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Excise dept sends proposal for online sale of alcohal

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Early in September, the Karnataka government had decided to stop the online sale of liquor. The government had also issued notices to popular concierge app Dunzo, after which home delivery of alcohol was stopped. However, the state government seems to be making a U-turn and is now mulling allowing online sale of alcohol.

Speaking to media, Rajendra Prasad, Additional Commissioner of Excise (Indian Made Liquor) said that CM HD Kumaraswamy is said to meet with the representatives of the Federation of Wine Merchants Association, Karnataka, soon. “The Excise Department has formulated a proposal to allow the sale of liquor online. This was sent to the Finance Department for approval. The proposal has moved from there and is awaiting cabinet approval. The CM will hold talks with the Wine Merchants’ Association because they are opposing this proposal,” he added.

A source in the Excise Department said, “We are planning to levy a certain percent of excise duty for online liquor sale. But there is some opposition from owners of retail outlets which sell alcohol.”

Govindraj Hegde, President of the Federation of Wine Merchants Association, Karnataka, termed the state government’s proposal as “dangerous on many levels” and says that the association strongly opposes such a proposal.

“The proposal will have adverse effects. The government has not been able to curb the sale of drugs to children. If online sale of alcohol comes into effect, how will they curb underage drinking? Another big problem is that it will be dangerous for the income of wine merchants. Those selling liquor online will get the liquor at cheaper rates. This will bring down business at retail outlets, and those who are in possession of the CL 7 and CL 4 liquor licences,” he added.

A source in the Excise Department say that the state government is planning to allow online sale of liquor in order to make up for revenue which was lost due to farm loan waiver.

“When HD Kumaraswamy became the Chief Minister of Karnataka, he promised to waive over Rs 50,000 crore worth of farm loans. With this, the government had to look for other venues to obtain revenues. The Excise Department officials were told to come up with schemes to generate more revenue, and now the officials are mulling allowing online sale of liquor,” the source said.

The Excise Department had come down heavily on internet-based alcohol delivery systems in September this year. “We had not created a license for online delivery of liquor and they are not legal currently. If the new proposal gets approved, we will be able to ensure that all of it is done legally,” Rajendra Prasad added.

However, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said that the proposal he has not received the proposal yet. “Regarding the online sale of liquor, I have not received any proposal till now,” he told the media.

TNM

Paytm founder blackmailed by his employees for Rs 20 crore.

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Two Paytm employees, including a woman, were among three people arrested on Monday for allegedly trying to extort Rs 20 crore from the e-wallet giant’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma after threatening to leak stolen personal data and information, Noida Police said.

The arrested woman, who allegedly masterminded the extortion bid, is the secretary of Vijay Shekhar Sharma and the trio had threatened to leak the data and misuse the information to cause the firm loss and dent its public image, officials said.

The three employees of the Noida-headquartered e-commerce and wallet firm were arrested late Monday afternoon by a team from the Sector 20 police station, while their fourth accomplice is still at large, a senior official said. According to the police, those arrested are Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s woman secretary (identity withheld), her husband Roopak Jain and another Paytm employee Devnedra Kumar.

The fourth accused, Rohit Chomal, is a resident of Kolkata and had allegedly made the extortion call to Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s brother Ajay Shekhar.

“The owner of Paytm had made a complaint with the police that their employees, a woman and her aides, had stolen some data from the company and were blackmailing. They were demanding Rs 20 crore for not leaking it,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ajay Pal Sharma said.

“Taking immediate action on it, an FIR was registered and three persons, including the woman, arrested. They are being probed about the data and their modus operandi. Police will share the facts as they are unearthed,” Ajay Pal Sharma said.

The SSP said they will seek their custody to interrogate them further and gather more details. Police were not clear as to what kind of data was stolen.

He said that the local police are in touch with their counterparts in Kolkata to track down Rohit Chomal, who allegedly made the extortion call to Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s brother.

The FIR was registered at Sector 20 police station and the accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 384 (extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 420 (cheating), 408 (Criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant) and 120 B (party to a criminal conspiracy). Charges under the provisions of the Information Technology Act have also been pressed against the accused, the police said.

When contacted, Paytm confirmed in a statement that the Noida Police have arrested three people, including one female employee of Paytm, in the case of extortion.

“The employee along with two other accomplices attempted to extort money from Vijay Shekhar Sharma on the pretext of leaking his personal data. “We are standing by our colleagues till the police enquiry reaches its meaningful conclusion,” the company said.

PTI

 Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani has said he strongly believes stories come from small towns.

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Hirani was interacting with the media at the announcement of the 2nd edition of Cinestaan Script Contest along with Anjum Rajabali and Juhi Chatuvedi on Monday in Mumbai.

“I strongly believe stories come from the small towns. People have more exposure to life there. In big cities, especially like Mumbai, all the time goes in travelling,” he said.

“I grew up in a small town and we could just walk into a neighbor’s house. Here, in Mumbai, we don’t have the time to even meet our friends. Stories are out there. It’s just that we have to find them and I feel writing needs to be taught in a way that they can become proper screenplays. I think it’s an extremely good initiative where the start has been made.”

Talking about circumstances of writers while writing a film script, the maker of ‘PK’ said, “I think writers need to be respected a little more financially. They are foundation of every film and unless you pay the writer probably the maximum amount of money in your film, you won’t find good writers because it’s a big struggle for writers.”

I have seen, in Mumbai, people are trying to write four scripts at the same time because they are not sure which one will start and which one will work. A small token money is given to them for experimenting by saying that “you work on this script and if it turns out to be good, then we will make a film out of it”.

So, the writer doesn’t have idea whether the film will be made of his story or not. “At the same time, he is getting paid less, so he starts writing for another script. But you cannot write four scripts at the same time.”

About Cinestaan Script Contenst, Hirani said, “First, I want to thank Rohit Khattar and Anjum Raajabali for having this initiative. For years, we as filmmakers have been trying to tell this to corporates and this is something that we are not equipped to do at an individual level and we really don’t know how to do it as filmmakers to go out and hunt for stories.”

Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani, Juhi Chaturvedi and Anjum Rajabali, who were on the jury for the first edition, will continue in the same capacity for the second edition as well.

IANS

YouTube launches investment in educational content, creators

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Google-owned YouTube has announced an investment of $20 million in educational content and creators to expand its initiative to support people across the world in sharing knowledge and pursuing learning on the platform.

YouTube said on Monday that it was creating a new Learning Fund programme to support creators who make some of the best learning content on YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing site, with videos covering a wide range of topics from career skills, like interviewing and resume building, to computer science, like coding for game development and JavaScript basics.

The company said it had completed the first round of investment to fund some of the most successful channels on the platform, such as TED-Ed, which is dedicated to educational Ted Talks, and brothers Hank and John Green’s Crash Course.

YouTube has pledged investment to support EduTubers through the Learning Fund and plans to fund content from independent creators, traditional news sources and educational organizations to broaden its content offering.

The company also said it would partner with third-party studios and networks such as Goodwill and Year Up to create videos that teach career skills.

Its major partners include leading online learning platforms, like edX, a non-profit offering courses from the world’s best universities and institutions, and OpenClassrooms, an education platform based in France.

The Google subsidiary held YouTube EduCon conferences in California, Mexico and Brazil to connect EduTubers with new resources in 2018.

In a further push for its global education efforts for next year, YouTube said it plans to expand YouTube EduCon to Europe and Asia, starting with India in December and the UK in February 2019

IANS

Actor Ajaz Khan nabbed for possessing drugs

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Bollywood actor Ajaz Khan has been arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Navi Mumbai Police for alleged possession of banned drugs here.

He was arrested late Monday night, officials said here on Tuesday.

The controversial actor was arrested from a hotel room in Belapur with eight tablets of the prohibited ‘ecstasy’ tablets, which are popular in rave parties.

Ajaz, a former “Bigg Boss” contestant, will be produced before a court on Tuesday, said an official.

This is not Ajaz’s first brush with the law.

Two years ago, he was arrested and released on bail on charges of sending obscene pictures and lewd messages to a beautician who had offered him a business project proposal.

IANS

Proposed Khurja coal power plant overpriced, threat to Delhi’s air quality: IEEFA

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The state-run THDCIL’s proposed Khurja coal power plant in Uttar Pradesh would not only push up the cost of electricity at a time when renewable energy options are cheaper but will also be a threat to Delhi’s air quality, a report said on Tuesday.

THDCIL, formerly known as Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd, is a joint venture of the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments with a 75:25 equity sharing ratio.

Releasing the report titled “The Khurja Thermal Power Project: A Recipe for an Indian Stranded Asset”, the US-based the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) recommended that the 1,320 MW proposal should be re-evaluated against severe air pollution levels in Delhi.

Also, the real threat of government financing wasted on another expensive stranded asset, increasingly cheaper renewable energy options and India’s ambitious sustainable energy goals.

The Khurja project entails an investment of Rs 12,676 crore. While the first unit is scheduled to be commissioned in November 2022, the second unit would go on steam in April 2023.

The electricity users — the state and central governments — and project’s lenders should not be burdened with yet another expensive stranded asset at a time when local residents need cleaner energy options, IEEFA Director of Energy Finance Studies Tim Buckley told reporters here.

“Delhi already has the dubious reputation of having the worst air pollution of any city in the world. If the Khurja coal plant is built as planned near Delhi, this will increase the impact on local residents, emergency workers and the local government.

“The Khurja power plant was feasible when first proposed eight years ago in response to power supply shortages and outages across northern India, but technology has moved on,” he said.

According to Buckley, renewable energy generation in India is now cheaper than Khurja’s non-minemouth coal, with ongoing price declines prompting states, including Uttar Pradesh, to seek solar and wind options to meet incremental demand growth.

“The Khurja proposal relies on a prohibitively expensive 900-km-long rail haul to bring coal to the plant. Additionally, the market price of coal continues to increase globally,” he said.

“Our analysis shows any power generated at the Khurja plant would likely be sold for Rs 5.67 per kilowatt hours, while renewable energy prices today are only plus or minus Rs 3 per kilowatt hours.

“The economics of the project look dim. The Khurja proposal must be re-evaluated,” Buckley said.

Kashish Shah, IEEFA Energy Research Associate and co-author of the report, said India’s ambition to sustain double digit economic growth hinges on improving energy security and reducing the cost of power and that requires sensible investment.

“India is aiming to achieve 40 per cent of its electricity generation needs by 2030 from non-fossil fuel sources including wind and solar. As a coal-fired power station takes significant time to ramp up power generation, the Khurja power station cannot help with grid stabilisation and peak demands, one of the new requirements of the Paris commitments,” Shah told IANS.

“As the share of renewable energy options increase, India will need additional firming capacity and wider national grid inter-connectivity to integrate increasing amounts of variable solar and wind generation, and prevent frequency and voltage fluctuations that adversely affect grid stability.

“The long delayed, excessively expensive and redundant Khurja project should be cancelled before it becomes another expensive stranded asset in India,” he added.

IANS

Brazil elections: Facebook removes tens of fake accounts

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Ahead of the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on October 28, Facebook has removed 68 Pages and 43 accounts associated with a Brazilian marketing group for using fake accounts and repeatedly posting spams.

The marketing group, Raposo Fernandes Associados (RFA), is believed to be promoting far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro.

RFA used sensational political content to build an audience and drive traffic to other websites, earning money for every visitor to the sites, Facebook said on Monday.

However, the social networking giant said that its decision to remove these Pages was based on the behaviour of these actors rather than on the type of content they were posting.

“The people behind RFA created Pages using fake accounts or multiple accounts with the same names, which violates our Community Standards,” Facebook said in a statement.

“They then used those Pages to post massive amounts of clickbait intended to direct people to websites that are entirely separate from Facebook and appear legitimate, but are actually ad farms,” the statement added.

Facebook said RFA violated its misrepresentation and spam policies.

“This behaviour was detected on Facebook but, as yet, we have not found similar misuse on Instagram or WhatsApp,” Facebook said.

Bolsonaro, who pulled off a thumping win in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election earlier this month, faces leftwing former Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad in a second round runoff on October 28.

IANS

Chinese President opens world’s longest sea-crossing bridge

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday officially opened the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge that connects mainland China with Hong Kong and Macau, during a ceremony in the city of Zhuhai.

The $20 billion mega-project includes with a 55 km road bridge that has been in the works for almost nine years, CNN reported.

It’s a key element of China’s plan for a Greater Bay Area covering 56,500 sq.km of southern China, and encompassing 11 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, that are home to a combined 68 million people.

Proponents of the bridge have said that it will significantly cut journey times between the cities, enabling commuters and tourists to easily move around the region.

However, private car owners in Hong Kong will not be able to cross the bridge without a special permit.

Most drivers will have to park at the Hong Kong port, switching to a shuttle bus or special hire cars once they are through immigration.

Shuttle buses will cost between $8 to $10 for a single trip depending on the time of day.

Built to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, a super typhoon and strikes by super-sized cargo vessels, the bridge incorporates 400,000 tonnes of steel — 4.5 times the amount in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, CNN said.

It also includes a 6.7 km submerged tunnel to help it avoid the busy shipping paths over the Pearl River Delta.

The tunnel runs between two artificial islands, each measuring 100,000 sq.metres and situated in relatively shallow waters.

IANS

India wins Investment Promotion Award

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Agencies from Bahrain, India, Lesotho and South Africa have been awarded the UN Investment Promotion Awards (IPAs) for excellence in boosting investment helping countries meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The prizes were presented on Monday on the opening day of the 2018 World Investment Forum, organized by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and taking place in Geneva from October 22-26, reports Xinhua news agency.

The awards showcase best practices in attracting investment into SDG-related projects that can inspire investment promotion practitioners in developing and developed countries, said UNCTAD.

“IPAs have a critical role to play in mobilizing investment to achieve the SDGs,” said UNCTAD Director of investment and enterprise James Zhan.

“The award-winning agencies show that by mainstreaming the SDGs, IPAs can make a valuable contribution to social and economic development,” said the official.

Invest India received its award for excellence in servicing and supporting a major global wind turbines company in the establishment of a blade manufacturing plant in India while committing to train local staff and produce 1 gigawatt of renewable energy.

The IPA Awards have been given annually since 2002 as part of UNCTAD’s investment promotion and facilitation program.

Nigeria imposes curfew in Kaduna after deadly communal violence

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Authorities in Nigeria have deployed special police forces to northern Kaduna and declared a 24-hour curfew in the state’s capital following communal violence that killed dozens of people.

President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the deployment on Sunday, as the regional government imposed the measure in Kaduna city after violence broke out on its streets.

The clashes followed violence that broke out on Thursday between Muslim and Christian communities in the Kasuwan Magani area of southern Kaduna which left at least 55 people dead.

“The violence in Kaduna … is condemnable. The police have been authorised to do everything possible to restore calm. A Special Intervention Force has been deployed to the flashpoints,” Buhari said on Twitter.

“The federal government and its law enforcement agencies will work with the state government and community leaders to ensure the full restoration of peace and security,” Buhari said in another message.

Police said the special force deployed on Sunday will carry out stop and search patrols, raid suspected criminal hideouts and make arrests in areas that have been flashpoints or considered to be at risk of violence.

Local people, who described unrest in both Christian and Muslim areas of the state capital, said troops were also seen on the city’s streets.

A spokesperson for Governor Nasir El-Rufai, in a statement on Facebook, appealed to the city’s residents to “do their best to uphold the peace”.

Ahmad Abdur-Rahman, the state police commissioner, told reporters on Friday that 22 people had been arrested in connection with the clashes.

Kaduna was plunged into communal violence after fighting erupted between Hausa Muslim and Adara Christian youths in Kasuwan Magani’s market following a dispute among wheelbarrow porters.

Two people were said to have been killed in the initial market fracas on Thursday.

The violence then dramatically escalated when Adara youths later attacked Hausa residents, burning homes and killing dozens.

“Most of the killings were done in the second attack which took the Hausa community off guard,” Muhammadu Bala, a Kasuwan Magani resident who lost his home, told AFP news agency over the weekend.

Kaduna state is where Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south and has seen previous bouts of communal violence.

In February, clashes left at least 10 people dead and hundreds of homes and businesses burned. Major bouts of sectarian rioting in 2000 and 2002 killed thousands.

Last year, troops and additional police officers were deployed to the state in response to an outbreak of violence.

Aljazeera

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