India extends ban on int'l commercial flights till Nov 30
Darpan News Desk IANS, 29 Oct, 2021 11:07 AM
New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) To deal with the ongoing Covid pandemic, India's civil aviation regulator on Friday extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till November 30.
In the notification, the Directorate General of Central Aviation (DGCA), however, said: "This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA."
It also said that scheduled international flights might be allowed on selected routes on a case to case basis.
The Central government had banned the operation of international flights on March 23 last year to contain and control the spread of Covid-19.
Flight restrictions, however, were later eased under air bubble arrangement with certain countries. At present, India has formed air bubble pacts with about 28 countries.
The country had been operating Vande Bharat flights to many countries over the last one year to evacuate stranded Indians.
Even the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has directed all state governments and Union Territory administrations to use the word Scheduled Caste instead of Dalit for persons belonging to SCs.
The non-recognition of the Covishield vaccine has impacted the Indians, especially students travelling to the UK. This issue was flagged during the meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar and UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Monday in Washington DC.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Channi took oath of office along with his two deputies -- one a Jat Sikh and another belonging to the Hindu community -- at a simple ceremony here in the Punjab capital that was delayed for 20 minutes owing to the late arrival of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
