India’s Actions in Kashmir Bring Varied Reactions in the USA

5th August 2019. The Indian government ended the special status for Jammu & Kashmir and reorganised it into two Union Territories,

The Indian-American community in the US has urged the Trump administration to “fully support” India’s decision to revoke the constitutional provision that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir and to continue to exert pressure on Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism.

“…so the Kashmir conflict can be resolved once and for all,” Samir Kalra, managing director of Hindu-American Foundation (HAF), said.

Krishna Reddy, President of Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), said that this is Narendra Modi government’s best gift to the nation on the occasion of 73rd Independence Day of India. “It is a historic day as Modi government could deliver a long-awaited decision of scrapping this special status and corrected the historic blunder made by the Nehru government,” Reddy said. According to him, OFBJP and other Indian diaspora organisations are organising celebratory events in the coming next two weeks.

The World Hindu Council of America welcomed the decision. It said that with the removal of article 370, the regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will finally be fully integrated with the rest of India, allowing effective and sustainable development in these regions.

New York-based attorney Ravi Batra said that this action must deliver enhanced peace and security to Jammu and Kashmir.

Weeks after India abolished Article 370 and moved a separate bill to split the state into two union territories of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, attention on the issue persists in the USA, with many members of the U.S. Congress entering the fray. Jammu and Kashmir have been under strict restrictions since the government announced its decision to end its special status.

Ted Lieu, a California Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, had tweeted that he had heard from his constituents that they were unable to reach their families in Kashmir.

Then, another representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, tweeted, referring to the comment: “I am excited to see so many members joining us in calling attention to what is happening in Kashmir. Please continue to call your members and ask them to speak up. We expect openness from India.”

The latest lawmaker to join the fray is the US senator and the seasoned Democrat leader Bernie Sanders. He said on Saturday said that the United States must support UN-backed peaceful resolution in Kashmir, adding that he was “deeply concerned about the situation” in Jammu and Kashmir.

The 77-year-old presidential contender, speaking at an event, emphasised that the “communication blockade must be lifted immediately” in the Kashmir Valley.

Barely a week ago, the US President Donald Trump had discussed Jammu and Kashmir “at great length” with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Biarritz in France.

During the discussion, the Indian PM Modi had stressed on the fact that India and Pakistan were one before 1947 and all issues between the two were bilateral; we don’t want to trouble any third country — categorically rejecting any third-party mediation.

President Trump had twice offered to mediate on Kashmir. He later said: “The Prime Minister really feels that he has the situation under control… I have very good relationship with both the gentlemen (PM Modi and Imran Khan) and I’m here. I think they can do it (resolve the issue) themselves”.

Earlier, Congressman Tom Suozzi had written a letter to the secretary of state Mike Pompeo to express his concerns on the human rights situation in Kashmir after India scrapped the Article 370. But, later he had to call an emergency meeting of his Indian-American voters to apologise for not consulting them before writing the letter.

There are several Indian-Americans, who form a major part of Suozzi’s Congressional District in New York. They normally play a key role in his election and fundraising. These Indian-Americans had become agitated over Suozzi’s letter. Soon, Suozzi’s office was flooded with angry messages.

The ground reality.

India at this stage, day and age is not an entity to mess up with. It’s a powerful economy, a huge consumer market and a powerful democracy. Today, its neighbour Pakistan finds itself isolated globally as it tried to mess up with India. The visible change in geopolitics needs to be well understood. Every country has its interests in India. Saudi and other Muslim nations do not go against India, they do not want to miss investment opportunities in India. They have honoured the Indian PM with their highest civilian awards. The UAE has openly supported India.

The US also needs India to offset China. Russia is a childhood friend of India. Even China has its trade and commerce interests in India. Thus, India, the world’s largest democracy, remains critical for the region’s security and peace.

Indian Americans in the USA are increasingly being seen as a force to be reckoned with. Since they are highly educated, qualified and skilful, they are assets to the USA. Every politician in the USA needs their support. They neither live on benefits nor breed like rabbits. They are respected and loved everywhere for the strides India has made in almost every sphere of human activity. The case of Chandrayan-2 emphasises that India has passed where even the USA has failed. While Pakistan’s ideology depends upon paid PR agencies to subvert truths, India’s strength is this very diaspora. It does all of this simply for the love of the Nation it is proud of.

source https://ncairways.co/india-kashmir/

Can $5 Trillion Economy Dream will ever come true?

Dr Manmohan Singh, the noted Indian economist and politician, was a member of the Upper House of Parliament from Assam for five consecutive terms from 1991 to 2019. 

He served India in key positions: RBI governor, finance minister and then as its Prime Minister for two consecutive terms between 2004 and 2014.

When his term in the Rajya Sabha ended on 14 June 2019, his party, the Congress, was unable to renominate him because the Congress did not have the required strength to send him to the Rajya Sabha from Assam again. Time and political fortunes had changed dramatically. Power had slipped out of Congress’ hands. It could not take Assam taken for granted any more. There was no other Rajya Sabha vacancy left.

A Rajya Sabha by-poll was necessitated in Rajasthan due to the death of its member Madan Lal Saini. Then the Congress nominated him  while the BJP did not field any candidate against him. Under such conditions, Dr Manmohan Singh was elected unopposed to the Upper House in August 2019.

Also Read : Manmohan Singh elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

Political fortunes have swung in such a way that today the BJP can be termed as the strongest and biggest political party in the world. It can afford to concede one Rajya Sabha seat.

Later Manmohan Singh’s security cover was downgraded from the SPG (Special Protection Group) rank to Z+ by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was reviewed as a routine professional procedure, based on the threat perception.

Also Read : Manmohan Singh’s Security Cover Degraded

Within 15 days of his election to the Rajya Sabha, the former Prime Minister returned his opponent’s, the BJP’s, favour in his own characteristic way. He severely criticised the BJP for its economic measures.

Dr Manmohan Singh’s recent statement urging the government to “put aside vendetta politics, and reach out to all sane voices to steer our economy out of a man-made crisis” caused ripples in India’s eco-political circles.

The current finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reacted: “Has he said that? All right, thank you, I will take his statement on it. That is my answer,” she said. Her statement came while she was addressing the media after an interaction with tax officials at an event in Chennai.

Dr Manmohan Singh blamed the Centre’s “all-round mismanagement” for the economic slowdown in the country. He said the Modi government’s policies are resulting in massive jobless growth.

“Rural India is in terrible shape. Farmers are not receiving adequate prices and rural incomes have declined. The low inflation rate that the Modi government likes to showcase comes at the cost of our farmers and their incomes, by inflicting misery on over 50% of India’s population,” Singh said.

He said the state of the economy is deeply worrying and insisted that last quarter’s GDP growth rate of 5% signals that the country is in the midst of a prolonged slowdown.

India has the potential to grow at a much faster rate but all-round mismanagement by the Modi government has resulted in this slowdown, he said in a statement.

“It is particularly distressing that the manufacturing sector’s growth is tottering at 0.6%. This makes it very clear that our economy has not yet recovered from the man-made blunders of demonetisation and a hastily implemented GST,” Singh said.

The former Prime Minister said domestic demand was depressed and consumption growth has hit an 18-month low. The nominal GDP growth is at a 15-year low. “There is a gaping hole in tax revenues. Tax buoyancy remains elusive as businessmen, small and big, are hounded and tax terrorism continues unabated. Investor sentiments are in the doldrums. These are not the foundations for economic recovery.”

However, the fact of the matter is : ‘There has been a sharp increase in filing returns by August 31, 2019. So far 56.5 mn returns have been filed for the assessment year 2019-20. The record – 196 returns per second- was attained mainly because the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had taken a number of initiatives like offering pre-filled forms as well as guidance to taxpayers through social media. e-filing of returns rose 32-63% compared to the corresponding days a year ago.

When asked if the Centre acknowledges that there is an economic slowdown, Sitharaman said, “I am meeting industries and taking their inputs, suggestions on what they would want and expect from government, I am responding to them. I have already done this twice. I will do it more number of times.”

On Friday, Sitharaman announced the consolidation of 10 state-run lenders into four bigger banks. Currently, there are 18 public sector lenders, compared to 27 in 2017. There will be only 12 after the mergers.

Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will combine to form the nation’s second-largest lender. State Bank of India (SBI) is the country’s largest lender.

The second merger will be between Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, which will make it the fourth-largest public sector lender. Union Bank of India will amalgamate with Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank and Indian Bank will merge with Allahabad Bank.

It was the present Modi government which aimed to put India as a $5 Trillion Economy. 

Eco-observers view Dr Manmohan Singh statements as a mild attempt to score some mileage for the Congress. He has only criticised the government but did not make any suggestion. Throughout his 10-year tenure, the former PM rarely expressed his opinion. He was famous for his silence. Analysts have shown surprise that at last, he has found some voice now, it is a miracle. But they add that as an eco-expert he is not saying anything different than media. He does not see that this slow down is a global phenomenon. The economies of China, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa are also under stress. In India, though, the inflation is still under control. At least the Modi government is able to run a solid and corruption-free government.

The Modi government is doing everything possible to rectify the blunders committed during the 10-year rule of the UPA. Bad loans during that period have today hampered the NPA of the banks. The Modi government strengthened infra, reduced bureaucracy, eliminated terror attacks, cut corruption, caught the corrupt and above all it did what the earlier governments could not do in 70 years. It deleted the article 370.

With all such big disruptive decisions taken by the present government, the economy was bound to take a hit in the short term, but Dr Manmohan Singh could not see that it is headed for a better future. Only time will tell whether the $5 Trillion Economy Dream will ever come true!

source https://ncairways.co/5-trillion/

Pilots optimistic about Uganda Airlines future

Uganda Airlines
Kampala, Uganda

Uganda Airlines pilots have portrayed an emphatic survey of where they see the airline. They earlier triumphantly ran a few commercial flights to different destinations.

Captain Emmanuel Mutebi said the airline’s marketing policy will play a major role to get more passengers to fly with it. He said they anticipate to start achieving reasonably good numbers on board within a quarter.

The revived Uganda Airlines flew its first commercial flight to Nairobi on Wednesday August 28, 2019 with just eight passengers on board.

It operated to Mogadishu the next day with 33 passengers and on Friday to Dar Es Salaam with just a few passengers short of being full.

The airline has said it is fully booked on the Dar route from September 3 to September 7, 2019. Captain Charles Karabarinde has called on Ugandans to support the airline. He said it was new, with experienced pilots and expected everyone to support it. Karabarinde has 40 years of flying experience.

Uganda Airlines comes at a time when almost all the airlines on the continent – except Ethiopian Airlines – are grappling to make profits. Kenya spends millions of dollars annually to bail out Kenya Airways that has been regularly making losses.

Rwanda also spends public money heavily to keep its national carrier running. So is South Africa with South African Airways. Aviation analysts have observed Uganda airlines must be in charge of the ground handlings business at Entebbe, which will make for it a bit of money.

The handling is currently done by Enhas Uganda which was owned by Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa and was in 2017 sold to a businessman from United Arab Emirates.
It will be difficult for the airline to get this business to its possession.

Also, government employees account for the biggest traffic at the airport. This is a constituency that the airline must tap into.

On August 5, 2019, President Museveni directed in a cabinet memo that all government officials travelling to destinations where the airline flies must go with the airline.

 

source https://ncairways.co/pilots-optimistic-about-uganda-airlines-future/

The TRS and the BJP were two sides of the same coin: Revanth Reddy

Hyderabad, 31 August 2019.

TPCC working president and Congress MP A. Revanth Reddy has claimed that the Telangana state BJP was divided into two groups:

– one group supports the TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and

– the other group was critical of him.

The aggressive approach of the BJP in the Telangana state has forced the Congress to hit the streets too in an attempt to illustrate that it is still the foremost Opposition party to contest with and the real challenge to the TRS. Congress is examining to stave off the BJP, which has now started to claim that it is the feasible alternative to the ruling party, the TRS. This has led to the making of fierce competition between the two opposition parties to surpass the TRS government.

As per Reddy, the BJP has no place for anti-KCR leaders. Mr Reddy said the TRS and the BJP were two sides of the same coin. Speaking to press reporters, he stated that both parties had an internal understanding.

 

After a humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections in December 2018, the state Congress had imprisoned itself to simply issuing statements and did not take up any programme against the government on the ground.

In contrast, after winning an unusual four Lok Sabha seats, the BJP propelled a relentless attack on the government and strengthened the means of letting leaders from other parties into its fold.

After squandering most of its MLAs to the TRS, with its party legislative leader losing the status of leader of the opposition (LoP), the Congress was sounded by the prospect of dissipating even its de facto Opposition party standing in the politics of Telangana and revised its strategy.

BJP working president J.P. Nadda toured Hyderabad lately and held a public meeting. He accused the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of revelling in extensive corruption in the Kaleshwaram project and the Haritha Haram programme. Senior BJP leaders from the Centre and other states are also touring Hyderabad constantly.

The Congress MP alleged that TS BJP president K. Laxman had claimed that the party would ask the Centre to order a CBI probe into the corruption in power purchase agreements. “When will the CBI inquiry be ordered,” he asked.
Continuing his attack on Mr Chandrasekhar Rao and TS Genco and Transco chairman and managing director D. Prabhakar Rao, Mr Revanth Reddy mentioned that usually IAS officers are appointed to head power utilities. When they refuse to sign on irregular agreements, the government removes them and appoints retired officers.
“As part of this practice, D. Prabhakar Rao, G. Raghuma Reddy and Gopal Rao were appointed,” Mr Revanth Reddy said. He alleged that these officers were cooperating with Mr Chandrasekhar Rao to loot public money.
He said that the power utilities in the state had borrowed Rs 74,000 crore since 2014, but Mr Prabhakar Rao had put the figure at Rs 35,000 crore “which is an utter lie”.
He said that the government has taken action on officials for speaking against Mr Chandrasekhar Rao and his son and TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao.“What action will be taken against power employees who spoke about me,” Mr Revanth Reddy asked, referring to comments made by power union employees during his war of words with Mr Prabhakar Rao.
Mr Revanth Reddy said that the government had banned TS Power Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) leader Raghu not to speak on power issues. “Why are the power employees not conducting dharnas against this,” he asked.
He said that Mr Prabhakar Rao has no eligibility to appoint him as chairman and managing director of power utilities and alleged several IAS officers who are not interested to work with him had sought transfers.
…

source https://ncairways.co/telangana-state-bjp/

COP14 in India: Modi to address UN meet to raise desertification issue

Passenger frustrations rise as American Airlines struggles

Cancelled flights, wrecked vacations and leaky planes.

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Are fixes coming?

American’s recent court success may help, but the company is still negotiating contracts with all three of its major labor groups, including pilots and flight attendants. It also should get its grounded  Max jets back later this year, if Boeing’s timeline for fixes holds.

“I think it’s just a bigger problem than it ever has been in the past for American,” said Robert Mann, an aviation consultant with RW Mann & Co. in New York. “It’s more noticeable because American, as a Big 3 network carrier, has been able to rely on high fare corporate revenue.”

American benefited from size over its competitors when it merged with U.S. Airways in 2013, operating the largest network with 365 destinations, Mann said. But other airlines have aggressively grown routes and added flights between key markets, while American’s traffic growth has slowed.

“The only difference between American and Delta at this point is that Delta is far more reliable,” Mann said.

Rath, who came to American in 2015 from Delta, said the airline is making technology changes to help customers deal directly with delays and cancellations. Much of that is through American’s app to let customers deal with rebooking and compensation themselves. She said customers who prefer to use an app will help alleviate lines for those wanting face-to-face interaction.

In response to challenges with delays and cancellations, the airline has also started proactively bringing sandwich carts, food and beverages to passengers of delayed and canceled flights. But Rath said they can still do better to let customers know what’s happening.

“We have to get the customer taken care of before we get to the airport,” she said.

American has also put together teams to work on how to get planes in and out of airports faster, she said. And there are plans for improved crew scheduling systems, too.

Other major airlines, such as United, have shown the ability to improve reliability and win back customers. And American has major advantages if it can improve, said JPMorgan’s Baker.

Most passengers are going to pick airlines based on route and convenience, he said. American has the most destinations of any carrier. It also has credit card holders and frequent fliers who are reluctant to give up a preferred status that it took them years to achieve.

“I frequently hear from people that say they can’t stand a particular airline, but they stay with them for points, lounge access or other benefits,” Baker said. “The reality is that passenger memories are short and are easily overcome by price, network strength and loyalty perks.”

Contributed by :

source https://ncairways.co/canceled-flights-wrecked-vacations-and-leaky-planes-passenger-frustrations-rise-as-american-airlines-struggles/

Texas needs to do more to encourage carbon-free energy: Advocacy Group

Texas is progressing fast in boosting renewable energy production but could do a better job implementing more statewide efficiency programs and providing rewards and incentives for efficient technologies. The Austin-based advocacy group Environment Texas Research & Policy Center observed.

Texas produced more wind than any other state in 2018 and came in fifth in solar energy, producing 339 times the amount it produced 10 years ago. Texas is third in the U.S. for battery storage capacity with 94 megawatts, as per the center.

But Texas could do more by providing state incentives to produce renewable energy and encourage state and local governments to purchase only renewable power, according to the center.

“The progress we’ve made in the last decade on renewable energy and technologies like battery storage and electric cars should give Texans the confidence that we can take clean energy to the next level,” said Jen Schmerling, deputy director of Environment Texas.

One percent of new car sales in June in Houston were electric vehicles.

source https://ncairways.co/texas-needs-to-do-more-to-encourage-carbon-free-energy-advocacy-group-says/