When our soldiers faced the Chinese, you hugged their envoy: Modi to Rahul

PM Modi says Gujarat poll is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics

In a stinging attack on the Congress in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the upcoming Assembly election is a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

He also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics," the prime minister said at the rally.

Taking another dig at the opposition party, which is making all-out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The Prime Minister will address a series of campaign meetings on Monday and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be on December 18.

AI will not cut jobs but create different kind of jobs: Intel India head

As many as 50 billion devices (like phones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators) would be connected by 2020

Dismissing the argument that Artificial Intelligence would lead to job losses, a technology expert today said it would in fact create different ones.

"Many people argue that with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, our people will lose jobs. No. I do not believe we will lose jobs, we will create different kind of jobs," Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, said here.

Artificial Intelligence does jobs which are repetitive in nature, where humans tend to make mistakes, and also where a lot of memory is required, she said, speaking at an event jointly organised by FICCI and the Telangana government.

"Who will identify where can AI be leveraged? It's us. But, that technology is absolutely critical, because everything that we do, use, wear is going to become smarter tomorrow and impact the lives, including our health," she said.

Predicting that as many as 50 billion devices (like phones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators) would be connected by 2020, she said 5G would be essential technology to make it a reality.

Also Read : Making a career out of your interests: How to find a job that you love doing

"It is important because the amount of data that will be floating in the air tomorrow is going to be so much that your 4G LTE technology will fail," she said.

It is important to re-skill oneself to rise above Artificial Intelligence rather than worrying about what AI will do, Rai said.

Noting that India is at the cusp of digital transformation, she wondered which other country can boast of the digital identity of more than one billion people stored with Aadhaar.

"We have all kinds of digital information...What we together collectively have to do, is to leverage this generation of digitisation and see how can we empower our citizens," she said.

WannaCry 'ransomware' virus, a vulnerability stolen from the NSA: Microsoft

WannaCry - "ransomware" has locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries

Officials across the globe scrambled over the weekend to catch the culprits behind a massive ransomware worm that disrupted operations at car factories, hospitals, shops and schools, while Microsoft on Sunday pinned blame on the US government for not disclosing more software vulnerabilities.

Cyber security experts said the spread of the worm dubbed WannaCry - "ransomware" that locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries - had slowed but that the respite might only be brief amid fears new versions of the worm will strike.

In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft President Brad Smith appeared to tacitly acknowledge what researchers had already widely concluded: The ransomware attack leveraged a hacking tool, built by the US National Security Agency, that leaked online in April.

"This is an emerging pattern in 2017," Smith wrote. "We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world."

He also poured fuel on a long-running debate over how government intelligence services should balance their desire to keep software flaws secret - in order to conduct espionage and cyber warfare - against sharing those flaws with technology companies to better secure the internet.

"This attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem," Smith wrote. He added that governments around the world should "treat this attack as a wake-up call" and "consider the damage to civilians that comes from hoarding these vulnerabilities and the use of these exploits." Read more

No-fly list: Govt proposes maximum 2-year ban on unruly flyers

Draft rules, a first of kind in the world, have three levels with progressively higher sanctions

Almost a month after the country was shocked by the visuals of a parliamentarian assaulting an airline crew member for not being able to provide a business class seat as it didn't exist, the government took steps to empower airlines to ban unruly passengers.

The centre on Friday released draft rules for a 'no-fly list' -- a first of its kind in the world -- for unruly passengers. The rules allow airlines to bar a passenger from three months to maximum two years depending on the intensity of the offensive behaviour. The government has placed disruptions from flyers into three categories -- level-1 will include disruptive behaviour such as physical gestures etc., level-2 will be physically abusive behaviour like pushing, kicking and sexual harassment, and level-3 is for life-threatening behaviour and damage to aircraft operating systems.

Also Read : Maruti Suzuki opens bookings for all new Dzire

Punishment for unruly behaviour will simultaneously depend on the category of the offence.

The corresponding time of grounding for offenders, would be three months for level-1 and six months for level-2, while level-3 will attract a ban of two years. The new rules will be open for public comments for a month, and will pass through stakeholders' consultation before being finalised.

"There is no other country in the world with a no-fly list based on safety. There are no-fly lists based on security where people are seen as grave threats and they are not allowed to fly. India is blazing a new trail in this regard," Jayant Sinha, minister of state for civil aviation said. Read more

SBI clerk prelims results & main exam call letters released

SBI clerk prelims results & main exam call letters released

The SBI Clerk Results have been announced after a long wait for the prelims exam held in the month of May & JUNE.IT was part of the clerk recruitment to fill Junior associate & Junior agriculture associate posts in State bank of India.SBI had advertised to fill 17000+ clerk vacancies across various states in the month of April 2016.

The results for preliminary exams held on May 22, 28, 29 & June 4, 5 have been released now.

Normally, candidates are provided a website link to login using their registration number & password/ date of birth to check result Status will display whether the specific person has qualified qualified or not.

But this year, you cannot check SBI clerk result status online.Because there is no such link on their website.

Instead, the bank has activated the link to download call letters for main exams.Only those who clear the prelims are eligible to appear for mains.

• Click here to visit the SBI mains call letter page
• Enter your registration no & date of birth to login

Candidates who have cleared prelims will be able to see their main exam date, time & location in the call letter.

Incase you are not able to login in the above call letter page even after entering the correct registration details, you will see the below message: You have not qualified for the main examination"

Date of main exam: Click Here.

Jawaharlal Nehru's name 'removed' from Rajasthan textbook; state minister denies deliberate omission

The "removal" of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's name from new textbooks for classes sixth to eight in Rajasthan elicited a strong reaction from the Congress even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied any wrongdoing.

The textbook, according to an Indian Express report, has been written "following a year-long curriculum re­structuring exercise".

According to a NDTV report, the textbook, "Samajik Vigyan", makes no mention of  Nehru as a freedom fighter or as "a leader of Independent India".

The report adds that the textbook does not mention Mahatma Gandhi's assassination at the hands of Nathuram Godse.

The Rajasthan unit of the Congress on Sunday reacted strongly to the move.

State Congress chief Sachin Pilot told IANS on phone: "It's absolutely unacceptable that the BJP is working in a vindictive manner by not even mentioning India's first prime minister in the textbooks."Read More.

Does Dawood have gangrene, and will he escape being brought to justice?

Is India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim suffering from gangrene?

CNN-News18 reported on Monday that the dreaded Mumbai mafia boss-turned-terrorist has advancedgangrene at a stage where it is life-threatening, and that he might have to undergo an amputation.

Additionally, the report cites doctors, who are treating Dawood, as saying that the gangrene is at such an advanced stage that Dawood is immobile and an amputation might be required.

It adds that 

business-standard.com

Dawood Ibrahim is being treated at his residence in the "upscale Clifton neighbourhood of Karachi". According to the report, the doctors attending to him are from the Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, and the Combined Military Hospital, Karachi.

The report is specific on Dawood’s medical condition, quoting the doctors treating the don as saying that high blood pressure and blood sugar are the causes behind the gangrene.

The Times of India, on the other hand, on Tuesday reported that senior intelligence officials and the gangster's deputy Chhota Shakeel have confirmed that Dawood is "fit".

The ToI report quotes Shakeel saying that the reports of a gangrene infection are results of rumours being floated to hinder Dawood's business.

If Dawood is indeed suffering from gangrene, and if the condition is indeed life-threatening, then it will have serious consequences for India's pursuit of justice for the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993 that were exacted by Dawood and his gang in return for the communal riots in the city that followed the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Bringing Dawood back to India to stand trial for his role in the blasts has been a longstanding objective of Indian politicians and intelligence agencies, but one that has been met with little success, thanks to stonewalling by the Pakistani establishment.

In fact, the Pakistani government has consistently denied Dawood’s presence in that country, despite the fact that India claims it even knows the exact address of his residence in Karachi.

However, there have been reports of Indian intelligence having had at least four opportunities to nab Dawood in Pakistan, none of which worked out.

1) Dawood allegedly wanted to surrender in 1994:

According to a Hindustan Times report, a little over a year after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Dawood was willing to surrender and "even spoke thrice to the then CBI DIG Neeraj Kumar".

According to the report, the agency, for unknown reasons, "didn’t take him (Dawood) up on his offer".

Speaking to HT, Kumar said: “I spoke to a jittery Dawood three times in June 1994… He seemed to be toying with the idea of surrendering but had one worry — his rival gangs could finish him off if he returned to India. I told him his safety would be the responsibility of the CBI.”

However, according to the report, Kumar's seniors abruptly ordered him to avoid any further contact with the gangster.Read More.

Ishrat Jahan controversy: Why BJP has hit political potluck against the Congress

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has for long pointed out how several Congress leaders are yet to be punished for their alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 or even the several cases of suspected ‘fake encounters’ approved by successive Congress governments at the Centre and in states. In contrast, the BJP’s Gujarat government, earlier led by Narendra Modi, has been hounded for the anti-Muslim riots of 2002 as well as the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter of 2004.

The BJP has cleverly exploited this analogy to paint the Congress and the intelligentsia that supports the party as the villains, while Modi and BJP President Amit Shah as victims. In the case of Ishrat Jahan, the BJP has alleged that it was a conspiracy hatched by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and executed by then Home Minister P Chidambaram to target Modi.

That at least two probes, including one by the Central Bureau of Investigation, found the encounter to be staged is quickly brushed aside. The probe had drilled holes in the Gujarat police theory of Ishrat, a Mumbai college student, being a Lashkar operative. The Congress, given its low credibility currently, has struggled to put forth its point of view.

Read more from our special coverage on "ISHRAT JAHAN"

• Ishrat Jahan case: BJP asks Sonia Gandhi to take responsibility
• Ishrat Jahan case: BJP attempting to dilute fake encounters issue, accuses Congress
• Ishrat Jahan case: BJP, govt attack Congress, Chidambaram over affidavit issue
• CBI court rejects plea to inspect 2nd Ishrat charge-sheet
• Congress alleges cooked-up story given on Ishrat Jahan case

The BJP, at least since mid-February, has effectively used the Ishrat Jahan issue to put the Congress leadership on the defensive. It has kept up the heat on the issue ever since Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative David Coleman Headley suggested that he had heard about Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old girl who was gunned down by Gujarat police in June 2004.Read More.

Maritime India Summit: To invest Rs 1 lakh crore to double port capacity, says PM

The Centre has firmed up a comprehensive plan to increase India's port capacity to 3,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2025 from the present level of 1,400 million tonnes. To meet this target, the government has envisaged an investment of Rs 1 trillion to meet this target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his inaugural speech at the maiden Maritime India Summit 2016 on Thursday.

The proposed plan includes development of five new ports in addition to the existing 12 major ports and the ongoing development at three new ports, the Prime Minister said. A slew of initiatives, including the Sagarmala project — which will allow leveraging of the 7,500-km long coastline — will help revive and restore India's position in the global maritime sector, he added.

Speaking about the initial efforts taken by the Centre, Modi said that major ports had added 165 million tonnes capacity with record addition each year in last two years. The traffic in major ports showed 4% growth in the same period despite global slowdown. Operating margins, which were on a decline, also saw an improvement. In the year ended March 2016, operating profit of 12 major ports increased by nearly Rs 6.7 billion, he said.

Read more from our special coverage on "NARENDRA MODI"

• Modi hosts lunch for Prince William, Kate
• Maldives security, stability in Indias interest: Narendra Modi
• PM Modi to visit Ballia in Uttar Pradesh on May 1
• Dear PM Modi, too many U-turns make you dizzy
• PM Modis promise to double rural income leaves farmers, experts cold

Furthermore, he said that the Jawaharlal Nehru Port alone had posted a net profit of Rs 10 billion, helped by 12% increase in efficiency. This is just a beginning as the government wants to do more, he added. “We are enhancing our own capacities of execution and implementation of ports,” Modi noted.

Modi said the Centre is engaging with the immediate and regional neighbours to promote shippingand maritime security.

Assuring assistance on all fronts, the Prime Minister invited investors to come to India with an open mind, “This is the right time to come to India and even better time to come via sea route. Do not miss it.”Read More.

Panama Papers: Why probe by Indian agencies may yield nothing

Black money is back in focus with the expose by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that shows  hundreds of Indians were shareholders and/or directors in companies incorporated in distant islands by Panama-based firm Mossack Fonseca in a bid to avoid tax.

Soon after the revelation, the government declared that action will be taken against said accounts held abroad by Indians and constituted a multi-agency group to continuously monitor information. Panama papers have named 500 people, including film actors and industrialists who have allegedly stashed money in offshore entities.

The assurances given by the BJP-led government to bring back black money in India has largely being ineffective. Possible reasons would be polices that have been established to curb accrual of black money have not been enforced by the agencies or existing legal and administrative framework which has its own limitations.

Is it so easy to float a company abroad? Would they able to get evidences against the said entities named in Panama Papers? What are the limitations, Business Standard explores.

Is it so easy to float a company abroad?

Some countries are following the disclosure norms reluctantly, while in some jurisdictions, the KYC norms are more liberal than others. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms, liberalized remittances scheme (LRS) allowed individuals even minors to remit amount up to $250,000 ( Rs 1.65 crore as on date) each year abroad under self declaration. This is for studies, medical treatment, buying property overseas or holding shares in an overseas company or a combination of both.

Will they get evidences against entities named in Panama papers?

Getting information from other countries is a cumbersome task. There are limited options before Indian authorities which includes Letter Rogatory (LR), a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance. The most common remedies sought by LR are service of process and taking of evidence.Read More.

Panama Papers: From Amitabh Bachchan to Adani's brother, names of 500 Indians leaked

Bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan's (pictured) name has been mentioned in the leaked files

What do Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, DLF owner K P Singh and Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani have in common?

According to a report in The Indian Express on Monday, these names, among 500 others, figure on a Panama law firm's list of Indians who have setup offshore companies in tax havens through the firm's services.

A huge data leak at Panamanian firm Mossack Fonsecahas revealed that it hid billions of dollars in assets of global politicians, sports stars and entertainers.

The files, called the "Panama Papers" and comprising over 11 million documents from the firm, have revealed names which will shock many.

The problems for Mossack Fonseca, a hitherto unheard of name for the vast majority of Indians and people the world over, began when 2.6 terabyte worth of its confidential data was leak to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

According to the ICIJ, the consortium, together with the German newspaperSuddeutsche Zeitungand more than 100 other media partners, conducted the investigation into the papers over a period of a year.

The conclusion: Information on more than 214,000 offshore companies connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories unearthed.

But what exactly does being an Indian on the list entail?

The Indian Express, a partner in the investigation called "Project Prometheus", explains: "Some of the Indians floated offshore entities at a time when laws did not allow them to do so; some have taken a technically convenient view that companies acquired is not the same as companies incorporated; some have bunched their annual quota of remittances to subscribe to shares in an offshore entity acquired at an earlier date. Still, some others have received income earned abroad and deposited it in the entity to avoid tax. Some have opened a bank account to keep payoffs in government contracts, or held “proceeds of crime” or property bought with money made illegally in Trusts/ Foundations."

The report suggests that many of the Indians, featured in this Panama Leaksand who set up these offshore entities prior to 2013, are likely in violation of the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme — introduced in February 2004.Read More.