Trivedi's replacement Mukul Roy will swear in tomorrow

President Pratibha Patil will tomorrow(20.03.2012) administer the oath of office as cabinet minister to Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy, who will take charge of Railway Ministry. 

"The President will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Mukul Roy as cabinet cinister in the council of ministers at 1000 hours on March 20," a Rashtrapati Bhawan spokesperson said in a statement. 

The President, as advised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has accepted the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, the statement said. 

Trivedi, also a Trinamool Congress MP, had resigned as the Railway Minister last night. 
Trivedi became the first railway minister to resign before the railway budget is passed.

JetLite, merges with Konnect; Jetlite discontinued

 

As part of a strategic rebranding and restructuring exercise announced last July, Jet Airways, on Monday, said, effective March 25, its low-cost arm JetLite would cease to operate, after being merged with the other no-frills brand JetKonnect.

“Effective March 25, JetLite will cease to operate separately, but will come under the JetKonnect brand, enabling guests to avail themselves of a single superior in-flight product in the full service (Jet Airways) and low-fare categories,” group Chief Commercial Officer Sudheer Raghavan said in a statement.

JetLite was created in 2007, following the takeover of Air Sahara in April, 2007, and used to contribute nearly three-quarters of the group's domestic revenue, with the rest coming in from JetKonnect. It used to operate with 19 Boeing 737s, connecting 31 domestic destinations, apart from Kathmandu, with 123 flights a day.

JetKonnect was launched in May, 2009, as competition increased in the no-frills category.

India world’s largest arms importer?

Modernising its armed forces along the borders with China and Pakistan, India has emerged as the world’s largest importer of arms, a global think tank report said today.

The report pointed out that China, which was the largest importer of arms in 2002-2006, fell to fourth place in 2007-11 due to decline in the volume of Chinese imports along with improvements in China’s arms industry and rising arms exports.

“India was the world’s largest recipient of arms, accounting for 10 per cent of global arms imports between 2007 to 2011,” the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its latest report.

In the field of arms import, India has left behind both Pakistan and China along with Singapore and South Korea, the report said.

In the last five to ten years, India has taken several steps to modernise its armed forces and signed several deals to procure military hardware.

This includes deals for 10 C-17 strategic lift aircraft, six C-130 Super Hercules Special Operations aircraft, additional Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets along with several warships. 

Tamilnadu govt. gives go ahead to Kudankulam N-plant

Seeking to end the impasse over the Kudankulam nuclear plant issue, the Jayalalilthaa government in Tamil Nadu on Monday gave the go ahead to the controversial project and announced a Rs. 500 crore special development package for the area where it is located.

“In accordance with (today’s) Cabinet decision, immediate steps will be taken (to facilitate commissioning) of the plant,” Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement, breaking her silence over the issue.

She also sought the cooperation of political parties and all concerned to immediately resume work at the plant in Tirunelveli district, stalled following protests since September 2011, spearheaded by the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE).

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