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EXCHANGE RATESEXCHANGE RATESAs on 22nd November, 2018 (In rupees)

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Australian Dollar 50.70 53.40Bahraini Dinar 184.15 204.70British Pound 89.70 93.80Canadian Dollar 53.10 55.75Emirati Dirham 18.40 20.30Euro 80.10 82.90Kuwaiti Dinar 228.70 238.90Omani Rial 179.90 189.80Qatari Riyal 18.05 21.10Saudi Arabian Riyal 18.10 19.95Singapore Dollar 51.10 53.75Swiss Franc 70.60 73.60US Dollar 70.50 73.10Rates are subect to change without notice. Errors &omissions excepted

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More people leave India: Survey

WASHINGTON: In a major relief to a patent litigation, a US court has al-lowed Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to sell a generic version of the UK-based Indivior opioid treatment Subox-one sublingual film. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued a decision in favour of Dr Reddy’s Labs, concluding that Indiv-ior had not shown that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its infringe-ment case.

This decision vacates the District Court’s preliminary injunction that had prohibited Dr Reddy’s from sell-ing its generic version of Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) sub-lingual film. As a result of this ruling,

Dr Reddy’s will resume its launch ac-tivities as soon as permitted. In June, the USFDA approved Dr Reddy’s Bu-prenorphine and Naloxone Sublin-gual Film, in four strengths including 2 mg/0.5 mg, 4 mg/1 mg, 8 mg/2 mg, and 12 mg/3 mg, for sale in the US market. The product was launched immediately after approval, with sales and commercialisation activities halted as a result of a court-imposed temporary restraining order (TRO) against Dr Reddy’s. The TRO did not include a prohibition on commercial manufacturing of the product.

Dr Reddy’s had booked sales of around $10 to $15 million after its launch before it (Contd. on page 2)

NEW DELHI: As India be-comes wealthier, more of its citizens are leaving its shores. An estimated 17 million Indians were living abroad in 2017, making India the largest source country for international migrants glob-ally, up from seven million in 1990 and a 143pc increase, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data from the UN Department of Economic Af-fairs. Over the same period, India’s per capita income increased by 522pc (from $1,134 to $7,055), provid-

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NRIs already working in 18 notifi edcountries should also register nowMUMBAI: The Union gov-ernment’s new online reg-istration will be applicable to all Indians working in the UAE and 17 other notified countries from Jan 1, 2019. Those who fail to do so will not be allowed to board their flights to these coun-tries when they return after visiting their home country.

Earlier, this newspaper had reported on its edition dated Nov 16 that India made online registration mandatory for all Indians holding non-emigration clearance required (better known as ECNR) passports who have employment vi-sas to 18 notified countries, including the UAE. Now, Indians already working in these countries also have to

register when they visit their home country, a senior offi-cial confirmed.

MC Luther, joint secre-tary for overseas employ-ment and protector general of emigrants, clarified that only one-time registration is required as long as an In-dian remains on the same

company’s employment visa. It is not necessary to register every time one goes back home unless there is a change in visa.

Registration must be completed on the eMigrate portal between 21 days and 24 hours prior to the date of travel. Those who fail to do so will be offloaded, from the aircraft, according to a

recent advisory issued by the ministry of external affairs. Emigration Clearance Re-quired (ECR) passport hold-ers who change their passport status to ECNR after three years of overseas employ-ment will also have to com-plete the ECNR registration.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Luther said: “It is to obtain details such as who the employer is, their contact and address details and who we can reach in case of an emer-gency. The idea is to be able to reach them [applicants or their emergency contact] in India and abroad if there is a need for assistance.”

Equating the ECNR regis-tration form to the departure card issued by the Bureau

of Immigration, which was discontinued in July 2017, Luther said this new move is a “completely non-intrusive form to respect the privacy of individuals and their em-ployers”.

India’s Ambassador to UAE Navdeep Singh Suri said: “This is an additional measure by government to provide protection to In-dian nationals seeking em-ployment in UAE. We have seen that not all blue col-lar workers are in the ECR category. Some have higher educational qualifications but don’t get included in the e-migrate system. This amendment will help them.”

Consul General of India to Dubai Vipul said: “The new (Contd. on page 2)

HIGHLIGHTS• All Indian expatriates (NRIs) already working in the

18 notified countries must also register online before travelling (presumably after coming to India on leave and on returning). NRIs who fail to register online will be barred from boarding flights to UAE and 17 other countries from Jan 1.

• They need to re-register only one time if their work visa has changed when they visit India again.

• Registration must be completed on the www.emi-grate.gov.in portal between 21 days and 24 hours prior to the date of travel.

• Applicants have to furnish personal, visa and travel details, emergency contact details in India and destina-tion country and contact details of foreign employer/sponsor in the destination country.

• On successful completion of registration, the appli-cant will receive an SMS/email.

• These 18 countries are: UAE, Saudi Arabia , Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Thailand , Indone-sia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Yeman.

Passport Kendras in all LS constituenciesKOCHI: Passport Seva Kend-ra offices in each Lok Sabha constituency in the country will soon be a reality

Dnyaneshwar M Mulay, secretary, Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV division), an-nounced the government’s plan while inaugurating the MEA’s attestation facility and the new office complex of protection of immigrants at Ernakulam Regional Pass-port office. “There are many states in the country where people had to travel more than 1,000 km to reach the nearest passport office. In Indore, nearly 200-300 peo-ple are visiting Bhopal for getting a passport. As per the rough estimate, annually these people spend nearly Rs 20 t o Rs 30 crore for transportation and food. It is just because of these aspects the government planned to bring PSK in each Lok Sab-ha constituency,” he said.

ing more people the means to travel abroad in search of employment opportuni-ties they were not finding at home.

Nevertheless, at the last Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) held in Bengaluru, the total number of Indians living abroad was given as over 30 million. IndiaSpend survey is not clear whether these Indians include both NRIs and PIOs.

At the same time, the number of unskilled mi-grants leaving the country

has been falling: An esti-mated 391,000 left India in 2017, almost half the number in 2011 (637,000), according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, this does not necessarily mean that an increasing propor-tion of India’s emigrants are likely to be higher skilled or that policymakers should be worried about a rise in “brain drain”. The above figures refer to unskilled mi-grants travelling on Emigra-tion Check Required (ECR)

passports -- passports issued by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to those leav-ing for employment in cer-tain countries in the Mid-East and Southeast Asia. Changes in the government criteria used to class work-ers as unskilled, leading to more migrants travelling on non-ECR passports, could be part of the reason for the declining trend.

“Over the years India has made internal adjustments to who gets an ECR pass-port. (Contd. on page 2)

Dr Reddy’s wins case in US

Make India destination of foreign employers: Dr Mulay

Meeting of the stakeholders and Government of India to discuss the proposed Emigration Bill 2018. From left to right Mr Manish Gupta, Dr DM Mulay, Mr MC Luther, Mr Sandeep Kapoor, Mr Ramish A Siddiqui, Mr V S Abdul Karim, Mr Supreeth MJ, Mr Abdul Rehman CH and Dr Sureshkumar Madhusudhanan.

NEW DELHI: Making India as the destination of choice for foreign employers and re-orienting as the skilling capital of the world is the vision of our Prime Minister, stated Dr DM Mulay, Secre-tary (CPV & OIA), Ministry of External Affairs.

Dr. Mulay was chair-ing the meeting at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra at New Delhi , convened between Stakeholders and Govern-ment of India to discuss the proposed amendments to the Emigration Act, 1983 through draft of proposed Emigration Bill 2018. Ear-lier, act was purely focused on blue collar jobs and hence needs review consid-ering the changed realities. The new amended bill will be comprehensive covering all facets of migration, blue

collar and white collar jobs including student migra-tion with the aim to curtail illegal migration. Stringent

measures will be provi-sioned in the proposed bill against illegal recruitment, warned Dr Mulay.

Every migrant who trav-els abroad should have a safe migration and acknowl-edge the sovereignty of the

host countries. Today, three decades down the line, there is a need to realign the leg-islative framework in sync

with contemporary realities. The nature, pattern, direc-tions and volume of migra-tion has undergone a para-digm shift since the 1980s. The large scale migration of skilled professionals to de-veloped countries, students going abroad for higher studies and increasing pres-ence of our nationals in the Gulf nations for employment are some of the salient de-velopments. Technology is evolving rapidly, there is an expectation by every citizen about their welfare, security, human rights etc. We need to work towards creating aware-ness, training programme, skilling, upskilling etc.

The Secretary opined that the recruitment frater-nity should look at business opportunities in geogra-phies apart from GCC--Eur-

asia and Africa are places where there is need for qual-ity manpower and for that we need to provide man-power as per the need of the foreign employer.

Noting that eMigrate has achieved its purpose and was highly successful, Dr Mulay appreciated the role of authorised recruitment agents and reiterated that RA should build a trust with emigrants, he emphasised the need for a code of ethical conduct among the mem-bers of RA fraternity.

Debate on migration ma- nagement has gained trac-tion at a global level and issues are increasingly be-ing mainstreamed in global discourse. There is focus on safe, orderly and regu-lar migration. Closely inter-twined is (Contd. on page 2)

Edit on page 2

2 EMIGRATION Friday, November 23, 2018

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A decision without clarityMany a time, one department of the government does

not know what the other department does. There had been situations in the past when totally con-

tradictory decisions had been made by different ministries of the Union government. This results in confusion and lack of direction in government decisions.

While employment opportunities within India are shrink-ing and there is an urgent need to explore more and more job avenues overseas, the decision of the Union external affairs ministry to make online registration mandatory for Indians going for overseas employment --- and that too for Emigra-tion Clearance Not Required (ECNR) passport holders--- is rather confusing and will work out to be counterproduc-tive. What’s more, NRIs already working in the 18 notified countries should also register, as per the new clarification. They have to register when they come to India on leave and while returning. True, there is a need to protect overseas job aspirants from any exploitation and this has been ensured through eMigrate portal and a series of other measures in re-cent years. But this latest stipulation for registration, when all other formalities are over and job aspirants are about to board their flights, lacks clarity as this in no way is going to increase employee’s safety or welfare. On the other hand, this compul-sory registration is likely to harm the interests of the job aspi-rants. It may be recalled that the eMigrate portal (developed by TCS) was set up by the government in 2015 primarily to safeguard the interests of job-seekers who fall in the Emi-gration Clearance Required Category (ECR), comprising largely unskilled and illiterate blue collar workers, who are the most vulnerable segment of Indians seeking jobs abroad. This step was taken to protect them against human traffick-ing, illegal recruitment and exploitation because eMigrate re-quires the agents who recruit the ECR category of workers to also register with the portal, thereby ensuring transparency. With the ECNR category now also mandated to register, how will their job security be evaluated is anybody ‘s guess.

This compulsory registration at least 24 hours before the candidate’s departure and with a threat to “offload” them at the airport if they did not fall in line sound draconian. The rule comes into effect from Jan 1, 2019, for 18 countries ---UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malay-sia, Thailand, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Leba-non, Libya, Sudan, South Sudan and Yeman. First few above countries are the plum Gulf countries where Indians go for job in large numbers. More than a dozen categories of Indian citizens automatically qualify for ECNR status, including tax payers, those below 18 years and above the age of 50 and those with an educational qualification of SSLC and above. Beyond a certain point, how will it protect them from job ex-ploitation only the government can answer.

With the deadline for this “online registration” just weeks away, the government should consult the stakeholders ---- particularly licensed recruitment agents ---and find a practi-cal way out.

Editorial

LIPSYNCH “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

NRIs already working...

More people leave India...

President Ram Nath Kovind with Governor General of Australia Sir Peter Cos-grove in Sydney.

Dr Reddy’s wins case...(Contd. from page 1)was stayed by the court. Suboxone had sales of around $786 billion in the US for the first nine months of 2018. The drug accounts for about 80pc of Indivior’s sales. The company hopes for a quick launch of ge-neric Suboxone sublingual film to improve it sales in the US market.

In a statement, Indivior said that it will continue to vigorously pursue ongoing infringement cases against DRL to protect its Subox-one sublingual film patent portfolio. It is in the process of interpreting the ruling in its entirety and will issue a statement on its implica-tions once this review has been completed.

Reliance Jio to be service provider for railwaysNEW DELHI: Reliance Jio Infocomm will serve the country’s largest and most sought-after accounts in telecom -- the railways -- from New Year with officials saying it is likely to slash the national transporter’s phone bills by at least 35pc.

Railways has been us-ing Bharati Airtel for over six years as its telecom provider for 1.95 lakh mobile phone connections used by its em-ployees in closed user group (CUG) across the country for which the railways paid around Rs 100 crore bill per year, they said. Its valid-ity will expire on Dec 31 this year. A Railway Board order issued on Nov 20 said : it had assigned the responsibil-ity to RailTel (railway PSU) for finalisation of fresh CUG

scheme for Indian Railways as the validity of the existing scheme is expiring on Dec 31, 2018. Fresh CUG scheme had since been finalised by RailTel and Reliance Jio Infocomm has been awarded the contract to implement the scheme.”

“The fresh CUG will come into effect from Jan 1, 2019,” said the order which detailed the tariff rates to be provided by the company. Closed User group (CUG) is a supplementary service provided by the mobile op-erators to subscribers who can make and receive calls from any member associ-ated within the group. This service is applicable for SMS also. Under the scheme, Reli-ance Jio, the latest entrant in the telecom market, will pro-vide 4G/3G connections and

calls will be free of charge.The company will pro-

vide four packages to rail-ways - one for its senior most officials (two per cent subscribers) - a 60 GB plan with a monthly rental of Rs 125, a 45 GB plan at a monthly rental of Rs 99 for its joint secretary level offi-cers (26pc subscribers), a 30 GB plan at a rental of Rs 67 for Group C staff (72pc sub-scribers) and a Rs 49 rental plan for bulk SMS.

For regular subscribers, a 25 GB plan of Jio is available for Rs 199 and subscribers have to pay Rs 20 per GB thereafter to top up their plans. Railway employees have to pay Rs 10 for 2 GB of extra data they use and more thereafter, according to the plan worked out by Jio.

UAE entry permit within 15 secondsDUBAI: The General Direc-torate of Residency and For-eigners Affairs (GDRFA) has announced an automated system that allows people to apply for entry permits in 15 seconds. Entry permit 50+ allows authorities to issue eVisa using Artificial Intelli-gence technologies in record time and without any need for human intervention.

The new smart service has helped finish over five million transactions in re-cord time with officials confirming zero waiting time and achieving 99pc fewer visitors to service cen-tres. Maj-Gen Mohammad Ahmed Al Marri, director general of GDRFA, said ap-plicants can apply through the authority’s smart app or website. The AI system will quickly scan documents be-fore issuing visas on spot. “We have been testing the system all year long and it

proved to achieve full accu-racy, even more than human employees.” He added: “By 50+, we mean we are mov-ing 50 years forward.”

Col Dr Omar Ali Saeed Al Shamsi, assistant director general for entry and residen-cy permits, said the system is connected to other govern-ment entities, which allows faster document checks.

“For example, the system checks medical certificate based on records from the health authorities.” The ap-plication time has been re-duced from previous four to six hours, to now reach only 15 seconds. The system also tracks suspicious or wanted individuals, sending their in-formation to security author-ities. Al Shamsi confirmed that the new system gives no room for security threats. He added the programme in-cludes applications for visit visas including renewals.

(Contd. from page 1)A lot of people are en-

titled to non-ECR passports and take that route to migrate instead -- this is data which is not publicly available and therefore cannot be anal-ysed,” Seeta Sharma, Techni-cal Officer (ILO) for EU-India Cooperation and Dialogue on Migration and Mobility, says.

International emigration generally rises with eco-nomic development as more people acquire the financial means to travel abroad, and only begins to reduce when countries reach upper-mid-dle income status.

Labour demand driven by constrained local em-ployment markets is a key motivation for international migration, with 73pc of all migrants globally entering the workforce in their host country. India’s working age population is currently growing by 1.3 million each

month, exacerbating a stag-nant job market that is fur-ther afflicted by a lack of em-ployment.

Over almost three de-cades, between 1990-2017, India witnessed waves of skilled and unskilled labour emigration. Indians living in Qatar increased 82,669pc --from 2,738 to 2.2 million -- over 27 years to 2017, more than in any other country. In the two years between 2015-2017, the Indian popu-lation in Qatar more than tripled. Oman (688pc) and UAE (622pc) also feature in the top 10 countries for the

largest increases in Indian residents between 1990-2017, while in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, over seven years to 2017, Indian populations rose by 110pc and 78pc re-spectively. These figures re-flect the response of Indian workers to rapidly expand-ing economies in the Gulf, buoyed by rising oil prices. As these oil-rich nations embarked on large-scale de-velopment projects, workers from India and other South Asian countries answered the call for the growing number of construction jobs needing to be filled.

Prince Mishal Bin Bader Bin Saud Bin Abdul Aziz, Undersecretary of the National Guard and Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman of LuLu Group sign the agreement at King Fahad National Guard office in Dammam.

Lulu to open more shops in SaudiDAMMAM (Saudi Arabia): LuLu, a leading hypermar-kets retail chain, has signed an agreement with the Sau-di Arabian National Guard (SANG) to open two shop-ping centers and seven su-permarkets in Dammam and Al Ahsa in Saudi Arabia. These will be operational inside the SANG campuses to serve National Guard of-ficials and their families.

The agreement was signed by Prince Mishal Bin Bader Bin Saud Bin Abdul Aziz, Undersecretary of the National Guard and Yu-suff Ali MA, Chairman and Managing Director of LuLu Group International at King Fahad National Guard office in Dammam.

With 15 upcoming proj-ects, LuLu is at present op-erating 14 hypermarkets and 10 Aramco commissaries in different parts of Saudi Ara-bia.

After the signing ceremo-ny, Yusuff Ali said: “we are honoured to have been se-lected and thank the Saudi National Guard authorities for this prestigious initia-tive. We will make sure that

New baggage system at Sharjah AirportSHARJAH: Passengers travel-ling through Sharjah Interna-tional Airport have been ad-vised to follow new baggage regulations effective Dec 4. Once the new baggage policy is in place, bags that do not have at least one flat surface will be rejected at check-in, including irregularly shaped and oversized items, as they can bog down the luggage-handling process. Customers are also advised not to bring round bags to the airport to ensure smooth handling of baggage as irregular shaped or round bags jam the baggage system, delay baggage deliv-ery and cause inconvenience to passengers. Similar bag-

gage rules were introduced at the Dubai International Air-port early last year.

Ali Salem Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority, told a TV channel that packing baggage as per the new regulations can save valuable time at the airport as it will allow hassle-free start to passengers for their trip. An awareness campaign in this regard has already been launched at the airport [check-in counter]. Airlines and travel agencies have also been informed about the new regulations and were told to provide information to the passengers about the new baggage regulations.

(Contd. from page 1)rule is for safeguarding the interest of Indian workers abroad. Even beyond the ECR, there are several vulnerable workers and it becomes important for the government of India to protect their interests.” For clarifications, job-seek-ers can contact Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK) in India on toll free number 1800113090 or 01140503090 (charges apply) or by email at mailto:helpline@mea.gov.in

(Contd. from page 1)the issue of changing demographics of the world. As a country blessed with young demographics, this changing landscape can work in India’s favour. Training and equip-ping our youth with the right skill-set are imperative in this context. The skill India initiative is an important step in this regard that aims to transform India as the Skill Cap-ital of the world. The meeting concluded, concurring on the need for an enabling framework, at institutional and legislative levels, aimed at efficient management of emi-gration, besides recognition of the reality that the nature of overseas employment and concept of fair and ethical recruitment have undergone a sea change. Today, there is increasing focus on ensuring fair and transparent recruit-ment practices, promotion of rights of migrant workers, skilling and certification of manpower and equipping mi-

Make India destination of foreign employers...grant workers with soft-skills.

Mr MC Luther, PGE, Mr Amrit Lugun IFS PGE-desig-nate, Mr Manish Gupta IFS, JS-Policy (MEA), Mr JK Sao, POE Mumbai, Mr Amarjit Singh, POE, New Delhi along with Senior officials from FICCI, Assocham , CII, ILO, IOM, ICWA, Centre for Development Studies, UN Women Office in India, EdCIL, NSDC, FORAI, IPEPCIL and FIM-CA attended the meeting and took part in the discussion.

Dr Sureshkumar Madhudushanan, General Secretary of FORAI and IPEPCIL, Mr CH Abdul Rehman, President IPEPCIL, Mr Supreeth MJ, Treasurer of FORAI, Mr VS Ab-dul Karim, Ex-President IPEPCIL and Founder Chairman FORAI, Mr Ramish A Siddiqui, Vice Chairman, FORAI and Mr Sandeep Kapoor, Jt. Secretary, FORAI, participat-ed on behalf of the recruitment fraternity and aired their views and the suggestions for the proposed Bill.

these supermarkets will be the best in the world and serve the National Guard of-ficials and their families in best possible manner.”

These stores will be opened in the next six months and is expected to generate sizeable employ-

ment for local Saudi youth. LuLu Group currently em-ploys more than 2,700 Saudi nationals including females

in their various hypermar-kets across the Kingdom. “Our goal is to give employ-ment to more than 5,000 na-tionals by the end of 2020”, added Yusuff Ali.

“We also take this op-portunity to extend our gratitude to the Custodian of

the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Crown Prince Mo-hammed Bin Salman and

the government who have always given tremendous support to investments and economic development which ultimately generate more employment opportu-nities to the Saudi citizens.”

With 15 upcoming proj-ects, LuLu is at present op-

erating 14 hypermarkets and 10 Aramco commissaries in different parts of Saudi Ara-bia.

3GULF JOBS & OPPORTUNITIESFriday, November 23, 2018

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4 GULF / NATIONAL JOBS Friday, November 23, 2018

NEW DELHI: Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018), which is touted to be the world’s “first rear quad camera” smartphone, was launched in India. The handset sports four separate rear cam-eras with a setup featuring telephoto, ultra-wide, and depth sensors. There is also a 24-megapixel sen-sor at the front that sup-ports a handful of beauty features as well as a soft-ware-backed Face Unlock functionality. Apart from the optics, the Galaxy A9 (2018) features a full-HD+ Infinity Display panel with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC. The smartphone also has up to 8GB of RAM and sports a 3D Glass curved back. Additionally, it comes preloaded with Bixby voice assistant as well as Samsung Pay and

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) launched in IndiaSamsung Health.Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) price in India

The Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) price in India starts at Rs 36,990 for the 6GB RAM variant, while its 8GB RAM model comes with a price tag of Rs 39,990. Both models come in Bubblegum Pink, Caviar Black, and Lemonade Blue colour variants. The Galaxy A9 (2018) will go on sale in the country through all online (Airtel Store, Ama-zon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, and Samsung Shop) and offline channels starting November 28. Customers can pre-book the handset from today. Moreover, cus-tomers will also be able to avail a cashback worth Rs 3,000 when purchasing the Galaxy A9 using an HDFC debit or credit card.

Samsung has also tied up with Bharti Airtel to of-

fer the Galaxy A9 6GB RAM variant through the Airtel Online Store at a down payment of Rs 3,690 and EMI of Rs 2,349, while the Galaxy A9 8GB RAM vari-ant will be available at a down payment of Rs 4,890 and EMI of Rs 2,449. Cus-tomers purchas-ing the handset through the EMI options will re-ceive Airtel post paid plan bun-dles along with benefits such as unlimited voice calls, national roaming, and a free subscription to Airtel TV.

To recall, the Galaxy A9 (2018) was unveiled in Kuala Lumpur last month with a starting price of EUR 599 (roughly Rs 48,900) and GBP 549 (roughly Rs 50,300).

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) runs Android 8.0 Oreo-based Samsung Experience UX and features a 6.3-

inch full-HD+ (1080x2220 pixels) Infinity Display that has a Super AMOLED panel and an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, there is an octa-core Qualcomm

Snapdragon 660 SoC that has four cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four cores clocked at 1.8GHz. This is coupled with 6GB and 8GB RAM options. The Galaxy A9 (2018) has a quad cam-

era setup at the back as its USP, along with an LED flash. The setup includes a 24-megapixel primary sensor along with an f/1.7 aperture, a 10-megapixel

telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom and an f/2.4 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with a 120-degree lens support-ing an f/2.4 aperture, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor

with an f/2.2 aperture. The primary sensor no-tably uses a pixel binning technique to combine four pixels into one. For selfies, there is a 24-megapixel sensor at the front that comes with an f/2.0 ap-erture. The frontal sensor enables a preloaded Face Unlock feature.Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) First Impressions

The Galaxy A9 (2018) is touted to recognise 19 different scenes and

optimise colour settings to produce shots matching the content. It also detects flaws such as closed eyes, facial blur, or backlight in the images you clicked

and notifies you to re-click them. For the front camera, there are features such as selfie focus and pro-lighting. There is also an AR Emoji feature to let you create up to 36 animated emojis.

Samsung has provided 128GB of onboard storage on the Galaxy A9 (2018). The inbuilt storage is ex-pandable via microSD card (up to 512GB). In terms of connectivity, the phone has 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (dual-band, 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sensors on board include an ac-celerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, magne-tometer, proximity sensor, and an RGB light sensor. There is a rear-facing fin-gerprint sensor. Besides, there is a 3,800mAh battery that supports fast charging.

NEW DELHI: India’s largest smartphone vendor Xiaomi said it will set up 5,000 Mi Stores across rural India by the end of 2019, a move that is expected to generate over 15,000 jobs.

Xiaomi, which entered India in 2014 and sold smartphones exclusively online, ventured into of-fline retail in 2017. It op-erates its own chain of Mi Homes, apart from Mi Preferred Partners through franchise model.

“It’s been over a year since we started offering our products through of-fline retail and we have seen strong growth there

Xiaomi plans 5,000 offline stores in rural India... About 4-5 months ago, we started piloting what we called Offline 2.0 - where we are going to tier IV, V and beyond, rural India with our offline retail offering,” Xiaomi Vice-President and India Man-aging Director Manu Jain told media persons.

H e a d d e d that under the ‘Mi Store’ model, the company has already set up 500 stores and will take the number to 5,000 by end of 2019.

“Located across 14

states, these 500 Mi Stores were inaugurated at the same time on October 29 ... Which helped us achieve

a Guinness World Records feat for opening the highest number of retail stores in the world at the exact same

time,” he said.While Mi Homes -- that

showcases Xiaomi’s en-tire product range across

smartphones, tele-visions and ecosys-tem products -- are spread across larg-er spaces in bigger cities, Mi Stores have an average size of 300 sq ft and will be located in rural India.

“These stores can be found in some of the most

remote corners of the coun-try... We think this can generate massive employ-ment opportunities with

over 15,000 jobs in these regions, thereby boosting immense economic out-put,” he said.

Jain explained that of-fline retail is still a huge segment in our country with nearly 40pc of the offline market focused in rural regions.

Through its various ef-forts, the company expects offline retail to account for half of its smartphone sales by next year. Xiaomi expects to ramp up the number of Mi Homes to 100 (from current 50) and take its Mi Preferred Part-ners programme to 100 cities (from over 50 now).

DUBAI: Dubai Internet City (DIC) has launched a new freelance permit for people working in the technology sectors, which will assist professionals to increase their income sources and also help the free zone attract international and local talent.

The freelance package costs Dh7,500 per year, which is inclusive of the freelancer permit and ac-cess to the business centre. If the individual needs a visa, DIC will help in this regard through the process. Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Park had also launched a similar package a few months back, targeted at education and media sec-tors. It was also priced at same rate.

Technology professionals in the domains of web, mo-bile, software development and architecture, IT and tele-com networking, data science

and analytics and customer service, as well as stakehold-ers providing technical sup-port and related services are eligible to apply for freelance package. The free-lancers will have the flexibility to choose the com-pany they work with, the projects they work on and manage their own schedule.

I t i s e s t i -mated that there are around one l akh l i censed freelancers paid on a short-term contract basis. An increasing num-ber of companies are offering flexible work schedules and the option of working from home, which has not only helped increase productivity levels but also brought down operational

costs. “There is no doubt that

independence breeds and encourages creativity and innovation. The technol-

ogy landscape in Dubai is evolv-ing at breathtak-ing speed. It is imperative that businesses keep up with the pace at which tech-nology is now being developed and consumed. In order to stay relevant, com-petitive and prof-itable, businesses need to ensure that they oper-ate with a flex-

ible business model, one that embraces the concept of freelance talent. GoFree-lance is one such solution that businesses can take advantage of to keep up

with the constant demand for talent,” said Ammar Al Malik, managing director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City.

Saadia Zahidi, head of Centre for the New Economy and Society at World Eco-nomic Forum, said software and app developers/analysis, data analysts and scientists will be the emerging jobs in the Mena region in the next four years while analytical thinking and innovation, technology, design and pro-gramming, system analysis and evaluation will be the skills that will most demand in the region by 2022. She stressed that many youth in the region have a job on paper that matches with their supposed degree but they don’t get jobs because they don’t have right kind of skills -- they don’t know how to work as team, how to present themselves.

New freelance work permit for professionals

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple has acquired a Startup called Silk Labs that works on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based per-sonal assistant technology for smartphones and smart home devices. According to a report, the quietly-done acquisition for an undisclosed sum is aimed at strengthening Apple’s AI capabilities towards smart home devices.

Silk Labs had about a dozen employees and raised approxi-mately $4 million in funding, said the report.

According to TechCrunch, Silk Labs is the brainchild of Andreas Gal, the former CTO of Mozilla, who had also created

Apple acquires Silk Labs, AI startup

the mobile platform Firefox OS and Michael Vines from Qualcomm.

Apple is working hard towards improving its AI-enabled products, including HomePod smart speaker which is behind Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Amazon and Google accounted for 70 per cent share of the global smart speaker shipments in the first quarter of 2018, with Apple selling 600,000 HomePods in the period.

According to market re-search firm Strategy Analytics, global smart speaker shipments reached 9.2 million units in the first quarter of 2018.

NEW DELHI: India’s bid to become a major mobile phone manufacturing pow-erhouse seems to be work-ing with the Indian Cellular and Electronics Associa-tion (ICEA) claiming that over the past four and half years 268 mobile handset and component manufac-turing factories have been set up in the country re-sulting in over 6.7 lakh jobs. Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi had kicked off the “Make in India” initia-tive in 2014 with the aim to encourage domestic mobile phone manufacturing in the country.

“This is a very good sit-uation. Other than the well-

known companies which we all know about like Apple, Samsung, LG, Oppo and Vivo, there is a whole lot of medium enter-prises which have come into manufac-turing,” ICEA Nation-al President Pankaj Mohindroo told me-dia persons. In fact, most of the new facto-ries have come up in the last few months.

As per the detailed physical survey con-ducted by ICEA, the Delhi-NCR region has about 30 mobile hand-set manufacturing units, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 27, Haryana with 15,

Maharashtra 14 and Uttra-khand 9. Delhi-NCR tops the ranking with 18 battery pack factories, followed by

UP with 14, Haryana with 13, Himachal Pradesh with 7 and Maharashtra with 4.

The survey further found that UP has about 39 facto-ries dedicated to chargers/adapters, followed by Delhi

with 24, Haryana with 18, Maharashtra with 12 and Uttrakhand with 10.

The growing mobile manufacturing activity has saved the country an esti-mated Rs 3 lakh crore in

foreign exchange in lieu of import substitution and created an domestic value

India has 268 mobile and accessory plantsaddition, he further added. The mobile handset and component manufacturing ecosystem is growing in

India. In 2017-18, an estimated 225 million handsets were assem-bled/manufactured in India.

India recently re-placed Vietnam to be-come second largest producer of mobile phones in the world. The India Cellular and Electronics As-sociation (ICEA) ex-pects the total num-ber of mobile handset

and component manufac-turing units will increase to 1,800 and generate 50

lakh jobs by 2025.While Mohindroo is op-

timistic about the growth of mobile handset and com-ponents manufacturing in India, he said there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed. “The industry faces serious challenges in terms of lack of a competitive corporate tax regime, lack of ready to move infrastructural facilities to start produc-tion activity from the word ‘GO’ etc, the Government must undertake expedi-tious measures to address these pressing challenges through suitable regula-tory/ incentivisation inter-ventions.”

MUMBAI: India’s natural gas production will rise by a third provided the output locked in a dozen fields of state-owned ONGC and OIL is opened up by giving remunerative market prices, people with knowledge of the matter said.

India currently produc-es about 90 million stan-dard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of natural gas and has ambitious plans to double output by 2022 to reduce its reliance on imports and replace some of the polluting liquid fuels to cut emissions.

Sources said, while the doubling of output would need huge capital expendi-ture of close to $ 10 billion in bringing to production discoveries in deep sea and frontier areas, discoveries already made by ONGC and OIL provide a low hanging fruit.

ONGC gas output at all-time highState-owned Oil and

Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) haven’t been able to develop the discoveries or bring them to production as the current gas price of $ 3.36 per million British thermal unit (MMBtu) is way lower than the cost of production.

Sources said, ONGC has about 35 billion cubic me-ters of recoverable reserves in discoveries in the shallow sea off Andhra Pradesh on the east and off Gujarat and Mumbai on the west coast blocks.

The three blocks in Krishna Godavari basin, Gulf of Kutch and Mumbai offshore can produce about 10 mmscmd of gas and an equivalent amount can be produced from its onshore discoveries in blocks like Bantumili, Mandapeta and Bhuvanagiri, they said.

About 5 mmscmd of

production can be added by making some investment in existing fields like Mumbai High South, Neelam and B-127 Cluster in the Ara-bian Sea.

Oil India Ltd (OIL) has an onland discovery in the Krishna Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh with over 3 billion cubic meters of re-coverable reserves but needs a higher price to bring it to production.

Sources said, all these fields can be expeditiously developed and monetised in case pricing and marketing freedom is granted by the government.

ONGC and OIL want a price of over $ 6 per MMBtu to help them produce the gas without suffering any losses.

In the absence of a viable gas price, they will have to mothball $ 3 billion proj-ects, they said.

JOBS & CAREERS 5Friday, November 23, 2018

Teleperformance India is rated as one of the best workplaces

according to the recent Aon’s Global Best Employ-ers Results.

The accolade has been conferred after a stringent evaluation across the fol-lowing four indices: These results are then compared to the global employee en-gagement database, which is comprised of almost 9 million employees from more than 5,000 organisa-tions around the world.1. Engagement Index: em-

ployees speak positively about their employer, intend to stay and are motivated by their em-ployment experience to do their best work every day.

2. Leadership Index: lead-

Teleperformance India rated best employer in 2018 ers clearly define the vision for the future, recognise employees’ critical importance and lead them to success.

3. Performance Culture Index: employees are aligned to company goals and are rewarded and recognised for their contributions.

4. Employer Brand Index: employees are proud of the company they work for and know what makes their company distinctive as a place to work.Teleperformance India

is a Global Services pow-erhouse with over 67,000 staff across 39 locations, serving 160+ global enter-prises across the world. We strive to maintain agility and responsiveness by the

combined knowledge and digital service offerings like RPA & analytics. TP India also has a rich element of consulting inculcated with over 200 highly skilled

data scientists, business & process consultants already on board.

This win is a clear de-piction of our key focus on employee grooming, job satisfaction and healthy work life balance, resulting in an 80 per cent rate of inward evolution. We have been named as one of the Top 7 companies in India who have engineered the

re-skilling drive to remain relevant.

Nearly 58pc of the em-ployees at Teleperformance (TP) Digital Integrated Busi-ness Services are highly

engaged, compared to the 26pc industry benchmark. 89pc of these employees are also in the high perfor-mance zone compared to the 70pc industry bench-mark.

Bhupender Singh Chief Executive officer Teleper-formance Digital Integrated Business Services Com-mented: “We are a peo-ple centric company. We

strongly believe that great performance comes from a great team. Selecting the right people, investing in training and creating an inspiring workplace to en-

gage and motivate our team results in the delivery of superior interactions.”

Teleperformance Digital Integrated Business Services

embraces service excel-lence as the core focus in all client related endeav-ours through its cutting edge Digital Transforma-tion solutions. The com-pany ensures to live by the mantra of ‘High Tech – High Touch’, keeping the human touch element in mind while dealing with both internal as well as external stakeholders.”

Uttar Pradesh Pub-lic Service Com-mission (UPPSC)

have cancelled the Re-view Officer/Assistant Review Officer (Mains) Exami-nation. T h e e x a m w a s s c h e d -uled to be held on No-vember 25, 26 and 27.

Exam controller Man-ju Katiyar said, “The examination has been postponed for some un-avoidable reasons and the fresh dates will be announced very soon.”

UPPSC RO/ARO Mains exam postponed

Candidates need to visit the official site of UPPSC at uppsc.up.nic.in to know the new dates, after it is an-nounced.

The results of prelim-inary test have not been declared yet. However, the result is expected to be declared in the month of December after which the main examination will be held.

The HRD Ministry has established an inno-vation cell at the All

India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) with an aim to brainstorm new ideas about promoting in-novation in all higher edu-cation institutions (HEIs) across the country.

The innovation cell was launched at the AICTE headquarters by Union HRD Minister Prakash Ja-vadekar through video con-ferencing.

“This will be a sig-nificant step in institu-tionalising innovation and developing a scientific tem-perament in the country. The purpose of formation of network of Institution’s

HRD ministry launches innovation cell for higher education institutions

Innovation Councils (IICs) is to encourage, inspire and nurture young students

by exposing them to new ideas and processes result-ing in innovative activities in their formative years,” Javadekar said.

“More than 1,000 HEIs have already formed IICs in their campuses and en-rolled for the IIC network

managed by MHRD’s in-novation cell to promote innovation through multi-tudinous modes leading to an innovation promotion eco-system in their cam-puses,” he said.

The Union minister said varsities are the main re-search centres of developed countries and because of their research they are at the top in global innovation ranking.

“Now Indian universi-ties are also setting up research centres through the IIC programme and we are expecting good rank in global innovation ranking in next two to three years through this initiative,” he added.

The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has decided to recruit 2,277

teachers on contract in the Elementary Educa-tion Department, an official said. It decided to implement the Hi-machal Health Care Scheme in the State. The cashless treatment coverage of Rs 5 lakh per year per family will be provided on a family floater basis, a government spokesper-son said.

He said the treat-ment would be pro-vided on the basis of pre-defined package rates in the empan-elled hospitals. The hos-pitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat will stand

HP Teacher Recruitment 2018: Vacancy for 2,277 postsautomatically empanelled for this scheme. This will

cover all families of the state which are not covered un-der the central government’s

Ayushman Bharat scheme.In another major deci-

sion by the Cabinet led by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, an approval was

given to establish the Hi-machal Pradesh Gau Sewa

Aayog for preservation, conservation and wel-fare of cows. The aayog would also be helpful in addressing the problems relating to abandoned cows.

The Cabinet also ap-proved the lease amount of Patanjali Yog Peeth as per the lease rules. The approval was accorded for the Himachal Pradesh State Urban Solid Waste Management Policy with an objective to provide directions for carrying out the waste manage-ment activities in a man-ner which is not just en-

vironmentally, socially and financially sustainable but also economically viable.

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has opened a re-

search centre dedicated to corporate respon-sibility and sus-tainability. The centre housed in JGU in So-nipat, Haryana, aims to deliver knowledge ser-vices to higher education insti-tutes, industry and other players in India’s devel-opment sectors. The JGU-Centre for Excellence in Corporate Re-sponsibility and Sustainabi l i ty (JGU-CECRAS) was announced during a three-day-long “Northern Con-clave for Building CSR Part-nerships” organised earlier this month in association with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Speaking at the con-

JGU opens centre for corporate responsibilityclave JGU Vice Chancellor C Raj Kumar pointed out that the growth and evolu-tion of the CSR model in

India has not been largely due to corporate commit-ment to contribute to the development of the com-munity; rather it has more to do with building a posi-tive persona and image,

including brand building.“We need to reimagine

the CSR framework for higher education. The im-

petus should be to translate corporate mission to soci-etal mission. Corporations need to invest in long term social transformation,” Ku-mar said. He emphasised the critical role of research

in improving the quality of higher education in India and that CSR money could play an important role in

augmenting re-search and inno-vation to creating the universities of the future.

I n a u g u r a t -ing the confer-ence, Gyanesh-war Singh, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Cor-porate Affairs said the ministry was considering an enforcement regime to make corporations in the country more responsible to-wards the society and environment in which they

operate.The conference brought

corporations, non-profit organisations, government entities and higher educa-tion institutions on one platform

Steel Authority of In-dia (SAIL) has issued notification for 56

posts for Operator-cum-Technician (Trainees) and Attendant-cum-Technician (Trainee). Its unit IISCO Steel Plant has invited

online applications for its Integrated Steel Plant in West Bengal’s Burnpur. While the first date to ap-ply is November 15, the last date is December 14. Candidates may apply at www.sail.co.in

There are 126 vacancies for positions of Operator-cum-Technician (Trainee), even as positions of At-

SAIL issues notifi cation for 156 poststendant-cum-Technician (Trainee) has 30 vacancies.

As per the notification, candidates from SC/ST/OBC may apply against unreserved position in case they attain eligibil-ity criteria for unreserved

category. Please note that, reservations for Ex-service-man and Persons with Dis-abilities (PWD) candidates will be on horizontal basis and also according to the guidelines.

For posts of Operator-cum-Technician (Trainee) and Attendant-cum-Tech-nician (Trainee), PWD, the positions have been

reserved for Orthopedically Handicapped and Hearing Handicapped having at least 40pc disability, a SAIL notification said.Selection Procedure

Candidates will have to appear in a written exam

and on their performance in the written exam.

Please note that candi-dates will have to qualify the Trade Test/Skill Test. The merit list will be in descending order for every discipline.How to Apply

Candidates may apply through SAIL’s official web-site: www.sail.co.in.

Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) has released the date of

64th combined preliminary competitive examination for civil services 2018. The ex-amination will be conducted on December 16.

The examination will be conducted in one sitting be-tween 12 noon and 2 pm across the state. The examina-tion will be conducted at 808 exam centres over 35 districts of Bihar.

The commission had in-

BPSC Civil Services 2018:Prelims exam dates announced Application process for 38 posts of special-

ist cadre officer on contract basis in State Bank of India (SBI) has begun. Candidates

can apply before December 6.Moreover, the last date

of fee payment is December 6, 2018.

A candidate can ap-ply for one post only. The process of registration is complete only when fee is deposited with the Bank through Online mode on or before the last date for payment of fee. Candidates are required to upload all required documents (brief resume, ID proof, age proof, educational qualification, experience etc.) failing which can-didature will not be considered for shortlisting/ interview.

SBI to recruit for 38 posts of specialist cadre officerHere’s How to applyVisit the official website of State Bank of

India, career sectionOn the top right corner in the ‘Latest Announce-

ment’ section click on SBI special-ist cadre officer recruitment

Click on apply onlineClick on ‘New registration’ if

you are new applicantThe form will open.Fill in the required detailsSelect the post you want to

apply forA preview of your application will be avail-

able for download and printProceed to payment methodFill in your required net-banking or card

details and proceedDownload the payment receipt and print it

vited applications to fill 1255 posts, including 571 posts of

Revenue officer, 233 posts of supply inspector and 40 posts in Bihar Police Service through

a notification on August 3 that ended on September 10.

The examination will com-prise of three phases- Pre-liminary, Main and Interview. The prelims examination will have general studies paper carrying 150 marks. The duration of the exam is 2 hours. The main examina-tion carrying 300 marks will comprise of subjects- Hindi, General Studies and Optional Subject. The exam will be of 3 hours. Interview will carry 150 marks.

6 IN FOCUS Friday, November 23, 2018

Are former residents of UAE, now banned, can avail of the on-going am-nesty scheme?

Former residents banned by the UAE authorities are not eligible to submit ap-plications to lift their ban as part of the ongoing “Protect Yourself by Modifying Your Status” initiative. As reported, Col Ali Amin Mohammed, director of the amnesty centres and establishment at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs (GDRFA) in Sharjah, has confirmed that the amnesty programme, which will run until Nov 30, 2018, was designed for those who have overstayed and are residing illegally in the country. He said that violators who are cur-rently residing in UAE can benefit from the initiative and will have the chance to leave the country without paying fines for over-staying. He said a lot of people approached the Sharjah immigration and Residency department and submitted applications to lift the entry ban on former residents so that they can reenter the country on new visa under the ongoing amnesty. He further explained that previous residents who were convicted in criminals cases and deported by courts also cannot utilise the amnesty programme. They can apply for a new visa at the immigration offices.

Col. Ali had said: “We explained to them that it is a different separate issue and we have to abide by the UAE cabinet decision in this regard which has not stipulated that a previous resident can apply and could lift bans issued against those who violated the resident law in the past.” He added that violators can visit the Sharjah immigration authorities, which will lift the abscond-ing report and issue exit permit and they can leave the country without ban as per amnesty which started on Aug 1. “People who have been blacklisted and also those who have legal and pending police cases against them cannot avail of the amnesty programme. We cannot lift the ban, they have to contact the legal authorities and clear their problems to benefit from the amnesty programme,” he added . He added that the amnesty programme comes along with other initiatives, which include 48-hour transit visas for travellers, six-month visas for job-seekers and one-year visas for widows, divorcees and people from war-torn countries. He confirmed that no action will be taken against residents violators during amnesty and they will be provided by all kind of help to modify their status.

Don’t sublet your flatI am residing in a two-bedroom apart-ment with my wife and two children in the emirate of Sharjah. I am trying to cut down on the expenses by planning to share the said flat with another family and split the cost of rent by subletting my apartment. Is it okay to do so?

Pursuant to your query, it should be noted that in Sharjah, a tenant cannot sublet the rented premises granted to him to any third party without the consent of the landlord. This is in accordance with Article 20 of the Sharjah Law No. 2 of 2007 on regulating the relationship between landlord and tenant in the emirate of Sharjah (the “Sharjah Rental Law”), which states: (a) The tenant shall not assign the lease or sub-lease of the whole or part of the premises with-out the written permission of the landlord. The subsequent permission to act, whether express or implicit, shall be considered as the formal written approval.

(b) Landlord may grant the tenant in the lease contract the right to assign or sublet all or part of the leased premises provided the duration of sub-lease contract does not exceed the period specified in the original contract.(c) If the tenant sub-leases the premises, the sub-lease contract shall govern the relationship between the tenant and the subtenant. Nevertheless, it shall not affect the rights and obligations of the tenant to-wards the landlord under the original lease contract, unless otherwise agreed upon. (d) The implementing regulations shall govern the procedures of these contracts. Therefore, based on the aforementioned provision of law, it is apt that you seek the written permission of your landlord prior to sub-leasing your apartment to another family. In the event you sublet the apartment without your landlord’s nod, the landlord has the right to evict you from the flat. This in in accordance with Article 12(3) of the Sharjah Rental Law, which states, “Landlord may not demand eviction of the tenant prior to expiry of tenancy period before the lapse of three years as of the signature date of the

Can banned residents avail amnesty?lease contract unless the tenant sublets the premises without the consent of the landlord and without prejudice to the provisions of the transfer of ownership of a commercial concern determined in accordance with the provisions of the federal law of commercial transaction

Rumour-mongering is a crime in UAEA person has been calling my wife and sending WhatsApp messages to her al-leging that I am going around with a divorced lady in Dubai. The man claims that he is interested in that woman. Be-sides, he has sent some audio messages where he is questioning the said lady and the woman clearly denies any link with me in them. Based on this, my wife has blocked him on WhatsApp and barred his calls. To harass me further, this man has also called one of my close family friends and is bent on defaming me. What are the options available to me? Can I report this matter to the police?

Pursuant to your queries and the facts placed by you, we would like to highlight that in the UAE, cybercrime and defamation are criminal offences and are prosecuted by reference to the Federal Law No. 3 of 1987 related to issuance of Penal Code and Federal Decree-Law No. (5) of 2012 on combating cybercrimes. Chapter IV of Federal Law-3 of 1987 (as amended) (‘the Penal Code’) outlines the law governing offences of defamation in the UAE and is set out as below:

Article 372: “Whoever attributes to another person, by any means of public-ity, an incident which makes him liable to punishment or contempt, shall be punished by detention for a period not exceeding two years or by a fine not exceeding Dh20,000. Punishment by detention and a fine or by either of these two penalties shall be applied if the libel is committed against a public official or one who is in charge of a public service, during performance of the duties or public services assigned to him, or if the defamation affects the honour or injures the reputation of families or if it is observed that it is intended to achieve an illegal purpose.If libel is committed by means of a publication in any of the newspapers or other printed media, it shall be considered an aggravating circumstance.”

Article 373: “Detention for a period not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding Dh10,000 shall be imposed on anyone who, by any means of publicity, disgraces the honour or the modesty of another person without attributing any particular act to the defamed party. Detention for a period not exceeding two years and a fine not exceeding Dh20,000 or either of these two penalties shall apply if a public official or one who is in charge of a public service has been abused during performance of his duty or public service; or if the abuse affects the honour or injures the reputation of families or if it is noticed that the abuse is intended to achieve an illegal purpose. However, if the abuse is published in any newspaper or printed media, it shall be considered an aggravated case.”

Article 378: “Whosoever publishes news, pictures or comments related to the secrets of private or family life of persons even if they are true, shall be punished by detention for a period not exceeding one year and by a fine not exceeding Dh10,000 or by one of these two penalties.” Based on the afore-mentioned provisions of Penal Code of UAE, the messages sent by the person as alleged by you are defamatory which may malign your reputation. The actions of the sender may also qualify grounds for slander and libel under the aforesaid Penal Law and also under Article 21 of the Federal Decree-Law No. (5) of 2012, for committing cybercrime. As such, those caught using technology to invade someone else’s privacy - which can even include eavesdropping, copying photos or publishing news - can be jailed for six months and face fines of between Dh150,000 and Dh500,000 under the above law.

Hence, you may file a criminal complaint with the police by submission of the printed messages (after they are translated into Ara-bic) sent by the sender and by submitting the device (mobile) where such messages and audio clippings are saved and chronology of occurrence of the aforesaid events. Upon investigation, if your complaint has merit to prosecute the offender, the police may open a case against the offender and the same will be referred to the public prosecutor for charges as under the applicable Penal Law and Cyber law of the UAE.

Singapore’s Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen and his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman witnessing the exchange of the renewed Army Bilateral Agreement between Singapore’s Commander Brig-Gen Dinesh Vasu Dash (right) and India’s Lt-Gen Manoj Pande in Vizag.

NEW DELHI: Where do In-dians find regular jobs eas-ily? Where are jobs harder to find? Are there parts of the country where regular factory jobs outnumber other kinds of jobs? Such questions are typically hard to answer because of the lack of granular jobs data in the country. The official employment surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) typically have very small district-wise samples, which makes district-wise esti-mates much less precise than state-level ones. The only source that provides rich employment data at the district level and be-yond is the census.

While the latest census data pertains to 2011, it

Shortage of regular non-farm jobs in India, says survey

provides far more granular and rich information than any other data source on jobs. The survey segregated census jobs data released earlier this year and shows a striking divergence in the availability of regular non-farm jobs across the country. Districts with a relatively high share of regular jobs were clustered in the extreme south and in a narrow strip extending along the western coastline across the country till the extreme north, the data show. Barring a few pock-ets, in the rest of the coun-try, only a small minority of the workforce was en-gaged in regular non-farm jobs. What is even more worrying is the change over time. Districts with a high share of regular

non-farm jobs have added more such jobs over time, while districts in the rest of the country have either regressed or added very few non-farm jobs between 2001 and 2011, accentuat-ing the divide between the west and the east.

The comparison be-tween 2001 and 2011 cen-sus data has been made by merging newly-created districts in 2011 back with their parent districts so that all comparisons are on a like-to-like basis. Regular jobs here refer to those workers in the 15-59 age group who worked in a job for more than six months in a year and who were classified as “main work-ers” by the census. Most districts in some of India’s most youthful and popu-

lous states, such as Bihar, UP and MP witnessed ei-ther a decline or stasis in the share of regular jobs between 2001 and 2011.

These are the districts where the demand for jobs is the greatest, and where regular jobs are increasingly difficult to find. One big reason for the lack of much prog-ress in creating regular non-farm jobs lies in India’s failure in manu-facturing. Barely 26 of the 640 districts in 2011 had more than a fifth of their workforce employed in manufacturing. Most districts across the coun-try actually saw the share of regular manufacturing workers fall between 2001 and 2011, the analysis shows (charts 2a and 2b).

WASHINGTON: An Indian-American woman has been elected as the president of the powerful student’s body of the prestigious Harvard University. Sruthi Palaniappan (20), whose parents migrated to the US from Chennai in 1992, was elected as president of the Harvard University Undergraduate Council. Her running mate Julia Huesa (20) was elected as vice president. Sruthi is currently the council’s education committee chair.

Sruthi said the duo planned to work on im-proving the Council’s com-

Sruthi heads Harvard student bodymunication with the stu-dent body in their initial days in office. “I think from the onset, better structuring the way we communicate with students is something

that we need to already set the tone and plan for,” she said. “I think we’re going to work on it before we even leave for break and just get off the ground running,” she told Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper of the varsity. Sruthi was the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July 2016.

Sruthi and Huesa gar-nered nearly 41.5pc the votes as against their near-est opponent Nadine M Khoury and Arnav Agraw-al, who received 26.6pc of the votes.

HANOI: Vietnam and India have agreed to boost their trade while expanding co-operation in defence and security, among other areas.

Speaking to reporters at a joint press briefing in Viet-nam’s capital Hanoi, President Ram Nath Kovind said that he believes the bilateral trade volume would reach $15 bil-lion by 2020, up from $12.8 billion last year. “We agreed to encourage our industry to tap into the growing economic opportunities in our own countries and in the region,” Kovind said. “India-Vietnam economic relations are on an upswing.”

“We committed to further deepen our defence and se-curity co-operation. I reiter-ated India’s commitment to provide training support for Vietnam’s armed forces,” he added. Kovind said he and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong also reviewed the implementation of an Indian credit line of $100 million to build high-speed patrol ves-sels for Vietnam’s coast guard. Trong, who is also head of the Communist Party, said the two countries would find ways to boost their modest investment.

Currently, India has 182 investment projects worth $816 million in Vietnam, while Vietnamese businesses have a mere seven projects worth some $6 million in India. Kovind is was on a three-day visit to Vietnam.

Vietnam, India to boost trade ties

Where mother is single, father’s name not must in PANNEW DELHI: The income tax department has said quoting of father’s name in PAN application forms will not be mandatory in cases where mother of the applicant is a single parent. The Central Board of Direct Taxes through a notifi-cation amended the IT rules and said the applica-tion forms would give an option to the applicant as to whether mother is a single parent and the applicant wishes to furnish the name of mother only. Currently, furnishing father’s name is mandatory for the allotment of PAN. The new rules would come into effect from Dec 5.

The notification has also made it man-datory for entities that have made financial transactions worth Rs 2.5 lakh or more in a financial year to apply for a PAN card. The application has to be filed on

or before May 31 of the assessment year for which such income is assessable. Nangia Advisors partner Suraj Nangia said that now, the resi-dent entities shall have to obtain PAN even if the total sales/ turn-

over/ gross receipts are not or are not likely to exceed Rs 5 lakh in a financial year. “This will help the IT department track financial transaction, broaden its tax base and prevent tax evasion,” Nangia added

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CORPORATE NEWS 7Friday, November 23, 2018

Puzzle #: 13 Diffi culty : Easy

Sudoku PuzzleRules: To solve a Sudoku

puzzle, every digit from 1

to 9 must appear in each of

the nine vertical columns,

in each of the nine hori-

zontal rows and in each

of the nine boxes.

Solution for Puzzle # 13

will be in next issue.

Fun Corner

Your wellness

Sudoku Puzzle 12 Answer

According to a medical study, dry eyes con-dition in humans can

significantly reduce the rate of reading and may cause disruption in daily tasks that require visual concentration for long periods. The chronic dry eye is a common disease in which natural tears fail to adequately lubricate the eyes, thus drastically affect-ing its functioning.

The study was conducted on 186 adults and was pub-lished in Journal Optometry and Vision Science. Dry eye specialists at Johns Hopkins Medicine mentioned that chronic dry eye condition can slow down a person’s reading speed by as much as 10pc and can make it dif-ficult to read for more than

Facts about dry eye syndromean average of 30 minutes.

According to researchers, dry eye affects millions of adults, primarily those in the age group of 50 and older. It causes ocular discomfort and visual problems.

“Many of my patients have perfect vision on standard eye tests but complain they cannot drive at night time or in unfamiliar areas, read small print or do computer work,” said researcher Esen Akpek.

“We suspected that people with dry eye were mostly unable to sus-tain good reading perfor-mance because their tears can’t re-lubricate their eye surfaces fast enough,” she added.

The study revealed that the 116 participants with clinically significant dry eye read fewer words per minute as compared to those with only dry eye symptoms.

While the reading rate was 32 words per minute

less in patients with clini-cally significant dry eye, averaging 240 words per minute compared to the controls and patients with dry eye symptoms but with-

out clinical findings, who read at the same rate of 272 words per minute.

It was found that sus-tained visual functions such as reading, driving or performing surgery is hard on everyone’s eyes

because it changes the blink rate, which spreads and replenishes tears over the cornea. However, the change in tempo affects people with a dry eye more severely.

At the beginning and end of the experiments, re-searchers collected small

vials of tears from each participant for future stud-ies that she hopes will offer clues to exact mechanisms causing this visual difficul-ty and possible treatments.

The diagnosis and treat-ment of dry eye are often complicated, in part because many conditions may cause it, including clogged oil glands and systemic inflam-mation from a rheumatologic disease.

According to research-ers’ people who experience frequent dry eye symptoms such as stinging, fluctuating vision and dryness can try over the counter eye drops but will do best if they un-dergo professional testing and diagnosis.

Current treatments may include prescription drops, lifestyle and environmen-tal changes, and surgical insertion of plugs or other procedures to increase tear production.

India reported almost 3 million fewer malaria cases in 2017, a 24pc

decrease over the previous year, while cases increased worldwide to 219 million from 217 million, after registering a steady decline since 2010, according to the World Malaria Report 2018.

India’s reduction, the sharpest within a year, now means the country accounts for 4pc of the world’s total malaria cases, and is no longer among the world’s top three countries in terms of number of cases (around 8.7 million in 2017).

Around 70pc of the world’s malaria cases are found in India and 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. “There were 3.5 million more malaria cases

Sharp decline in malaria in India as cases rise globallyreported in these 10 Af-rican countries in 2017 compared to the previous year, while India showed progress in reducing its disease burden,” said the report.

In 2017, India launched

its five-year National Stra-tegic Plan for Malaria Elim-ination that shifted focus from malaria “control” to “elimination” and provided a road-map with targets to end malaria in 571 districts out of India’s 678 districts

by 2022.What seems to have

worked for India is the scal-ing up a diagnostic testing, treatment and surveillance and ensuring an uninter-rupted drug and diagnos-tics supply chain, training

community workers to test all fever cases and provide medicines, and distribut-ing medicated bed-nets for prevention, under its ‘test-treat-track’ in the endemic north-eastern states and Odisha.

“Odisha is a driver of India’s success against malaria, where innova-tions, such as improving health care worker skills, expanding access to di-agnostics and treatment and strengthening data collection, has led to the state recording a path-breaking decline of over 80pc in reported malaria cases and deaths,” said Dr Pedro Alonso, Global Malaria Programme Direc-tor, WHO.

In Odisha, the National

Institute of Malaria Re-search and the Odisha government collaborated with Medicines for Malar-

ia Venture for an operational research pro-gramme called

the Comprehensive Case Management of Malaria, which provided universal access to malaria diag-nosis and treatment, and improved the quality of services and surveillance, and distributed 11 million medicated bed-nets.

“The result is 85pc de-cline in the average month-ly malaria cases in the intervention areas, from 2013-15 when universal access to malaria services was reached, to post in-terventions in 2016-2017,” said Dr Neena Valecha, director, National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi.

“The plan moved away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to use inter-ventions tailored to local epidemiology and endemic-ity,” she added.

Till September 2018, there has been further improvement in the state, with reported malaria cases falling from 323,800 in 2017 from January to Sep-tember, to 55,365 in 2018 till September, and deaths dropped to single digits during the same period.

“The backbone of the programme are the com-munity health workers, who need to be equipped and trained to provide quality services. Along with that, maintaining a supply chain of quality products, introducing in-novative reporting methods and continued research for development of new tools will help the country reach its malaria-free target,” said Dr Valecha.

Since 2000, India has reduced malaria deaths by two-thirds and halved the number of malaria cases.

The other countries that showed results were the malaria-endemic countries of China and El Salvador, which reported no local transmission in 2017.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary

of Ujjivan Financial Servic-es Limited, has launched personal loan facility for salaried professionals mak-

ing it the first small finance bank in India to offer this.

The product will be launched across 14 tier I and tier II locations includ-ing Ahmedabad, Benga-luru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Surat, Mumbai, Mysuru, Ankaleshwar, Coimbatore, Kochi, Chennai and Vado-dara. The facility is a new product to the existing loans offered by the bank - home loan (for purchase of

Personal loan for salaried classproperty and construction) and business loans.

The personal loan will be available for salaried professionals who are earn-ing a monthly salary above Rs 15, 000. Individuals can

avail loans starting from Rs 50,000 up to Rs 15 lakh.

One of the key features of the product is its at-tractive interest rate with complete digital processing. An individual may get the loan without any collateral or deposit of any asset; however, the bank will consider the credit history of the individual. Ujjivan will provide a flexible time frame of 12 to 60 months

for an individual to pay EMI. The bank is utilizing e-sign to ensure paperless processing during the post-sanction phase.

Announcing this new bank facility to customers,

Samit Ghosh MD, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank said “This offering is aimed at reaching out to the custom-er segment that is deprived from availing these facili-ties due to lack of formal institution serving them. We will continue to expand our product offerings so that we can diversify into retail assets and fulfil cus-tomized needs of the mass market segment.”

SBI CAP Ventures, an alternative asset man-ager and subsidiary

of SBI Capital Markets, announced the launch of SME and Affordable Hous-ing Funds. Anticipating a rapid growth in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector and to bridge the equity cap in the sector, SBICAP SME Fund aims to raise Rs 400 crore and the Affordable Housing Fund Rs 350 crore. Both these funds come on the back of the success of its Neev Fund, launched three years ago and focuses on small infrastructure projects in low-income states in India.

“While the gap in debt-funding to SMEs is in-creasingly being bridged

SBICAP Ventures launches SMEby non-banking financial companies, there continues to be a significant gap in equity-funding for the sec-tor despite the steep growth rate,” SBICAP Ventures said. It cited the International Finance Corporation report, which estimates that the SME sector would grow rapidly in the next few years to account for over 40pc of the GDP by 2020.

“we are looking to strengthen our foothold in the economically and so-cially relevant sectors. These funds shall be an effective tool in addressing the equity gap in the SME sector and in improving the availability of affordable housing in India,” said Varsha Purandare, MD, SBI Capital Markets.

Reliance Nippon Asset Management Com-pany has announced

Further Fund Offer 3 (FFO3) of its central public sec-tor enterprises-exchange traded fund (CPSE ETF). It proposes to raise up to Rs 8,000 crore initially and an additional amount based on market response.

Also, an upfront dis-count of 4.5pc is being offered to all categories of investors with the ETF having an expense ratio of 0.95 basis point. This third FFO will open and close for anchor investors on November 27, and for non-anchor investors, the offer will open on November 28 and close on November 30. Department of Invest-ment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has appointed ICICI Securities

Reliance MF announces FFO3 for CPSE ETFas the adviser for the FFO3. The government had earlier raised Rs 11,500 crore in the earlier three tranches of the ETF.

“CPSE ETF has given

opportunity to all classes of investors which has made it popular in India and abroad. It is mainly due to lower expense ratio and attractive discount. ICICI Securities brings in-sights of both institutional and retail investors,” said

Shilpa Kumar, MD at ICICI Securities.

The fund invests in the Nifty CPSE Index stocks — that includes 11 PSU firms. “We feel confident

that the timing of the is-sue will help investors benefit from their exposure in a diversified basket like CPSE ETF that includes a list of distinguished PSUs who are leaders in their respective sectors,” said Sundeep Sikka, ED and

CEO, Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management.

The FFO3 is open for all categories, including anchor investors, retail in-vestors, retirement funds,

QIBs, non-institution-al investors and foreign portfolio in-vestors. “We would like to reach out to re t i re -ment funds to invest in FFO3 and

consider this as a chance to secure their funds and benefit from the growth of these PSUs, some of which are Navratnas, Maharatnas, Miniratnas and are either sector leaders or near mo-nopolies in their respective sectors”, added Sikka.

Digital payments service Paytm has entered into a part-

nership with Life Insur-ance Corp (LIC) to help customers make insur-ance premium payments, One97 Communications Ltd, which owns the Paytm brand.

The platform now pro-vides online insurance pre-mium payment solutions for over 30 insurance com-panies including LIC, ICICI Prudential Life, Reliance Life, Max Life Insurance, HDFC Life, TATA AIA, SBI Life, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Canara HSBC Life Insur-ance, Shri Ram Life and Star Health among others, the company said.

“Insurance premiums

Pay LIC premium through Paytmare mostly paid through offline mode in our coun-try. At Paytm, we want our customers to have a seamless payments expe-rience,” Kiran Vasireddy, Chief Operating Officer at Paytm, said.

“We will continue to educate customers on the benefits of using online payments and introduce them to a host of benefits provided by our platform,” Vasireddy added.

India’s life insurance sector, which is expected to quadruple over the next decade from its current size of $50 billion, is the biggest in the world in terms of policy count with about 360 million policies, the statement added.

Canara Bank celebrated its 113th Founder’s Day by inaugurating

its “CALL CANARA” – an enhanced call centre facility, as another customer-focused initiative.

Bank also launched, Bank-ing Business Outlet (business correspondent model) along with few CSR initiatives and established creche facility to the staff members. The facil-

Canara Bank celebrates Founder’s Dayity was inaugurated by P V Bharathi, M V Rao and De-bashish Mukherjee, Executive Directors of the bank.

Dr Manjunath, addressing the bank staff and custom-ers, appreciated the role of the bank and the spirit of

Canarites (staff) in serving the society and partaking in nation-building.

T N Manoharan, Chair-man, Canara Bank speaking on the occasion said looking back, the bank with sound founding principles and ideol-ogies of the founder has grown from strength to strength over the last century with persis-tent and determined efforts of its committed workforce.

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), India’s leading stock exchange has an-nounced the launch of its new mobile app

and web-based platform ‘NSE goBID’ for retail investors to buy Government securities. Ajay Tyagi, Chairman SEBI launched the new App in Mumbai.

The ‘NSE goBID’ App will be available to all the registered investors with NSE’s trading mem-bers and will also facilitate trading members in

Mobile App and Web platform for retail investorsacquiring new retail investors.

It will allow retail investors to make payment directly from their bank accounts using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and internet banking. While retail investors will benefit from a conve-nient payment option, its cost effectiveness will appeal to Trading Members of NSE as the cost associated for setting-up infrastructure is much lower than the existing platform.

8 Travel / Entertainment

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Friday, November 23, 2018

A file picture of the Kumbh Mela, the largest congregation in the world.

Rlys set to handle Kumbh Mela rush;100m people expected at PrayagrajRailways will use

technology, includ-ing Artificial Intel-

ligence (AI), in a big way to tackle the massive rush of passengers to this holy city during the ensuing Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj ( formerly Allahabad) — for which it will deploy as many as 800 special trains.

The Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mystical Saraswati rivers, will begin from Jan 15 and conclude March 4, 2019.

BM Intelligent Video Analytics will be pressed intoservice, a first for the railways, for crowd control at stations and its adjoin-ing areas during the Ardh Kumbh Mela. Kumbh Rail Seva, a new mobile App, will soon be launched to disseminate information to train users and others trav-elling to the world’s largest religious event, which is expected to attract over a 100 million people — a number higher than the populations of most coun-

tries on earth. “We have finalised the action plan for this Kumbh Mela taking all

possible factors into con-sideration,” North Central Railway General Manager Rajeev Choudhury told a TV channel. With the 2013 stampede fresh in mind, the national transporter is not

Delhi airport charges hiked

Delhi airport charges have been increased seven times to a flat

Rs 77 for each departing do-mestic and international pas-senger, starting next month. Currently, domestic flyers pay Rs 10 each for departing from the IGI airport while an international traveller has to shell out Rs 45 as user devel-opment fee (UDF).

GMR Infra-run Delhi In-ternational Airport (DIAL) had sought a hike in UDF on the ground that the current tariffs were below the base airport charge set out in the government agreement.

Airport Economic Regu-latory of Authority of In-dia (AERA) gave its nod to DIAL’s proposal. “Conces-sion granted to DIAL has recognised and confirmed

DIAL’s contractual right to Base Airport Charges (BAC) + 10pc of BAC in any year of the concession term which acts as minimum floor tar-iff. Accordingly, AERA al-lowed the rates equivalent to BAC+10pc of BAC effective Dec 1, 2018,” GMR Infra-structure said in a BSE filing. The airport charges were slashed 90pc by the airport regulator for 2014-19 period which were implemented after the supreme court order in July 2017. The Delhi air-port tariff are up for renewal from April next year.

The charges are expected to rise again as DIAL has capital expen-diture plans between 2019 and 2024 con-trol period. A new runway and taxiways will be built at the IGI air-port, which has a capacity

to handle 70 million pas-sengers per year, apart from expansion of Terminal-1 and Terminal-3 buildings. Shares of GMR Infra ended 1.2pc down at Rs 16.25.

Kerala tourism in doldrums due to Sabarimala crisisThe tourism sector in

the God’s Own Coun-try, which was on a

revival path after the August floods, is in doldrums again following the chaotic situa-tion prevailing at Sabarimala.

According to industry experts, the incidents in state are sending out nega-tive signals to the outside world. EM Najeeb, president of Confederation of Tourism Industry, Kerala, says that the Sabarimala imbroglio is more serious than the flood as the tourists would strike out the destination from their itinerary if they get an indication that the state is religiously restive.

A bus carrying 24 Ger-mans was stoned by the protestors on their way to Kozhikode. “What kind of message will it send out to the world when the industry

is sweating out to retrieve it as a safe destination for tour-ists?,” asked Najeeb. Accord-ing to the estimate of the Fed-eration, many resort owners

in Munnar are on the verge of closure after the flood and a fizzled-out “Neelakurinji season”. A day ago, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had said the Sabarimala con-troversy would affect the financial situation of the state. Tourism and Devas-wom Minister Kadakampally

Surendran told a TV channel that there was a 50pc dip in the revenue of Sabarimala during the opening of the temple for “Thulam” month

poojas. Certainly, the current tension in the region has not only affected the revenue of the temple but the trade sec-tor. The state government is doing its level best to limit the damage and save the tourism sector from its impact.

Tourism Director P Bala Kiran said the department is

keeping its fingers crossed. “We can’t predict how Sabari-mala is going to impact the tourism sector. After a dip in the tourism growth in the Quarter III, the sector was on the verge of revival by November. The peak season in Kerala is Quarter IV (Oct to Dec) and Quarter I (Jan to March). Anything that hinders the prospects of the industry during this Q4 and Q1 will certainly leave an adverse impact on the sec-tor,” he warned. The state has witnessed a shortfall of 1.45 lakh domestic and foreign tourists during the time of floods. The third quarter sta-tistics of the Tourism Depart-ment revealed that there was an overall decline of 3.48pc in the total domestic tourist arrival during July, August and Sept and 13.55pc drop in foreign tourist arrival.

• A dip in 50 pc revenue recorded when Sabarimala temple opened for Thulam month poojas • The sector is in doldrums again when the Tourism Dept is getting ready to hold Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) by December• A shortfall of around 1.45 lakh domestic and foreign tourists during the time of flood. • An overall decline of 3.48pc in domestic tourist arrival and 13.55pc in foreign tourist arrival during Q3 • The flood and subsequent uncertainty have caused a revenue loss of around Rs 1,500 crore to the sector.

Night Market in Qatar opens for visitors

Night Market in Qatar in the parking area of Duhail Sports Club has opened its doors for visitors this season. Within weeks of its opening, the place has al-

ready become a popular destination among locals and expats both. The mar-ket will offer a variety of cafes and shops in one place for the coming six months . The place will be open daily from 4pm to 3am.

T h e f u l l y furnished venue offers a wide ar-ray of products including appar-els, accessories,

health and beauty products and perfumes. Night Market visitors will also be able to enjoy a variety of meals in the dedicated food court area. The venue also offers a spacious play area with bouncy castles and entertainment activities.

Jazeera Airways to link Delhi-KuwaitKuwaiti private budget

carrier Jazeera Air-ways has announced

the launch of its services to New Delhi from next month as part of its plans to ex-pand its footprint in one of the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

Jazeera Airways, which commenced operations in India last year, currently flies to Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ko-

chi and Ahmedabad from the Gulf nation. The services on the Kuwait-New Delhi route will start from Dec 15. Book-ings for the flight services on the new route, which will be operated four times in a week, are open and available on Jazeera Airways website.

The airline has also an-nounced special one-way fare starting from Rs 10,599 for an economy class journey

and Rs 19,146 for business class travel on the new route.The launch of the new route is a part of Jazeera Airways’ continued expansion to serve the large Indian com-munity and business sector in Kuwait.

Rohit Ramachandran,

CEO, Jazeera Airways, said the introduction of services to New Delhi and the expan-sion of network would bring

more choice to travellers to and from India, connecting them to Kuwait and other cit-ies in the Gulf and the Mid-East that are served within

the airline’s network. Jazeera flies to 27 destinations across the MidEast, India and Eu-rope, with a fleet of A320s and A320 Neos.

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Air India plansto cut losses

Debt-ridden Air India has revived its plans to raise Rs 500 crore

in short-term loans (STLs) besides mopping up another Rs 6,100 crore by way of sale and lease back of seven of its wide-body planes, including six Boeing 787 (Dreamliner) aircraft. In early Sept, the air-line had invited bids for rais-ing Rs 500 crore through STL to meet its working capital requirements with Sept 10 as the deadline for submission of bids. However, the deadline was extended to Oct 31 after it failed to get any response.

At the same time, Air In-dia managed to get Rs 1,000 crore from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) as loan and subsequently the plan to raise Rs 500 crore was put on hold. “We did not pursue the proposal to garner Rs 500 crore in STL after receiving Rs 1,000 crore from the NSSF. We have now decided to resume the process once again,” said a senior Air India official.

leaving anything to chance and is focusing mainly on crowd management at the

main junction and its adjoin-ing stations.

“We will be using the technology in a significant way to facilitate crowd move-ment in a smooth way,” Choudhury said, adding,

“While IBM will provide video analytics service us-ing Artificial Intelligence

for crowd control, there will be large number powerful CCTV cameras to monitor the situation and LED screens for displaying information.” Besides, social media will be extensively used for keeping

the pilgrims updated on a real-time basis.

More than 5,000 Gov-ernment Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protec-tion Force (RPF) personnel will be deployed to manage the crowd movement at 10 stations in and around the city, including , Prayagraj, Prayag Ghat, Jhunsi, Naini, Cheoki and the city .Con-sidered one of the largest gatherings of people in the world, more than 100 mil-lion devotees and Hindu ascetics are expected to attend the almost two-month-long Kumbh Mela to wash away their sins in the sacred Ganga river. Acknowledging the size and grandeur of the congre-gration, Choudhury said: “It is no doubt challenging to manage the rush at sta-tions but we are confident of making it a successful and smooth event.” Close co-ordination with state administration is another step that the railways is pursuing to make the event a success.