Thiruvananthapurm, Indian Army chief General V K Singh on Tuesday said he wished the controversy over his age could have been avoided. Asked what he feels over the issue, sad or angry, the general replied: "I want to look at it as something that could have been avoided." Asked by who, he shot back: "By everybody." Gen Singh arrived here on a two-day visit on Monday and attended the release of a book, "North-East Trilogy", written by Dipti Bhalla and Kunal Verma. The book was released by Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy. In response to another question, Gen Singh said corruption had always been a major issue and people were fighting corruption everywhere. "Our thrust is in transparency and probity and to ensure middlemen's wrong practices are checked. Defects in purchases ... the army takes action and we ensure it is corrected. "Changes in the entire system are required," he added. Earlier, Gen Singh and his wife prayed at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple and the nearby Ganapathy temple ...
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New Delhi, The Kerala government on Friday launched a campaign to attract foreign direct investment ( FDI) and said the state had unveiled a single-window mechanism for clearing investment proposals. "Kerala is ready for investment. We want to send out a message to the world that investment is welcome,'' CM Oommen Chandy told a meeting of senior diplomats, heads of multilateral agencies and chiefs of trade missions here. Chandy urged the heads of foreign missions to take the message to their countries and help facilitate the flow of investment. The meeting was held in the run up to the emerging Kerala Global Connect show scheduled at Kochi from September 12 to 14. "The state government has a clear development agenda which is tailor-made to attract investments to the state. The long-term economic growth and progress of the state is the number one objective of emerging Kerala initiative,'' he said. "The government has worked out a pro-active industrial and commercial policy for the state. The policy is intended to transform Kerala into a vibrant entrepreneurial society with faster and inclusive growth," said the CM. The meeting was attended by diplomats from the US, ...
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Kochi, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy today said firing by armed guards on-board an Italian merchant ship killing two Indian fishermen off the Kollam coast was "cold-blooded murder" and legal action would be taken against the crew of the merchant vessel responsible for the attack. "Strict legal action will certainly be taken against the guilty," he told reporters after a meeting of the United Democratic Front (UDF) meeting here. Chandy said he had held discussions with Advocate General K P Dandapani on the issue. "Timely action has been taken against the ship. The Coast Guard had traced the vessel 'Enrica Lexie' within hours of the incident and the ship has been brought to Kochi port," he said. Welcoming the stand of the Union government in the issue, the chief minister said the state government was constantly in touch with the Centre. "We are continuously in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs...We are taking it as a very serious case," he said, adding that a case has already been registered against the crew. Two fishermen -- Ajesh Binki (25) and Jalastein (45) -- were killed on February 15 off the Kollam coast near Kerala when armed guards of the ...
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KOCHI/NEW DELHI, A case of murder was filed against armed guards of an Italian tanker less than 24 hours after they fired on a fishing boat, killing two Tamil Nadu fishermen off Kochi on Wednesday. Indian authorities said the Italian navymen mistook the fishermen for Somali pirates and fired instantly in violation of international anti-piracy guidelines - a claim denied by Italy. The FIR did name anyone in particular. "It's a very serious and unfortunate incident," defence minister A K Antony said. Italian envoy Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte was summoned to the external affairs ministry to convey India's protest. In Kochi, senior Italian officials met Kerala government representatives to decide the future course of action and how to quell the uproar among fishing community in the state. This came shortly after the ministry of external affairs summoned Italian envoy Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte to register a strong protest against the shooting. Secretary (west) M Ganapathi told the ambassador he must ask the Italian nationals involved in the incident to cooperate with the local Kerala authorities carrying out the probe. With Enrica Lexie now anchored off ...
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Dubai, It was a moment of relief for 17 Indians and five Italians aboard a hijacked oil tanker Savina Caylyn which returned safely to Fujairah port after more than 10 months in captivity. The Italian oil tanker was seized on February 8 last year after five Somali pirates aboard a skiff fired on it with rocket launchers and sub-machine guns near the Yemeni island of Socotra. The pirates released the tanker on December 21, and it docked in Fujairah on Friday night. The vessel is owned by the Naples shipping company Fratelli D'Amato, which declined to comment yesterday. "We are relieved. Our long wait is coming to an end. We are waiting for them to come home," said Praseena Nair, wife of one of the crewmen, Hari C Nair. Her husband called her in Kerala and told her of their arrival. "He looked happy and cheerful. They have returned safely," she told daily newspaper The National. "We don't know when they will be arriving here from the UAE. My husband told me that they are undergoing medical check ups and are finishing formalities to come out of the ship. We are also waiting about the details of the airport where they will be landing," she said. Somali pirates ...
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