Month: June 2019

The fugitive diamantaire was arrested by Scotland Yard in connection with the Punjab National Court (PNB) loan default case on March 19 this year.

During the court proceedings on Tuesday, Clare Montgomery, who is representing Modi in the case, had submitted before the court that if her client were granted bail, he would be willing to be tagged through an electronic device so that his movements could be tracked.

“He moved here to raise capital, to explore where in the world he needed to be immigration wise. If he is given bail, he is willing to be tagged through an electronic device, have a phone that can be tracked,” Montgomery said.

“Since he has an extradition case starting, there is no way he will run away. His daughter and son will be moving here. They are starting university,” she added.

Comparing Modi to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Montgomery had said, “Modi is not Julian Assange who wants to seek refuge in some embassy. He is an ordinary person. He is not a flight risk.”

After presenting her arguments, the court said it wanted some time and deferred the matter to Wednesday morning.

India is seeking the diamond merchant’s extradition to make him face the law of the land for allegedly committing economic offences like fraud and money laundering.

Modi has been lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London.

(ANI)

“Government of India had explored two options for the route to be taken by the VVIP Aircraft to Bishkek for the SCO Summit. A decision has now been taken that the VVIP Aircraft will fly via Oman, Iran and Central Asian countries on the way to Bishkek,” a statement by the External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday.

Last week, India had requested Pakistan to let Modi’s aircraft fly over its airspace to the Kyrgyzstan capital to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit scheduled to be held on June 13-14.

Pakistan had fully shut its airspace on the eastern border with India after an Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out aerial airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot on February 26. Since then, it has only opened two of eleven routes; both of them pass through southern Pakistan.

However, Pakistan had taken an in principle decision on India’s request to allow Modi’s plane to fly over its air space making an exception. Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had travelled to SCO ministerial meeting in Bishkek last month end before election results were announced by over flying the Pakistani air space, for which permission granted by Islamabad.

After reports of India making a request for Modi, there were some experts, including former a former diplomat, who had said the prime minister should not take the Pakistani route since it would show the country in a poor light–that it cannot bear the pain of hard decisions it takes.

The MEA had said that Prime Minister Modi will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin but no formal meetings have been schedule with Khan yet.

Earlier, Khan had reportedly written a letter to his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, saying Islamabad wants dialogue with New Delhi to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries.

Khan had called Prime Minister Modi to congratulate him on his victory and expressed willingness to work together for peace in South Asia.

Pakistan lies in the middle of a vital aviation corridor whereby the airspace restrictions, which have been continuing since a long time, impacts hundreds of commercial flights each day, extending flight timings for passengers, as well as fuel costs for airlines.

ANI

“In future, the nation will depend more on planetary missions. After Chandrayaan I mission, we are now entering into Chandrayaan II mission. We had slipped many times but now it will be launched on July 15 at 2.51 am,” he said.

“The day we are going to land is either September 6 or September 7, that day happens to be the beginning of a lunar day. For one full lunar day, the lander & rover will be functioning & carry out scientific experiments,” he added.

Chandryaan-2 will explore a region of moon where no mission has ever set foot. The ISRO chief said the landing site, at about 70 degrees south latitude, is the southernmost for any mission till date. No country has attempted this before.

“The cost of Chandrayaan II Mission, mainly the satellite portion, including the support from foreign agencies as well as for navigation purpose, is Rs. 603 crore,” he said.

Sivan said that it will be launched using Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III).

Chandrayaan-II consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover together referred to as “composite body”. The total mass of Chandrayaan 2 system is 3.8 ton; out of 3.8 ton, nearly 1.3 ton is the propeller.

“Within 15 minutes GSLV Mk III will inject the composite body in the extrinsic orbit,” he said. During the next 16 days, there will be five burns using propellants. He said that the trans-lunar burn will be an important manoeuvre as it will put the trajectory of the composite body towards the moon.

“Composite Body will be travelling for 5 days from near earth to near moon covering 3.8 lakh Km distance and reach near the moon,” he said.

“Again a retro-burn will happen and Composite Body will be established in the orbit of the moon ,” said Chairman.

“At an appropriate time, the lander will separate from the orbiter and lander will be set in action, using propulsion system to reduce its orbit and will stay for 4 days,” Dr Sivan said.

(ANI)

“I respect the Governor but every post has its constitutional limit. Bengal is being defamed. If you want to save Bengal and its culture come together. There is a conspiracy to forget the rich legacy of Bengal. A plan is being hatched to turn Bengal into Gujarat. Bengal is not Gujarat,” she said at an event here.

Banerjee was speaking at an event attended by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, ministers in the West Bengal government, as well as some spiritual leaders, to mark the unveiling of social-reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s bust at the Hare School ground.

Her jibe at the West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi came after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi yesterday, a day after the Centre issued an advisory to the West Bengal government expressing “deep concern” over the deaths of people in post-poll violence.

Mamata accused BJP of bringing in the culture of violence in the state and alleged that eight of the 10 people killed post-election came from her party.

“Through breaking the statue they are trying to make us forget our culture. A political party should first become civilised. Were those who vandalised the statue not cultural? BJP later blame TMC for the vandalism. 10 people died post-Election and eight people are from my party,” she said.

Banerjee added that she worked for the people and will not stop till she is alive and also blamed BJP for controlling the media to show the state in a negative light.

“Kill me if needed. I don’t need anything, I work for the people. A lot of people are killed in UP and children die but it does not come out anywhere in the media as it is all controlled by them,” she said.

Banerjee promised to make a museum dedicated to the social reformer Vidyasagar inside the college campus and said the state government has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the same.

As per the event schedule, the unveiled bust was taken from the Hare School Ground to Vidyasagar college where it was re-installed at the same place where a similar statue was broken in May during a political clash.

Moreover, the TMC chief herself marched in the procession to Vidyasagar College to participate in the re-installation event of the bust.

The bust of Vidyasagar, a 19th-century social reformer, was vandalised in clashes between BJP and TMC workers at Vidyasagar College during BJP president Amit Shah’s roadshow on May 14.

(ANI)

“The wreckage of the missing #An32 was spotted today 16 Kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the #IAF Mi-17 Helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone,” the Indian Air Force said in a tweet said a week after the transport aircraft was reported missing shortly after taking off from Jorhat base on June 3.

The AN-32, with 13 personnel onboard had last contacted ground sources from Arunachal Pradesh on June 3. IAF chopper teams were part of the mission which made the discovery.

Aerial search and rescue operations entered their eighth day on Tuesday. (ANI)