Very well summarised KNN the only solution to this is none other than offering little sinkies head
absolutelee no other ways KNN
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Singapore is now a vassal state of India
- Thread starter LITTLEREDDOT
- Start date
absolutelee no other ways KNN
Singapore is at the whims of Indian politicians.
Dr. Mahathir's favourite tactic is to use Singapore as a whipping boy to rouse sentiments against Singapore and bolster support for him and his party.
Likewise, Indian politicians are using Singapore to shore up their ground support.
Nirmala Ganapathy
India Bureau Chief
Mr Arvind Kejriwal has been criticised for the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Delhi High Court.PHOTO: AFP
MAY 19, 2021
NEW DELHI - Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who triggered a diplomatic incident by falsely claiming a "new strain" from Singapore could start a third Covid-19 wave in India, is no stranger to controversy.
His remarks are rooted in domestic politics amid a power tussle with the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Kejriwal, 52, in the Twitter post in Hindi on Tuesday (May 18), called on Mr Modi's government to cancel flights with Singapore.
Delhi has a unique power structure in that it has its own government but issues such as law and order are controlled by the federal government. In March, the federal government passed legislation in Parliament, further increasing its control over Delhi.
The following month, in April, Mr Kejriwal authorised the broadcast of an internal meeting on Covid-19 between Mr Modi and state leaders, intensifying the tiff between them amid the blame game on who was responsible for shortages of oxygen and hospital beds in the country.
"Basically he is trying to create panic and trying to project himself as somebody who is paying greater attention to his people... and doing his best to take care of the interests of Delhi residents," said Delhi-based political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Re-elected for the third time as Delhi chief minister last year after winning elections for the 70-seat assembly, Mr Kejriwal, who comes from a middle-class family in Haryana state, entered politics through a rather circuitous route.
He quit a government job in the Indian revenue service in 2006 to pursue social activism.
In 2006, he was selected for the Ramon Magsaysay award, a top Asian honour, for Emergent Leadership for social work and initiatives to fight corruption.
The father of two was part of an anti-corruption movement in 2011 against the backdrop of a series of graft scandals that plagued the then Congress government.
As the movement was petering out, Mr Kejriwal, sensing an opportunity, launched the Aam Aadmi Party, attracting supporters from all walks of life from journalists and bankers to lawyers and homemakers.
In 2014, unable to immediately make the transition from protester to administrator, he courted controversy by leading a street protest and even slept on a Delhi road after a dispute with the police.
He then quit as chief minister but bounced back politically.
Many of Mr Kejriwal's early supporters and colleagues have left the Aam Aadmi Party, accusing him of being autocratic and unhappy with the direction of the party - claims he has denied. Critics have also accused him of an ideological bent steeped in Hindu nationalism.
He has earned plaudits for reforming the education system by improving teaching and infrastructure in government schools and setting up mohalla, or street clinics.
But he has been criticised for the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Delhi High Court.
It criticised the state government in April, at the height of the shortage of oxygen, asking it to stop the "black-marketing of oxygen" and to take over an oxygen refilling plant.
But much of the blame for the devastating second Covid-19 wave in India has also fallen on Mr Modi's government and Mr Kejriwal is seen to be trying to further this perception, analysts said.
They saw this as an effort by him to chart a political future beyond Delhi.
"Kejriwal is not just looking at himself as a Delhi-based leader. He sees AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) in other states and sees himself as an alternative (national leader) in Indian politics," said Mr Mukhopadhyay.
Dr. Mahathir's favourite tactic is to use Singapore as a whipping boy to rouse sentiments against Singapore and bolster support for him and his party.
Likewise, Indian politicians are using Singapore to shore up their ground support.
Remarks by Delhi chief minister on Singapore rooted in domestic politics
Nirmala Ganapathy
India Bureau Chief
MAY 19, 2021
NEW DELHI - Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who triggered a diplomatic incident by falsely claiming a "new strain" from Singapore could start a third Covid-19 wave in India, is no stranger to controversy.
His remarks are rooted in domestic politics amid a power tussle with the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Kejriwal, 52, in the Twitter post in Hindi on Tuesday (May 18), called on Mr Modi's government to cancel flights with Singapore.
Delhi has a unique power structure in that it has its own government but issues such as law and order are controlled by the federal government. In March, the federal government passed legislation in Parliament, further increasing its control over Delhi.
The following month, in April, Mr Kejriwal authorised the broadcast of an internal meeting on Covid-19 between Mr Modi and state leaders, intensifying the tiff between them amid the blame game on who was responsible for shortages of oxygen and hospital beds in the country.
"Basically he is trying to create panic and trying to project himself as somebody who is paying greater attention to his people... and doing his best to take care of the interests of Delhi residents," said Delhi-based political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Re-elected for the third time as Delhi chief minister last year after winning elections for the 70-seat assembly, Mr Kejriwal, who comes from a middle-class family in Haryana state, entered politics through a rather circuitous route.
He quit a government job in the Indian revenue service in 2006 to pursue social activism.
In 2006, he was selected for the Ramon Magsaysay award, a top Asian honour, for Emergent Leadership for social work and initiatives to fight corruption.
The father of two was part of an anti-corruption movement in 2011 against the backdrop of a series of graft scandals that plagued the then Congress government.
As the movement was petering out, Mr Kejriwal, sensing an opportunity, launched the Aam Aadmi Party, attracting supporters from all walks of life from journalists and bankers to lawyers and homemakers.
In 2014, unable to immediately make the transition from protester to administrator, he courted controversy by leading a street protest and even slept on a Delhi road after a dispute with the police.
He then quit as chief minister but bounced back politically.
Many of Mr Kejriwal's early supporters and colleagues have left the Aam Aadmi Party, accusing him of being autocratic and unhappy with the direction of the party - claims he has denied. Critics have also accused him of an ideological bent steeped in Hindu nationalism.
He has earned plaudits for reforming the education system by improving teaching and infrastructure in government schools and setting up mohalla, or street clinics.
The chief minister has, in fact, turned to Singapore in the past for inspiration to improve amenities in Delhi. He has sent teachers to Singapore for training as part of efforts to improve the government school infrastructure and studied Singapore's water management system.But he has been criticised for the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Delhi High Court.
It criticised the state government in April, at the height of the shortage of oxygen, asking it to stop the "black-marketing of oxygen" and to take over an oxygen refilling plant.
But much of the blame for the devastating second Covid-19 wave in India has also fallen on Mr Modi's government and Mr Kejriwal is seen to be trying to further this perception, analysts said.
They saw this as an effort by him to chart a political future beyond Delhi.
"Kejriwal is not just looking at himself as a Delhi-based leader. He sees AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) in other states and sees himself as an alternative (national leader) in Indian politics," said Mr Mukhopadhyay.
All those multinationals in sinkie gets to export their products to India tarrifs free. Sinkie gets more jobs as more investors will set up plant. Who in the right mind would want to start msnufactuting in india when you can do it locally.
Vassal state is so bullied by the superior state that the vassal state does not even name India as the source of the Indian variant, instead of calling it South Asia. This is not being fair to the other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan.
The tests were carried out after the emergence of a cluster of Covid-19 cases at the airport.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Toh Ting Wei
May 22, 2021
SINGAPORE - A total of 10 airport workers – out of almost 19,000 swabbed – have tested positive for Covid-19 in a special testing operation after the emergence of a cluster of cases at Changi Airport.
The tests were carried out from May 9 to May 20, and all the infected workers are from Terminal 3, with workers from Terminal 1 and Jewel Changi Airport testing negative.
Apart from the 10 airport workers, 33 other workers had tested positive through other channels, such as when they reported sick or when they were serving quarantine orders.
In all, 43 airport workers have tested positive for Covid-19 so far, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Friday (May 21).
The two agencies gave the figures in an update on measures taken at Changi Airport to deal with the growing number of cases linked to the airport’s Covid-19 cluster, which is currently the largest active one here with 104 cases as at Friday.
They said test results for an initial batch of Covid-19-positive airport workers were found to be similar and indicated the B1617 virus variant that was first detected in India. This suggests that their infections came from a common source.
"Preliminary investigations indicate that the initial transmission could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia, who arrived in Singapore on 29 April, 2021 and were subsequently found to be positive for Covid-19 through their on-arrival tests," said the two agencies.
CAAS and CAG did not say which country the family was from.
The agencies said that since Thursday, workers in Terminal 3 Basement 2 who tested negative for Covid-19 in their first test have been rostered to take an additional test.
From Sunday (May 23), airport workers in higher-risk roles will be required to take an additional antigen rapid test (ART) between their seven-day rostered routine tests.
Passengers from very-high risk places must also now undergo an ART on arrival, on top of the usual polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
"The quicker turnaround time of an ART compared to a PCR test will allow for public health action to be taken more quickly for persons who test positive by ART," said CAAS and CAG.
The two agencies said they will work with the aviation community to vaccinate more workers in the next few weeks. More than 90 per cent of front-line aviation workers have been vaccinated so far.
Airport cluster's source likely a worker helping infected passengers from South Asia | THE BIG STORY
CAAS and CAG reiterated that precautions are in place at the airport to guard against Covid-19.
For example, workers handling flights from the highest-risk countries wear full personal protective equipment. None of the airport workers who tested positive is in serious condition, requires oxygen or is in the intensive care unit.
Since this month, the airport has further segregated passengers arriving from low-risk places from other passengers.
Passenger terminals at Changi Airport and Jewel will remain closed to the public until the end of the phase two (heightened alert) period on June 13 as an added precaution.
During the closure, airport workers will be briefed about the new measures and requirements, CAAS and CAG said.
But the airport remains open for air travel, they added.
Total of 43 Changi Airport workers have tested positive for Covid-19; source likely worker who helped infected family from South Asia
The tests were carried out after the emergence of a cluster of Covid-19 cases at the airport.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Toh Ting Wei
May 22, 2021
SINGAPORE - A total of 10 airport workers – out of almost 19,000 swabbed – have tested positive for Covid-19 in a special testing operation after the emergence of a cluster of cases at Changi Airport.
The tests were carried out from May 9 to May 20, and all the infected workers are from Terminal 3, with workers from Terminal 1 and Jewel Changi Airport testing negative.
Apart from the 10 airport workers, 33 other workers had tested positive through other channels, such as when they reported sick or when they were serving quarantine orders.
In all, 43 airport workers have tested positive for Covid-19 so far, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Friday (May 21).
The two agencies gave the figures in an update on measures taken at Changi Airport to deal with the growing number of cases linked to the airport’s Covid-19 cluster, which is currently the largest active one here with 104 cases as at Friday.
They said test results for an initial batch of Covid-19-positive airport workers were found to be similar and indicated the B1617 virus variant that was first detected in India. This suggests that their infections came from a common source.
"Preliminary investigations indicate that the initial transmission could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia, who arrived in Singapore on 29 April, 2021 and were subsequently found to be positive for Covid-19 through their on-arrival tests," said the two agencies.
CAAS and CAG did not say which country the family was from.
The agencies said that since Thursday, workers in Terminal 3 Basement 2 who tested negative for Covid-19 in their first test have been rostered to take an additional test.
From Sunday (May 23), airport workers in higher-risk roles will be required to take an additional antigen rapid test (ART) between their seven-day rostered routine tests.
Passengers from very-high risk places must also now undergo an ART on arrival, on top of the usual polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
"The quicker turnaround time of an ART compared to a PCR test will allow for public health action to be taken more quickly for persons who test positive by ART," said CAAS and CAG.
The two agencies said they will work with the aviation community to vaccinate more workers in the next few weeks. More than 90 per cent of front-line aviation workers have been vaccinated so far.
Airport cluster's source likely a worker helping infected passengers from South Asia | THE BIG STORY
CAAS and CAG reiterated that precautions are in place at the airport to guard against Covid-19.
For example, workers handling flights from the highest-risk countries wear full personal protective equipment. None of the airport workers who tested positive is in serious condition, requires oxygen or is in the intensive care unit.
Since this month, the airport has further segregated passengers arriving from low-risk places from other passengers.
Passenger terminals at Changi Airport and Jewel will remain closed to the public until the end of the phase two (heightened alert) period on June 13 as an added precaution.
During the closure, airport workers will be briefed about the new measures and requirements, CAAS and CAG said.
But the airport remains open for air travel, they added.
nothing you can do about it
it's ceca ceca ceca ceca
nobody wants to say anything
we are all ceca
nvm live with it
knnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
it's ceca ceca ceca ceca
nobody wants to say anything
we are all ceca
nvm live with it
knnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Only Indian airlines are allowed to fly to between India and Singapore. SIA, being the airline of a vassal state, is not allowed.
An average of 25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India on flights every day.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Clement Yong
May 23, 2021
SINGAPORE - An average of 25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India on flights every day, with the vast majority returning Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
An average of 180 passengers depart on flights back to India from Singapore every day. The passengers are Indian citizens on Vande Bharat flights, or repatriation flights, which are the only passenger flights the Indian government currently allows to operate between the two countries.
Both outbound and inbound flights are operated only by Indian carriers designated by the Indian government, with the approval of the Singapore Government. All such flights operate out of Changi Airport's Terminal 1.
The figures were released in a joint statement by the Transport Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Manpower on Sunday (May 23), following questions from the media, as concern in Singapore grows over the B1617 coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India.
Of particular interest to locals is the Changi Airport cluster, which has ballooned in the past week to more than 100 people.
Test results for the initial batch of Covid-19-positive airport workers indicated the B1617 variant. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has suggested that the virus could have spread to the community when airport workers had their meals at the Terminal 3 Basement 2 commercial area and foodcourt.
Changi Airport terminals and Jewel mall currently remain closed to the public.
The three ministries said that Singapore Airlines continue to operate flights to India, but that these are cargo flights that do not carry passengers.
All arriving passengers at Changi Airport from India are subject to two Covid-19 tests, an antigen rapid test and a polymerase chain reaction test.
They are escorted from disembarkation to their dedicated transport to stay-home notice facilities, where they will remain for three weeks.
Since this month, the airport has segregated passengers arriving from high-risk places from other passengers, using different arrival immigration halls, luggage belts and toilets.
Their Covid-19 tests are also done at separate health screening stations.
Workers handling flights from the highest-risk countries, such as India, continue to wear full personal protective equipment.
Last week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for all flights between India and Singapore to be cancelled, falsely claiming a new strain of the virus in Singapore.
The Indian authorities have since clarified that only repatriation flights are in operation.
25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India every day, 180 fly back on repatriation flights
An average of 25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India on flights every day.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Clement Yong
May 23, 2021
SINGAPORE - An average of 25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India on flights every day, with the vast majority returning Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
An average of 180 passengers depart on flights back to India from Singapore every day. The passengers are Indian citizens on Vande Bharat flights, or repatriation flights, which are the only passenger flights the Indian government currently allows to operate between the two countries.
Both outbound and inbound flights are operated only by Indian carriers designated by the Indian government, with the approval of the Singapore Government. All such flights operate out of Changi Airport's Terminal 1.
The figures were released in a joint statement by the Transport Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Manpower on Sunday (May 23), following questions from the media, as concern in Singapore grows over the B1617 coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India.
Of particular interest to locals is the Changi Airport cluster, which has ballooned in the past week to more than 100 people.
Test results for the initial batch of Covid-19-positive airport workers indicated the B1617 variant. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has suggested that the virus could have spread to the community when airport workers had their meals at the Terminal 3 Basement 2 commercial area and foodcourt.
Changi Airport terminals and Jewel mall currently remain closed to the public.
The three ministries said that Singapore Airlines continue to operate flights to India, but that these are cargo flights that do not carry passengers.
All arriving passengers at Changi Airport from India are subject to two Covid-19 tests, an antigen rapid test and a polymerase chain reaction test.
They are escorted from disembarkation to their dedicated transport to stay-home notice facilities, where they will remain for three weeks.
Since this month, the airport has segregated passengers arriving from high-risk places from other passengers, using different arrival immigration halls, luggage belts and toilets.
Their Covid-19 tests are also done at separate health screening stations.
Workers handling flights from the highest-risk countries, such as India, continue to wear full personal protective equipment.
Last week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for all flights between India and Singapore to be cancelled, falsely claiming a new strain of the virus in Singapore.
The Indian authorities have since clarified that only repatriation flights are in operation.
Once there are signs of easing in India, the vassal state will find every reason to start allowing workers from India in. The PAP government will say that there are tighter procedures and separate facilities at the airport now for receiving inbound travellers from India.
New Delhi, one of the worst hit cities, went into lockdown on April 20, 2021.PHOTO: AFP
May 23, 2021
NEW DELHI (REUTERS) - India's capital New Delhi will start relaxing its strict coronavirus lockdown next week if new cases continue to drop in the city, its chief minister said on Sunday (May 23).
The nation on Sunday reported 240,842 new infections nationwide over 24 hours - the lowest daily new cases in more than a month - and 3,741 deaths.
For weeks, India has battled a devastating second wave of Covid-19 that has crippled its health system and led to shortages of oxygen supplies.
New Delhi, one of the worst hit cities, went into lockdown on April 20, but new cases have declined in recent weeks and test positivity rate has fallen under 2.5 per cent, compared with 36 per cent last month, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
"If cases continue to drop for a week, then from May 31 we will start the process of unlocking," Mr Kejriwal told a news conference.
Delhi reported around 1,600 new Covid-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, he said.
Many states remain in lockdown, raising worries about the economic impact of the pandemic.
The chief of state-run Indian Council of Medical Research said this month that districts with a high rate of infection should remain locked down for six to eight weeks to break the chain of transmission.
India's daily Covid-19 cases are decreasing after peaking on May 9. The government said on Sunday it is conducting the highest number of Covid-19 tests, with more than 2.1 million samples tested in the previous 24 hours.
Still, experts have warned India could face a third wave of infections in coming months, and many states are unable to vaccinate those aged under 45 due to a shortage of supplies.
The world's largest vaccine-producing nation has fully vaccinated just over 41.6 million people, or only 3.8 per cent of its 1.35 billion population.
India's capital Delhi to ease Covid-19 restrictions as cases drop
New Delhi, one of the worst hit cities, went into lockdown on April 20, 2021.PHOTO: AFP
May 23, 2021
NEW DELHI (REUTERS) - India's capital New Delhi will start relaxing its strict coronavirus lockdown next week if new cases continue to drop in the city, its chief minister said on Sunday (May 23).
The nation on Sunday reported 240,842 new infections nationwide over 24 hours - the lowest daily new cases in more than a month - and 3,741 deaths.
For weeks, India has battled a devastating second wave of Covid-19 that has crippled its health system and led to shortages of oxygen supplies.
New Delhi, one of the worst hit cities, went into lockdown on April 20, but new cases have declined in recent weeks and test positivity rate has fallen under 2.5 per cent, compared with 36 per cent last month, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
"If cases continue to drop for a week, then from May 31 we will start the process of unlocking," Mr Kejriwal told a news conference.
Delhi reported around 1,600 new Covid-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, he said.
Many states remain in lockdown, raising worries about the economic impact of the pandemic.
The chief of state-run Indian Council of Medical Research said this month that districts with a high rate of infection should remain locked down for six to eight weeks to break the chain of transmission.
India's daily Covid-19 cases are decreasing after peaking on May 9. The government said on Sunday it is conducting the highest number of Covid-19 tests, with more than 2.1 million samples tested in the previous 24 hours.
Still, experts have warned India could face a third wave of infections in coming months, and many states are unable to vaccinate those aged under 45 due to a shortage of supplies.
The world's largest vaccine-producing nation has fully vaccinated just over 41.6 million people, or only 3.8 per cent of its 1.35 billion population.
Surely those legally trained PAP ministers, and they are a few who are senior counsels, can give advice on terminating the CECA agreement because of this pandemic.
Here is one example where the Tour de Force is used:
Source: https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/force-majeure-natural-disasters-covid-19.html
Tour de Force: Contract Terminations Due to COVID-19-Based Force Majeure – Natural Disasters
Here is one example where the Tour de Force is used:
Source: https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/force-majeure-natural-disasters-covid-19.html
Tour de Force: Contract Terminations Due to COVID-19-Based Force Majeure – Natural Disasters
A recent decision from the Southern District of New York may pave the way for broader excuse of performance in COVID-19 force majeure litigation after finding the pandemic is a “natural disaster” that is beyond the parties’ “reasonable control,” triggering the force majeure clause.
Why does the Singapore government have to go out of its way to state that the airport virus did not arrive from India? Were they under pressure from India to do so?
Why is there a double standard in the use of "South Asia" and "India"?
When does the government use "South Asia" and "India"? Whenever it serves India's, CECA's, and its political interests?
Could the government not just state that the airport virus did not arrive from South Asia?
India has banned all international commercial flights to and from Singapore since March last year.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Clement Yong
MAY 23, 2021
SINGAPORE - The family that is suspected to have seeded the Covid-19 cluster at Changi Airport Terminal 3 did not arrive on a flight from India.
This is because India has banned all international commercial services to and from Singapore since March last year.
The only passenger flights now operating between the two countries are Vande Bharat (repatriation) flights that operate out of Terminal 1, said Singapore’s transport, foreign affairs and manpower ministries in a joint statement in response to media queries on Sunday (May 23).
These flights that carry passengers both ways are operated by Indian carriers designated by the Indian government, with the approval of the Singapore Government.
At the moment, Singapore Airlines operates only cargo flights to India, the ministries noted.
All that is known so far of the family is that they arrived on a flight from a South Asian country. No other details have been made available.
An average of 25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India on the repatriation flights every day, with the vast majority being returning Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
The flights back to India each day see an average of 180 passengers departing from Singapore.
All arriving passengers at Changi Airport from India are subject to two Covid-19 tests - an antigen rapid test and a polymerase chain reaction test. They are escorted from disembarkation to their dedicated transport to stay-home notice facilities, where they remain for 21 days.
The joint statement comes amid concerns in Singapore over the B1617 coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) said on Friday that preliminary investigations show that the initial transmission for the Terminal 3 (T3) cluster could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia.
CAAS and CAG did not say which country the family – who arrived in Singapore on April 29 this year and later tested positive – was from.
The T3 cluster has ballooned in the past week to more than 100 people. Test results for the initial batch of airport workers indicate the presence of the B1617 variant.
Why is there a double standard in the use of "South Asia" and "India"?
When does the government use "South Asia" and "India"? Whenever it serves India's, CECA's, and its political interests?
Could the government not just state that the airport virus did not arrive from South Asia?
Family who likely seeded Changi Airport Covid-19 cluster did not arrive from India
India has banned all international commercial flights to and from Singapore since March last year.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Clement Yong
MAY 23, 2021
SINGAPORE - The family that is suspected to have seeded the Covid-19 cluster at Changi Airport Terminal 3 did not arrive on a flight from India.
This is because India has banned all international commercial services to and from Singapore since March last year.
The only passenger flights now operating between the two countries are Vande Bharat (repatriation) flights that operate out of Terminal 1, said Singapore’s transport, foreign affairs and manpower ministries in a joint statement in response to media queries on Sunday (May 23).
These flights that carry passengers both ways are operated by Indian carriers designated by the Indian government, with the approval of the Singapore Government.
At the moment, Singapore Airlines operates only cargo flights to India, the ministries noted.
All that is known so far of the family is that they arrived on a flight from a South Asian country. No other details have been made available.
An average of 25 passengers arrive in Singapore from India on the repatriation flights every day, with the vast majority being returning Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
The flights back to India each day see an average of 180 passengers departing from Singapore.
All arriving passengers at Changi Airport from India are subject to two Covid-19 tests - an antigen rapid test and a polymerase chain reaction test. They are escorted from disembarkation to their dedicated transport to stay-home notice facilities, where they remain for 21 days.
The joint statement comes amid concerns in Singapore over the B1617 coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) said on Friday that preliminary investigations show that the initial transmission for the Terminal 3 (T3) cluster could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia.
CAAS and CAG did not say which country the family – who arrived in Singapore on April 29 this year and later tested positive – was from.
The T3 cluster has ballooned in the past week to more than 100 people. Test results for the initial batch of airport workers indicate the presence of the B1617 variant.
President Halimah Yacob congratulates India on its 75th independence day
Singapore continues to be confident of India's growth prospects and remains the largest source of foreign direct investment annually, said President Halimah Yacob.
PHOTO: REUTERS
AUG 15, 2021
SINGAPORE - Despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore and India have forged even closer ties through continued mutual support, said President Halimah Yacob on Sunday (Aug 15) as India celebrates its 75th Independence Day.
In a letter to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind to convey her best wishes on the special occasion, Madam Halimah reiterated "the longstanding friendship between our two countries, underpinned by strong fundamentals in areas including economic, security and people-to-people ties".
"Singapore continues to be confident of India's growth prospects and remains the largest source of foreign direct investment annually," said the President, adding that "our two countries are also pursuing greater cooperation in emerging areas of Fintech, digitisation, and innovation".
Pointing to the upcoming Asean-India Dialogue Relations later this month, where Singapore is assuming the role of Country Coordinator, President Halimah said Singapore is looking forward to "working with India to deepen India's engagement of the region and to strengthen the Asean-India Strategic Partnership".
"Given the wide-ranging cooperation between our two countries, I am confident that relations between Singapore and India will continue to strengthen as we emerge from the pandemic," she said.
The police will not hesitate to arrest Sinkies but will hesitate to arrest Foreign Talents, especially if they are CECA FTs.
Obbana Rajah
August 17, 2021
Singapore — An Indian national not wearing a mask refused to put one on and assaulted the man who asked him to do so.
In a viral video circulating on social media, the man can be seen at a HDB block’s drop-off point walking around and using his phone without wearing a mask.
As he walks by, the man filming the video says: “Go on, go on man. You’re not gonna (sic) wear a mask right?”
The man immediately runs towards the camera and hits it. “Wait, police is come (sic)” he says.
“Ya ya ya come, you want to fight with me is it?” he asks the man filming. The 41-second clip ends with the man not wearing a mask aggressively approaching the camera once more.
In a letter circulating online, allegedly by the man filming the video, the anti-masker was initially seen on his lift landing smoking and drinking.
The man filming wrote: “I told him politely to mask up. He refused. He then proceeded to the ground level and I was also headed out for breakfast at that time. He was now at my lift lobby at (sic) the ground floor smoking. That was fine. He then came up to me and started to yell at me and asked me who was to tell him to mask up. To that I responded that I was a resident here and I felt safer if he had masked up”.
When the resident started to film the man, he “charged at me without provocation and hit me several times, I fell to the floor as it was a sudden attack and lost balance. He then began kicking me”.
Alleging that once the police arrived, they did not arrest the man, the resident asked: “Can I also do the same and walk around my neighbourhood without a mask? And claim am a sovereign and above the law or don’t believe in one? Can I? Why are these people treated with so much respect and they blatantly break all the rules we follow?”
He added that he was conveyed to Changi General Hospital after the incident.
Indian national who was drinking refuses to wear mask and assaults man filming
Alleging that once the police arrived, they did not arrest the man, the resident asked: "Can I also do the same and walk around my neighbourhood without a mask? Why are these people treated with so much respect and they blatantly break all the rules we follow?"
Obbana Rajah
August 17, 2021
Singapore — An Indian national not wearing a mask refused to put one on and assaulted the man who asked him to do so.
In a viral video circulating on social media, the man can be seen at a HDB block’s drop-off point walking around and using his phone without wearing a mask.
As he walks by, the man filming the video says: “Go on, go on man. You’re not gonna (sic) wear a mask right?”
The man immediately runs towards the camera and hits it. “Wait, police is come (sic)” he says.
“Ya ya ya come, you want to fight with me is it?” he asks the man filming. The 41-second clip ends with the man not wearing a mask aggressively approaching the camera once more.
In a letter circulating online, allegedly by the man filming the video, the anti-masker was initially seen on his lift landing smoking and drinking.
The man filming wrote: “I told him politely to mask up. He refused. He then proceeded to the ground level and I was also headed out for breakfast at that time. He was now at my lift lobby at (sic) the ground floor smoking. That was fine. He then came up to me and started to yell at me and asked me who was to tell him to mask up. To that I responded that I was a resident here and I felt safer if he had masked up”.
When the resident started to film the man, he “charged at me without provocation and hit me several times, I fell to the floor as it was a sudden attack and lost balance. He then began kicking me”.
Alleging that once the police arrived, they did not arrest the man, the resident asked: “Can I also do the same and walk around my neighbourhood without a mask? And claim am a sovereign and above the law or don’t believe in one? Can I? Why are these people treated with so much respect and they blatantly break all the rules we follow?”
He added that he was conveyed to Changi General Hospital after the incident.
Beyond aviation, India has more to offer Singapore as engine of growth
The SIA-Tata deal highlights the unmatched access Singapore has to the vast Indian market, with more opportunities to be tapped in areas like infrastructure and education.
Ravi Velloor
Associate Editor
The SIA-Tata deal over Air India helps Singapore access the world’s fastest-growing aviation market. PHOTO: REUTERS
DEC 8, 2022
Perhaps it was appropriate that the formal announcement of Singapore Airlines (SIA) taking a quarter stake in former Indian aviation titan Air India should have come just as the Singapore Armed Forces concluded its fortnight-long artillery exercise in that country.
Initiated in 2004, Exercise Agni Warrior 2022 featured live-firing that saw the SAF deploy its 155mm light howitzers and the Indians rolling out their own field howitzers. The SAF also does regular armoured and air force training in India, as well as maritime exercises with it.
But all that happens out of sight of the public eye. Security, though, comes in multiple dimensions, and for most of us it is economic security that floats to the top of consciousness.
So, the SIA-Tata deal over Air India, which helps Singapore access the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, reassuringly highlights the unmatched access the Republic now has to the world’s fifth-biggest economy. By some forecasts, it is poised to be No. 3 within a few years.
This access is not to be sneezed at.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has proved to be a highly picky granter of market access. It pulled out of the Asean-promoted Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, but then gave Australia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – and soon the entire Gulf Cooperation Council states, home to a vast Indian diaspora – enhanced market access. Canberra and New Delhi form half of the Quad group, which also includes the United States and Japan. The UAE is a comprehensive economic partner.
More than just planes
A quick enumeration of Singapore’s most visible companies in India shows how much the Republic has travelled with the South Asian giant.DBS Group now has an India-wide footprint, especially in fast-growing southern India, after it bought and amalgamated Lakshmi Vilas Bank on the prodding of the Indian central bank. So does CapitaLand, with its office space and data centre offerings that are getting more critical by the day as the world digitalises, and relies ever more on Indian talent to do that.
Singtel owns about 30 per cent of India’s No. 2 telecom service provider, Bharti group’s Airtel. Singapore-designed buildings are springing up across the vast nation.
All put together, it is a comfort to have access to an Asean-size economy whose every key node is within a five-hour travelling radius of Singapore.
South-east Asia and India
All the more since China’s giant economy, tagged by an ageing population, Covid-19-related disruptions and a geopolitical squeeze, is wheezing a mite.It is not that Singapore’s immediate South-east Asian neighbourhood is doing too badly. Vietnam and Malaysia, particularly, have gained from Western and Chinese companies moving more production to these countries as a hedge against geopolitics-related disruptions, as well as mounting costs in China. Entrepreneurship is thriving. The region now has about 40 unicorns, companies with valuations of more than US$1 billion (S$1.36 billion).
It is just that from both the business and geopolitical perspectives, there is merit in spreading the risks geographically and expanding the potential for growth.
Does Singapore Airlines need to invest in Air India?
SIA’s Air India deal comes with some risks, but bigger opportunities
In geostrategic terms both Asean and India are quite wary of getting entangled in Big Power blocs, and try to tread a middle path. In Asean capitals, as in New Delhi, the overwhelming priority is to somehow not get caught in the middle if fraught US-China ties further deteriorate.
So, the bite-sized chunk of Air India that SIA is taking in return for handing over its stake in Vistara, and some additional money, is probably the right approach in risk-reward terms.
With some careful planning Singapore should next be able to tap India’s entrepreneurial frenzy, its growing appetite for healthcare services and its push to build smart cities.
Even as some valuations have come off amid the tech crunch, India has an estimated 108 unicorns – more than twice the number in South-east Asia – and key global investors are watching, and participating in, its impressive progress towards building a digital-based economy.
What’s more, anecdotal evidence suggests that Indian start-ups are increasingly eyeing South-east Asia because of the intensity of home competition and better margins on offer in the region. Conversely, South-east Asian companies find India useful to build scale.
So, there is a fit and Singapore gets to play in two vast neighbourhoods – India and South-east Asia – with a total of 150 unicorns and counting.
ST ILLUSTRATION: MANNY FRANCISCO
The Modi government’s emphasis on renewable energy and a future based on electric power is another vast opportunity to be tapped. This is partly why big Chinese green tech firms like Envision now base themselves in Singapore. Singapore-domiciled companies are far more acceptable in some nations, especially those with testy ties with China.
Because it is behind in the development curve, India possibly has a full decade, or even two decades of growth, before the inevitable slowdown happens. That provides an opportunity for Singapore Inc to have a measure of continuing relevance to the South Asian giant.
It should not miss this window.
At the same time, as much as one would like to talk up Asean as a promising market and investment destination, it cannot be ignored that its community-building efforts have come under considerable strain lately. These days, the Economic Community vision hardly mentions aspirations to turn into a single production base and market. Instead, it reaches for formulations such as striving for a “highly integrated economy”.
On the other hand, thanks to a nationwide goods and services tax system now in place and running efficiently as evidenced by booming tax collections, India has turned into a single common market.
Other promising areas
Meanwhile, its hunger for quality infrastructure is unabated. India hasn’t finished building airports, and ports, and cold chains. Despite some misses – as happened more than a decade ago with Delhi airport when Singapore inexplicably withdrew from the bidding – there will be opportunity. Delhi airport was ultimately completed by Fraport and Malaysia’s Eraman, with Indian partners.There is also the matter of India’s talent pool. It is unquestionably ample, and sections of it are world-class. Heads of at least two major global corporations have told me in 2022 that a good bit of their work on artificial intelligence is being done out of the South Asian country.
That said, India could do better in quality higher education.
Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, the doyen of India’s tech industry and father-in-law of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, recently lamented that not one Indian institution figures in the rankings of the world’s top 250 universities. Perhaps it is not unthinkable that Nanyang Technological University, with its close connections to Hyundai – which has a manufacturing base outside Chennai – could some day set up a branch in the city with local partners, with Singapore Management University adding a business school on the premises along the lines of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School.
Professor Subra Suresh, the president of NTU, is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai who rose to be the first Asian to be dean of an engineering school at MIT. He might be available to lend advice.
Political risks
There’s of course the perennial worry point when it comes to India: politics.Not too long ago, in 2019, a change of government in Andhra Pradesh, for instance, upended plans to build a new Singapore-planned state capital, Amravati.
Such things are not uncommon, though, and highlight the need for better risk assessment. Indeed, just the previous year, in Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad suspended several Chinese Belt and Road Initiative projects after his unexpected return to power.
Politically, India appears stable for now even as strains to its social fabric are severe, and possibly rising.
While you may disapprove of the methods Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) employs to consolidate its power, there is no denying the benefits, from an investing point of view, of having the party that governs in New Delhi also holding power in key heartland states such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Now Maharashtra, India’s equivalent of California in a single state’s overwhelming contribution to the national economy, is also with the BJP. So is the powerhouse southern state of Karnataka, principal home to India’s burgeoning outsourcing industry.
While the best-laid plans of men can, and often do, go wrong, the SIA deal with Tata augurs well by present reckoning.
Tata seems to be on the right side of the Modi government, which has embarked on a policy of building a clutch of state-endorsed industrial champions along the lines of the South Korean model.
The comfort levels between Tata and Singapore are high.
While Tata’s first choice of chief executive ran into Hindu nationalist nativism and quickly withdrew, there has hardly been a murmur against either Mr Campbell Wilson, an SIA veteran, being handed charge of Air India, or dyed-in-the-SIA-wool Vinod Kannan, who began as a direct marketing executive with SIA in 2001, running Vistara.
Union activism, which once plagued Air India, is no longer an issue and that helps management move boldly on matters that need fixing – particularly Air India’s bloated fleet size to staff strength ratio.
Already, the faintest glimmers of a turnaround are in evidence.
Air India topped the list for on-time performance in October in the latest rankings put out by the Indian civil aviation authority.
Financially, Mr Modi handed the Tata Group what looks like a clean enough balance sheet by pushing most of the debt on its books into a separate company. With the consolidation of Vistara, AirAsia India and Air India, further opportunities to rationalise operations and manpower open up.
A veteran Air India hand who directly served three of the airline’s managing directors tells me that it is not inconceivable that given Air India’s reputation for great service in its initial days as a Tata company, some of which still exists despite decades of mismanagement by the Indian state, service levels between SIA and AI will even out “without pain to pride”.
The ability to bring its expertise and capital into a situation without rousing too much local resentment – pain to pride – is what differentiates Singapore investments in India from the experiences Singapore companies have sometimes endured in their South-east Asian regionalisation efforts.
It is an opportunity to be seized, wisely and carefully.
Singapore's competition watchdog flags concerns over Tata group's takeover of Air India
Air India and Vistara are key market players along overlapping air passenger and air cargo transport routes. PHOTO: AFP
Kelly Ng
JUN 3, 2022
SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singapore's Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCS) has raised anti-competition concerns over the takeover of Air India by the Tata group.
The commission noted that Air India and Vistara, a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata group's principal investment holding company Tata Sons, are 2 of the 3 key market players along overlapping air passenger and air cargo transport routes.
These include the provision of international air passenger transport services along direct flights on the Singapore-Mumbai and Singapore-Delhi routes, as well as the provision of air cargo transport services from Singapore to India.
"Both airlines are likely to be each other's close, if not the closest, competitor," CCCS said in a media statement on Friday (Jun 3).
CCCS had in January accepted an application from Talace, a Tata Sons subsidiary incorporated solely for the takeover of India's national carrier, for a decision on whether the takeover infringes a section of the Competition Act 2004, which prohibits mergers that have resulted or may be expected to result in a "substantial lessening of competition" within any market in Singapore.
The commission has at this point completed the first phase of its review.
In its statement, CCCS said third party feedback also suggests the presence of Singapore Airlines as a significant competitor of Air India and Vistara along overlapping passenger and cargo transport routes, but that it needs to further assess the extent to which Singapore Airlines competes with the merged entity along these routes.
CCCS said it also needs to further assess whether the "competitive constraint" from other airlines, such as IndiGo, would be sufficient post-transaction.
Vistara-Air India merger to see SIA get 25.1 per cent stake for $360m
Tata currently holds 51 per cent of Vistara, while SIA has 49 per cent. PHOTO: REUTERS
Ven Sreenivasan
Associate Editor
NOV 29, 2022
SINGAPORE - The widely anticipated merger of Indian airline Vistara into Air India will see Singapore Airlines (SIA) getting a 25.1 per cent stake in the enlarged entity for an additional investment of $360 million.
The Tata Group will remain the bigger partner in Air India post-merger, with a 74.9 per cent stake.
Tata currently holds 51 per cent of Vistara, while SIA has 49 per cent.
SIA’s capital injection into the new Air India group could rise by another 50.2 billion rupees (S$880 million) if the Indian carrier decides to tap both its shareholders for additional funds for restructuring and expansion. This amount is payable only after the completion of the merger in March 2024. The actual amount will be dependent on factors that include the progress of the enlarged Air India’s business plan, and its access to other funding options.
The exact amount of additional investment by each partner will be calibrated to maintain the 25.1 per cent-74.9 per cent respective stakeholdings of the two parties.
SIA will fund its investment from internal sources, which include $17.5 billion in cash and bank balances, and $2.2 billion in committed lines of credit.
SIA and Tata together initially invested about $100 million to start up the Vistara venture in 2013.
But over the years, based on SIA’s own annual reports, the Singapore carrier has invested some $900 million in the Vistara project.
With the latest additional $360 million in Air India, SIA would have invested almost $1.3 billion in its India airline venture. This could rise to as much as $2.1 billion, should it have to provide funds for the enlarged Air India.
The announcement on Tuesday evening confirms long-held market speculation that Tata would ultimately merge all its airline holdings into Air India and Air India Express, which it bought from the Indian government earlier this year after 69 years of state control.
This means that besides Vistara, it will also merge its 87 per cent-held AirAsia India into the Air India group’s low-cost carrier Air India Express.
With this, the Tata-SIA partnership will control one of India’s largest airline groups, with a 23 per cent market share and straddling both the full-service and low-cost spectrum of air travel.
The combined entities of Air India and Air India Express will have 218 aircraft, serving 52 domestic destinations and 38 international destinations. Only IndiGo Airlines would have more domestic routes.
Vistara, which is rated India’s best airline, operates on 31 domestic routes and flies to 10 international destinations, including Singapore.
SIA said the merger would reinforce its presence in India, strengthen its multi-hub strategy, and allow it to continue participating directly in a large and fast-growing aviation market.
Mr Goh Choon Phong, SIA chief executive, said Tata Sons, parent company of the Tata Group, is one of the most established and respected names in India.
“Our collaboration to set up Vistara in 2013 resulted in a market-leading full-service carrier, which has won many global accolades in a short time,” he said.
“With this merger, we have an opportunity to deepen our relationship with Tata and participate directly in an exciting new growth phase in India’s aviation market. We will work together to support Air India’s transformation programme, unlock its significant potential, and restore it to its position as a leading airline on the global stage.”
India is the world’s third-largest aviation market, with air travel demand surging and passenger traffic expected to more than double over the next 10 years.
But it also remains underserved, with low international seats per capita, signifying significant growth potential.
Aviation consultancy Endau Analytics’ founder and chief executive Shukor Yusof said the $360 million is a small and affordable price for SIA to pay to have a foothold in the vast Indian market.
“Plus, SIA retains board representation in Air India,” he said. “But the challenge between now and March 2024, when the deal is completed, is whether global aviation would have weakened as a result of a recession. Then SIA would have to decide if it makes sense to inject another $880 million to be part of the Air India group.”
Observers also note the risk arising from failure of the ongoing Air India restructuring process.
Heading Air India is former SIA veteran Campbell Wilson. He is currently leading a multi-year business transformation of the Air India group, which includes improving service delivery and reliability, talent acquisition, adopting more technology and innovation, commercial efficiency and profitability, and fleet upgrading.
The airline aims to capture 30 per cent of the domestic market share while further growing its international connectivity.
Singapore and Tamil Nadu to develop India’s first net-zero industrial park
Speakers from India and Singapore at a panel discussion on "A Framework for India’s first Net Zero Industrial Park” on Jan 7 at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet in Chennai. PHOTO: MTI
Nirmala Ganapathy
India Bureau Chief
JAN 19, 2024
CHENNAI - The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu is looking to manufacture electrical vehicles (EVs) and electronics in the country’s first planned net-zero industrial park being set up with Singapore’s help in the state capital Chennai.
A net-zero industrial park is a manufacturing complex where greenhouse gas emissions are kept as close to zero as possible.
The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot) and the Singapore-India Partnership Office in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) inked a memorandum of understanding in 2023 to jointly develop the sustainable industrial park.
The agreement was signed during Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s visit to Singapore in May 2023.
The park is still in the planning stages, with both sides jointly creating a framework which officials said will be ready in a year. This will guide every aspect of the running of the park, from how to measure emissions to funding, and identify the exact location from the three earmarked in north Chennai.
Chennai has a strong base in electronics manufacturing with companies like Nokia and Samsung, Dr K. Senthil Raj, managing director of Sipcot, told The Straits Times.
“We thought, let us create (a net-zero industrial park) with an electronics cluster and electrical vehicles. We wanted to be a front runner in developing (such a) park and capitalise on the global movement of cutting down emissions.”
Dr Raj said there had been multiple consultations between officials of the two sides in Singapore and Tamil Nadu on the framework, which would determine the level of success of the park.A panel discussion on “A Framework for India’s First Net-Zero Industrial Park” with speakers from Singapore and Tamil Nadu was held on Jan 7 at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024 in Chennai.
The plan is to provide renewable energy sources and to recycle waste apart from looking at other innovative solutions to reduce emissions, Dr Raj noted.
“We are looking at light industries because it’s easier to establish,” he said, noting that emissions will need to be measured at every step.
Tamil Nadu is India’s most industrialised state with the largest number of factories – 38,837 – accounting for 15 per cent of the factories in the country. Sipcot runs 30 industrial parks across 15,780ha in Tamil Nadu, and is planning 20 more across 18,210ha over the next decade, including the net-zero park. The authorities have not shared the deadline for the completion of the park.
For Singapore, the collaboration underlines the effort to foster sustainable practices not only within its borders but also through international collaborations.
The collaboration includes establishing pilot projects or proof-of-concept projects that incorporate sustainability into master planning, financing, logistics, renewable energy, water and waste management.
The Singapore Pavilion at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet held in the state capital Chennai. PHOTO: MTI
An MTI spokesman said Singapore is “excited” to partner Sipcot on the net-zero park. “Sustainability is a key imperative for both Singapore and India,” he noted.
The project, he said, allows Singapore agencies such as national water agency PUB, the Centre for Liveable Cities and JTC Corporation to share experiences and exchange ideas with their Tamil Nadu counterparts.
“Singapore companies also have developed expertise which we can leverage,” said the spokesman, noting this included expertise in master planning and urban solutions. Some areas of collaboration include sustainable water management, waste management, renewable energy, monitoring technologies and landfill management, he added.
Still, the net-zero park may have its challenges. “The key challenge itself is bringing a holistic framework which will be acceptable to all the players like the government, investors, allottees (companies), buyers,” said Dr Raj.
The Tamil Nadu government is hoping that a key attraction for industries would be that net-zero products will have added value in overseas markets.
India has made commitments, like other countries, to cut down emissions and reach the net-zero emission target by 2070. It has committed to cutting down carbon emission by one billion tonnes by 2030.
Across the country, green initiatives are coming up, from sustainable business parks to the world’s largest green energy park in the Rann of Kutch desert in Gujarat. The energy park is being built by Indian conglomerate Adani Group, run by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani.
However, economist Arvind Subramanian, a former chief economic adviser to the Indian government, noted that the success of the net-zero park will depend on whether companies think it makes for an attractive investment.
“What are the terms of this investment? What are the kind of institutional guarantees that you are going to give an investor?” he said.
“I feel industrial parks are a small initiative to be done. It doesn’t really address the bigger issue of making the whole state go green.”
Tapping renewable sources of energy has been a key aim of the Tamil Nadu government. The state had an installed wind energy capacity of 10,248MW as at August 2023. The western state of Gujarat ranks top with 11,063MW.
Tamil Nadu ranks fourth in solar power capacity with 6,750.62MW.
Professor Tai Lee Siang, head of pillar for architecture and sustainable design at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, noted that sustainability has to be a criterion for further growth in any country. “The net-zero industrial park framework allows the development of a transparent and accountable guidance for the establishment of a truly sustainable engine of growth and model for the future evolution of industry growth,” he said.
Parents seek refunds from international school over delay in new campus construction
The One World International School’s Punggol campus was slated to be operational by August 2023, parents said. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Gabrielle Chan
APR 21, 2024
SINGAPORE - Some parents of students of an international school are demanding refunds for a $6,000 building fee, as the school’s Punggol campus was not ready as expected.
The One World International School’s (OWIS) Punggol campus was slated to be operational by August 2023, the start of the school’s academic year, parents said. But their children had to share a campus with a school next door for seven months until March 2024.
OWIS Punggol, which has around 300 students across pre-school, primary school and secondary school levels, is located at 27 Punggol Field Walk. Its neighbouring school is Global Indian International School (GIIS).
Mr Siddharth Bolurker, 42, told The Straits Times that he transferred his 12-year-old daughter from the OWIS campus in Nanyang to the one in Punggol as it is nearer his house.
He paid nearly $25,000 for a year’s worth of school fees, including the building fee.
However, from August 2023 to March 2024, his daughter and other students were housed at GIIS. They shared the campus – including classrooms, canteen and play spaces – with GIIS students.
Mr Bolurker, a solutions engineer, said: “One of the main concerns while enrolling in the Punggol campus was whether it would be ready in time, because we saw that work was still ongoing.
“But when we asked the staff at the open house, they explicitly said not to worry and the new campus would be operational when school starts.”
OWIS has two other campuses – Nanyang, which is in Jurong West, and Suntec, which will be closing in June 2024.
OWIS was acquired by Global Schools Foundation, a non-profit organisation, in 2015.
The Nanyang campus opened in 2018, followed by the Suntec campus in 2021, and the Punggol Digital campus in 2023.
OWIS Punggol is able to hold up to 1,500 students, according to its website.
In response to queries from ST, a spokesman for OWIS said its Punggol Digital Campus has been “operational since August 2023 in the shared premises as per approval received from all regulatory authorities”. The school did not specify what these shared premises were.
He added that parents were given a campus tour of the shared premises and “briefed well in advance” before admissions.
“The same information was communicated during open houses, counselling sessions and one-on-one interactions with the OWIS staff,” he said.
The campus was granted its temporary occupation permit (TOP) only in February, said the spokesman, adding that this was shared with the parents.
The One World International School’s Punggol campus has around 300 students across pre-school, primary and secondary school levels. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
In a statement on its website, OWIS said on March 15 that it had received approval from the Committee for Private Education, and that its students could attend classes at the new facility from March 18.
The TOP, issued by the Building and Construction Authority, is a permit that allows residents to reside in a development that is habitable but incomplete.
One parent, a 45-year-old sustainability building design professional, said he was told by school representatives and principal Angela Henderson via two Zoom calls and one in-person meeting that his 12-year-old son would be able to attend the school at its new premises from August 2023.
He said the school initially promised a fully functional campus, and that the opening was postponed multiple times, eventually opening in April after several delays.
Even though students moved to the new campus on March 15, he added that he felt the move was rushed and many facilities were not ready for use.
He was one of several parents who expressed concern about the new campus, noting that facilities like computer and science labs were incomplete, some toilets were inaccessible, and cleanliness was compromised by construction debris.
One parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it looked like the school had “prepared the building in a hurry to start”.
OWIS did not respond to ST’s queries about the condition of the school’s amenities.
OWIS has two other campuses – Nanyang, which is in Jurong West, and Suntec (above), which will be closing down in June 2024. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Prior to the move, a group of 70 parents e-mailed the school on Feb 21 asking for a refund of the building fee, expressing concern about the delay of the new campus, and dissatisfaction with the compensation offered.
The e-mail, which was seen by ST, said the school had offered summer school and extracurricular activities as a form of compensation for the building fee. In response, parents said they were “not convinced nor interested”, and “do not believe these offerings justify the fees charged”.
“Students are relegated to playing in the bus bay due to a lack of proper sports facilities, with no competitive sports activities held against other schools as initially promised,” the e-mail added.
OWIS did not respond to queries about whether parents will be receiving other forms of compensation.
A parent, who requested to remain anonymous, said co-curricular activities were limited to football, cricket and badminton, and often could not be conducted due to events at GIIS.
The 38-year-old mother of two sons aged eight and 10 said that as at April, the sports field at the new campus is still under construction.
She added: “The management does not understand the significance of losing a year’s worth of valuable opportunities for physical activity during adolescence. The students felt very marginalised while borrowing the facilities from GIIS.”
A parent who requested to remain anonymous said the sports field at OWIS Punggol is still under construction. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
The OWIS spokesman said: “Feedback or concerns received from these communications were respectively responded to, and the parent community was very appreciative of the facilities and infrastructure of the campus, and the proactive lines of communication from the OWIS team.”
He added that the school followed all procedures prescribed by the regulatory authorities to run.
But parents are frustrated and lack confidence in the school’s management, said Mr Oleg Prosvetov, 42, a sales engineering manager with an eight-year-old daughter in the school.
“We don’t want to switch schools as it is quite disruptive for our daughter, but we do plan to go to the Small Claims Tribunals,” he said.
The parent who is a sustainable building design professional and another parent said they will be moving their children to other schools. Others are hoping for a refund of their building fees and for the new campus to be fully operational as soon as possible.
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