last date on PIO cards extended to Dec 31
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday that Government has decided to extend the last date, from June 30 to December 31, for applying for conversion of Person of Indian Origin PIO cards to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards. “I feel that the coversion will not be completed by June 30. So we have decided to extend the last date to December 31,” she told reporters at her annual press conference. The Government had earlier extended the last date to June 30 from March 31 this year.
‘Efforts on to trace 39 Indian captives in Iraq’
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday that the Indian Government was making effors to trace Judith D'Souza, who has been abducted in Afghanistan, and also pursuing the case of 39 Indians who have been missing from Iraq for the past two years following their abduction by Islamic State militants. “In the last two years, I have not abandoned even a single Indian national, whether he is alone or in group or in captive,” Sushma Swaraj said in her annual press conference here. “It is my duty to save every indian whether he is stranded or captive be it Prem Kumar (a Jesuit priest who was released from Afghanistan last year), Judith or 39 Indians who are in captive. My duty is to bring them all to India,” she added.
Cong office vandalised over minister's sacking
Bengaluru: An old Congress office in Karnataka was vandalised on Sunday by angry supporters of Qamar Ul Islam, who was sacked as Minister for Minority Welfare, Haj and Wakf Board. “Our office at Kalburgi was ransacked by Islam's supporters after they learnt he was dropped in the cabinet reshuffle,” a party leader told IANS here.
workshop to promote water transport
New Delhi: The Shipping Ministry on Sunday said that it will organise a workshop with various stakeholders to promote water transportation and make it competive to roads and railway transportation. The workshop will be held on June 20 between 9:30 am and 1:30 pm in the Indian Habitat Centre.
"The waterways mode of transportation is fuel-efficient, environment friendly, and capable of easing traffic congestion on roads and railways thus preventing loss of human lives due to accidents.
"The Government of India is committed to promote coastal shipping and inland waterways transportation and has envisioned the increasing of the share of waterways transportation mode from the present level of 7 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020," said an official statement.