Tag Archives: horse-racing
KT Impact: Indian mission eases passport rule
KT Impact: Indian mission eases passport rule Sajila Saseendran / 12 June 2013 Married Indian expatriates in the UAE will not be denied 10-year passports even if they do not prove their marriage at the time of passport renewal, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has declared following a Khaleej Times report. The move is expected to benefit many blue-collared Indian workers. The embassy’s announcement on Tuesday came after a KT report on June 2 exposed a rule under which married applicants were forced to settle for short validity passports if they failed to produce a duly attested marriage certificate. Officials were specifically asking for attestation from the home department of the state where applicants’ wedding took place. The report revealed that some applicants started denying their marriage when they were told that they would be issued passports valid for only two years, instead of a full validity of 10 years, due to this rule. Also, several applicants had to pay Dh30 extra to BLS International, the outsourcing agency for Indian passport and visa services, for typing an undertaking to be attached with their application. The undertaking was to assure the authorities the submission of attested marriage certificate by the time of their next passport renewal. After a thorough investigation into the issue, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, M.K. Lokesh, said that the rule was “enforced by the Indian Consulate in Dubai without consulting the Embassy”. “The consulate [officials] had verbally instructed the BLS staff to implement the rule. They have been told to stop it…We are taking corrective measures,” he said. The ambassador said the consulate had been asked to revert to the old system and not limit the validity of the passports based on applicants’ marital status. “It shouldn’t be the case. We ask for proof of marriage only when applicants wish to endorse the name of their spouse. If they don’t, we leave that [column] blank.” However, when indicated that this paper is in possession of a similar complaint from an applicant in Abu Dhabi, Lokesh said he did not wish to talk about individual cases which may have entirely different background. Nevertheless, the Ambassador said the employees of BLS have been instructed not to ask for any undertaking related to submission of attested marriage certificate. According to sources, several hundreds of applicants have already submitted this undertaking, having paid extra money to the service provider. “There is no such requirement. As per the passport rules, an applicant wishing to endorse the spouse’s name has to produce either a duly attested marriage certificate or a joint affidavit sworn before a court in India. If people cannot get the marriage certificate attested by the home department, they have the option of producing the joint affidavit from the court.” In a statement issued to the media, the Embassy clarified that there has been no change in rules regarding the process of updating marital status in Indian passports. “Applicants can update change in personal information, including marital status after marriage or divorce, if any, in their passports by applying for Inclusion / Deletion of Spouse Name Service along with duly attested copies of Marriage Certificate / Divorce Decree issued by the Indian authorities concerned in centres of BLS International, outsourcing service providers of Indian Embassy / Consulate.” “Applicants, in case choose to update change in their marital status at the time of re-issue of passports after expiry of its validity, can also do it by submitting duly attested copies of Marriage Certificate / Divorce Decree by the Indian authorities concerned along with the application for re-issue of passports.” “In case requisite documentary proof is not enclosed along with application, the re-issued passports will continue to reflect marital status as per entries in the previous passports, notwithstanding change in status of the applicants. However, the above will not have any effect on the validity of thus re-issued passports which is normally 10 years subject to fulfillment of other conditions.” “Indian nationals are advised to endeavour to keep updated personal information, including marital status, in their passports to avoid any inconvenience,” the mission said. The Embassy also provided the link http://www.indembassyuae.org/drupal/MiscellaneousPassport for detailed information on process to apply for Endorsement of Spouse Name. In certain urgent or emergency cases, it said, passports are issued for short validity of six months or more but less than the normal validity of 10 years. “In such cases, the remaining validity of the passport could be granted without payment of additional fee as the fee for 10 years is collected at the time of issue of short validity passport.” Some applicants, who had to settle for short validity passports due to the rule that drew flak, welcomed the decision to abolish it. They said it would ease things for several applicants, mainly the workers who were finding it difficult to produce duly attested marriage certificates. sajila@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Sharjah drive against laundry on balconies
Sharjah drive against laundry on balconies Amira Agarib (news@khaleejtimes.com) / 11 June 2013 In a bid to preserve the image of the city, Sharjah Municipality has announced the launch of an intensive campaign against the hanging of laundry from apartment balconies. The campaign will also target dish antennae and storing of goods clogging up the space. Director of Sharjah Municipality Riyad Abdulla Ayalan said the campaign is based on administrative order No.17, issued on May 24, 1997, which prohibits the hanging of laundry on the balconies and out of the windows of all buildings. He said that the campaign came as part of the tireless efforts exerted by the Sharjah Municipality during the past few years, who have worked with other government departments to curb such behaviour. As a result, Sharjah city won the ‘Beautification and Landscaping’ category in the Arab cities award. During the campaign, which was launched recently, the municipality will distribute informative booklets and publications, in four languages including Arabic, English, Persian and Hindi, to all residents. The material will include information on the government efforts towards promoting a beautiful city as well as the laws pertaining to balcony use. He noted that Sharjah Municipality has repeatedly warned tenants in residential buildings against not abiding by the laws, adding that those who violate the rules will have to pay a Dh250 fine within a week from the date of issue. He warned that in case of non-payment, the fine would be doubled to Dh500. Abdulla Ayalan said that the civic body often launched intensified campaigns, within the framework of its keenness to maintain the civilised appearance and beauty of the city. The municipality will continue its inspections to ensure that residents are abiding by the regulations in order to maintain the beauty of the city and also to preserve public health and called on people to cooperate with the Sharjah Municiplaity by calling the municipality hotline on 993 to report any violations being committed. Continue reading
We will bring minds together for a better future
We will bring minds together for a better future Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum / 11 June 2013 MORE THAN 1,200 years ago, while Europe was in its Dark Ages, the Muslim world was ruled by a dynasty of Islamic leaders who embraced free thought and creativity from all corners of the globe. Never before had history witnessed such cultural openness and symbiosis as during the reign of the Abbasid Caliphs. They built the world’s first university, named it Bayt Al Hikma (‘House of Wisdom’), and filled its library with the finest cultural, scientific and literary creations known to mankind. As early as the ninth century, under the Caliph Al Mamoun, Baghdad had become the world’s capital of science and culture. The city was renowned for embracing all races and religions. It became a magnet for intellectuals, free thinkers and innovators from East and West. Its people developed a passion for gathering together all of the fruits of mankind’s quest for happiness. This celebration of human creativity flourished for more than five centuries and set the stage for the European Renaissance. Looking at the Middle East and its challenges today, it is tempting to think back to that golden age of Islamic culture with wistful nostalgia for a faraway time. But Al Mamoun’s vision is more than ancient history. It is also a solution for the present and the future — a model that we are actively rebuilding, right now. My own country — the United Arab Emirates — stands where it stands today because since our inception we have given the utmost priority to the human mind. Our land has always been a safe harbour for great thinkers. We have welcomed innovative minds and given them the freedom to create. By working together, thousands of experts and specialist from the UAE and around the world have built in Dubai the world’s tallest skyscraper, the largest manmade islands, the largest automated metro network and the third largest airline in the world. In our capital Abu Dhabi, they built the world’s largest carbon-free city, complete with advanced research facilities for renewable energy. Great artistic and cultural minds are collaborating to build a vast cultural and artistic city complete with the greatest international museums. We have been building on an idea that is more than 1,000 years old. Today we want to extend this vision to an international level. We want to host Expo 2020 — a global event in which the cultures, innovations and creations of the world will meet in Dubai. We want to welcome more than 25 million people during six months, so they can see the best of what the human mind can achieve across cultures and races. We want to host the greatest minds in the world to share innovative solutions for global challenges that cannot be dealt with in isolation. Expo 2020 will bring together expert thinkers to share inventive ways to deal with pressing issues such as energy and water. Great minds will also come together to share smart solutions for transportation, sustainability and global economic stability. When we proposed to host the world’s biggest cultural event, we promised to astonish the world. Today we pledge to breathe life into our slogan: we will bring minds together for a better future. We proposed to host this international event in 2020 to deliver three important messages. Our first message is to tell the world that the Middle East is not a region of conflict, war and tension. Its history and geography prove that this is a region where cultures, civilisations and innovation can meet and flourish. Initiatives such as Expo 2020 are an opportunity to restore this role by playing host to the world, communicating positively and openly with its diverse cultures, accepting and embracing ideas and interacting with all people. We are at the heart of the world. Two thirds of the world’s population live less than eight hours away. We are destined to be a meeting point for mankind and a melting pot for cultures and civilisations that will provide humanity with amazing innovations and creations. Our second message is to the people of our region who are tired of conflict and tension. We tell them that we have a culture, a religion and a language in common: if communication among different cultures can bring about a better future, imagine what it could do for us with all our commonalities. We have been trying for more than six decades to communicate and interact positively within our region. We endeavour to unite minds, and then borders; to touch together our hearts before touching on economic interests, and to unify our collective will before unifying our currencies. We have always wanted to establish connections, real connections, to build a better future for the people of our region and its youth in particular. It is time for our region to restore its role in history and civilisation. Our history and our culture have destined us for greatness, and our future should showcase this destiny.Our last message is to the governments representing the 166 countries that will vote next November to choose the winning host country for Expo 2020. We tell them that our region deserves the chance to organise this great world exhibition, that our country is ready to host it, and that we are committed to staging the best Expo in history. We are thankful to the countries that announced their support to us; and to the people of the world our message is that of love and peace. Our slogan will always be that connecting minds creates a better future. It is a slogan of which Caliph Al Mamoun would have been proud. Continue reading
