Stranded workers: V K Singh leaves for Saudi Arabia

New Delhi, Aug 2, 2016, (PTI)

With thousands of Indians reeling under severe financial crisis in Saudi Arabia after losing their jobs, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh tonight left for the Gulf nation to assess the situation and finalise modalities to bring back those who want to return to India.

Ahead of Singh's visit, the Indian embassy there has launched an initiative to collect details of the Indians laid off by their employers.

Currently, a total of 7,700 affected Indian workers are living in 20 camps and the embassy is in the process of collecting information about others residing in different parts of Saudi Arabia.

Singh left for Jeddah tonight and MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said his on-the-ground assessment will determine future course of action.

Thousands of Indian workers have lost their jobs due to slowdown in Saudi economy, triggered by low oil prices and cut in spending by government of that country. The Indian mission has provided food to the Indians who cannot buy it.

Earlier today, Singh's ministerial colleague in the MEA M J Akbar, who looks after issues relating to the Gulf region, met Saudi Ambassador Saud bin Mohammed Al Sati and discussed the difficulties being faced by Indians who have lost their jobs.

"Had fruitful discussions with Saudi Ambassador to India Dr. Saud bin Mohammed Al Sati on all bilateral issues.

"Glad to receive support and assurances from Saudi government to resolve all outstanding issues, including that of our Indian labourers," Akbar said in a series of tweets.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had yesterday said that all affected Indians will be brought back.

A team from the Indian embassy had yesterday met Saudi labour officials to complete procedures relating to the protection of legal dues of the workers once they have departed from the country.

Swarup said the Indian embassy in Riyadh convened a meeting of community social workers and volunteers yesterday, where the Ambassador sought their help in collecting information about the affected workers.

They were provided a proforma on which the requisite information is to be submitted to the embassy.

The government has requested the Saudi authorities to give the unemployed Indian workers exit visas without NoC from employers and also urged it to clear the dues of workers who have not been paid for months, whenever they settle the accounts with the companies concerned.

MEA officials said Singh will reach Jeddah early tomorrow morning and is scheduled to return on the evening of Friday. He is traveling to the Saudi city via Dubai.

Swarup said 4,072 Indian workers belonging to M/s Saudi Oger are living in nine camps in Riyadh and one in Dammam, while 1,457 workers belonging to M/s SAAD Group are putting up in two camps in Dammam.

Five workers from M/s Shifa Sanaya are in a camp in Riyadh and 13 workers who were employed with M/s Taiya Contracting Company are staying in one camp.

"A total of 5547 Indian workers belonging to 14 camps are being provided assistance by Indian Embassy in Riyadh. Of these, food was required by Indian workers in one camp each in Riyadh and Dammam.

"In addition, there are 2,153 Indian workers belonging to M/s Saudi Oger in six camps in Jeddah all of whom have been provided food by the Indian Consulate. Hence, there are a total of 7700 affected Indians workers in 20 camps," said Swarup.

The Embassy teams visited six camps yesterday in Riyadh."The information about each worker, about his total service, pending salary, desire to exit / continue / transfer is being collected separately," said the MEA Spokesperson.

Making a statement in Parliament yesterday, Swaraj had said the workers will be brought back home, asserting that not one of them will go hungry.

"Not one worker of ours will go hungry. This is my assurance to the country through Parliament... We will bring all of them back to India," she said.

Issues like logistics and modalities of a possible repatriation of the workers who want to return to India will be worked out during Singh's visit.

The government, Swaraj said, was in touch with the foreign and labour offices in Saudi Arabia to ensure early evacuation of affected Indians.

Floods: 27 die in Bihar, Gujarat; slight improvement in Assam

New Delhi, Aug 2, 2016 (PTI)

 The flood situation aggravated further in Bihar today with 22 fresh deaths even as flash- floods killed five persons in Gujarat while the deluge situation in Assam improved marginally.

In Bihar, where floods have affected 29 lakh people in 12 districts, 60 people have died so far with Purnea recording 24 deaths, Katihar (15), Supual (8), Kisanganj (5), Madhepura (4), Gopalganj (2), Saharsa and Araria (1 each).

Fed by heavy rains in the Terai region of Nepal, water level in river Ganga remained above the danger mark at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district.

A total of 460 relief camps are functioning in the affected areas, giving shelter to 3,77,097 people.
In Gujarat, heavy overnight rains lashed south and east central parts causing flood-like situation in localities along rivers flowing through Valsad, Navsari and Surat districts and killing at least five persons at two places.

Three persons drowned at Bhagrawada village in Valsad, while two in Orsang river near Bodeli in Chhota Udepur.

Meanwhile, flood situation in Assam improved marginally though nearly 10 lakh people are still affected in 19 districts. According to the state authorities over 11 lakh people were affected in 21 districts till yesterday and 34 people had lost their lives.

Kaziranga National Park Divisional Forest Officer Suvasish Das said 310 animals, including 221 hog deer and 21 one-horned rhinos, were killed due to the floods.Also, carcass of an adult male Royal Bengal tiger was found in inundated Kaziranga National Park.
The national capital received 14.3 mm rainfall till 8.30 AM but no precipitation since, even as high relative humidity level troubled people.

The MeT said maximum temperature was 35.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season's average, while humidity levels oscillated between 63 and 95 per cent. In Maharashtra's Thane, Palghar and Nashik districts, nearly 100 villages have been put on alert due to heavy rains.

Seventy-eight villages in Thane, Palghar districts are on alert after Modak Sagar and Tansa reservoir, supplying water to Mumbai, started overflowing due to continues downpour.

In Nashik, incessant rain for the third consecutive day today threw normal life out of gear.Officials said 35,928 causes water was released from the Palkhed dam in Kadava river. As a result Godavari, Darna and Kadava rivers are in spate. The administration has issued an alert to residents staying on the bank Godavari to move to safer places.

In Goa, incessant rain hit normal life even as the authorities released water from the Anjunem dam.
People living in the vicinity of Kasti river have been asked to remain alert as water level will rise.

In Himachal Pradesh, where rain-related incidents have so far claimed 22 lives, Dharamsala received 208 mm rains since yesterday follwed by Palampur (104 mm).

Landslides occurred at 150 places, including Kiratpur- Manali and Hindustan-Tibet National Highways, blocking over 100 roads. Many of them have been reopened.

In Uttar Pradesh, a man was killed in Ballia in lightning strike while rains and thundershowers lashed a few places.

Send Mann to 'rehab centre': BJP MP Girri wrote to LS speaker

New Delhi, Aug 2, 2016 (PTI)

 Three Parliamentarians, including BJP's Maheish Girri, have asked the Lok Sabha Speaker to send AAP MP Bhagwant Mann to a "rehab centre", alleging he comes to the House "intoxicated".

AAP's Sanjay Singh reacted to the July 27 letter saying "personal attacks" have become all too predictable from BJP leaders. This came on top of an ongoing House committee probe into Mann's Parliament House videography issue.

"We would be grateful that Mann be sent on a rehab centre for drugs/alcohol deaddiction by the Lok Sabha on Lok Sabha expenditure and it is only after that he should be allowed to attend proceedings of Lok Sabha," the letter, also signed by SAD MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and suspended AAP MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, said.

A copy of the letter, addressed to the Committee on Breach of the Security of Parliament House, was sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Girri said.

The MPs alleged that it is "common knowledge in the Parliament" that Mann remains under the influence of intoxicants or liquor and does not attend Parliament proceedings without being intoxicated.

"Such conduct of Mann is quite unbecoming of the MP who is a chosen representative of people and is considered a role model of his constituency. This reflects very poorly and denigrates the seat of a Member of this august house," it said. 

HC orders blocking of 73 'rogue websites' for indulging in piracy

New Delhi, Aug 2, 2016(PTI)

The Delhi High Court has ordered blocking of 73 "rogue websites" which indulged in "rank piracy", saying mere blocking of the uniform resource locator (URL) was not sufficient as it could be easily changed.

A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and A K Pathak also said that to "block the website as a whole is justified" as these were illegally streaming "pirated" videos.

"The respondent (Star India Pvt Ltd) has placed enough material in the suit to show that the rogue websites are indulging in rank piracy and, thus prima-facie the stringent measure to block the website as a whole is justified because blocking a URL may not suffice due to the ease with which a URL can be changed, and as noted above, the number of URLs of the rogue websites range between 2 to 2026 and cumulatively would be approximately 20,000.

"It would be a gargantuan task for the respondent to keep on identifying each offending URL and especially keeping in view that as and when the respondent identifies the URL and it is blocked by the ISP (Internet Service Provider), the rogue website, within seconds can change the URL thereby frustrating the very act of blocking the URL," it said on July 29.

The court's order came on a review plea by Star India, a leading sports broadcaster which has an exclusive licence of media rights in various sporting events, seeking blocking of these 73 websites for allegedly uploading pirated content.

In 2014, a single bench of the high court had directed ISPs to block the 73 websites and its specific URLs.

Aggrieved with the order, the Department of Electronics and Information technology (DEIT) had filed a plea against the blanket order on the ground that blocking websites would violate freedom of trade on Internet.

The court, however, in March this year had directed that only the specified URLs be blocked. Star India had filed a review plea against the March order.

Allowing the review, the bench observed that the argument regarding freedom of trade on Internet "would have no content where the offending activity by the rogue website is to carrying on hardly any lawful business and in its entirety or to a large extent, piracy is being resorted to".

"On the issue of whether the appellant could be directed to ensure compliance with the blocking order directed against the service providers, it is suffice to state that it is the duty of the government, its instrumentalities and agencies to assist in the enforcement of orders passed by the courts," the bench added.

Anandiben Patel only puppet, 'mastermind' should go: AAP

Ahmedabad, Aug 2, 2016 (PTI)

Aam Aadmi Party today said the decision of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel to resign will not change the situation as "one puppet" will be replaced by another, and demanded that the "mastermind" be sacked.

AAP's spokesperson Ashutosh said Patel's offer to resign was the "first big success" of the Gujarat unit of his party.

"In Gujarat, one puppet will be removed and another will be brought in. It is delusional to think that replacement will change the situation in the state, because nothing will change until the mastermind is removed," he told reporters here.

Asked who was the mastermind, he said "everybody knew who the mastermind was."
Growing popularity of AAP in the state forced BJP to sack Anandiben Patel, he said, adding that BJP's unwritten rule of removing leaders who turn 75 was a smokescreen.

This rule does not apply to Union Minister Kalraj Mishra, who is above 75, and 85-year-old Babulal Gaur, former Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh who resigned recently, he said.

"Anandiben Patel has been asked to resign after being blamed for everything that went wrong in the state. But didn't the BJP notice atrocities which were being committed against the dalits and patidars? Action against culprits of (Una) dalit atrocity incident was taken only after Arvind Kejriwal came here from Delhi," he claimed.

Demanding withdrawal of all cases registered during OBC quota agitation against Patidars, he said, "The way cases are being withdrawn suggests that false cases were filed against them. There is no democracy in Gujarat, only dictatorship." 

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CAG slams Indian HC in London for 'arbitrary' visa fee

New Delhi, Aug 2, 2016 (PTI)

The Indian High Commission in London had allegedly allowed a service provider to levy a fee at an "arbitrary rate" in handling fast track business visas resulting undue benefit of Rs 10 crore to the private entity, said government auditor CAG.

In a report tabled in the Parliament, it said the service provider, handling visa support service was permitted to collect 25 pound from each applicant for fast track business visa in place of normal charge of 7.70 pound, from 2010 to 2015 that resulted a benefit.

"Permitting the service provider to handle fast track business visa with service charge at an arbitrary rate (GBP 25) in place of normal service charge of GBP 7.7 resulted in undue benefit of Rs 10.72 crore to the service provider during the period March 2010 to February 2015," the CAG said.

The High Commission had entered into an agreement in 2008 with VF Services (UK) Ltd for various visa support services.

The CAG said the Mission did not go for any negotiation, estimation of cost and market survey before allowing the service provider to collect GBP 25.

It said the new service provider had agreed to render the same service at GBP 7.44 with effect from March 2015.

The report also criticised the Indian Embassy in Washington for its "failure" to comply with laid down procurement process while awarding annual maintenance contract of IT equipment to a "dubious" firm and consequent "irregular" payments if Rs 1.36 crore to it.

Citing one example of alleged irregularities, the CAG said an amount of USD 1,56,450 (Rs 97.94 lakh) was paid to M/s ATC from May 2012-March 2015 towards annual maintenance cost of two servers and 16 desktops.

It said "the price of two servers purchased in 2007 was USD 6,118. Thus, the present cost of annual maintenance of servers works out to 705 per cent of the price of the servers."

The report also said "incorrect" adoption of prevailing official exchange rate by High Commission of India in Ottawa and its Consulates in Toronto and Vancouver in June 2010 instead of the exchange rate for visa fees as required under the manual and unwarranted downward revision of service fees for "renunciation" of Indian citizenship and penalty on misuse of passports in March 2013 resulted in less collection of revenue of Rs 27.01 crore.

Babbar hopes for 'miracle' in favour of Congress in UP polls

Varanasi, Aug 2, 2016, (PTI)

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar today expressed hope that there will be a "miracle" in favour of his party in the upcoming assembly election in the state.
"The people of Uttar Pradesh have always been springing surprises - be it 2004, 2007, 2012 or 2017 - this time they are going to do a miracle in favour of Congress," he said.

Babbar is here to take part in Congress president Sonia Gandhi's road show in Varansi, the Lok Sabha constituency Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents.

Responding to questions from mediapersons if road shows and other programmes would help the party at the hustings, he said, "Rest assured...we are among the people...Sonia is here to have darshan and take blessings of Baba Vishwanath in this holy month of Shravan."
This is the third major programme of the party in the past few days after "27 saal-UP behal" Delhi-Kanpur bus yatra and Rahul Gandhi's interactive session with booth level workers in Lucknow.

Earlier, Sonia arrived here to a rousing reception by party workers for a six-km-long road show.

Her cavalcade was accompanied by 5,000 strong contingent of motorcyclists from Lal Bahadur Shastri Babatpur airport to the circuit house.

Huge banners and buntings have been put up by party to make the roadshow successful and launch the poll campaign in the eastern region of the poll-bound state.

BJP did not fare very well in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh in the last assembly election and Congress hopes to take advantage make inroads.

BJP, which swept the 2014 national election in the state winning 71 of its 80 Lok Sabha seats, hopes to extend that victory to the 2017 UP assembly elections.  

Sonia leads impressive roadshow in Varanasi, cuts short march after falling ill

Varanasi, Aug 2, 2016 (PTI)

Taking the battle to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turf, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today led a massive roadshow here kicking off the party's campaign for the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where it is out of power for nearly three decades.

69-year-old Gandhi, however, had to cut short the roadshow towards the fag end of the eight-km march route this evening after she fell ill as it wound through the streets of the temple town for nearly three hours.

Congress sources said Gandhi cancelled her planned visit to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the evening to offer prayers and was returning to Delhi.

The sources said that Gandhi was suffering from viral fever but had decided to go ahead with the roadshow as she was not inclined to cancel it at the last minute.

Modi prayed for Gandhi's quick recovery and good health.
"Heard about Sonia ji’s ill health during her Varanasi visit today. 

The roadshow, which continued for about three hours, was halted for sometime at the Lohurabir roundabout near the fag end of the roadwhow from the Circuit House to Englishiya Line. The roadshow later proceeded without Gandhi.

The sources said Gandhi complained of uneasiness and after taking rest for sometime, she left the area.
Thousands of Congress supporters and workers took part in the roadshow.
It was Gandhi's first visit to Varanasi after Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014.
The march began with Gandhi garlanding the statue of B R Ambedkar at the Circuit House and the marchers criss-crossed lanes and bylanes of the temple town.

Gandhi, who was initially travelling in a car and later moved to a vehicle with open sunroof, waved at the crowd which cheered and raised slogans against the Modi government.

She came out of her vehicle several times to accept the greetings of the cheering supporters, including groups of Muslim women. As the road show passed through several localities, rose petals were showered on Gandhi and her cavalcade from adjoining buildings.

Dozens of mini trucks prominently displayed posters with '27 Saal, UP Behaal' (27 years of UP's distress) written on them. Placards carried by hundreds of workers also had the same slogan written on them.

Besides the party's chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit, AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, state party chief Raj Babbar and senior leaders Pramod Tiwari and Sanjay Singh accompanied Gandhi. Babbar expressed the hope there will be a "miracle" in favour of his party in the elections.

Earlier, Gandhi flew in here for a day-long programme in Modi's constituency and was led by hundreds of bikers, waving party flags from the airport to the heart of the city.

Congress has launched a campaign "dard-e-Banaras" to highlight lack of development in Varanasi, which Modi is representing for over two years in the Lok Sabha.

Congress has been out of power for 27 years in Uttar Pradesh and is projecting that the state has gone from bad to worse in these years through a campaign, called '27 Saal, UP Behaal'.

Babbar later said that Gandhi had come to Varanasi while she was running fever and insisted that she will go ahead with the visit.

During the roadshow, Gandhi felt exhausted and was told by doctors not to continue with her programme, he said.

The Congress President also wanted to visit Kashi Vishwanath temple before returning to Delhi but was told not to do so, he added.