Citizens free to call India or Bharat, SC had said while dismissing PIL in 2016
Row over Prez G20 invite
New Delhi (PTI): The citizens are free to call the country India or Bharat as per their wishes, the Supreme Court had said in 2016 while dismissing a PIL which sought a direction that India be called Bharat' for all purposes.
The apex court's summary dismissal of the PIL becomes relevant in view of a massive nation-wide debate which got triggered following the G20 dinner invitation from President Droupadi Murmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat'.
"Bharat or India? You want to call it Bharat, go right ahead. Someone wants to call it India, let him call it India," a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit, both retired, had observed while trashing the PIL filed by Niranjan Bhatwal from Maharashtra.
The Centre, facing opposition criticism over the G20 invite, had told the top court in November 2015 that the country does not have to be called Bharat' instead of India'.
It had said, "There is no change in circumstances to consider any change in Article 1 of the Constitution of India."
Article 1(1) of the Constitution says, "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States."
Opposing the PIL, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said issues regarding the country's name were deliberated upon extensively by the Constituent Assembly during the drafting of the Constitution and clauses in Article 1 were adopted unanimously.
It had said there was no change in circumstances since the Constituent Assembly debated the issue to warrant a review.
The Supreme Court had also taken strong exception to the petitioner and asked him whether he thinks it has nothing else to do, and reminded him that public interest litigations are meant for poor.
"The PIL is for poor people. You think we have nothing else to do," the bench had said on March 11, 2016.
The petition had also sought a direction to NGOs and corporates that they use the term Bharat for all official and unofficial purposes.
The PIL had said the prominent suggestions before the Constituent Assembly for naming the country were "Bharat, Hindustan, Hind and Bharatbhumi or Bharatvarsh and names of that kind".
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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.
