Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made air travel accessible to common man by launching India's first 'Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik' (UDAN) scheme. This scheme was aimed at giving a boost to regional connectivity to low-cost flights. Under the scheme, airfare for one-hour journey of approximately 500 km on a fixed wing aircraft or for a 30-minute journey on a helicopter would be fixed at Rs 2,500.
Five airlines will operate on 128 routes connecting 70 airports. The five operators are Air India's subsidiary airlines - Airline Allied Services, SpiceJet, Air Deccan, Air Odisha and Turbo Megha - which would be operating the 19-78 seater aircraft. Airports across 20 states and union territories would be connected through these flights.
The places include Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The airports that would be connected under UDAN include Bhatinda, Shimla, Bilaspur, Neyveli, Cooch Behar, Nanded and Kadapa. Fifty per cent of the seats on each flight would have a limit of Rs 2,500 per seat/hour. Airline Allied Services would operate on 15 routes, SpiceJet on 11 routes, Turbo Megha Airways on 18 routes, Air Deccan on 34 routes and Air Odisha Aviation on 50 routes.
An important lesson for Kejriwal
The Aam Aadmi Party got a severe drubbing in the Delhi municipal elections. People who reposed faith in Arvind Kajriwal twice were unhappy with his governance and rejected him outrightly. The AAP has blamed the Electronic Voting Machines for its debacle. The AAP leadership needs a reality check rather than blaming EVMs for its debacle. Why is the middle class feel let down by a party it supported so overwhelmingly two years ago? When people voted Kejriwal in 2015 it was on the hope that he would genuinely provide an alternative political culture to the 'corrupt' mainstream national parties and their powerful backers.
Instead of providing a clean governance, AAP was indulging in confronting the Modi government and Modi in particular, and with the Delhi Lieutenant Governor. It only breeds negativism. The good works being done by Kejriwal was overshadowed by the noise created over Kejriwal's repeated run-ins with L-G, the Centre and former colleagues Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. The same media which had once glorified him was now looking to pull him down. It is now high time for Kejriwal to change his ways and start implementing welfare schemes for the Aam Aadmi. It seems that the BJP was able to gauge the voter mood correctly. It is time for AAP to set its house in order rather than to spread its wings in Punjab and Goa.
Vinod Khanna is no more
A large number of Bollywood personalities attended the last rites of veteran actor-turned- BJP MP Vinod Khanna at the Worli Hindu Crematorium last week. His son, Sakshi lit the funeral pyre after his body was brought from his Malabar Hill residence. Vinod Khanna, 70, passed away after battling bladder cancer. Among the prominent people present at the funeral rites were Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and son Ranvir Kapoor, Kabir Bedi, Danny Denzongpa, Arjun Rampal, Jackie Shroff, Jeetendra, Dia Mirza, Puneet Issar, writer-poet Gulzar, directors Ramesh Sippy, Ramesh Taurani, Subhash Ghai, NCP leader Praful Patel, and BJP MP Kirit Somaiya among many more.
SC asks Subrata Roy to pay or go to jail
The Supreme Court has given one more chance to Sahara chief Subrata Roy to pay money to (SEBI) and avoid going to jail. The court has given time till June 19 to pay up. The Sahara group has submitted three cheques of £150, £50 and £300 million each. Roy's lawyer told the three judge bench that the former is concerned about the issue and would do the needful. Earlier, the apex court has ordered the auction of his Amby Valley property and the official liquidators had submitted the valuation of the property.
Earlier on April 21, the court had quashed a non-bailable warrant issued against Roy as he appeared before the court. During the next hearing on May 18, argument on framing of charges will begin.
Yogi govt scraps 15 public holidays
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh Yogi has done well by scrapping 15 public holidays. But some religious groups have opposed the steps, especially, the scrapping of Milad un-Nabi, the Prophet’s birthday. While Akhilesh Yadav government had increased public holidays mindlessly, Adityanath seems to be trying to turn things around. “There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversaries of great personalities,” the chief minister said and added that, “Instead, a two-hour programme should be held in schools to tell the students about those personalities.”
Ban on red beacons
The Modi government has done well by banning the use of red beacons from all government vehicles from May 1. Only emergency vehicles will be allowed to use red beacons. Introduced by the British, the lal batti has come a symbol of power and the VIP culture. But Modi's decision has not gone down well with some of the netas as they have lost the special treatment. For these VIPs, it is the laal batti, the bungalow, servants and staff that matter, and they often get so immersed in the powers that be, that they forget the main reason why they are occupying the chair – to serve people.
Modi government's move to remove red beacons from VIP vehicles is a welcome one. But, there are other status symbols that must also be removed such as the VIP convoys and deployment of unnecessary security on trumped up assumptions.
Row over Kulbhushan Jadhav
India and Pakistan are involved in a row over the secret trial and subsequent sentencing of death of former Indian navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav by an Islamabad military court. Pakistan alleged that Jadhav was involved in both espionage and sabotage, which the Indian government has refuted. Concerned about Jadhav's well-being, India has asked Pakistan for a medical certificate on his health. India has also sought consular access to Jadhav which Pakistan has so far denied. Ruling out consular access to Jadhav, Pakistan's high commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that his country would follow domestic laws and not the Vienna Convention in deciding India's plea for a meeting with Jadhav. This is a bad precedent and Vienna Convention is for every country to honour and you cannot apply domestic laws when citizens of other countries are involved.
India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj warned Pakistan that execution of Jadhav would amount to "pre-meditated murder" and the neighbouring country should "consider its consequences" on bilateral relations.
Govt adopts tough line on violence in J&K
The Modi government's consultations with J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti earlier last week underlined an understanding that any political initiative in the face of the current violence is not likely to yield any fruit. The view in the government is that factors driving the current round of violence are developments in Pakistan where the Panama papers inquiry has given the Pakistan army the upper hand which has, in turn, seen separatists in J&K step up the ante even as the Islamic State drives up extremism globally.
The infiltration of heavily armed jihadis is not seen to be possible without the say-so of Pakistan army and the events are being read in conjunction with the death sentence handed out to Kulbushan Jadhav.
The developments are also read as an attempt to push the Modi government at a time when it is riding a high on electoral successes. The brinkmanship can be tricky even though the toll in the Kupwara incident may be seen to be below the “threshold“ of an Indian retaliation. But it does remind the Modi government of its claim that the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir had signalled an end to strategic restraint.
China continues its provocation game
Days before provoking India by announcing Chinese names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, China had tweaked the name of Taiwan, which it claims as its inalienable part. The state-run China Central Television addressed Taiwan, a self-governed island, as `Zhongguo Taipei' instead of `Zhonghua Taipei.' Zhongguo and Zhonghua both mean China, but Zhonghua refers to a general concept of a Chinese nation, while Zhongguo refers to the People's Republic of China. China has also passed a revised mapping law to bolster understanding of its territorial claims and to create hefty new penalties to “intimidate” foreigners who carry out surveying work without permission, lawmakers said. Foreigners who break the law could be fined up to $145,000.
Stock prices skyrocket
India's stock market indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty, hit record highs last week. Economic fundamentals have contributed to this development. But the proximate cause is the wave of global liquidity unleashed by central banks of advanced markets, which has helped equity indices across the globe to surge. For India, one of the consequences of this surge in foreign portfolio investment over the last three months has been a sharp appreciation in the value of the rupee. This makes RBI's job harder. Therefore, while the stock market highs are indeed welcome, focus must remain on challenges in the real economy.
Kia Motors gearing up to enter Indian
India has become a major hub for automobiles and Korea’s second largest carmaker Kia Motors has finally announced its plans to enter the Indian car market. Kia will build a brand new manufacturing facility for its India operations in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh at a cost of £705 million. Construction of the new factory will begin in the third quarter of 2017 with a production rollout slated for 2019. The plant will have an installed initial annual capacity of 300,000 units. The company has said it would locally manufacture Kia cars for India, and two compact models will lead that for starters. It is a welcome step and would generate employment for local people.
BCCI gets a snub from ICC
After having snubbed by the 0ICC on its revenue sharing model, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) could be left with no option but to pass a resolution in its upcoming special general meeting to re-negotiate with the ICC and reclaim the $100 million offered by ICC chairman Shashank Manohar before the revenue model was put to vote. BCCI had rejected the offer of Manohar, who had offered extra $100m, swelling its share to $393 million in the proposed revenue model. At the ICC meeting, BCCI's tough posturing meant nothing as the ICC full members went ahead and voted 9-1 for the revenue model which has earmarked only $293 million for India.
If BCCI would want to renegotiate with ICC, it would need votes of seven full members of the world body. But the fact is that other cricket boards are happy with their allotted shares, and may not be willing to renegotiate with BCCI.
