Rahul Gandhi seeks probe in NEET candidates' data leak, writes to CBSE

Rahul called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to the CBSE over media reports claiming a massive breach of data of candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test this year, and demanded an inquiry into the matter.

In the letter to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairperson Anita Karwal, he called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future.

Drawing attention to the recent media reports regarding the "massive breach" of candidate data, Gandhi, in his letter, said, "It is alleged that this data is available on certain websites for a price, and has leaked the data of over 2,00,000 students".

Education news : The reports claimed that personal data, including names, phone numbers and email ids of over 2,00,000 candidates, who appeared for CBSE's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year, were available for a price on some online portals.

I am shocked by this wide scale theft of personal data that has compromised the privacy of candidates across the country, Gandhi wrote in the letter.

He said it highlighted the serious lack of safeguards to prevent data breach, and calls into question the ability of the CBSE to ensure the sanctity of the examination process.

I strongly urge you to order an inquiry against this shocking lapse and take action against the officials responsible for the same. In addition, I request you to put additional safeguards to prevent the recurrence of such data breaches, Gandhi said.

The CBSE conducted the NEET on May 6 in 136 cities in 11 languages, the results of which were announced on June 4.

Sterlite protests: Madras HC stays construction of new copper smelter

For almost 100 days now, agitators had been protesting against the capacity expansion by Sterlite Copper; they claimed that the plant was causing harm to its employees

Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu: The Madras High Court's Madurai Bench on Wednesday stayed the ongoing construction of a new copper smelter at Sterlite Copper's Tuticorin plant.

A day before, as many as 11 people had been killed and 20 others injured at Thoothukudi, or Tuticorin, as a protest against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit -- going on for 100 days since the company announced its plans to invest Rs 25 billion in doubling the capacity of its existing facility to 800,000 tonnes per annum -- turned violent. The protesters claimed the plant had been causing harm to its employees and increasing the capacity of the plant would aggravate the problems.

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry has sought a report from the Tamil Nadu government over the incident in Tuticorin.

Following a gas leak in March 2013, the then chief minister late J Jayalalithaa had ordered the plant's closure, following which the company moved the National Green Tribunal. With the tribunal overturning the government order, the state moved the Supreme Court against it, and the petition has been pending since.

Here are the top developments in the Tamil Nadu protests:

1. The Madras High Court's Madurai Bench on Wednesday put a stay on the ongoing construction of a new copper smelter by Sterlite Copper in Tuticorin under its capacity expansion efforts, according to ANI reports.

ALSO READ: Sterlite protests: Govt assures action 'respecting' people's feelings

2. Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK) Chief Vaiko on Wednesday met those injured during protests against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper.

Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan also met those who were injured during the anti-Sterlite protests at General Hospital in Tuticorin. The families of the victims said they were facing difficulties because of his visit and asked him to leave, ANI reported.

MNM, along with other Opposition partiesm, had condemned the violence that took place on Tuesday and blamed the AIADMK-led Tamil Nadu government for the unrest and deaths in the state.

ALSO READ: Stalin to miss Kumaraswamy's swearing-in to meet anti-Sterlite protestors

3. DMK has called for an all-party protest on May 25 over the Sterlite protest incident.

4. In a government statement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswamy announced Rs 1 million for those who lost family members, Rs 300,000 for people who were injured severely, and Rs 100,000 for those with minor injuries..

5. In an official statement, Sterlite Copper late on Tuesday expressed regret and sorrow over the deaths that took place during protests against it in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin. The company said it had appealed to the government to ensure safety of the employees of the plant, as well as the surrounding communities.

"It's with great sorrow and regret that we witnessed today's incidents around the protest today at Tuticorin. The company has appealed to government and authorities to ensure the safety of our employees, facilities and surrounding communities. Sterlite Copper plant is non-operational as we await approval for the consent to operate," the statement read.

Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy says have stopped Modi's Ashwamedha horse: Updates

H D Kumaraswamy's swearing-in as Karnataka chief minister saw a show of strength by a galaxy of Opposition leaders who are looking to unite in a bid to take on Narendra Modi in 2019

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress alliance has succeeded in "tying" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ashwamedha horse (victory horse) in Karnataka, insinuating that the Modi-Amit Shah duo's electoral juggernaut has been halted. On Wednesday, Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the 25th chief minister of Karnataka in a ceremony in Bengaluru that brought together anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (anti-BJP) regional and Opposition parties on a single platform ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"I had said after the Uttar Pradesh election results came out that my aim is to tie the Ashwamedha horse of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah (BJP President). Today, both Congress and JD(S), together, have tied their Ashwamedha horse in Karnataka," said Kumaraswamy, adding, "Probably, in the days to come, Amit Shah has to go to Narendra Modi with lifeless Ashwamedha horse, as we have tied their horse."

The swearing-in ceremony, which also saw Congress' G Parameshwara sworn in as Karnataka deputy chief minister, showcased rare scenes of bonhomie between United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, Nationalist Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India Member of Parliament D Raja, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav, and former Union minister Sharad Yadav.

The BJP, for its part, decided to abstain from attending the swearing-in ceremony despite seven of its leaders, including former chief ministers Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar and S M Krishna, Union minister Ananth Kumar, and officiating Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah, being invited. The BJP emerged as the single largest party after the May 12 Assembly elections and had formed a government with B S Yeddyurappa as the chief minister that lasted for all of three days. Yeddyurappa said they were boycotting the event as BJP was observing a "black day" across the state.

Here are the top ten developments regarding government formation in Karnataka and Kumaraswamy taking oath as chief minister:

1) Kumaraswamy says Congress, JD(S) have buried the hatchet to work together:Kumaraswamy allayed fears over the working and stability of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. "I would like to convey to the people of Karnataka that they need not worry about the survival or duration of our government even after the trust vote as we (JD(S) and Congress) have buried the hatchet to work for the state's development as alliance partners," the chief minister said.

Why Karnataka's new government has a job on its hands despite 8.5% growth

In 2016, Karnataka recorded the second-highest number of farmer suicides-1,212, behind only Maharashtra

Karnataka is grappling with income inequality, an agrarian crisis and child malnutrition even though its economy grew at 8.5%–second-highest among 10 states and union territories in 2017–to a gross domestic product of Rs 9.5 lakh crore ($141 billion) in 2017-18, according to the latest economic survey.

The 2018-19 budget for the state is Rs 2.09 lakh crore ($31 billion), which is 12% more than the budget estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore for 2017-18. There has been an increase in the state’s revenue as well. Karnataka’s tax revenue for 2018-19, including goods and services tax (GT) compensation, is estimated to be Rs 1.03 lakh crore ($15 billion), an increase of 13% over the revised estimate for 2017-18.

The economic survey 2017-18 highlights Karnataka’s progress on the per capita income front too. With a per capita income of Rs 142,267 per annum, Karnataka’s citizens are India’s 10th richest, behind Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Kerala in 2015-16 according to national accounts.

This prosperity, however, has not led to equal distribution of wealth, robust agriculture or good access to public health systems.

Bengaluru city earns five times as much as poorest district, Kalaburagi

Income disparity is high in the state. Bengaluru urban is the richest pocket with a per capita income of Rs 320,346 per annum. Kalaburagi in the north is the poorest, with a per capita income of Rs 65,493 per annum, almost one-fifth that of the state’s capital city.

Source: Karnataka Economic Survey 2017-18; Figures in Rs

In primary education (grades I to V), Yadgir in northeast Karnataka suffers a dropout rate–calculated by subtracting the sum of promotion and repetition from 100 in every grade–of 12.3%. In Bengaluru Urban, this rate is 2.9%. Yadgir’s average primary dropout rate exceeds Mizoram’s (10.1%), according to the District Information System on Education (DISE) 2015-16.

Source: District Information System on Education 2015-16; Figures in %

This inequality is evident in health indicators as well. For example, in Dakshin Kannada, nearly 92% households reported improved sanitation in 2015-16. But in Yadgir, this rate stood at 18.1%, according to National Family Health Survey 2015-16.

KCR meets Mamata Banerjee to discuss non-BJP, non-Congress 'federal front'

Rao had recently said a non-Congress and non-BJP front should be formed in the country, as he called for a "qualitative change" in politics

Telangana CM KCR (K Chandrasekhara Rao's) idea of creating a federal front with non-BJP and non-Congress political parties at the national level has received a hint of positive response with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee terming their meeting in Kolkata on Monday as a good beginning.

"We have relations with many political parties and if we can do something together, it is good for the country" Mamata Banerjee said at a joint press conference after an hour-long meeting with KCR, who flew to Kolkata in a special flight to discuss the formation of federal front with her earlier in the day.

Rao said the idea behind federal front was to provide an alternate political model for the country and they would discuss with other leaders to forge a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance under a collective leadership in the days to come.

Rao-Banerjee meeting comes as a first concrete step towards bringing together like-minded leaders and parties in various states. Earlier, Rao had spoken with some of the other leaders over phone.

He is expected to make similar visits to other states to meet other leaders, including Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, according to his party men.

Preparations are also on to formally declare the formation of a federal front at Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) plenary meeting on April 27. Rao will be personally inviting the potential federal front partners at this event.

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.

11-year-old Pakistani girl writes to Modi, asks him to take steps towards peace, friendship

Aqeedat Naveed congratulated Modi on UP poll victory

Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) historic mandate in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, an eleven year old Pakistani school girl wrote to him saying that he should now focus towards winning more hearts of Indians and Pakistanis alike, by becoming a bridge of peace between the two nations.

In her letter, Aqeedat Naveed highlighted the need for peace between India and Pakistan, and said that Prime Minister Modi can help speed up the process, reports DunyaNews.

"Once my father told me that winning of hearts is a marvelous job. Perhaps you have won the hearts of Indian people, therefore you won the election in UP. But I must tell you if you want to win more Indian and Pakistani hearts, you should take steps towards friendship and peace. Both countries need good relation. Let's make a peace bridge between India and Pakistan. Let's decide that we will not buy bullets, will buy books. We will not buy the guns, will buy the medicine for the poor people," Aqeedat wrote in the two-page letter.

Also Read : Congress debacle in UP raises questions about Rahul Gandhi's elevation to party chief

She further emphasised that the choice between peace and conflict lies open for both the nations, and signed off by congratulating the prime minister for the UP polls victory.

The fifth grader, who hails from Lahore, had earlier written a letter to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj as well on the matter of peace and has also received several responses from officials in New Delhi. 

UP elections 2017: Poll promises have not changed in 15 years; here's why

Pihani, a cluster of villages near Lucknow, illustrates why the state has not developed

Pihani, UP Elections 2017 : For 16 years, Kailash Rai (not his real name), 49, has been commuting six hours every working day between his home in the state capital Lucknow and the government degree college where he teaches in Pihani, 135 km to the northwest.

A political-science lecturer, Rai cannot move with his family to Pihani, a cluster of over 100 villages (called a kasba) in Hardoi district, with less than 40,000 families as per Census 2011. When he started working there in 2000, it lacked the basic public facilities–regular power supply, good roads, public transport and good medical services.

Pihani remains an economic backwater. In the ongoing assembly elections, UP’s incumbent and contesting politicians are still promising the basic facilities they did 16 years ago: Electricity, buses and jobs, along with laptops and free data for poor youth.

a government degree college, a state-run industrial training institute (ITI) and two private degree colleges–more than the Indian average of 27 colleges per 100,000 youth in the 18-23 age group, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15. But it has been unable to produce talent to run local educational institutions, banks and medical centres.

UP has the highest number of colleges in any Indian state (6,026), according to AISHE 2014-15, but it has been unable to produce qualified workforce to drive development, as IndiaSpend reported on February 11, 2017.

UP is India’s most populous and youngest state–its median age is 23–and the flaws in its development model typified by Pihani explain why its towns and village clusters (blocks with a population of less than 250,000 in 2011) cannot cope with the aspirations of its people, especially with regard to education and employment.

Pihani’s dropout rate of 36% at elementary school level exceeds UP’s overall rate of 21%. Like other village clusters in the state, connections to bigger cities are limited because there are few railway links, hardly any feeder roads to highways or efficient public transport services. Less than half the houses in the villages have electricity. (more)

जनता की सहूलियत को ही नियमों की जुगत

जनता से संवाद स्थापित करने के अपने मासिक रेडियो प्रसारण 'मन की बात' में प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने एक बार फिर नोटबंदी का बचाव करते हुए इस दौरान बदले गए तमाम नियमों को भी जायज ठहराया। साथ ही उन्होंने संकेत दिए कि भ्रष्टïाचार के खिलाफ अपनी मुहिम को तेज करने के लिए सरकार जल्द ही बेनामी संपत्तियों पर भी शिंकजा कसने की तैयारी कर रही है। नोटबंदी के बाद कई बार बदले नियमों पर प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि जनता की ओर से मिली प्रतिक्रियाओं के बाद सहूलियत के लिए ही इतनी बार नियमों में बदलाव किया गया। बेईमानी और भ्रष्टाचार के काले कारोबार में लिप्त लोगों के खिलाफ सख्ती जारी रखने का संकल्प व्यक्त करते हुए मोदी ने पूर्ववर्ती कांग्रेस नीत सरकार पर बेनामी संपत्ति से जुड़े कानून को कई दशकों तक ठंडे बस्ते में डालने का आरोप लगाते हुए कहा कि वर्तमान सरकार ने बेनामी संपत्ति कानून को धारदार बनाया है और आने वाले दिनों में यह कानून अपना काम करेगा। आकाशवाणी पर प्रसारित संबोधन में मोदी ने कहा, 'मैंने 8 तारीख को (नोटबंदी की घोषणा के दिन) पहले ही दिन कहा था कि यह लड़ाई सामान्य नहीं है। 70 साल से बेईमानी और भ्रष्टाचार के काले कारोबार में कैसी शक्तियां जुड़ी हुई हैं? उनकी ताकत कितनी है? ऐसे लोगों से मैंने जब मुकाबला करना ठान लिया है तो वे भी सरकार को पराजित करने के लिए रोज नए तरीके अपनाते हैं।'

उन्होंने कहा कि जब वे नए तरीके अपनाते हैं तो हमें भी तो उनकी काट के लिए नया तरीका ही अपनाना पड़ता है। तू डाल-डाल, तो मैं पात-पात, क्योंकि हमने तय किया है कि भ्रष्टाचारियों को, काले कारोबारों को, काले धन को, मिटाना है। भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ कठोर कदम जारी रखने का संकल्प व्यक्त करते हुए मोदी ने कहा, 'मैं आपको विश्वास दिलाता हूं कि यह पूर्ण विराम नहीं है, यह तो अभी शुरुआत है। ये जंग जीतनी है और थकने का तो सवाल ही कहां उठता है, रुकने का तो सवाल ही नहीं उठता है।' उन्होंने कहा कि जिस बात पर सवा-सौ करोड़ देशवासियों का आशीर्वाद हो, उसमें तो पीछे हटने का कोई प्रश्न ही नहीं उठता है।' Read more

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PM likens opposition to Pakistan; attacks Manmohan, Chidambaram, Rahul

Breaking News : In an aggressive speech, with oodles of sarcasm thrown in, more reminiscent of his election campaign speeches in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today equated opponents of ‘note ban’ of trying to shield the corrupt, just as Pakistan starts firing on Indian border posts to distract Indian Army so that infiltrators can sneak into Jammu and Kashmir under its cover.

The PM also attacked Congress leadership, particularly former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. Questioning the former PM's integrity, Modi expressed surprise that there was no blot on Singh even when he has been part of India's economic policy think tank since the early-1970s.

The PM was speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Cancer Centre in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency. Modi said when he announced ‘note ban’ decision he didn't think it was possible that politicians and political parties would be so unashamed as to come out openly to defend the corrupt.

“Now I understand for whose benefit these protests (by the opposition) are taking place,” he said. Apart from likening the opposition to Pakistan, he also said his opponents reminded him of a gang of pickpockets at work at a village or town fair. He said the disruptions in Parliament during the winter session was to alert and protect the corrupt. Modi said when a pickpocket is at work in a village fair his associate distracts the police by misleading them and shouting that the pickpocket has fled in the other direction. “This is exactly the strategy being employed now to protect the corrupt,” the PM said at the event at the Banaras Hindu University.

The PM’s comments come a day after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi demanded at a public rally in Mehsana in Gujarat that he come clean on allegations that he had received over Rs 40 crore in cash payments from individuals associated with the Sahara India Group and Aditya Birla Group when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The BJP rubbished the allegations, and said these stem from the Congress Vice President’s frustration at successive electoral defeats.(more)

Indian banks flawed, have been hacked several times: Legion

Aside from consuming copious amount of drugs, next on the agenda of hacker group 'Legion', which recently hacked into the official Twitter handles of Vijay Mallya, Rahul Gandhi, Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar, is to target Loading ..., which provides email services to government employees, and former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

In an encrypted chat interview with FactorDaily, Legionreportedly said: “Next is a dump of sansad-.nic.in emails. Which is — quite big. It includes a lot of _BIG FISH_". While posting from one the Twitter handles they had hacked, the group also named Lalit Modi as an intended target.

In another conversation with Economic Times, Legionsaid the Indian banking system is "deeply flawed" and has been hacked several times. According to the report, Legion even revealed the financial institutions that have been hacked by them but ET refrained from publishing their names.

Legion has reportedly been pulling off hacks for ten years and have also been wanted by multiple international agencies.

Political motives?

Despite having hacked Rahul Gandhi's account, the group, reportedly, does not have any political motives. The member interviewed by the Washington Post added that Legion wasn't even interested in “political data” until a few weeks ago. The group describes itself as "anarchist".

The FactorDaily reporter specifically asked the group's member as to why they had not targeted any leaders or individuals affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The member made it clear that the group had no particular sympathy for the ruling party in India. "We will own them (BJP) too, when the time is right," said the member.

The data picks the targets for them

While speaking to the Washington Post, the group's member said that they were in possession of vast amounts, allegedly in the terabytes, of raw data and that the group had been sorting out data regarding public figures in the country. The member said that the "data was choosing the targets for them". (read more)

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Facing sedition charge, Cong leader Ramya refuses to apologise for Pak comment

Facing sedition charge, Cong leader Ramya refuses to apologise for Pak comment

The Kannada actor and Congress member Ramya, who is accused of sedition over her remarks of praising the people of Pakistan after a recent visit, said on Tuesday that there is “no question of apologising.”

She said, "BJP will not do anything to repeal the law, because they are using it to their advantage", Congress leader Ramya on Tuesday refused to apologise for her statement that "Pakistan is a good country, not hell."

The 33-year-old Divya Spandana visited Islamabad to attend Saarc Young Parliamentarians Conference, responded to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s statement, “Going to Pakistan is like going to hell,” with “Pakistan is not hell, people there are just like us. They treated us very well.”

She made the remarks during a rally in her former constituency Mandya, saying how the people of Pakistan went out of their way on making her stay and comfortable after they got to know that she is from India.

Her comments outraged K Vittal Gowda, an advocate from Karnataka, who lodged a “sedition case” in Kodagu in southern Karnataka, around 250 km from state capital Bengaluru.(more)

All you need to know about the alleged scam behind Robert Vadra's Haryana land deal

All you need to know about the alleged scam behind Robert Vadra's Haryana land deal

Justice S N Dhingra, who was appointed to probe issues concerning the grant of license(s) for developing commercial colonies in Gurgaon Sector 83 by Haryana’s Department of Town and Country Planning, on Thursday asked for more time to submit the report.

Justice Dhingra, who was meant to submit on Friday a report on whether Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, was the beneficiary of a sweetheart deal when her party was in power, said that he needs an extension of six more weeks.

What the allegations are

The alleged scam revolves around Haryana-cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka, Vadra, and the latter's company.

The company in question is Skylight Hospitality, which bought a 3.5-acre plot in Shikohpur village near Manesar. The same plot was later sold to DLF at a huge profit.

According to a report by Tehelka magazine, the land in question, purchased by Vadra's company for around Rs 7 crore, was sold to DLF for an amount of Rs 58 crore. The report added that in the period between its purchase and sale, the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government in the state granted a Change of Land Use (CLU) permission for the land. Due to the CLU permission, the report said that the value of the plot of land in question shot up sharply.

Alleging various irregularities, Khemka, in late 2012, set aside the mutation of the property sold by Vadra to DLF. However, the then Congress-run state government later gave a clean chit to Vadra. Read More.