Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday listed the various information leaks that have come to light recently. From the Facebook data breach by a UK firm to influence election campaigns to Karnataka election date leaks and CBSE questions papers’ leaks, the Congress leader said there’s leak everywhere and that the country’s “chowkidar” (watchman) — read PM Modi — is “weak”.
After news surfaced that UK data firm Cambridge Analytica was involved in harvesting data to influence US presidential elections, it was found out that the firm has worked in India in the past. As per Cambridge Analytica’s website, its services were used in the Bihar Assembly Elections in 2010 and the India partner of CA’s parent company allegedly worked with three political parties – BJP, Congress and JD(U).
SC/ST Act: Social Justice Ministry gets Law Ministry’s consent to challenge SC ruling
The Union Law Ministry on Thursday consented to the Social Justice Ministry’s proposal to challenge the Supreme Court’s recent order on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Atrocities (Prevention) Act, 1989, sources told The Indian Express. The Dalit MPs in the NDA have been mounting pressure on the government to file a review petition against the ruling.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad at Parliament House on Wednesday. Express Photo by Praveen Jain
The apex court, on March 20, observed “instances of abuse” of the Act by “vested interests” for political or personal reasons. In light of this, the SC laid down stringent safeguards, including provisions for anticipatory bail and a “preliminary enquiry” before registering a case under the Act.
Read | In Uttar Pradesh, a BJP Dalit MP speaks up: We need to save Constitution, Bahujans
“To avoid false implication of an innocent, a preliminary enquiry may be conducted by the DSP concerned to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and that the allegations are not frivolous or motivated,” ruled a bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit.
A delegation of Dalit MPs had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday to discuss the judgment and voice their concerns. Following the meeting, Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale had stated, “The PM said the government is in the process of filing a review petition once the Law Ministry finishes studying the matter. Our government is doing the most work for welfare of Dalits, unlike other governments who were all talk.”
Express Explained | Rising pendency, falling convictions: what data on SC/ST Act trials show
The BJP has more than three dozen SC MPs.
Athawale’s Republican Party of India (A) – a BJP ally – meanwhile is filing its own review petition in the SC to challenge the judgment. “…our lawyers feel we should take a stand as a party. In the review petition, we will state that it was after detailed discussions in Parliament that offences under this Act were made non-bailable. By diluting it, atrocities against Dalits will increase,” the Dalit leader from Maharashtra had said.
Malala returns home for first time since Taliban shooting
Pakistani education and rights activist, targeted by Taliban, arrives in capital Islamabad amid tight security.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has arrived home in Pakistan for the first time since being shot by Taliban gunmen in an assassination attempt five years ago.
The 20-year-old, the youngest person ever to win the Nobel prize, landed in the capital Islamabad early on Thursday morning.
Television footage showed her sitting alongside her parents in an airport waiting lounge and, later, travelling in a security convoy into the city.
Yousafzai was shot in the headby Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for speaking out against their ban on girls education in her native Swat Valley, in Pakistan’s north.
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The fight for education in Pakistan’s Swat
Two other students were wounded in that attack.
After receiving emergency medical treatment in Pakistan, she was shifted to the United Kingdom for specialised medical procedures, where she has resided ever since due to fears for her security if she returned to Pakistan.
Following the attack, the Pakistani Taliban vowed to kill her if she ever returned.
Details of Yousafzai’s itinerary are not being made public due to security concerns, the AFP news agency reported, but she is expected to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others.
Focus on education
Since recovering from her wounds, Yousafzai has championed the cause of education across the globe, speaking out passionately at the United Nations and other fora for the right of all children, and particularly young women, to receive an education.
In 2013, she and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, a teacher and rights activist, founded the Malala Fund, which champions the right of every girl to 12 years of free and safe education. The organisation focuses on working in conflict zones, with programmes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and countries hosting Syrian refugees.
It is unclear if Yousafzai will visit her native Swat valley, where she made her name as a young rights activist, writing a series of anonymous blogs for the BBC while the valley was under Taliban rule in 2009.
Pakistan’s military fought a protracted battle to retake the scenic rural valley, eventually displacing the Taliban from Swat that year.
Attacks such as the one that targeted Yousafzai, however, continued for several years, with the Taliban exacting revenge on those who stood up to them during their reign.
In 2016, Taliban commanders attempted to extort money from local traders, sparking fears that they were attempting to launch a comeback in Swat, which was home to current Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah.
“I really miss my friends and family. But I also miss the landscape,” Yousafzai told Pakistani publication Mangobaaz in an interview earlier this week.
“When I woke up in the hospital in the UK, I looked outside and asked the doctors where are the mountains and rivers. Swat Valley is a paradise on Earth and I don’t think I fully appreciated its beauty until it wasn’t outside my window every day.”
Yousafzai currently attends Oxford University, where she is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
ALJAZEERA
China: North Korea’s Kim ‘ready to denuclearise’
Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing [Xinhua via AP]
by Al Jazeera
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula during his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, according to China’s state news agency.
Xinhua on Wednesday quoted Kim saying that the issue could be resolved if South Korea and the United States respond to Pyongyang’s efforts “with goodwill”.
“It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il-sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong-il,” Kim said, referring to his grandfather and father, according to the statement issued by China’s foreign ministry.
“The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace.”
Kim was also reported to have reaffirmed his willingness to meet US President Donald Trump. It was the first official mention of the planned event by North Korea.
China and North Korea both confirmed that Kim had visited Beijing and met Xi during what China’s foreign ministry called an unofficial visit to China from Sunday to Wednesday.
Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and he and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju, Xinhua said. They also watched an art performance together, according to the news agency.
The China visit was Kim’s first known trip outside North Korea since he assumed power in 2011 and is believed by analysts to be a preparation for upcoming summits with South Korea and the US.
North Korea’s KCNA news agency made no mention of Kim’s pledge to denuclearise, or his anticipated meeting with Trump that is planned for sometime in May.
The White House said the Chinese government contacted them on Tuesday to tell US officials about Kim’s visit to China.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House spokeswoman, said the briefing included a “personal message from President Xi to President Trump,” which was conveyed to the president. She did not say what that message entailed.
Baik Tae-hyun, South Korean unification ministry spokesperson, said the meeting has helped set the right tone for the upcoming talks.
“I think improvement in the North Korea-China relationship ahead of the inter-Korean summit and US-North Korea summit, will be helpful in solving the problem in the Korean Peninsula, such as denuclearisation and establishment of peace.”
Karnataka polls: Congress to announce all candidates by April 15: Parameshwara
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Congress on Wednesday said all candidates for the 224-member state assembly polls will be announced in a single phase by April 15.
The highly anticipated state polls are scheduled for May 12.
“We will announce candidates for all 224 assembly constituencies in a single phase. As the date of the election has already been announced, we need to do it as soon as possible,” Pradesh Congress president G Parameshwara told reporters here.
Stating that the party’s central election committee will meet after the screening committee meeting on April 9 and April 10, he noted that the list of party candidates for the state polls will be out by April 15.
The Election Commission had yesterday announced that a single phase election would be conducted in the southern state on May 12 and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 15.
As part of the poll preparations, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara are holding back to back meetings with ministers in-charge of various districts and the election manifesto committee.
Explaining the process of selection of candidates, the KPCC president said the Pradesh Election Committee has already held its meeting and taken certain decisions, which has been conveyed to the leadership in Delhi.
“As part of the same process, the chief minister and myself are holding discussions with district in-charge ministers today, to gather their opinion that will help in the selection of candidates,” he said.
“In continuation of this process, there will be a screening committee meeting in Delhi on April 9 and 10 where we will put forward all the information we have gathered, following which the decisions will be taken,” Parameshwara added.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi had earlier this month constituted the screening committee for the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls. The committee is headed by senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry, which will also comprise party MPs Tamradhwaj Sahu and Gaurav Gogoi.
AICC General Secretary In-charge of the state K C Venugopal, G Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah are ex-officio members of the committee.
Parameshwara also said that the party was in the process of finalising the list of 40-star campaigners for the polls.
(PTI)
Rahul Gandhi hits out at media for ‘cunning twisting of facts’
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday derided the media for allegedly stirring hate against him with their “cunning twisting of facts” and said he was honoured they made their livelihood spinning lies about him.
Gandhi cited a recent sting operation by the portal ‘Cobrapost’, allegedly revealing that 17 media firms were ready to push communal reports for cash without even raising a bill for it.
“I can never hate those who try to stir up hate against me, with fake stories and their cunning twisting of facts. For them it’s just business; hate sold for a price, as the Cobrapost expose shows,” Gandhi said on Twitter.
“I’m blessed and honoured that they make their livelihoods spinning lies about me,” he added sarcastically.
His party said on its Twitter handle that the “mainstream media’s silence on the Cobrapost ‘sting’ is a telling tale on its own credibility”.
(PTI)
Man arrested for sexually harassing Vistara hostess
Police providing details about the incident said that the passenger while de-boarding the aircraft at T3 terminal in New Delhi on March 24 had ‘inappropriately’ touched the crew member.
A 62-year-old businessman hailing from Pune was arrested at Delhi airport after a complaint of sexual harassment was lodged against him by a cabin crew member of the Air Vistara, Lucknow-Delhi flight, police said on Wednesday. The complaint was lodged on March 24 and the accused who has been identified as Rajeev Vasant Dani was arrested at the airport by the Delhi Police on the same day.
A spokesperson of Air Vistara said, “A member of our cabin crew operating Flight No. UK997 from Lucknow to Delhi on 24 March 2018, reported an incident of sexual harassment by a passenger. Vistara does not tolerate abusive or unruly behaviour by passengers that puts the safety of its staff and other customers at risk, or compromises their dignity. We have reported the matter to the Police and other relevant authorities. An FIR is registered and an investigation is on. We are fully committed to providing our cooperation to all the authorities.”
Providing details about the incident, police said the passenger while de-boarding the aircraft at T3 terminal in New Delhi on March 24 had ‘inappropriately’ touched the crew member.
A statement released by the police states, “A case vide FIR under section 354A of IPC (sexual harassment, punishable with a maximum term of three years and a fine) has been registered.”
Siddaramaiah creates history: First Karnataka CM in 40 years to complete term
Chief minister Siddaramaiah is all set to become the first Karnataka chief minister in 40 years of state politics to complete his full term in office.
Siddaramaiah who hails from Mysuru assumed charge as the chief minister in May 2013. Karnataka Assembly polls will be held on May 12, before Siddaramaiah-led government completes its full five-year term on May 28 as announced by the Election Commission.
After D Devraj Urs who ruled as chief minister between 1972-77, no other CM was able to complete a full five-year term. However, Urs during his next term had to resign after which he was succeeded by R Gundu Rao in the year 1980.
Though S M Krishna had provided a stable government between 1999 and 2004, he did not complete the full term as he decided to go to polls five months in advance.
Since 1978, Karnataka has seen 19 governments and had President’s rule imposed four times.
However, Siddaramaiah has proved to be a seasoned politician. Though he was known to be a ‘new convert to the Congress’ with a section of party loyalists becoming upset on his elevation, he ensured that they don’t gang up against him. He has wriggled out of difficult situations and carefully got rid of his adversaries or kept them in good terms.
His adversaries such as former ministers V Srinivas Prasad and A H Vishwanath quit the Congress, while party veterans such as B Janardhan Poojary and C K Jaffer Sharief who used to openly criticise his style of functioning were pacified. He managed to keep Dalit leader and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikharjun Kharge in good terms by inducting his son Priyank Kharge into the Cabinet.
According to political analyst Harish Ramaswamy, Siddaramaiah had many challenges and despite that he managed to give good governance as well as keep it stable. Siddaramaiah has intelligently taken advantage of the lack of clarity in the Congress high command and emerged as a strong leader, he added.
Even in the Congress circles, leaders admit that Siddaramaiah was initially considered as a ‘liability’ for the party but has now turned a ‘saviour’.
Siddaramiah who was earlier in Janata Dal (Secular) was dismissed as deputy chief minister by the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda in mid-2005. He joined the Congress, which came as a shock to many. He won a very difficult by-election from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru and within three years was the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly in 2009.
He was selected to be the Karnataka CM in 2013, over party stalwart M Mallikarjuna Kharge in 2013. His rise in the party even though being an ‘outsider’ has not only raised eyebrows but also proves he is an astute politician.
Siddaramaiah in his first three years of governance earned the title of a ‘chief minister of bhagyas’ (gifts or rewards), as he launched a series of populist schemes. His populist schemes have been a major game-changer, and as revealed by data collected by C fore, schemes like Anna Bhagya and Ksheera Bhagya are some of the reasons why Congress is likely to regain power in the state. Indira Canteen, aimed at making Karnataka hunger-free, is another initiative that has won the hearts of the masses.
After the sudden death of his 38-year-old son Rakesh in Belgium in July 2016, many expected the CM to retire after the personal tragedy.
But, he proved people wrong. Once inaccessible to the media, Siddarmaiah suddenly became media savvy in the past two years. Opening accounts in Twitter and Facebook, he used social media to connect to people. Today, he has emerged as the most active chief minister on social media.
With bold decisions such as demanding primacy of Kannada and also separate religion tag for Lingayats, he has put BJP in a tough spot.
A tall leader among the masses, Siddaramaiah is seen as among the very few challengers in the Congress to BJP’s campaign of ‘Congress-mukt’ India. In south India, he is the lone Congress face standing guard against BJP’s efforts to make inroads into the southern belt.
Siddaramaiah is aware that the upcoming single-phase election which will be held on May 12 will be one of the toughest. However, in spite he wins or loses, he has already created history.
Mamata in Delhi : West Bengal CM meets Arun Shourie, Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha
Mamata Banerjee in Delhi LIVE Updates: The West Bengal chief minister has also expressed her willingness to have a tete-a-tete with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati if the leaders invite her for a meeting to Lucknow.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is camping in Delhi and trying to mobilise like-minded parties to form an anti-BJP federal front, has a host of meetings lined up for Wednesday. On a three-day trip to the national capital, the TMC supremo met BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha and former Union minister Arun Shourie. All the three leaders have been vocal critics of the NDA regime. The all-important meeting with her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to take place at 6 pm. “Banerjee is interested in having a conversation with Arvind (Kejriwal) about a number of issues, including his participation in a possible federal front… She is also interested in asking about his politics of apology and also the recent HC judgment on the EC disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs,” a source told Indian Express.
Banerjee, who met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and DMK’s Kanimozhi among others on Tuesday, has also expressed her willingness to have a tete-a-tete with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati if the leaders invite her for a meeting to Lucknow. Not one to hold back in attacking the saffron party, Banerjee on Tuesday said, “There’s no party in the country that’s more communal than the BJP.” She also castigated the ruling party over other issues like not taking up the no-confidence motion and on the Karnataka poll date leak fiasco.
Cambridge Analytica scam: Whistleblower says group worked with Indian politicians
Christopher Wylie, who blew the lid off the Facebook user personal data being illegally used for political purposes, on Wednesday said his former employer Cambridge Analytica had an Indian arm and conducted election research on behalf of some parties including the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), now a BJP ally, for “desired outcome”.
Wylie said SCL Group, the parent organisation of Cambridge Analytica, has its office headquartered in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad and its regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune.
“I’ve been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists. So here are some of SCL’s past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question – yes, SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like,” Wylie tweeted.
He posted two pictures of what looks like slides of a pitch presentation of SCL India explaining its national experience in the country.
It said the company has a database of over 600 districts and seven lakh villages. But it didn’t identify the source of the database or whether it was collected from any social media sites.
“Our micro-level information includes household level demographics, specifically focussing on caste data, linked to online mapping applications.”
The SCL India, according to the tweeted document, helped clients to identify and target key groups within the population “to effectively influence their behaviour to realize a desired outcome”.
It explained that SCL provided its clients the research to develop and “disseminate the right messages from the right sources using the right communication channels”.
It said in 2011, SCL India undertook a state-wide research campaign to identify voter caste by household.
“This booth level polling data formed the basis of further research into swing voter motivation and supporter mobilization strategies which were presented to individual candidates and tailored to their constituencies.”
During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, SCL India managed the campaign of a number of Lok Sabha candidates.
“The research and campaign teams employed SCL India’s proprietary data collection methodologies to form strategies that gave the clients successful election campaigns.”
In the 2010 Bihar electons, SCL India was asked to provide electoral research and strategy for the JD-U of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“SCL undertook a behavioural research programme targeting over 75 per cent of households to assist the client in not only identifying the correct battlegrounds but also the right audiences, messages and, most importantly, the right castes to target with their campaigns.”
In the 2007 Uttar Pradesh polls, SCL India carried out a full political survey on behalf of a “major party” which the document didn’t name.
“The research included a party audit and a state-wide census of politically active individuals using in-depth interviews to assess the satisfaction levels of party workers at booth level.”
It said SCL India also carried out a psephological study and opinion polling for a “national party to identify swing voters”.
“This was followed by more in-depth analysis of the behavioural dynamics at work in key seats which in turn informed the party’s efforts to ensure a local structure and communication strategy that matched the caste make-up and attitudinal positions of the pre-identified swing population.”
The SCL India carried out research for a “major state party” in Rajasthan in 2003. Its other projects included psephological studies and behavioural polling in Delhi and Chhattisgarh.
The document also said the company undertook research communication campaign to support a trans-national programme four countering the non-desired behaviour of recruitment into and support of “violent jihadism”.
The project was conducted in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in 2007. However, it didn’t say for whom the project was conducted.
Wylie, 28, was the Director of Research at Cambridge Analytica. He accused the data analytics firm having influenced the result of the United Kingdom’s 2016 Brexit referendum and of the 2016 American presidential election that brought Donald Trump to the White House.
Speaking to the British MPs on Tuesday, Wylie said Cambridge Analytica worked extensively in India and that he believed the Congress was its one of the clients.