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Expressing concern over the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in Lok Sabha and the developments relating to the Bill in the North Eastern states, former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the decision taken by his Government for the greater interest of the indigenous citizens of the country, particularly the NE region.
In his letter addressed to Prime Minister, Mr Tuki wrote,”the hurry in which the Bill is passed in the Parliament in the wake of the ensuing Parliament elections neglecting the rights, privileges and sentiments of the indigenous people of North East is something which was avoidable at this time.”
The Union Government who is supposed to preserve , protest and safeguard the uniqueness and characteristics of the protected Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and other states cannot be subject to unrest and intimidation due to the largesse’s of the Government without understanding the consequences and social, cultural and demographic imbalances which will be detrimental to the existence of the region itself, he said.
“Arunachal Pradesh has already faced the unfortunate issue of settlement of Chakma –Hajong refugees which has created large scale dissatisfaction and cultural problems in the State. Therefore, I earnestly urge your goodself to reconsider the decision taken by your Government,” the former Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister on Monday.
In a separate letter to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Tuki apprised him that other political parties and the Chief Ministers of the alliance partners of the BJP under North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) has totally opposed the CAB.
“Our Congress party should also make the stand clear and raise the issue and may ensure that the Bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha in order to protect the rights and privileges of the North east India,” the Congress MLA wrote to Dr Singh, a day after he shot off letter to Mr Modi.
Mr Tuki also wrote to Chief Minister Pema Khandu urging him to take a strong decision to protest before the Centre for immediate withdrawal of the proposed Bill.
He also requested him to urge the Centre for exemption from CAB to Arunachal Pradesh.
It may be mentioned that 10 regional political parties of the North East including several allies of BJP, passed an unanimous resolution to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, at a convention in Guwahati recently.
The CAB, 2016, seeks to give Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.(UNI)

Thane, Jan 31 (UNI) Two people were killed and four others injured, when their car hit a road divider at Manpada bridge in this district of Maharashtra, police said.
The incident occurred on Wednesday night, when the occupants of the car, residents of Chitalsar Manpada, were returning from a village after attending a pre-marriage function of an acquaintance.
The deceased were identified as Ankush Chandwade and Arjun Pardi.
Further investigation was on.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (UNI) President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday highlighted various achievements of the Modi government and said that the country is following a road map as envisioned by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B R Ambedkar.
“Our country is following a roadmap as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and which is based on social justice and value based principles,” THE President said in his address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament here.
He said right from the day one, the government has worked with a determined manner to fight corruption and other menaces associated with the government.
Amid frequent thumping of desks, the President mentioned about various welfare measures and the government’s move to fight diseases, ensure economical medical treatment and also setting up of AIIMS.
He said under his government, rural development has been a focus area and electricity has reached all the villages in the country.
“We are heading towards a situation where there will be no house without power,” Mr Kovind said.

Uber, the world’s largest ridesharing company, on Wednesday announced a pilot launch of UberBOAT service in Mumbai, in partnership with Maharashtra Maritime Board.
The on-demand service will provide transportation from three of the city’s popular coastal routes namely Gateway of India, Elephanta Islands and Mandwa Jetty, via speed boats.
Starting February 1, riders can access two variants of UberBOAT based on seating capacity – 6-8 seater for UberBOAT and 10 plus seater for UberBOAT XL.
Uber’s vision is to transform into a multi-modal transportation platform in India.
In line with this, UberBOAT will enable riders in Mumbai to request a speedboat at the tap of a button through the Uber app, thus making waterway commute in the city efficient and convenient.
Mr Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, Bombay Port Trust, said, “Our vision is to make Mumbai as the sea transport and tourism hub of the country in collaboration with Maharashtra Maritime Board. It is a pleasure to launch UberBOAT in Mumbai, a step to make the waterway commute more efficient and convenient. As we continue to reimagine the waterways of Mumbai through a host of ambitious projects and partnerships, we believe UberBOAT will play a pivotal role in improving connectivity and will work closely with Uber to make this pilot a success.”

(UNI) Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said by leveraging all 1.55 lakh post offices across the country, the India Post payment Bank (IPPB) would be able to provide banking services to the last man in rural and remote areas and help realizing the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of economic transformation and creation of New India with all-encompassing financial inclusion.
Mr Goyal also congratulated the Department of Posts and IPPB for their efforts in spreading the activities of the bank.
Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha expressed satisfaction at the rapid scale up of the bank. He also commended the bank’s efforts to simplify and popularize digital payments in the country.
He said in a little over four months, the Bank has rolled out 1.25 lakhs access points across the country. Significantly approximate 1.10 lakh of these Access Points are located in the rural areas. It is fastest Access Points ramp up in banking history with the average rate of over 800 Access Points per day. The number of its Access Points is nearly twice the number of bank branches in rural India until recently.
The two Ministers were speaking at a special function organised to mark completion of two years of IPPB since its pilot launch.

An estimated 2,275 people, or six a day, died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, making it the world’s deadliest sea crossing, despite a significant drop in arrivals reaching European shores, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said Wednesday.
“Refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea lost their lives at an alarming rate in 2018, as cuts in search and rescue operations reinforced its position as the world’s deadliest sea crossing,” said the UNHCR in its latest “Desperate Journeys” report released Wednesday.
In total, 139,300 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2018, the lowest number in five years.
“Saving lives at sea is not a choice, nor a matter of politics, but an age-old obligation,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The report describes how shifts in policy by some European States saw numerous incidents left large numbers of people stranded at sea for days on end, waiting for permission to dock.
NGO boats and their crews faced growing restrictions on their search and rescue operations.
On routes from Libya to Europe, one person died at sea for every 14 who arrived in Europe – a sharp rise on 2017 levels.
Thousands more returned to Libya where they faced appalling conditions inside detention centers.
“For many, setting foot in Europe was the final stop of a nightmarish journey on which they had faced torture, rape and sexual assault, and the threat of being kidnapped and held for ransom,” said UNHCR.
It said States must take urgent action to dismantle smuggling networks and bring perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
The UN agency noted a glimmer of hope in some places.
Despite political deadlock on a regional approach to sea rescue and disembarkation, as called for by UNHCR and IOM in June, several States committed to relocating people rescued on the central Mediterranean.
Some countries also pledged thousands of resettlement places for those evacuating Libya.
For the first time in recent years, Spain was the primary European entry point s around 8,000 arrived by land (via the Ceuta and Melilla enclaves) and a further 54,800 people successfully crossed the perilous Western Mediterranean.
As a result, western Mediterranean deaths nearly quadrupled from 202 in 2017 t (UNI)

Terming Congress President Rahul Gandhi as a more evolved person in comparison to the earlier General elections, former Union Minister Prakash Jaiswal on Wednesday claimed that the Congress will touch new heights of success in Uttar Pradesh, after the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the political fray.

Talking to UNI on Wednesday, Mr Jaiswal said, “The kind of maturity that was lacking in Mr Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is very much there now. The Congress President, who is fully evolved in politics, is discharging his responsibilities in a better way, which is clearly evident by the victory in the recently-concluded Vidhan Sabha polls in three states.”

Giving Mr Gandhi the credit for bringing Ms Vadra into the political ambit, the former Union Minister said that this far-sighted decision will prove to be the ‘sanjeevani’ for the party in Uttar Pradesh.

“Prime Minister Modi had made many promises to the people of the country right before the elections and none of those have been fulfilled.

‘Congress has got a new strength and vigour with Priyanka Gandhi’s entry. She had limited herself to Rai Bareli hitherto, but the state of Uttar Pradesh, along with the whole country, will witness her popularity in the next two-three days.”

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was interrogating Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer and former Hamirpur District Magistrate B Chandrakala, over the alleged mining scam during the previous Samajwadi Party regime here on Wednesday.
On January 24, she had given a miss to the ED, who had summoned her to appear before them.
Instead of appearing in person before the ED at their Lucknow office, the IAS officer who was on study leave, sent her lawyer to hand over the required papers.
But in Wednesday, Chandrakala appeared before the ED at around 1130 hrs on their second summon.
Sources said that the interrogation was underway and could continue till the evening.

On Tuesday, the ED had summoned SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra for interrogation but he too skipped it and instead sent his lawyer. The ED had lodged a case against 11 people, including the IAS officer and a Samajwadi Party MLC, in connection with the alleged illegal mining scam. The probe agency had also issued summons to all the accused to appear before them for interrogation.

According to sources, the lawyer of the IAS, on January 24 had submitted the papers related to the assets of Chandrakala as sought by the ED.

In the first week of January, CBI, which was probing the illegal mining scam on the direction of the Allahabad High Court, had raided residences and other places of 11 accused including the IAS officer and the MLC.

Chandrakala is accused of flouting the rules and granting licenses for sand mining during her tenure as district magistrate of Hamirpur in 2012. (UNI)

Datanet India, an ITeS company, launched a first-of-its-kind mobile application, named ‘Key Economic Indicators of India’ which collects latest updates and information on various elements of the economy such as Wholesale Price Index (WPI), Consumer Price index (CPI) Inflation, National Income and more.
With a name suggestive of its game, the ‘Key Economic Indicators of India’ collects latest updates and information on various elements of the economy such as Wholesale Price Index (WPI), Consumer Price index (CPI) Inflation, National Income, Foreign Trade and Investment, Exchange Rates, Bullion Rates, Capital Market, Insurance, Index of Industrial Production, Index of eight core Industries, Infrastructure, Energy Generation, Railways, Petroleum prices, Retail price of selected food commodities and Wage Rates that forms the entire economic ecosphere.
The data collected in the app are drawn from authentic sources, which are then compared with current, last month and last year’s data of respective sectors, giving the most realistic, up-to-date and comprehensive information on the Indian economy. Furthermore, the data is updated with the latest economic information on a weekly basis.
The app is supported by 19 languages, of which 12 are Indian — Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and the remaining seven are foreign languages such as Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Nepali, Russian and Spanish. The app is functional on both iOS and Android platforms.(UNI) 

Leading Peer to Peer (P2P) online money lending marketplace Paisa Dukan on Tuesday announced Trivago-famed guy Abhinav Kumar has joined its Board of Advisors.

At Paisa Dukan, Mr Kumar will look after the digital marketing and branding space.

Talking to UNI, Paisa Dukan CMD Rajiv Ranjan said, “While the entire Fintech industry works on the concept of digitization to provide contactless financial solutions with Abhinav coming in the advisory board of the Paisa Dukan, his experience will help in to elevate our digital marketing strategy. I also see an exponential growth in our digital footprint in next quarter.”

The Mumbai-based firm is playing a pivotal role in providing their clients with the finest financial platform to create a smart way of lending or borrowing money in a transparent way.

“The peer to peer marketplace is an interesting thing and the way internet population is growing it would be beneficial for both the lending and borrowing fraternity. The loan seekers can get the loan easily while the young salaried class who are in search for avenues investing their savings can take advantage of this platform,” Mr Abhinav Kumar told UNI on his joining at the Paisa Dukan.

Telecom Major, Vodafone Idea Ltd, on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Sun TV Network-south India’s biggest entertainment network.

Sun TV Network’s OTT platform, Sun NXT, caters to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam audiences having over 50,000+ hours of content and will now be accessible to Vodafone Idea customers.

This partnership will offer Vodafone Idea’s customers access to Sun NXT’s exclusive digital content, a release said customers are increasingly looking forward to entertainment in regional languages. Through this partnership, Vodafone Idea has widened its bouquet of regional content through Sun NXT on Vodafone

Play and Idea Movies and TV app respectively.

Sun NXT will power 30+ Live TV channels, 4000+ movies and a huge repository of TV shows, music videos and short format content on both Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV App. Vodafone Idea is first in the industry to launch this partnership for the entire catalogue including movies.

The customers will be able to access top TV channels like Sun TV, Gemini TV, Udaya TV, Surya TV and many other such channels and also popular movies and top-rated TV shows across the four languages on

Sun NXT through Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV.

Commenting on the partnership, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said, ‘When it comes to content, we are singularly focused on providing entertainment to our customers keeping in mind their consumption, language and culture. We believe that video and vernacular are the new growth drivers in digital

content consumption today, especially in markets of South India.

Regional content creates affinity amongst the consumers. We are delighted to partner with Sun TV Network to provide enriched entertainment to our customers by offering high quality regional content on Vodafone & Idea’s Mobile apps.'(UNI)

After the success of its first season, AltBalaji is all set to present the next chapter in the love story of the beloved couple- Palak and Ritwik, with the second season of ‘Dil He Toh Hai,’ from February 2.

The gripping trailer, which was dropped on the ALTBalaji app, is sure to leave viewers asking for more.

The show features Karan Kundrra in the lead role of Ritwik Noon.

While the first season ended with Palak (Yogita Bihani) and Ritwik’s separation, the second season will bring answers to the burning questions that the viewers were left with.

Rajeshwari Sachdev, Bijay Anand, Paras Kalnavat, Abhinav Kapoor and Asmita Sood are also palying interesting characters.

The show, with high viewership figures, ended on Sony Entertainment Television, late last year. However, the production house decided to keep the show going in a digital format.

Speaking on playing the character of Palak in the show, energetic and gorgeous actress Yogita Bihani said, ‘It is an exciting time for me, where I not only bagged Ekta Kapoor’s show in my first stint with television, but also received a lot of recognition for my character ‘Palak’. I am thankful for the team in believing in me and giving me this opportunity.

‘As excited as I was for starting my career with Ekta’s production, I am equally excited today as well, being in my home city. It all could not have been possible, without the support of the beloved viewers. The upcoming season will be a much more thrilling affair than the first one. We hope the viewers will continue to love and support us throughout the upcoming journey of Dil Hi Toh Hai,’ Yogita said.

National Film Award Winner actress Rajeshwari Sachdev, who has proved her mettle with every hat she has donned, from an actor to singer, said, ‘Working with the TV Czarina Ekta Kapoor and being a part of the show like ‘Dil He Toh Hai’, which is striking the right cords of the audience, is really exciting.

‘It is a family drama which has received a lot of appreciation and love from viewers of all age groups. For me, acting has always been my passion irrespective of the medium. I enjoy doing theatre, TV shows and now trying my hands on the digital platform like AltBalaji is definitely going to be an exciting experience.’

‘Dil He Toh Hai’ is the story of Noons- a family that had retained its values, traditions and legacy. A very real and modern family, the Noon’s were bonded in love together until Ritwik Noon played by Karan Kundrra falls in love with Palak and everything falls apart.

The show will premiere from February 2 on AltBalaji.

Symantec Corp, the world’s leading cyber security company, on Wednesday announced a new Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (MEDR) service and enhanced EDR 4.0 technology.
These advancements improve attack discovery and incident response using AI-driven analytics and automation to quickly discover and stop sophisticated cyber attacks.
Enterprise IT and Security Ops teams are increasingly challenged to investigate and respond to advanced and emerging threats with available resources and staff.
Symantec’s MEDR service harnesses the power of EDR 4.0 to improve incident response, threat hunting and forensics, fortifying teams with investigation expertise and threat intelligence from a world-class team of Symantec SOC analysts.
Symantec MEDR detects stealthy attacks and expertly examines suspicious activity for faster incident validation and response. A powerful combination of Symantec EDR 4.0, the SOC technology platform, and the Global Intelligence Network, allows Symantec analysts to provide 24×7 expertise. Managed threat hunting, remote investigations, and endpoint containment enable security teams around the world to stay ahead of threats. (UNI)

Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar has assumed charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy said on Wednesday.

An alumnus of Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar and National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Pune, he was commissioned into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy on July 1, 1982, it added.

The Admiral has held various challenging Staff and Command assignments during his distinguished naval career spanning more than three decades.

After having completed his specialisation in Navigation and Direction at Kochi in 1989, he served as the Navigating Officer of Indian Naval Ships Beas, Nilgiri, Ranvir and Vikrant.

His other sea tenures include Commanding Officer of INS Kulish and Ranvir, and Executive Officer onboard INS Brahmaputra.

Among his shore tenures, the important ones include Staff officer (Ops/ND) at Indian Naval Work-up team, Head of Training Team (Navy) at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Defence Advisor at the High Commission of India in Singapore and the Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of the Western Naval Command.

On promotion to Flag rank, he has held the important assignments of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), Chief of Staff (COS) of Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat (FOMAG). In the rank of Vice Admiral he has been the Commandant of the National Defence Academy and the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.

He graduated from Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and has attended the Army Higher Command Course at Mhow as well as the Expeditionary Operations Course at Quantico, Virginia, USA.(UNI)

Antibiotic resistant “superbug” genes originated in India were found in the High Arctic, a new study has shown.

The genes associated with resistance to antibiotics were discovered in soil samples from the Kongsfjorden region, a remote place in the High Arctic, said a study published in the academic journal Environment International on Monday.

Some of the detected genes, which are almost certainly not “local” to the Arctic, can confer resistance to multiple drugs.

The discovery confirmed the spread of blaNDM-1 (called New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1) into the High Arctic.

By far, a total of 131 such genes have been discovered by scientists, including the one first detected in urban India in 2008.

Since British scientists found the “superbug” in New Delhi’s public water supply later, the resistant genes have been found in over 100 countries, including new variants.

It is estimated that some 70 perent of bacteria that cause infections are resistant to at least one antibiotic used to treat them, largely fueled by their overuse.

“What humans have done through excess use of antibiotics on global scale is accelerate the rate of evolution, creating a new world of resistant strains that never existed before,” said David Graham, professor of Ecosystems Engineering at Newcastle University in Britain.

“This finding has huge implications for global antibiotic resistant spread,” he warned.

By 2050, 10 million people could die each year if existing antibiotics continue to lose their effectiveness, according to the UK Review on Antimicrobial Resistance.(UNI)

Patnagarh MLA K.V.Singhdeo has resigned from the privilege committee objecting to the step of summoning the OTV MD and Co-founder Jagi Mangat to the house . Singhdeo alleged that that was a step by the ruling party taken out of sheer political vendetta and so he has resigned from the committee. He sent his resignation to the Speaker Pradeep Amat.

Anna Hazare has once again wriggled out of the confines of footnotes and has    launched a fresh hunger strike Monday at his Ralegan-Siddhi village seeking Lokpal and Lokayuktas as promised by the government. Very recently he had urged the Maharastra government issuing an ultimatum for setting up of Lokayukt or he would go on hunger strike. Anna has heaped allegations on the Modi-led government which has gone back on its words to fulfill his demands made during the UPA regime.

Venezuela will prove unlawfulness of the US move to impose sanctions on the country’s state oil company PDVSA and its subsidiary Citgo, and will ultimately emerge victorious in the situation, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told Sputnik in an interview.
On Monday, the United States blocked $7 billion in PDVSA’s assets in its jurisdiction and imposed ban on deals with the entity as part of efforts to facilitate power transfer to “the interim president [Juan Guaido] or a subsequent democratically elected government.” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that by blocking PDVSA assets, the United States takes care of this company in the interests of the people of Venezuela.
“This US decision absolutely violates the norms of international law, it is an unlawful decision [made] in a bid to expropriate a Venezuelan asset, a Venezuelan company. That’s what we’re going to demonstrate. I am confident that we will emerge victorious [in this situation], protecting company Citgo as the property of the Venezuelan people,” Maduro said.
He described the US move to sanction the company as “one of the most imprudent, most insane decisions made by [US National Security Adviser] John Bolton.”(UNI)

With the Interim Budget coming up on February 1, the premier industry body for the development of a vibrant Indian Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) ecosystem has suggested that the government abolish the Angel Tax for ESDM start ups and enable R&D through provisioning separate budget to fund projects of national interest in the Electronics & Semiconductor domain.

Start ups in Electronics and Semiconductor space primarily depend on Angel and self funding as very few Venture Capitals in India are investing is ESDM companies. Angel tax and the current policy of getting the start up valuation done by a merchant banker is hitting the ESDM start ups very hard.

Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), is the premier industry body committed to the development of a vibrant Indian Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) ecosystem and evangelising the dream of establishing “Brand India” that is recognised worldwide as a go-to destination for electronic products.

IESA president Rajesh Ram Mishra has appealed that the government should address specific issues that will help promote a thriving ESDM ecosystem across all segments in the country.

‘IESA believes there is a big opportunity of design led manufacturing to make India a global hub in intelligent electronics. We would like to appeal to the government to address specific issues that will help promote a thriving ESDM ecosystem across all segments in the country,’ he said.

The government should address industry concerns on disincentive for domestic manufacturing and products designed in India due to differential duty structure in multiple segments, he said.

Unlike software products, R&D for electronic products and semiconductors require higher investments. As rightly captured in the draft NEP, R&D for electronic products may need roughly USD 10-15 Million and R&D for Semiconductors (chips, ICs) requires USD 40-50 Million per product.(UNI)