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TIMES NATIONTHE TIMES OF INDIA, CHANDIGARH | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017
AHEAD OF GUJARAT ASSEMBLY POLLS, VAGHELA SET TO SPLIT STATE CONGRESS | 10
KOVIND: FROM A HUT WITH A LEAKINGROOF TO A 340-ROOM RESIDENCE | 8
Nagpur: The indigenouslybuilt Dhanush — the 155mmartillery guns developed onthe lines of the famed Boforshowitzers — has failed yetagain after reaching the lastphase of tests.
In a test fire undertakenlast week, a shell hit the muzzlebrake, a source privy to the de-velopment said. The muzzlebrake is the component fittedon the top of the barrel. It helpsin reducing the recoil createdwhen a shell is fired. Sourcessaid the gun had faced a simi-lar issue in the test fires carri-ed out in May this year. Theguns are being manufacturedat Gun Carriage Factory at Ja-balpur. Sources said questionswere being raised now aboutthe barrel’s design. One of thesuggestions is an increased di-ameter for the muzzle so thatthe shell can freely fly out.
Desi howitzerfails last
phase of [email protected]
Mumbai: The gloom owingto protectionist policies hasnot kept Indians residing inthe US from investing in realestate. By purchasing resi-dential property worth $7.8billion during the 12-monthperiod ending March 2017, In-dians have emerged as thefifth largest foreign investorsin real estate in the US.
Backed by mortgage fi-nance, these properties werelargely acquired for use asprimary residence, or for achild studying in the US.
Chinese nationals werethe biggest buyers, purcha-sing $31.7 billion worth of re-sidential property. They arefollowed by Canadians, Bri-tons, and Mexicans.
From April 2015 to March2016, Indians invested $6.1 bil-lion and occupied third place.However, a surge of invest-
ments from other nationaliti-es led to India slipping to fifthposition in 2016-17 (see table).
The bulk of buyers fromChina, India, and Mexicowere working and residingin the US, while most buyersfrom Canada and the UnitedKingdom were non-residentbuyers, adds the report “2017— Profile of InternationalActivity in US Residential
Real Estate”, released recent-ly by the National Associa-tion of Realtors (NAR).
More than a third of theChinese buyers purchased re-sidential property in Califor-nia. Compared to other majorforeign buyers, Indians werenot as concentrated in any sta-te and the location of theirjobs largely determined thepurchase. While California,
“The political and econo-mic uncertainty both hereand abroad did not deter fore-igners from exponentiallyramping up their purchasesof US property over the pastyear,” said Lawrence Yun,NAR’s chief economist.“...Foreigners increasinglyacted on their beliefs that theUS is a safe place to live, workand invest,” added Yun.
While a stronger dollarmakes it more expensive topurchase US property, expec-tations of further weakeningof a local currency promptssome foreign buyers to acce-lerate their purchases.
Referring to the value ofthe rupee, the report statesthat it depreciated modestly(by 2%) relative to the dollarover the survey period. Ho-wever, after demonetisationin November 2016, the rupeereversed course and began toappreciate.
New Jersey, Texas, Massachu-setts, and Kentucky were topdestinations, more than two infive Indian buyers purchasedin other state.
In aggregate, foreign buy-ers purchased $153 billionworth of residential proper-ty in the US between April2016 and March 2017, which isa 49% jump from the figurefor the corresponding periodbetween 2015 and 2016 —$102.6 billion. In terms ofunits, foreign buyers purcha-sed 2.84 lakh residential pro-perties in the US from April2016 to March 2017, up 32%from the previous period’s2.14 lakh properties.
On an average, foreign bu-yers paid $536,852 for theirproperties, 12% more thanthe average for the previous12-month period. The avera-ge purchase price as regardsproperty purchased by Indi-ans was $522,440.
Fifth-Largest Foreign Investors In Residential Property, Shows StudyIndians among top US homebuyers
New Delhi: Airlines have noauthority to impose a flying banon anybody, including MPs, andthe law of the land should takeits course, deputy chairman ofthe Rajya Sabha P J Kurien hassaid. “If any MP hascommitted a crime orsomething againstthe law... the law ofthe land should takeits course. Airlinesare not given the au-thority to punishanybody,” said Ku-rien, after the matterwas raised in the RS.
Naresh Agrawal of SPraised the issue of recent flyingbans imposed by major domes-tic airlines, including state-own-ed Air India, on MPs. Agrawalwanted to know if airlinescould impose such restrictions.He said such an action was abreach of privilege of MPs.
Kurien said the govern-ment should take note of it.
“MPs are also citizens ... ifthey commit a crime or mis-take, the law of the land shouldtake recourse to it,” he added.He further said, “It is a puni-shment imposed on an MP forsome crime...This cannot bedone. This is not a thing to be
punished by airlines”Congress MP
Anand Sharma sug-gested to the chair thatthe word “crime” be re-placed with “viola-tion”. However, Kuriensaid if a person beatsomeone up, it was acrime.
Recently, several air-lines had imposed flying ban onTDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy af-ter he got into a verbal spat withIndiGo ground staff at Visakha-patnam on being informed thatthe boarding for his flight hadclosed. Shiv Sena He was thesecond MP after Shiv Sena'sRavindra Gaikwad wasbanned as well after from fly-ing domestic airlines.
Airlines can’t ban anyone from flying: Kurien
A few days later, on July10, a courier sent froman address in Gurgaon
reached AI’s Delhi headquar-ters. “When we opened thebox, we found the painting in-side,” said an airline source.”The 35x17-inch work was fold-ed like an ordinary piece of pa-per. “It has sustained damage.But we were elated to see itagain,” the official added.
The artwork’s creator Ja-tin Das told TOI: “It belongsto Air India; I’m only con-cerned with the painting asit’s like a child.” About thefact that it was stolen, Dassaid: “I’m not surprised. I’monly concerned, saddened.”
Soon after they received
the courier, AI officials reac-hed the Gurgaon addressfrom which it was sent, only todiscover it was fictitious.Meanwhile, the committee setup by AI to investigate thecase of stolen paintings hadmade some headway. “Thepainting was last seen over adecade ago in an executive di-rector’s office at the Delhi air-port. After she retired, no onehad seen the work,” the source
said. The said director wascontacted and called for ques-tioning on July 13. “In thecourse of inquiries she con-fessed she had the painting.But she said it was gifted toher,” the official added.
That was when the com-mittee learnt about the prac-tice wherein AI’s works ofart were given to AI brass to“decorate their homes”. “Itwas a perk... It would havebeen understood that on re-tirement, the work had to bereturned to the airline,” saidthe official, adding that a let-ter will be sent to former topbosses asking them to returnthe works. “There will be noaction against those who vol-untarily return the works,”the official said.
Painting sent to AI HQ , foldedlike ordinary piece of paper Dhule: A gangster out on bail
was hacked to death by mem-bers of a rival gang in publicher, and the footage of the in-cident, recorded by a CCTVcamera, has gone viral, policesaid on Thursday.
The footage was leaked onWednesday after it was seizedby police. A probe has beenlaunched into the leak.
The incident took place onTuesday, when gangster Rafi-uddin Shaikh, 33, was on a riv-erside morning walk. “Afterthe walk, he stopped by at astall for tea. There, at least 10members of a gang barged inand shot at him,” said a policeofficial. When an incapacitat-ed Shaikh collapsed, the assai-lants struck him with swordsand hockey sticks, and draggedhim out. Police have establish-ed the identity of seven attack-ers, but all are on the run. IANS
Gangsterkilled with
swords, sticks
RS dy chairman
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
PURCHASE VALUE AND UNITS TOP FIVE FOREIGN BUYERS IN US RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY
CountryPurchase value ($bn) No. of units
16-17 15-16 16-17 15-16
China 31.7 27.3 40,572 29,195
Canada 19.0 8.9 33,819 26,851
UK 9.5 5.5 12,869 9,150
Mexico 9.3 4.8 28,516 17,881
India 7.8 6.1 14,943 14,527
�Continued from P 1
LOST AND FOUND
Reuters
New Delhi: Employee moraleat soon-to-be-privatised AirIndia may be low these daysbut Ram Nath Kovind win-ning the Presidential poll onThursday sent joy waves in theairline. The President-elect’sdaughter, Swati Kovind, is anairhostess in AI and Kovind’sbrother-in-law, C Shekhar, re-tired from the airline as in-flight supervisor. Shekharwas the senior vice-presidentof AI Cabin Crew Association(AICCA).
Airline sources say Swati— who does not use her sur-name — is an air hostess onAI’s wide body Boeing 777 and787 aircraft which fly longhaul routes to places like Aus-tralia, Europe and US. “Swatiis one of the finest cabin crewmembers we have. Despite be-longing to a political family,she has never ever thrown herweight around or tried toflaunt her connections. She ismost unassuming,” said a se-nior official.
“A few days back whenSwati applied for privilegeleave, she did not give the rea-son that she is doing so as herfather is contesting for thePresident’s post. In fact, shedoes not even use her sur-name. Her official recordseven have her mother’s firstname Savita and only father’sname is mentioned as R N Ko-vind,” said the source.
Swati’s unassuming na-ture became clear as very fewin the airline knew that thesoon-to-be-President’s daugh-ter is their colleague. Seniorpilots of B-777 and 787 aircraftalso — who have flown withSwati several times — came toknow this fact only when theywere asked about her onThursday.
It remains to be seen if Swa-ti will resume her flying dutiesas she will now have securityconsiderations being the Pres-ident’s daughter. “She is a veryfine cabin crew member andwe are all very proud of her,”said a cabin crew member.Some AI employees are nowplanning to put in a request tocall on President-elect Kovindand make a last-ditch attemptto prevent privatisation.
Kovind’sdaughter is
AI air hostessSaurabh.Sinha
@timesgroup.com
Paraukh (Kanpur Rural):Although Ram Nath Ko-vind’s victory in presiden-tial election was a foregoneconclusion, his village Pa-raukh — 110 km from Kan-pur City — left nothing to
chance and broke intoprayers with the day breakbefore the counting of votesbegan on Thursday.
The chants of ‘puja-path’, however, metamor-phosed a delirious celebra-tion in the afternoon whenthe result was announced.With TV journalists and
their OB vans dotting thevillage landscape, Paraukhwas basking in the glory ofits most famous son.
From colour splashes tobursting of firecrackers, ev-ery villager found his way toexpress his joy on Kovind'svictory. Even rains couldnot dampen their as they
continued with their‘naach' and 'gaana' amidevening downpour. Evenpeople from the neighbour-ing villages converged in'Paraukh', which is a part ofDerapur Tehsil of KanpurDehat district. Loud musicand Bollywood numberswere being belted to give a
perfect stage to youngstersto dance. Giant-sized speak-ers placed atop open minitruck moved through thevillage lanes to let peopleknow that it was time to cel-ebrate. The women folk toowere not behind and joinedthe jig on the beats of thedhol.
‘Belonging to Prez’s village biggest badge of honour’ [email protected]
