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Net neutrality: Facebook shuts Free Basics programme in India

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Facebook

New Delhi: In a boost to net neutrality, Facebook has decided to shut down its controversial ‘Free Basics’ programme in India, following telecom regulator Trai’s move to bar operators from charging different rates for Internet access based on content.

Facebook had met with severe criticism for its programme, which aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators.

Critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that states that entire Internet should be available to everyone on equal terms as Free Basics allowed access to selected websites.

“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed response. The service was available in India with Reliance Communications. In December, RCom put the service on hold following a Telecom Regulator Authority of India’s directive to that effect.

Ruling in favour of net neutrality, Trai has barred all telecom operators from offering discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content, impying that operators will have to charge the same price for data used, irrespective of website or app accessed by the consumer.

This puts an end to Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel’s zero rating plans in India. Yesterday, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen had set off another controversy by terming Trai’s decision as an ‘anti-colonialist’ idea and said the country would have been better off if it had remained under British rule.

Facebook founder and head Mark Zuckerberg distanced himself from the comments saying the remarks were “deeply upsetting” and did not represent the company’s thinking.

“India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people,” he wrote in a post on the social networking site.

“It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress,” he added. Andreessen deleted the tweet and apologised through a series of tweets yesterday.

“Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100 per cent opposed to colonialism, and 100 per cent in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India,” he said later in a series of tweets.

Zuckerberg has come out in defence of the programme time and again, saying it did not block or throttle other services and is not in conflict with net neutrality. Launched in 2014, Facebook is running the Internet.org programme across over 17 countries providing basic Internet access to over one billion people.

Following allegations of violation of net neutrality, Facebook rebranded the programme as ‘Free Basics’. It had said the rebranding will help Facebook distinguish the free basic Internet offering from the large number of activities the US-based company is pursuing to help get new users online across the globe. Recently, it ran a big media campaign in support of the programme.

(Agencies)

Soldier who survived under 35ft ice in Siachen for 6 days dies in hospital

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Siachen

New Delhi: Siachen soldier Lance Naik Koppad Hanmanthappa, who survived for six days under 35 feet of ice and snow in Siachen, passed away at the Army Hospital today.

The medical condition of Lance Naik deteriorated on Wednesday and he had slipped into comma.

“He continues to remain extremely critical with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain on CT scan. There is evidence of pneumonia in both lungs. In addition, multi-organ dysfunction state continues unabated,” stated the evening medical bulletin issued by the Research & Referral (R&R) Hospital where Hanmanthappa is undergoing treatment since Tuesday.

Doctors at the R&R hospital took a second opinion from a team of experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. The senior doctors were in agreement with the ongoing clinical management strategy and concurred with the future plan of management.

Hanmanthappa was pulled out alive from under 35 feet of snow in Siachen glacier on Monday, six days after an Army post guarding the world’s highest helipad was hit by a huge avalanche burying Hanmanthappa and nine other men from 19 Madras regiment. He was flown to Delhi and admitted to the R&R hospital on Tuesday.

“He experienced less oxygen supply to the brain besides hypothermia due to sustained exposure to sub-zero temperature and dehydration. In the absence of food, the metabolic system, too, failed, leading to kidney and liver failure,” William Selvamurthy, former director of Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Delhi, told Deccan Herald.

Following warming at the hospital, his blood pressure would drop, which the doctors had to manage, Selvamurthy added.

Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh said in a television interview that a day after the avalanche, the Army received a radio contact from the post buried under ice, suggesting that at least one person was alive. The rescue efforts were accelerated following the radio contact.

The Air Force and the Army carried out close to 300 sorties to ferry about 180 men, digging and detection equipment, and two sniffer dogs. It took six days for the men and machine to zero in on the spot and cut through blue ice – harder than concrete – to retrieve Hanmanthappa and nine other men, who perished in the icy heights.

The Dharwad man survived, explained Selvamurthy, possibly because of an air conduit through which he was receiving oxygen. Hanmanthappa did not exert himself and minimised metabolic functions and saved energy. Meanwhile, the mortal remains of other soldiers are stuck in the Siachen base camp as bad weather halted helicopter sorties.

(Agencies)

130 schools shut in Bangaluru after ‘leopard sighting’

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leopard

Bangalore: A reported leopard sighting close to where a big cat injured five people at the weekend forced the closure of 130 schools in Bangalore on Thursday, the education authority said.

Panic gripped an eastern suburb of the city after a woman claimed to have spotted a leopard six kilometres (four miles) away from Vibgyor school where one tried to maul several wildlife workers Sunday, before being caged.

Residents were advised not to venture into open spaces in the area, which is dotted with boulders and eucalyptus plantations, as a precaution.

“We have advised about 80 private and 50 government schools in the city’s eastern areas to remain closed today (Thursday) for the safety of their wards, as one or two more leopards were seen moving around in the vicinity,” S.M. Ramesh, block education officer, told AFP.

Forestry officials said they had searched the area for two days without success, after a woman reported seeing a leopard behind a technology park on her way home from work on Wednesday evening.

“We have placed one cage with a bait in the area and another near the private school where one leopard was trapped on 7 February,” deputy range forest officer Jagannath Reddy told reporters.

About 60 schools in the eastern areas had already declared a holiday on Wednesday, after rumours spread about a leopard being sighted in the area.

Leopards number between 12,000 to 14,000 in India, according to a national survey released last year. They are increasingly venturing into populated areas as their habitats become depleted.

A leopard killed a five-year-old boy in the courtyard of his home in central India in 2014.

Video footage from Mumbai in 2013 showed a leopard creeping into an apartment block foyer and snatching a small dog.

(Agencies)

Those who can’t live without beef should not come to Haryana: Anil Vij

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Anil Vij

Chandigarh: Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday stoked a fresh row saying those who cannot live without eating beef should not visit the state where stringent cow protection law is in place.

Vij said that there were some countries Indians don’t visit because eating habits of that nation did not suit them.

“There are some countries we don’t visit because food and drinking habits there don’t suit us. Likewise, those people who can’t live without eating beef should not come to Haryana,” Vij said.

He was asked to comment if the state government had contemplated issuing licences/special permits to foreigners to consume beef in the state.

Vij said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had clarified on Monday the issue and ruled out any plan to issue such licences and give relaxation to foreigners to consume beef in the state. Vij had last year pitched for declaring cow as the national animal and launched an online poll on the issue. Khattar had reportedly said earlier he was open to relax the beef ban for foreigners in the state.

Haryana’s ‘Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill, passed by the Assembly in March last year, came into force in November last.

Under the provisions of the law, cow trafficking, slaughtering and eating beef are banned in the state. The law clamps a complete ban on cow slaughter in the state and provides for a rigorous imprisonment ranging from three years to 10 years for killing the animal.

(Agencies)

Siachen survivor’s condition remains critical: Army hospital

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Siachen

New Delhi: The condition of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad of 19 Madras regiment, who was rescued alive six days after being buried under tonnes of ice in Siachen Glacier, remains very critical, the army said today.

“He continues to battle the odds and his medical condition remains very critical,” a medical bulletin issued by Army Research and Referral Hospital here said.

Hanamanthappa remains ventilator-dependent since arrival in the hospital yesterday, it said. The medical team at R&R Hospital is monitoring his situation continuously and is treating him with best expertise and resources available in the world, the bulletin said.

The hospital has said he is expected to have a stormy course in the “next 24 hours” due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body.

Hanamanthappa was flown out by a helicopter yesterday from the site of the avalanche that hit his post at Siachen Glacier along with a medical specialist to the base camp at the glacier, from where he was brought to the Thois air base.

He was then transferred to Delhi by a fixed-wing aircraft of IAF along with a critical care specialist of the force and a medical specialist from the base camp.

Hanamanthappa is being treated by a team of intensivists, neurologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist and surgeons. He has been administered fluids, drugs to bring up his blood pressure, besides antibiotics.

(Agencies)

No leopard in Bengaluru school: Official

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leopard

Bengaluru: Fears of another leopard prowling in and around a private school on Tuesday night were unfounded and its so-called sighting was a speculation, a top official said on Wednesday.

“No leopard was seen or traced in and around the school by our forest staff after a night-long search operation though the school remains shut as a precaution,” Karnataka chief wildlife warden Ravi Ralph told IANS here.

As rumours of another leopard sighting spread causing panic, the Vibgyor International School declared a holiday for its over 1,000 students and faculty members to ensure their safety.

“We decided to shut the school for the day (Wednesday). Those who turned up with their wards were advised to return home,” a school official told reporters.

A surprise entry of an eight-year-old leopard into the school early on Sunday and its rescue after a 12-hour operation in which five people were injured has shocked people in Bengaluru.

“We are launching an online platform to spread awareness on leopards and other animals who may enter villages, towns or cities stealthily but do not harm them as they are not man-eaters like tigers,” Ralph said.

“With forest fringes, lakes and other water bodies disappearing for various reasons, wild animals are finding it difficult to hunt for prey and get water to sustain,” Ralph said.

The leopard which was tranquilised and captured had strayed into the city’s eastern suburb on Sunday through bushes, boulders, hills and thick plantations across the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border in search of prey and water.

As it was a holiday, students and teachers were lucky to have escaped from being attacked by the wild animal.

The leopard was put in an iron cage and shifted to the Bannarghatta national zoo park.

(IANS)

Wipro Consumer Care announces Santoor Scholarships for financially disadvantaged Girl Students Pursuing Higher Education

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Wipro Consumer Care

Hyderabad: In an endeavor to encourage underprivileged girl students who wish to pursue their higher education after Grade 12, Wipro Consumer Care in association with “Wipro Cares” has announced Santoor Scholarship programme, an initiative which will provide free scholarships. The scholarship programme will be a recurring annual programme. It will be rolled out in 2016-17 and will initially cover the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The grant given to each of the beneficiaries could be utilized for tuition fees or other expenses incidental only to education.

The Santoor Scholarship programme was announced in Hyderabad today in the presence of Shri. Kadiam Srihari, Hon. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Education, Govt. of Telangana, Shri. R Kishore Babu, Minister for Social and Tribal Welfare, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Benhur Mahesh Dutt Ekka, IAS, Secretary, SC development department, Govt. of Telangana, Dr. R. S. Praveen Kumar, IPS, Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Institutions Society, Dr. Vijayakumar, Secretary, Social welfare Department, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. M. Padma, IAS, Director (TW Dept.), Principal Secretary to Govt., TW Dept., Govt. of Andhra Pradesh and Col V. Ramulu, I.Po.S., Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Institutions Society.

Santoor scholarships are open to girls from underprivileged and disadvantaged backgrounds who wish to pursue their diploma/degree. To qualify, the student must have passed her grade 10 and 12 from a government school/college. Applications will be available with the government junior college principals. Students interested are required to go through the application process and meet the eligibility criteria to be considered for the scholarship. The scholarship shall be Rs. 36,000 per annum if the diploma/degree college is located in a large city and Rs. 24,000 otherwise. Sixty percent of the scholarships is earmarked for students who wish to pursue higher education in the fields of humanities, liberal arts and sciences. The remaining forty percent can be availed by students pursuing professional courses.

Mr. Anil Chugh, Chief Executive – Wipro Consumer Care said, “As a responsible corporate, we believe in creating opportunities for the growing generation and offer support and confidence to those in need. The Santoor Scholarship Programme in association with “Wipro Cares” is dedicated to provide the much-needed breakthrough in the education of underprivileged girls and support them to continue their higher studies.”

JNU erupts over ‘Shaheed Afzal Guru’, ‘Azad Kashmir’; rival student groups clash, police deployed

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Jawaharlal Nehru University Afzal Guru

New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Tuesday night witnessed clashes between two student groups over Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 09, 2013 in Tihar Jail.

The incident happened after a group of students organised a programme and termed the hanging of the Parliament attack convict as “judicial killing”.

The students allegedly shouted slogans hailing ‘Shaeed Afzal Guru’ and also chanted anti-India slogans. They also expressed solidarity with “struggle” of Kashmiri migrants and advocated for ‘Azad Kashmir’.

Notably, the university authorities had not give permission to hold any programme supporting Afzal Guru as they “feared” the same might “disrupt” peace on campus.

Student organisers had pasted posters across the campus inviting them to gather for a protest march against “judicial killing of Afzal Guru” and in solidarity with “struggle” of Kashmiri migrants, at varsity’s Sabarmati dhaba.

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) affiliated ABVP objected to such a program and complained to the Vice Chancellor.

However, when the other group didn’t relent and went ahead with the event, the ABVP supporters went ahead and protested, which led to the scuffle between the two student groups.

The authorities later called the police in order to restore law and order in the campus.

JNU VC Jagdeesh Kumar told PTI, “Earlier we were told that it is going to be a cultural programme. When I got to know that it is a protest, we decided to cancel the programme as it is administration’s responsibility to ensure peace and calm on campus.”

(PTI)

 

Bengaluru police bust child trafficking racket, 16 arrested

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Bengaluru

Bengaluru: City police on Monday claimed to have unearthed a crime syndicate allegedly involved in the illegal transportation of children to the US with 16 people, including the suspected kingpin, being taken into custody.

In a crackdown, 14 teams of officers conducted raids in various police stations in Bengaluru City Commissionerate and registered about 13 cases and “secured” 16 persons including Uday Prathap Singh who was identified as the kingpin, and two women for various offenses.

Police said on the basis of information collected, it was found that Singh along with his other syndicate members lured a couple or a single male/female and projected them as real husband and wife, and accordingly documents were prepared to obtain passport and other travel documents.

They said Singh through his agents in Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other places brought children under the age of 10 years and paired them with the couples in Bengaluru who acted as family.

While the couple and the children got trained about behaving like a family, other team members prepared documents like rental agreement, birth certificate, voter cards, ration cards and applied for obtaining passport as family members.

After obtaining passport through “fraudulent means”, another team in Tamil Nadu used to assist the “family” to get Non-immigration B1/B2 VISA (Business and pleasure visa) from the US consulate at Chennai.

Police said based on credible information, collection of actionable intelligence and preliminary inquiry, SIT has made prima facie case about human trafficking of children to US in which 16 couples were shortlisted and their antecedents verified clandestinely.

(IANS)

Headley was tasked with recruiting spies from Indian Army

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Mumbai: Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Tuesday described how he was assigned to gather military intelligence in India and recruit spies from the Indian Army.

On the second day of his deposition through video conferencing from a US jail before the Special TADA Court here, Headley said he was tasked with luring spies from the Indian Army to work for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

In his response to questions posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted to working both for the LeT and the ISI.

Headley on Monday revealed that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were planned over a year in Pakistan.

Detailing the planning for the 26/11 strike, Headley said in November-December 2007 he had attended a meeting in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir along with his LeT contact Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, in which they asked him to conduct a recce of the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and other locations in Mumbai.

At the meeting, the LeT leaders gave information about a conference of Indian defence officials and scientists at the luxury hotel opposite Gateway of India which they wanted to hit, Headley told the court of Special Judge G.A. Sanap.

He was specifically asked by his handlers to survey and videograph the second floor of the hotel which he did along with his wife Faiza, selected the landing site for the vessels which would sneak in from the Arabian Sea at Colaba, and discussed everything with Major Iqbal of the Pakistan Army.

Besides Hotel Taj, Headley made videos of Leopold Cafe, Colaba Police Station, the local markets and restaurants in Colaba, the naval and air force stations, the Maharashtra Police headquarters, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, and the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi.

“Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the videos and photos of the hotel which I gave them,” Headley said, adding that the plan to target Hotel Taj conference hall was later scrapped for “logistics reasons”.

All the data and locations were stored in a GPS device for future uses, he added.

Headley unravelled before the Special Court how the LeT and Al-Qaeda, which he termed a “terrorist organisation”, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahiddeen and other groups in Pakistan function under the “United Jihad Council” and were working against India.

He said the LeT and ISI have a close nexus with the ISI providing the “financial, military and moral support”, Nikam later told media persons.

Admitting that he served both the LeT and ISI, he said Hafez Sayeed was LeT’s “spiritual leader,” Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was its “operational commander” and worked with the sole aim of spreading terror in India.

Headley said that in 2003, he was present at a LeT meeting when Maulana Masood Azhar made a guest speech about his anti-India activities and his release from India (in December 1999 in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814).

Headley’s deposition will resume again on Wednesday, Nikam told media persons.

(Agencies)

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