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Bengaluru: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted on Friday that the opening of "long-in-waiting" US consulate in Bengaluru was the "very important milestone" in the bilateral ties and urged the American authorities to ensure that the mission starts visa operations at the earliest.

"This will be my number one talking point with Secretary (of State Nominee Marco) Rubio when I go and see him. The sooner we get it done, the better it is," said Jaishankar.

The External Minister was in Bengaluru today to attend the "site dedication ceremony" of the fifth United States consulate in India, which will start operating in Bengaluru soon.

Delivering his speech, Eric Garcetti, US Ambassador to India, said the consulate in Bengaluru will not be offering visa services for the time being.

In his speech, Jaishankar pointed to statistics to nudge the US to get around to issuing visas from Bengaluru as early as possible.

"I was checking figures, and was very glad to see that last year, the RPO (Regional Passport Office) Bengaluru issued 8,83,000 passports. That's just for one year. Do the math, and you will see how important it is to ensure that travel is smooth," added Jaishankar.

He also added that there are three flights every week from here to San Francisco. "Hopefully, if Boeing and Airbus deliver, there'd be more. I think that's a legitimate expectation," said Jaishankar.

Jaishankar said a US consulate in Bengaluru has been "long-in-waiting".

"One, which I believe, Bengaluru legitimately deserved and expected," he added.

"I think Bengaluru has such an important place that it was for me an imperative that there is a permanent resident presence of American diplomats here," said Jaishankar.

He also said every time he had visited the city in the last five years, there was always somebody who would ask him, 'so, when is that consulate coming?'.

"It was from, really, I would say, the cross section of the society. It was from businessmen; it was from the tech world; it was from academics. It was even from people you would meet in a restaurant," added Jaishankar.

According to him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 had brought up the issue of opening a consulate in Bengaluru when he visited the US.

He also said India had promised to open a consulate in Los Angeles if the United States "get the Bengaluru consulate done". He said now, with the opening of the consulate, collaborations in defence and education would reach new heights.

"I think the formal opening of this consulate is one more sign that we are overcoming the hesitations of history. It is now within our grasp, within the realm of possibility, that we realise more fully the potential of India-US relations. And I think it is important that Bengaluru too realises its potential in the relationship," said Jaishankar.

In his address, US Ambassador Garcetti, who would be relinquishing his responsibility in India soon, said he was glad that getting a consulate up and running in Bengaluru would be his last task in India.

"You know, our relationship in India is not new. Our second consulate in the world was here in India. After the independence of a new America in 1776, we opened a consulate in Lyon, France, and then the second was in Kolkata, showing, back then, the importance of India to a new American nation," said Garcetti.

India, said Garcetti, is now the second largest mission of America anywhere in the world.

"It produces the second most visas, the most students we're breaking records every single year '“record employees, record visas, record students, record military exercises, record engagement from the seabed to space," added Garcetti.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who was also present during the "site dedication ceremony" said the opening of the consulate in Bengaluru is a testament to the growing importance of Karnataka in the global stage.

"Nowadays, the world is looking at India through Bengaluru. We know there are a lot of hiccups there, as Bengaluru is not a well-planned city. But still the city has proved itself to be the safest city in the entire country for the global firms to have their headquarters," said Shivakumar.

Other dignitaries present for the ceremony include MP Tejasvi Surya, Karnataka's Minister for Large & Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development M B Patil, Minister for IT & BT Priyank Kharge.

Several entrepreneurs from the city, including Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, had also attended the 'site dedication ceremony'.

The director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza has described as “hell” the situation in the north of the strip which has been under an Israeli ground offensive and siege for “100 days”.

“The situation is literally like hell,” Munir al-Barsh said on Sunday, referring to daily Israeli attacks and the regime’s ban on food delivery to medical staff trapped in the north’s hospitals.

He added that “hospitals in northern Gaza have turned into mass graves.”

Al-Barsh noted that the offensive and the destruction of hospitals and infrastructure and any sign of life in the north are aimed to empty the region of its residents.

“The Israeli occupation has been deliberately destroying the health system since the very first moment,” he said, adding that “the destruction of hospitals was the greatest evidence of the [Israeli] genocide.”

According to his statements, 5,000 people have been killed or gone missing, while 9,500 others have been injured since the start of Israel’s offensive on the north of Gaza in early October 2024. The regime’s forces have also abducted about 2,300 people, including 65 medical staff, during the ongoing offensive.

Al-Barsh slammed the “disgraceful” silence of the international community on Israel’s atrocities, which he said, has “deepened the suffering of innocent civilians.”

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,565 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 109,660 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

However, the UK’s Lancet medical journal estimates the actual number of deaths in the war is much higher than the official toll.

According to the study, figures reported by the Palestinian health ministry likely undercounted the death toll by 41 percent in the first nine months of the war as the Gaza Strip’s healthcare infrastructure unraveled.

Udupi: Karnataka Kreedakoota-2025, a sports event organised by the Youth Empowerment and Sports Department, Karnataka Olympic Association, and the District Administration, will be held in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts from January 17 to January 23.

The event will feature 1,373 athletes participating in a variety of sports, including kayaking, canoeing, archery, cycling, wrestling, boxing, hockey, lawn tennis, table tennis, Kabaddi, Judo, and athletics.

Deputy Commissioner Vidya Kumari K addressed a press conference on Monday, providing details about the events in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.

According to her, while volleyball, basketball, and swimming competitions will take place in Dakshina Kannada, events like kayaking and canoeing will be held in Brahmavara’s Swarna River, and archery will take place at the MJC Ground in Manipal.

Marena Sports Complex in Manipal will host lawn tennis and table tennis matches, she added.

The opening ceremony will take place on January 17 in Mangaluru and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be inaugurating the event.

The closing ceremony will be held in Udupi on January 23, with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and Home Minister G Parameshwar attending.

The district administration, in collaboration with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, has made provisions for accommodation and food for the participants, said the DC.

She also said the synthetic track at the Mahatma Gandhi District Stadium in Ajjarakad is undergoing repair work after its 10-year durability period ended in 2023, to provide athletes better infrastructure.