INDIA HIGHEST RECIPIENT OF REMITTANCES AT $79 BILLION IN 2018:
WORLD BANK
India retained its
position as the world's top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending
a whopping $79 billion back home in 2018, the World Bank said in a report
Monday. India was followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico ($36 billion), the
Philippines ($34 billion), and Egypt ($29 billion), the global lender said.
With this, India has retained its top spot on remittances, according to the
latest edition of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief. Over the
last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from
$62.7 billion in 2016 to $65.3 billion 2017. Remittances grew by more than 14
percent in India where a flooding disaster in Kerala likely boosted the
financial help that migrants sent to families, the Bank said. In Pakistan,
remittance growth was moderate (seven per cent), due to significant declines in
inflows from Saudi Arabia, its largest remittance source. In Bangladesh,
remittances showed a brisk uptick in 2018 (15 per cent). According to the report,
remittances to low-and middle-income countries reached a record high of $529
billion in 2018, an increase of 9.6 per cent over the previous record high of
$483 billion in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income
countries, reached $689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017, it said.
The Bank said, remittances to South Asia grew 12 per cent to $131 billion in
2018, outpacing the six per cent growth in 2017. The upsurge was driven by
stronger economic conditions in the United States and a pick-up in oil prices,
which had a positive impact on outward remittances from some GCC countries, it
said. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a regional inter-governmental
political and economic bloc of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
the UAE. However, the Bank in its report rued that the global average cost of
sending USD 200 remained high, at around seven per cent in the first quarter of
2019. Reducing remittance costs to three per cent by 2030 is a global target
under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.7. Remittance costs across many
African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 per cent.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
CHENNAI GETS NEW ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTRE FOR
BUSINESS DISCORDS
The Southern India Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) inaugurated a new Alternate Dispute Resolution
(ADR) Centre at Chennai. Recently, a new Bill titled 'Arbitration &
Conciliation Amendment Bill, 2018' had proposed to formulate Arbitration Council
of India (ACI) to grade arbitration institution and enlist arbitrators in
India. Against the above backdrop, The SICCI Centre for ADR was created and
rules tailor-made for businesses were formulated, said R Ganapathi. The centre
was declared open by Justice T S Sivgnanam of the Madras High Court. Ganapathi
said India has an estimated 31 million cases pending in various courts. As of
December 31, 2015, there were 59,272 cases pending in the Supreme Court around
3.8 million cases in the High Courts and around 27 million pending before the
subordinate judiciary. Twenty six per cent of the cases, numbering more than
8.5 million, are over five years old. It has been estimated that 12 million
Indians await trial in criminal cases throughout the country. On an average it
takes 20 years for a real estate or land dispute to be resolved. The dispute
resolution process has a huge impact on the Indian economy and global
perception on doing business in India. This is clearly indicated by World Bank
rating on Ease Of Doing Business 2016 which has ranked India 131 out of 189
countries on how easy it is for private companies to follow regulations. The
study notes that India takes as much as 1,420 days and 39.6 per cent of the
claim value for dispute resolution. This is higher than that of OECD countries
as well as that of South Asia’s regional averages. Globally, India stands at
178 in the ranking of 189 economies on the ease of enforcing contracts. Russian
Federation rank 5, China ranks 7 and Mexico rank 41. While welcoming the
Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 which has brought about
certain noteworthy modifications which would be critical in supporting
international arbitration in the country, he said, one of these is the
provision permitting arbitral institutions to create their own rules consistent
with the Act to ensure that arbitrations are swift and effective. India has
diverse and useful human resources in law as well as other disciplines which
can help support and sustain the domestic arbitration ecosystem in India. Legal
reforms are certainly a step in the right direction to strengthen the
arbitration. Needless to say, that regular amendment in the Arbitration laws to
keep abreast with economic changes would be needed. However, given that India
has already done the needful in this regard recently, the present need is
reforms in the implementation of the legislative changes by the judiciary along
with building of institutional capacity in the country.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
INDIA'S GDP EXPECTED TO EXPAND 7.5% IN 2019-20: WORLD BANK
India's GDP growth is
expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5 per cent in Fiscal Year 19-20, driven
by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export
performance and resilient consumption, the World Bank has said. The real GDP
growth is estimated at 7.2 per cent in FY18/19, the World Bank said in its
latest report on South Asia on Sunday ahead of the spring meeting of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Data for the first three quarters
suggest that growth has been broad-based. Industrial growth accelerated to 7.9
per cent, making up for a deceleration in services. Meanwhile, agriculture
growth was robust at four per cent On the demand side, domestic consumption
remained the primary growth driver, but gross fixed capital formation and
exports both made growing contributions. Over the last quarter, growth is
expected to remain balanced across sectors, the report said. Inflation dynamics
have been subdued over most of FY18/19, the report said. The World Bank said
India's GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5 per cent in
FY19/20, driven by continued investment strengthening-particularly private-
improved export performance, and resilient consumption. With robust growth, and
food prices poised to recover, inflation is expected to converge toward four
per cent, it said, adding that both the current account and the fiscal deficit
are expected to narrow. On the external front, improvements in India's export
performance and low oil prices should bring about a reduction in the current
account deficit to 1.9 per cent of GDP, it said. On the internal front, the
consolidated fiscal deficit is projected to decline, albeit slowly (to 6.2 and
6.0 per cent of GDP in FY19/20 and FY20/21 respectively). As the center's
deficit is budgeted to remain unchanged at 3.4 per cent of GDP in FY19/20, the
burden of adjustment will rest on the states, the World Bank said. A sustained
decline in food prices since July 2018, subsequently complemented by the
softening of oil prices and concomitant appreciation of the rupee, has led to a
steady decline in inflation, it noted. Observing that headline inflation stood
at 2.6 per cent in February 2019, and the average for FY18/19 so far at 3.5 per
cent, well below the RBI's target-midpoint of four percent, the report said
that as a result, the RBI reduced the policy rate by 25 basis points (to 6.25
percent) in February 2019. However, the report said that the current account
deficit widened in FY18-19.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
PLEA IN SUPREME COURT FOR BRINGING POLITICAL PARTIES UNDER RTI
A petition has been filed
in the Supreme Court seeking directions to declare all registered and
recognised political parties as public authority under the Right to Information
Act. Ashwini Upadhyay, said, As per section 29C of the Representation of People
Act, donations received by political parties are required to be reported to the
Election Commission of India. This obligation points towards their public
character. Therefore, this court can declare that political parties are a
‘Public Authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005 by reading Tenth
Schedule of the Constitution with sections 29A, 29B and 29C of the RPA, it said.
The plea further said that the power of ECI to allot election symbols to
political parties for their recognition and can suspend or withdraw it in
violation of the Model Code of Conduct was indicative of their public
character. Moreover, the Political Parties get tax exemptions, which amounts to
indirect financing of the Political Parties in terms of Section 2(h) of the RTI
Act, it said. The plea also sought directions to declare that all registered
and recognized political parties should, within a period of four weeks, appoint
the Public Information Officer, Appellate Authority and make disclosures under
the RTI Act, 2005. It further sought directions that the EC should ensure that
in the event of non-compliance by political parties of the provisions of the
RPA, RTI Act, Income Tax Act, Model Code of Conduct and other election laws and
rules, they should be de-recognized and suffer other penalties. The plea said
the Central and the state governments have allotted to political parties
accommodations at prime locations all over the country either, free of cost, or
on concessional rates which amounted to their indirect financing. Doordarshan
allots free airtime to political parties during elections. This is another
instance of indirect financing. As they are the life blood of the entire
constitutional scheme in a democratic polity and as they are directly and
indirectly financed by the Central and state governments in various ways, they
need to be declared ‘Public Authority’ under the RTI Act, it said. The plea
further said that the ECI spent money for providing them facilities, such as
free electoral rolls and free broadcast facilities which resulted in loss of
revenue. If closely monitored and totalled, the full amount of public funds
spent on political parties, would possibly amount to thousands of crores, it
said.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SC DIRECTS EC TO INCREASE RANDOM CHECKING OF VVPAT SLIPS
The Supreme Court Monday
directed the Election Commission to increase the random matching of VVPAT slips
with EVMs from one booth per assembly segment to five in the upcoming Lok Sabha
polls for better voter confidence and credibility of electoral process. A bench
headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi however did not agree to the request of 21
opposition parties leaders that VVPAT slips of 50 per cent EVMs be matched, on
the ground that it will require huge manpower and not be feasible in view of
infrastructural difficulties. The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta
and Sanjiv Khanna, disposed of the petition filed by opposition parties
including TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu on the issue. In their reply in response
to Election Commission's affidavit, the leaders of 21 opposition parties have
told the apex court that they do not mind a delay of six days in declaration of
Lok Sabha election results for counting of 50 per cent of VVPAT slips, saying
it is not a serious delay if it ensures integrity of the electoral process. The
EC in its affidavit has claimed that the verification of 50 per cent of VVPAT
slips would delay the declaration of election results by 5.2 days. The leaders
said it is not a serious delay in any manner if it ensures integrity of
electoral process. If delay of 5.2 days is to be balanced with the integrity of
electoral process, the balance will certainly tilt towards the latter, they
said in an affidavit submitted to the court. The Commission follows a system of
counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in one polling
booth per assembly constituency in Vidhan Sabha elections, and one polling
booth in each assembly segment for Lok Sabha polls. Naidu and others seeking
that VVPAT slips of at least 50 per cent of voting machines in each assembly
constituency be matched with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the
counting of results in the general elections, starting April 11. The
petitioners respectfully submit that the election commission which is saddled
with the responsibility of ensuring free and fair elections should in all
fairness welcome the petitioners' prayers and itself offer to increase the
aforesaid numbers/percentage rather than robustly opposing the same in an
adversarial manner, it said. Replying to the EC affidavit, in which the poll
panel has justified the use of the present system of random counting in one
poll booth per assembly segment, the leaders said, The present guideline issue
by ECI makes VVPAT completely ineffective and merely ornamental in nature. It
defeats the entire purpose of introducing VVPAT and renders the judgement and directions
passed by the court completely otiose, they claimed. With regard to EC's claim
of insurmountable difficulties of larger manpower and space for additional six
days, they asserted that sensitising additional poll officials and finding
larger counting halls are not an insurmountable difficultly by any stretch of
imagination.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SC TO HEAR ON MAY 2 PLEAS AGAINST CENTRE'S 10% RESERVATION TO
ECONOMICALLY WEAKER SECTIONS
The Supreme Court Monday
said it will hear on May 2 the pleas challenging the Centre's decision to grant
10 per cent reservation in jobs and admission for candidates of economically
weaker sections across all classes. A bench of Justices S A Bobde and S A
Nazeer was told that the Railways has already advertised for jobs based on the
government's decision to grant 10 per cent reservation. Senior advocate Rajeev
Dhavan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said it would be difficult to
reverse the appointments at a later stage if they are made as per 10 per cent
reservation. Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, told the
bench that Constitutional amendment cannot be stayed like this and the apex
court had already refused to stay it twice. We understand the magnitude, the
bench observed. The bench was also told about the issue which deals with
whether the matter needed to be referred to a Constitution bench.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
NO OPTION THAN TO ABOLISH ARTICLE 370, 35A IF SOMEONE TALKS
ABOUT SEPARATE PM FOR J&K: RAJNATH SINGH
Rajnath Singh on Monday
said there will be no option with the government other than abolishing articles
370 and 35A related to special status to Jammu and Kashmir in the Constitution
if someone talks about having a separate Prime Minister for the
terrorism-affected state. He asked the Congress to clarify its stand whether or
not it supports such demands. If someone talks about separate prime minister
for Jammu and Kashmir, we will have no option other than abolishing Article 370
and Article 35A, Singh said. His reaction came a week after National Conference
leader Omar Abdullah had said that his party will strive hard for restoring the
autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir that could include having a 'Sadar-e-Riyasat'
(President) and 'Wazir-e-Azam' (Prime Minister). Singh said Congress must make
it clear whether it accepts that the country should have two prime ministers.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ECI ADVISORY TO MEDIA – REFRAIN FROM TELECASTING/PUBLISHING
PROGRAMMES WRT PREDICTION OF RESULTS IN ANY FORM DURING THE PROHIBITED PERIOD
The Election Commission of
India has issued an advisory to all the media (electronic and print) to refrain
from telecasting/publishing programmes which in any way whatsoever predict the
results of the elections during the prohibited period under 126A to ensure
free, fair and transparent election. The Commission is of the view that prediction
of results of elections in any form or manner by way of predictions etc. by
Astrologers, Tarot Readers, Political Analysts or by any persons during the prohibited
period is violation of the spirit of Section 126A which aims to prevent the
electors of constituencies still going to polls from being influenced in their
voting by such predictions about the prospects of the various political
parties. All the media (Electronic and Print) are advised not to
publish/publicize any such article/programme related to the dissemination of
results, during the prohibited period i.e. between 7.00 AM on 11.04.2019
(Thursday) and upto 6.30 PM on 19.05.2019 (Sunday) in the current General
Elections to the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies of Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha & Sikkim, 2019 and the Assembly bye-elections
being held in several states.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
VOTERS OF TEZPUR, KALIABOR, JORHAT, DIBRUGARH AND LAKHIMPUR TO
ELECT THEIR REPRESENTATIVES ON 11TH APRIL
Assam will go to polls for
General Elections-2019 in Phase 1. Five Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) of
Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur will vote on 11th April.
There are total 14 PCs in Assam with another 5 PCs to be contested in Phase two
while 4 will be contested in Phase 3. 7603458 voters, with 3865334 males,
3737970 females and 154 voters in Third Gender category will vote from five PCs
to elect their representative There are 41 candidates, including two women and
12 independent, contesting for 5 Lok Sabha seats. 9,574 Polling Stations are
spread over 5 Assam PCs in Phase 1. The Notification for elections was issued
on 18th March, with last date of filing nominations as 25th March. Scrutiny of
nominations took place on 26th March while the last date for withdrawal of
candidates was 28th March.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1ST PHASE OF BIHAR VOTING BEGINS ON 11TH APRIL
Bihar goes to polls in 1st
Phase of General Elections-2019. Four Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) of
Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui will vote on 11th April. Thirty-six more Lok
Sabha seats will be contested in 6 more Phases. 7440324 voters are eligible to
vote in Phase 1 with 3894024 males, 3546001 females and 299 voters in Third
Gender category. 44 candidates will contest for 4 Lok Sabha seats in Phase 1
elections through 7,486 Polling Stations. The Notification for elections was
issued on 18th March. For Phase 1 polls, the last date of filing nominations
was 25th March, scrutiny of nominations took place on 26th March while the last
date for withdrawal of candidates was 28th March. Bihar holds a unique feature
among the Parliamentary Constituencies with 100% voters having Electoral
Picture Identity Card (EPIC).
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
TRIPURA WEST GOES TO POLLS IN FIRST PHASE ON 11 APRIL
Tripura will go to polls
for General elections-2019 in two Phases. The first phase of polls will be held
in Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency on 11th April. Tripura East goes to
polls on 18th April. As per the data available, Tripura West has 13,47, 381
voters which include 6,82,044 Males, 6,65,327 Females and 10 others. 13
candidates are in fray for Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency. 1,679
polling stations have been set up across Tripura to carry smooth conduct of
polls. The Notification for elections to Tripura West Lok Sabha was issued on
18th March. Last date for filing of nominations was 25th March. The scrutiny of
nominations took place on 26th March while the last date for withdrawal of
candidates was 28th March. Counting of Votes will take place on 23rd May 2019.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1ST PHASE OF ELECTION IN MANIPUR ON 11TH APRIL
Manipur goes to polls with
Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency seat in Phase 1. Inner Manipur
Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) will vote in Phase 2. There are 2
Parliamentary Constituencies (PC) in Manipur. Total number of voters in the
state is 1010618 which includes 495583 males, 515022 females and 13 voters in
Third Gender category. Female voters outnumber male voters in Manipur. 8
candidates will contest for one Lok Sabha seat. There are 1,562 Polling
Stations in this Phase. 11,347 service voters are eligible to cast their vote
in Phase 1 polls in Manipur. The Notification for elections in Manipur was
issued on 18th March. Last date of filing nominations was 25th March. The
scrutiny of nominations took place on 26th March while the last date for
withdrawal of candidates was 28th March.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
MEGHALAYA GOES TO POLLS IN PHASE 1 ON 11TH APRIL
Meghalaya goes to polls in
the 1st Phase of General Elections-2019. Voting to take place for two
Parliamentary Constituencies of Shillong & Tura on 11th April. Total number
of voters in the state is 1892716 These include 936579 males and 956137
females. Nine candidates, including one woman, will be contesting for 2 Lok
Sabha seats. There will be 3,167 Polling Stations spread over the entire State.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SIKKIM GOES TO POLLS IN FIRST PHASE OF GENERAL ELECTIONS-2019
Sikkim will go to polls
for General elections-2019 in First Phase. Sikkim has only one Lok Sabha
Constituency, (Gen) where polls will be held on 11th April. As per the data
available, Sikkim has 423325 voters, which include 216222 Males and 207103
Females. The number of first time Electors in the age group of 18-19 years are
20246. 11 candidates are in fray for Sikkim Lok Sabha Constituency. 567 Polling
stations have been set up for the smooth conduct of polls. Sikkim holds a
unique feature among the parliamentary constituencies with 100% voters having
Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC). The Notification for Sikkim Lok Sabha
elections was issued on 18th March. Last date for filing of nominations was
25th March. The scrutiny of nominations took place on 26th March while the last
date for withdrawal of candidates was 28th March. Counting of Votes will take
place on 23rd May 2019.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
IN CHHATTISGARH, BASTAR TO GO TO POLLS ON 11TH APRIL, 2019
In the State of
Chhattisgarh, only one parliamentary constituency (PC) namely Bastar will be
going to polls on 11th April, 2019. The Constituency of Bastar is reserved for
the Schedule Tribe and has an electorate of 13,77,946 out of which 6,62,355 are
male voters, 7,15,550 are female voters and 41 are others. The Number of
Polling booths that have been set up are 1,878. The PC of Bastar comprises of 8
assembly constituencies. The time schedule for polling at various assembly
constituencies has been decided by the Election Commission. Polling will take
place between 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM in assembly constituencies of Kondagaon,
Chitrakot, Bastar and Jagdalpur while polling will take place between 7:00 AM
to 3:00 PM in assembly constituencies of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and
Konta due to security reasons.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ARUNACHAL PRADESH GOES TO POLLS IN PHASE 1 ON 11TH APRIL
Arunachal Pradesh will go
to polls for General Elections-2019 in single Phase. Arunachal West
Parliamentary constituency and Arunachal East Parliamentary constituency to
vote on 11th April. There are 798248 voters in the state with 394456 males and
403792 females. As per the data available, Arunachal West Parliamentary
constituency has 461214 voters with 223234 male voters and 237980 female voters
while Arunachal East Parliamentary constituency has 337034 voters with 171222
male voters and 165812 female voters. Interestingly, Arunachal West
Parliamentary constituency has more female voters enrolled, making Arunachal
Pradesh’s overall female voter count greater than male voter count. Seven
candidates, including one woman, are in fray for Arunachal West Parliamentary
constituency seat while 5 candidates are in fray for Arunachal East Parliamentary
constituency seat. 2,202 Polling Stations are in place for voting. Polling
Station No. 52 SE (Power) offices, East Side, Naharlagun under 13-Itanagar (ST)
AC with 1,340 voters has the highest number of electors in the state. The
Polling Station with least number of electors is Malogam Temporary Structure in
Malogam Village under 45-Hayuliang (ST) Assembly Constituency with 1 (One)
female voter. Polling Station No. 18-Luguthang under 3-Mukto (ST) Assembly
Constituency is the highest Polling Station located at an altitude of about
13,583 feet. Also, 11 numbers of Polling Stations exclusively for female voters
have been set up in the state. As per records, Photo Electoral Roll coverage is
99.79% and Electoral Photo Identity Card coverage is 99.81%. The Notification
for elections to Arunachal Pradesh was issued on 18th March. Last date of
filing nominations was 25th March. The scrutiny of nominations took place on
26th March while the last date for withdrawal of candidates was 28th March.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
MIZORAMGOES TO POLLS IN FIRSTPHASE OF GENERAL ELECTIONS 2019
Mizoram will go to polls
for General Elections- 2019 in First Phase. Polls will be held in lone Lok
Sabha seat, Mizoram (ST)on 11th April 2019. As per the data available, Mizoram
has 784405 voters which includes 381991 Male voters, 402408 Female voters and 6
others. 6 candidates are in fray for MizoramLok Sabha constituency. 1,175
Polling stations have been set up for smooth conduct of Polls. For Bru
refugees, who are living in camps in Tripura, 15 special polling booths will
also be set up in Kanhmun at Mizoram - Tripura border. Mizoram holds a unique
feature among the parliamentary constituencies with 100% voters having Elector
Photo Identity Cards (EPIC). The Notification for elections to Mizoram
Constituency was issued on 18th March. Last date for filing of nominations was
25th March. The scrutiny of nominations took place on 26th March while the last
date for withdrawal of candidates was 28th March.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
NAGALAND GOES TO POLLS IN FIRST PHASE OF GENERAL
ELECTIONS-2019
Nagaland will go to polls
for General elections-2019 in First Phase. Polls will be held in Nagaland (Gen)
Parliamentary constituency on 11th April. As per the data available, Nagaland
has 1206287 voters which include 607859 Males, 598428 Females. The number of
first time voters in the age group of 18-19 years are 21180. 4 candidates are
in fray for Nagaland Parliamentary Constituency. 2,227 Polling Stations have been
set up for smooth conduct of Polls. The State has 98.36 % Elector Photo
Identity Cards (EPIC) coverage. The Notification for elections to Nagaland was
issued on 18th March. Last date for filing of nominations was 25th March. The
scrutiny of nominations took place on 26th March while the last date for
withdrawal of candidates was 28th March. Counting of Votes will take place on
23rd May 2019.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS TO GO TO POLLS ON 11TH APRIL
Andaman & Nicobar
Islands go to polls in Phase 1 for its lone Parliamentary Constituency on 11th
April. Total number of voters in the state is 317878 which includes 168701
males, 149168 females and 9 voters in Third Gender category. The voters include
41 Great Nicobarese tribes of Strait Islands, 65 Onge tribes at Hut Bay and
approximately 100 Shompen tribes of Campbell Bay. 15 candidates, including one
woman and 9 independents, will contest for the lone Lok Sabha seat in 406
Polling Stations. The Notification for elections in Andaman & Nicobar
Islands was issued on 18th March. Last date of filing nominations was 25th
March. The scrutiny of nominations took place on 26th March while the last date
for withdrawal of candidates was 28th March.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
GENERAL ELECTION TO THE LOK SABHA AND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES
OF ANDHRA PRADESH, ARUNACHAL PRADESH, ODISHA & SIKKIM 2019
Election Commission of
India, in exercise of the powers under sub-section(1) of Section 126A of the
Representation of the People Act, 1951 has notified the period between 7.00
A.M. on 11.04.2019 (Thursday) and 6.30 P.M. on 19.05.2019 (Sunday) as the
period during which conducting any exit poll and publishing or publicizing the
result of exit poll by means of the print or electronic media or in any other
manner shall be prohibited during the ongoing General election to the Lok Sabha
and Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha &
Sikkim 2019 and bye elections from assembly constituencies. Further, under
Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, displaying any
election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey,
in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours
ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in each of the phases in the
respective polling area during the aforesaid elections.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
GUJARAT COURT ISSUES SUMMONS TO RAHUL GANDHI, SURJEWALA IN
CRIMINAL DEFAMATION CASE
A Gujarat court Monday issued
summons to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party spokesperson Randeep
Surjewala in a criminal defamation case filed by Ahmedabad District Cooperative
Bank (ADCB), in which BJP president Amit Shah is also a director, PTI reported.
The Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) and its chairman Ajay Patel had filed
separate criminal defamation cases against Gandhi and Surjewala for their
remarks on the bank in connection with an RTI filed on demonetisation. Surjewala
had claimed, quoting an RTI reply, that the bank exchanged junked notes worth
Rs 745.58 crore in five days after demonetisation was announced. He also
claimed that ADCB chairman Patel is a close associate of BJP president Amit
Shah who is a director and former chairman of the bank. He had demanded a probe
and alleged that the RTI reply has exposed an attempt to convert black money
into white money in the guise of demonetisation. The same day, Rahul tweeted:
Congratulations Amit Shah ji, Director, Ahmedabad Dist Cooperative Bank, on
your bank winning 1st prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. 750 Cr
in 5 days! Millions of Indian whose lives were destroyed by Demonetisation,
salute your achievement. The cases were filed in metropolitan magisterial
court, which ordered an inquiry under CrPC.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SC DISMISSES PLEA SEEKING FRAMING OF LAWS AGAINST FAKE NEWS
The Supreme Court Monday refused
to entertain a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to frame guidelines and
laws to curb the menace of fake news on social sites A bench headed by Chief
Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed the plea which had sought directions to the
ministries of Home Affairs, Law, Information and Broadcasting and Electronics
and Information Technology to constitute a committee for tackling fake news on
various social media handles. The plea, filed by advocate Anuja Kapoor, said
there should be accountability, liability and responsibility of the authorities
and departments concerned to prevent spread of such news. It referred to
unverified news on social media relating to the ongoing tension between India
and Pakistan. The non-restraining of the various fake news travelling on social
media handles leads to crimes against humanity such as mob lynching, abetment to
murder, sedition, communal riots, influence in elections, mass hysteria, the
plea said. It had also sought framing the necessary guidelines, appropriate
laws and bye-laws and appropriate punishment for its violation.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
DRAFT E-COMMERCE POLICY 'INIMICAL' TO USD 1 TRILLION DIGITAL
ECONOMY GOAL: IAMAI
Industry body Internet and
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) Monday said the draft e-commerce policy may
be inimical to the government's efforts of building a trillion-dollar digital
economy by 2022, and is likely to severely bring down FDI flows in the sector. The
association was also of the view that the process of making the policy itself
was less than inclusive and open as compared to recent national-level policies
like the National Digital Communications Policy 2018. In a statement, the IAMAI
said it is of the view that the draft National Ecommerce Policy may be inimical
to the government's efforts of building a trillion-dollar digital economy by
2022. The government had sought comments from stakeholders on the draft
national e-commerce policy in areas such as data, infrastructure development,
online marketplaces, regulatory challenges, stimulating domestic digital
economy and export promotion through e-commerce. By artificially curbing
cross-border data flow, by mandating data localisation, by extending the
definition of e-commerce to include all digital services like digital
advertising and online streaming and possibly imposing FDI restrictions on all
digital services, the draft policy is likely to severely bring down FDI flows
in the sector which is the backbone to building a trillion-dollar digital
economy, said IAMAI stated. Among various issues, the draft policy mainly talks
about data. The draft has proposed setting up of a legal and technological
framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow from specified sources
such as data generated by users in India by various sources including
e-commerce retail platforms and social media tools. It has also laid out
conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data
locally and storing it abroad. Besides, it has suggested to fix a three-year
period for industry to adjust to the data storage requirement of the country
with a view to develop infrastructure for promoting digital economy. IAMAI
expressed difference in opinion with the draft policy's understanding of 'data
is the new oil'. IAMAI also said some provisions of the draft policy
contradicted the underlying principles of the draft Personal Data Protection
Bill (PDP) on multiple grounds. It added that the PDP is restricted to
individual data and keeps anonymised data outside its ambit, while the
e-commerce policy covers all data.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
GOVERNMENT'S INACTION LEADS TO SALARIES DELAY AT BSNL PARTNER
FIRMS
Employee salaries of
equipment vendors of state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) have got
delayed with the stalling of the government project to connect uncovered
villages, originally envisaged way back in September 2014. Domestic firms
Vihaan Networks Ltd. (VNL) and Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd. (HFCL),
which had won gear supply contracts from BSNL for the ambitious telecom
connectivity project, employ nearly 3,000 individuals directly, in addition to
an indirect workforce of close to 5,000. Mahendra Nahata, however, in a
statement, said that there has not been any delay in the payment of employee
salaries. Meanwhile, an official said that public interest litigation (PIL) was
filed in the Delhi high court which is now in appeal before the Supreme Court.
In the absence of any court direction, the mobile connectivity initiative in
the areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam continues to hang in the balance.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
RAILWAYS GET ELECTION COMMISSION’S NOD FOR FLOATING TENDERS
The Election Commission
has given the railways a no objection for inviting tenders related to train
operations, execution of safety work and day-to-day maintenance of
infrastructure, with a condition that no publicity would be made over it by any
politician. The Commission has no objection from (the) MCC angle to invite
tenders related to train operations, execution of safety works, day to day
maintenance of railway infrastructure and sanctioned infrastructural projects
subject to the condition that no publicity in this regard should be made by any
minister/political functionary anywhere in the country and the final awarding
of the contract may be deferred till the completion of results, the EC has said
in a letter dated April 3. In yet another letter on April 4, the railways has
also sought exemption from the poll body to float tenders related to passenger
amenities.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
GOVERNMENT DEFERS OIL BLOCK BID DEADLINE BY A MONTH TO MAY 15
The government has again
deferred the last date for bidding for oil and gas exploration blocks offered
under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) by over a month to May 15. Last
date for OALP bid round II and III, which are running almost concurrently, was
April 10 but has now been pushed back. Bid submission closing date for OALP Bid
Round II & III stands extended up to May 15, 2019, upstream regulator DGH
said in a notice. It did not give reasons for extending the deadline The
government had in January offered 14 blocks in OALP-II bid round and a month
later offered another 23 oil and gas blocks and coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks
in third round. Bids for the 14 blocks offered in OALP-II bid round, covering
an area of 29,333 square kilometres, were to close on March 12 but the deadline
was extended to April 10, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon
(DGH). April 10 was also the bid deadline for the 23 oil and gas and CBM blocks
offered in the third round, which was launched on February 10. The new policy
replaced the old system of government carving out areas and bidding them out.
It guarantees marketing and pricing freedom and moves away from production
sharing model of previous rounds to a revenue-sharing model, where companies
offering the maximum share of oil and gas to the government are awarded the
block.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
NOW, ALGORITHMS TO UNDERSTAND AND RESOLVE COMPLAINTS IN INDIA
Companies can incur a 39%
cost efficiency if consumer complaints are handled effectively by more
structured mechanisms in place. This, among other key aspects, was found by
online complaints redressal forum Resolver.in in their pre-launch market
research and data insights. Last year, a 42% spike was seen in complaints
against ecommerce companies as per data given in Parliament by the Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Incidentally, the National
Consumer Helpline (NCH) receives more complaints every year from disgruntled
users in the ecommerce space as opposed to other sectors such as telecom and
banking. Keeping this in mind, Resolver India has a two pronged approach for speedy
resolution - empowering consumers to connect with companies in a streamlined
way and helping businesses understand customer grievances better, thus making
way for amiable solutions. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
are used to suggest recommendations on next steps that can be taken by
consumers and organisations. Started by James Walker in UK when his complaints
were left unattended by an energy company, Resolver Group revealed that the UK
website used to end up receiving atleast 15,000 queries from India every month.
The group has now invested in the India arm and is hopeful of replicating their
UK success by helping Indian consumers and businesses as well. Harish Bijoor
says that the capability of such complaint redressal mediums will be tested to
see what volume of complaints can be managed by them. In India, a lot of
grievances are also of a much smaller nature. India, as opposed to the UK
market, is more volume driven than value. That will be the real challenge to
cut across.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
STRATEGIC INVESTORS WITH ₹1,000 CRORE NET WORTH CAN
BID FOR JET AIRWAYS
Lenders of troubled
airline Jet Airways (India) Ltd. have set a minimum networth of ₹1,000
crore or an equal amount of funds available for investment for strategic
investors to bid for stake in the carrier which is undergoing a turnaround
scheme. Alternatively, three years of experience in the aviation sector will also
qualify a strategic investor to bid for Jet, as per the invitation of bids made
on Monday by State Bank of India. Strategic investors could be non-resident
Indians, foreign nationals or persons of Indian origin. The document inviting
bids has set ₹2,000 crore as the minimum asset under management in the case
of financial investors. Alternatively, financial investors who had ₹1,000
crore available for investment in the previous fiscal are also eligible for
bidding. Private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds are also eligible for
placing their bids which has opened on Monday. The last date for submission of
bids is 10 April.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
INFLATION SEEN INCHING UP IN MARCH, BUT STILL BELOW RBI
TARGET: POLL
India's retail inflation
is expected to have accelerated in March on slightly higher food prices but
remain under the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4 percent, a
Reuters poll predicted. If the forecast is realized, March will be the eighth
month in a row with below-target inflation, giving the RBI room to squeeze in
another rate cut this year. According to the median consensus of over 40
economists polled by Reuters between April 4-8, consumer prices rose at an
annual rate of 2.80 percent in March, up from 2.57 percent in February.
Forecasts ranged between 2.43 percent and 3.10 percent. Headline CPI inflation
will have remained low in March, even if, as we suspect, it rose slightly as
food inflation continues to pick up. In particular, the sharp fall in vegetable
inflation over recent months appears to have bottomed out, said Shilan Shah.
Food prices, which constitute nearly half of India's CPI basket, declined 0.66
percent on-year in February compared with a drop of 2.24 percent in January.
Oil - India's biggest import item - has risen over 30 percent this year and is
currently trading at around $70 per barrel. Transport and utilities - which are
clearly being driven by the rise in oil prices - are (also) driving headline
inflation higher on a year-on-year basis, said Prakash Sakpal, Asia economist
at ING. At its April 4 monetary policy meeting, the RBI lowered borrowing costs
for the second consecutive time to spur growth, bringing the repo rate to 6.0
percent. The rapid policy easings come just weeks before voting begins in a
national election, the results of which will be announced in May.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
NIRMOHI AKHARA MOVES SC, OPPOSES CENTRE'S PLEA TO RETURN
ACQUIRED LAND AROUND AYODHYA SITE TO OWNERS
Nirmohi Akhara, one of the
litigants in the Ayodhya case, Tuesday moved the Supreme Court opposing the
Centre's plea seeking return of 67.390 acre of non-disputed acquired land
around the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site to original owners. The
Allahabad High Court in 2010 had decided that 2.77-acre disputed land at Ram
Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site would be divided into three equal parts and will
be handed over to -- Nirmohi Akhara, Sunni Waqf Board, and Ram Lalla. The
Nirmohi Akhara, in its fresh plea, has opposed the Centre's application by
which it had sought modification of the Supreme Court's 2003 order to allow it
to return to original owners the 67.390 acre of non-disputed acquired land
around the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. The
application has said that the Centre has proposed returning of acquired land to
Ram Janambhoomi Nyas and that there are many temples on the acquired land and
their rights would be affected if the land is returned to one party. The apex
court had recently appointed mediators to find an amicable solution to the
vexatious land dispute.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
JET AIRWAYS' LENDERS OFFER BIDDERS 31.2-75% IN AIRLINE, GET NO
RESPONSE ON DAY 1
Jet Airways’ lenders are
offering prospective bidders ownership of anywhere between 31.2% and 75% in the
stricken airline even as the bidding process got off to a slow start on Monday
with no investor response on the first day of call for expressions of interest.
There were also no queries, two people close to the development said. The call
for EoIs closes at 6 pm on April 10. The lenders, led by the State Bank of
India, have stepped up efforts to engage with Etihad Airways — Jet’s
second-largest shareholder that wants an exemption from a capital markets rule
to consider re-investing in it — on an urgent resolution path for the airline.
They have also reached out to PE investors including TPG, and homegrown
National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) as well as US Air Lines apart
from domestic conglomerates such as Tata and Adani groups. Lenders are
expecting some response in the next two days and the extent of equity on offer
to investors is conditional upon approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
for the conversion of loans into equity in Jet. The lenders are trying their
best to stave off the possibility of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code proceedings
that ominously draws closer for Jet if no solution is found quickly. As on
date, lenders can only offer about 32% of the airline’s shares that are pledged
with them by founder Naresh Goyal, said a senior SBI official. Goyal stepped
down from chairmanship and board of the airline on March 25 and the lenders
agreed, with a board approval from Jet, to convert loans into equity giving
them about 51% in the airline. But this conversion was thrown into doubt last
week when the Supreme Court set aside RBI’s circular of February 12, 2018,
under which the Jet loan restructuring plan was arrived at. Banks are now
waiting for RBI approval for the loan conversion. If it doesn’t come for some
reason, a prospective buyer or group of buyers can only buy 31.2% which is the
extent of the pledged equity. They can then make an open offer and increase
their stake to beyond 51%. Indian capital market rules trigger such an offer
when shareholding level crosses 25%. But there is no time to wait for approvals
or a new circular as Jet needs urgent cash. So the lenders and SBI Capital
Markets have opened up the process and are trying to work out a solution with
Goyal and Etihad on how to put more shares on the block, said the official.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ECONOMY GRIM AS MAJOR INDICATORS DROP: EXPERTS
The Indian economy may be moving
towards a slowdown as the country has off-late witnessed a drop in several key
economic indicators experts said. After a fall in auto sales, a shortfall in
collection of direct taxes among others, now household savings in the country
too have declined. In proportion to the gross domestic product (GDP), household
savings declined to 17.2 per cent in 2017-18, the lowest rate since 1997-98.
According to the Reserve Bank of India's data, as household savings have
declined, these - not corporate demand - have pulled down investments by 10
basis points during 2012 to 2018. On the direct tax front too, the collections
have not been as per the target. Direct tax collections, reported on April 1,
fell short by Rs 50,000 crore on account of poor personal income tax
collections, thereby failing to meet the revised target of Rs 12 lakh crore for
the 2018-19 fiscal. Sources said the target of personal income tax of Rs 5.29
lakh crore was not met by almost the same shortfall amount of Rs 50,000 crore,
which dragged down the direct tax collections for fiscal 2018-19. Sale of
passenger vehicles in the domestic market declined by 2.96 per cent on a
year-on-year basis in March to 291,806 units, according to data released on
Monday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Monday.
Domestic sales of passenger vehicles in 2018 stood at 300,722 units, the data
said. However, during the financial year 2018-19, passenger vehicles sale grew
by 2.7 per cent. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India, which had
increased over the past few year, contracted by 7 per cent to $33.49 billion
during April-December in the current fiscal, according to Commerce and Industry
Ministry data. Foreign fund inflows during April-December 2017-18 stood at
$35.94 billion.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
MIGRATION TO NEW TV CHANNEL TARIFF REGIME COMPLETE: TRAI
With the March 31 deadline
for the TV consumers to select channels of their choice passing the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has expressed satisfaction on the
migration of consumers Migration to the new tariff order is complete with most
of the viewers either selecting their choice of channels or continuing with the
best fit plans (BFPs). Many of the DTH consumers, who have been migrated to
BFPs in the last two months, have either remained with those packs or changed a
couple of channels. In a way, these have become their packs of choice, Arvind
Kumar, advisor, Trai told. However, sources say that only 60% of cable TV
consumers have opted for channels of their choice, while 39% have been migrated
to BFP. A senior executive of a large cable company told that every day they
are receiving consumers’ selection and are shifting from BFPs to consumers’
choice packs. It might take some more time, but consumers are also changing the
channel mix continuously. This should settle in a month, he added. In the
direct-to-home service, so far 35% customer have opted for channels of their
choice, while 48% have been migrated to best fit plans. Remaining 17%, who had
opted long duration packs, are still using the old mix. The BFPs of DTH are
very much in line with our consumers’ choice. They are hardly making changes.
But whenever we receive any request, we try to service our consumers within
24-hours, said a top DTH executive. Meanwhile, many consumers are still
grappling with issues related to selection of channels and pricing.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SC DISMISSES CONGRESS LEADER'S PLEA SEEKING STAY ON PM MODI
BIOPIC
The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed
a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the release of biopic
on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The apex court said it was not entertaining
the petition for the stay on the release of the film as the plea is premature
as the movie has not yet been certified by the Censor Board. It said even if
the film is released on April 11, as claimed by the Congress activist, it will
be appropriate for him to seek a redressal from the Election Commission. We,
therefore do not consider it fit to entertain the petition a bench comprising
Chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
PASSENGER VEHICLE SALES UP 2.7% IN FY19, SLOWEST IN 4 YEARS:
SIAM
Passenger vehicle (PV)
sales in India advanced by only 2.7 per cent in 2018-19 (the financial year
ending March 31) over 2017-18, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
(Siam) said. This growth, slowest in four years, came on the back of tepid
dispatches in the March quarter as consumer sentiment took a knocking, owing to
uncertainty ahead of the general election. Automobile companies in India count
dispatches to dealers as sales. Siam expects 2019-20 to be muted for PV sales
and to end the year with five per cent growth over FY19. Historically,
passenger vehicles sales have been in a slow lane in election years and revived
thereafter. Growth was flat in 2009-10 and fell six per cent in 2013-14, Siam
said. Two-wheeler sales rose nearly 4.9 per cent to 211,81,390 units in FY19
from FY18. Those of commercial vehicles grew 38 per cent. Weak macro economic
indicators have also deterred buyers. Last week, the Reserve Bank of India cut
its earlier forecast for the country's economic growth to 7.2 per cent, from
7.4 per cent. It blamed a loss of momentum in global economic activity, as well
as weakening domestic investment. The economy decelerated to a five-quarter low
in the December quarter, to 6.6 per cent. This led to the Central Statistics
Office trimming its 2018-19 forecast to 7 per cent, from the 7.2 per cent
estimated earlier. The month of March saw domestic PV sales fall nearly three
per cent, to 291,806 units from the year-ago month. It was dragged down by a
6.9 per cent year-on-year drop in car sales. Total two-wheeler sales in March
fell 17.3 per cent to 14,40,663 units over the year, as high levels of unsold
stock prompted companies to cut back on deliveries to dealers. Tighter lending
norms by financiers, coupled with an increase in insurance premiums, dampened
buyer sentiment. Sales of commercial vehicles rose marginally to 109,030 units
in March against the same month a year ago. Vehicle sales across categories
fell 14.2 per cent in March to 19,08,126 units from March 2018, Siam said. In
FY20, while overall demand for vehicles will remain tepid in first half of
FY20, a likely rise in vehicle prices from FY21 onwards due to BS-VI
implementation will prepone buying, thus boosting demand in second half of
FY20. As per industry estimates, post BS-VI implementation, the cost of PVs and
2Ws is likely to rise 10 per cent-15 per cent The cost of a diesel variant PV
and a CV may increase by 20per cent-25 per cent.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SATISFACTION WITH BJP GOVERNMENT DIPS MARGINALLY BUT MOST
STILL HAPPY: IANS-CVOTER POLL TRACKER
The satisfaction level of
voters with the performance of the Narendra Modi government has come down
slightly after the surge witnessed following the air strikes on the terrorist
camp in Pakistan's Balakot, but most still remain happy with the ruling dispensation,
according to the latest finding of the CVOTER-IANS poll tracker. In a poll
conducted on April 4, days before the first phase of polling, 45.53 percent
respondents said that they were very satisfied with the performance of the
Central government and 26.28 percent said they are satisfied to some extent. Exactly
a month before that on March 4, 49.29 percent respondents said they were very
satisfied and 29.16 percent said they were satisfied to some extent. While the
number of respondents in the very satisfied category fell, there was a surge in
those who are satisfied to some extent. In the aftermath of the Balakot attack,
the percentage of respondents who were very satisfied with the government's
percent was over 50 percent on three consecutive days on March 5, 6 and 7. It
has been hovering at 45 percent mark since March 29. On these days, the
percentage of respondents who were not satisfied with the government at all was
around 20. In the last one week, around 25 percent respondents said they are not
satisfied with the government at all.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
RETIREMENT AGE OF GOA GOVT DOCTORS EXTENDED FROM 60 TO 62
The Goa government has extended
the retirement age for doctors working in its institutions from 60 to 62, a
senior official said Sunday. A government employees’ outfit has, however,
opposed the move. The order was issued recently by the under-secretary of the
Labour department. Doctors working in ESI hospitals, Goa Medical College and
Hospital besides various other government institutions would benefit from the
order, said state Labour Commissioner Jayant Tari. Among those who will benefit
reportedly is the brother of deputy chief minister Manohar Ajgaonkar. The Dy
CM’s brother, Dr Shrikant, is employed in the ESI hospital in South Goa. We
have taken cognisance of media reports that the extension will benefit the
minister’s brother. We have asked for details of the case. We are against the
government extending retirement age in any of its services, said Prashant
Devidas.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
BARC RESUMES VIEWERSHIP DATA PUBLICATION POST TRAI STAND-OFF
Television viewership
monitoring agency BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) has resumed the
publication of viewership data on its websites ending its stand-off with
broadcast regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). It was last
week on 1 April that Trai had issued a showcause notice to BARC for not
complying with its direction on release of TV viewership data during the
sector's migration to the new tariff regime. The regulator had asked BARC to
explain, by 5 April, why action should not be taken against it for
contravention of sections of the Trai Act. BARC had responded by saying that
putting such misleading data on its website would be against public interest
and could be misused by vested interests, and that BARC is constantly
monitoring the ground situation and it has made detailed submissions to Trai
and MIB, backed by data, on the same on several occasions.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FOLDABLE PHONES TO REACH 30MN UNITS BY 2023: GARTNER REPORT
Foldable phones will
account for 5% of high-end phones by 2023, amounting to 30 million units as
they are expected to potentially re-inject innovation in the smartphone market,
said a new report by Gartner Inc. on Monday. We expect that users will use a
foldable phone as they do their regular smartphone, picking it up hundreds of
times a day, unfolding it sporadically and typing on its plastic screen, which
may scratch quickly depending on the way it folds, Roberta Cozza, Research
Director at Gartner, said in a statement. Through the next five years, we
expect foldable phones to remain a niche product due to several manufacturing
challenges. In addition to the surface of the screen, the price is a barrier we
expect to decline with time. Currently priced at $2,000, foldable phones
present too many trade-offs, even for many early technology adopters. Shipments
of mobile phones are estimated to reach 1.8 billion units in 2019, a decline of
0.5% year over year (YoY). However, in 2020, the mobile phone market is
forecast to return to growth, with a shipments increase of 1.2% from 2019.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
IIT-MADRAS TOPS HRD'S NATIONAL RANKING OF HIGHER INSTITUTES, 7
IITS AMONG TOP 10
The Indian Institute of
Technology(IIT), Madras, topped the national ranking of higher institutes
released by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) on Monday. The
Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and IIT-Delhi ranked second and
third in the list respectively. Of the top 10 institutes, seven are IITs. The
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Banaras Hindu University ranked
seventh and 10th respectively. The Delhi University's Miranda House was ranked
the best among colleges across the country, while the varsity's St Stephen's
College was ranked fourth.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
DEVE GOWDA WON'T BE PM IF MAHAGATHBANDHAN COMES TO POWER, SAYS
KUMARASWAMY
Putting end to speculations
regarding JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda's candidature for the Prime minister's
post, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said that the former is
not going to take the post if mahagathbandhan or grand-alliance comes to power.
Kumaraswamy said, If mahagathbandhan comes to power HD Deve Gowda will not be
the Prime Minister, he will be advisor to the government and will take care of
the interests of the country.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
INDIA HAS TOKEN REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN HIGHER LEVELS OF
JUDICIARY, SAYS HAWAII SUPREME COURT JUDGE
There are too few women in
higher levels of Indian judiciary and only three women judges in the apex court
is just token representation, says Justice Sabrina McKenna of Hawaii Supreme
Court. She said she is inspired by some of the judges of the Supreme Court of
India for whom she has tremendous respect, but her only concern is the lack of
diversity, especially in terms of women and apparent bias against women in
India's judiciary in terms of leadership. Without commenting on the merits or
demerits of the collegium system of appointment of judges for higher judiciary
prevalent in India, she said it should be transparent and there is a need to
understand and study why more eminently qualified women are not being appointed
to high courts and the Supreme Court. It is very concerning that the women in
the high courts and the Supreme Court are so few when it comes to the
percentage of women. All you have is token representation. Look at the high
courts and the apex court, there are very few women judges, Justice McKenna
told. She also said that from the international perspective, India seems to lag
behind in terms of women's rights issues. Proportional representation of women
in the judiciary will result in systemic and policy improvement and more public
confidence in the justice system, she said. At present, there are three women
judges in the Supreme Court -- R Banumathi, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee. Justice
McKenna also expressed concern over the manner in which the judges are being
appointed because the present system is not bringing enough women. There is
bias against women in India in terms of judicial leadership, although people
here don't seem to realise their bias. I hope to see a diverse judiciary in
India, not just in terms of gender. She said it is not just women's issues, but
also having different perspectives in a court. On the collegium issue, she
suggested a transparent system, saying, When judges select judges, you tend to
select people who are like yourself. People are people. They are more
comfortable with people like them. She said that the change has to start from
law schools and women students need to be encouraged not only by other women
but also by men in positions of power. Justice McKenna was here on the
invitation of O P Jindal Global University Vice Chancellor C Raj Kumar.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SOLAR INSTALLATION STOOD AT 8.3 GW IN 2018, ADANI TOP PROJECT
DEVELOPER
India’s solar
installations stood at 8.3 GW in 2018. The installations include large-scale
and rooftop solar capacity. The country’s cumulative solar capacity is around
28 GW as of 2018. Much has changed in the Indian solar industry over the last
year. There was some re-shuffling when it came to suppliers after the
imposition of the safeguard duty while others have consolidated their
positions, says Industry representative, said Raj Prabhu. Mercom Communications
India's report finds that the top 10 large-scale developers accounted for 60
per cent of the market share in 2018. In terms of cumulative installations,
Adani maintained its position as the top project developer, while ACME Solar
was the developer with the most large-scale solar installations in 2018. Adani
was the second largest developer in 2018. Around 80 large-scale project
developers with a pipeline of 5 MW or more in India. ACME Solar had the largest
project pipeline at the end of 2018 closely followed by SB Energy (SoftBank)
and Azure Power. In 2018, the top 10 rooftop solar installers accounted for
just 30 per cent of the installed capacity in India, reflecting the fragmented
nature of the sector, said Mercom. Rooftop installations grew 66 per cent
year-over-year (YoY) with cumulative installations totaling nearly 3.3 GW at
the end of 2018. Rooftop solar installations for 2018 amounted to 1.7 GW. Among
rooftop installers, Tata Power led cumulative installations while CleanMax
Solar was the top rooftop installer in 2018. ABB continues to lead solar
inverter supply in the Indian market cumulatively and in 2018. Central
inverters accounted for approximately 70% of total shipments, while string
inverters accounted for 30% in 2018. Huawei was the top string inverter in
India in 2018.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
TRIBAL EVICTION: NO INTERVENTION OR SURVEY TILL JUNE, SAYS
MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS
A month after the Centre initiated
an exercise to gauge the number of forest dwellers who could face possible
eviction following a Supreme Court order, it has decided to go slow and wait
for government formation before taking any step. On March 6, the ministry of
tribal affairs had asked state governments to check 1.95 million rejected
forest rights claims on the ground within a fortnight. The state government had
been provided with a format and asked to check how many forest dwellers did not
have rightful claims and could face eviction. There has been no movement on
this. We have decided to hold off any such survey or intervention till June, Deepak
Khandekar, secretary, tribal affairs, told. We have decided to postpone any
policy decision on this sensitive issue for the time being. From the Supreme
Court side, the states also have time till July. Khandekar said no state has
sent a report so far. The ministry had been pushed into action after a February
13 interim order of the Supreme Court to evict tribals and other traditional
forest dwellers whose claims had been rejected under the Scheduled Tribe and
other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The
court later put eviction on hold.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FAULTY HIP IMPLANTS: HC SEEKS CENTRE’S REPLY ON J&J’S PLEA
ON COMPENSATION
The Delhi High Court on
Monday sought a response of the Centre on a plea by Johnson and Johnson
challenging the orders by which it was directed to pay compensation to patients
who received faulty hip implants made by the company. Justice Vibhu Bakhru
issued notice to the Centre on the petition and orally asked authorities not to
take any steps against the firm till the next date of hearing. The company also
informed the court that it was willing to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the
patients who were affected by its hip implants. Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi,
appearing for the company, contended that the Centre has no jurisdiction under
the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to fix and enforce the compensation. The court
asked the Centre, represented through central government standing counsel B S
Shukla and Amit Mahajan, to seek instructions on the plea and the company’s
offer of Rs 25 lakh compensation and listed the matter for further hearing on
May 2. The company has challenged the March 8 and March 28 orders of the Centre
by which it has arrived at a compensation formula and asked the firm to abide
by it. It has sought a stay on the Centre’s two orders. It has also challenged
the report of the expert committee -- headed by R K Arya. Besides, it has also
sought quashing of the report of another committee -- headed by Arun Agarwal,
Professor of ENT, Maulana Azad Medical College -- which was appointed by the
Health Ministry for looking into the allegations of faulty hip replacement
implants. According to the Arya committee report, compensation payable to
patients would be determined in terms of the disability by the faulty hip
implants in relation to their age. Those between 20 and 35 years would get a
compensation between Rs 58.08 lakh and Rs 49.66 lakh for 20 to 30 per cent
disability; Rs 77.63 lakh to Rs 69.41 lakh for 30 to 40 pre cent disability; Rs
100.17 lakh to 89.32 lakh for 40 to 50 per cent disability and Rs 122.71 lakh
to Rs 109.15 lakh over 60 per cent disability, the press release had stated. It
has said those between 35 and 60 years will get a compensation between Rs 49.66
lakh and Rs 33.63 lakh for 30 per cent disability; Rs 69.49 lakh to Rs 44.45
lakh for 30 to 40 pre cent disability, Rs 89.32 lakh to Rs 57.26 lakh for 40 to
50 per cent disability and Rs 109.15 lakh to 69.08 lakh for over 60 per cent
disability. Those above 65 years will get compensation of 30 lakh for 20 to 30
per cent disability, Rs 40 lakh for 30 to 40 per cent ability, Rs 50 lakh for
40 to 50 per cent and 60 lakh for over 60 per cent disability, it had said.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
BILLIONAIRE TWITTER CEO JACK DORSEY TOOK JUST $1.40 AS SALARY
IN 2018
Twitter Inc said on Monday
it paid its Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey $1.40 in 2018. Dorsey had
declined all direct compensation and benefits for three years in 2015, 2016 and
2017. In 2018 he declined all compensation and benefits other than a salary of
$1.40, the social media company said in an SEC filing
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
TAMIL NADU: ELECTION CROWDS DON’T COME CHEAP
People used to walk or
cycle for miles to listen to speech of leaders such as E V Ramasamy, fondly
known as Periyar, and his disciples C N Annadurai, M Karunanidhi and M G
Ramachandran. I still remember, people paid money to attend public meetings of
Anna, said a DMK functionary. That was then. What about now? Now, functionaries
of all political parties admit in private that they have to pay to bring in the
crowds. Many party functionaries have become like event management
professionals. There’s a rate card and you can pick and choose, mix and match.
So much so that the Election Commission itself has fixed expenditure cards for
each district. That’s how it calculates how much each party spends on its
meetings and rallies. Politicians rue that this smartphone-toting generation
has no time for or interest in attending rallies. They watch everything —
leaders’ speeches, roadshows — on their phones. So it’s difficult to bring
crowds to political meetings. Even the main contestants, the AIADMK and the
DMK, struggle to ensure there are no empty chairs at their main leaders’
meetings. Some who do the party functionaries turn to? They tie up with women’s
self-help groups, agriculture labourers, college students and daily wage
labourers. For a decent crowd of 200 for a roadshow, a political party has to
spend ₹50,000 to ₹80,000. Transport and food depend on time and place of the
meeting, said an AIADMK district level functionary.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SAMSUNG’S PATENT-DRIVEN APPROACH PAYS OFF
As makers of electronics
look to innovate and introduce new technology in India, Samsung has revealed
details of its patent-driven approach to research and development. Around 2,900
patents have been filed so far from the company’s research centres in India,
with an average of 250 patents every year, a top company official said. At the
forefront of this drive is Samsung’s research centre in Bengaluru, its biggest
outside of South Korea, which has trained around 3,000 engineers in filing
patents and working towards developing new and innovative technologies. Samsung
has more than 9,000 people at its three research centres in India. The company
focussed on innovation as a culture and the patents coming out of the centre
are a by-product of that culture. We started with people who came from other
organisations with experience in filing patents. Then we started growing that
pool and driving numbers because in the beginning, quantity is important, said
De. Samsung later started bringing in more people in the inventor category.
Samsung’s research areas in India are now focussed on five broad categories –
connectivity with a focus on 5G, camera, artificial intelligence (AI) and
virtual assistants, Internet of Things (IoT), and services such as Samsung Pay,
Samsung Health, etc.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
HAVE CUT DOWN RESPONSE TIME BY 1 HOUR: SOCIAL MEDIA FIRMS TELL
POLL PANEL
The Internet and Mobile
Association of India, the industry body at the forefront of representing social
media companies ahead of elections, has told the Election Commission that
social media companies have brought down the time taken to respond to violations
reported under Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) to 2
hours from 3 hours earlier. The IAMAI, which represents companies such as
Google, Twitter, Facebook (including WhatsApp) and others, had come up with a
voluntary code of ethics for social media companies which will be in force till
the end of Lok Sabha elections 2019, which are scheduled to begin on April 11.
These valid legal orders will be acknowledged and/ or processed within three
hours for violations reported under Section 126 as per the Sinha Committee
recommendations. All other valid legal requests will be acted upon
expeditiously by the companies, based on the nature of reported violation, the
code had stated. Further, where the Participants require further clarification
or additional information (e.g., if the request lacks specific URLs, involves
large volumes, or does not follow lawful process), IAMAI proposes that in such
cases, the time period be suspended from the time the request for clarification
or additional information is made until such time that clarification or
additional information is provided, at which point the time period would begin
to run again, IAMAI said in its submission to the EC. Section 126 of the RPA
also places an embargo on the publishing and airing of content which is likely
to affect the election, 48 hours before the election. An ongoing public
interest litigation in the Bombay High Court has asked that the 48 hour embargo
be applicable to social media companies as well. The problem is a complex one
given that several states in India are scheduled to vote in different phases,
and blocking ads at a constituency level may not be easily possible.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
INDIAN TRIES TO OBTAIN US CITIZENSHIP BY FRAUD, FACES 10 YEARS
IMPRISONMENT
A 67-year-old Indian
national has conceded before a US court of trying to obtain American
citizenship through fraudulent means, the Department of Justice said Monday.
Harpal Singh charged with one count of attempted naturalization fraud, faces up
to 10 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for August 5. According to
documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Singh applied for
admission into the country as a tourist in March 1992 at Los Angeles
International Airport by presenting an Indian passport that purported to
contain an entry visa to the United States. He was refused admission because
the entry visa was deemed fraudulent and he was detained pending exclusion
proceedings. Singh thereafter applied for asylum in the United States and he
was released on bond while his asylum claim was evaluated. He falsely answered
additional questions relating to his identity, his prior immigration
applications, and his immigration status, among others.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FACEBOOK, GOOGLE FACE WIDENING CRACKDOWN OVER ONLINE CONTENT
Tech giants like Facebook
and Google came under increasing pressure in Europe on Monday when countries
proposed stricter rules to force them to block extreme material such as terrorist
propaganda and child porn. Britain called for a first-of-its-kind watchdog for
social media that could fine executives and even ban companies. And a European
Union parliamentary committee approved a bill giving internet companies an hour
to remove terror-related material or face fines that could reach into the
billions. We are forcing these firms to clean up their act once and for all,
said British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, whose department collaborated on
Britain's proposal. Opponents warned the British and EU measures could stifle
innovation and strengthen the dominance of technology giants because smaller
companies won't have the money to comply. That, in turn, could turn Google and
Facebook into the web's censors, they said. The push to make the big companies
responsible for the torrent of material they carry has largely been driven by
Europeans. But it picked up momentum after the March 15 mosque shootings in New
Zealand that killed 50 people and were livestreamed for 17 minutes. Facebook
said it removed 1.5 million videos of the attacks in the 24 hours afterward.
The US, where government action is constrained by the First Amendment right to
free speech and freedom of the press, has taken a more hands-off approach,
though on Tuesday, a House committee will press Google and Facebook executives
on whether they are doing enough to curb the spread of hate crimes and white
nationalism. The offense would be punishable by three years in prison and a
fine of 10.5 million Australian dollars (USD 7.5 million), or 10% of the
platform's annual revenue, whichever is larger. New Zealand's Privacy
Commissioner wants his country to so the same. The British plan would require
social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to protect people who use
their sites from harmful content. No one in the world has done this before, and
it's important that we get it right, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright told. In
extreme cases, the government may also seek to fine individual company
directors and prevent companies from operating in Britain. Under the EU
legislation that cleared an initial hurdle in Brussels, any internet companies
that fail to remove terrorist content within an hour of being notified by
authorities would face similar 4% penalties. EU authorities came up with the
idea last year after attacks highlighted the growing trend of online
radicalisation. Issuing large fines and hitting companies with bigger legal
threats is taking a 20th-century bullwhip approach to a problem that requires a
nuanced solution, he said. It needs machine learning tools to manage the
21st-century problems of the internet. Wright said Britain's proposed
social-media regulator would be expected to take freedom of speech into account
while trying to prevent harm.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
WHATSAPP'S NEW STATUS: WILL FOLLOW RBI NORMS ON DATA
WhatsApp is working to
comply with central bank regulations on storage of payment data, according to
two people familiar with the development, indicating a turnaround in the stance
adopted by the Facebook-owned messaging application, which has resisted demands
to store payment data of Indian users exclusively within the country, so far.
WhatsApp’s payment feature called WhatsApp Pay has been in a beta mode since
February last year and has been restricted to only 1 million users in the
country, pending regulatory approvals. We plan to comply with RBI guidelines
Only some engineering work is left, a senior Facebook executive told. This will
mean that servers holding financial data of Indian users will now be located
inside the country alone. Until now, the American company has been seeking
approval to merely mirror or copy payments data within India, while also
storing the same data in its overseas servers. Indian regulators have had no truck
with this plan insisting that in order to be fully compliant, WhatsApp must
locate all servers used to store financial data pertaining to Indian users
within the country, as mandated by the Reserve Bank of India in April 2018.
WhatsApp Pay is designed to run on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) created
by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). This allows users to
conduct peerto-peer and business transactions for even micro payments through
their bank accounts. India’s e-payments business is slated to grow five-fold by
2023 to $1trillion (Rs 70 lakh crore), according to investment bank Credit
Suisse. UPI clocked close to 800 million transactions with Rs 1.3 lakh crore
being settled in March, according to data shared by NPCI. While the number of
transactions jumped 18.6% as against February, the amount of money transferred
went up 25% compared to last month, the highest in the last six months. The
payments market in India is huge. WhatsApp, Google Pay, Bhim, PhonePe and Paytm
— all will grow, the MeitY official told.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
WITH OVER 54 MN USERS IN INDIA, LINKEDIN FOCUSSES ON AI TO
REMOVE FAKE PROFILES
In February, an Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) officer B. Chandrakala found a LinkedIn fake
account running in her name. After registering a case under the Information
Technology (IT) Act, the police swung into action and get LinkedIn to shut that
face account. Under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
in an illegal mining case in Uttar Pradesh, Chandrakala was shocked to see the
fake account being run on LinkedIn in her name using her photograph and
designation and publishing objectionable obscene content. Not just fake
accounts, there have been several cases of fraudsters impersonating staffing
agencies on the LinkedIn platform and people keeping duplicate and fake
profiles. The goal of such people, according to Bruce Johnston, a famed
LinkedIn sales and marketing consultant, is to harvest email addresses from
connections, identity theft, phishing, spear phishing and other scams and
impersonation. LinkedIn, which has over 54 million users in India making it the
fastest growing market outside of the US, claims it is good at stamping out
fake profiles once they are identified. But the real game is to identify such
problems firsthand - via Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled algorithms which
the company has invested heavily in - in order to weed out bad actors quickly
and act proactively, without waiting for users to flag such content. Human-centric
AI and Machine Learning (ML) is helping - to a great extent - Facebook, Twitter
and Google stamp out bad content, terror-related posts, political interference,
misinformation, abuse and several other inauthentic behaviour even before users
flags them. LinkedIn is pretty good at stamping out fake profiles once they are
identified. But as fake profiles can be replaced just as quickly as they are
detected and stamped out, this is a real problem, wrote Johnston in a blog post
some time back.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
US WANTS TO ALLOW MORE FOREIGN WORKERS WHILE ALSO RESTRICTING
IMMIGRATION
The federal government wants
to issue more visas for foreign workers to take temporary jobs in housekeeping,
landscaping and other fields — even as President Donald Trump seeks to seal off
the border with Mexico, where most of those workers come from. The departments
of Homeland Security and Labor said they planned to issue up to 30,000
additional H-2B visas through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.
Congress has generally capped the number of visas, which businesses compete
for, at 66,000, divided evenly between summer and winter seasons. Only workers
who had previously secured the visas would be eligible for the proposed
additional ones. The visas provide legal status for immigrants in temporary
nonfarm jobs with landscaping companies, restaurants, hotels and amusement
parks, among other industries. Last fiscal year, about 75 percent of these
visas were issued to workers from Mexico, according to State Department data.
Visas were also issued to, among others, Jamaicans, Guatemalans and South Africans.
Andrea Palermo, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not
directly answer questions about what was behind the plan for additional H-2B
visas. She also did not address questions about the apparent contradiction in
the administration’s positions. Congress — not DHS — should be responsible for
determining whether the annual numerical limitations for H-2B workers set by
Congress need to be modified and by how much, and for setting parameters to
ensure that enough workers are available to meet employers’ temporary needs
throughout the year, she said. Krikorian said the proposed expansion of the
program was not backtracking or flip-flopping by the administration. The
president has always been a big fan of these guest worker visas, said
Krikorian, who noted that Trump’s properties, such as Mar-a-Lago, use this visa
program to hire workers.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
WIFE OF EX-NISSAN BOSS GHOSN LEAVES JAPAN TO APPEAL TO FRENCH
GOVERNMENT
The wife of former Nissan
boss Carlos Ghosn has left Japan and flown to Paris to appeal to the French
government to do more to help him, a media report said on Sunday. Japanese
prosecutors arrested Mr. Ghosn for a fourth time on Thursday on suspicion he
had tried to enrich himself at the automaker's expense, in another dramatic
twist that his lawyers said was an attempt to muzzle him. I think the French
government should do more for him. I don't think he's had enough support and
he's calling for assistance. As a French citizen, it should be a right, Carole
Ghosn told. She said her husbands previous 108-day imprisonment had left him a
different person and that normal life under bail conditions had been
impossible. You could see the fear in his eyes, as rumours of his rearrest
spread last week, she was quoted as saying. Mr. Ghosn, who holds French,
Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, has denied charges against him and called
on the French government for help. Tokyo prosecutors. Public broadcaster NHK
said on Sunday that prosecutors suspected his siphoned off part of the payments
through a company where his wife is an executive to purchase a yacht and a
boat. The prosecutors asked her to meet them for voluntary questioning as an
unsworn witness, but the request was turned down, which prompted them to ask
judges to question her on their behalf, the broadcaster said. Such a request
gives judges the power to question on a mandatory basis witnesses who refuse to
testify, according to NHK. Mr. Ghosn's lead lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, said on
Thursday prosecutors confiscated Mr. Ghosn's mobile phone, documents, notebooks
and diaries, along with his wife's passport and mobile phone. Under Japanese
law, prosecutors will be able to hold Mr. Ghosn for up to 22 days without
charging him. The fresh arrest opens up the possibility that he will be
interrogated again without his lawyer present, as is the norm in Japan. The
additional charge would likely prolong his trial, which is expected to begin
later this year, his lawyer has said, adding that loss of access to Ghosn's
trial-related documents could put his client at a disadvantage in fighting his
case.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ZYDUS CADILA GETS TENTATIVE USFDA NOD TO MARKET GENERIC
ANTI-EPILEPTIC TABLETS
Drug firm Zydus Cadila
Monday said it has received a tentative nod from the US health regulator for
marketing generic Lacosamide tablets, used for prevention and treatment of
seizures, in the American market. The company has received the tentative
approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market
generic Lacosamide tablets in the strengths of 50 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg and 200
mg, Zydus Cadila said in a statement. The product is a generic version of
Vimpat tablets, it added. The drug will be manufactured at the group’s
formulations manufacturing facility at Moraiya, Ahmedabad, Zydus Cadila said.
Lacosamide is an anti-convulsant or anti-epileptic drug, used to prevent and
control seizures. It works by reducing the spread of seizure activity in the
brain, it added. The group now has 261 approvals and has so far filed over 350
abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) since the commencement of its filing
process, Zydus Cadila said.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
CAPITALISM’S INCOME INEQUALITY IS NATIONAL EMERGENCY: RAY
DALIO OF BRIDGEWATER
While President Donald
Trump is focused on the national emergency he’s declared to secure the southern
U.S. border, the billionaire founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund is more
worried about losing the American dream. Capitalism must be reformed because
it’s not producing enough opportunities for most Americans, creating an income
gap that threatens to spark conflict, Ray Dalio, said. If I was the president
of the United States, Dalio said, what I would do is recognize that this is a
national emergency. It has to come from the top, he said: If you look at
history, if you have a group of people who have very different economic
conditions, and you have an economic downturn, you have conflict. While Dalio,
69, previously has focused on inequality and warned about the dangers of
populism, he’s started to focus on what he terms the existential threats they
present to American society. Dalio cited four major countries in the 1930s that
chose not to be democracies because they wanted leadership to bring order to
the conflict. While he’s not saying the U.S. will go there, it’s an unfair and
unproductive issue that threatens to split us, he said. The American dream is
lost, he said. For the most part we don’t even talk about what is the American
dream. And it’s very different from when I was growing up. The Republican idea
that cutting taxes on the rich promotes productivity doesn’t make any sense to
me at all, and the wealthy must pay more, Dalio said. The important thing is to
take those tax dollars and make them productive, he added. The income gap is
about as high as ever, and the wealth gap is the highest since the late 1930s
because the wealth of the top 1 percent of the population is more than that of
the bottom 90 percent combined, Dalio said. Disparity in wealth, especially
when accompanied by disparity in values, leads to increasing conflict and, in
the government, that manifests itself in the form of populism of the left and
populism of the right and often in revolutions of one sort or another, Dalio
wrote.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _
MADRAS HIGH COURT QUASHES LAND ACQUISITION PROCEEDINGS FOR
CHENNAI-SALEM EXPRESSWAY
The Madras High Court on
Monday quashed the land acquisition proceedings initiated by the Centre as well
as the State Government for the ambitious ₹10,000 crore Chennai-Salem
eight-lane greenfield expressway project proposed on a stretch of 277 km
passing through agricultural as well as reserve forest land. A Division Bench
of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and V. Bhavani Subbaroyan quashed the proceedings
after holding that environmental clearance was mandatory since the project
would have an adverse impact on the environment, including waterbodies, and
that a project report submitted by a consultant was not satisfactory. The
judgement was delivered on a batch of cases filed by advocates, farmers and
politicians. Prominent among the petitioners was Member of Parliament Anbumani
Ramadoss of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, which has now aligned with the
BJP-AIADMK in the Lok Sabha election. The marathon hearing on the cases had
taken place from June to December, when the Division Bench reserved its
verdict, and several interim orders were passed. The court restrained the
government from forcibly dispossessing the land owners from their properties
and not to use police force against the protesters. The Centre, however,
defended the project by stating that the expressway would actually help in preventing
release of around 17 crore kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is
equivalent to the effect achieved through a 38,000 ha forest area with 75 lakh
trees. In a counter-affidavit filed in response to public interest litigation
petitions filed by advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam and two others, the Centre said
the reduction of carbon dioxide could be achieved by reducing diesel
consumption by 10 crore litres per annum. It went on to state that the
consumption of diesel would come down considerably because of shortening of
travelling distance between Chennai and Salem by 57 km to 75 km. Amit Kumar
Ghosh, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, who
filed the counter-affidavit, said the expressway was part of the Centre’s major
road programme known as Bharatmala Pariyojana-I, entailing the construction of
about 35,000 km of national highways across the country at an estimated cost of
₹5,35,000 crore before 2022. The programme was aimed at
decongesting six national corridors.
#For Source of Information copy and paste the heading in google.
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
No comments:
Post a Comment