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Congress Compromising National Security By Hiring CA For 2019 Campaign: BJP

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Amid allegations of misuse of personal data for political purposes by social media giant Facebook, the BJP on Wednesday hit out at Congress accusing it of compromising national security by reportedly roping in political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) to run its 2019 election campaign.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that CA had been found involved in data manipulation and warned that any attempt to misuse social media to influence India’s electoral process would not be tolerated and the government would take necessary legal action.

“Any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor permitted,” Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference.

He said that CA — the agency which hired by the Congress to run its 2019 campaign — is accused of using bribes, sex workers to entrap politicians and stealing data from Facebook.

“Abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections. In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California,” the senior BJP leader said.

Accusing Congress of depending upon data manipulation and theft to win votes, Prasad
also asked the Congress whether it depends on data theft, and found manipulation ability the sole criteria to hire CA.

“These days, there is lot of news about CA and how it has been involved in data theft, psychometric analysis, data manipulation and subversion of democratic processes. Can the Congress deny that,” he asked.

Citing media reports, the BJP leader also asked the Congress to clarify whether now-sacked CA CEO Alexender Nix has met several opposition leaders to design the the UPA’s electoral strategy for the next Lok Sabha elections.

“How many times did Rahul Gandhi and Nix meet and what did they discuss? What is the CA’s role in Rahul Gandhi’s social media presence,” he asked.

“It is a matter of grave concern for crores of online users in India that online data and browsing patterns are being used for such means. I want to specifically warn the Congress that the nation will not tolerate any kind of data theft or manipulation in India,” he said.

The Minister also sought to know from the “Grand Old Party” as to how much stolen data from CA was in posession of the Congress and how much data of Indian users had been handed over to the firm by the party.

Alleging that CA had been found using illegal means of data manipulation to subvert the democratic process in Kenya, Prasad said that the Congress had been aligning with such forces to divide the society to win elections.

“We have seen this in Gujarat. We are seeing what they are doing in Karnataka,” he said.

Prasad said the government was in touch with the US Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to assess the privacy violations of Indian users.

“We will also summon the company and Facebook to assess the data theft of Indian users and will take strictest action,” he warned.

(IANS)

Afghanistan: Dozens Killed in Explosion Near Kabul University

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At least 26 people killed and 18 others wounded in attack close to Kabul University and Ali Abad hospital.

At least 26 people have been reported killed and 18 others wounded in a mid-day explosion in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Tolo News reported that the attack on Wednesday happened close to Kabul University and Ali Abad hospital.

News reports said an interior ministry spokesman confirmed the number of casualties.

The explosion is believed to have been a car bomb.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

But the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group have launched a series of deadly attacks across the country, killing more than 200 people in Kabul alone since the beginning of 2018, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

Myanmar’s First Civilian President Resigns from Office

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Htin Kyaw, Myanmar’s first civilian president in more than a half-century, has resigned from office, according to an official statement Wednesday.

A loyal and longtime aide to State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, he was elected president after Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide victory in the 2015 general election.

The statement from the Myanmar President’s Office said Htin Kyaw resigned from office as he no longer wants to perform the duty.

Myint Swe, the military-nominated vice president, will act in the role until parliament can confirm a replacement in seven days, it said.

Htin Kyaw is seen as a proxy of Suu Kyi as she is barred from the presidency by the country’s military-drafted constitution.

She was later elected to the newly-invented post of State Counselor, officially answering to the president but in reality occupying a powerful spot at the top by the NLD-dominated parliament despite opposition from the military.

PTI

BJP blocks Mehbooba Mufti’s move to open coffers for surrender of terrorists

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The move of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to recast the surrender policy for Pakistan-backed terrorists and dole out a sum of Rs 6 lakh to each one of them at the time of surrender has been blocked by the BJP, a coalition partner in the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir. The amount of Rs 6 lakh proposed for surrendered terrorists was Rs 1 lakh more than the amount of Rs 5 lakh being given as relief to kin of those killed by terrorists or in shelling by Pakistan Army.
The proposal to recast the existing surrender policy was piloted by Mehbooba in a meeting of the state cabinet held here on Tuesday evening. However, sensing further erosion of its political base in the Jammu division if the proposal was allowed to be passed, BJP ministers in the cabinet put their foot down and did not let Mehbooba have her way on the contentious issue.

Mehbooba had in the new policy proposed a substantial jump of Rs 4.5 lakh over the policy of 2004 in which the amount was Rs 1.5 lakh. The financial benefits for terrorists were withdrawn in the surrender policy recast in 2010 when the National Conference-Congress coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah was in power.
Mehbooba not only proposed to enhance the one time financial bonanza, but also substantially increase the incentives for the weapons laid down by terrorists during the surrender. The incentive for surrendering a sniper rifle was Rs 25,000 in the policy of 2004, which has been proposed to be increased to Rs 1 lakh. The incentive for AK-rifle has been proposed to be enhanced to Rs 50,000 from the earlier Rs 15,000.
The current strategy of terrorists has been to snatch rifles from state police personnel and use them for targeting the security forces. The surrender policy announced in 2004 created a countrywide controversy when it was alleged that the state government was providing undue financial benefits to terrorists instead of assisting the unemployed youth.
Observers feel the PDP, which was facing political crisis in the Kashmir valley, has in a way tried to thrown open the coffers to please those engaged in terrorism. It was proposed to hike the incentive for each surrendered bullet to Rs 100 from the earlier amount of Rs 3 per bullet.
The incentive for each surrendered landmine was proposed to be increased to Rs 20,000 from the earlier Rs 3,000. Similarly, the terrorists would get a sum of Rs 10,000 for each surrendered Improvised Explosive Device (IED) against the earlier Rs 1,000.
Mehbooba had reportedly proposed that the cash incentive of Rs 6 lakh would be kept in the bank as fixed deposit for 10 years and the surrendered terrorist would get a monthly interest of Rs 4,000 or so till maturity of the FD that could be encashed if the CID declared his good conduct. Besides, several other incentives, including skill training, were also proposed for surrendered terrorists.
The surrender policy of 2010 had withdrawn all special incentives but offered that those who had gone to POK or Pakistan between January 1, 1989, and December 31, 2009, and their dependents who had a change of heart and were willing to return would be eligible for resettlement under the policy.

(IANS)

Siddaramaiah’s Lingayat card trumps Karnataka BJP unit

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The otherwise aggressive game-plan of BJP has received a major setback, as close to polls the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah’s cabinet approved separate minority religion status to Lingayat and Veerashaiva-Lingayat groups.

With over 17 percent of the state’s population comprising Lingayat members that are spread across the state, the political parties are well aware that the section can be a major game changer in the upcoming polls. Relying on the recommendation of retired Justice Nagamohan Das-led seven-member panel, the Karnataka cabinet conveniently approved minority status to these groups. By passing the buck to the Central government, the Congress has now left a sword hanging over BJP’s head.

If the Central government gives assent to the demand, the Congress will claim credit – if it doesn’t, then the wrath of the Lingayat and Lingayat-Veerashaiva community members may cause a dent on BJP’s vote-bank. In the electoral history, Lingayat community has always favoured the BJP over other parties.

But post the Congress recommendation, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa, whose otherwise claim to fame was as the dominant leader of the Lingayat community is now scampering to look for a new narrative to defuse the ploy by the Congress.

However, it’s not like the entire Lingayat community is going to be in awe with the Congress for its decision unless they start deriving the benefit. Certain section of the group has seen through the political timing of the decision. In fact in 2013, the then UPA government at the centre had turned down the demand for the ‘independent’ religion status by the group citing that it would further divide the society. Ironically, it has come into light that Yeddyurappa was a signatory to the petition sent to then PM Manmohan Singh under the banner of All India Veerashiva Mahasabha, but now has decided to remain mum.

With this latest move, of course the Congress-led government has made a dent in BJP’s armour, by beating the BJP in its own game of polarisation politics.

The community which has its presence spread at close to 100 of the 224 constituencies cannot be sidelined if the parties are serious about contesting the upcoming polls.

It was recently that the CM Siddaramaiah government unveiled what they declared a state flag and sent to the central government for approval. This along with the soft-Hindutva approach by the Congress, both are slowly paying their dividends to the party, at a time when they desperately looking to deflect the ‘nationalism’ overtones of the BJP campaign and before the model code by the Election Commission of India is in effect.

We Have To Defeat SP-BSP Pact with Development:Manoj Sinha

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Union Minister Manoj Sinha on Tuesday conceded that the alliance of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has added strength to the opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, adding that the BJP will have to devise a “strategy” to defeat them.

Sinha, who is Minister of State for Railways, also claimed that the Union government has focused on infrastructure development through rail, road, waterways and other means in Uttar Pradesh, with a special focus on the Poorvanchal area.

Sinha, who had kept a studied silence over the party’s defeat in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, said: “In elections, sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. We lost in Gorakhpur and Phulpur but now we will do our best to convert these defeats into victory next time.”

Both seats were won by the SP as the BSP had extended its support to the candidates fielded by the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.

“Naturally, the alliance has added strength to SP and BSP. We will have to chalk out our strategy to defeat them despite their alliance,” Sinha told IANS.

The Minister, who hails from Uttar Pradesh and was also among the front-runners for the post of Chief Minister after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive victory in the 2017 assembly polls, said such “divisive forces” can only be defeated through development.

“The only way to defeat them is development… Be it growing beyond casteism or stopping such forces, development is the only way,” he said.

Asked whether the BJP would succeed in defeating the SP-BSP alliance in 2019 on a development plank, Sinha replied: “During 2019 polls, Narendra Modi will be our prime ministerial candidate. The question is whom the opposition will pit against Modiji. The scenario will change. We will ask them, ‘Who is your face?'”

Sinha, who returned from Varanasi after inspecting the railway projects launched in eastern Uttar Pradesh, claimed that after three years the entire region would get transformed.

“Connectivity is the most important aspect and a requirement for development of any region, and our government has paid special attention to this,” he said.

The Minister claimed that not even a single section of eastern Uttar Pradesh has been ignored, where doubling and electrification of railway lines has not been done.

“All ongoing projects will be completed in the next three years. This will give the country an electrified double-rail section,” he said, adding that there is not a single railway station in the region where works related to public facilities are not underway.

He said many of the projects in the region, including doubling and electrification of Allahabad-Chapra via Varanasi and Gazipur rail section and rail-cum-road bridge on the river Ganga, will be completed before the stipulated time.

Asked whether the government’s focus is on Poorvanchal because of its political importance, the Minister said the Modi government does not push development works keeping in mind the political importance of any region.

“Development is our policy. Country will move ahead if there is delivery on development. We are working hard for it.

“I am talking about Poorvanchal area, but that doesn’t mean that development works are not going on in other parts of the country. In other regions, too, the government is working hard to implement projects,” Sinha said.

The Minister also spoke about various road and waterway projects being taken up by the ministries concerned.

“The work on NH-29 will be completed by December. The pace of construction works on Banaras ring road and Banaras-Babatpur elevated road are in full swing. So is the case in four-to-six laning of various road projects,” he said.

Sinha, who is also Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Telecom, said in Uttar Pradesh itself, 50 per cent of gram panchayats have been connected through high-speed internet.

He also said that work on pilot basis to introduce 5G connectivity in villages is also in progress.

Sinha said that such an experiment is going on in Maharajganj village of Uttar Pradesh where people watch movies through internet.

“We are not going to miss the bus of 5G this time. We will not be lagging in case of 5G like we did during 2G, 3G and 4G,” he said, adding that the infrastructure projects take time.

“Hamara kaam jameen par dikh raha hai (Our work is visible on the ground),” he said.

Google commits $300mn to empower media houses

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In a bid to help news organisations thrive in the digital age, Google has committed $300 million over the next three years as part of the Google News Initiative (GNI).

The GNI will help media outlets evolve new business models while adopting innovative technologies.

According to Google, business models for journalism continue to change drastically and the rapid evolution of technology is challenging all institutions, including the news industry, to keep pace.

“Over the next three years, we’re committing $300 million toward meeting these goals. We’re also deepening our commitment to building products that address the news industry’s most urgent needs,” Philipp Schindler, Chief Business Officer at Google, said in a blog post late on Tuesday.

The GNI is focused on three objectives: Elevate and strengthen quality journalism, evolve business models to drive sustainable growth and empower news organisations through technological innovation.

Google has earlier worked closely with the news industry to address key challenges.

“We worked with the industry to launch the open-source ‘Accelerated Mobile Pages Project’ to improve the mobile web and ‘YouTube Player’ for Publishers to simplify video distribution and reduce costs,” Schindler said.

“We also introduced ‘Flexible Sampling’ to help with discovery of news content on Google; ‘Google News Lab’ to provide newsrooms with trainings and editorial partnerships, and the ‘Digital News Initiative’ to drive innovation in the European news industry,” he added.

Over the past few years, Google has worked with publishers to elevate accurate, quality content and stem the flow of misinformation and disinformation.

“We’re launching the ‘Disinfo Lab’ alongside the ‘First Draft’ to combat mis- and disinformation during elections and breaking news moments,” Google said.

Google is also teaming up with the Poynter Institute, Stanford University, and the Local Media Association to launch “MediaWise”, a project designed to improve digital information literacy for young consumers.

Google is currently working with news organisations around the world to develop and deploy technology that improves newsroom efficiency, creates enriching storytelling experiences, and protects journalists from cyber attacks around the world.

“For example, we are using our natural language processing API to help ‘Hearst Newspapers’ sort, label and categorise more than 3,000 articles every day,” Google said.

Google has also worked with the South China Morning Post to use “Google Earth Studio” to create immersive VR experiences that show the evolution of Hong Kong throughout history.

“Finally, we’re also launching ‘Outline’, an open-source tool from Jigsaw that lets news organisations provide journalists more secure access to the internet,” Google announced.

“Outline” makes it easy for news organisations to set up their own VPN on a private server.

In 2017, Google paid $12.6 billion to partners and drove 10 billion clicks a month to publishers’ websites for free.

(IANS)

IT RAIDS On Six Government officials IN BANGALORE

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Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted raid on six government officials- Gopalakrishna, joint director, Davangere-Harihara Development Authority; Thippeswamy, assistant commissioner, Tumakuru sub-division; Sripathi Doddalingannavar, vigilance officer, NEKRTC, Kalaburagi and Srikeerti Jain, revenue inspector, Kalasa hobli, Chikkamagaluru, Vijaya Kumar M Shetty, assistant executive Engineer, Karanja Canal Project, Humnabad, Bidar; Kiran Subbarao Bhat, assistant executive engineer, Belgaum City Corporation.

The IT raid was conducted on 24 premises in Davangere, Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Belagavi, Bengaluru, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad and Chikkamagaluru areas. A senior police official said that the search is still on. The details on the confiscated assets will be known in a day or two.

Congress challenges Yeddyurappa, Shah to clarify stand on Lingayat row

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The Congress today asked the BJP to make its stand clear on the Karnataka Cabinet’s decision to recommend religious minority status to Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat communities, after the saffron party accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of “playing with fire” for vote bank politics. Congress’s communications incharge Randeep Surjewala said the issue should not be linked with elections or the political process. “It is inappropriate to link the decision of Karnataka government viz-a-viz declaration of Lingayat Samaj as a minority community to the political processes,” he told reporters.

Surjewala asked BJP chief Amit Shah and the party’s state unit president B S Yeddyurappa to clarify whether they are in favour of the decision or against it. “You need to clarify and come out clearly. Do not hunt with the hare. That is why we have clearly said the sinister propaganda of BJP on this issue is condemnable. “For, they do not want to speak for the fear of annoying vote bank, yet they are opposing the demand of Lingayat samaj. It is condemnable and we dare Shri B S Yeddyuruppa and Shri Amit Shah to clarify their position in the open,” he said.

Surjewala said the Karnataka government had followed the due process before taking the decision. Referring to the Jain community, which was recognized as a religious minority a few years ago, he said Lingayats should also be accorded such status. He said the previous UPA Congress government had got the demand of the community examined and due process was followed by the Siddaramaiah dispensation. After examining historical and other evidences, the UPA government had come to a conclusion that the Jain community was a religious minority despite objections by the Agrawal community, which said they were part of them.

Lingayats and Veerashaivas constitute an estimated 17 per cent of the state’s population, and are considered the BJP’s traditional vote base in Congress-ruled Karnataka, which is likely to go to polls in April-May. The Cabinet decision was slammed by the BJP, which accused Siddaramaiah of “playing with fire” for vote bank politics and carrying on with the “divide and rule” policy.

(PTI)

CBI moves Delhi HC against acquittal of Raja, Kanimozhi in 2G case

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New Delhi: The CBI today moved the Delhi High Court challenging a special court order acquitting former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. The matter was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta.

The court allowed it to be listed for hearing tomorrow. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had yesterday moved the high court against the acquittal of Raja, Kanimozhi and others in a money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam. The special court had on December 21 last year acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of STPL, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd., film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Director of Kalaignar TV Sharad Kumar in the ED case. The ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd (STPL) promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV.

On the same day, the trial court had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others, including former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd. MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI’s 2G case.

The CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the top court on February 2, 2012. Special Judge O P Saini had held that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges.

The special court, which was set up on March 14, 2011, for hearing 2G cases exclusively, had also acquitted Essar Group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate case arising out of the 2G scam probe. The first case, prosecuted by the CBI, had 17 accused, while the second matter, pursued by the ED, had 19 accused. The third one had eight accused including Essar promoters.

In the CBI case, Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others were tried under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, using as genuine fake documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribes.

(PTI)

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