The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014 was presented to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a function on Thursday here.
Former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh presented the prize to ISRO chairman A. S. Kiran Kumar in the presence of Chairperson of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust Sonia Gandhi.
The prize, which was announced in the year 2014 by the jury headed by the Vice President M. Hamid Ansari, consists of a trophy made of banded Haematite Jasper, with a portrait of the late Prime Minister in the tradition of Jaipur miniature paintings, a cash award of Rs. one crore and a citation.
The International Jury awarded the prize to the ISRO in recognition of its path-breaking achievements, culminating in the Mars Orbiter Mission; its significant contributions in strengthening international cooperation in the peaceful use of outer space; and its pioneering role in the application of advanced technologies in promoting broad-based and sustainable social and economic development and addressing basic needs of our people, particularly in rural and remote areas.
New York, May 18 : The Indian IT industry “rightly” should be in “panic” mode as it has not kept pace with the fast-changing innovation, India-born former McKinsey head Rajat Gupta has said.
He said industries today “have to constantly move with innovation” as basic IT work gets automated and advanced innovations such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and cloud computing overtake the technological world.
“Code writing and testing is the most inefficient industry that existed,” he said at a panel discussion here yesterday organised by the New York Tri-State chapter of Pratham USA, one of the largest non-governmental organisations.
“The Indian IT industry is in panic and rightly should be because technology is overtaking them and they haven’t invested in it,” Gupta said.
Gupta, who was a former director at Goldman Sachs, was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of insider trading charges. A free man now, Gupta has been gradually re-entering the social and philanthropic world.
Last year, he assumed the role of Chairman of WHEELS Global Foundation, a US-based non-profit started by IIT alumni that focuses on applying technology to uplift rural communities and provide technological solutions to global challenges.
Experts are warning of prolonged layoffs in the Indian IT sector as digitisation and automation become the new normal and a wave of protectionism in major markets like the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand closes the door for IT engineers from India.
Gupta said there is urgent need for “revolution in education” where imparting knowledge has to move from being in lecture mode to being more interactive, digital and participatory.
“A fundamental revolution in education needs to be taking place,” he said.
He also voiced concern at the huge youth unemployment in India and other major countries.
“India needs to create 20 million jobs a year and it is no way near that. Most of our skilling efforts in India are failures because certain elements are not built into it. It becomes a government scheme. Are (the youth) really skilled when they come out. No,” he said.
On the recent increase in hate crimes targeting Indian- Americans, Gupta said there has to be heightened awareness among the community through educational programs about their rights.
The Indian-American community, unlike other minority communities, also does not have a legal defence fund that can be used to bring cases and prosecute those responsible for such crimes.
New Delhi : Telecom regulator TRAI today recommended the use of Aadhaar-based eKYC verification for subscribers of fixed line, internet and broadband connections, as in the case of mobile connections.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendation, if accepted by the Department of Telecom, would make the authentication process fast and reliable and lead to substantial savings for the industry.
“…the authority recommends laying down an appropriate format (Customer Acquisition Form) for verification/reverification of all subscribers (including fixed line) availing internet and broadband services and adoption of Aadhaar-based eKYC service, similar to mobile connections, for their verification,” a TRAI statement said.
TRAI had received a representation from the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) to extend Aadhaar-based eKYC authentication to ISPs for broadband and internet connections also, as is currently the case with mobile connections.
“ISPAI has stated in their letter that use of such service for authenticity of customers for broadband and internet connections will be fast and much authentic as well as save time and cost,” TRAI said.
While the government has prescribed CAF for verification of new mobile connections using Aadhaar based eKYC services and for re-verification of existing subscribers, TRAI noted that “so far this requirement has not been prescribed for the customers of internet and broadband as well as fixed line”.
New Delhi, May 17 : An inter-ministerial panel has been constituted to suggest policy reforms for the telecom sector, which is reeling under severe financial stress.
The panel, comprising senior officials from the ministries of finance and telecom, will examine the “systemic issues affecting viability and repayment capacity in the telecom sector and furnish recommendations for resolution of stressed assets at the earliest”.
The panel will also recommend policy reforms and strategic interventions for the telecom sector which has a staggering debt of Rs 4.6 lakh crore.
The eight-member group is also authorised to invite nominees from the telecom sector and financial institutions and co-opt any other member, according to an office memorandum of the Department of Telecom (DoT).
The group has been constituted at a time when the telecom sector – despite a burgeoning subscriber base – is facing severe financial pressure, compounded by the entry of aggressive Reliance Jio.
In September 2016, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s venture Jio stormed into the Indian telecom market with free voice and data services, forcing established operators to slash rates to protect their turf.
This put revenue and profitability of all telcos under stress, although subscribers benefited from cheap data and voice packs.
Even after launching its paid services post-March 2017, Jio continues to be aggressive, offering data at rock-bottom prices while voice calls are free.
The latest earnings season has further deepened the worry lines – India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel recently reported its lowest quarterly profit in four years as net earnings fell 72 per cent in January-March.
Smaller rival Idea Cellular posted a loss of Rs 325.6 crore in the three-month period ended on March 31, 2017.
Airtel, in a post-earnings investor call last week, hoped that the government panel would take a “prudent view” of the industry’s demands, including the one on deferred payment for spectrum.
The intense competition has not just squeezed the margins of telecom companies but has also raised fears of defaults on loans taken from banks.
The Reserve Bank, last month, has asked banks to review their exposure to telecom and make higher provisions to safeguard their business against any future stress.
Equating the issue of triple talaq with the belief that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board today told the Supreme Court that these were matters of faith and cannot be tested on grounds of constitutional morality.
“If I have faith that Lord Rama was born at Ayodhya, then it’s a matter of faith and there is no question of constitutional morality” and it cannot be interfered with by a court of law, former Law Minister and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing the Board, said while drawing an analogy between triple talaq and the belief about Lord Rama.
“Triple talaq has been there since 637 AD. Who are we to say that this is un-Islamic. Muslims are practising it for last 1,400 years. It is a matter of faith. Hence, there is no question of constitutional morality and equity,” he told a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said.
Sibal was countering the arguments put forth by the opponents of triple talaq who have been arguing for the past two days, with the government also saying a new law to regulate marriage and divorce among the Muslim community would be brought, if all forms of divorce including triple talaq are struck down. The AIMPLB counsel said the age-old practice was “part of my faith and you cannot determine what should be my faith.
He referred to holy ‘Quran’, ‘hadith’ and interpretations attributed to companions of Prophet Muhammad and scholars on divorce to drive home the point that the issue of triple talaq was a matter of faith and hence beyond judicial scrutiny.
Mumbai, May 16 : Markets soared to record-smashing heights for the second straight session today as investors remained enthused by the early onset of monsoon amid quarterly earnings cheer.
Benchmark Sensex finished at a fresh lifetime high of 30,582 while the broader Nifty closed above the 9,500-mark for the first time.
Both indices had hit record highs in yesterday’s trade as well.
Earlier this week, the weather office said Southwest monsoon has covered the Nicobar Islands and the entire south Andaman Sea, three days ahead of its normal onset date.
Encouraging quarterly earnings and upbeat global cues further fuelled the momentum, brokers said.
The 30-share Sensex opened on a strong footing and zoomed to a new peak of 30,591.55, before winding up 260.48 points, or 0.86 per cent higher at 30,582.60, breaching its previous record close of 30,322.12 points reached yesterday.
It also went past its previous intra-day record of 30,366.43 points hit on May 11.
The 50-share NSE Nifty too maintained its bull run and touched a new peak of 9,517.20. It finally settled 66.85 points, or 0.71 per cent higher at 9,512.25, surpassing its previous closing high of 9,445.40, recorded yesterday.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 235.33 crore yesterday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 65.77 crore, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
New Delhi, May 16 : Najeeb Ahmed’s family has pinned its hope on the Central Bureau of Investigation, which was asked by the Delhi High Court today to trace the missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student.
“I hope the CBI finds my son,” Najeeb’s mother Fatima Nafees said, accusing the Delhi Police — so far in charge of the case — of not doing enough to find Najeeb, missing for the last seven months.
Delhi Police, however, insisted it had done all it could, and had succeeded in ruling it out as a case of abduction.
Nafees, while welcoming the transfer, said though they wanted an independent inquiry into the case, the family was satisfied that it had been transferred to the premier investigating agency.
“The district police didn’t do anything. When the probe was transferred to the Crime Branch, they didn’t do anything either,” she alleged.
The mother said the police “tarnished” Najeeb’s image by saying that he suffered from an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
“They kept saying that Najeeb had OCD when he was only undergoing treatment for insomnia. Even if he was depressed, that doesn’t mean that the police could blame my son for his disappearance and not probe those who had beaten him up before he went missing,” she said.
The investigators from the Crime Branch, however, said that the High Court had noted that the police had followed the court’s directions.
They pointed out they had also traced the autorickshaw driver who had ferried Najeeb from JNU to Jamia on the day he went missing.
“There were many angles that we worked on and one of them was the abduction angle. But with the auto driver being traced, it emerged that Najeeb had left the university on his own,” a senior police officer said.
Last week, the police had approached mosques in the national capital and UP, requesting them to make regular announcements about Najeeb, in the hope of making a headway.
They also wrote to the directors general (DGs) of police and prisons of all states and railway police, urging them to share any information they might get about the student.
But the case being moved to the CBI was largely hailed by JNU students and teachers. They welcomed the High Court order, but wondered if the government agency would be allowed to probe the case.
“It is a good move, but we were demanding an independent enquiry monitored by the court. Even the CBI functions under the ambit of the central government and can be influenced as we have seen in several cases,” JNU students’ union (JNUSU) president Mohit Kumar Pandey said.
A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Rekha Palli today transferred the case to the CBI responding to a plea filed by Nafees after Delhi Police said it had no problems with the case being moved.
The court said the probe by the CBI would be supervised by an officer, holding a rank not lower than that of a DIG.
The student went missing in October last year following a scuffle at his hostel with some students of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a students’ group affiliated to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
ABVP leader Saurabh Sharma said he welcomed the move, but hoped the CBI would trace Najeeb and also unearth “his alleged links with the ISIS which Delhi Police has been hiding”.
JNU Teachers’ Association president Ayesha Kidwai urged the CBI to take up the search for Najeeb with an “earnestness” that “nobody, neither the police nor the JNU administration” had exhibited so far.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday transferred to the CBI from the police the investigation into the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmad, who is missing since October 15, 2016.
A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Rekha Palli transferred the matter to CBI with immediate effect on a plea by the student’s mother after the Delhi Police said it has no problem with such a direction.
The court said the probe by the CBI would be supervised by an officer not less than the rank of a DIG.
While transferring the matter, the court noted that the Delhi Police had implemented all directions and suggestions given by the court.
The matter will be taken up next on July 17.
Washington/London : Nearly hundred countries, including India, were hit by what is believed to be the biggest-ever recorded cyberattack that used “cyber weapons” stolen from the US’ National Security Agency to lock up computers and hold users’ files for ransom.
The cyber attack was first reported from Sweden, Britain and France, US media outlets reported.
An increase in activity of the malware was noticed yesterday, security software company Avast reported, adding that it “quickly escalated into a massive spreading”.
Within hours, over 75,000 attacks were detected worldwide, the company said.
Meanwhile, the MalwareTech tracker detected over 100,000 infected systems over the past 24 hours.
Security researchers with Kaspersky Lab have recorded more than 45,000 attacks in 99 countries, including the UK, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Italy, and Egypt.
In Spain, major companies including telecommunications firm Telefonica were infected.
The most disruptive attacks were reported in the UK, where hospitals and clinics were forced to turn away patients after losing access to computers.
The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (USCRT) under the Department of Homeland Security said it has received multiple reports of WannaCry ransomware infections in many countries around the world.
The ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it. It demands users pay USD 300 worth of cryptocurrency Bitcoin to retrieve their files, though it warns that the payment will be raised after a certain amount of time. The malware spreads through e-mail.
Individuals and organisations are discouraged from paying the ransom, as this does not guarantee access will be restored, the USCERT said.
According to it, ransomware spreads easily when it encounters unpatched or outdated software.
It was believed to the biggest attack of its kind.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said that the company was aware of the reports and was looking into the situation.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the malware believed to be behind the attacks, encrypts data on infected computers and essentially holds it for ransom.