&w=3840&q=100)
Govt panel meets to probe Air India crash, assess possible causes
The panel, chaired by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, listened to the opinions of various stakeholders about the possible causes of the aircrash and deliberated on steps to be taken to check future occurrence of any such accident, sources said.
In the first meeting of the panel here, the sources said, the focus of the participants was to analyse the possible causes of the aircrash and how to go about in "formulating Standard Operating Procedures for preventing such occurrences in the future".
Since a separate investigation is also being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is looking into the technical aspects of the crash, the panel discussed about the possible causes and lesson to be taken from it, the sources said.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Saturday said while the AAIB investigation will handle the technical aspects, the high-level committee will provide a holistic, policy-oriented roadmap for future safeguards.
Those who attended the meeting on Monday include representatives from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Home Ministry, Indian Air Force, Intelligence Bureau, Gujarat government, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, among others.
The committee is expected to submit its report within three months.
The black box of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane that crashed on Thursday in Ahmedabad was recovered from the site on Friday evening while officials have also confirmed that the Cockpit Voice Recorder has been found, a crucial discovery to help ascertain the possible cause of the accident.
The aircraft from Ahmedabad to London crashed soon after takeoff on Thursday afternoon. Out of 242 people on board the plane, only one person survived.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

The Hindu
22 minutes ago
- The Hindu
How can SC/ST scholarships be expanded?
The story so far: Ahead of the upcoming financial cycle spanning FY 2026-27 to FY 2030-31, the Union government is considering revising the parental income limit for eligibility in availing post and pre-matric scholarships administered to students from marginalised castes and tribes. What will be the new limit? These scholarships require eligible candidates to have parental annual income below ₹2.5 lakh. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is looking to raise parental income limit to ₹4.5 lakh for post and pre-matric ST scholarships, and the Social Justice Ministry is discussing revising the limits for post and pre-matric scholarships for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Castes (OBCs), and Denotified Tribes (DNTs). In addition, discussions are also on to raise the parental income limit of college and school scholarships for OBCs, and DNTs. What are these scholarships? The post and pre-matric scholarships for SCs, Scheduled Tribes (STs), and OBCs, are run as central sponsored schemes by the government. This means that it is funded by both the Union and State governments on a 60:40 ratio (Union:States), except for in northeast States where the ratio is 90:10. The post-matric scholarships for SCs, STs, and OBCs, require the student to be an Indian national, studying at the post-matric stage, that is, after 10th grade. Pre-matric scholarships are mostly available to students of grades IX and X, but for SCs pre-matric scholarships are available from grades 1 to X, if their parent or guardian is involved in a 'unclean or hazardous' occupation. Both post and pre-matric scholarships require students' annual parental income to be below ₹2.5 lakh to become eligible. In the ongoing fiscal year's budget estimates, centrally sponsored scholarship schemes for SCs, OBCs, Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), and DNTs accounted for 66.7% of the Social Justice Department's ₹13,611 crore allocation. In the Tribal Affairs Ministry, centrally sponsored scholarship schemes for ST students accounted for about 18.6% of the department's ₹14,925.81 crore allocation for FY 2025-26. How many avail of the scholarships? According to available government data, tabled in Parliament and submitted before House panels, the number of beneficiaries for post and pre-matric scholarships across socio-economic groups has been falling. This showed that from 2020-21 to 2024-25, there was a 30.63% drop in the number of beneficiaries for pre-matric scholarships for SCs. In the same time period, beneficiaries for SC post-matric scholarships dropped by 4.22%, according to data tabled in Parliament this week. Data from earlier this year further showed that for pre-matric scholarships for OBCs, EBCs, and DNTs, the beneficiaries dropped from 58.62 lakh in 2021-22 to a little over 20.25 lakh in 2023-24. A similar drop was seen in post-matric scholarships for these sections in the same time period, reducing from 43.34 lakh beneficiaries to 38.42 lakh. For STs, there was a drop of 4.63 lakh beneficiaries in this time period for pre matric scholarships, and a drop of 3.52 lakh beneficiaries for post-matric scholarships. What have House panels said about these scholarships as well as eligibility criteria? In a report on schemes for OBCs run by the Social Justice Ministry, the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of OBCs earlier this year recommended a 'suitable rise' in the income limit from ₹2.5 lakh that is currently set for scholarships for OBC students. While the panel asked the government to double the income limit for beneficiaries of pre and post-matric scholarships for OBCs, it has asked for 'suitable rise' in the income limits for beneficiaries of top-class scholarships for school and college education. The panel also said it was puzzling why the pre-matric scholarship for OBCs was only being offered for Class IX and X, recommending that the scholarship start covering students from Class V onwards. A separate House panel, which was set up to oversee the working of the Tribal Affairs and Social Justice ministries this March, noted the same about post and pre-matric scholarships for ST students, recommending that the parental income limits be revised for these schemes. These House panels have stressed the importance of these scholarships, and observed that the existing parental income limit was too low, adding that this was preventing many families who need the scholarships from getting access to it. They have suggested that the parental income limit be raised for these scholarships so that the coverage can be extended to as many beneficiaries that need it.


Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
Now, visa to be issued in a day, says Bandi Sanjay
Hyderabad/New Delhi: In a major reform aimed at streamlining travel and immigration processes, the central government has announced that visas can now be issued within a single day, provided all required documents are submitted. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar chaired a high-level review meeting with senior officials of the Foreign Affairs Department at North Block on Wednesday, focusing on visa simplification and enhanced monitoring of illegal immigrants. Officials briefed the Minister on the progress made in visa reforms. The number of visa sub-categories has been reduced from 26 to 22, and the earlier 104 sub-classifications have been streamlined to 69. As a result, the average visa issuance time has dropped significantly, with 65.15% of all visas in 2024 being issued as e-Visas. To further strengthen immigration control, two new portals — District Police Module (DPM) and Foreigners Identification Portal (FIP) — have been launched. These platforms aim to improve tracking of overstayers and illegal immigrants at the district level. The modernization of Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) was also reviewed. Officials reported that the number of ICPs has increased from 82 in 2014 to 114, including 37 air, 37 road, 34 sea, and 6 railway posts. Automated travel document scanning and biometric enrollment facilities have been introduced to expedite processing. The Fast-Track Immigration Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP), currently operational in eight major airports, allows pre-verified passengers to clear immigration in under a minute. This facility will soon be extended to seven more airports, including Kozhikode, Lucknow, and Amritsar. Additionally, the revamped OCI portal has facilitated the issuance of nearly 50 lakh Overseas Citizen of India cards. A dedicated mobile app for CAA-2019 applicants from six minority groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh has also been launched. Commending the officials, Bandi Sanjay directed that all reforms and public-facing services be effectively communicated at the grassroots level to ensure ease of access and transparency for citizens.


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Shahpur-Kandi power project to be completed by Sept 15: Union minister
Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that the Centre has speeded up languishing projects in Jammu region to ensure optimal use of river waters. Union minister Jitendra Singh (File) He also informed that the last phase of Shahpur Kandi project, a national project, which was also revised after four decades following the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be completed by September 15. 'The water will start flowing through it for the generation of electricity,' he said at a DISHA meeting. The project aims to minimise the excess water of the River Ravi going through the Madhopur Headworks downstream to Pakistan. The water will instead be used in J&K and Punjab. 'There's a good news to share that the Ujh multipurpose project, which was conceived nearly 100 years ago in 1920s by the then Maharaja Hari Singh, has now been revived and a coordination working group has been constituted of the JK UT officers and the central UT officers,' he said. He further said that Ujh multipurpose project also received an impetus because of the intervention of the home ministry and the defence ministry, who are also now keen to take up the project in order to check the infiltration route through the river Ujh. 'Once this project becomes functional, it will provide irrigation to thousands of hectares of land, which could go up to even 90,000 hectares. For the surplus water not to be allowed to flow into Pakistan, an alternate plan is also being jointly prepared by J&K, Punjab and central government,' he added. India has kept Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that left 26 tourists dead and scores injured. Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 for sharing of Indus waters. Under Indus water treaty, three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) were given to India and the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) were given to Pakistan, with India permitted limited, non-consumptive use of the latter. Since then India has made a steady progress on four ongoing hydel power projects over Chenab river and it's tributaries in J&K and they are likely to be commissioned in 2027-28. Chenab river is one of three western rivers that fall under Indus Water Treaty (IWT) of 1960, which India has kept in abeyance following Pahalgam terror attack. Industrial biotech park to become functional soon Dr Jitendra Singh also emphasised that the industrial biotech park in Barnoti, 11th such industrial park in the country and first in north India, will become functional in the next few weeks with the involvement of public private participation. 'This will create avenues of jobs, manufacturing and business for the youngsters in various areas of bio-manufacturing and hospital instruments,' he said. The minister said that Kathua was the first district to come up with family bunker system in the border villages, covering about 2,000 families. 'The other border areas are also now following this as a role model. Meanwhile, 1,048 additional bunkers have also been proposed which will bring the total number of family bunkers in the Kathua border areas to nearly 3,000,' he said. The meeting was attended by MLA Jasrota Rajiv Jasrotia, other MLAs from the district, and senior officers of the district administration.