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Many passengers bound for India and Pakistan were stranded at Terminal-1 of Dubai Inter-national Airport.

UAE-India-Pakistan fl ights affected, partly restoredDUBAI: Many travellers fly-ing out of the UAE to Paki-stan and India have been advised to continue moni-toring the status of their flights in view of the esca-lating conflict between the two countries.

Flights to all Pakistani airports from Dubai and Abu Dhabi were cancelled on Wednesday leaving scores of passengers stranded at terminals. Some flights to India have been affected as well, including those oper-ated by SpiceJet, Indigo and Airblue.

The operation of flights from Srinagar airport re-sumed on Thursday morn-ing, after they remained suspended for over four hours on Wednesday.

UAE-based carrier Fly-dubai cancelled Wednes-day’s and Thursday’s flights to a number of destinations, including Faisalabad, Mul-tan, Sialkot and Karachi in Pakistan. Emirates also cancelled trips to and from Pakistan, including destina-tions like Islamabad, Kara-chi and Lahore. At Sharjah airport, Air Arabia flights to Lahore and Karachi were cancelled, as well as at least

one Airblue flight to Islam-abad, according to Skyscan-ner’s flight tracker. Passen-gers from India and Pakistan were stranded at Terminal-1 of Dubai International.

“Due to the closure of Pakistani and Afghanistan air space, a number of Emir-ates flights to/from Pakistan and Afghanistan have been

cancelled. The latest flight schedules can be found on emirates.com. Affected pas-sengers are requested to contact their booking agent or Emirates reservations to rebook their flights or make alternative travel arrange-ments,” the airline said in a statement.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabian

Airlines (Saudia) suspended all flights to Pakistan in re-sponse to increased military tensions between India and its neighbor over Kashmir.

“It is a standard proce-dure that we take under such circumstances,” said Fahad Bahdailah, Saudia’s VP of corporate communi-cations.

Samjhauta Express suspendedLAHORE: Pakistani authori-ties have suspended the Samjhauta Express train service between Pakistan and India until further no-tice, amidst tense bilateral ties in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The train departs on Mondays and Thursdays from Lahore.

The biweekly train was

scheduled to depart from Lahore. “Samjhauta Ex-press will resume its opera-tions as soon as the security situation improves between India and Pakistan,” the FO said without giving any specific date for resum-ing the train service. The FO statement came after a spokesman of the Railways said early in the morning that the train service sched-uled to depart for India at

8 AM (local time) was can-celled. Local media report-ed that the train embarked on its journey from Karachi but stopped at Lahore rail-way station after officials suspended its service.

India carried out air strikes against the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In the operation,

a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for suicide attacks were eliminated. The facili-ty at Balakot was headed by Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of the JeM chief.

The Samjhauta Express, named after the Hindi word for “agreement”, comprises six sleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach. The train

service was started on July 22, 1976 under the Shimla Agreement that settled the 1971 war between the two nations. Sources said that the footfall of the train, which generally records an occupancy of around 70pc has fallen drastically post-Pulwama terror attack. Tensions have escalated be-

tween India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mo-hammad (JeM).

At least 40 CRPF per-sonnel were killed and many injured on Feb 14 in one of the deadliest terror attacks in J&K when a JeM suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

NEW DELHI: The central government has detected Rs 20,000 crore worth GST evasion so far this fiscal and will take more steps to check frauds and increase compliance.

Central Board of Indi-rect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) member (Investiga-tion) John Joseph revealed that the department would soon call a meeting of the representatives of the real estate sector to understand transition issues faced by the sector post reduction in GST rates. The GST Coun-cil, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state counter-parts, has decided to cut tax rates on under construction apartments and affordable

Govt detects Rs 20,000cr GST evasion this fi scal

housing to five per cent and one per cent, respectively.

Nevertheless, builders will not be able to claim credit for the taxes paid on inputs, like steel, cement. The earlier GST rate on under construction apart-ments and affordable hous-ing was 12pc and eight per cent with input tax credit (ITC), respectively.

On demand for giving ITC relief to the builders of the under construction flats which are already built but not yet sold to buyers, Joseph said the real estate sector would have to raise the issue with the urban de-velopment ministry.

“You need to talk to them (urban development minis-try). As revenue department

we cannot give you any ben-efit of subsidy to that extent,” he said at an Assocham event here. Joseph said between April-Feb 2018-19, GST eva-sion worth Rs 20,000 crore has been detected of which Rs 10,000 crore was recov-ered. He said the tax officers have detected fake invoice worth Rs 1,500 crore which was used to claim illegal GST credit of Rs 75 crore. “We have already recovered Rs 25 crore and the rest is on the way,” Joseph said.

Stating that only five-10pc of the businesses are “black sheep” and bring bad name to the industry, he said the government will take more measures to in-crease compliance and act against evaders in a way

such that genuine business-es do not suffer. Joseph said the government has been dynamic in rationalising tax rates since GST rollout on July 1, 2017, while in-creasing compliance for 1.2 crore registered businesses.

“In future, as GST moves forward, the rates need to consolidate. Across the world it is one rate, but it may not be possible for us to implement it here... be-cause we have the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich in the country. “What is good for the rich-est, cannot be the best for the poor. But five rates con-verging into two or three, depending on what the Council decides. This is the way forward,” he said.

Tax panel seeks extensionNEW DELHI: The taskforce set up to draft a new direct tax law to replace the ex-isting Income Tax Act has sought two to three months extension from Finance Min-ister Arun Jaitley to submit its report. The taskforce was scheduled to submit the re-port by Feb 28. The finance ministry in November last year appointed Akhilesh Ranjan, Member (Legisla-tion), CBDT, as convener of the taskforce after the retire-ment of Arbind Modi.

“The taskforce apprised the finance minister on progress made by the panel so far. It sought an exten-sion of two to three months for submission of report,” an official said. Other members of the taskforce include Girish Ahuja (CA), Rajiv Memani (chairman of EY), Mukesh Patel (practis-ing tax advocate), Mansi

Kedia (consultant, ICRIER) and GC Srivastava (retired IRS and advocate).

Even with a three -month extension, the report of the task force would come well before the final budget for 2019-20 fiscal which will be presented some time in July after the general elections. Prime Minister Modi, dur-ing the annual conference of tax officers in Sept 2017, had observed that the Income-tax Act, 1961 was drafted more than 50 years ago and it needs to be redrafted.

The taskforce was as-signed to draft direct tax laws in line with the norms prevalent in other countries, incorporating international best practices and keeping

in mind the economic needs of the country. The minis-try had in Nov, 2017, set up a six -member task force to rewrite the over 50-year-old tax laws. The panel was ini-tially supposed to submit its report to the government within six months, by May 22, 2018. On May 22, the fi-nance ministry had extend-ed the term of the taskforce by another three months till August 22. The committee did not submit report within that deadline as well. The then convene of the panel Arbind Modi retired on Sept 30, which left the report of the taskforce in limbo. Fol-lowing this, Ranjan was ap-pointed as the convener of the panel in Nov last year.

ECI fi les FIR against fake news on NRI votingNEW DELHI: The Delhi Po-lice have registered a case after the Election Commis-sion of India (ECI) asked it to track down people alleg-edly spreading fake news that NRIs can cast their vote online in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In its com-plaint, the ECI said that a fake message regarding on-line voting by NRIs in the general election 2019 is be-ing circulated on WhatsApp.

“This fake news contains a logo of the ECI. The publi-cation of such fake news is causing severe confusion to the public, thereby creating

public nuisance and mis-chief,” the complaint said. The charges have been filed under IPC sections 505 (mak-

ing, publishing or circulat-ing any statement, rumour or report), 463 (making false document to cause damage) and 471 (using a forged doc-ument as genuine). Police

have also invoked State Em-blem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act.

“Overseas Indians may submit an application for enrollment under form 6A online at nvsp.in or by using the voter helpline mobile app. To cast vote on the date of poll, an overseas elector may come to his designat-ed polling station with his passport as a document for identification,” a statement issued by ECI said. Recently, a 21-year-old man was ar-rested for allegedly putting up fake dates of the elections on the website.

Indian student dies in poolNEW YORK: In a tragic incident, a student from India died at a campus pool in the University of Rhode Island (URI) in the US. Suhail Habeeb, a graduate student in phys-ics from India, died fol-lowing an incident that occurred in a Tootell Physical Education Cen-tre pool on the Kingston Campus, the University said.

The University is “saddened by the recent loss of one of our com-munity members -- Su-

hail Habeeb --” it said. He had been enrolled at the University since Fall 2016. Staff from Cam-pus Recreation, URI Po-lice Department and URI Emergency Medical Ser-vices (EMS) responded to Tootell late afternoon on Sunday. URI Police and EMS were dispatched and arriving units found lifeguards performing CPR on Habeeb. He was transported by EMS to a local hospital where he was later identified and pronounced deceased.

2 EMIGRATION Friday, March 01, 2019

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

Publisher: Supreet M.J.Editor : E.L. VaidyanathanVolume No.: 1, Issue: 41

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

Mumbai - 400 008. Ph.: 022 - 23001102 / 23001103.Printed at: Inquilab Off set Printers Ltd., 156, D J Dadaji Road,

Tardeo, Mumbai-400 034, Maharashtra, India.

LIPSYNCH “It is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

— Charles Darwin.

Curb fake news

Fake news is creating havoc nowadays. For an aver-age person, it is almost impossible to distinguish the fake from the real – that’s the kind of dubious

respectability the fake news has earned. While writing this edit, news came in that the Delhi police have filed an FIR on the complaint by the Election Commission of In-dia (ECI) asking the police to track down people allegedly spreading fake news that NRIs can cast their vote online in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. In its complaint, the ECI said that a fake message regarding online voting by NRIs in the general election 2019 is being circulated on WhatsApp and it goes in other news channels as well. “This fake news contains a logo of the ECI. The publica-tion of such fake news is causing severe confusion to the public, thereby creating public nuisance and mischief,” the complaint said. The charges have been filed under IPC sections 505 (making, publishing or circulating any statement, rumour or report), 463 (making false docu-ment to cause damage) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine). Police have also invoked State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act.

Only the other day, fake news was going round to the effect that the UAE government has banned foreigners working in dozens of sectors. Those who are familiar with UAE know that it is impossible to remove foreigners from certain vital areas (like healthcare) and that too in a short notice. It turned out to be fake news. The other news is that RBI is coming out with Rs 1 lakh coin! While the gov-ernment has already abol-ished Rs 1000 notes and has started gradual withdrawal of Rs 2000 notes, a Rs 1 lakh coin is impossible to even imagine. But many people be-lieve in this kind of fake news and further circulate it to their friends and relatives!

Social media users are busy connecting, transacting and influencing each other yet many fail to realise is that it is but a medium that takes no responsibility for what happens on its actions. This medium began as a network powered by the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. FB’s stated goal was to connect every human on the earth even if they don’t know each other personally. Some of these connections, if not many, can be spurious as the world has found out through what is known as fake news.

FB connections are not real but virtual, but humans often fail to make the distinction which could influence their actions and the spread of false information. Then there is propaganda which could lead to indoctrination, a complex process which plays with the unsuspecting mind that makes people do unimaginable things. It soon spreads like wildfire or viral without proper basis. The government should come down heavily on fake news cre-ators and should also ban people re-circulating of such items. If false information appears on social media, these companies must be made accountable. The cyber law should be amended suitably.

Editorial

Miss India USA 2019 Kim Kumari (centre) with Mrs. India USA Vidhi Dave, (left) and Miss Teen India USA Esha Kode at the 37th edition of the annual pageant at Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords NJ.

Kim Kumari crowned Miss India USANEW JERSEY: The 18-year-old Kim Kumari of New Jersey was crowned Miss India USA at a glittering pageant held at Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords, New Jersey. Renuka Joseph of New York and Aanchal Shah of Florida were declared first and second runners-up respectively.

Vidhi Dave of Connecticut won the Mrs. India USA title while the Miss India Teen USA title went to 16-year-old Esha Kode of New Jersey. In the Mrs. India category, Amrita Chehil and Sowmya Saxena of Ohio won the first and second runners-up titles respectively, while in the teen category, Aishwarya Vallem of Geor-gia was the first runner-up and and Tanvi Gujral also from Georgia, won second place.

Kumari is stuying to be an optometrist and help children from third world countries learn about the importance of eye-care. She also won the talent award for her performance of Lavni, a folk dance from Ma-harashtra, with a fusion of Bhangra. Dave, who has a degree in Data Science from Harvard, is a project manager. Kode, who also won the talent award in the teen category, aspires to be a paediatric surgeon, while continuing a career in fashion and films. Kumari and Dave will represent the US in the Miss and Mrs. India Worldwide 2019 to be held in Mumbai in Sept.

Aruna new executive directorof Indian American Fund

Indra Nooyi joins Amazon board WASHINGTON: PepsiCo’s India-born former CEO Indra Nooyi has joined Amazon’s board of directors. Nooyi, who stepped down as CEO of

PepsiCo in Oct last year, is the second women of colour to be added on the Amazon’s board of Directors. Ear-ly this month, Starbucks ex-ecutive Rosalind

Brewer joined the Amazon board.“We’re thrilled to have elected

two new members to our Board of Directors this month. Welcome, Roz Brewer and Indra ,” Amazon said in its announcement. Nooyi would be a member of the audit committee. She was PepsiCco CEO from Oct 2006 to Oct 2018, where she also served as the chairman of its board of direc-tors from May 2007 to Feb 2019.

She was elected to PepsiCo’s board of directors and became its president and chief financial officer in 2001 and held leadership roles in finance, corporate strategy and development and strategic planning after joining PepsiCo in 1994. Nooyi has served as a director of Schlum-berger since April 2015.

Indra Nooyi

Aruna Miller

WASHINGTON: Former Congressional candidate and erstwhile Maryland state legislator Aruna Mill-er has been named the new executive director of the Indian American Impact Fund, which seeks out and endorses and funds Indi-an-American candidates running for public office at the local, city, county, state and federal levels.

The Hyderabad-born Miller, who migrated to the US at age eight and is a civil engineer by training, having served in Montgomery County’s Transportation Depart-ment for more than two decades, will replace Gautam Raghavan, a for-mer senior Obama ad-ministration official, who left Impact in Jan to serve as Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s (D.Wash.) chief of staff.

In June last year, much to the disappointment of the Indian-American com-munity, Miller lost to mul-timillionaire David Trone

in the Democratic prima-ry for the vacant seat in the state’s sixth district, who then went on to win the general on Nov 6.

The Miller-Tronerace,

was perhaps the most closely-watched primary by the Indian-American community, who con-sidered her the commu-nity’s best bet for another Congressional seat, but Miller failed in her bid to become only the second Indian American woman to be elected to the US House of Representatives after Jayapal, because if she had prevailed over Trone, she would have

been a shoo-in in the general election in the heavily Democratic dis-trict.

Raj Goyle, co-founder of Impact, a former Kansas state legislator, who also made an unsuccessful bid for the US Congress from the state’s fourth district in 2010, losing to Repub-lican Mike Pompeo, now the US Secretary of State, said, “As a former candi-date and elected official who has actually cam-paigned, won votes, and served in office, Aruna is the ideal person to lead Impact. She has the per-fect combination of skills and personal experience to take this organisation to the next level,” he pre-dicted. Goyle said: “As an Indian-American woman, immigrant, candidate, and elected official, Aruna has been a pioneer and trail-blazer in our community. We know she will not only provide smart guidance and strategic counsel to

Indian American candi-dates running for office at every level from coast to coast, she will also inspire many more to consider running themselves.”

“Anyone who has met, worked with or voted for Aruna knows her future is bright. We are excited to have her at the helm of Impact,” he added. Deep-ak Raj, entrepreneur and philanthropist, also a co-founder of Impact, said, “When we started look-ing for a new executive director, it was vital that we find someone who understands both poli-tics and public service, has a demonstrated track record of advocating for our community and brings fresh thinking and vision to the important work ahead.” He added: “We found all of those traits, and more, in Aru-na, and we are thrilled she will lead Impact at this critical time for our community.”

NRI raises over $1m for Pulwama martyrsNEW YORK: NRI Viveik Pa-tel deserves a special men-tion. The 26-year old, who started his own fundraiser on Facebook with a target of raising US$500,000, has now managed to super ex-ceed the target and raised $1,018,252 within just 11 days. Patel happily shared his message in a Facebook post, “$1 million achieved for our brave-hearts. Thank you all for the support.”

He has even been in touch with Indian authorities in New York who are guiding Vivek with the best and the safest ways of transferring the funds. The 26-year old, who hails from Vadodara in Gujarat, started his own fun-draiser on Facebook with a target of raising $500,000.

“They had a fruitful dis-cussion on the best way to donate to the Martyrs of the Pulwama Terrorist Attack by transferring money to “Bharat Ke Veer” Account,” said the Consulate General of India, New York in a Facebook post.

Patel also shared a quick update about currency function on fundraiser and informed that anyone from the world now can be a part of the campaign. Facebook Fundraiser Team also played an important role in sup-porting the real Patriot. The team worked with Viveik to help ensure the money goes to the right place as quickly as possible.

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Date: 01.03.2019

Link PAN with a/c for I-T e-refundsNEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department will “only” issue refunds via the e-mode into bank accounts of taxpayers be-ginning next month and they should link PAN with their ac-counts, the I-T dept said in its latest public communication. The department said refunds will be sent to bank accounts as it will issue “only e-refunds from March 1, 2019.” Link your PAN (Permanent Account Number) with your bank account to get your refund directly, swiftly and securely, the department said in a public advisory. It added the bank account could be either savings, current, cash or overdraft.

Till now, the department used to issue refunds to taxpay-ers either in their bank accounts or through account payee cheques, in a case-to-case basis depending on the category of taxpayers. The communication added taxpayers can check if their bank account is linked with their PAN by logging onto the e-filing website of the department. It said those who have not linked their PAN with their bank account should provide it to their home bank branch and also validate this over the e-filing website of the I-T Department.

Recently, the linking of the PAN with the Aadhaar-PAN has been made “mandatory” for those filing an Income Tax Return (ITR) and this procedure has to be “completed” by March 31 this year. As per data updated till early this month, the I-T department has so far issued 42 crore PANs, of which 23 crore have been linked with Aadhaar. While Aadhaar is is-sued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the I-T Department to a person, firm or entity.

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NEW DELHI: All India In-stitutes of Medical Scienc-es (AIIMS) in New Delhi has entered into a partner-ship with the University College London (UCL) to enable collaborations in research and increase the number of academic and student exchange oppor-tunities between both the institutions.

A formal “Letter of In-tent” was signed between UCL’s President Professor Michael Arthur and AIIMS Director Professor Randeep Guleria recently.

“Through closer col-laboration and shared ex-pertise, we will gain a deeper insight into our ground-breaking research and fulfil our joint ambi-tion to address some of the biggest challenges facing society today. “Furthering academic and student ex-change programmes, will also enrich both UCL’s

AIIMS, UCLink pact for research collaborationsand AIIMS communities, enabling them to develop and grow intellectually, culturally and socially,” a statement quoting Arthur said.

UCL and AIIMS will explore a number of po-tential collaborative areas, including academic staff collaboration in research and education in mutually agreed areas of common interest, potential develop-ment of staff exchange pro-grammes, visiting scholars

programmes and research fellowship programmes among others, the state-ment said.

Guleria said, “This col-laboration is an immense

opportunity for bilateral work-flow on more than one aspect. It is also an opportunity for a dialogue including exchange of ideas, training and em-powerment for high end bio-technological research.

“Our focus under this ‘Letter of Intent’ would be

on training opportunities for students, faculty and researchers at both insti-tutes and establishment of a clinical trial unit to further enhance these ca-

pabilities.”As part of the

ongoing research co l labora t ions , AIIMS has also joined the new In-ternational Centre for Genomic Medi-cine in Neuromus-cular Diseases (IC-GMN), led by UCL.

The ICGMN is a £5m initiative, bringing together

skills and resources from five countries and aims to advance the genetic diagnosis and therapy for patients with muscle wasting neuromuscular diseases, including mo-tor neurone disease and muscular dystrophy, the statement added.

PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will lay the foundation stone of Na-landa Open University (NOU) campus at Rajgir in Nalanda) on March 1.

It is a requirement for all distance- mode univer-sities, as per the guide-lines of Distance Educa-tion Bureau (DEB).

Set up in March, 1987 by an ordinance, promul-gated by the Government of Bihar, it is the only university in Bihar meant exclusively for distance learning. Later in 1995, the NOU Act was passed by the Bihar Legislature, replacing the Ordinance, which mandates its loca-tion in Nalanda.

For the university, the government has allotted 40 acres of land. NOU vice-chancellor R K Sinha said that the detailed proj-

CM to lay foundation stone of Nalanda Open University campus on March 1

ect report for the campus development as per UGC guidelines has been pre-pared and the map has also been approved.

Bihar educational in-frastructure development corporation (BEIDC) will construct the building having around 1.10-lakh square feet built up space.

The campus is expect-ed to be ready for shifting in two years.

With enrollment of around 1.50-lakh students in 119 courses, the univer-sity is the second largest, second only to Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). It has 220 study centres across the state.

However, since its inception, it functioned from its camp office in the Biscoman Bhawan of Patna. Though earlier

also attempts were made to shift it to Nalanda and 10-acre land had also been allotted in Rajgir, it could not materialize citing lo-gistics problems.

Now, the government has earmarked another 30.19-acre land for NOU to make it 40.19 acres, which is a requirement for registration under section 12-B of the UGC to be eligible for grants.

What is significant about NOU is that it is the only university in the state that is self-sustained, not requiring financial assistance from the gov-ernment.

NOU registrar SP Sinha said that the university was mandated to be in Nalanda as per its Act and it would now reach its place once the campus is ready.

BENGALURU: The Data Centre and Analytics Lab (DCAL) at IIM Bangalore is hosting the Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference on March 9 (Saturday) at the IIMB auditorium.

WiDS is an initiative of Stanford University and IIM Bangalore is hosting the Bangalore region event.

IIMB to host ‘Women in Data Science Conference’ on Mar 9The WiDS conference

aims to inspire and edu-cate data scientists across the world. This one-day technical conference is being held in Bangalore for the first time and will have leading women data scientists as speakers. The discussions will cover top-ics around data science related research and ap-

plications.A l l a r e

w e l c o m e t o a t t e n d the confer-ence, which will feature women doing outstanding work in the area of Data Science and other fields, who will share

stories about their work

and challenges they face.The speakers are Profes-

sor Vasanthi Srinivasan, IIMB faculty from the Or-ganizational Behaviour & H u m a n Re -sources Man-agement area; Dr. Sunita Ma-heshwari, Pae-

diatric Cardiologist, Tele-radiology Solutions; Dr Di-

ane Chang, Data Scientist, Intuit; Professor Haritha Saranga, IIMB faculty from the Production & Opera-tions Management area; Dr Gorge B Dasgupta, Senior Manager and Researcher, IBM; Shweta Shandilya, Program Director, IBM; Dr Ramanathan, Profes-sor, Nottingham Business School, UK; Deepa Madha-

van, Director, PayPal; Sow-janya Chalamkuri, Sr. Di-rector, GE Digital; Shailaja Grover, Program Manager, IIMB; Vidya Chandrasek-aran, Engineering Manager, PayPal; Sunila Gollapudi, Executive Vice President, Broadridge, and Lakshya Sivaramakrishnan, Man-ager, Women Techmakers Program, Google.

NATIONAL JOBS & CAREERS 5Friday, March 01, 2019

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Sudoku Puzzle 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 #41 will be in next issue.

Fun Corner

Sudoku Puzzle 40 Answer

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria spreads much faster and with

more varied mechanisms than previously thought, say scientists who suggest exercising caution in the use of the drugs.

By studying fish raised in aquaculture, researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen in Germany, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the Univer-sity of Campinas in Brazil have shed new light on the mechanisms by which anti-biotic resistance genes are transferred between bacteria.

According to the study published in the journal ‘Microbiome’, those mecha-nisms are more varied than previously thought.

“In the past 70 years, the use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine has steadily increased, leading

Antibiotic resistance spreading faster than thoughtto a dramatic rise in resis-tant microorganisms,” said Michael Schloter, head of the Research Unit for Com-parative Microbiome Analy-ses (COMI) at Helmholtz

Zentrum Munchen.It is especially alarming

that many microorganisms are resistant not just to one antibiotic, but to a whole range of different substances,

said Schloter.“This poses particular

problems in the treatment of infectious diseases. We therefore set out to discover the mechanisms responsible

for resistance development,” Schloter said.

To this end, research-ers investigated fish raised in aquaculture. Specifical-ly, they studied Piaractus

mesopotamicus, a South American species known as pacu that is often raised in aquaculture.

The fish received the antibiotic florfenicol in their food for 34 days. During this time and after the applica-tion period, the researchers took samples from the di-gestive tract of the fish and looked for relevant genetic changes in the gut bacteria.

“As expected, administra-tion of the antibiotic induced an increase in the genes responsible for resistance to that antibiotic,” said Johan Sebastian Saenz Medina, a doctoral student at Helm-holtz Zentrum Munchen.

“One example are genes for pump proteins, which simply remove the active substance from the bacteria again,” said Saenz Medina.

“However, we were par-ticularly surprised by the

different mechanisms that we could detect by which antibiotic resistance genes are spread amongst gut bac-teria of the fish,” he said.

“This suggests that the bacteria also exchange re-sistance through viruses, known as phages, and trans-posons,” he added.

Further metagenomic studies confirmed that these mobile genetic elements induce a fast distribution of resistance genes among genomes of different organ-isms.

So far it has been postu-lated that only plasmids are mainly responsible for the exchange of resistance genes.

“The finding that resis-tance is also extensively transferred between bacteria without the involvement of plasmids is really quite sur-prising,” said Schloter.

“Based on this observa-

tion, relevant dissemination models should be reviewed and modified,” he said.

“In addition, our data certainly lead us to question

whether and to what extent we should continue to use antibiotics in the world’s increasing number of aqua-cultures,” he added.

Cervical cancer could be eliminated as a public health problem in India within the next 60 years by

making existing prevention programmes such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and cervical screening more accessible, according to a Lancet study.

The estimates, which are the first of their kind at a global-scale, indicate that up to 13.4 million cases of cervi-cal cancer could be prevented within 50 years if intervention strategies are scaled-up by 2020.

The average rate of annual cases across all countries could fall to less than four cases per 100,000 women by the end of the century -- which is a potential threshold for considering cervical cancer to be eliminated as a major public health problem.

For countries with medium levels of development, including India, Viet-nam, and the Philippines, this could be achieved by 2070-79, according to the study published in The Lancet Oncol-ogy journal.

The study, led by researchers at the

Cancer Council New South Wales in Australia, showed that cervical cancer could potentially be eliminated as a major public health problem in 149 out of 181 countries by 2100.

In high-income countries including the US, Finland, the UK, and Canada, cervical cancer is predicted to be elimi-nated as a public health problem within 25-40 years.

Without expanding current preven-tion programmes, however, the study predicts that 44.4 million cervical cancer cases would be diagnosed over the next 50 years -- rising from 600,000 in 2020 to 1.3 million in 2069 due to population growth and aging.

“Despite the enormity of the prob-lem, our findings suggest that global elimination is within reach with tools that are already available, provided that both high coverage of HPV vaccination and cervical screening can be achieved,” said Karen Canfell from the Cancer Council New South Wales.

“More than two-thirds of cases pre-vented would be in countries with low and medium levels of human develop-

ment like India, Nigeria, and Malawi, where there has so far been limited access to HPV vaccination or cervical screening,” Canfell said.

However, rates of less than 4 cases per 100,000 would not be achieved by

the end of the century in all individual countries in Africa (eg, Kenya, Tanza-nia, and Uganda) even if high coverage vaccination and twice lifetime cervical screening could be achieved by 2020.

In May 2018, the Director General of WHO called for coordinated action globally to eliminate this highly pre-

ventable cancer.WHO has called for urgent action

to scale up implementation of proven measures towards achieving the elimi-nation of cervical cancer as a global public health problem.

These include vaccination against HPV, screening, and treatment of pre-cancer, early detec-tion and prompt treatment of early invasive cancers and palliative care.

A draft global strategy to acceler-ate cervical cancer elimination, with goals and targets

for the period 2020-2030, will be con-sidered at the World Health Assembly in 2020.

“The WHO call-to-action provides an enormous opportunity to increase the level of investment in proven cervi-cal cancer interventions in the world’s poorest countries.

Failure to adopt these interventions will lead to millions of avoidable pre-mature deaths,” said Canfell.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, with an estimated 570,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2018, of which around 85pc occur in less developed regions.

HPV, a group of more than 150 vi-ruses, is responsible for the majority of cervical cancers.

Proven methods are available to screen for and treat cervical pre-cancers, and broad-spectrum HPV vaccines can potentially prevent up to 84-90pc of cervical cancers.

Results showed that rapid vaccina-tion scale-up to 80-100pc coverage globally by 2020 using a broad-spectrum HPV vaccine could prevent 6.7-7.7 mil-lion cases--but more than half of these would be averted after 2060.

If, in addition, cervical screening were scaled-up to high coverage by 2020, an additional 5.7-5.8 million cases of cervical cancer may be prevented globally in the next 50 years, and sub-stantially speed up elimination.

India could be cervical cancer-free by 2079

Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test Cell has start-

ed the registration for the NEET PG 2019 and MDS counselling. Students who wish to apply for the state quota seats in Maharashtra academic year 2019-20 can apply till March 5. Inter-ested candidates can register for the counselling process at cetcell.mahacet.org. If se-lected, candidates will then have to appear for the physi-cal document verification round which will be held from March 7 for MDS and March 13 till March 20 for medical course. Candidates will have to pay Rs 3000 as registration fee.

According to reported in

Maha NEET PG, MDS 2019 reg beginsthe Indian Express, the first list of selected candidates is expected to be announced

by April 5 and admission process will begin from May 5. Meanwhile, at the time of registration, candidates will have to submit these below-mentioned documents:Online Application form

for State NEET PG 2019/State NEET MDS 2019Copy of NEET PG 2019

Admit Card/NEET MDS 2019 Admit CardAny Photo ID proof (Aad-har Card or Driving Li-cense, PAN Card, Passport)NEET PG 2019 Mark sheet/NEET MDS 2019 Mark

sheetNationality CertificateMBBS/BDS degree/Passing certificateInternship completion cer-tificate from University or the Head of the Institution ad it should not be later than 31/03/2019Permanent / Provisional Registration certificate of Maharashtra Medical/Den-tal Council or other State Medical/Dental Councils in India/MCI/DCI.Certificate from Head of Institute showing the Med-ical/Dental College/ Insti-tute from which the can-didate has passed MBBS/BDS exam is recognized by Medical Council of IndiaMedical Fitness Certificate.

Copy of online fee payment receipt for Rs 3000If applicable, Caste cer-tificate, Caste validity certificate, Non Creamy Layer Certificate, For Per-son with Disability (PWD) Candidates – Medical Dis-ability Certificate as per Annexure-D, all India Quota / AIIMS / Central Government Institute se-lection letter/letter from dean /principal stating that candidate was ad-mitted for MBBS course under 15% all India quota / AIIMS / Central Govern-ment Institute, NOC (for in-service candidates), orphan Certificate form Competent Authority, Bond release certificate

Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala invited online applications

for the recruitment of Act- Apprentice in differ-ent trades. Eligible can-didates can apply to the post through the official website on or before 23 March 2019.Notification Details:Notification Number - A-1/2019Important Dates:Last Date of Application - 23 March 2019Last Date of Depositing the Fee (Only for Non Fee Exempted Candidates) - 28 March 2019

Rail Coach Factory Recruitment 2019: Applications invited for 223 apprentice posts

Rail Coach Factory Ka-purthala Vacancy DetailsAct- Apprentice – 223 PostsFitter - 54 Posts

Welder (G & E) - 53 PostsMachinist - 20 PostsPainter (G) - 17 PostsCarpenter - 24 Posts

Mechanic (Motor Vehicle) - 06 PostsElectrician -30 PostsElectronic Mechanic -10

PostsAC & Ref. Mechan-ic - 09 PostsEligibility Crite-ria for Apprentice PostEducational Qual-ification:10th class passed with at least 50pc marksNational Trade

Certificate in relevant tradeAge Limit: 15 to 24 YearsSelection Procedure: Selec-

tion will be based on mer-it list. The merit list shall be prepared on the basis of percentage of marks in Matriculation and ITI Marks in the trade.How to Apply for Rail C o a c h Fa c t o r y K a -purthala Apprentice Posts 2019

The Eligible candi-dates can apply to the post in the prescribed format through official website on or before 23 March 2019 upto 5:00 PM.Application Fee: Rs 100/- to be paid through On-line Mode.

In a step towards strengthening higher education, the Delhi

government has proposed two new universities in the national capital.

State Finance Minister Manish Sisodia, keep-ing the Budget share for the education sector over 25pc for 2019-20, said the University of Applied Sciences will help to change the way people see the profes-sional courses.

The varsity will offer courses from the modular of three months to the Ph.D. and M.Phil level, he said.

Delhi to get two new varsities

The second proposed varsity is for teachers’ training.

“Education will get 26pc of the total expen-diture Budget in 2019-2020,” Sisodia said in his Budget speech.

“The government will give tablet computers to all Class 11 and 12 stu-dents of Pratibha Schools and Schools of Excellence and those scoring over 80pc in Class 10.”

E n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p Curriculum, which will also give seed money to students, will also be launched from the com-ing session, he added.

The Indian Navy has invited applications from eligible candi-

dates for 554 tradesman posts on its official website, joinindiannavy.gov.in. The application process will be-gin from March 2 and the last date to apply is March 15, 2019.

Post initial screening, the authentic and eligible candi-dates will have to appear for a written exam which will be conducted in Hindi and English. The fate and time of exam is not released yet. Shortlisted candidates will then be called for document verification.

Indian Navy to recruit for 554 tradesman vacant positions

Eligibility:Education: Candidates

who have cleared class 10 from a recognised institute/board can apply

Age: Applicant must be at least 18 years of age but not above 25 yearsHow to apply:Step 1: Visit the official web-site, joinindiannavy.gov.inStep 2: On the homepage, click on ‘join Naby’ in the subjection, ‘ways to join navy’ click on ‘civilians’Step 3: Click on Tradesman mate (TMM)Step 4: Click on ‘register’ and register using personal information

Step 5: Log-in using the registration numberStep 6: Fill form, upload images, make paymentThe link will only be ac-tivated from March 2 on-wards.

Fee: Candidates will have to pay an examination fee of Rs 205. Candidates be-longing to SC/ST/PwBDs/Ex-Servicemen category and Women will be exempted from it.

Salary: Selected candi-dates will be hired at the pay band as per seventh pay com-mission, Level 1. They will get a monthly remuneration of Rs 18,000 – Rs 56,900.

6 IN FOCUS Friday, March 01, 2019

My wife has been offered a position in Abu Dhabi and I have been told I can be her dependent on her working visa. Nevertheless, her employer says I will not be allowed to work under her visa and only a wife can work under a husband’s visa. Is this correct? If I don’t take a job can I live normally in the UAE or are there restrictions?

This is indeed correct. While a wife who is sponsored by her husband is permitted to work if she has a “letter of no objection” from him and the employer provides a work permit, this is not permit-ted the other way around. All employed men must have a visa provided by their employer, who then acts as their spon-sor. If the husband is not working, he can reside in the UAE in the same way as any other sponsored dependent. The only restriction is that he can only be employed with his own visa.

No lunch breakI am a teacher in Dubai and my school schedule has me teaching every single period three days a week without a break. Students come in during lunch time to work on projects, so there is literally no time for a break for over eight hours straight during the working day. Is that legal?

You are working for a private school, so you and the school come under the guidance of the Ministry of HR and Emiratisation (MoHRE) and UAE Labour Law applies. UAE Labour Law specifies the number of hours a person may work and this is covered in Article 65 which says: “The maximum number of ordinary working hours for adult workers shall be eight hours per day or 48 hours per week.” Article 66 then goes on to say: “The daily working hours shall be regulated so that the worker does not work more than five consecutive hours without intervals for rest, meals and prayer, whose total period shall not be less than one hour. Such intervals shall not be included in the working hours.” While a career will often require long hours it is not right for anyone to work for more than five hours without a break, especially when in charge of children. You should raise this issue with the management of the school and if they fail to take steps to improve the situation, you can choose to follow up with MoHRE and register a formal complaint.

Work visaI have left my company. The job came with accommodation but they removed me out and I had to go to court, making me spend a lot of money. Can I urge the judge to make the company pay for any expenses I have until they cancel my work visa and I have to leave?

There are two issues here. If a company provides accommodation for an employee, UAE Labour Law regulates how long the employee can remain in the accommoda-tion. Under UAE Labour Law the standard guidance is that the employee should move out no later than 30 days after their visa is cancelled as clarified in Article 131 which states: “In the event where the employer provides the worker with accommodation, the worker shall vacate the accommodation within 30 days from the date of termination of the employment thereof.” While the employee can choose to leave at any time during this period, the employer is not permitted to make anyone leave before the end of this 30-day period. In this case, the visa will remain valid during the court case and has yet to be cancelled so accommodation should still be available for your use.

In the situation that an employee takes an employer to court, the employer must pay the Labour Court’s fees regardless of the outcome of any claim, as claimant employees are exempt by law from paying these fees. As to whether any additional costs incurred by the individual can be claimed, that decision rests with the judge in each case. You can make a request for expenses incurred in connection with the case against her former employer but there are no guarantees as to whether these will be agreed by the judge.

Returning homeAfter 16 years in Dubai, we will be re-turning to my native country and are going through the process of our visa cancellation. We have no outstanding debts at our local bank and would like to keep our account for the time being as

Can I work on my wife’s residence visa?we still have a final payment to be made for an apartment on the Palm, later this year. Would you recommend keeping the account? Are we obliged to inform the bank about our visa cancellation or what is the best way forward?

If this bank account receives salary payments, which is usually the case where there is a mortgage, the bank should be aware of a change of status as the last payment must be marked “final salary” and the account is often frozen, particularly where there is an outstand-ing debt. In this case, the mortgage ap-pears to be with a different bank, which is unusual, but either way it is entirely possible for people to retain a bank ac-count on leaving the UAE. If there is a local mortgage a person needs to have a local bank account, as that is generally a requirement, and even if the mortgage is repaid in full, a bank account is required for the maintenance of the property and the payment of service fees, bills and to receive rental payments. Most banks will allow customers to keep an account after they are no longer a resident but will change the status to a “non-resident” account. No credit will be permitted and most banks don’t provide a cheque book but non-resident account holders do get online banking and an ATM card so that should be sufficient. You should advise the bank of a change of status, but this should not present a problem.

Who will pay for ticket?I work for a company based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and would like to know if my employer has to pay for my ticket if I leave and return to my home country. Is this just for the employee or also their dependents? The employer paid a home ticket allowance at the start of the year and a pro-rata amount will need to be paid back. My employer says that the home leave allow-ance covers the ticket home?

DIFC has its own labour laws and while in many ways they are very similar to the standard UAE Labour Law there are distinct differences in a number of areas. The main UAE Labour Law, which covers mainland companies and is largely adopted by free zones, specifies circum-stances in which a departing employee may have a flight to their home country paid for by their employer at the end-of-service, assuming they are not moving to another position, this is not the case under the DIFC Labour Law. No employer based in the DIFC has any obligation to pay for the cost of flights at the end-of-service. Indeed, the provision of an an-nual flight is not mandatory under any of the various labour laws, although it is often given as a contractual benefit as part of a salary package. Whether annual flights are for dependents in addition to the employee entirely depends on the wording in the contract of employment. In this case, it appears that a ticket was paid for before the entitlement built up but, again, this should be covered in the contract of employment. If this benefit is on an accrual basis and is paid in advance, then the employee would have to repay part of the cost.

Housing feeI am in the process of buying an apartment in Dubai but have a question about how a few things will work. I plan to live in it for six months before I leave the UAE and then I want to rent it out. If I am the owner, do I have to pay a housing fee or is that just for tenants as I have been told different things? If I then rent it out, do I have to account for rental income as I own two apartments and the total income will be more than the VAT threshold?

The housing fee is payable by all expatriates in Dubai and that includes property owners as well as tenants. Ten-ants pay a fee equivalent to five per cent of the annual rent payable and property owners pay an amount of five per cent of the market rent for the property that they own, based on the figures shown in the Real Estate Regulatory Agency calculator. In both cases, Dubai Municipality collects the fee via Dewa bills. When an individual rents out a property that they own this is not seen as a business venture and rental income on a residential property, assuming it is on a standard annual lease, is not subject to VAT anyway, so there is no requirement here to account for the rental income or deal with any VAT issues.

GULF FAQs

Saudi Princess Reema who has been appointed as the ambassador to the US.

RIYADH: The appointment of Princess Reema bint Bandar as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US has been welcomed by foreign diplomatic missions in the Kingdom.

Princess Reema made history when she was ap-pointed to the role, becom-ing the first Saudi woman to be named ambassador. Top diplomats welcomed her appointment. Domi-nique Mineur, Belgium’s ambassador in Saudi Ara-bia, said the appointment would be a stepping stone for more prominent female roles in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 re-form plan. “This is in line

Princess Reema’s appointment as envoy hailedwith Vision 2030, to give a more prominent role for women in Saudi society,” she told a TV channel . “Of course, she’s an inspir-ing figure and has been supporting women in so many fields, such as sports, health, work and financial independence. It’s a logical appointment considering the role she has played. This will undoubtedly be a strong support for all women of all origins and backgrounds to become leaders in their own ex-pertise. I can only hope that there will more who will take such prominent roles,”she remarked.

The princess was vice

president of women’s af-fairs at the General Sports Authority (GSA), a position she held since 2016. She was also named president of the Saudi Federation for Community Sports in 2017 and appointed to the In-ternational Olympic Com-mittee (IOC) in Aug 2018. Simon Collis, the British ambassador to Saudi Ara-bia, recalled working close-ly with her on projects. “I and many colleagues in the UK have enjoyed working with Princess Reema bint Bandar in her current role, in which she has driven access to sports for women in the Kingdom and we look forward to continuing

this relationship in future,” he said.

Ridwaan Jadwat, Aus-tralia’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, wished the princess a happy and suc-cessful posting. She has spoken about the inclusion of women in the Saudi workforce, describing re-forms as “evolution, not Westernisation,” and about the Kingdom’s efforts to tackle bigger issues than women being allowed to drive or attend football games, calling them “quick wins.” Problems such as domestic violence demand-ed greater scrutiny, she told the Atlantic Council in Washington.

SINGAPORE: The Singa-pore-India story is now creating a new historical chapter. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in equity from Singapore jumped 41pc in the April-Dec pe-riod to almost US$13 bil-lion, while that from Mau-ritius dropped 55pc from a year before to $6 billion, showed the latest official data. The top sources for India’s FDI were Singapore, Mauritius, Japan with $2.2 billion and Britain with $1.1 billion.

FDI inflows into chemi-cals (excluding fertilisers) in the first three quarters exceeded those into sectors like financial and other ser-vices, computer software and hardware, telecom, trading, and automobiles.

Singapore now India’s top FDI sourceFDI equity flows routed through Mauritius declined reflecting the impact of the amended DTAA (double tax avoidance agreement). Under the amended treaty with Mauritius, for two years beginning April 1, 2017, capital gains tax will be imposed at 50pc of the prevailing domestic rate. Full rate will apply from April 1, 2019.

To reduce tax liabilities and improve trade flows, India and Singapore have a DTAA. Both the coun-tries have also signed the Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) in 2005 and Sin-gapore is also party to India’s trade agreement with ASEAN.

Singapore has a ro-

bust and fairly transpar-ent financial system with easier access to funds at low costs, many foreign companies with an in-terest in India continue to be inclined to invest via Singapore rather than Mauritius. Apart from be-ing a critical driver of economic growth, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a major source of non-debt financial resource for the economic development of India. Foreign companies invest in India to take ad-vantage of relatively lower wages, special investment privileges such as tax ex-emption etc. However, India’s total FDI inflows into equity dropped seven per cent to $33.5 billion be-tween April and Dec 2018.

NEW DELHI: The fast growing e-commerce mar-ket in the country will touch $84 billion in 2021 from $24 billion in 2017 on account of a healthy growth in organised retail sector, a report by Deloitte India and Retail Association of India has said. A fast growing economy and robust demo-graphics provide a positive outlook to the consumer businesses in India, the report said. These factors will fuel the retail growth in the country, making In-dia the third largest retail market in Asia and fourth largest in the world, it said.

The retail market in In-dia is expected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2021 from $795 billion in 2017.

Indian e-commerce to touch $84b

DUBAI: Indian national Muhamed Aslam Aray-ilakath had tried his luck at the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire for seven years straight. Finally, on Tuesday, dame luck smiled on him. The 31-year-old accountant from Kerala is the lat-est winner of the draw and he cannot contain his excitement.

As lam sa id he had lost count of the number of tickets he had purchased with his friends in the last seven years. However, it was the first time he had bought a ticket by him-self. A Sharjah resident for 11 years, Aslam works at the Emirates National Fac-tory for Plastic Industries. Speaking to a TV chan-nel after being named the winner of the raffle draw, he said: “Usually, I buy the tickets with a group of friends. This time I decided to purchase it on my own,

NRI wins $1m Dubai raffleand it worked.”

Aslam’s ticket number was 0369, a number he said he was “obsessed with”.

“I tried getting a licence plate with the same number last year. It wasn’t avail-able back then. Thankfully,

the number worked in my favour this time,” he said. The accountant also said February is an auspicious month for him, as good things had happened to him within the same period in previous years.

“I purchased the ticket on the first week of Feb. Since I’ve been doing this for a long time, I com-pletely forgot about the draw date,” he said. “I

received a call from Dubai Duty Free in the morn-ing and they said I won. At first, I thought it was a prank. When I checked online and crossed-check the dates, I realised that I did win. “When I told my wife about the win, she was sure I was playing a prank on her. Now, my family is very excited as well,” said Aslam, who is also a father to a three-year-old boy named Islam.

The young accountant plans to travel to Kerala in a few days to be with his family.

“Once the dust settles, I also want to use this money to help people in need. All of this happened because it is God’s will. In turn, I want to help those in need.” Aslam bought his winning ticket at The Irish Village Shop earlier this month and he is the 139th Indian national to have won $1 million since the draw was launched in 1999.

DUBAI : Routes now aligned for UAE’s rail network that will link cit-ies, ports, Etihad Rail says. The head of Etihad Rail said that the UAE’s rail-way network is “moving forward,” with routes now aligned and the design of the project completed.

The developer and operator of the railway declined to elaborate on when the project will be completed, after the second phase was put on hold in 2016 for fur-ther reviews. The network was originally slated for completion at the end of 2018, but that was later rescheduled to the end of 2020 and then 2021. Shadi Malak, chief execu-tive officer of Etihad Rail, said that, within the UAE, the 605-km -project will extend from the borders of Saudi Arabia all the way to Fujairah and the northern emirates.

Routes aligned for UAE railnetwork

CORPORATE NEWS 7Friday, March 01, 2019

ICICI Lombard, a private general insurer, has en-tered into a strategic

tie-up with AnyTimeLoan.in (ATL), a peer-to-peer lending platform, to provide insur-ance cover for the latter’s lend-ers and borrow-ers.

The partner-ship aims to de-risk exposure of its lenders and borrowers arising from uncertain-ties such as ac-cidents, critical illness, death, disability, loss of job among others.

ICICI Lombard will of-fer its proprietary poli-cies - Group Secure Mind and Group Personal Acci-dent - to the customers of

ICICI Lombard ties up with AnyTimeLoan.inAnyTimeLoan.in. This will cover the borrowers of all types of loans facilitated on AnyTimeLoan.in, with minimum policy term of one

year to a maximum of three years. The insurance cover for the lenders comes with free premium for the first year on a complimentary basis, as ATL will absorb this cost on behalf of the

beneficiaries.Sanjeev Mantri, Execu-

tive Director, ICICI Lombard said, “We are delighted to partner with AnyTimeLoan.

in and provide their customers with our diverse range of non-life insurance solu-tions”.

The associa-tion with Any-TimeLoan.in is a step forward in our endeavour to partner with in-novative platforms to “increase our reach and offer

unique benefits to the cus-tomers of our business as-sociates”, he said.

AnyTimeLoan.in facili-tates loans (across India) as small as Rs 1000 to Rs 10 lakh for a minimum period

of 1 day to maximum 3 years. In the past, ATL has contributed to an annual wealth of around 38.4pc per annum to its investors via its peer-to-peer lending platform and thus leverag-ing on its proprietary algo-rithms. This helped them in digitally assessing borrowers and facilitating loans with average disbursal time of 4 minutes.

On the partnership, Keerthi Kumar Jain, Founder & CEO, AnyTimeLoan.in said, “Delinquencies at Any-TimeLoan.in have been less than 0.7pc, but there are cer-tain external and unforeseen events such as accident, loss of job due to winding up of operations, etc. which we intend to circumvent or insulate our investors with this policy underwritten by ICICI Lombard.”

Global investment company Black-stone and realty

firm Embassy Group are likely to launch the coun-try’s first real estate in-vestment trust (REIT) next month with an estimated issue size of Rs 5,000 crore. “We will launch our REIT in few weeks,” Embassy Office Parks CEO Mike Holland said.

Embassy Office Parks, a joint venture of Black-stone and Embassy, had in September last year filed the draft red her-ring prospectus (DRHP) for the REIT with market regulator SEBI. This, once launched, will be Asia’s largest REIT in terms of portfolio size.

Embassy Office Parks, a leading player in com-mercial real estate, has

India’s fi rst REIT to be launched in Marchput 33 million sq ft of of-fice and hospitality assets under the proposed REIT, comprising seven business parks and four city-centric

buildings spread across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Noida.

“We already have a strong book of anchor and strategic investors. The REIT will be successful as in other countries and Em-bassy Office Parks will set

a precedent for the REIT in India,” Holland said. REIT is an investment tool that owns and operates rent-yielding real estate assets.

REITs also al-lows in-dividual investors to make i n v e s t -m e n t s on this platform and earn income. SEBI had

notified REIT regulations in 2014, allowing the setting up and listing of such trusts which are very popular in some advanced markets. Experts claim that once successful, this will attract more funds for com-mercial real estate projects.

Axis Bank’s newly inducted Chief Ex-ecutive and Man-

aging Director Amitabh Chaudhry is reworking the organisation’s structure, adding new roles as part of its larger growth strategy.

With a plank of “One Axis”, to project a com-bined offering from parent (bank) and its subsidiaries, it is giving a thrust on synergy to get more share in customer wallet.

The bank will an-nounce restructuring of its retail and wholesale segments, effective April 1, to avoid existing overlaps and clarifying the organ-isational structure. The bank’s wholesale structure will be divided between coverage and products

Axis Bank plans organisational recastand it also plans to relook at its retail structure and customer segments.

The private sector lend-

er has started taking steps in this direction. The bank has appointed a new head of branch banking and is

in the process of hiring a person for wholesale cov-erage at the group presi-dent level.

“We have some white spaces in the senior or mid-management level. We have hired or are in the

process of hiring people and will have a team by March-end,” Chaudhry said.

In December 2018, the bank announced that Rajiv Anand, ex-ecutive director-retail banking has taken over as the executive direc-tor-wholesale banking.

“To make profit in wholesale banking, you need to offer a full suite of services. We need to package our offerings together and get a better share of flow and fee busi-ness,” said Chaudhry.

The bank will not shy away from high risk lending, but will maintain conservatism in compli-ance and provisioning

policies, he said.Chaudhry’s vision for

the bank of ‘One Axis’ focuses on improving syn-ergies, not just within the bank, but also with its various subsidiaries. The bank plans to leverage its existing subsidiaries by scaling up, infusing capital and expanding the product offerings to weave the bank and the subsidiaries into a cohesive unit.

The bank is looking at equity stake relationship for insurance. “We have started the work on what kind of partnership struc-ture we can get and will take it to the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) at the right stage to see what kind of blessing we can get,” said Chaudhry.

General insurance companies are set to meet next week

to discuss the proposed guidelines on standardisa-tion of individual health

insurance thatmakes it mandatory

for all insurers to have a basic and uniform health insurance cover.

Sources said the insur-ers, under the umbrella body of the General In-surance Council (GIC), will meet on March 6, to discuss the design and pricing of the proposed standard health insurance cover.

Insurers body to meet on Mar 6“It is a preliminary

meeting to see how best the industry, as a whole, can come out with a sim-ple, standardised prod-uct,” said R Chandrasek-

aran, Secretary General, GIC.

The Insurance Regu-latory and Development Authority of India (IR-DAI) had, on February 19, unveiled draft norms for standardisation of individual health cover, under which insurers are expected to offer a basic health insurance cover that is uniform across the market.

Finnish telecommu-nication giant Nokia said that Bharti Airtel

would deploy solution from Nokia’s Nuage Net-works to upgrade its data centres.

Nuage Networks is a Nokia venture focused on soft-ware-defined net-working solution.

Airtel will de-ploy Nuage Net-works VSP (vir-tualised services platform) solution in 15 circles (service areas) in the northern and southern parts of the country to automate its data centre networks, Nokia said in a statement.

“We are confident that this partnership with Nokia will allow us to upgrade

Bharti Airtel partners with Nokiaour data centre and will enable us to continue to provide the best-in-class services to our subscrib-

ers,” saidRandeep Sekhon, Chief

Technology Officer at Bhar-ti Airtel.

Once deployed, the Nu-age Networks VSP solution will allow Airtel to provide new services, including Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Mobile Edge Computing

(MEC), it added.The move gains signifi-

cance in the backdrop of Bharti Airtel preparing the

networks for new technologies like 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

N o k i a o n February 24 an-nounced Bharti Airtel will con-duct a trial on its homogenous fronthaul solu-tion, which can

support 4G, 5G and enter-prise services through a common platform.

Fronthaul is the link between baseband unit and radio, and modernisation of this part of the network is essential to deliver high-speed and low latency of 5G services.

Public sector lender Syndicate Bank has proposed to launch

Employee Share Purchase Scheme (ESPS) in the first week of March at discounted rates.

Discounts will range from 23 to 25pc, based on the employee status in the staff hierarchy, with the lower-grade employees getting the maximum dis-count. The bank hopes to mop up Rs 500-600 crore through the scheme, said Mrutyunja Mahapatra, Managing Director and CEO of the bank.

Speaking to mediaper-sons, he said the bank is expecting an early settle-ment of Rs 18,000 crore of its stressed loans compris-ing more than 90 cases that are currently be-

Syndicate Bank to launch ESPS at discounted ratesfore the various National Company Law Tribunals (NCLT). The bank has also taken steps to bring its gross NPA below 12pc and net NPA below 6pc from the existing levels of 12.5pc and over 6pc.

To a question on capi-tal infusion, he said the bank is adequately capi-talised at the moment, with the government pro-viding Rs 3,956 crore for

improving the capital base in three separate installments.

The bank also has the option to raise capital for business requirements, ei-ther through Tier-I bonds or rights issue.

All these options will be considered only after evaluating the perfor-mance after the comple-tion of the current finan-cial year, he said.

Bank of Baroda has tied up with Germany’s KfW

Development Bank for funding of $113 million to refinance solar proj-ects under Solar Part-nership II – Promotion

BoB earmarks $113 m to refinance solar projectsof Solar P V i n India.

This propos-a l i s

part of the Indo-German Solar Energy Partnership.

Under an inter-govern-mental MoU in 2015, Germany has commit-ted to provide financing support through KfW Development Bank for solar photovoltaic in-vestments.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has won licences to retail gas in 10 cities

while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) won rights for nine towns as the Pe-troleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) announced winners for the 10th city gas bid round.

IOC won city gas distri-bution licences for nine cit-ies, most of them in Bihar and Jharkhand, on its own and one in a joint venture with Adani Gas, according to a press statement issued by PNGRB.

HPCL, a subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natu-ral Gas Corp (ONGC), won licences to retail CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to households

IOC wins city gas licences for 10 areas, HPCL for 9 areasin nine cities in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

A little known consor-tium of LNG Marketing Pte Ltd and Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Company of Manila Inc won rights for nine cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala.

Gujarat Gas Ltd won rights for six cities while state gas utility GAIL In-dia’s unit GAIL Gas Ltd won rights for four. Indra-prastha Gas Ltd and Torrent Gas won rights for three cities each while Adani Gas and Bharat Gas Resources Ltd, a subsidiary of state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), bagged two cities each.

This is the second auc-tion in a row that IOC has

dominated. In the previous 9th bid round, IOC had won licences for eight cit-ies on its own and another nine in a joint venture with Adani Gas.

Adani Gas had in the 9th round won licences for 13 cities on its own while Bharat Gas Resources Ltd bagged 11 areas. Gujarat-based Torrest Gas Pvt Ltd got nine cities.

While 86 Geographical Areas or GAs, made up of 174 districts, were offered for bidding in the 9th round that concluded in August last year, 50 GAs, comprising of 124 districts, were offered in the 10th round.

“225 bids from 25 en-tities were received up

to February 5, 2019, i.e., the bid closing date (for the 10th round). Based upon the bids evaluations, PNGRB in its 88th Board

meeting held on February 26, 2019, approved the is-suance of Letters of Intent (LoI) to the 12 successful entities for 50 GAs,” the

PNGRB statement said.Prior to this, city gas

distribution (CGD) licences had been given for 178 GAs covering 280 districts

(263 complete and 17 part) spread over 26 states and UTs. These cover about 50 per cent of India’s popula-tion (as per 2011 census)

and 35pc of its geographi-cal area.

In addition, CGD op-erations are being car-ried out in five districts,

authorisation for which is either un-der consideration of PNGRB or sub-judice.

“ W i t h t h e c o m p l e t i o n o f 10th CGD Bid-ding Round, CGD would be avail-able in 228 GAs comprising 402 districts spread over 27 States and

Union Territories covering approximately 70pc of In-dia’s population and 53pc of its geographical area,” the statement said.

As per the commitment made by the various enti-ties in the 50 GAs approved for issuance of LoIs in 10th CGD Bidding Round, 2.02 crore domestic PNG (piped natural gas) con-nections and 3,578 CNG (compressed natural gas) stations for transport sector would be installed largely during a period of 8 years up to March 31, 2029, in addition to 58,177 inch-km of steel pipeline.

“Further, the entities would be authorized to supply natural gas to in-dustrial and commercial units in their respective GAs as per the limits pro-vided in the CGD Au-thorisation Regulations,” it added.

KUWAIT NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATED IN MUMBAI

8 Travel / Entertainment

Printed by Supreeth MJ and published by him on behalf of IPEPCIL Publications Pvt Ltd. and printed at Inquilab Off set Printers Ltd.,156, D J Dadaji Road, Tardeo, Mumbai-400 034, Maharashtra and published from Offi ce No. 1001, 10th Floor, Navjivan Commercial Premises Co-op. Society Ltd., Lamington Road, (Dr.D.B.Marg), Mumbai Central, Mumbai - 400 008. • Editor: E.L. Vaidyanathan • Volume No.: 1, Issue No. 41 • RNI No. MAHENG/2018/76663.

Friday, March 01, 2019

EXCHANGE RATESEXCHANGE RATES

Rates are subect to change without notice. Errors &omissions excepted

As on 28th February, 2019 (In rupees)

Currency Buying Selling

Australian Dollar 49.50 52.00Bahraini Dinar 184.10 194.10British Pound 93.10 96.10 Canadian Dollar 52.75 55.25 Emirati Dirham 18.85 19.85Euro 79.50 82.50Kuwaiti Dinar 229.50 239.50Omani Rial 180.00 190.00Qatari Riyal 19.05 20.05Saudi Riyal 18.45 19.45Singapore Dollar 51.45 53.95Swiss Franc 69.85 72.85US Dollar 70.15 72.15

Source:

Consul General of Kuwait in Mumbai His Excellency Mansour Saad Al Olaimi being felicitated by Indian Personnel Export Promotion Council (IPEPCIL)’s President Abdul Rehman CH and General Secretary Dr Sureshkumar Madhusudhanan on the occasion of Kuwait National Day celebrations in Mumbai. Other office-bearers of IPECIL from left are vice-president Mohammed Moulana, committee member Ghulam Dastgeer Syed, joint secretary Abdul Rahim Khan and treasurer Kalimulla Sharif.

Consul General of Kuwait in Mumbai His Excellency Mansour Saad Al Olaimi being presented with a copy of the NEWS AND NRI CONNECT Kuwait National Day supplement by IPEPCIL’s President Abdul Rehman CH and General Secretary Dr Sureshkumar Madhusudhanan. Other office-bearers of IPECIL were also present.

IPEPCIL office-bearers and other guests at the function. Chief Protocol officer and Principal Secretary of Maharashtra Nand Kumar with Kuwait Consul General HE Mansour Saad Al Olaimi at the function.

Chief Protocol officer and Principal Secretary of Maharashtra Nand Kumar felicitating Kuwait Consul General HE Mansour Saad Al Olaimi.

IPEPCIL office-bearers and other dignitaries. IPEPCIL members and other dignitaries. IPEPCIL office-bearers with Kuwait diplomats.

IPEPCIL office-bearers with IPEPCIL members. HE Mansour Saad Al Olaimi and Chief Protocol officer and Principal Secretary of Maharashtra Nand Kumar cutting the cake at the function.

Guests at the function with diplomats.

IPEPCIL members with diplomat. IPEPCIL members with Saudi Vice Consul General HE Sami Tomaihi.

Heritage Mascot Hotel to undergo restoration

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in-augurated a Rs 25-cr

project for the restoration of the heritage of the iconic Mascot Hotel coinciding with the celebrations of 100 years of the hospitality pioneer. The comprehen-sive project, drawn up by KTDC, was unveiled close on the heels of Mascot Hotel bagging the five-star status.

Vijayan also unveiled the plaque to mark the his-toric occasion and opened a month-long exhibition that vividly depicts the 100

years of glorious service of the trail blazer in hospitality sector in the state.

In his presidential ad-dress, Tourism Minister Surendran said that Mascot has got the unique distinc-tion of being the maiden five-star hotel in the public sector. Recalling the history and fame of the institution, he noted: “In the hotel map published by the Bombay-based Indian Hotel Com-pany in 1937, Mascot was one among the four hotels listed from South India. In 1965, it came under KTDC.”

The minister underscored the need to adopt quality service and new marketing strategies in order to com-

pete with private players in the hospitality industry.

K Muraleedharan MLA was present at the func-

tion, where M Vijayakumar, Chairman, KTDC, delivered a felicitation speech. Vi-jayakumar said” “Mascot

Hotel is a priceless treasure of Kerala. It is the Jewel in KTDC’s crown. The heritage restoration project will be

carried out without in any way harming its distinguish-ing architectural features.”

P Bala Kiran IAS, Di-rector, Kerala Tourism and Krishnakumar, Member, Board of Directors, KTDC, were also present.

The works to be taken up include strengthening of the building, rooms, pas-sages, beautification of the premises and improving the amenities. They will be completed in two phases within a year. The govern-ment has already accorded administrative sanction for

Rs 25 crore for the project.Originally an accommo-

dation unit for officers of the Royal British Army during the First World War (1914- 1918), during the reign of the Kingdom of Travancore, Mascot has passed through a long history while emerg-ing as the premium brand in Kerala’s hospitality sector. The Hotel, which now en-joys the five star status, has hosted a long list of distin-guished guests including top national leaders, diplomats, foreign dignitaries, writers and captains of industry.