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WhatsApp selects 20 teams to curb fake news globally, including India

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Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday announced that it has selected 20 research teams worldwide – including experts from India and those of Indian origin — who will work towards how misinformation spreads and what additional steps the mobile messaging platform could take to curb fake news.

Shakuntala Banaji from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Anushi Agrawal and Nihal Passanha from Bengaluru-based media and arts collective “Maraa” and Ramnath Bhat from LSE have been selected for the paper titled “WhatsApp Vigilantes? WhatsApp messages and mob violence in India”.

The research examines the ways in which WhatsApp users understand and find solutions to the spate of “WhatsApp lynchings” that has killed over 30 people so far.

The Indian government has also directed WhatsApp to take necessary remedial measures to prevent proliferation of fake and, at times, motivated/sensational messages on its platform.

Among others selected were Vineet Kumar from Ranchi-headquartered Cyber Peace Foundation (principal investigator), Amrita Choudhary, President of the Delhi-based non-profit Cyber Café Association of India (CCAOI) and Anand Raje from Cyber Peace Foundation.

They will work as a team on the paper titled “Digital literacy and impact of misinformation on emerging digital societies”.

P.N. Vasanti from Centre for Media Studies in New Delhi woll work withS. Shyam Sundar, The Pennsylvania State University (Principal Investigator) to examine the role of content modality in vulnerability to misinformation, under the topic titled “Seeing is Believing: Is Video Modality More Powerful in Spreading Fake News?”

WhatsApp had issued a call for papers in July this year and received proposals from over 600 research teams around the world.

“Each of the 20 research teams will receive up to $50,000 for their project (for a total of $1 million),” WhatsApp said in a statement.

Lipika Kamra from O.P. Jindal Global University and Philippa Williams from the Queen Mary University of London (Principal Investigator) will examine the role of WhatsApp in everyday political conversations in India, in the context of India’s social media ecosystem.

According to Mrinalini Rao, lead researcher at WhatsApp, the platform cares deeply about the safety of its over 1.5 billion monthly active users globally and over 200 million users in India.

“We appreciate the opportunity to learn from these international experts about how we can continue to help address the impact of misinformation,” Rao said.

“These studies will help us build upon recent changes we have made within WhatsApp and support broad education campaigns to help keep people safe,” she added.

The recipients are from countries including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Singapore, Spain, the UK and US.

WhatsApp said it is hosting them in California this week so they can hear from product leaders about how it builds its product.

“Given the nature of private messaging – where 90 per cent of the messages sent are between two people and group sizes are strictly limited – our focus remains on educating and empowering users and proactively tackling abuse,” said the company.

WhatsApp recently implemented a “forward label” to inform users when they received a message that was not originally written by their friend or loved one. To tackle abuse, WhatApp has also set a limit on how many forwards can be sent.

In India, WhatsApp has partnered with the Digital Empowerment Foundation to train community leaders in several states on how to address misinformation.

“We are also running ads in several languages — in print, online, and on over 100 radio stations — amounting to the largest public education campaign on misinformation anywhere in the world,” the company noted.

Sayan Banerjee from University of Essex, Srinjoy Bose from University of New South Wales and Robert A. Johns from University of Essex will study “Misinformation in Diverse Societies, Political Behaviour & Good Governance”.

Santosh Vijaykumar from Northumbria University, Arun Nair from Health Systems Research India Initiative and Venkat Chilukuri, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology are part of the team that will study “Misinformation Vulnerabilities among Elderly during Disease Outbreaks”.

 

IANS

Congress-TDP’s Telangana lists out

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After keeping all waiting, the main opposition Congress and its TDP ally in Telangana has finally released their first lists of candidates for the December 7 assembly elections.

Both constituents of ‘Mahakutami’ or the grand alliance announced their candidates late on Monday.

While Congress released a list of 65 candidates, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) named nine.

The process of filing of nominations for the elections to 119-seat assembly that began on Monday, will continue till November 18.

The Congress, which is leading the four-party ‘Mahakutami’, plans to contest 95 seats, leaving the remaining for TDP, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Communist Party of India (CPI).

However, a formal agreement over seat sharing was yet to be reached.

Former union ministers, former state ministers, former MPs, sitting legislators and those who crossed over to the Congress from other parties have been included in the list of 65 candidates.

State Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy would be seeking re-election from Huzurnagar constituency, while his wife Padmavati Reddy would again contest from Kodad.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader K. Jana Reddy (Nagarjunasagar) while its campaign committee chairman and working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Madhira), working presidents Ponnam Prabhakar and A. Revanth Reddy would be in the fray from Karimnagar and Kodangal seats.

Among former union ministers Sarve Satyanarayana (Secunderabad Cantonment), while P. Balram Naik (Mahabubabad). Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council, Mohammed Ali Shabbir is Congress candidate from Kamareddy.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and chairman of manifesto committee C. Damodar Rajanarasimha has been fielded from Andole.

Congress has named V. Pratap Reddy as its candidate against Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrashekhar Rao in Gajwel.

Pratap Reddy who had contested on a TDP ticket against Rao and finished runners up in 2014. He has just joined the Congress.

The TDP has also announced its first list of candidates. Prominent among them are former MP and senior leader Nama Nageswara Rao (Khammam), R. Prakash Reddy (Warangal West) and S. Venkat Verraiah (Sattupalli).

 

Former minister T. Devender Goud’s son Virender Goud will contest from Uppal constituency. The lone Muslim candidate in the list is Muzaffar Ali, who will contest from Malakpet constituency in Hyderabad.

 

IANS

Karanvir’s wife wants clarity from ‘Bigg Boss’ over show’s double standards

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Mumbai Television actor Karanvir Bohra’s wife Teejay Sidhu has issued a letter to the “Bigg Boss” team asking them not to shame and mock Karanvir on “Weekend ka War” episodes.

Karanvir is locked away in the “Bigg Boss 12″ house and according to Teejay, he is one of the most targeted contestants by makers and host Salman Khan (though she didn’t directly mention Salman’s name)

” ..It seems you (Bigg Boss team) are upset with Karanvir (aka KV in the house) about something, but we don’t know what. Every weekend, KV is ridiculed and it is hard to see him being demoralized like this,” her letter read.

She also mentioned that the makers have double standards when it comes to taking action against a particular contestant.

Citing example, she said: “When people made fun of Rohit’s (co-contestant) purple shorts, they were questioned about it… Whatever KV wears, he is always ridiculed, whether it’s his hair, his clothes, his look. It is wrong to shame someone for the way they look, or how they dress.”

In more to Karanvir’s defence, Teejay praised him saying, he has always given his best in tasks and he has never abused anyone.

She urged the “Bigg Boss” team not to pull Karanvir’s leg to extreme level and reminded them that such behavior towards him is not acceptable as he was a father of two little daughters.

“His entertainment fraternity is also deeply upset about all this. Please understand I am writing to you out of concern, and with utmost respect. I would be very grateful to get some clarity on this. I have many people to answer to,” Teejay added.

(IANS)

Misty morning in Delhi, air quality ‘very poor’

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New Delhi It was a misty morning here on Tuesday with the minimum temperature recorded at 14.2 degrees Celsius, one notch above the season’s average, the weather office said.

Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) witnessed “very poor” air quality. The MeT has predicted light rains for the day ahead.

“It will be a generally cloudy sky with light rains/thunder showers likely to occur,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

The humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 86 per cent. The maximum temperature was likely to hover around 30 degrees Celsius.

Monday’s maximum temperature settled at 30.2 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season’s average while the minimum temperature was recorded at 13.4 degrees Celsius, at par with the season’s average.

The air-quality which was “severe” on Monday came down to “very poor”, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

(IANS)

India emerges as leading seed hub in Asia

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Amsterdam, Nov 13 India has emerged as a major seed hub in Asia, with four Indian seed companies featuring in top 10 of the first ever “Access to Seeds Index for South and Southeast Asia”, a study said.

While the list was topped by the Thailand-based East-West Seed, the four Indian companies to lead seed industry on increasing smallholder farmer productivity were Advanta, Acsen HyVeg, Namdhari Seeds and Nuziveedu Seeds.

The other five companies in the list of top 10 were globally active seed companies from outside the region, said the “Access to Seeds Index for South and Southeast Asia” study published on Monday by the World Benchmarking Alliance, a global multi-stakeholder initiative.

“With many foreign seed companies investing in India and strong-performing companies from India itself, the country shows itself as a real powerhouse for the development and supply of quality seeds for smallholder farmers in the region,” Ido Verhagen, Executive Director of the Access to Seeds Index, said in a statement.

Nearly 21 companies sell seeds in India and 18 have invested in breeding and production activities in the country.

In comparison, only 11 companies invest in breeding activities in Thailand and eight in Indonesia, the two other major regional seed hubs, according to the ASI, said the study.

Namdhari Seeds and Nuziveedu Seeds scored high points due to breeding programmes with a strong focus on the preferences and needs of small-holder farmers.

(IANS)

3rd T20I: India edge past West Indies in last ball thriller

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A brilliant batting display from Shikhar Dhawan (92) and Rishabh Pant (58) helped India edge past West Indies by six wickets in a last ball thriller in the final match of the Twenty20 International series here on Sunday.

With this win, India completed a whitewash in the three-match series.

After two quick wickets, Dhawan and Pant batted well and put India on the brink of victory but Pant’s wicket in the penultimate over changed the scenario of the match and the game went to the last over.

Needing five runs in seven balls, Dhawan and Manish Pandey scored four runs in first three balls but then a dot ball and Dhawan’s wicket made the match interesting which could have been finished much earlier.

Needing one run in one ball, Manish, who seemed out of sorts in the middle, somehow managed to steal a run to hand India a victory.

Chasing a challenging score of 182, India started on a bad note, losing opener Rohit Sharma (4) in the third over.

New batsman Lokesh Rahul (17) then came in the middle and displayed some brilliant shots but soon he was also dismissed by Oshane Thomas in the sixth over.

With the scoreboard reading 45/2, Dhawan (92) and Pant (58) took the charge and hammered the Windies’ bowlers all around the park to forge a 130-run partnership. In the process, the duo completed their respective half centuries.

But just when it seemed India will finish off the proceedings in style, Pant was dismissed in the 19th over.

New batsman Pandey then struggled at the crease but at the end, India managed to steal the game in the last ball.

Earlier, a good batting show helped West Indies post a challenging total of 181/3.

The visitors applied themselves perfectly and made sure they did not loose wickets till the end which saw middle-order batsmen Darren Bravo (43 not out) and Nicholas Pooran (53 not out) taking the charge towards the end, helping their team to post a decent score.

Opting to bat, openers Shai Hope (24) and Shimron Hetmyer (26) started the proceedings on a good note, forging a 51-run partnership in six overs.

But while trying to accelerate the score, Hope was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal in the seventh over. After adding 11 more runs to the total with Bravo, Hetmyer was also sent packing by Chahal.

Despite two quick wickets, Bravo kept on playing sensibly with Denesh Ramdin (15). Just when things seemed good in the middle, Ramdin played a poor shot and was clean bowled by Washington Sundar in the 13th over when the scoreboard was reading 94/3.

New batsman Pooran then joined Bravo in the middle and started punishing the bad balls. The duo forged a crucial unbeaten 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket and helped West Indies finish their innings in style.

Pooran played 25 balls and slammed four boundaries and as many sixes.

For India, Chahal took two wickets while Sundar scalped one.

Brief scores: West Indies 181/3 (Darren Bravo 43 not out, Nicholas Pooran 53 not out; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/28) against India 182/4 (Shikhar Dhawan 92, Rishabh Pant 58; Keemo Paul 2/32)

CBI War.. Director Alok Verma’s fate may be decided on Friday..SC blasts CVC for delay in report

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The fate of CBI director Alok Verma may be decided on Friday by Supreme Court. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Monday filed its preliminary probe report relating to CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma in a sealed cover in the Supreme Court.A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul took the report on record and fixed the matter for next hearing on November 16.

During the hearing, interim CBI Director M Nageswar Rao also filed report on decisions taken by him since October 23 to 26, when the apex court had ordered for the probe. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CVC, told the court that former apex court judge A K Patnaik supervised the CVC inquiry which was completed on November 10.

The CJI observed that the Registry was open on Sunday also but no intimation was given to the Registrar regarding filing of the report. Later the SG tendered an apology and said though he was not explaining the circumstances there was delay on their part in submitting the report. On October 26, the top court had appointed Justice Patnaik to supervise the ongoing inquiry of CVC against Verma. The apex court had also issued notices to the Centre and the CVC seeking their replies on Verma’s petition challenging the government’s decision to divest him of his powers as CBI chief and sending him on leave. Verma’s deputy Rakesh Asthana, Special Director CBI, was also sent on leave by the Centre.

The court on October 26 had also set a deadline of two weeks for the CVC to complete the preliminary inquiry against the CBI director.It had also barred Rao, who has been given interim charge of the CBI, from taking any major decision. It had said that a list of all the decisions taken by Rao since October 23 including decisions with regard to transfer of investigations, change of investigating officer(s) etc will be furnished to the court in a sealed cover on or before November 12, 2018 whereafter orders as would be appropriate will be passed by the court.”

Mehta had said that the CVC has been conducting an inquiry into the allegations made in the August 24 note/letter of the Cabinet Secretary with regard to Verma. Besides the plea filed by Verma, the court is also seized of the PIL filed by NGO Common Cause, which has sought a probe by special investigation team against CBI officers including Asthana, and had issued notices to the Centre, CBI, CVC, Asthana, Verma and Rao asking them to respond to it by November 12.
Asthana has also moved the Supreme Court with a separate petition in the matter and has sought removal of Verma from the post of CBI Director.

Later, on November 4, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had moved the top court contending that divesting Verma of his statutory powers and functions is “completely illegal and arbitrary”. In an interlocutory application filed in the pending petition, Kharge, who is also a member of the three-member selection committee which appoints the CBI director, said, “As a concerned stakeholder he brings to the attention of the court the brazen and illegal actions” of the political executive in interfering with the independent functioning of the CBI director.

 

PTI

Ananth Kumar helped build BJP in Karnataka (Obituary)

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 Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar, who died on Monday, was widely regarded as an able political organiser who helped build the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka to expand the party’s reach in the country’s south.

Along with the party’s state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa, Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and others, Kumar built the BJP across the southern state into a formidable alternative to the Congress and the Janata Dal.

Kumar’s organizational skills and proficiency in Kannada, Hindi, Marathi and English caught the attention of the party’s top leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, who made him a BJP national General Secretary at a young age.

“Kumar rose from the ranks to the national level in the BJP and the government, first as a student leader and later as an able party organiser,” BJP Karnataka spokesman S. Shantaram told IANS.

He had another ability — winning friends across the political class.

An urban face of the BJP, the 59-year-old Kumar was a six-time parliamentarian from the high-profile Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency since 1996.

He became a Union Minister at a young age (37) in the Vajpayee’s governments of 1998-99 and 1999-2004.

Kumar again became a Union Minister in May 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave him the Chemicals and Fertilisers portfolio and, later, the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio.

In 2014, he defeated Congress star candidate and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who entered the political arena after resigning as Chairman of the state-run Unique Identification Authority of India (UIADA).

Kumar’s tryst with politics began in college days during the 1980s when he was elected as the state and national secretary of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidhya Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Sangh Parivar.

He was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as an organiser at Hubli-Dharwad in the state’s northwest region before joining the BJP in 1988.

Kumar was among those who helped the BJP to take power in Karnataka on its own in 2008.

Born into a middle class Brahmin family in Bengaluru on July 22, 1959, Kumar went to school in the city and joined college at Hubli when his father H.N. Narayan Shastry, a railway employee, was transferred to the northwest town about 400 km from here. His mother Girja, was a home maker.

Kumar graduated in Arts from K.S. Arts College and in Law from J.S.S. Law College at Hubli with B.A. and LL.B degrees from Karnataka University in Dharwad.

Kumar’s siblings are younger brother Nand Kumar and younger sister Suhasini.

Kumar was the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Youva Morcha and became its national secretary before the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.

He was also the party’s state unit president in 2003 and contributed to making the BJP a powerful opposition after the 2004 elections.

IANS

Congress’ politics begins and ends with one family: Modi

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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked the Congress, targeting its president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia, saying the party’s “politics begins and ends with one family”.

Addressing a poll rally here ahead of the second phase polling in the state on November 20, Modi also made a strong pitch for development, saying the pace of development under the Congress regime in the state was “far slow” than the one under the BJP-led government.

Singling out the Gandhis, Modi said the “mother-son duo” were out on bail and hit out at them for questioning the government’s demonetisation move. “They forget it was due to demonetisation that they had to seek bail,” Modi said, adding “those seeking bail are giving a certificate to Modi”.

Modi asserted the BJP was for development and that it was due to this commitment that the opposition was unable to understand how to compete with the ruling party in elections.

He also targeted the Congress president, saying when Congress released its 36-point manifesto for Chhattisgarh polls, ‘Naamdaar’ (Rahul Gandhi) was referred to as ‘Sir’ 150 times which shows he is more important for them (Congress) than Chhattisgarh.

PTI

Sanjay Khan has ‘extraordinary stories’ for TV

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Veteran actor-filmmaker Sanjay Khan, popular for acting in and producing the television series “The Sword of Tipu Sultan”, says he is planning to make movies, but he also has some extraordinary stories that can be told on the small screen.

It was back in 1989 that a major fire accident took place on the set of “The Sword of Tipu Sultan”, based on the 18th century Mysore ruler.

After surviving near fatal burns, years later Sanjay produced shows like “The Great Maratha” and “Jai Hanuman”.

“The last time I faced the camera was for ‘…Tipu Sultan’. I have been busy doing other things like building a five-star hotel in Bengaluru. We are planning several motion pictures now. Three or four pictures in the coming months,” Sanjay told IANS in a telephonic interview.

What about TV shows?

“TV is making much more money than films these days. TV has a greater reach. I have some extraordinary stories for that. There is one on the British Raj. It’s called the ‘Beginning of an Empire’.

“I would like to make it as a long series of three or four seasons capturing the long duration of the British Raj in India,” said the “Haqeeqat” actor.

He has historical stories on mind for the big screen as well.

“There is one on a Brigadier, who died fighting for his country and I have another one on the 1965 war. I have always made stories that have a national appeal and are meaningful,” said the “Chandi Sona” actress.

Sharing an example, he said: “When I made ‘Jai Hanuman’, I got great satisfaction. Hindu ladies said ‘We are grateful to you Sir for showing us the childhood of Hanuman’. Even Muslim people loved it. I felt great that I had communicated something.”

But what about going beyond mythology and historical genres?

“In the larger packaging of my work, there would be stories of romance, etc.,” he said.

He doesn’t want to focus just on a love story.

“The value of love between a man and a woman is eroding. All kinds of things are happenning. The mood of the world is different so, the best bet is catching historical and social-economic problems, which are perennial. Those are the problems that we can address,” said Sanjay.

Talking about the content of films made by young Indian filmmakers, he shared: “I like some of them. Indian cinema is coming-of-age though the music is suffering. The lustre of music is gone.

“The technical quality has come up. Some very good films like ‘Dangal’ have come out.”

He is also interested in the digital medium.

“If there is an offer, subject or big companies come to me then I can talk to them,” he said.

At the moment, he is focussing on promoting his new autobiography, “The Best Mistakes of My Life”, which takes the readers to his world of films, family, his near-death accident and more.

“I am happy that it has come out the way it has. I worked really hard on it. I had gone into my past and relived all those glorious times,” said the actor in his 70s.

 

IANS

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