KOCHI, 31 March 2007 — India will soon sign labor pacts with all Gulf Cooperation Council countries on the lines of the agreement it signed with the UAE during the recent visit of Prime Minister and Vice President of United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum to New Delhi, according to Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi. “A six-member committee has been formed to look into the agreement and its first meeting will be held in the first week of May in Dubai. Discussions with other Gulf countries are also under way,” the minister said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already approved a memorandum of understanding with Kuwait on labor, employment and manpower development and announced that Ravi would visit Kuwait shortly to ink the agreement. An agreement with Qatar, “the second protocol agreement,” is in an advanced stage of negotiations.

Vayalar Ravi, a senior leader of the ruling Congress party, said the government had not decided on the location of the proposed Pravasi University, in which half of seats would be reserved for the children of Indian nationals. The state will be given permission to set up the campus. The government wants the university to provide affordable and quality education to Indian children.

Etihad Airways

The UAE’s national carrier Etihad Airways is all set to expand its services to India with the launch of two new routes from Abu Dhabi to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi beginning May 31. Neerja Bhatia, Etihad’s area manager (Western and Southern India) said there would be three flights to Thiruvananthapuram and four to Kochi in a week initially.

“We will have full-fledged offices in both the cities of Kerala, but at the moment, it is not decided on the type of aircraft to be used,” she said. With the launch of two new routes, Etihad’s destinations in India will go up to four together with services to Mumbai and New Delhi.

Airport to be Partially Closed

Flight operations from the Calicut International Airport will be suspended for a year from tomorrow between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. to facilitate “strengthening and re-carpeting” works of the three-kilometer runway, Airport Director R. Veeraswamy said. The work necessitates the runway shutdown for at least eight hours everyday. The timings would cause little disruption to the arrival and departure of the passengers as well as aircraft movement, he claimed. Some 246 weekly flights operate from the Calicut International Airport and most of them operate either before or after the restricted period.

101 Farmers Commit Suicide

At least 101 farmers have committed suicide in Kerala after the LDF government came to power 10 months back, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran told the assembly last week. Wayanad district tops the list with 46 suicides followed by Kozhikode 11 and Thiruvananthapuram 10, Ratnakaran said in a written reply during question hour. Government had given compensation to the next of kin of 549 farmers who committed suicide in the last few years, he said. The government paid Rs.50,000 each to the families.

Kochi an Outsourcing Hub

India’s lesser-known cities like Kochi and Visakhapatnam are emerging hotspots for business process outsourcing for major international companies, according to Alsbridge, the outsourcing experts. The top 10 up-and-coming cities are Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Nagpur, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam. These cities were chosen based on several factors including population, accessibility, education of the work force and existing companies who have businesses in these cities. Cheap bandwidth availability and prospects of Dubai-promoted Smart City makes Kochi attractive while a competitive IT center and talent pool are the strong point of the capital city.

Reva Cars for Postal Service

Kerala Circle of Indian Posts has acquired three electric cars to replace the rickety bicycles of postmen in Kerala. Three Reva cars arrived in the state capital on Thursday and these cost-effective cars would be pressed into service for speed post delivery after dry runs. These cars will cover 60-100 km with a driver and a postman on a single day carrying a load of up to 70 kg.

“These small cars are suitable for Thiruvananthapuram city and suburbs dotted with small lanes and by-lanes,” Kerala postal circle chief Uday Balakrishnan said. Once it is successful the carmaker will work with the state postal circle to prepare a 450-km route map between Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram to locate charging points at different post offices where the electric cars can be recharged.

“We are going to be the pioneers in India. After monitoring the performance for 11 months, the department will take a decision whether to add more cars to its fleet,” Postal Services Director Mervin Alexander said.