Air India on Monday said it will progressively induct 30 new aircraft, including 5 wide-body Boeing planes, from December this year, as the Tatas-owned airline looks to boost its domestic and international services.

The airline has signed leases and letters of intent for inducting 5 wide-body Boeing and 25 Airbus narrow-body planes over the next 15 months.

“These new aircraft, which will enter service from late 2022, will increase the airline’s fleet by over 25 per cent. Not counting the 10 long-grounded narrow-body and 6 wide-body aircraft that have been returned to service in recent months, these new aircraft mark the first major fleet expansion since Air India’s acquisition by the Tata Group earlier this year,” it said in a release.

The planes being leased include 21 Airbus A320 neos, 4 Airbus A321 neos and 5 Boeing B777-200LRs.

The B777-200LRs will join the fleet between December 2022 and March 2023. They will be deployed on routes from Indian metro cities to the US.

“Mumbai will see the addition of flights to San Francisco as well as to both of the New York area’s international airports, Newark Liberty and John F Kennedy, while Bangalore will receive a 3x weekly service to San Francisco.

“These aircraft will result in Air India offering Premium Economy haul flights for the first time,” the statement said.

According to the release, the 4 A321 neo aircraft are expected to join the fleet in the first quarter of calendar year 2023, while the 21 A320 neos will be inducted in the second half of 2023.

These aircraft will be deployed on domestic sectors as well as for short-haul international destinations.

“After a long time without significant growth, Air India is delighted to resume expanding its fleet and global footprint. These new aircraft, together with existing aircraft being returned to service, address an immediate need for more capacity and connectivity, and mark a strong step forward,” Air India CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson said.

Currently, the airline’s narrow-body fleet stands at 70 aircraft. Out of them, 54 are in service and the remaining 16 aircraft will progressively return to service by early 2023.

Air India’s wide-body fleet stands at 43 aircraft, of which 33 are operational. The rest will return to service by early 2023.

Superstar Rajinikanth’s younger daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth has welcomed her second child.
Soundarya shared the news of the birth of her baby boy on Instagram on Sunday night. She revealed the newborn has been named Veer.

“With gods abundant grace and our parents blessings Vishagan, Ved and I are thrilled to welcome Ved’s little brother Veer Rajinikanth Vanangamudi today 11/9/22 #Veer #Blessed, she wrote along side pictures capturing her whole pregnancy.

The newborn baby is Soundarya’s first child with businessman Vishagan. The couple got married in 2019.

She has a son named Ved from her first marriage to businessman Ashwin Ramkumar.

The filmmaker, best known for her directorial debut Kochadaiiyaan (2014), starring her father Rajinikanth, also thanked the team of doctors.

Congratulatory messages poured in from fans and industry colleagues, actor Abhishek Bachchan.

Americans are remembering 9/11 with moments of silence, readings of victims’ names, volunteer work and other tributes 21 years after the deadliest terror attack on US soil.

Victims’ relatives and dignitaries will convene Sunday at the places where hijacked jets crashed on Sept 11, 2001 the World Trade Centre in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Other communities around the country are marking the day with candlelight vigils, interfaith services and other commemorations. Some Americans are joining in volunteer projects on a day that is federally recognised as both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

The observances follow a fraught milestone anniversary last year. It came weeks after the chaotic and humbling end of the Afghanistan war that the US launched in response to the attacks.

But if this Sept 11 may be less of an inflection point, it remains a point for reflection on the attack that killed nearly 3,000 people, spurred a US war on terror worldwide and reconfigured national security policy.

It also stirred for a time a sense of national pride and unity for many, while subjecting Muslim Americans to years of suspicion and bigotry and engendering debate over the balance between safety and civil liberties. In ways both subtle and plain, the aftermath of 9/11 ripples through American politics and public life to this day.

And the attacks have cast a long shadow into the personal lives of thousands of people who survived, responded or lost loved ones, friends and colleagues.

More than 70 of Sekou Siby’s co-workers perished at Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the trade centre’s north tower. Siby had been scheduled to work that morning until another cook asked him to switch shifts.

Siby never took a restaurant job again; it would have brought back too many memories. The Ivorian immigrant wrestled with how to comprehend such horror in a country where he’d come looking for a better life.

He found it difficult to form the type of close, family-like friendships he and his Windows on the World co-workers had shared. It was too painful, he had learned, to become attached to people when you have no control over what’s going to happen to them next .

Every 9/11 is a reminder of what I lost that I can never recover, says Siby, who is now president and CEO of ROC United. The restaurant workers’ advocacy group evolved from a relief centre for Windows on the World workers who lost their jobs when the twin towers fell.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden plans to speak and lay a wreath at the Pentagon, while first lady Jill Biden is scheduled to speak in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked planes went down after passengers and crew members tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers headed for Washington. Al-Qaida conspirators had seized control of the jets to use them as passenger-filled missiles.

Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff are due at the National Sept 11 Memorial in New York, but by tradition, no political figures speak at the ground zero ceremony. It centres instead on victims’ relatives reading aloud the names of the dead.

Readers often add personal remarks that form an alloy of American sentiments about Sept 11 grief, anger, toughness, appreciation for first responders and the military, appeals to patriotism, hopes for peace, occasional political barbs, and a poignant accounting of the graduations, weddings, births and daily lives that victims have missed.

Some relatives also lament that a nation which came together to some extent after the attacks has since splintered apart. So much so that federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which were reshaped to focus on international terrorism after 9/11, now see the threat of domestic violent extremism as equally urgent.

Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, said on Thursday that his administration is taking effective steps to resurrect the golden era of filmmaking in the union territory.

Sinha made these remarks during his interaction with renowned Bollywood Actor and film-maker, Sanjay Khan at Raj Bhawan, an official spokesperson said.

The veteran actor discussed with the LG the revival of film shoots in Jammu and Kashmir.

Khan noted that the UT government is taking effective measures to create a vibrant film ecosystem in J&K to rekindle its golden age.

“Key endeavours like New Film Policy, developing better facilities are aimed at transforming J&K into the most preferred film shooting destination,” the LG added.

New Delhi :Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC)-GoI, who was the chief guest at the roundtable – ‘Enhancing Competitiveness and Quality Revolution in Indian Higher Education (IHE)’, informed that UGC has tied up with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to ensure that students from remotest areas can have access to online education facilities. “We are working on a multi-dimensional way to make sure that education reaches to the last student in the most remote area. So, we have signed up with MeitY as they have a large number of common service centres (CSCs). Any student can walk into those centres, pay a nominal monthly fee, and access digital universities,” he said. The event was organised by the apex industry body, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

Prof Kumar gave insights into the various initiatives undertaken by the Government of India to expand and enhance higher education in the country. “The introduction of Common Universities Entrance Test Undergraduate (CUET-UG) 2022 has been well-received by the students and the stakeholders. A huge number of students, around 14.9 lakhs registered for this examination, which is only next to NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test),” he said. Speaking on the possible merger between the national-level engineering and medical entrances NEET and JEE, he added, “That’s an idea that we are floating so that there is wider discussion among the stakeholders. There is no formal decision that we have taken on this.”

The UGC chief also addressed numerous queries from the Vice-Chancellors present at the roundtable. He revealed that nearly 550 universities have registered at the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) for higher credits. “Thousands of students taking online courses are benefiting in terms of transferring the credits to the host university where they are studying online,” he said, adding, “Currently, students can take up to 40% of the credit requirements in a programme, but once we announce online regulations and establish the digital university, there is going to be an exponential growth of online education.”

To achieve the goal of tuberculosis elimination by 2025, the government will launch the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan on Friday, which is aimed at providing community support to those suffering from the disease.

Under the campaign, people and institutions can adopt blocks, districts or even an individual patient and provide nutritional and treatment support.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call given at the Delhi End TB Summit in March 2018 to eliminate the disease from the country five years ahead of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) target of 2030, President Droupadi Murmu will virtually launch the campaign on Friday.

The president will also launch the “Ni-kshay Mitra” initiative that forms a vital component of the campaign. The Ni-kshay 2.0 portal provides a platform to the donors to provide various forms of support to those undergoing TB treatment. The governors and lieutenant governors of the states and Union territories, along with state officials, will also be urged to take the campaign forward.

The four-pronged support includes nutritional, additional diagnostic, additional nutritional supplements and vocational support. The donors, called Ni-kshay Mitras, could be a wide range of stakeholders from elected representatives, political parties to corporates, NGOs, institutions and individuals.

According to official sources, of the total 13,51,611 TB patients presently on treatment in the country, 8,95,119 had given their consent to be adopted till September 7.

Under the programme, a monthly food basket comprising 3 kg of rice, 1.5 kg of pulses, 250 grams of vegetable cooking oil and 1 kg of milk powder or six litres of milk or 1 kg of groundnut has been recommended for each tuberculosis patient. Thirty eggs can also be added to the basket, according to an official source.

“In addition to nutritional support, the donor organisation or individual may also provide vocational support, additional diagnostic help or nutritional supplements containing B complex vitamins, vitamin C and minerals,” the source said.

The minimum period of commitment for providing additional support to a TB patient shall be one year, he said, adding that there are options of a support programme for two and three years.

The campaign would be an expansion of the Union health ministry’s focus on the eradication of tuberculosis by ramping up community support.

Those interested in participating in the programme can register on the Ni-Kshay 2.0 portal — communitysupport.nikshay.in — and fill in their names, contact details, the type and duration of support and the geographic area where they want to provide the support, following which a unique ID will be generated.

An e-mail with the contact details of the district TB officers and details of the Ni-kshay Mitra will be sent to the DTO to facilitate the discussion, planning and implementation of the support committed.

“The involvement of the community in supporting the treatment cascade shall help in the reduction of stigma and also lead to increased awareness among the public regarding tuberculosis. The improved nutrition for the TB patients shall result in better treatment outcomes. It will also lead to a reduction of the out-of-pocket expenditure for the families of the TB patients,” an official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening unveiled a 28-ft-tall statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.

The statue is part of the Centre’s Rs 13,450-crore Central Vista project, which will have a new Parliament building, new office and residences for the prime minister and vice-president and new ministry buildings. The North and South Blocks, the secretariat buildings flanking Rashtrapati Bhavan, will be converted into museums.

The black granite statue has been carved from a monolithic block of granite weighing 280 metric tonne. The block of granite picked for the statue was transported to Delhi from Telangana and the statue was carved out of it in over two months.

Modi also interacted with some workers involved in the redevelopment work of the Central Vista avenue and told them they will be invited for the Republic Day parade, officials said.

The prime minister also walked along the gallery in the India Gate premises showcasing the evolution of the Central Vista Avenue over the past nine decades.

Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, G Kishan Reddy, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Meenakshi Lekhi and Kaushal Kishore were present at the event among others.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she and her counterparts in neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand will join hands with several other opposition parties to oust the BJP from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

While addressing a party programme here, Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, claimed that the BJP would face a rout because of its arrogance and people’s anger.

I, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren and many others will come together in 2024. All opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. The BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. There will be Khela Hobe’ in 2024, she said.

‘Khela Hobe’ (game is on) had been the battle cry of the TMC during the high-octane Assembly polls last year, in which the party defeated the BJP to storm back to power for the third consecutive term.

Banerjee claimed that the arrest of Jharkhand MLAs with hordes of cash by Bengal police recently stopped the horse trading in the neighbouring state and prevented the fall of the Hemant Soren government.

Three Congress MLAs of Jharkhand were arrested after their vehicle was intercepted at Panchla in West Bengal’s Howrah district on July 30 and nearly Rs 49 lakh in cash was found in the car. They claimed that the money was meant for buying sarees for an Adivasi festival in their state.

The Congress, which is a part of the JMM-led government in Jharkhand, has claimed that the BJP was trying to topple the Hemant Soren government by offering Rs 10 crore each and ministerial berth to the MLAs.

The BJP thinks they can threaten us with CBI and ED. The more they pursue such tricks, the more they will get closer to defeat in next year’s Panchayat election and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, she said.

She slammed the opposition, especially the BJP, and a section of the media for allegedly unleashing a malicious campaign against her and her party leaders following the arrest of senior leaders Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal by central agencies in different cases.

JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Thursday reaffirmed the varsity’s commitment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of setting all Indians on the path to development and nationalism.

Speaking at an event at the varsity, Pandit said, “JNU is first in academics, first in research and first in nationalism and in paying our tributes to freedom fighters, unsung heroes of this great nation.”

“On the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, JNU reaffirms its commitment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s paradigm shift. This paradigm shift has been in getting all the Indians towards development and nationalism… a vision with a mission,” she added.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor was addressing the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a ‘Tribute Wall’ to commemorate the unsung heroes of the Indian Independence. The Tribute Wall is being built in collaboration with Chakra Foundation.

The 60-foot-long and seven-foot-high wall will have the names of 1,040 freedom fighters inscribed on granite stones with QR (Quick Response) codes. People can go to the Chakra app and scan the code to read about a freedom fighter.

“Through the Tribute Wall, we join tradition with modernity… A forgotten history into living memory. We, the people, who have taken our freedom for granted should remember the great heroes. Please rededicate yourself to the nation in the spirit of these unsung heroes,” Pandit said.

Pandit’s speech was greeted with slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ from students in the audience.

The event was also attended by Puducherry Assmebly Speaker Embalam R Selvam, Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Bidhuri, and Chakra Foundation Founder Chakra Rajasekar.

Selvam said, “This initiative of putting up the tribute wall will inspire the young generation. This will create an impact on the youth who don’t know about freedom fighters.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday afternoon paid obeisance at the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Rajasthan’s Ajmer.

She reached the shrine amid tight security arrangements and was extended a red-carpet welcome.

Saiyad Kalimuddin, a khadim at the shrine, said a chadar was offered on behalf of Hasina and prayers were performed for peace and prosperity in both countries. She spent nearly a hour in the dargah.

According to the protocol, there was no other devotee on the dargah premises and the market in its vicinity was closed.

Before leaving the city, Hasina stayed for some time at the circuit house.

Earlier, Hasina along with her delegation reached the Jaipur international airport in a special aircraft.

She was received by state Education Minister BD Kalla and top officials.

Folk artistes performed dance to welcome her at the airport. She could not stop herself and danced with the artistes at the airport. The delegation stayed for a while in the VIP lounge of the airport before leaving for Ajmer by road.