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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know India to Test All Pilots for Drugs After Air India Plane Plunged I ndia’s aviation regulator has directed airlines to conduct a one-time drug test on all pilots by July next year, according to a government official, following recent cases of crew being found under the influence. Testing across carriers is already underway, the official told reporters in New Delhi, asking not to be named pending a formal announcement by the Directorate Gen- eral of Civil Aviation. The directive follows a freak outage of all three hydrau- lic systems on the Air India-operated Airbus SE A320 - a malfunction considered virtually impossible in an aircraft built with multiple layers of redundancy. The failure caused the autopilot to disengage and the plane to drop about 300 feet. After the flight from Phuket landed in India on Aug. 4, the captain tested positive for illegal drugs. Investiga- tions have not established whether the pilot’s condition contributed to the mid-air plunge, but an interim report released last Friday by India’s Aircraft Accident Investi- gation Bureau called the drug-use discovery a “serious concern” and urged the regulator to take “appropriate actions” urgently. Air India Ltd. had also announced a one-time drug testing of all its pilots after the incident and the avia- tion regulator is also in discussion with the airlines to strengthen the current rules on drug testing. Separately, Malaysia Airlines introduced mandatory drug testing in August after a cockpit crew member was arrested for al- leged smuggling of narcotics. The draft rules on the “amended drug tests rules for pilots” will be finalized by the month-end, India’s Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu told re- porters in New Delhi. While he did not elaborate on the proposed changes, these changes are expected to provide a more stringent framework for testing pilots for psychoactive substances and make the process applicable more comprehensively across the airline industry. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com - Bloomberg By Mihir Mishra India Community News India Times (September 12, 2026 - September 18, 2026) September 18, 2026 9 T he United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a September 9, 2026, press release following a detainer issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs En- forcement (ICE) for an individual of In- dian origin who it identified as an “illegal alien” charged with causing a semi-truck crash that killed a woman in Ohio. The DHS in the same press release identified other Indian-origin truck driv- ers and later posted a related X.com post that used the generic “Mr. Singh” name as a warning, a post to which Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi responded with a strongly worded statement. In the Sept. 9, press release, the DHS quoting local reporting (According to local reporting) said the crash took place on September 2 in Brown County, Ohio. A semi-truck attempted to pass another vehicle by moving into the opposite lane, colliding head-on with a car being driven by 50-year-old BrendaWatson who died at the scene. A witness to the crash said that the semi-truck was speeding and had plenty of time and space to merge back into the correct lane, the DHS said. According to details provided by DHS, Singh had been granted a commercial driver’s license (CDL) by the state of Cali- fornia. Singh, the DHS said, illegally en- tered the United States through Arizona in October 2023 and was encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol. “He was then RELEASED into the country by the Biden Administration. In July 2024, he applied for work authoriza- tion, which was granted by the Biden Administration in August 2024,” the press release says, also blaming the “sanctu- ary” policy of Governor Gavin Newsom of California. The DHS goes on to identify 5 other cases where truckers, 4 of them of Indian origin, were involved in alleged criminal offenses: “These include: • In January, ICE lodged detainers for Gunpreet Singh and Jasveer Singh, criminal illegal aliens from India, after they had been arrested for smuggling more than 300 pounds of cocaine in a semi-truck in Putnam County, Indiana. Governor Newsom’s DMV had given both men CDLs. • In December 2025, ICE arrested Ger- son Emir Cuadra Soto, an illegal alien from Honduras and MS-13 member who is wanted in his home country for a quadruple homicide, in Grand Island, Nebraska. He had been given a driver’s license by Newsom’s DMV. • In November 2025, Rajinder Kumar, an illegal alien from India who had been given a CDL by Newsom’s DMV, jackknifed his semi-truck and trailer on a highway in Deschutes County, Oregon, killing a newlywed couple. ICE arrested Kumar in April 2026. • In August 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien from India, after he made an illegal U-turn in his semi-truck and killed three people in St. Lucie County, Florida. Singh had obtained his CDL in Newsom’s California.” The DHS in a social media post, which has since been removed, depicted a man labeled “Mr. Singh” who is confronted with a Transformers-style deportation graphic, which tells him in upper case let- ter, “GET OFF OUR ROADS, YOU DON’T KNOWHOWTO DRIVE MR. SINGH” and warned him to “self-deport or find out”. Congressman Krishnamoorthi, in a statement issued Sept. 10, said, “Our government should never use its power to demonize people or suggest that their faith, heritage, or identity means they do not belong here. Yet in an official social media post styled as a movie poster, the Trump Department of Homeland Security depicted a man labeled “Mr. Singh” as the villain, told him to “get off our roads,” and warned him to “self-deport or find out.” Krishnamoorthi went on to say, “More than 160,000 people in the United States share the surname Singh. When the gov- ernment demonizes a name carried by so many Sikh families, it fuels xenophobia and casts suspicion on an entire com- munity. Sikh and South Asian Americans are as American as anyone. This is our country and our home, and there should be no room for hate here.” The Congressional Caucus for Asian and Pacific Islanders, CAPAC, also put out a statement strongly condemning the DHS social media post. Congresswoman Grace Meng, D-NY, chair of CAPAC, said in a statement – “We are outraged by the blatantly racist and xenophobic social media posts coming from the Department of Homeland Security that portray the Sikh community, and other immigrants, as enemies of the United States. Sikh Americans are not enemies of this country – they are our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends, and proud Americans who contribute to every part of our nation.” Meng went on to say, “Millions of Sikhs bear the name ‘Singh,’ including an American patriot and trailblazer, Rep. Dalip Singh Saund, who became the first Asian American ever elected to Congress in 1956. To suggest that someone’s name, faith, or immigrant background makes them a threat to America is not only of- fensive – it is dangerous.” ICE Lodges Detainer For Illegal Alien Of Indian Origin Charged In Fatal Semi-Truck Crash; DHS Tweets Warning To Generic “Mr. Singh” By a StaffWriter PHOTO :COURTESY DHS.GOV. PHOTO:PROVIDED BYTHE OFFICE OF REP.RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI The suspect Manjit Singh. A DHS graphic posted on Twitter. PHOTO Provided by the Office of Rep.