A Haryana man who paid Rs 35 lakh to agents to facilitate his journey to the USA via the 'dunki' route was deported back to India after being apprehended in the US. The man, Pankaj Rawat, has filed a complaint with the Gujarat police accusing the agents of human trafficking and cheating.
Panama has informed India about the safe arrival of a group of Indians deported from the United States and the Indian mission in the country is working closely with the host government to ensure their wellbeing after obtaining consular access to them.
'We were told by fellow travellers that if we ask too many questions, we could be shot'
Several Indian immigrants, including 30 from Punjab, were deported from the US after being apprehended at the border. They had paid hefty sums to travel agents who promised them a better life in America, only to be met with illegal crossings and harsh detention conditions. Their dreams are now shattered, leaving them with heavy debts and a bleak future.
Jaspal Singh, one of 104 Indians deported from the US on Wednesday, claims he and other deportees were handcuffed and had their legs chained during the flight. Singh, who hails from Punjab, says he was captured by US Border Patrol after crossing the border illegally in January. He blames a travel agent for deceiving him, claiming he was promised a legal route to the US. The deportation comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington for talks with President Donald Trump.
Over 100 Indian immigrants, including 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, and several from other states, were deported from the US after undertaking perilous journeys filled with extortion and hardship. The returnees landed in Amritsar in a US military plane and are now back home, facing huge debts and emotional trauma. Many of them were lured by promises of a better life in the US but fell victim to human trafficking and extortion rings. The families of the deportees are demanding strict action against the travel agents who facilitated their illegal journeys.
The countries offering visa-on-arrival service to Indian nationals have been exploited as 'Donkey Routes' by agents for people who endeavour to reach the United States and Canada.
Weeks after a Nicaragua-bound plane carrying Indians was grounded in France and later sent back to India, the Gujarat police have booked 14 agents on the charge of human trafficking for trying to send more than 60 persons from Gujarat to the US illegally via Mexico border, a senior official said.
More than 60 people from Gujarat on board the Nicaragua-bound plane, which was sent back from France over suspected human trafficking, had agreed to pay Rs 60 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to immigration agents, who promised to cross into the US illegally after reaching the Latin American country, officials said.
'Our missions do not have any reliable data on the number of Indians staying or working illegally in foreign countries,' the MEA says.
The company said it has suspended the staffers and that it was part of the operation to unearth this crime.
The 25 passengers, who had applied for political asylum in France, were reportedly freed on Tuesday and five of them were taken into care of child welfare services being minors.
He said most of the passengers on the chartered plane that returned from France were from districts of Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana and Anand.
The Nicaragua bound charter Legend Airlines Airbus A340 flight, that was grounded at Vatry airport in France for four days on suspicion of human trafficking, arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, December 26, 2023.
According to French authorities, the plane had 276 passengers on board when it took off for Mumbai, as 25 persons, including two minors, had expressed the wish to apply for asylum and were still on French soil. Two others were held, produced before a judge and placed on assisted witness status, a French news channel said.
French authorities launched a judicial investigation into the conditions and purpose of the trip, with a unit specialising in organised crime investigating suspected human trafficking.
A plane carrying more than 300 passengers, mostly Indians, is expected to land at Mumbai airport early on Tuesday, three days after it was detained by French authorities over suspected human trafficking, a source said.
Four French judges earlier in the day began questioning the passengers detained by the French authorities at Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, since Thursday over suspected "human trafficking".
The Indian embassy in France has reached and obtained consular access.
According to a senior state Crime Investigation Department official, those passengers included at least 60 from Gujarat, who have already reached their respective native places in the state.
A Romanian aircraft carrying 275 passengers, mostly Indians, on Monday left for India four days after they were detained by the French authorities at an airport near Paris over suspected 'human trafficking'.
The plane that took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates carrying 303 Indian passengers, including many minors, was grounded at the Chalons-Vatry airport in Marne on Thursday.
'We have interesting leads on the agents. The roles of agents in this entire operation, who were doing what.'
What makes this edition of the contest important were a few more events that happened for the first time at Miss Universe.
This comes after the Hamas attack on Israel in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed, mostly in the initial Hamas attack. In addition, 203 people were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza, the Israeli military has said.
China on Thursday said Beijing views the BRICS as an "open and inclusive" platform and it backs moves to expand the five-member grouping with "like-minded partners".
The Democrats, especially the Biden administration, wanted to deliver a sharper message to Mr Modi than would be possible in a formal summit setting. So, why not get the most prominent Democrat in decades to deliver it?, explains Shekhar Gupta.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Iran was ousted from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on Wednesday evening in the wake of the Mahsa Amini protest.
Significantly, for the first time, the FATF put Myanmar in the "high risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action", often referred to as the watchdog's black list.
The exercise from September 1 to 7 is taking place at different locations in Russia's Far East amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
Russia said on Monday that the Vostok 2022 military exercises will be held from September 1 to 7 in different locations in the Far East and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops from China, India and several other countries.
India in the past rejected similar reports.
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The Hyderabad-based manufacturer uses a proprietary adjuvant Algel-IMDG, which has now proven to be a safe and effective adjuvant, especially to stimulate memory T cell responses.
While the Indian government has been procuring Covid-19 vaccines at low prices so far, manufacturers have to declare the prices of vaccines they would supply to the open market (industries, private hospitals, etc) and state governments before May 1. Sohini Das reports.
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