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Firstpost July 04,2018 Sushanta Talukdar Names of about 1.15 lakh persons which were included in the first draft of the updated National Register of Citizens in Assam published on 31 December, 2017, will be excluded from the final draft. The Supreme Court in its order on 2 July approved a proposal by the State Coordinator, National Register of Citizens (NRC), Assam to this effect. The Supreme Court has also fixed 30 July as the new date for publication of the final draft. State Coordinator, NRC Assam, Prateek Hajela submitted before the apex court that these 1.15 lakh persons already included in Part Draft "have not been found admissible for inclusion” in the complete draft during the verification process. These 1.15 lakh cases include 65,694 cases of “family tree mismatch” and 48,456 cases of married women who have submitted Panchayat certificates. "The Part Draft NRC comprising 1.9 crore applicants out of the total 3.29 crore applicants were published on 31 De...

The Wire July 04,2018 The Wire Staff The Supreme Court delivered its verdict on who among the Delhi government and the lieutenant-governor has supremacy when it comes to making administrative decisions for the national capital. All five judges of the apex court constitution bench held that the LG must respect the decisions made by the elected government, and act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. Celebrating the court’s verdict, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was a “big victory for the people of Delhi” and a “big victory for democracy”. The court produced three separate judgments but concurrent – one authored by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.K. Sikri and A.M. Khanwilar, one by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and one by Justice Ashok Bhushan,  Bar and Bench  reported. The court said that the constitution mandates a federal balance between the state and the Centre, and the Centre cannot usurp powers on areas within the domin...

The Wire July 04,2018 Marianna Paraga Venezuela’s  crude  shipments to India, its third largest export market, fell 21% in the first half of the year, according to internal documents from state-run Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A (PDVSA), adding to supply troubles for Indian  refiners  as they are increasingly pressed to diversify oil imports. Venezuela’s  production decline to a 30-year low and export woes stemming from mismanagement, lack of investment and payment delays are affecting almost all of the OPEC-nation’s customers. But the impact on India is notable and comes as its  refiners  are now preparing for a “drastic reduction to zero” of oil imports from US-sanctioned Iran. Last week, PDVSA officials met with executives from  India’s  Reliance Industries and Russia’s Rosneft –  which owns a majority stake in India-based Nayara Energy – to discuss trade issues, said the state-run company. According to an insider fami...

The Wire July 04,2018 Seemantani Sharma Nearly 21 years after the commencement of the negotiations on the  Broadcasters Treaty (BT ) , it seems India is still not ready to endorse it. The BT is an international legal instrument protecting the rights of broadcasting organisations against signal piracy. No other intellectual property (IP) treaty has witnessed such protracted negotiations as the BT. Until recently, the negotiations were stalled primarily due to a political stalemate on key provisions. However, at the recently concluded  Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights  (SCC R ), for the first time in several years, a recommendation to finalise the text of the Broadcasters Treaty was made. The proposal was supported by all major countries, except the US, Japan and South Korea. Even though India did not oppose the recommendation, it did not actively support it. This reticence on the part of the country is a bit odd since according to a 2011...

Livemint July 04,2018 Philip Wen and John Geddie, Reuters The project owner of Malaysia’s $20 billion East Coast Railway Link has told its main Chinese contractor to suspend work, both companies said on Wednesday, raising uncertainty about the future of part of China’s Belt and Road plan. The 688 km (430 miles) East Coast Rail Link will connect the South China Sea in the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia with strategic shipping routes in the west and is a major part of China’s infrastructure push across Asia and beyond. The suspension comes as Malaysia seeks to renegotiate the terms of the deal with China. Since a surprise election win in May, Malaysia’s new government has pledged to cut the national debt, stamp out corruption and review major projects agreed by the scandal-plagued previous administration led by Najib Razak. Financial news outlet  The Edge  first reported the halt in the project, referring to a letter sent from Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MR...

The Economic Times July 04,2018 ET Bureau The Union government has decided to continue with eight umbrella scheme for relief and rehabilitation of migrants and repatriates, including offering assistance for one-time settlement of displaced families from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and displaced Bru persons from Mizoram.  The Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its nod to the schemes which will provide relief and rehabilitation assistance to the refugees, displaced persons, civilian victims of terrorist, communal, Naxal violence and crossborder firing and mine/IED blasts on Indian territory and riot victims of various incidents, said the government in an official statement.  The government will have to shell out Rs 3,183 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20 to execute the schemes. The cabinet go-ahead to repatriation of Bru tribe, who were forced to flee from their homes in Mizoram due to ethnic violence in 1997, came a day a...

The Economic Times July 04,2018 Bharani Vaitheesvaran, ET Bureau Contrary to the statements the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board that the decision to cut power connections to the Vedanta-Sterlite factory was only after an inspection five days ahead that revealed production related-activities, the Anil Agarwal-owned copper manufacturer has submitted in court that there was no such inspection.  Vedanta-Sterlite has filed a petition with the National Green Tribunal, Delhi, in which it has challenged the pollution control board's closure order on May 23, and the state government's Government Order permanently shutting the factory. ET has accessed the petition filed by Sterlite.  The pollution control board had pulled the plug on the 4-lakh-a-year copper smelter citing detection of preparatory work to resume production during a period it was disallowed to operate the factory pending an important licence. The decision followed a massive protest against the fa...

Hindustan Times July 04,2018 Reuters Theft of cryptocurrencies from exchanges soared in the first half of this year to three times the level seen for the whole of 2017, leading to a three-fold increase in associated money laundering, according to a report from U.S.-based cybersecurity firm CipherTrace released on Tuesday. The report, which looks at the global anti-money laundering market, showed that in the first six months of the year a total of $761 million was stolen from digital currency exchanges, compared with about $266 million for the whole of 2017. The losses could rise to 1.5 billion this year, estimated CipherTrace, which is launching a software to help exchanges and hedge funds that use or trade cryptocurrencies comply with anti-money laundering laws. “Stolen cryptocurrencies are three times bigger this year than last year so the trend is obviously not our friend here,” Dave Jevans, chief executive officer of CipherTrace, told Reuters in an interview. Jeva...

Hindustan Times July 04,2018 Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir and Nick Rigillo After devouring nearly as much energy as all of Iceland’s households combined, Bitcoin miners may be about to return something to the community that’s housed them. Iceland is looking past the faddishness of cryptocurrencies and toward other projects that need the same kind of infrastructure that Bitcoin miners rely on. These include areas like deep learning applications for self-driving cars or automatic translators. Bitcoin “probably won’t be here far into the future” said Johann Snorri Sigurbergsson, business development manager at the HS Orka power plant in Iceland, which provides electricity to the data centers that miners use. But the centers themselves will become new technology incubators, and “that’s the bet we’re making,” he said. Mining for Bitcoin requires lots of energy, both to do the actual mining but also to cool the enormous computers used to crack the codes that release the limited...

Hindustan Times July 05, 2018 Malvika Vyawahare The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018, which supporters argue will help in solving crimes and in tracing missing people. “This is a big step forward,” Ravi Kant, an advocate who also runs an NGO, Shakti Vahini which works on women’s issue, said. “It will greatly help to solve sexual violence cases.” DNA based evidence is already used to a limited extent in criminal cases, but regulation has not kept pace with its use. Concerns have been raised about the reliability of the DNA evidence and privacy and about abuse and misuse of DNA data. The bill provides for compulsory accreditation and regulation of labs that provide DNA testing and analysis facilities to address these concerns. Reference;https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cabinet-clears-dna-technology-use-and-application-regulation-bill-2018/story-0af0SmUukffoL4mJJwfCwL.html

Hindustan Times July 05, 2018 HT Correspondent The union cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to continue, until 2020, with eight schemes of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) meant for relief and rehabilitation of migrants, a ministry official said. The MHA said the schemes will provide relief and rehabilitation assistance to refugees, displaced people, civilian victims of terrorist/communal crimes, cross-border firing, and riots. The eight schemes were started, at different times, to enable migrants and repatriates who have suffered on account of displacement to earn a reasonable income, and to facilitate their inclusion in mainstream economic activities, the MHA said. “The eight schemes approved for continuance are already in operation and the benefits under each will be extended to intended beneficiaries in accordance with the approved criterion,” a statement issued by the ministry said. “The financial implication for this decision will be Rs 911 crore in 2017-18, Rs ...

Firstpost July 05, 2018, The Associate Press Beirut: The Islamic State group says the son of its top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed fighting Syrian government forces. The announcement of the death of the al-Baghdadi's young son appeared on the group's social media accounts on Tuesday. It included a picture of a young boy carrying a rifle and identified him as Huthaifa al-Badri. The statement, dated July, said he was an elite fighter, known as an "inghimasi," who was killed while fighting Syrian and Russian troops at a power station in the central Homs province. It did not specify when he was killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said the most recent Islamic State operations in the area were in the first two weeks of June. Al-Baghdadi has been reported killed or wounded on a number of occasions but is widely believed to still be alive. Little is known about al-Baghdadi's family, but a woman and a...

Hindustan Times July 05, 2018 Ronojoy Mazumdar, Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to provide health insurance to half a billion Indians -- a mass of people larger than the entire population of South America -- before he seeks a fresh mandate next year is already facing serious hurdles. Almost five months after announcing the ambitious program, the government is still working to lock in hospitals and insurance companies in time for its planned August launch. It aims to cover the poorest 40% in a country where a 2017 World Health Organisation report found spending on health pushed more than 52 million people below the poverty line. Fighting against accusations from the opposition Congress Party and other political groups that it’s friendlier to business than the poor, Modi’s government is also keen to shore up public support and roll out the program before the federal election scheduled for early 2019. Although beneficiaries have been identified and the IT in...

The Telegraph July 05, 2018,  PTI Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday announced plans to launch ultra high speed fixed line broadband services for homes and enterprises. Speaking at the company's 41st annual general meeting, Ambani said the service will provide ultra high definition entertainment on TV, voice activated assistance, virtual reality gaming and digital shopping as well as smart home solutions. ”We will now extend fiber connectivity to homes, merchants, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises simultaneously across 1,100 cities to offer the most advanced fiber-based broadband connectivity solutions,” he said. Jio, the company's telecom service, will move India to top five nations in fixed line broadband in coming year, Ambani said. Its launch in September 2016 has made India the highest mobile data consuming nation. Ambani said since its launch, Jio has amassed 215 million customers and has sold over 25 millio...

Financial Express July 05, 2018, Huma Siddiqui The first green helicopter (ALH Mk-III) earmarked for Indian Coast Guard has completed its fitting at state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, with installation of basic systems and a successful maiden ground run recently. ‘Green’ in technical term as it is a basic helicopter, the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) ‘Dhruv’ is a veritable tour de force of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). It has now been handed over to the Rotary Wing Research & Development Centre (RWR&DC), a design house of HAL for integration and certification of 19 new systems. These new systems include 12.7mm Cabin Mounted Gun, Surveillance Radar, SAR Homer, Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), Automatic Identification System (AIS), Loud Hailer, Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), Automatic Deployable Emergency and Locator Transmitter (ADELT). Since its induction in 2002, the four versatile Dhruv helicopters have been extensively deployed by ...

The Asian Age July 05, 2018  Ikea announced to invest 1.5 billion euros or over Rs 10,000 crore in the biggest investment by a single-brand retailer in India. (Photo: AFP) Hyderabad: After six-year long wait, India would have to its first Ikea store when the Swedish furnishing major officially opens it on July 19 in Hyderabad. The four lakh square feet store would have 7,500 products, which Ikea’s new India CEO Peter Betzel said, were decided after its company executives visited 1,000 Indian homes to understand the preferences of Indian customers. The company officials said that the store would cater to every segment of customer and cover all price points. Speaking to a select journalists, Mr Betzel said the company is sourcing 20 per cent of its total product value from India. “It would reach 30 per cent in five years.” Ikea announced to invest 1.5 billion euros or over Rs 10,000 crore in the biggest investment by a single-brand retailer in India. In 20...