Air India flight turns back after rat spotted on board

 A plane travelling from Mumbai to London was forced to turn back mid-flight after a rat was spotted on board, local media report. Flight AI 131 travelling to London on Wednesday was flying over Iran when someone on board said they spotted the rodent, reports said. Passengers continued their journey on a replacement aircraft some time later. Air India has said that the plane will be fumigated and the presence of a rodent was being investigated. It said engineers were looking into the claims, "though the presence of the rodent was not confirmed". It stressed the decision to abort the flight was precautionary and in the interests of passenger safety. Advertisement Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A happier landing: in 2013 an Air India plane was Australia's first Dreamliner passenger flight, where it was given a water cannon salute Rats occasionally get on board aircraft along with catering and other supplies but can pose a serious technical as well as a health hazard if they chew through wires. It is the latest setback to hit the state-owned airline, which has had to cut costs to improve its financial health. Earlier in December, an Air India technician was sucked into an aircraft engine and killed at Mumbai airport.

Startups give background checks the app edge

 Tanvi Jadwani, a 24-year-old social worker living in Delhi, is wary of travelling home alone in a taxi, or calling a serviceman to fix a plumbing issue through on-demand services. "After the Uber incident, I think it's not unusual to feel a bit unsafe or wonder about the security measures that are in place before recruiting these professionals," says Jadwani. Identification, address and court record checks are mandatorily carried out by background verification firms that are tying up with on-demand home service startups. But are these checks foolproof, or are there any technological upgrades or any additional checks being done to ensure that the end consumer is safe? A slew of background verification service startups claim to reduce the turnaround time for identification checks to a matter of seconds, introduce visitor manager applications, conduct continuous monitoring by repeating address and court record checks every 3-6 months, among other such measures. "On the arrival of a delivery executive, visitor manager applications will immediately notify the on-demand service startup about his presence in a building or home," says Pravin Agarwala, founder of BetterPlace. He explains that this is done to ensure the safety of women and children at home.