New Delhi Oct 29 PTI India will use whatever margin of persuasion it has while talking to oil-producing nations to make sure the fuel prices are down in the country Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on FridayHe added that Indias dependence on traditional energy sources such as petrol and coal will remain for a very long time and the transition to green energy sources will be orderly only if their prices are affordable In his speech at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue organised by the Indian Navy Puri said As a minister the government is very sensitive to prices And I can tell you with total confidence that we will use whatever margin of persuasion we have bilaterally with my counterparts or multilaterally or plurilaterally to make sure the prices are down A week back the minister had said India is looking to bring together public sector undertakings PSU and private sector refiners to seek better crude oil import deals from Saudi Arabia and other nations International oil prices climbing to a multi-year high of USD 85 per barrel has sent local retail petrol diesel and LPG prices to record levelsIndia which imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and is the worlds third-largest energy-consuming and importing country has been impressing upon producers to raise output to help stabilise rates at affordable levelsThe minister also said We are going to make the transition to green and sustainable energy very quickly but out dependence on the traditional energy is going to be around for a very long time Lets make no mistakes on that If we dont get the price right and if we dont allow energy access at affordable prices we are going to have a problem in ensuring that the transition from here to green energy will be orderly he mentioned India is the only country where as the per-capita energy consumption is one-third of the global average the growth will be exponential in terms of energy requirement he mentioned There is a positive and negative side to it Puri saidIf the prices by the main producers remain high and more oil is not put in the market it will at some stage affect us the minister addedToday Indias petrol consumption and diesel consumption is 20 per cent and 12-14 per cent higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic respectively he stated This means that the economy is firing away on all six cylinders he added PTI DSP KJ

New Delhi Oct 28 PTI Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited the Delhi airport on Thursday to supervise the progress of Digi Yatra mechanism that allows the passengers to check-in at the airport using biometric technologyThe minister said on Twitter Visited the Delhi airport and supervised the progress of Digi Yatra a forward-looking mechanism to digitise passenger processing-from entry to boarding It will be a milestone towards realising the PMs goal of Digital India Glad to see the Ministry of Civil Aviations ambitious mission taking shape he addedThe Digi Yatra initiative seeks to promote paperless and hassle-free air travel It is a biometrics-based digital processing system for passenger entry and related requirements at the airportThe minister said he also met a few workers who were travelling abroad from Jharkhand at the T3 terminal of the Delhi airport on ThursdayHad a brief chat about their experience and wait time at the airport On being told it was 10 hours requested airport officials to serve food and ensure their well being he tweeted PTI DSP KJ

New Delhi Sep 18 PTI Airlines can now operate a maximum of 85 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic flights instead of the 725 per cent allowed till date the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated on Saturday The carriers have been operating 725 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic flights since August 12 according to the ministrys order Between July 5 and August 12 the cap stood at 65 per cent Between June 1 and July 5 the cap was at 50 per centThe ministry issued a fresh order on Saturday in which it modified the August 12order stating that 725 per cent capacity may be read as 85per cent capacity Saturdays order also noted that the 725 per cent cap will remain in place until further orderWhen the government had resumed the scheduled domestic flights on May 25 last year after a two-month break the ministry had allowed the carriers to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic servicesThe cap was gradually increased to 80 per cent by DecemberThe 80 per cent cap remained in place till June 1The May 28 decision to bring down the cap from 80 to 50 per cent from June 1 onwards was taken in view of the sudden surge in the number of active COVID-19 cases across the country decrease in passenger traffic and the passenger load occupancy rate factor the ministry had said PTI DSP KJ