Jet and Sahara airlines geared up for foreign skies take-off

The Centre has allowed domestic private airlines to fly on international routes as a part of its drive to strengthen and expand the nascent sector. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel announced this in the Capital today.

“The cabinet today approved domestic private airlines to fly overseas, apart from the Gulf countries. The gulf region has been reserved for the next three years (for state-owned carriers,” Patel told reporters after a cabinet meeting in New Delhi.

The move will boost the prospects of private airlines such as Jet Airways, India’s biggest private domestic airline, and Sahara Airlines Ltd, the third ranked local carrier.

Industry body CII on Wednesday termed as “bold and pragmatic” the government’s decision to allow private operators to fly on international routes and said the move would harbour healthy competition among the airlines.

“India was not able to fully use its bilateral landing rights and it is only logical that the government viewed the restrictive policy in the right perspective and adopted a holistic approach,” a CII release said.

With this, private airlines — Jet and Sahara — which presently are allowed to fly only in India and six SAARC countries, would be able to mount flights to popular destinations like Australia, China, London and New York, it said.

Private airlines have got what they have been lobbying for a long time. Jet Airways and Sahara — two airlines eligible as per the norms — are planning new international flights to Singapore and Bangkok.

But UB Chairman Vijay Mallya (Kingfisher Airlines) is upset as the Cabinet has allowed only those private airlines with 5-year experience to fly overseas. Even Air Deccan won’t be able to fly abroad as it’s only two-years-old.

China and India Tuesday voiced their willingness to promote the relations between the two armed forces.

Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan said it is in the fundamental interests of Chinese and Indian people to maintain the long-term stable and sound bilateral relations.

“China would like to step up its cooperation with India in defense and security sector and advance the bilateral military ties to a higher level,” said Cao, who visited India in March.

Vij quoted that in recent years, the two armies have kept sound high-level exchange of visits and cooperation in specialized fields.

Later Tuesday, Vij was also hosted by Liang Guanglie, chief of the general staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Liang also highlighted the importance of army-to-army relations and expressed China’s aspiration to make concerted efforts with India to promote the all-round progress of bilateral military ties.

Chief reviewed the coastal search and rescue exercise jointly conducted by India and China last year, adding “we invite China to join our military exercise in non-traditional security.”

India may invite Chinese officers to observe its military drills, which Vij said is a move in response to China inviting Indian officers to a Chinese military exercise in September. He also lauded the white paper on China’s national defense in 2004, which is released Monday.

On Monday, Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the general staff ofChina’s PLA, gave Vij an official welcoming ceremony and held talks with him.

Vij and his delegation arrived in China’s financial hub Shanghai last Wednesday.
Zeng told Vij that China would like to further expand the friendly relations with India and other neighbouring countries to achieve common prosperity.

Vij said during the meetings with Chinese leaders that “trust between the two militaries has deepened in recent years as bilateral cooperation enhanced in all fields.” He said the border issue was discussed during the meetings, the Xinhua report said.

During his first visit to China, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) laid out a red carpet welcome for Vij and opened up many of its defence facilities as part of the conscious effort by Beijing to enhance mutual trust and understanding.

Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday fired an U.N. official who called the United States “stingy” when it comes to providing humanitarian aid to countries in need.

“The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief in the world,” Powell said during an appearance on CNN’s “American Morning.”

The “stingy” remark was made Monday by U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland, who exhorted the United States and other “rich” nations to allocate more than 0.1 or 0.2 percent of their gross national income to foreign aid.

Egeland responded to Powell’s criticism by saying that he had been misunderstood and that he had not been referring to aid for the quake and tsunami victims but to the overall trend in recent years by Western countries in aiding the poor. He said pledges for the current crisis had been “most generous.” (more…)

U.S. rebuts over ’stingy’ nations claim

WASHINGTON -
Secretary of State Colin Powell indignantly rejected any suggestion on Tuesday that the U.S. response to the Asian earthquake and tsunami catastrophe had been insufficient, and he signaled that much more American help was on the way.

But when you look at what nations give as a percentage of their Gross National Product, the US is way behind. The most generous nations – Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands – give almost one per cent of their GNP to aid. The US gives 0.1 per cent, coming in at 22nd place, when nations are ranked according to their generosity.

“The United States is not stingy,” Powell said in a CNN interview. “We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.”

The interview was one of several Powell used Tuesday morning to emphasize that $15 million in promised U.S. aid was just a first step, and to rebut comments made Monday by the U.N. humanitarian-aid chief, Jan Egeland, who said rich countries seemed to have forgotten how fortunate they were. < !—more-->

The United States added another $25 million to its tsunami contribution today, bringing the total to AUS$44 million, and its reacted indignantly to the accusation of stinginess, as North America Correspondent Leigh Sales reports.

But when Powell appeared on “The Early Show” on CBS on Tuesday morning, interviewer Harry Smith suggested that the initial pledge of $15 million “doesn’t seem like very much money from the United States of America.”

“Well, it’s a start, Harry,” Powell replied, noting that nine U.S. reconnaissance planes and a dozen transport aircraft loaded with supplies were on their way to the stricken region. The secretary said the $15 million pledge was “an initial infusion of money to join the international relief effort.” “We will do more” .he said

Asked on NBC’s “Today” show whether the American contribution might reach $1 billion, Powell said he could not give a specific figure, but he implied that the final U.S. contribution would far surpass the $15 million initial pledge.

“Clearly, the United States will be a major contributor to this international effort,” Powell said, acknowledging that the overhaul effort would run into the billions.

On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Powell said, “We will do more,” adding that he wished Egeland had not said what he did.

But the journey from the $35 million promise to its payment is fraught with bureaucratic twists.

First, the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes foreign aid, will have to ask for more money, since the initial $35 million aid package drained its emergency relief fund, said Andrew Natsios, the agency’s administrator.

“We just spent it,'’ Natsios said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. “We’ll be talking to the (White House) budget office … (about) what to do at this point.'’

Natsios said the Pentagon also is spending tens of millions to mobilize an additional relief operation, with C-130 transport planes winging their way from Dubai to Indonesia with tents, blankets, food and water bags.

As of early Tuesday, dozens of countries and relief groups had pledged $81 million in help for South and East Asia, said the Geneva-based U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“We outmatch the contributions of other nations combined; we’ll continue to do so,'’ Bush spokesman Trent Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where the president is spending a post-Christmas vacation at his ranch.

By that measure, the United States spent almost $15.8 billion for “official development assistance'’ to developing countries in 2003. Next closest was Japan, at $8.9 billion.