LONDON: Boris Johnson will become the first British Prime Minister to visit Gujarat when he lands in Ahmedabad this week for a two-day visit to India for “in-depth talks” with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, according to Downing Street.

Investment announcements in key industries in both the UK and India will take place, Downing Street said in a statement on Saturday.

Johnson will then proceed to New Delhi to meet Modi on April 22, where the focus will be on India-UK strategic defence, diplomatic and economic partnership.

According to officials on both sides, Johnson will also use his India visit to drive progress in the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations launched earlier this year.

“My visit to India will deliver on the things that really matter to the people of both our nations – from job creation and economic growth, to energy security and defence,” said Johnson, ahead of the visit.

“As we face threats to our peace and prosperity from autocratic states, it is vital that democracies and friends stick together. India, as a major economic power and the world’s largest democracy, is a highly valued strategic partner for the UK in these uncertain times,” he said.

While in Ahmedabad, Johnson is scheduled to meet with leading businesses and discuss the UK and India’s “thriving” commercial, trade and people links.

The choice of Gujarat, India’s fifth largest state, was linked with it being the ancestral home of around half of the British-Indian diaspora population in the UK.

“In Gujarat, the Prime Minister is expected to announce major investment in key industries in both the UK and India, boosting jobs and growth at home, as well as new collaboration on cutting-edge science, health and technology,” the Downing Street statement said.

“The Prime Minister will then travel to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Modi on Friday (22nd April).The leaders will hold in-depth talks on the UK and India’s strategic defence, diplomatic and economic partnership, aimed at bolstering our close partnership and stepping up security co-operation in the Indo-Pacific,” the statement said.

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, which will move into their third round later this month, are expected to result in a deal predicted to boost the UK’s total trade by up to 28 billion pounds (USD 36 billion) annually by 2035 and increase incomes across the UK by up to 3 billion pounds (USD 3.9 billion).

It emerged earlier this week that at the end of the first two rounds, four out of 26 chapters have been agreed and there has been “significant progress” in the remaining 22 chapters of the FTA.

The two leaders are expected to mandate a timeline for the possible completion of the process, initially set for the end of this year.

Last year, the two prime ministers had agreed on a UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, announcing more than 530 million pounds (USD 692 million) in investment into the UK and committing to a deeper bilateral relationship across trade, health, climate, defence and security, and connecting people.

India was identified as a priority relationship for the UK in the 2021 Integrated Review and was invited by the UK as a guest to last year’s G7 summit in Cornwall, the UK government officials noted.

Downing Street highlighted that the UK is leveraging post-Brexit trade opportunities with India’s growing economy to drive down prices in key commodities for consumers, open opportunities for UK businesses in areas like green tech and services, and create high-wage, high-skill jobs.

According to official estimates in the UK, investment from Indian companies already supports 95,000 jobs across the UK, which is expected to be boosted by upcoming announcements and a future free trade deal.

Modi and Johnson last met in person on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November last year.

Johnson’s visit next week is seen as long overdue on both sides, having been cancelled twice before due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

WASHINGTON: The people of Indian origin keep the identity of India alive wherever they are in the world, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said, applauding the Indian-Americans for maintaining the “complete identity” of their culture thousands of miles away from their home country.

Describing his five-day trip to the US as fruitful, Singh said he had a wonderful meeting with his American counterpart Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

On Monday, Singh held bilateral talks with Austin and reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral defence cooperation and the regional security situation, including in the Indo-Pacific and the broader Indian Ocean Region.

“I congratulate you for maintaining this complete Indian identity,” Singh told a group of Indian-Americans during a public reception hosted in his honor by the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on Thursday.

“This is not a small thing. People lose their (cultural identity) when they stay at some place for a long time,” he said.

Indians living outside India always feel pride in calling themselves Indians. Singh said he was making his fourth trip in his political career to the United States and the first in San Francisco.

The Indian community in the United States has established itself here. This is a result of the efforts of the community, he added.

“Had I come here as a political leader, not on my official tour, I would have met the Indian community in all the places I visited here,” he said.

India and the United States, being the largest democratic powers, have the potential to establish global “peace and prosperity”.

The relationship between the United States and India is multifaceted, economic, strategic, and defence as well, he said.

“Today the entire world knows that India and the US are natural allies,” Singh said, asserting that this relationship has stability and continuity and at the same time the two countries have an important role to play in maintaining this stability and continuity.

“This ground reality cannot be ignored,” Singh said. He is scheduled to leave San Francisco for India on Friday.

The Indian Diaspora, which keeps on climbing to new heights in the US, plays a key role in this relationship, Sigh said.

People in India are always proud of the achievements that the people of Indian origin or its diaspora achieve here.

For instance, when Parag Agarwal became the Twitter CEO, people in India felt that someone among their own has become the head of Twitter, he said amidst applause.

Similarly, there are several tech leaders in the US from among us, be it Satya Nadella of Microsoft or Sunder Pichai of Google, he said.

AHMEDABAD:  Better health facilities are not limited to only treatment of diseases; they also encourage social justice, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi after inaugurating KK Patel Super Speciality Hospital in Bhuj, Gujarat, via video-conferencing on Friday.

Speaking after dedicating the 200-bed facility to the nation, the PM said, “When cheap and best treatment is available to the poor, his faith in the system is strengthened. If they get freedom from worrying over the cost of treatment, they work hard to get out of poverty with more determination.”

The first charitable multi-speciality hospital in Kutch region has been built by Bhuj Leva Patel community with help from donors in India and abroad. This is Modi’s third outreach to the powerful Patel community in poll-bound Gujarat in recent days. 

Prashanth Neel’s period action drama KGF: Chapter 2 is all the rage across the country. The sequel to the 2018 blockbuster, KGF: Chapter 1, was highly anticipated since its announcement and box-office figures confirm that the new film, the second in eight years for director Prashanth Neel and actor Yash, has exceeded all expectations.

Hombale films, the production house of KGF: Chapter 2, confirmed that a whopping Rs 134.5 crore was collected on Thursday, the opening day. The Hindi version of the film has grossed `53.95 crore, making it the highest ever first-day collection for any film in the language, ahead of War and Thugs of Hindostan. 

“The success isn’t a surprise,” said  S R Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures, the Tamil Nadu distributor of the film. “We foresaw it even before we bought the rights of the film and were confident that the audience would love the second part even more than the first.” He went on to share an impressive statistic: “The second part has recovered the lifetime collection of the first film in Tamil Nadu, and it has done this in just one day. I am confident that this is the same in other languages as well.” 

Manoj Desai, executive director of G7 Multiplex and Maratha Mandir Cinema in Mumbai, painted a picture of happiness. “Almost 1,000 seats, across both our screens, are already sold out for the weekend. The film has performed exceedingly well and the positive reviews have helped too.” 

A reduction in Covid cases, relaxation of mask mandates and early morning shows have all combined to result in increased footfalls. “The shows on our property began as early as 4 am and we have scheduled nine shows in all. The early shows have a higher fare because of the flexible ticket pricing option,” shared Kavitha, manager of Mukta A2 Cinemas, Bengaluru. 

KGF dethroned Mohanlal’s Odiyan in First day collection

Meanwhile, the Malayalam dubbed version of the film, distributed by actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, has reportedly dethroned Mohanlal’s Odiyan to become the highest-grossing film in the language by grossing Rs 7.2 crores on the first day.

And yet, distributor and the president of the Tamil Nadu Theatres’ Association president, Tirupur Subramaniam, stated that Vijay’s Beast continues to lead the box office race in Tamil Nadu for the moment.

“KGF 2 is undoubtedly a massive success, but it hasn’t won over Beast, simply because of the sizeable difference in the number of screens allotted. Beast got over 800 screens overall, while KGF 2 got only around 250 screens.”

KGF: Chapter-2 will face competition in the form of Bollywood releases like Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey (April 22), Tiger Shroff’s Heropanti 2 and Ajay Devgn’s Runway 34, during the coming days. However, going by the massive online pre-booking numbers and the strong word-of-mouth publicity, stakeholders are convinced that the film about ‘India’s biggest criminal’ is on track to becoming India’s biggest blockbuster.

BENGALURU: Ordering food online is going to be difficult over this weekend as food delivery partners (FDPs) have logged off in protest until Sunday against a new system of time slots introduced by the food delivery apps for them to log in. The new system threatens to affect the earnings of FDPs as it changes from peak to non-peak hours.

United Food Delivery Partners’ Union President, Vinay Sarathi told that FDPs are unhappy with the new system brought in by the companies, including Zomato, and is not acceptable.

“Unlike usual, time slots have been created for FDPs to join and operate. These slots are fixed like 7-11am, 11am-1pm and on on. Also attendance to these slots is being reserved for company’s preferred FDPs. This directly effects earnings as service charges change during peak and non-peak hours,” he said. Most FDPs are on strike protesting against the food delivery apps. Members of the Union announced a three-day strike starting from April 15.  

Impact of strike felt across B’luru

Its impact was already seen in most parts of Bengaluru on the first day where services was hit in areas like BTM Layout, HSR, RR Nagar, Katriguppe, Jalahalli and Kenergi. Members of the union are gradually extending their strike to across Karnataka. The Union has one lakh workers and most of them have shown solidarity to be a part of the strike.

Chetan a food delivery partner, who is finding it difficult to make ends meet said: “The imbroglio is prompted by the new payment system introduced around a month back. The new system called as gigs has brought down the earnings by 30 per cent and has increased the working hours. Despite repeated requests this was not addressed, so now we decided to go on a strike,” he said. Sarathi said earlier an FDP could log off when it was not a suitable time, but now after slots have been introduced, the dynamics change. 

Swiggy spokesperson said, “Although we have heard rumours of an upcoming strike, we have been assured that our partners are not going to take part and the strike is limited only to Zomato partners. We are not planning on implementing anything related to time slotting for FDPs and will not be reducing earnings of the partners.” 

A spokesperson from Zomato said revisions have been introduced and it seems to a be case of misunderstanding. The changes have been introduced to help students and those in other streams. The issues will be clarified with the FDPs, the spokesperson said.

BENGALURU:  Heavy rain near the Bengaluru airport area caused stoppage in flight operations for over an hour on Friday evening. Nine arriving flights to Bengaluru were diverted to Chennai. A total of 20 departing flights from Kempegowda International Airport suffered delays.

According to a spokesperson of airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited, flight operations were impacted between 6.35 pm and 7.38 pm. 

Landing of flights as well as departures  commenced normally after 7.38 pm, she said. “There was some traffic congestion in arrival flights. This got eased by 8.26 pm,” the spokesperson added