ISSUE 5 • NOVEMBER 11, 2020 INDIA IN Newsletter of the Consulate General of India, Toronto

145th Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel

The 145th Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel was celebrated with enthusiasm throughout . Diaspora organizations Public Affairs Council, Federation of Gujarati Association along with Chovis Gam Patidar Samaj, organized various events to commemorate the occasion.

Mayor of , His Worship Patrick Brown, issued a proclamation naming 31st October as “Unity Day”, recognizing the invaluable contribution of Sadar Vallabhai Patel.

1 Illumination of Brampton Clock Tower Run for Unity

The City of Brampton on occasion of 'Unity Day', Gujarat Public Affairs Council organized a 5 km ‘Run for Unity’ illuminated the Clock Tower in Indian tri-color. in which more than 100 people participated from different parts of Canada. A virtual tour of Statue of Unity was also organized.

Homage to Sardar Patel

Federation of Gujarati Association along with Chovis Gam Patidar Samaj, organized a homage to Sardar Patel in the premises of Ish TV. Consul (Welfare) Mr. Dheeraj Pareek, attended the event and paid his respects to Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

DID YOU KNOW?

External Affairs Minister delivers Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture

External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S Jaishankar, delivered the Statue of Unity is the world's tallest Sardar Patel Memorial lecture on 31st October hosted by All India statue standing tall at 182m. Radio. EAM spoke on India and the Post-Covid World. Read the full lecture here.

CURRENT NEWS 2 PM offers Homage to Sardar Vallabhai Patel at Statue of Unity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, at the 182-meter tall Statue of Unity on his 145th birth anniversary. The Prime Minister also inaugurated 17 projects around the Statue of Unity in Kevadia colony. He inaugurated projects pertaining to tourism development in the area, including Jungle Safari, Ekta Mall, Children’s Nutrition Park and Glow Garden, and launched the Kevadia Mobile App and website in all United Nations languages. The Ekta Mall is a special store constructed near Statue of Unity where tourists can buy handloom and handicraft products belonging to different states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also inaugurated the country's first seaplane service between the Statue of Unity site at Kevadiya Colony to the Sabarmati Riverfront in . Statue of Unity

Inauguration of Seaplane First Seaplane Service

Cactus Garden

Jungle Safari Park Ekta Mall

CURRENT NEWS 3 100 flights of Vande Bharat Mission VANDE 100 special flights as on 10 November, 2020 under Vande Bharat Mission BHARAT from Toronto to different destinations in India have facilitated the return MISSION of more than 16,500 Indians and Indian origin foreigners. We would like to thank Air India, GTAA staff and Team Toronto for their consistent efforts since May 2020.

Click here for Flight Schedule for November. 110000

CURRENT NEWS 4 Consulate आपके ार Life Certificate

In an effort to improve accessibility during the pandemic, Consular camps with safety protocols have been organized in various locations across the city to issue Life Certificates to seniors and pensioners. 3171 Life Certificates have been issued since November 1st. Life Certificates are being issued till November 22nd.

No fee is charged by the Consulate for issuing Life Certificates. Applicants are required to register to avail the service.

Click here to register and view the schedule of Consular camps in November.

Track your application status online Passport and Police Clearance Certificate application status can be tracked online on this link with ARN number and Date of Birth. Please note that once police verification is done in India, it takes about 8-10 days for Authorities to update report in the system, after which PCC can be issued.

Guidelines for International Arrivals in India Latest guidelines for International arrivals in India issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare can be viewed here.

Annoncement - Extension of last date for getting OCI Card re issued As per existing instructions the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder registration is required to be got re-issued each time a new passport is issued up to the age of 20 years and once after completing 50 years of age in view of biological changes in the face of the OCI cardholder. With a view to avoid inconvenience to such OCI cardholders, it has been decided to grant extension of time till 30 June, 2021 to all eligible foreigners to get their OCI cards re- issued. Click here for Press Release.

CURRENT NEWS 5 Jaipur Literature Festival

JLF Toronto goes virtual this year! An opportunity to experience conversations between some of the greatest thinkers and writers of our time from the comfort of our homes. The event will span between November 27-29 with sessions by prolific Authors, poets, historians, journalists, politicians, chefs and screenplay writers. These session will cover a range of topics including migration and identity, food, travel, climate change, politics, mythology, and storytelling for kids.

Click here for more information about the festival.

मातृbhasha Kannada Competitions Results of Sanskrit ोकधा bhasha Kannada competitions in मातृ Results of the मातृbhasha Sanskrit Shloka association with Kannada Sangha competition conducted in associations Toronto are on now. More information with Samskrita Bharati Canada have on this link. been declared. Congratulations to the 250+ participants.

In celebration of Hindu Heritage Month, BHASHA videos of the winners will be shared on social media handles of the Consulate. मातृ Promoting Indian Languages

Click here to view Leaderboard.

Republic Day 2021

Panorama India Republic Day 2021 celebrations have begun. Register for Panorama Idol, Folk Dance and a special contest for seniors and send in your entries..

For more information write to [email protected].

CULTURE NEWS 6 HINDU HERITAGE MONTH

Message from the Prime Minister

Canadian Prime Minister wishes the Hindu community in Canada for Hindu Heritage Month. To read full message of Prime Minister, click here.

Hindu Heritage Month celebrations by Message from Premier Doug Ford Peel and Toronto School Board

The Honb'le Premier of , Peel and Toronto district school boards Doug Ford in his video message celebrate November as Hindu Heritage Month. wishes the Hindu Community in The two school boards include about 850 Ontario for Hindu Heritage schools & 4 lakh students Toronto District month. Click here to see full School Board also announced a poster message. competition with theme “Om Shanti: Living together in peace”.

Greetings from Mayor of Missisauga and Mayor of Hindu Heritage Centre Celebrations Consul General Apoorva Srivastava attended Hindu Heritage month celebrations at Hindu Heritage Centre, Missisauga on November 8th. The celebrations included a Flag Raising ceremony, cultural performances and speeches by dignitaries.

Consul General also attended a virtual celebration by Hindu Heritage Centre Senior Club on November 3rd.

Her worship , Mayor of Missisauga and Mayor of Vaughan, His Worship greeted the vibrant Hindu Community on this occassion.

CURRENT NEWS 7 Diwali and Thanskgiving Gala Indian Women Circle-Virtual Diwali Party

Consul General Apoorva On November 8, Consul General Apoorva Srivastava attended virtual Srivastava delivered the keynote address at the Diwali and Thanksgiving gala virtual Diwali Party by India Women Circle. The organised by Toronto Netralaya party included cultural performances. Lions Club and Music Mantraa Entertainment along with MP Rob Oliphant, MPP Deepak Anand, Arjun Jasuja and Dr. Living with Wellness - Diwali Celebrations Jagdish Bhutani. The Consul General inaugarated the event Consul General Apoorva Srivastava attended by lighting a Diya and talking Living with Wellness-Diwali Celebrations abour the significance of Diwali. organized by ARRA Arts and V Serve Canada on 10 November.

Gerrard India Bazaar - Diwali Celebrations Consul General Apoorva Srivastava attended the inauguration of Diwali celebrations at Gerrard India Bazaar on 6 November. She also toured the bazaar and interacted with the business community on Gerrard Street.

Bharat ko Janiye Quiz - Participate and win a trip to India

Bharat Ko Janiye" online quiz 2020-21, is being organized by the for PIOs, NRIs & foreign nationals in the age group of 18-35 years. Registration can be done on www.bharatkojaniye.in.

The portal has (a) guidelines for participation; (b) Study material; (c) Mock Quiz; and, (d) Timeline of the Quiz

CURRENT NEWS 8 Know India Workshop

Consulate in association with India International Centre of Canada (IIIC) launched “Know India Workshop” series with an objective to strengthen understanding of the new, emerged India towards enhancing the scope of cooperation & engagement between two nations and increase people to people connect. The session began with a detailed presentation on ”Discover India” delivered by Consul General of India to group of students of Seneca followed by speakers who presented their insights on India’s Space Programs, Economic snapshots, advancement in information technology, education system and India’s rich and diverse tourism landscape. The session concluded with an interactive quiz being rolled out and felicitating students with e-certificates for active participation.

NASSCOM Canada Week Consul General delivered key note address during NASSCOM Canada Week 2020 held on 6 November 2020. In her address, she outlined huge strength of IT sector, in both Canada and India, especially in cloud-workload migrations, business process automation, cyber security, biometrics, IP based security products and smart access technologies. She emphasized that the pandemic has brought more opportunities to digitally transform various aspects of our daily routine and that there’s no better time than now when India’s highly skilled manpower should gel together with Canada’s capital and technological prowess for expanding the existing opportunities and for creating new ones.

Brand India Virtual Tour - Ontario

Consulate in association with Indo Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC) organized 2nd Brand India Virtual Tour program on 27 October 2020 with an objective to expand trade between India and Ontario. The session began with keynote address from Consul General Apoorva Srivastava followed by remarks from Hon. Victor Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Government of Ontario. They emphasized on various business opportunities in sunrise sectors such as Aerospace, Pharma, Clean Energy and Water Management that can be explored between India & Ontario given the complementarities between them.

CURRENT NEWS 9 PM addresses 4th India Energy Forum Prime Minister Modi delivered inaugural address at 4th India Energy Forum CERAWeek through video conference. The theme of this year’s edition was “India’s Energy Future in a World of Change”. Prime Minister said that India is full of energy and its energy future is bright and secure. He added that in spite of various challenges like fall in energy demand by almost one third, prevailing price instability, impacted investment decisions, and projected contraction in global energy demand over the next few years, India is projected to emerge as a leading energy consumer, which will nearly double its energy consumption over the long term. Read more here. .

Prime Minister chairs meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic situation and vaccine delivery, distribution and administration

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country and the preparedness of vaccine delivery, distribution and administration. In an effort to help the global community, the Prime Minister directed that ‘we’ should not limit our efforts to our immediate neighbourhood but also reach out to the entire world in providing vaccines, medicines and IT platforms for vaccine delivery system. Indian Scientists and Research Teams are collaborating and strengthening the research capacities in neighboring countries. Read more here.

Aatmanirbhar Bharat' not just a mission, but well-planned TN government rolls out 100% strategy: PM Modi at Global Investors Roundtable tax exemption for e-vehicles In his address during Virtual Global Investors Roundtable-20 virtual In a major boost to the adoption of conference, Prime Minister said that India’s quest to become electric vehicles in the State, the Tamil 'Aatmanirbhar' was not just a vision but a well-planned economic Nadu government has passed an order strategy. The virtual summit was attended by the world’s 20 largest for 100 per cent exemption of motor pension and sovereign wealth funds, who have around $6 trillion vehicle tax for battery-operated vehicles assets under their management. Read the full article here. till the end of 2022. Read more here.

Demonetisation helped curb black money: India Leaping Ahead in Enterpreneurship/ PM Modi Start-ups Speaking on the fourth anniversary of demonetization, Five years since PM Narendra Modi launched the Start- Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the move Up India initiative, India is witnessing a golden chapter helped in reducing black money, increasing tax in the history of entrepreneurship. India now has compliance and formalisation of the economy. It may 38,756 officially-recognised start-ups with 27 unicorns, be mentioned that Prime Minister Modi had eight of which achieved this status in 2020. India is announced the decision to ban all currency notes of also now the third-largest tech start-up hub globally. higher denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from According to Praxis Global Alliance, start-ups are midnight of November 8, 2016. Prime Minister pointed growing at an average rate of 12–15% annually. Start- out that India has turned into a lesser cash-based ups have raised $63 billion between 2016–20 in economy with better tax compliance. funding, $20 billion of which was raised in 2019 over 1,854 deals.

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