at expanding access to quality learning opportuni-

ties for students, Hughes Global Education India Ltd, has announced its partner-ship with edX.org, the trust-ed platform for learning. As part of the collaboration, Hughes has also rolled out the first batch of Executive Programme in Data Sci-ence (EPDS) with a Profes-sional Certificate program in Data Science for Execu-tives from Columbia Uni-versity on edX.org. Profes-sional Certificate programs on edX are series of courses designed by industry lead-ers and top universities to build and enhance critical professional skills needed to succeed in today’s most in-demand fields. Executive Programme in Data Science is a unique Hybrid model delivered in two parts.

Hughes Global Education partners w ith edXPart A- Data Science for

Executives Professional Certificate program from Columbia University on edX.org. Comprising of 3 modules will be taught by a distinguished team of professors at Columbia University’s Data Science

Institute, over edx online learning platform.

Part B- Live labs and tu-torials assistance by experts powered by Hughes Global Education. The additional learner support will enable practical application and understanding on success-ful completion of the mod-ules. It will be delivered on

Hughes (IOL) by eminent industry & academic men-tors.

Commenting on the col-laboration, Anurag Bansal, Senior Director, Hughes Global Education said, “We are excited to work with edX. Hughes already has a

strong reputation in the on-line learning space, and this collaboration with edX will further enhance the range of opportunities for stu-dents to enroll and upskill themselves with profes-sional certification from Ivy league colleges.”

“The emerging role of data in decision-making

and understanding future trends has created a robust demand for professionals equipped with the right skills in data science and analytics. We are confident about the success of this tie-up and look forward to helping more profession-als improve corporate deci-sion-making and advanced their professional goals,”

Commenting on the col-laboration, Amit Goyal, edX India and South East Asia Country Head, said, “We are delighted to announce this new tie-up with Hughes Global Education. Through this collaboration, we are providing learners all over India with access to high-quality courses and pro-grams that will allow them to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in today’s tech and data driven workplace.”

Bank of Baroda to foray into e-com bizBank of Baroda plans to

launch an online mar-ketplace to its custom-

ers offering banking services and farm-related products.

The state-owned lender has invited bids seeking a partner to supply ‘digital commerce platform’ to pro-vide assistance to merchants on catalogue management, purchase management ful-filment, pricing, promotion and other similar services.

Bank of Baroda said it is keen to strategise and en-hance online digital capa-bilities with a focus on cre-ating a marketplace to fulfil services relating to different segments of customers’ dai-ly needs and lifestyle needs.

“The bank is seeking a partner to supply digital commerce platform and provide support for its im-plementation for multiple use cases as decided by the bank,” the bank said in a re-

quest for proposal.The bank said it will of-

fer various kinds of banking services and farm-related products on its e-commerce platform.

The online platform part-

ner will be required to pro-vide assistance to merchants on catalogue management, purchase management ful-filment, pricing, promotion and other similar services.

It will also be tasked to use analytics as a tool to find out the customer demands, behaviour, cross-selling and sub-selling of products, dig-

ital security management, advisory management, publicity management and location-based offers.

In the farming category, the bank proposes to of-fer products such as agri

crop loan, farm machinery, equipment, seeds and fer-tilisers. It will also provide loan against gold, all kinds of insurance products, in-vestment products such as government gold bonds, among others services.

The last date for submis-sion of expression of inter-est is July 26, 2019.

SVIC invests $8.5m in four Indian start-upsSamsung Venture In-

vestment Corporation (SVIC), the venture

capital arm of Samsung, announced its maiden in-vestments in India, totaling $8.5 million (nearly Rs 60 crore) across four Indian start-ups.

While SVIC did not disclose how much it in-vested in which start-up, a company spokesperson said that the investment in each of the start-ups ranges between $1 million to $5 million.

“SVIC is planning to make 100 investments (each amounting $1 mil-lion to $5 million) in India in the next three to five years,” Aloknath De, Cor-porate Vice President and

Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute Bengaluru said.

The four start-ups in which SVIC has invested so far in the country are system apps company OS-Labs (Indus OS), speech technology startup Gnani.ai, IoT solutions provider Silvan Innovation Labs and an early stage computer vi-sion start-up the name of which has not been dis-closed.

Mumbai-based OSLabs has developed a curated app store, Indus App Ba-zaar, which has a collec-tion of over 400,000 mobile apps in multiple Indian languages.

Bangalore-based Gnani.ai works in the space of

automatic speech recogni-tion and natural language processing in Indic lan-

guages for building voice assistants and for speech analytics.

Speech recognition is today an important part of human to machine in-teractions and there is a

rising need for automated speech recognition (ASR) in the vernacular languag-

es space.On the other hand,

Bengaluru-based Silvan In-novation Labs is a leader in Internet of Things (IoT) so-lutions for homes and en-terprises and has pioneered

solutions for smart spaces. The startup provides solu-tions that address safety, security, comfort, conve-nience and energy manage-ment.

“The Indian startup ecosystem has matured over the last few years with early-stage companies working on top of the line technology and services, especially in areas like Ar-tificial Intelligence, IoT, cloud and other emerging technology solutions as well as services.

Samsung is committed to work with and invest in promising Indian startups. This will be a win-win for both as it will help start-ups scale their solutions through this deep engage-

ment while we get an op-portunity to enrich our of-ferings to our consumers,” De said.

The four investments by SVIC in Indian startups are strategic in nature.

Samsung had recently partnered with OS Labs to launch the new Galaxy Store, powered by Indus App Bazaar, which brings app discovery and down-load experience to con-sumers in 12 local Indian languages in addition to English and offers person-alized app recommenda-tions without mandatory sign in.

“As we look to offer the Indus experience to wider audiences, these funds will help us reach our goal of

empowering 100 million Indian users with a content and commerce platform in the language of their choice, thus ensuring a tru-ly inclusive digital growth and an enriched user expe-rience for everyone,” said Rakesh Deshmukh, Co-founder and CEO, OSLabs.

Similarly, Samsung’s investment in Gnani’s ASR engine has the potential to power Samsung’s Bixby vernacular service in the future.

With an installed base of over 6,000 homes and 12 live communities, Silvan’s products and IoT platform is expected to add value to Samsung’s efforts to have all its products IoT ready by 2020.

Sterling and Wilson Solar receives SEBI nodSterling and Wilson So-

lar Ltd, a global pure-play, end-to-end solar

EPC solutions provider, has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to float an initial public offering.

The capital markets regulator issued its final ob-servations on SWSL’s IPO proposal on July 4, 2019, according to information on the SEBI website.

SWSL had filed its draft red herring prospectus for the IPO with SEBI on April 15, 2019 this year.

Sebi’s observations are necessary for any company to launch public issues like initial public offer, follow-on public offer (FPO) and right issue.

The total IPO size is

about Rs 4,500 crore. The IPO will be an offer for sale by company’s chairman Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala and Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Private Limited (Together, the Promoter Selling Shareholders)

ICICI Securities Limited, Axis Capital Limited, Cred-it Suisse Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Lim-ited, IIFL Holdings Limited, SBI Capital Markets Lim-ited are the global coordina-tor and book running lead managers and IndusInd Bank Limited YES Securi-ties (India) Limited are the book running lead manager to the issue.

The shares of Sterling and Wilson are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.

Syndicate Bank, has announced the launch of its housing loan

campaign called ‘SyndNi-vas Takeover Dhamaka’.

“The campaign is main-ly to take over the existing home loans of other banks, NBFCs and housing finance companies (HFCs),” said Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, MD, Syndicate Bank. The housing loan campaign is for a period of three months

Syndicate Bank launches housing loan campaign

from July 1, 2019 to Sep-tember 30, 2019.

“The campaign, with the theme of ‘Switch & Save’ offers competitive home

loan interest rate, amongst peer banks, of 8 .65pc . The loan also pro-vides an ex-tended repay-ment period of 30 years (maxi-

mum exit age 75 years) including the loan period of the earlier lending institu-tion,” Mahapatra.

“A top-up loan to attend to extension or repairs of the house can also be availed under this cam-paign. There will be zero

processing and documenta-tion charges for home loans and top-up loans taken over during the campaign period,” he added. With extended repayment period customers monthly EMI’s will lower and savings will increase.

“We also strongly be-lieve that such campaigns will also provide an impe-tus to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and Syndicate Bank feels privi-leged in providing every little support it could to the government’s objec-tives”, explained Mahapa-tra. The campaign will be operational in all 4,062 Syndicate Bank branches across the country.

India attracts $64.4b FDI in FY19

India attracted foreign di-rect investment of $64.4 billion in the last fiscal,

and aims is to take it higher as it moves forward, Union min-ister V Muraleedharan said.

The Minister of State for External Affairs also said the Centre is considering

further opening foreign di-rect investment in aviation, media and other sectors.

He was addressing a gathering of several ambas-sadors and representatives from different countries in New Delhi, at a curtain raiser event for the first-ever Global Investors’ Meet to be hosted by Himachal Pradesh government in Dharamshsla on November 7-8.

“India is the fastest grow-ing major economy in the world right now. Our Prime Minister has set a vision for a $5 trillion economy. We

want to avoid the mistakes of others, and do better,” Muraleedharan said.

He also invited different countries to invest in Him-achal Pradesh and explore the potential of the hill state by participating in the meet in November.

“Despite glob-al headwinds, In-dia attracted an FDI worth $64.4 billion, which is six per cent more than in the pre-vious year. And, the aim is to take

it higher as the country moves forward,” Muraleed-haran said.

Following the last five years, the Centre’s policy has been to give an “unprec-edented push” to the econo-my through initiatives such as Make in India, Ayushman Bharat and UDAN, he said.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur invited various countries to invest in his hill state, saying it provides ample opportunities to investors amid its clean, healthy and peaceful environment.

U i an SFB-Green S uttle in s pact Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has inked a Memoran-

dum of Understanding (MoU) with Green Shuttle Technology Pvt Ltd for financing electric three-

wheelers. Established in Chakan (Pune) last year, Green Shuttle Technology is an ARAI-(Automotive Research Association of India) certified manufacturer of electric vehicles such as E-Garbage Vehicle, E-Rickshaw, E-Cart, E-Mini Flat Loader and E-Scooter.

“This partnership is aimed at benefiting all the pas-senger and cargo delivery segments of Green Shuttle Elec-tric Vehicles. The bank plans to tie up with more electric vehicle manufacturers to further strengthen the Electric Vehicle financing portfolio and to focus on the mass mar-ket,” said the bank in a statement.

TCS Q 1 net up 1 0 .8 pc

The country’s largest software servic-es firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reported 10.8pc growth

in consolidated net profit to Rs 8,131 crore for the quarter ended June 30.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 7,340 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a BSE filing.

Revenue of the Mumbai-based firm grew 11.4pc to Rs 38,172 crore in the June 2019 quarter, compared to Rs 34,261 crore in the same quarter of 2018-19, it added.

“We have had a steady start to the new fiscal year. We see customers continuing to spend on their growth and transforma-tion initiatives, and that is showing in our strong order book and deal pipeline this quarter,” TCS CEO and Managing Director Rajesh Gopinathan said.

Digital revenue accounted for 32.2pc of the topline, growing 42.1pc in the said quarter over the previous year.

The company had a net employee ad-

dition of 12,356 employees - its highest in five years, taking the total headcount to 4,36,641 people.

“our margins this quarter fully reflect the annual increments that we effected across the board in April. Sustained rigour in operations helped deliver strong cash

conversion and EPS expansion,” TCS chief financial officer V Ramakrishnan said.

The earnings per share was at Rs 21.67, up 13pc year-on-year. The board has rec-ommended a dividend of Rs 5 per equity share for the June quarter.

L&T bags signifi cant orders across various biz segments

Infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) said that it has received ‘significant’ orders across various busi-ness segments in the domestic and international market.The company did not provide a value of the contracts

but said the orders fall under “significant” category which ranges between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore as per its classification of contracts. “The construction arm of L&T has secured orders from prestigious clients across various Indian states for its varied businesses,” L&T said in a regulatory filing.

L&T said its power transmission and distribution busi-ness has secured orders for multiple clients in the domestic and international markets. The company said its heavy civil infrastructure business’ defence unit has secured an order from one of the major defence PSUs for the construction of a strategic project for the Indian Air Force. The project is to be completed within 33 months. L&T’s water and efflu-ent treatment business has secured orders from the Gujarat Water Infrastructure for MS pipeline from Brahmani Dam-2 to Chakampar village (Package II) and from Chakampar vil-lage to Nava Sadulka (Package III) including its operation and maintenance for five years in Morbi district, Gujarat.

8 Travel / Entertainment

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Saudi Ambassador to the US Princess Reema bint Bandar presented her credentials to President Donald Trump in Washington.

A total of 27.4 million passengers passed through Duba i ’ s

land, sea and airports dur-ing the first-half of 2019, the General Directorate of Resi-dency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA) has said. Dubai International Airport’s 122 smart gates were used by 5.7 million travellers this year, while the GDRFA pro-cessed 9.5 million entry and residence permits between Jan 1 and June 30.

Maj Gen Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, director-general of GDRFA, said that his department was ready for the summer vacation sea-son, which witnesses more movement of passengers in

O ver 2 7 m passengers passed through D ubai in 2 0 1 9

the emirate. “We are ready to provide best services for all travellers especially during the summer holiday as we expect an increase in num-ber of travellers,” he said in a statement.

The latest statistics showed that airports wit-nessed the movement of 25 million travellers and about 1.8 million travellers used the land ports. Nearly 557,500 travellers crossed the sea ports this year.

“More people used the 122 smart gates at Dubai airports, which eased traf-fic. We encourage travellers to use the gates for quicker movement to catch their flights,” he added. Mean-

while, GDRFA-Dubai issued and renewed 2.1 million residency permits and 7.4 million entry permits in the first-half of 2019. “We are keen to achieve the high-est levels of happiness for customers with the services provided and through a well-considered plan, we provide all necessary securi-ty and facilities for a smooth entry and exit of passengers. Our strategy is based on our Rulers’ instructions and is part of the 2021 plan,” Maj Gen Al Merri said.

GDRFA-Dubai also urged Emiratis to check the valid-ity of their passports before travelling to avoid delays. The department’s centre at

Terminal-3 in Dubai Interna-tional Airport renewed 5,072 passports of Emiratis in 2019, and issued 317,182 residency and entry permits during the same period of time. The centre operates round-the-clock. The department urged customers to send their complaints directly to the director general through the “contact the general direc-tor” service at www.dnrd.ae or the smart application on mobile phones. The depart-ment received 2,421 emails in 2019 for different enqui-ries related to residency and entry permits. The Amer cen-tres received 580,846 calls on 8005111 during the first half of this year.

Haj pilgrims can carry Zamzam water, Air India clarifi es

After Indian expats ex-pressed their displea-sure over Air India’s

decision to ban Zamzam holy water on its narrow-body aircraft, the airline has apolo-gised and put out a clarifica-tion on its Twitter handle.

“With reference to instruc-tions regarding non carriage of Zamzam cans, on AI966 and AI964, we wish to clarify that passengers are allowed to carry Zamzam cans within their permissible baggage al-lowance. Please accept our apologies for the inconve-nience caused”, Air india said. An AI official, who requested anonymity, confirmed that “the ban was put in place for narrow-body aircraft due to space constraints”.

NRI (71-year-old) wins $1m Dubai raffl eJaya Gupta, a 71-year-

old Indian national and Dubai resident, has final-

ly hit the $1 million jackpot after buying tickets every single time she has travelled abroad in the past 20 years.

Jaya, who hails from Mumbai, bought the win-ning ticket number 0993 for the Series 303 draw on May 10 when she went to visit her 91-year-old mother, Lak-shmi Hariharan, who is now living in Pune with her older brother. “I couldn’t believe it (win) - I was so emotional. I arrived in Dubai in 1993 and I’ve been buying DDF tickets since its inception in 1999,” she told a TV channel.

Because of her mother’s frail condition, Jaya has been recently travelling between Dubai and Mumbai at least once every two months. All those times, she said, it has become her habit to buy at least a ticket before boarding the plane. “After so many

attempts, I thought I was unlucky but I still continued buying tickets, with fervent hope and prayers that I would win,” said Jaya, add-ing: “And, finally dame luck hit me on Tuesday.”

“I just came out from a meeting and I was drinking water when someone from DDF called me. At first, I thought, it was a prank but the guy calmly told me that I had won $1 million. It was absolutely unbelievable. I was so emotional. I imme-diately called my husband who is in Mumbai, to share the news,” she shared.

“I haven’t called my mother yet but I will come to visit her again later this month,” added Jaya, who runs her own trading com-pany in Dubai. When asked about her plans with her winnings, she said: “Before, when I started buying tickets I thought of using the money to expand my business. But

through the years, I have expanded my business with patience and sheer hard work.”

“I am not rich but I’m also not poor either. My son is now settled with his family in the US, where he works as computer profes-sional. I have a business in Dubai, which is my second home, and I can say that I have lived a long and com-fortable life.”

“I’ve worked hard but I also knew that someday I will win a big windfall and it has come. Now, I will do-nate some of my winnings to charity and also buy a house for my two adopted daughters who are in India,” Jaya added. She continued: “I have always been an op-timist. I never gave up and always looked in the brighter side of things. My patience paid off and I actually enjoy more not the prize but the shrill joy of winning.”

Interpol alert on missing tourist in KeralaEven as Kerala police

department is exten-sively searching to

trace the German woman tourist who went missing from the state in March, Interpol, on the request from Kerala police, has issued a “yellow notice”. State Po-lice chief Loknath Behra told the media about the Interpol issuing a “yellow notice” but did not give more details.

“We a re in touch with the Centre and also with others. We may get something very quickly,” he added. Ac-cording to the police, the German consulate had informed the state police chief of the 31-year-old missing woman -- Liza Weisse -- after her mother

in Germany approached them saying there is no word from her. Weisse had arrived at the airport in Thiruvananthapuram on March 7 and according to her disclosure in the ar-rival form, she was to head

to the ashram of Amri thananda Mayi near Kol-lam, about 80 km from here. But the police probe revealed that she did not arrive there and was last seen leaving the

airport on a two-wheeler. Her friend Mohammed Ali, a British passport holder, was with her but he departed from Kochi airport on March 15. Po-lice said that Weisse has not left India through any airport and is probably in Nepal.

AI, Emirates jumbo fl ightsfrom Kozhikode allowed Air India and Emirates, which have obtained ap-

proval from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the operation of wide-bodied aircraft,

will resume their jumbo services at Kozhikode (Calicut) International Airport, possibly after Sept.

Both the airlines have been asked to submit the sched-ules for operating their flights. As of now, the DGCA has issued NOC to Air India to operate Boeing 777-300 Extended Range (ER), Boeing 777- 200 Long Range (LR), Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and Boeing 747-400 and to Emirates, Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 777- 200 LR.

Airport Director K Srinivasa Rao said that Air India would operate its flights in the Calicut- Jeddah sector. However, the national carrier would resume services only after the Haj pilgrimage. Its proposal to land in the morning and take-off in the evening after a 12-hour parking at the airport had been rejected, he said.

Meanwhile, Emirates is reviewing the aviation market before relaunching its operations at the Calicut airport. At present Emirates operates daily flights at Kochi and Thiru-vananthapuram. Besides, the DGCA approval comes with multiple riders like restricting the service to daytime for the initial six months. Thereafter the DGCA will review the situation for their night operations. The operation of wide-bodied aircraft was banned at the Calicut airport from May 2015 in the wake of the Court of Inquiry report on the Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in Mangaluru in May 2010.

For Saudia, which began the operation of wide-bodied aircraft (Boeing 777-200 and Airbus 330-300) from Dec last, the DGCA has said that the NOC would be reviewed after three years. Its flights too had been restricted to daytime for six months. Now from Sunday it started Haj operations. All these airlines as well as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have been asked to stick to the Standard Operating Procedures such as Regulatory Take Off Weight. For Boe-ing 777-300 the weight should not exceed 290 tons and for Boeing 777-200, 257 tons.

Special lounge for children openedat Dubai International Airport

Lounge for kids at Dubai International Airport.

Travelling for unac-companied young f lyers have been

made easy at the Dubai International Airport with the opening of a dedicate children lounge.

Dubai -based Dnata (Dubai National Air Trans-port Association), one of the world’s largest air ser-vices providers, has opened a new airport lounge at Dubai International to en-hance young flyers’ travel experience. The newest Dnata facility has been de-signed and launched exclu-sively for unaccompanied minors, whose safety, secu-rity and comfort are ensured by Dnata’s specially trained team at the airport.

Located at Terminal-1, the lounge is tastefully deco-rated in vibrant colours. It is equipped with games and entertainment screens to keep the young guests occupied throughout the day. The lounge is open 24 hours and manned by experienced, multilingual staff. Dnata employs over 70 dedicated agents who work closely with airline representatives to ensure unaccompanied minors are in safe hands, reach de-parture gates on time and receive priority boarding.

Dnata has seen these ser-vices become increasingly popular in the UAE in recent years. In 2018, the Dnata team assisted 8,000 unac-companied minors at Dubai International (DXB), 27pc

more, than five years ago.Steve Allen, Divisional

Senior Vice President, UAE Airport Operations, Dna-ta, said: “We have earned the trust of thousands of parents with our safe and reliable services for unac-companied minors over the past years. We are delighted

to add more value to our of-fering and further enhance young passengers’ travel experience by opening our new lounge, which has been specifically designed to meet the needs and taste of

children of all ages.”Parents in the UAE are

also excited about the new service. “This is great news for me as my children want to go back home to meet their grandparents but I was worried about sending them alone as I was not confident whether they will be able to

handle the rush at the busy Dubai airport,” said Abdul Kareem, an NRI.

Kabeer, an Indian expat, said the new facility would definitely encourage him to let his children travel alone

as they would learn how to go through various channels form check in to boarding. Dnata provides its services for unaccompanied minors to over 120 airline partners at the two Dubai airports. Customers should contact their airlines for further information on the services.