Ajit Doval: The Man Behind Extradition Of Augusta Westland Middleman Christian Michel

Agusta Westland ‘middleman’ Christian Michel was extradited to India on 4 December 2018. At some point in the last week, the Indian government said that they are within sniffing distance to finally secure Michel’s extradition, which was finally successful on Wednesday (5 December).

As per a Livemint report, the extradition was the culmination of India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s and Indian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Navdeep Suri’s quiet, but intense diplomacy.

It wasn’t revealed how many times Doval visited UAE or how many telephonic conversations he had to get on to present India’s case and to convince the UAE authorities to ensure British national Michel was extradited to India, but “it was many trips and many, many phone calls for over a year”.

The report also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rapport with rulers of Abu Dhabi, particularly with Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was also one of the reasons for a smooth extradition.

by Swarajya Staff – Dec 07 2018, 2:44 pm,

Speaking at a book launch yesterday (6 December), Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari stated that he expects 70-80 per cent of the Ganga to be cleaned by the end of March next year, and the river to be fully cleansed by March 2020, reports The New Indian Express. He also said that road construction is right on track to hit 40 km a day by next March.

“By the end of March, 70-80 per cent of the Ganga will be cleaned, and my feeling is that by March 2020, the river will be 100 per cent clean,” Gadkari stated.

He stated that Rs 26,000 crores is going to be spent for cleaning up the Ganga under the National Mission for Clean Ganga.

As Gadkari also holds the portfolios of roads & highways and ports & shipping, he was also questioned about the dip in GDP growth in the second quarter. GDP growth had sobered to 7.1 per cent from 8.2 per cent growth in the first quarter; however Gadkari stated India remains the fastest growing major economy in the world.

He also said that a lot more work needs still needs to be done to upgrade road infrastructure, even as road construction has risen from 2 km to 28 km per day during Gadkari’s tenure. He revealed that 12 new expressways are presently under construction across the country.

Source: Swarajya Magazine

Image Courtesy:The Wire