E-governance soon in Mangaluru: Minister Khader
MMC’s development works inaugurated, foundation stone laid
Mangaluru, August 29: In a bid to make the city ideal, the Mangaluru City Corporation will soon be implementing paperless, atomization and e-governance system in the city; said Housing, Urban Development, and District In-charge Minister UT Khader.
He was speaking after inaugurating the renamed Kudmul Rangarao Town Hall and laying the foundation stone of various development works.
He said, “the corporation must take steps to make the city a model city through developing Wenlock hospital development and Kadri Park Junction in the city.”
“Kudmul Rangarao, a well-wisher of all classes of society, was responsible for the social change, along with the special care to the Dalit community. The MMC has done good work by nominating his name to the town hall,” he said.
“With the Mangaluru included in Smart City project, development works of Rs. 1,000 crore have been initiated in the city with the collaboration of Central and State Governments. People and officials must strive to make these projects worth Rs 10,000 crore,” Minister Khader advised.
Speaking at the occasion, Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, said that infrastructure must be provided by implementing revenue generating schemes in the city.
“Navayug Company has promised to complete two bridges within January,” he added.
The foundation stone was laid for the MMC’s works of Rs 472.41 crore.
MLA Vedavasya Kamath, Mayor Bhaskar K, Deputy Mayor Mohammed K, Standing Committee President Praveen Chandra Alva, Lata Salian, Naveen D'Souza, Corporator Divakar, MMC Opposition Leader Premanand Shetty, Commissioner Mohammad Nazeer, and others were present. While Shashidhar Hegde welcomed the gathering, Manohar Prasad compered the programme.
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Trump's gold card programme goes live, offering US visas starting at USD 1 million per person
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his long-promised "gold card" was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to US citizenship for individuals paying USD 1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee.
A website accepting applications went live as Trump revealed the start of the programme while surrounded by business leaders in the White House's Roosevelt Room. It is meant to replace EB-5 visas, which Congress created in 1990 to generate foreign investment and had been available to people who spend about USD 1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
Trump sees the new version as a way for the US to attract and retain top talent, all while generating revenue for federal coffers. He has been promoting the gold card programme for months, and once suggested that each card would cost USD 5 million, though he more recently revised that to the USD 1 million and USD 2 million pricing scheme.
The president said all funds taken in as part of the programme will "go to the US government" and predicted that billions would flow into an account run by the Treasury Department "where we can do things positive for the country."
The new programme is actually a green card, effectively offering permanent legal residency with the chance for citizenship.
"Basically, it's a green card but much better," Trump said. "Much more powerful, a much stronger path."
The president made no mention of requirements for job creation for applying corporations or on overall caps on the programme, which exist under the current EB-5 programme. Instead, he said he had heard complaints from business leaders who had been unable to recruit outstanding graduates from US universities because they were from other countries and lacked permission to stay.
"You can't hire people from the best colleges because you don't know whether or not you can keep the person," Trump said.
Trump has built his political career around clamping down on the US-Mexico border and championing hard-line immigration policies. His second administration spent its first 10-plus months launching mass deportation pushes and sweeping immigration crackdowns that have targeted cities including Los Angeles and Charlotte.
But he has also drawn criticism from leading voices of his "Make America Great Again" movement for repeatedly suggesting that skilled immigrants should be allowed into the US -- something the gold card programme could facilitate.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the programme will include USD 15,000 for applicant vetting and that the thorough process used to scrutinise backgrounds would "make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America." Companies will be able to receive multiple cards, but will be limited to one individual per card, he said.
Lutnick also said the current green card holders earn less money than the average American, and that Trump wanted to change that.
"So, same visas, but now just full of the best people," Lutnick said.
Investors' visas are common around the world, with dozens of countries offering versions of "golden visas" to wealthy individuals, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy.
Trump said the programme means the US is "getting somebody great coming into our country because we think these will be some tremendous people" and singled out top US college graduates from China, India and France as among those who will possibly be receiving gold cards.
"The companies are going to be very happy," he said.
