Happy Republic Day of India
By binoy on 25-Jan-10 11:07 PM
On the occasion of the Republic Day of India, a Flag Hoisting Ceremony will be
held at the Embassy of India premises on Arabian Gulf Street at 9.00
A.M. on Tuesday, January 26, 2010. The flag hoisting will be followed by
the reading of the message of the President of India, rendition of
patriotic songs by Indian school children, and an Open House Reception.
All Indian nationals in Kuwait are cordially invited to attend the Flag
Hoisting Ceremony.
Ladies only pink taxis to start service in Kuwait soon
By indian on 12-Jan-10 2:40 AMDuring the next few weeks and for the first time in Kuwait, people will see pink taxis driven by women to serve women only, an ambitious project of a Kuwaiti young woman, Bedoor Al-Mutairi. Speaking to KUNA, Al-Mutairi said the project "Eve Taxi" followed the example of many countries such as the UAE, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Bangladesh.
Indian workers sold like cattle in Saudi Arabia
By indian on 4-Jan-10 7:20 AMHabib Hussain of Moradabad, who hid in a toilet on an Air India flight from Saudi Arabia to return to his own country, says he did so for his two children, his pregnant wife, and an ailing mother. After his bizarre experience, Habib says he has realised that `aadhi roti' (half a piece of bread) at home is better than one in an alien land. He also said Indian labour is sold like cattle in that country.
He had sold his two `bigha' land for Rs 1.25 lakh and left behind just about Rs 11,000 for his family after paying the agent. He now tearfully says, ``There was no point in staying in Saudi. I just had to return. My wife was two months pregnant when I left and will have a baby any time now. My family was hungry here; I was hungry there. I was better off earning Rs 80 a day and feeding my family rather than living on a promise of Rs 15,000-20,000 and not getting a paisa.
Kuwait’s emergency no. 777 to be replaced with 112 on New Year
By indian on 4-Jan-10 6:56 AM777 112
Ministry of Interior Colonel Mohammed Hashem Al-Sabr announced on
Wednesday the change of the emergency service number (777) to (112)
starting next Friday with the beginning of the new year.
New Kuwait labor law approved, but sponsorship system stays
By indian on 24-Dec-09 12:57 PMKuwait - The Kuwaiti parliament passed a new labour law on Wednesday that grants better rights and conditions for the 2.3 million foreign workers but does not scrap the controversial sponsor system.The new law, approved unanimously by lawmakers including cabinet members, replaces a 45-year-old law that was criticised as being favourable to employers at the expense of workers.
The legislation provides more rights for workers in the private sector, including better annual leave, end of service indemnities and holidays.
It also sets tougher penalties, including jail terms, for businessmen who trade in visas or who recruit expatriate workers and then fail to provide them with jobs, or who fail to pay salaries regularly.
Kuwait is home to 2.3 million foreigners, more than two-thirds of them Asians, and 1.1 million citizens.
The bill requires the government to introduce a minimum wage for certain jobs, especially in the lower-paid categories.
Getting into nursery costlier than IIT
By indian on 23-Dec-09 3:59 PMParents successfully clearing the rigorous nursery school admission process of their wards in Delhi find themselves staring at one last but big hurdle - fees that even top the annual Rs 50,000 charged for admission by IITs.
With thousands of parents fighting over a few hundred seats in a limited number of good schools, the private institutions call the shots during the admission season.
The current fee structure in the IITs is around Rs 50,000 per annum. Besides, students pay about Rs 20,000 annually for other purposes like accommodation, alumni and admission fees.
But when it comes to reputed nursery schools in Delhi and NCR, the figure increases significantly and quotes anywhere around or above Rs 75,000 a year, which parents have to shell out even after undergoing a rigorous interview and evaluation process.
India's new visa rules worry UK, US
By indian on 23-Dec-09 3:37 PMIndia has recently tightened its rules for long-term tourist visas. The move will affect thousands of foreigners living in the country or planning lengthy stays.
Tourists on five or 10-year visas will have to leave the country every six months, and will have to wait for two months before they can reenter India. Earlier, tourists on similar visas could leave India for short trips to Nepal or other close-by countries, before returning to India.
The new rules are fallout of the David Coleman Headley case. Headley, a US national, made frequent trips to India between 2006 and 2009, travelling to different cities to allegedly plan terror attacks. Headley was arrested in Chicago in October by the FBI for helping to plan and execute the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai last year.
Two-month grace period for expatriates to correct the residency
By indian on 16-Dec-09 7:28 PMMinister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah has granted a two-month grace period for 15,000 expatriates under the sponsorship of bogus companies to legalize their stay in Kuwait or go back to their home countries without facing any legal problem. Affirming the decision will be implemented soon, reliable sources said Sheikh Jaber has taken into consideration the plight of the victims of bogus companies. He has formed a committee to look into the problems of these expatriates and recommend appropriate solutions. Sources clarified this decision will allow the concerned expatriates to transfer their residency from bogus to legal companies or leave the country without facing any legal problem. Sources said this decision complements the annual Amiri amnesty for Residency Law violators to correct their status.
69pc workers expats: report; Locals aim govt jobs
By binoy on 24-Nov-09 7:14 AMThe gap between locals and expatriates in the GCC workforce has remained huge with the expatriates recording a dominating presence in virtually all job categories, according to a report by TalentRepublic.net, a regional recruitment company. The report prepared by TalentRepublic.net’s research department reveals that up to 58 per cent of the GCC’s workforce is made up of expatriates.
TalentRepublic.net also cited a Madar Research study which shows that 87 per of the UAE workforce are expatriates. The same trend is echoed in most of the GCC countries, particularly Qatar which has the same local-expatriate workforce ratio as the UAE. Kuwait likewise has a much larger expat workforce population, accounting for 69 per cent of all workers in the country, while the local workforce in Bahrain barely outnumber their expatriate counterparts at 51 per cent.
Kuwait population at 3.4m
By indian on 15-Nov-09 6:57 AMKuwait's population was 3.4 million by the end of June, the same figure recorded late last year, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said in its recent economic report.
Kuwaitis totalled 1.1 million, making up 32 percent of the population, and foreign residents were 2.3 million, it said, quoting figures of the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI).
The number of Kuwaiti nationals rose by roughly 15,000, and that of non-Kuwaitis fell by around 14,000, keeping the country's total population unchanged.
The number of workers in Kuwait totaled 1.7 million by late June, down 13,000, or 2.6 percent, in the first half of 2009, it added. The drop mainly involved foreign residents. At the same time, the number of Kuwaiti workers edged up by 10,000, or three percent.
