New Delhi: As many as 500 academicians, scientists and researchers from various educational institutes across the country have urged the environment ministry to withdraw the controversial draft EIA notification and strengthen the existing EIA 2006 notification with a new proposal.

Ever since the notification was issued in March, the ministry has received suggestions through nearly 17 lakh e-mails, including several objections.

In yet another letter, the signatories from 130 institutions have listed their concerns regarding the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, which has been surrounded by controversy since its release, and asked the ministry to withdraw it as it could adversely affect the environment and dilute the clearance process.

The institutes and universities that have written to the ministry include the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

The controversial notification has drawn severe criticism and protests from students, citizens, activists, environmentalists across the country for “fundamentally dismantling environmental safeguards to promote ease of doing business”.

“This cross-institutional collaboration, initiated by PhD students from different institutes, was supported by 105 faculties, former faculties and senior scientists, along with over 400 PhD scholars, post-doctoral research fellows, independent researchers and other research students, who have all signed the letter in their personal capacities,” a press note released by the signatories said.

The letter says the legitimisation of ex-post-facto environmental clearances is a significant dilution of the EIA process.

It also expresses concern on the reclassification of many highly-polluting industries and projects to exempt those from proper environmental appraisals altogether.

It calls for an improved and more inclusive public consultation processes in environmental decision-making and effective post-clearance monitoring mechanisms.

“While a lot of noise is made about iconic species like tigers, turtles and elephants and there is outrage even about individual animals, the truth is that poorly planned large-scale development projects have the greatest negative impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems and people.

“This notification leaves the door open to projects that may severely impact the environment and yet have little real benefit for the people in need,” Kartik Shanker, associate professor at the IISc, Bengaluru, who is one of the signatories to the letter, said.

Ayaz Ahmed, a PhD scholar from IIT-Bombay, said, “The EIA process is supposed to regulate the polluting industries and other development projects and mitigate their impact on the environment. But instead, the draft proposes to ease the environmental safeguards. We need stronger environmental regulations.”

The draft EIA notification was issued by the ministry on March 23 with public opinions and suggestions invited till August 11.

New Delhi: The authors of the controversial book “Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story” filed a complaint with the police on Thursday against publishing house Bloomsbury, some media organisations and noted individuals, alleging cheating, mischief, misappropriation of property and criminal intimidation by them.

The authors met Delhi Commissioner of Police S N Shrivastava with their complaint and sought immediate and necessary action against those named in it.

The complaint accused professor-activist Nandini Sundar and news portals The Print and Newslaundry of “illegal receipt and retention of stolen property”, and several noted individuals, including historian William Dalrymple and author Aatish Taseer, of “criminal intimidation and (making) statements creating and promoting enmity, hatred, and ill will between classes”.

The book, authored by advocate Monika Arora and professors Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra, got embroiled in a controversy for inviting BJP leader Kapil Mishra as a guest of honour on its launch on August 22.

There have been allegations that several leaders, including Mishra, made inflammatory speeches targeting anti-citizenship law protesters before the violence broke out in Northeast Delhi on February 23.

Later, Bloomsbury after facing a massive backlash on social media withdrew itself from the book, saying the virtual launch was “organised without its knowledge”. The book found a new publishing house in Garuda Prakashan the very next day.

According to the complaint, signed by Arora, Bloomsbury “wilfully with dishonest intentions expunged her work and also leaked a PDF version of the book in public to hamper any future sales”.

“The present complaint seeks investigation… for being the publisher of my authored book and having deliberately, willfully with dishonest intentions expunged my work, effort and skill thereby diminishing my goodwill, reputation and standing, without my knowledge and consent rescinded from performing its obligations under the terms of the agreement dated 29.5.2020 and leaked a PDF version of the book in public to hamper any future sales,” read the complaint.

Contrary to what Bloomsbury India had claimed, the complaint said that an e-poster of the book launch event in question with the list of “confirmed speakers” was sent to the publishing house and that they had acknowledged it too.

It alleged that the publishers withdrew only after being pressured by its parent company Bloomsbury UK.

“The book launch event was widely publicized on social media platforms with full knowledge of the Publisher. 100 physical copies of the book were delivered as per the terms of the agreement by the Publisher to the Author on 1.8.2020. On the date of the launch, at 3:30 PM, the Publisher phoned the Author to say that it was considering withdrawing the book on account of pressure of its parent company, and from certain other persons on social media,” it added.

In the complaint, Arora claimed that a “venomous campaign” emerged on the social media and a “group of individuals/ propagandists”, whom she referred to as Urban Naxal Gang, “conspired and went all out to kill the book by pressurizing, intimidating, bullying and blackmailing the publishers”.

She also put out tweets by activist Saket Gokhale, along with journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani and poet Meena Kandasamy, all named in the complaint, alleging that they were congratulating one another for being able to put a stop on the release of the book.

The complaint also accused media houses The Quint and NewsLaundry, and professor-activist Nandini Sundar for critiquing the book and attempting to discredit the authors’ work based on a leaked or “stolen” PDF copy of the book.

“How in the world would they have got their hands on the book if not for this unauthorized circulation. As on date, there is no other physical copy in existence except for those 100 copies that had been delivered to me. Thus, despite knowing such a version was stolen property’ neither the aforesaid media houses nor Ms Sundar chose to take any appropriate legal measures to bring it to the notice of authorities,” it said.

Some individuals who have been named in the complaint have reacted to it through tweets.

“I’m actually glad this has happened. This should remove all doubt, in anyone’s mind, that these were not independent writers at all, but a state-sponsored syndicate, dedicated to whitewashing the role of certain BJP leaders in the Delhi Riots,” tweeted Taseer.

“This is an attempt at intimidation by BJP-linked authors using Central agencies bcoz we spoke against their vile book full of lies & minority-blaming on the Delhi Pogrom. This complaint is a joke. But the one I file about the contents of the book with @DGPMaharashtra won’t be,” tweeted Gokhale.

“Wow just learnt this. now coming after us with state machinery. We will not allow literature and publishing to platform hate,” tweeted Kandasamy.

Scindia, who quit the Congress in March this year and joined the BJP, said under the Prime Minister’s leadership, an environment of safety of people has been created.

GWALIOR: In remarks apparently aimed at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said thinking of some people is just confined to making comments, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a development-oriented outlook for the country.

Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the PM over the state of the economy, rise in COVID-19 cases and “external aggression” at borders, alleging that India is reeling under “Modi-made disasters”.

On the one hand there is a development-oriented, safety-oriented thinking while on the other there is a thinking of only making comments.

“But I believe the people of the country are aware and they are associated with a positive thinking and will remain so in the future also, Scindia said without naming Gandhi.

The former Union minister was responding to a question on demonetisation, which Gandhi has termed as a “total failure”.

Scindia, who quit the Congress in March this year and joined the BJP, arrived in Gwalior in the evening to take part in the ‘Urs’ (mela) of Manur Baba.

During this atmosphere of pandemic, under the Prime Minister’s leadership, an environment of safety of people has been created by making available beds, plasma, remdesivir medicine in hospitals for saving the lives of patients,” the BJP leader said.

The Rajya Sabha MP alleged that during the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, the Gwalior-Chambal region was neglected in terms of development.

During the 15-month Congress rule, the then chief minister Kamal Nath and other top leaders of the party did not visit the underdeveloped region, he said.

The number of development schemes announced for the region in the last five months of the BJP rule was far more than what the area got under the 15 months of the Congress government, Scindia said.

He referred to the Chambal expressway, which will be named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and an elevated road over the Swarna Rekha river, among other projects, to buttress his point that development is taking place in the region under the BJP regime.

She has been selected from a list of 50 personalities which include Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand; philosopher Cornel West; historian of slavery Olivette Otele among others.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala continues to be an inspiration in the management of the coronavirus pandemic at the international level.

In the latest, a monthly British magazine ‘Prospect’ has announced that state Health Minister K K Shailaja has been selected as the world’s top thinker for the Covid-19 age.

She has been selected from a list of 50 personalities which include Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand; philosopher Cornel West; historian of slavery Olivette Otele among others.

As per the magazine, ‘she was the right woman in the right place’.

“When Covid-19 was still a China story in January, she not only accurately foresaw its inevitable arrival, but also fully grasped the implications,” the Magazine piece read.

Other international media organisations like BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian and others in the past have also expressed appreciation for Kerala’s efforts in controlling the spread of the pandemic.

The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to Facebook’s decision to remove his account, according to the statement.

NEW DELHI: Under pressure for weeks over its handling of hate speech, Facebook on Thursday said it has banned BJP politician T Raja Singh from its platform and Instagram for violating its policy on content promoting violence and hate.

“We have banned Raja Singh from Facebook for violating our policy prohibiting those that promote or engage in violence and hate from having a presence on our platform a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led to Facebook’s decision to remove his account, according to the statement.

Facebook – which counts India among its largest markets with over 300 million users – has been in the eye of a storm after a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report alleged that Facebook’s content policies favoured the ruling party in India.

The report had alleged that Facebook had ignored posts containing hate speech by BJP MLA Raja Singh.

Since then, the ruling BJP and Congress have been trading barbs over social media giant’s alleged bias.

In the wake of the WSJ report, a Parliamentary panel had summoned Facebook representatives to discuss the issue of alleged misuse of the social media platform on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had also written to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg accusing the social media platform’s employees of supporting people from a political predisposition that lost successive elections, and “abusing” the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers.

According to sources, the decision to remove Singh from the platform was taken after an extensive process that the company follows in determining which individuals meet the criteria for policy violation and the work had been ongoing for some time to review Singh’s actions.

The company had previously removed the content Singh had posted that violated its policies, including its hate speech policies, but the decision to ban Singh from the platform has been taken now, one of the sources said.

Post the ban, Singh has been designated under Facebook’s dangerous individuals and organisations policy, and he will not be allowed to maintain a presence on the platform going forward.

As a part of the process, Singh will not be allowed on Facebook or its photo and video-sharing platform Instagram.

The company will remove Pages, Groups and accounts set up to represent him.

However, it will continue to allow wider discussion of him, including praise and support.

Another source said the signals used by Facebook to determine dangerous individuals and organisations include whether they’ve called for or directly carried out acts of violence against people based on factors like race, ethnicity, or national origin.

Other parameters that were taken into account include checking whether they’re a self-described or identified follower of a hateful ideology; or they have used hate speech on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media sites, the source said.

To date, the company has banned a range of groups and individuals across the globe for violating this policy.

The social media giant uses a mix of technology tools and reviewers to take action against content violating its policies.

In Q2 2020, it had removed over 4 million pieces of content tied to hate groups, over 96 per cent of which was removed before anyone reported it.

On Thursday, India reported 1,043 deaths taking toll to 67,376. Meanwhile, the health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

In biggest one-day jump, India reported 83,883 new positive cases and 1,043 deaths in the last 24 hours on Thursday, as per the data shared by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

With this rise of over 80,000 cases, coronavirus tally in the country now stands at 38,53,407 including 8,15,538 active cases, 29,70,493 cured/discharged/migrated and 67,376 death.

India is the world’s third most affected country by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States and Brazil. 

However, it is to be noted that India’s case fatality rate (CFR) stands at 1.76 per cent, one of the lowest across the world.

A screengrab showed that hackers had put out a tweet proclaiming they had taken over the account.

NEW DELHI: Twitter on Thursday said the account linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked, and it has now been restored.

“We’re aware of this activity and have taken steps to secure the compromised account. We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted. Advice on keeping your account secure can be found here,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The compromised account has about 2.5 million followers.

After hacking the @narendramodi_in Twitter account, which is the Prime Minister’s personal website, the cybercriminal reportedly sent out posts seeking donations for the PM National Relief Fund for COVID-19 using crypto currency.

“Yes, this account is hacked by John Wick (hckindia@tutanota.com), We have not hacked Paytm Mall,” another message had said.

On August 30, cybersecurity firm Cyble had said hacker group ‘John Wick’ was behind a data breach at Paytm Mall, the e-commerce unit of Paytm.

Paytm Mall had said it had not found any security lapses after investigating claims of a possible hack and data breach.

Twitter on Thursday also said as per its investigation, the latest attack was not due to a compromise of Twitter’s systems or service.

There is no indication or evidence of any correlation between this account compromise and the incident that took place in July, it said.

Accounts of high-profile users like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos and others were compromised on July 15.

In an update on its blog on July 30, Twitter had said attackers had used credentials of some employees to access its internal systems and gain information about its processes.

The attackers targeted 130 Twitter accounts, ultimately Tweeting from 45, accessing the DM inbox of 36, and downloading the Twitter Data of 7 accounts, it had said.

The announcement comes at a time when Infosys topped the list of IT service providers whose H1-B visa applications were rejected by the US government in FY20.

NEW DELHI: IT services giant, Infosys, will hire 12,000 more American workers by 2022 as a part of the firm’s commitment to create 25,000 employment opportunities in the US in next five years.

The company said that it will target experienced technology professionals as well as recent graduates from major universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges to create the best workforce for the future.

“Utilizing the training and reskilling programs it has built with partners, including the recently launched Reskill and Restart initiative, Infosys will prepare workers for 21st-century careers,” Infosys said in a statement.

The announcement comes at a time when Infosys topped the list of IT service providers whose H1-B visa applications were rejected by the US government in FY20.

According to the recent US government statistics, the rejection rate of Infosys’s H1-B visa applications stood at 59%, the highest among its peers.

In June, 2020 US President, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning the entry of non-immigrant visa holders including H1-B into the US when unemployment had soared to record levels.

Many Indian IT service majors have picked up their local hirings in the US amidst the stricter visa regimes and are now substantially less reliant on the H1-B visa hires.

In 2017, Infosys committed to hiring 10,000 American workers over two years and has exceeded that goal by creating 13,000 jobs in the U.S. to date.

“Infosys has been intensely focused on creating jobs in the U.S. for the past three years, and I am proud that this new commitment to hire 12,000 American workers by 2022 expands on that previous initiative. We are excited to grow our presence in the U.S. as the digital transformation journeys of our clients accelerate,” Salil Parekh, CEO, Infosys said in a statement.

The Bengaluru headquartered IT firm has over the past three years  launched six Technology and Innovation Centers in the U.S. across Indiana, North Carolina, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Texas, and Arizona. 

Through these centres, the company is training the locals to support American businesses in an increasingly digital future.

“While we continue to leverage our established university partnerships to strengthen our talent pool, our recently launched Reskill and Restart platform will play a crucial role in our growth as we meet this commitment.

“We will bring a specific focus on building pathways for those who have been impacted by the economic downturn and look forward to bringing on board individuals without traditional four-year degrees. Workers who have been left out of the digital economy will now have the opportunity to gain the skills needed for 21st-century careers,” Ravi Kumar, President, Infosys said.

The high court allowed the writ petition filed by Khan’s mother Nuzhat Parveen and said the detention order by the district magistrate was illegal.

ALLAHABAD: Dr Kafeel Khan was released from Mathura jail after the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed his detention under the National Security Act and ordered his immediate release, saying his speech at the AMU didn’t promote hatred or violence and gave a call for national integrity.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh said the Aligarh district magistrate, who passed the order for Khan’s detention, did a “selective reading” of his speech, “ignoring its true intent”.

Khan’s lawyer Irfan Ghazi told PTI, “Mathura jail administration informed at around 11.00 pm that Dr Kafeel will be released, and at around midnight, he was released”.

The high court allowed the writ petition filed by Khan’s mother Nuzhat Parveen and said the detention order by the district magistrate was illegal.

The petition argued that Khan was granted bail in February by a competent court and he was supposed to be released on bail.

However, he was not released for four days and the National Security Act (NSA) was subsequently invoked against him.

Hence, his detention was illegal.

Khan was in jail since January after he delivered the allegedly provocative speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in December last year.

He was lodged in Mathura jail.

On Tuesday evening, his family members said they would file a contempt plea in the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday if he was not released as per its orders.

Khan’s brother Adeel claimed that the jail administration told them that they will go by the order of the Mathura district magistrate and until the DM says, Kafeel would not be released.

Adeel claimed that after the High Court gave the order, an e-mail informing about the release of Khan was sent to the jail administration and the DMs of Mathura and Aligarh, but the authorities were “making an excuse” of not getting the order.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hailed the court’s decision and hoped the Uttar Pradesh government would immediately release Khan “without any malice”.

Quashing Khan’s detention order, the court said, “A complete reading of the speech primafacie does not disclose any effort to promote hatred or violence. It also no where threatens peace and tranquility of the city of Aligarh. The address gives a call for national integrity and unity among the citizens. The speech also deprecates any kind of violence.”

“It appears that the District Magistrate had selective reading and selective mention for few phrases from the speech ignoring its true intent.”

The court further said in the instant case, the “causal link is found to be missing or completely broken”.

Under the NSA, a person can be detained without a charge for up to 12 months if authorities are satisfied that he or she is a threat to national security or law and order.

Khan spent over six months in jail under the NSA.

In its order, the court said, “The writ petition for the reasons above is allowed. The order of detention dated 13th February, 2020 passed by District Magistrate, Aligarh and confirmed by the State of Uttar Pradesh is set aside. The extension of the period of detention of detenue Dr. Kafeel Khan is also declared illegal.”

“A writ in the nature of habeas corpus is hereby issued to release Dr. Kafeel Khan, the detenue, from State custody forthwith,” it said.

The Uttar Pradesh government had extended Khan’s detention under the NSA by three months twice — in May and August.

In an order dated August 4, the Home Department had said the NSA was invoked against Khan on February 13, 2020, on the orders of the Aligarh district magistrate.

After this, the matter was sent to the advisory council, which, in its report, said there were “enough reasons” to keep Khan in jail.

On her way to Mathura after the court delivered its verdict, Khan’s mother Parveen told PTI on phone, “I am very happy that my son is coming out of jail. I will be able to see him after a long time.”

“My son is a good person and he was never against the country or the society. It is also my daughter-in-law’s birthday today, and we are taking a cake with us as she is in Mathura,” she said.

“If Kafeel is not released from the jail, then we will file a contempt appeal in the High Court on Wednesday,” his brother Adeel said.

Mathura jail Senior Superintendent Shailendra Kumar Maitreya on Tuesday evening said he was yet to receive the court orders.

District Magistrate Mathura Sarvagya Ram Mishra said orders of the court will be complied with.

“Since, the NSA was imposed on Kafeel by the Aligarh district magistrate, he should be contacted,” Mishra said.

Khan’s advocate Ghazi alleged that the Aligarh DM was not meeting him on the pretext of attending a meeting or other, despite hours of efforts made by him.

Khan, who worked as a paediatrician at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College, first hit headlines in 2017 after several children died at the hospital due to the lack of oxygen cylinders.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi welcomed the court order.

“The Allahabad High Court today ordered the removal of NSA and immediate release of Dr. Kafeel Khan. It is expected that the UP government will release Dr. Kafeel Khan without any malice,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.