UK PM Rishi Sunak green lights new Indian youth visa scheme
London (PTI): British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday green lit a new youth mobility partnership scheme that will offer 3,000 visas to 18-30-year-old degree-educated Indians every year to live and work in the UK for up to two years.
The reciprocal scheme, which will also involve British nationals living and working in India, was signed as part of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) last year and will now be formally launched in early 2023.
The scheme was launched by Sunak as part of the UK's Indo-Pacific focus at the G20 Summit in Bali, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confirm the new bespoke route and which Downing Street said makes India the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme.
"I know first-hand the incredible value of the deep cultural and historic ties we have with India," said Sunak, Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister.
"I am pleased that even more of India's brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the UK has to offer and vice-versa - making our economies and societies richer," he said.
The launch of the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme is dubbed a "significant moment" for the bilateral relationship and the UK's wider commitment to forging stronger links with the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen both Indian and British economies.
It is also seen as an effort to propel the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, which are now expected to run until at least March next year.
Downing Street says such an FTA will be the first deal of its kind India has made with a European country and would build on the UK-India trading relationship worth GBP 24 billion annually.
The UK has more links with India than almost any country in the Indo-Pacific region as nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK are from India and Indian investment into the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the UK, it pointed out.
"In parallel to the mobility partnership with India, we are also strengthening our ability to remove immigration offenders. A landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the UK and India in May 2021 aimed at increasing mobility between our countries, returning those with no right to be in the UK and India respectively and sharing best practice on organised immigration crime," Downing Street said.
On the wider Indo-Pacific focus, Sunak is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia the largest gathering of global leaders in the region since before the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Indo-Pacific is increasingly crucial for our security and our prosperity. It is teeming with dynamic and fast-growing economies, and the next decade will be defined by what happens in this region," said Sunak, ahead of that meeting.
Downing Street said the UK PM will encourage China to use its place on the global stage responsibly to resolve geopolitical tensions, ensure regional stability and play its part in tackling the devastating global impact of the war in Ukraine.
It confirmed that work is underway on an update to last year's Integrated Review of the country's foreign policy priorities to take account of "Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the evolving challenges posed by China".
Meanwhile, as part of that Integrated Review, the UK reiterated its commitment to build the "broadest presence" in the Indo-Pacific of any European country.
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Messi event chaos: Court extends police custody of chief organiser till Jan 9
Kolkata (PTI): A court in West Bengal on Sunday extended till January 9 the police custody of Satadru Dutta, the chief organiser of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi's event that dissolved into disorder earlier this month.
After the completion of his initial police custody, Dutta was produced before the Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Court, where public prosecutors levelled multiple charges against him.
Dutta, who was arrested on December 13 over alleged mismanagement in the Salt Lake stadium event on that day, was also accused of entering into contracts with food and beverage suppliers without prior government approval and being involved in alleged corruption amounting to Rs 23 crore.
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The prosecution emphasised that Dutta wields significant influence, and for this reason, he should not be granted bail.
"The investigation requires further probe into the financial transactions and pre-planned arrangements for the event. His bail plea was rejected, and he (Dutta) was sent to police custody till January 9," a senior police officer told reporters outside the court.
Dutta was seen entering the courtroom holding a copy of the Gita.
His bail plea, moved by his counsel, was opposed by the prosecution, which described the incident as pre-planned and alleged that Dutta was the main person behind the alleged mismanagement.
The police informed the court that a contract for supplying food and beverages at the stadium had been finalised even before discussions were held with the administration for arrangements during Messi's programme.
According to the police, the official food and beverage contract value stood at Rs 40 lakh while Dutta allegedly received Rs 60 lakh in cash.
It was also stated that tickets worth around Rs 19 crore were sold for the event, with over 34,000 tickets purchased.
The police told the court that Messi left the field within 20 minutes of the programme, alleging that this too was part of a pre-planned sequence.
The police also pointed out that while professional sports event management companies were engaged for Messi events in three other cities, no such company was appointed for the Kolkata programme, a decision that has now come under scrutiny.
What was supposed to be a marquee football spectacle turned into widespread violence and disorder at the stadium on December 13 after Messi’s brief and tightly ring-fenced appearance, his first at the venue since 2011, left large sections of the crowd frustrated.
Angry fans, many of whom had paid Rs 4,000 to Rs 12,000 — and in some cases up to Rs 20,000 in the black market — ran riot at the venue after failing to get even a glimpse of their favourite superstar from Argentina.
