BHARAT

Vande Bharat Mission Phase 5 to Begin From August 1, Air India Announces | Details Here 

© Provided by India.com Vande Bharat Mission Phase 5: Air India, on Friday, announced the beginning of the fifth phase of Vande Bharat Mission from August 1, which will also be the beginning of Unlock 3 in India. The airline is yet to announce the details, but here are what you can expect in August.   1. More international destinations will open up in August. 2. Phase 5 will not be a monopoly of Air India. Private airlines will also be part of it as they have been of the ongoing phase 4. 3. SpiceJet will fly to the US and the UK. © Provided by India.com 4. More flights to the UAE, US, UK, France, Germany — the countries with which India has set up air bubbles. 5. More air bubbles are scheduled to come up. Delhi-Tel Aviv flights are likely to come up after August 15. 6. Air ticket prices of Air India are likely to go down as there will be competition from international airlines as well. Vande Bharat Mission started in early May as a repatriation initiative by the civil aviation department. Helmed by Air India, the mission proved to be a great success especially as no other international flights were operating during the lockdown period. In July, India resumed international flights in a selective way. As the international services resumed, there were doubts whether Vande Bharat Mission operations will be on, but now after Air India’s announcement, it is now clear that Vande Bharat Mission has been dovetailed into the official resumption of international flights.


Atmanirbhar Bharat aims to make India into global nerve centre of supply chains 

NEW DELHI: India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ programme aims to transform Asia’s third largest economy into a global nerve centre of supply chains, a senior foreign ministry official said Friday. Speaking at an event organised by the New Delhi-based PHD Chamber of Commerce on the ‘Role of Indian Economic Diplomacy in Making India Self Reliant’, Rahul Chhabra, secretary, economic relations, in the Indian foreign ministry urged Indian businesses to take advantage of ongoing government programmes like the lines of credit extended to countries to showcase Indian expertise in project, planning design and execution. Chhabra noted that covid-19 pandemic had caused the fastest economic decline ever recorded in history and this was a continuing phenomenon given that countries were still emerging from lockdowns. “Globally there has been a geo-political, geo-economic and geo-strategic shift" due to the pandemic, Chhabra said. India’s response has been to reboot and revamp the economy in a bid to emerge from the world’s largest lockdown, he said. The government’s focus has been to increase demand, boost farmers’ incomes and lend support to the micro, small and medium enterprises as part of its attempts to re-invigorate the economy. In this context, India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ programme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May is not “inward looking" but aimed at “making us the global nerve centre of the supply chains," he said, adding, “what is significant is that it shows the confidence of the government in the capabilities of the private sector." Indian industry had already demonstrated its ability to respond to the global pandemic by scaling production and export of drugs required by countries around the world. The Indian companies had also stepped up the manufacture of personal protection equipment which was now being exported. Urging the local manufacturers to seize opportunities opening up, Chhabra said in the past five years, India had extended 300 lines of credit worth over $30 billion to over 60 countries. Indian industry could look at these lines of credit as opportunities given the provision that projects undertaken would be using as much as 75% of raw materials and content produced in India. The LoCs also offered market access to Indian industry in regions like Africa, Central Asia and others that may not have been possible earlier, he said. Projects that could be undertaken under the LoCs included construction of infrastructure like power plants and roads, irrigation and drinking water facilities, he said. Another opportunity that Indian industry could take advantage of was the regional and cross border connectivity projects that the Indian government was involved in, Chhabra said. These would act as “force multipliers flow of goods" for Indian manufacturers, he said. India was planning two more Integrated check posts for trade with Nepal besides two rail links, Chhabra said. With Bangladesh too, there were plans for multiple rail links including one connecting the port of Chattogram, he said. Besides this, Indian missions had identified 15 countries where India could scale up agriculture exports besides textiles, apparel, gems and jewellery, Chhabra said. Africa presented a huge opportunity given its requirements for skilling people, he said, describing it as one of the “largest markets" and the “fastest growing region of the world." Subscribe to newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.


Ayushman Bharat: Lakhs of migrant workers receive free healthcare 

About 14.60 lakh migrant workers have availed themselves of the healthcare facility under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in the last 45 days after the scheme was extended to such workers across States. The Centre had, in June, extended the flagship health insurance scheme to migrant workers across States, in the wake of the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed.