Tag Archives: entertainment
Strong earthquake kills one in central Taiwan
An earthquake rattled a province in the southern Philippines as people slept, injuring at least nine people, damaging dozens of houses and setting off a landslide that partially blocked a road with boulders, officials said on Sunday. The quake, which had a magnitude of 5.7, struck North Cotabato province and nearby regions late Saturday, causing the injuries, including to children, and damaging more than 30 houses, the approach to a bridge and water supply pipes in two villages, North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Tolentino-Mendoza said. It damaged a school in the hilly village of Kimadzil where many residents remained jittery because of continuing aftershocks, said Mendoza, who added she scrambled out of her home like other villagers when the ground started to shake and objects fell off from shelves. “It’s a big relief that no motorist was passing through our highway when boulders rolled down from the mountainside,” she said. The Philippine archipelago is located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon in 1990. Continue reading
Expats hide marital status to bend Indian passport rules
Expats hide marital status to bend Indian passport rules Sajila Saseendran / 2 June 2013 Short validity passport for Indians without marriage proof An applicant gets photographed at an Indian Passport and Visa Centre in Dubai. Indian expats are blaming their missions for not making people aware of the marriage certificate rules. — KT file photo for illustrative purpose Some married Indian expatriates are denying their marriage to keep their passports valid for more years, risking penal actions as per the Indian Passports Act, Khaleej Times has learnt. According to sources, this trend began after the Indian missions in the UAE started issuing short validity passports to applicants who did not have proper documentary proof of their marriage when they applied to renew their passports here. Applicants wait at a centre for visa renewal. — KT file photo Caught unawares Some Indian expatriates, who had to settle for short validity passports due to a rule related to proving their marriage while renewing their passports, are blaming the Indian missions here for not making people aware of the rule causing them to pay extra money. Citizens have called for clarity and better awareness of the rule that stipulates that married Indians should provide prescribed documents to prove their marriage while applying for reissue of passports. Samudar Singh from Rajasthan, who has been in Dubai for 18 years, said he had got his last passport reissued for 10 years from the Indian Consulate here. However, this time when he approached the mission through BLS International, the outsourcing agency for Indian passport and visa services, he was told that he could get his passport renewed only for two years. That was because his wife’s name was not endorsed in his passport and he did not have an attested marriage certificate to prove his marital status. “There was no such rule when I renewed my passport last time from here. I don’t know why they have brought in this rule now. I’m not an educated person, and I didn’t know any such rule. I wanted to renew my passport from India when I went on leave a couple of months back, but the officials over there said it will take almost two months since it needs clearance from Dubai.” Singh, who is in his 50s, said he had no formal certificate to prove his marriage. “There was no marriage registration in our place those days. We got married at our home. I don’t know how to make a marriage certificate now, let alone get it attested.” He said he was advised by Dubai officials to get his wife’s name added in his new passport with two-year validity when he goes home next time. “I don’t know when I can go on leave again and what I need to do for that.” Shanawaz Ahmed, 40, from Jharkand, who works as an electrician, said he had tried to renew his passport last year. “Then they issued me a passport with only one year validity because my new UAE residence visa had not been stamped after I changed job. At the time of visa stamping, the passport was not valid for more than six months, because of which I had to renew the passport.” However, he said he was not told about the need to produce an attested marriage certificate at that time. “This they told me only this time when I again went for a renewal as the one year validity was over. Had they told me about it last year, I would have tried to (get) it ready by this renewal.” Applicants said they are asked to attach an undertaking assuring the submission of attested marriage certificate, for typing which BLS is charging them Dh30 extra. They also pointed out that many, who would be issued a passport with a validity of two years, would be forced to apply for the next renewal of their passport earlier than expected since their UAE residence visa renewal will require passports to be valid for more than six months. While a full validity Indian passport is issued for 10 years, married Indian expatriates can now get passports renewed only for two years if the name of their spouse is not endorsed in the passport or if their marriage certificate is not attested by various authorities, such as the state Home Department where the marriage took place. Many Indians, mainly labourers, are in a fix due to a lack of knowledge about the rule that is now being strictly implemented, which is, according to some officials, partly intended to avoid marital litigations. Sources told Khaleej Times that some applicants were hiding their marital status when they were told about this rule. “When we tell them about this issue, uneducated labourers are upset and they express their difficulty in getting the procedures done,” said a source at BLS International, the outsourcing agency for Indian passport and visa services. “But, some smart men, mostly well-educated, quietly change their marital status in the application form so that they can get the full validity passport for 10 years. That is against the law,” he said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media. According to the source, applicants face this issue mainly due to a lack of awareness about the importance of having their marriage certificates attested by the right authorities. “If this rule is well-known, people can get their marriage certificate attested well in advance and come with the proper documents when it is time for renewing their passport,” he said. As per the passport application form instruction booklet, an affidavit has to be sworn before a First Class Judicial Magistrate or Executive Magistrate for re-issue of a passport obtained prior to marriage, by married applicants who are unable to provide the prescribed marriage certificate or joint affidavit with their spouse due to marital discord, separation or total desertion by the spouse. The booklet states it is an offence punishable with imprisonment or fine or both, to furnish false information or suppress information, under relevant provisions of Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967. Asked about the rule, the Indian Consulate in Dubai said in a statement to Khaleej Times: “It is mandatory to endorse the spouse’s name in one’s passport after marriage. The marriage certificate is required to be attested from the state Home Department.” “We are issuing a two-year validity passport to applicants who are married, but don’t have the attested certificate. When they submit the marriage certificate duly attested by the state Home Department, we issue a full validity passport. If the spouse’s name is already endorsed in the applicants’ spouse’s passport, we are endorsing the husband’s/wife’s name on the basis of the production of a marriage certificate even without attestation by the state Home Department concerned,” the mission added. According to official sources, missions are being lenient in issuing the short validity passport for the applicants since the expatriates’ lives depend on their passport validity. “This option is intended to help the expatriate Indians who require valid passports and visas to live here. One of the intentions for mandatory endorsement of (a) spouse’s details in the passport is to prevent cheating and marital litigations. There have been cases where some Non-Resident Indians had hidden their married status at their countries of residence and got married again there,” said one official. Indian Ambassador M.K. Lokesh acknowledged there should be more clarity and awareness about the rule. “Since ( Khaleej Times has) raised the issue, I have taken it up with the Ministry (of External Affairs). I have asked them to clarify the rule. We are also checking with other embassies in the region on how they are handling this.” He said a reply from the ministry was expected this week. – sajila@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Most Emirati students not motivated, says study
Most Emirati students not motivated, says study Sarah Young (Youth Spot) / 2 June 2013 New ways to motivate the generation of the electronic revolution and tackle the “female face of unemployment” are needed if Emiratis are going to be part of the workforce, experts say. Speaking recently at the Microsoft Regional Summit and Expert Group Meeting on Youth for Global Competitiveness on a panel discussing the youth labour market, Al Maskari Holding chairperson Dr Shaikha Al Maskari said a Dubai study done last year showed 60 per cent of Emirati high school students showed very little motivation, and “did not care what type of course they did, or career they chose”. “Our first priority is to find out why, and how we can reverse this.” Delegates at the Microsoft Youth for Global Competitiveness initiative at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai. — KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd Low motivation was also evident in the fact Abu Dhabi had reached a “unique status in the world” by paying high school students to perform, she said. “If they get grades over 90, they get Dh5,000 as a gift as well as a monthly salary … nowhere in the world do you pay high school students to attend. And did it work? No. Actually Abu Dhabi students are doing less well than anybody in the UAE.” While working for Adnoc in the early 1980s, a serious effort was made to provide career paths for UAE nationals, which resulted in many reaching senior manager status 20 years later — a concept almost unheard of back then, she said. “This was because they were motivated. Taking youth now and saying we will do this for you — it doesn’t ring a bell. Why? I don’t speak your language. The electronic revolution has created, as never in history, a generation gap. Anyone over 50 doesn’t speak their language. “When you go to high school those youngsters are literally light years ahead of us.” Instead, “humility” on the behalf of the employer was important, and she now tried to trust her younger employee, as long as they performed, she said. Dr Leila Hoteit, Booz and Company principal Her company focused on providing “heart and compassion”, creating an ambience of belonging and trust, and asking young employees for input on policy making – something her generation was not equipped to do alone given the electronic revolution was changing the way business was done, she said. The youth also needed to feel “energised, motivated and excited” at work. “Youth need thrill. If you put them in something very dull, they won’t stay.” However, Booz and Company principal Dr Leila Hoteit said it was difficult for this type of innovation to take place, given the country’s open immigration policy which stifled creativity on behalf of employers who were only acting ‘rationally’ in response. “If you have cheap abundant labour you use that. You’re not motivated to innovate, train your people or be an entrepreneur. If you have a problem, just throw more cheap labour at it and solve your problem.” This meant Emiratis were “stuck in the middle”. “They have the skills for low to medium level jobs, but they don’t desire those jobs, and those jobs don’t desire them because people can get cheaper labour. But for higher skilled jobs (Emiratis) are not as skilled, so there’s a need to … work on building skills of Emiratis. “But as long as you have an open immigration policy, you stifle innovation.” Emirati unemployment is estimated to be around 13 per cent, according to the UAE National Bureau of Statistics website. Meanwhile, the Middle East overall has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world, sitting currently at 30.3 per cent, compared with an estimated global rate of 12.6 per cent, according to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013 report. And while women in the region were surpassing boys ‘by a long shot’ in education, their high levels of unemployment potentially highlighted a cultural issue of whether “(we are) spoiling our boys”, Hoteit said. Women often had more intrinsic motivation to work, because they had to prove themselves, while men did not. According to the ILO report, almost half of the female population in the region is unemployed, sitting at 43 per cent, compared to young males, of whom about 25 per cent are out of work. Dubai-based recent graduate Shaima Al Awadhi said she had been one of the 60 per cent of students who had not cared what they did for a career — until she did an internship with Pepsico where she worked under a “mentor” who helped her professionally and personally. She is still employed at the company and said she loved her work — but she was one of the lucky ones, she said. Many of her peers who did similar internships finished unhappy and unmotivated. Lack of career guidance was one of the biggest problems at university, meaning many students either ended up in the wrong jobs and stayed there just for the salary or a lack of other options, or were left confused and unable to choose, al Awadhi said. However, International Labour Office senior advisor Dr Zafiris Tzannatos said while information like this was important, private companies also had to be prepared to provide salaries and incentives good enough to stop highly-skilled Arabs leaving their home countries after university. sarah@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
