Vande Bharat Mission: Over 700 Indians return home; more flights on Day 7

Air India along with its subsidiary Air India Express are operating a total of 64 flights to 12 countries to repatriate 14,800 Indians back in the first phase

Under the Vande Bharat Mission, Air India’s repatriation flight AI-1377, carrying 225 passengers from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia arrived at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport early on Wednesday. The evacuation operation is part of the country’s largest-ever initiative to bring back Indian nationals amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Similarly, an Air India repatriation flight carrying 169 medical students from Dhaka in Bangladesh reached Srinagar on Tuesday. “Indian Embassy in Bangladesh and Indian Govt helped us a lot. We are happy to be back. We are thankful to the Indian Government,” one of the medical students said.

Also Read:  Coronavirus update: Lockdown 4.0, Vande Bharat Mission and other stories

Ministry of Civil Aviation had said that a total of 6,037 Indians have been flown back to India in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission in 5 days beginning from May 7. “Under this mission, Ministry of Civil Aviation is coordinating with Ministry of External Affairs and state Governments for bringing Indians back to their homeland,” the Ministry said.

Air India along with its subsidiary Air India Express are operating a total of 64 flights (42 by Air India and 24 by AI Express) to 12 countries including USA, UK Bangladesh, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Philippines, UAE and Malaysia to repatriate 14,800 Indians back in the first phase. The second phase of Vande Bharat Mission will be launched from May 16-22 during which 149 flights, including feeder flights, will be operated to bring back Indians from 31 countries, sources said…Read More

PM Modi launches RuPay card in Abu Dhabi, to help Indian tourists

India has already launched the RuPay card in Singapore and Bhutan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the RuPay card here, making the UAE the first country in the Middle East to initiate the Indian indigenous system of electronic payment.

RuPay card scheme was launched in 2012 to fulfil the Reserve Bank of India’s vision to have a domestic, open and multilateral system of payments. RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions. India has already launched the RuPay card in Singapore and Bhutan. Modi launched the RuPay card by making a special purchase which he will offer as ‘prasad’ at the Shreenathji Temple in Bahrain tomorrow.

“The RuPay card comes to UAE! PM @narendramodi makes a special purchase, which he would offer as Prasad at the Shreenathji Temple in Bahrain tomorrow,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted.

Before the launch, an MoU to establish a technology interface between the payment platforms in India and UAE was exchanged between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and UAE’s Mercury Payments Services in the presence of the prime minister.

Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, not Salman, is the most powerful Arab ruler

Prince Mohammed bin Zayed grew the UAE’s power by following America’s lead. He now has an increasingly bellicose agenda of his own. And US President Donald Trump seems to be following him

Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the 29-year-old commander of the almost negligible air force of the United Arab Emirates, had come to Washington shopping for weapons. In 1991, in the months after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the young prince wanted to buy so much military hardware to protect his own oil-rich monarchy — from Hellfire missiles to Apache helicopters to F-16 jets — that Congress worried he might destabilise the region.

But the Pentagon, trying to cultivate accommodating allies in the Gulf, had identified Prince Mohammed as a promising partner. The favorite son of the semi-literate Bedouin who founded the United Arab Emirates, Prince Mohammedwas a serious-minded, British-trained helicopter pilot who had persuaded his father to transfer $4 billion into the United States Treasury to help pay for the 1991 war in Iraq. Richard A Clarke, then an assistant secretary of state, reassured lawmakers that the young prince would never become “an aggressor.” “The UAE is not now and never will be a threat to stability or peace in the region,” Clarke said in congressional testimony. “That is very hard to imagine. Indeed, the UAE is a force for peace.”

Thirty years later, Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, now 58, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, is arguably the most powerful leader in the Arab world. He is also among the most influential foreign voices in Washington, urging the United States to adopt his increasingly bellicose approach to the region. Prince Mohammed is almost unknown to the American public and his tiny country has fewer citizens than Rhode Island. But he may be the richest man in the world. He controls sovereign wealth funds worth $1.3 trillion, more than any other country.

His influence operation in Washington is legendary (Clarke got rich on his payroll). His military is the Arab world’s most potent, equipped through its work with the United States to conduct high-tech surveillance and combat operations far beyond its borders.

Read More: International News