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Archives for January 2019

Facebook restricts external agencies from checking political ads: Report

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Nasheman News :  At a time when over a third of the world’s population is set to vote in coming months including in India, Facebook has restricted external transparency campaigners from accessing and scrutinising political ads on its platform.

According to a Guardian report late Sunday, the social media giant has changed its codes that restrict external groups’ ability to collect data on why users are being targeted by political campaigners.

The third-party monitoring tools have helped expose several advertising tactics used by politicians in the past, the report added.

Two such external agencies are the British group WhoTargetsMe and the US investigative journalism website ProPublica.

“Ten days ago, our software stopped working, and efforts to fix it have proved much harder than before,” WhoTargetsMe Co-founder Sam Jeffers was quoted as saying.

According to Facebook, the changes were part of a crackdown on third party plug-ins.

“We regularly improve the ways we prevent unauthorised access by third parties like web browser plug-ins to keep people’s information safe,” a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Data collected by WhoTargetsMe has helped show how the Conservatives were focusing on personal criticism of shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott during the end of the 2017 campaign.

Facebook’s move comes in a year “when over a third of the world’s population has the opportunity to vote, with elections across the EU, India, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Israel and Ukraine to name a few,” said Jeffers.

A similar ad monitoring tool by ProPublica in the past highlighted “negative stories for the social network such as exposing how oil companies are sidestepping Facebook’s new ad transparency tools among other issues”.

Facing intense scrutiny over the misuse of its platform globally during elections, Facebook in December announced fresh steps to increase ad transparency and defend against foreign interference ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in India.

“Anyone who wants to run an ad in India related to politics will need to first confirm their identity and location, and give more details about who placed the ad,” said the social networking giant.

Hearing on Ayodhya title suit on January 29 cancelled

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Nasheman News :The much awaited hearing on a batch of cross petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict trifurcating the disputed site scheduled for January 29 will not take place due to the non-availability of Justice S.A. Bobde — one of the five judges in the reconstituted bench.

A notification issued on Sunday by the top court registry said that due to non-availability of Justice S.A. Bobde on January 29, 2019, the sitting of the constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice S. A. Bobde, Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer “stands canceled”.

“…the constitution bench matter will not be taken up for hearing on January 29,” said the notice by the top court registry put on its website.

The top court had on January 25 reconstituted the five-judge bench as Justice Uday Umesh Lalit recused himself from hearing the matter after it was pointed out by senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan that he had earlier way back in 1997 as a lawyer appeared for former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in a Babri Masjid-related matter. 

Kalyan Singh is at present the Governor of Rajasthan. 

Besides Justice Lalit, the new bench did not have Justice N.V. Ramana. The original bench had Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice N.V. Ramana, Justice Lalit and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.

Both Justice Bhushan and Justice Nazeer were on the three-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra that had on September 27 by a majority of 2:1 declined one of the Muslim petitioners’ plea that the challenge to the high court judgment on the title suit be heard by a five-judge constitution bench.

Referring the matter to a three-judge bench, Justice Bhushan also speaking for then Chief Justice Misra had said that “we are of the considered opinion that no case has been made out to refer the constitution bench judgment of this court in Ismail Faruqui case for reconsideration”, which had said that mosque was not essential to Islam for offering namaz.

However, in his dissenting judgment, Justice Abdul Nazeer had said that the judgement in the 1994 Ismail Faruqui case needed reconsideration and the matter should be referred to a larger constitution bench.

Justice Nazeer had also said that whether mosque was an essential part of Islam for offering namaz was to be decided considering the religious beliefs and requires detailed consideration.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court by its 2010 judgment, now under challenge, had divided the disputed site in three parts giving one each to Lord Ram Lala, Nirmohi Akhara and original Muslim litigant.

Bollywood Buzz

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Tiger Shroff Shakes A Leg With Ganesh Acharya 

Tiger Shroff recently shook a leg with Ganesh Acharya at the launch of his newly launched dance academy named GADA.

 Choreographer Ganesh Acharya recently launched his dance academy in Mumbai. A lot of biggies of Bollywood including veteran actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha and others had congratulated the choreographer for the same on Audio Visual. 

Tiger Shroff, donned in a black T – Shirt with “Gada” scribbled all over it had also attended the launch & did a few dance moves by shaking his leg with the dance GURU. Ganesh Acharya then also performed with his academy dancers to officially launch the academy.  

Raj Thackeray makes ‘power’ statement at son Amit’s wedding

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Nasheman News : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray’s son Amit got married to fashion designer Mitali Borude in a traditional Maharashtrian style wedding ceremony, here on Sunday afternoon.

The wedding was attended by the who’s who of politics, corporate world, film industry, sports, glamour and of course close family members at a five-star hotel.



Raj and his wife, Sharmila, were seen warmly greeting guests who included his cousin and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, wife Rashmi and their son Aditya, another cousin brother Jaidev Thackeray and his family members, and other of the Thackeray clan.

Incidentally, Amit and Mitali, both childhood friends, were betrothed on December 11, 2017, which happens to be the wedding anniversary of Raj and Sharmila.

A steady stream of high-profile guests were seen at the power-packed wedding starting with Governor C.V. Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharastra Minister Pankaja Munde and many more.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is a close aide of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, was also there to bless the young couple.

Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar, and their families also marked their presence.

Bharat Ratna and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was present with his wife sporting a typical Maharashtrian attire, and also renowned singer Asha Bhosle.

Industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata, actor Aamir Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, yesteryear actress Sulochana and many big names from the Marathi film world also attended the festivities.

Raj’s daughter Urvashi and his daughter-in-law Mitali had some time ago launched their own fashion label, “The Rack”.

Later this evening, a mega reception has been organised in Mumbai by the family.

Won’t allow corruption as long as I am ‘chowkidar’, says Modi

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Nasheman News : Dubbing the opposition as a “corrupt house”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said in the last four years, people in Delhi have made him a “chowkidhar”.

“As long as I am there in Delhi, I will not allow any kind of corruption and will not allow the nation’s unity and integrity to be destroyed,” said Modi, addressing a mammoth rally of his party workers here.

After inaugurating the meeting of the state Yuva Morcha, he said: “My friends in the opposition are bankrupt when it comes to development of the nation. All they have is hatred against Modi. Their day begins by abusing Modi and ends by again abusing Modi. All I wish to tell them is ‘you may abuse me, but please don’t mislead the farmers, youth and the poor’ and don’t destroy the great nation and its progress,” said Modi.

“The opposition is destroying agencies like the CBI, armed forces, police, CAG and even the Election Commission as all these organisations are wrong for them, while they (Congress) are right. 

“Recently, the entire nation was amused to watch a press meet on foreign soil which was one that hit badly at the democratic ethos of our country, when the Election Commission came under attack. Seen was a ‘top-most leader’. They even undermine our nation on foreign soil,” said Modi and added that the Congress party will have to answer for this.

“Elections will come and go, but the nation will always be here. The opposition should stop disrespecting institutions,” added Modi.

Speaking against both the ruling CPI-M led government and the Congress-led opposition in Kerala, Modi said the cultural ethos of Kerala has been destroyed.

“The issues in Sabarimala was watched across the country and saw the way the CPI-M was disrespecting all aspects of Kerala’s culture. Why is the CPI-M undermining our culture? The Congress here also is no different, as they say one thing in Delhi and another here. None of these two parties have any respect for gender justice,” said Modi.

The Prime Minister pointed out that so many ministers of the Left government in Kerala had to resign due to corruption.

“For the Congress led UDF, the solar scam was there. For the Congress, solar is used for scam, while we use solar for development of the nation. The Congress here made ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, a spy and used the case to settle political scores amongst themselves, while we honoured him with a Padma award. We really value science,” added Modi.

He urged his party workers to work to save the culture of Kerala and to help build a new India and a positive India.

Modi arrived at Kochi around 2 p.m on Sunday and after inaugurating a crucial petrochemical project, he reached Thrissur.

He returned to Delhi, soon after addressing the party workers at Thrissur.

Poonam Khetrapal Singh re-appointed Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia

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Nasheman News : Poonam Khetrapal Singh has been appointed Regional Director for World Health Organization South-East Asia, for a second five-year term.

The WHO Executive Board on Saturday unanimously endorsed Dr Khetrapal Singh, who was earlier also unanimously nominated by 11 Member countries of the Region for another five years.

Congratulating her, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “The first woman to become Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region, you have provided dynamic leadership in a region that accounts for a quarter of the world’s population but a disproportionate burden of diseases. Under your leadership, the region has made remarkable progress.”

In her acceptance speech, Khetrapal Singh said: “It is a privilege to once again be appointed as Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region. The confidence you have reposed in me is humbling.”

Outlining her vision for the second term that begins on February 1, Khetrapal Singh said sustaining the gains, accelerating progress to finish the unfinished agenda and innovating, would be the approach to ensure the health and well being of the 1.8 billion people across the region.

In her first term, Khetrapal Singh focused on building an increasingly responsive and accountable WHO in the region, while prioritising persisting and emerging epidemiological and demographic challenges; promoting universal health coverage and building robust health systems; strengthening emergency risk management and articulating a strong regional voice in global health agenda. 

She identified eight flagship priority programmes, focusing on results and accountability, which are cascading into sustainable and result-oriented efforts.

In the last five years, inclusive, sustainable and quantifiable gains have been made in the Region and are accelerating in pace every year, she said.

Certified polio-free in 2014, WHO South-East Asia became the second WHO Region to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2015. Four countries eliminated measles and six controlled rubella. Maternal and under-five deaths reduced significantly.

Thailand became the first in Asia-Pacific and the first with a large HIV epidemic — to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. 

Maldives and Sri Lanka were certified malaria free. Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand eliminated lymphatic filariasis, India was declared yaws-free and Nepal trachoma-free.

For universal health coverage, access to safe, high-quality medicine is being enhanced through the South-East Asia Regulatory Network established in 2016. 

The countries have developed multi-sectoral action plans for a whole-of-society approach to reverse non-communicable diseases.

Prone to natural disasters, the region’s investment in strengthening emergency risk management is evident from the responses to the Nepal earthquake, the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh, cyclones, floods and earthquakes.

There is a strong political commitment to end TB by 2030. Despite progress, we have challenges; some permanent, some programmatic, some epidemiological and some transient, said Khetrapal Singh.

Detailing her vision for her next term in her acceptance speech at the Executive Board, Khetrapal Singh said: “We must sustain the gains we made. It means ensuring we hold fast to our progress in diseases elimination, which history shows can return with a vengeance if attention falters, and ensuring that there is no room for complacency.”

“We must accelerate sustainable progress,” she said. Her eight regional flagship priority programmes are aligned to WHO’s global goals and health targets for Sustainable Development Goal 3.

“We must innovate,” Khetrapal Singh said, adding innovation means taking advantage of the existing opportunities, being agile in applying research findings and developing new policies to meet the challenges we face.

“Ending TB will be difficult unless we develop and apply rapid diagnostics, which test and diagnose large populations in a short time. Likewise, we cannot hope to eradicate key neglected tropical diseases which largely affect the poor unless we can create and implement policies that address the needs of specific communities in specific areas,” she said.

The Regional Director said there is a robust commitment to leave no one behind. WHO’s ‘triple billion’ targets, the Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the efforts to achieve universal health coverage focus on equitable access and equity.

“I have confidence that together we will sustain our gains, accelerate progress and harness the full power of innovation to advance health and well-being across the WHO South-East Asia Region,” Khetrapal Singh said.

Defence Minister watches ‘Uri’ in Bengaluru

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Nasheman News :  Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday watched film “Uri: The Surgical Strike” with war veterans at a Bengaluru mall.

“What a power-packed movie… Brilliant performances Yami Gautam, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina. Recharged also by the energy in the cinema hall! #HighJosh,” Sitharaman tweeted.

In a series of tweets, the Defence Minister shared videos of her movie-viewing experience along with veterans at a mall in the city’s southeastern suburb.

Directed by Aditya Dhar, the film, featuring Vicky, Yami, Paresh and Mohit, is based on the September 2016 attack by armed militants near the town of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Defence Minister also tweeted a video of her repeating a famous line from the film, “How’s the josh?”, as the audience screamed “High sir”.

Bihar Minister says Priyanka ‘child’ compare to Modi

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Nasheman News : Days after a senior BJP leader and Bihar Minister Vinod Narain Jha said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is very beautiful but has no other talent, another party leader and Bihar Minister Pramod Kumar on Sunday said newly-appointed Congress General Secretary is still a “bachchi” (child).

“Priyanka is still a child… If Congress want to compete with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it should bring Sonia Gandhi in the field,” said Pramod Kumar, who is the state Tourism Minister.

Kumar further said the Congress leaders and workers are seeing a reflection of Indira Gandhi in Priyanka, and earlier, they were seeing reflection of Indira Gandhi in Sonia Gandhi.

“Congress should put up Sonia against Modi in elections because her age is near about Modi’s age. But Priyanka is still a child.”

Last Thursday, Jha said: “Priyanka Gandhi is very beautiful, but has no other talent. She is a novice in politics. She must be what, 37-38, or maybe older, 44. Till this age, she has no political achievement. Yes, she is good looking, God has given her that. But how much can she exploit that?”

After that leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) had attacked Jha for making demeaning remarks against Priyanka Gandhi and demanded his apology.

On Feb 1, will it be an interim budget or vote-on-account?

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Nasheman News : Will there be an interim budget or a vote-on-account on February 1. While the suspense on who will present it has ended with Piyush Goyal again being given additional charge of the Finance Ministry, with general elections round the corner, intense speculation continues about the final shape of the document he will unveil.

This speculation is about the nature of the upcoming budget — on whether it would be a simple vote-on-account to be passed by Parliament to permit government expenditure in the transition period or whether Goyal will go beyond that by presenting full estimates of both revenue and expenditure as well as policy measures.

While an incoming government has the freedom to change the estimates in the interim budget when it presents the final budget after taking office, outgoing governments in India have generally followed the convention of avoiding major policy announcements or taxation proposals in the interim budget.

Going by recent history, however, interim budgets have been passed thrice since 2000, and according to a market research firm, the upcoming one might be the last opportunity for the BJP-led NDA government to “woo a larger section of the society” by altering both taxes and outlays on schemes.

“After the failed budget promise of enhanced procurement of crops through a revised Minimum Support Price (MSP) formula in 2018-19, announcements made on February 1, 2019 will be the last opportunity for the government to woo a larger section of society through an interim budget, as against a vote-on-account, by altering both taxes and outlays on schemes,” said a report last week by JM Financial Institutional Securities.

With the general elections due in April-May, the government is looking at making available cheap loans and free accidental insurance to small businesses, a segment that bore the brunt of the demonetisation of November 2016, an official source here said, requesting anonymity.

The GST Council doubled the exemption threshold for small businesses from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. Besides, the threshold limit for eligibility under the GST Composition Scheme, which has been raised to Rs 1.5 crore from Rs 1 crore, is due to apply from the 2019-20 fiscal beginning April 1.

Such sops would follow major relief measures taken earlier this month to benefit the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, currently plagued by liquidity and other issues.

According to former Jawaharlal Nehru University economics professor Arun Kumar, though it would be unethical to present an interim budget with major policy proposals, there is also the matter of the Presidential address to the Budget Session whereby the government makes its vision statement.

“If the budget proposes populist schemes, it will become difficult for the new government if it is led by another political party to withdraw these,” he explained.

According to noted economist Ashok Desai, who was Chief Consultant to the Finance Ministry (1991-93), the outgoing government cannot make any tax proposals or policy changes.

“With the elections around the corner, what the government can do is make incremental outlays for existing schemes, but cannot announce new schemes,” Desai said.

“In this situation, it is the states which have more liberty in announcing populist schemes through their state budgets,” he added.

Economist Nagesh Kumar felt there is a likelihood of higher outlays being proposed on schemes for the rural sector and small businesses, which “is not necessarily a bad thing” because it would boost consumption demand, especially at a time of slowdown in private investment.

Modi urges first time voters to register for LS polls

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[Nasheman news] New DelhiPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged first time voters to register and cast their ballots in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Delivering his first “Mann Ki Baat” address of 2019, Modi said: “This year, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in our country and this will be the first time that youth born after 2000 will vote.

“An opportunity has come for them to take the responsibility of the nation on their shoulders. They are now going to become a partner in the decision-making process of the country. I urge the youth to register themselves as voters.”

Modi also hailed the Election Commission (EC) for holding elections across the length and breadth of the country and said that the people of the country were proud of it. 

“The EC was formed on January 25, 1950 and the day is celebrated annually as National Voters Day. Seeing the scale on which the elections are held in India, it is natural for people across the world to be surprised. “

He said the EC was an institution that every citizen must be proud of. 

“In our country, no stone is left unturned to ensure that every citizen of India, who is a registered voter, gets an opportunity to vote.”

He said when we hear that a polling station is set up 15,000 feet above sea level in Himachal Pradesh, voting arrangements are made in far-flung islands of Andaman and Nicobar, or even in a remote forest area of Gujarat, where there is only one voter, “it is very natural to be proud of the Commission”.

“I commend the EC for contiinuous efforts to strengthen our democracy. I also commend the election in all the states, all security personnel. other employees, who participate in the voting process and ensure free and fair elections,” he added.

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