Piyush Goyal gets additional charge of Finance Ministry, may present Budget
Arun Jaitley, in US for medical treatment
New Delhi, Jan 23: Piyush Goyal is likely to present the interim Budget on February 1 as he was Wednesday given the additional charge of finance ministry as Arun Jaitley is in the US for medical treatment, sources said.
Jaitley has undergone surgery at a hospital in New York on Tuesday and has been advised at least two weeks rest by the doctors, sources said. Jaitley, who had travelled to the US on January 13, has undergone tests for soft tissue cancer this week.
Ahead of the interim budget scheduled to be presented on February 1, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has been given additional charge of Finance and Corporate Affairs ministries.
An official release from the Rashtrapati Bhavan Wednesday said the President, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, directed that during the period of Jaitley's indisposition, the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Corporate Affairs, held by him, be temporarily assigned to Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios.
Goyal is likely to present the interim Budget, according to sources.
The budget comes ahead of the general elections and the government is expected to make some key announcements, including relief package for farmers, poor and sops for middle-class.
Jaitley has been designated as a minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time when he is able to resume his work as the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Corporate Affairs.
Rajya Sabha Member Goyal also holds the coal portfolio.
This for the second time that Goyal has been given the additional charge of the Finance Ministry.
In May last year, Goyal was given the additional charge of the ministry after Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant surgery.
Later after a gap of four months, Jaitley resumed the office of the Finance Minister.
Jaitley had also undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery, to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition, was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications.
The ruling BJP has recently appointed Jaitley as in-charge of publicity for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Jaitley, a senior member of the ruling party, has presented five budgets of the current regime.
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First direct US-Venezuela commercial flight in 7 years to land in Caracas
Caracas (Venezuela) (AP): The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela is scheduled to land on Thursday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, seven years after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns.
The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes in the wake of the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, in early January.
It also comes a month after the US formally reopened its embassy in Caracas following the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country.
Flight AA3599 operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was scheduled to depart from Miami at 10:16 a.m. local time and arrive three hours later in the Venezuelan capital, returning to Florida later in the afternoon.
Earlier, the airline said a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.
In late January, US President Donald Trump said he informed Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, allowing Americans to visit.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there,” Trump said at the time.
The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the US and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. For the past seven years, passengers have relied on international airlines and indirect routes through neighbouring Latin American countries.
In January, when the airline announced the resumption of flights it said it would give customers the opportunity to reunite with families and pursue new business opportunities.
American Airlines was the last US airline flying to Venezuela. It suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.
