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India Today August 20, 2018 Nirav Modi is in the United Kingdom, British authorities have confirmed to India. The Central Bureau of Investigation has already moved an extradition request for Modi, sources told India Today TV. "We have moved for extradition through the Ministry of External Affairs. We are in touch with UK authorities," an officer told India Today TV. Modi is the prime accused in the over Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. Modi and his associates, including uncle Mehul Choksi, are accuse of improperly using banking instruments in defraud the state-run PNB of more than Rs 13,000 crore. Choksi was last traced to Antigua where he is believed to have been granted citizenship. Nirav Modi's location was not traced until now. The Interpol revealed two months ago that Modi has managed to travel to six different countries on a passport that was revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs. Media reports previously did place h...

The Indian Express August 20, 2018 On August 16, NABARD presented the nation with a gift when it released the results of its All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS). Among other things, the survey estimates 2015-16 farmers’ income levels. In February 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented his vision of doubling farmer incomes by 2022-23, there was no assessment of the base (2015-16) aggregate income levels. The estimates from NAFIS fill that gap. NAFIS is based on a sample of 40,327 rural households in 29 states of which 48 per cent are agriculture households (agri-HHs); 87 per cent are small and marginal farmer households. The survey combines the strengths of the NSSO’s Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) and RBI’s All India Debt and Investment Survey. Based on household-level data, NAFIS estimates that an average Indian farming household earned Rs 8,931/month (Rs 1,07,172/year) in agriculture year 2015-16. This is up from Rs 2,115 earned in 2002-03...

The Economic Times August 17, 2018 Ahead of the first-ever United Nations High level Meeting next month, the World Health Organisation on Friday announced crucial changes to the multi drug resistant TB treatment regimen, which includes expanding the usage of the latest tuberculosis drug, Bedaquiline. It also calls on countries to minimize the use of injectibles, which are known to cause serious side effects in patients.  In its last-issued guidance in October 2016, the WHO had restricted usage to the breakthrough drug owing to concerns around its effect on the heart (cardio-toxicity). The drug was also given conditional approval by the USFDA in 2012 on the basis of the company's phase 2 data.  However, the UN health body stated that new evidence from clinical trials and observational studies prompted a formal review of its guidelines. As per revised guidelines, Bedaquiline can now be used in treating both kids and adults for up to 6 months, on whom two of the m...

The Economic Times August 18, 2018 The government must slap penalty on anyone using Aadhaar data for purposes other than public servicesNSE 0.45 %, whistle-blower Edward Snowden has said.  Addressing an event via video-conference, he said that if Indian government was serious about implementing Aadhaar for public good, it must ensure "criminal penalty" against anyone misusing the data.  Mass surveillance system would look like Aadhaar as it creates systemisation of society, he told the fifth edition of 'Talk Journalism' event organised here last weekend.  Systemisation of society is something that is not stated in the scheme of things for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), he added.  Replying to a question the surveillance issue, he said that no government will say that it has decided that "you don't have rights". They would rather say that they are bringing in a new programme that will safeguard people'...

The Economic Times August 18, 2018 US technology giants plan to intensify lobbying efforts against stringent Indian data localisation requirements, which they say will undermine their growth ambitions in India, sources told Reuters.  U.S trade groups, representing companies such as Amazon, American Express and Microsoft, have opposed India's push to store data locally. That push comes amid rising global efforts to protect user data but is one that could hit planned investments by the firms in the Indian market, where the companies currently have limited data storage.  The issue could further undermine already strained economic relations between India and the United States.  Technology executives and trade groups have discussed approaching Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office to appraise him of their worries. Separately, the industry is considering pitching the issue as a trade concern, including at the India-US talks in September in New Delhi, accordi...

FirstPost. August 20, 2018 The US government on Friday hit four Myanmar military commanders and two military units with punitive sanctions, accusing them of "serious human rights abuses" and "ethnic cleansing" in violently expelling minority Rohingya from their homes. Military and border guard commanders Aung Kyaw Zaw, Khin Maung Soe, Khin Hlaing, and Thura San Lwin were accused of leading violent campaigns against the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state as well as minorities in Kachin and Shan states. "Burmese security forces have engaged in violent campaigns against ethnic minority communities across Burma, including ethnic cleansing, massacres, sexual assault, extrajudicial killings, and other serious human rights abuses," said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the US Treasury, which announced the sanctions. The US Treasury said the sanctions on individuals were meant as a warning to security f...

The Indian Express August 20, 2018 The next round of spectrum auctions is set to witness a lukewarm response from telecom companies, potentially denting the government’s non-tax revenue for the fiscal. This is despite the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) earlier this month recommending the reserve price for the auctions and advising the government not to delay the auction process. One of the reasons for the possible tepid bidding is that barring the premium 4G 700 MHz and the 5G spectrum in the 3300-3600 MHz band, operators have sufficient spectrum holding bought in previous auctions and also through acquisition of smaller operators. Since the number of players in the industry has also come down, the scarcity of spectrum is no longer there, which means that there’s enough left for everyone. As regards 700 MHz and 3300-3600 MHz, the eco-system is yet to be fully developed so these cannot be deployed immediately. Further, currently operators are in the pro...

The Economic Times August 20, 2018 The country’s largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India, will be launching its dengue monoclonal in India by 2020 according to Adar Poonawala CEO, Serum Institute.  Scientific details of the vaccine remained unclear. However, the vaccine maker said it will begin registrations for the vaccine soon.  Serum Institute is also working on a 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine, which the company has patented in India has emerged as one of the key markets for the company as in the last four years, Poonawala said the government's immunisation programme has helped doubled its revenue.  "Earlier, exports contributed to 90 per cent of our business, but now the share of the India market has gone up by 30 per cent ," Poonawala told ET.  Serum Institute that recently formed the vaccine manufacturers association of India, a lobby group to speed by vaccine trials and use in the country, is looking to engage with gover...

Dailyhunt August 20, 2018 The four day visit by Chinese defence minister and state councillor, Wei Fenghe will be an important affair. During the four day visit starting August 21, India and China will discuss a host of issues which includes building trust between the armies. Further the two sides would also discuss ways to maintain peace along the Indo-China border in the wake of the Doklam issue and recent transgressions in Ladakh. The primary objective of the visit would be to implement the decisions taken by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the informal summit that was held at Wuhan earlier this year. Modi and Xi had agreed to open a new chapter in ties between India and China. Further it was also decided that the two armies would coordinate better to maintain peace along the border. The visit by Wei would discuss these aspects and find ways to ensure that the relations between the two countries are better, sources tell OneIndia. The...

The Economic Times August 19, 2018 Jabir Siddiq, aka Jabir Moti, is believed to be the right-hand man of Dawood, managing his investments in the UK, UAE and around the world.  The Pakistani national, reportedly in the UK on a 10-year visa, is likely to have been held on drugs related charges.  "We are unable to release any details at this stage," a spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police said.  Jabir Moti, 51, is believed to be close to both Dawood and his wife, Mehjabeen, as their finance manager.  Jabir's arrest on Friday is likely to have been a result of intelligence sharing between India and the UK.  Meanwhile, a newly-updated list of financial sanctions released by the UK government earlier this week notes three known addresses in Pakistan for Dawood -- House No 37, 30th Street - defence, Housing Authority, Karachi; Palatial bungalow in the hilly area in Noorabad, Karachi; and White House, Near Saudi Mosque, Clifton, Karac...

The Telegraph August 20, 2018 US technology giants plan to intensify lobbying against a stringent Indian requirement to store data locally, which they say will undermine their growth ambitions in the country, sources said. US trade groups, representing companies such as Amazon, American Express and Microsoft, have opposed India's push for data localisation. The Indian move comes amid rising global efforts to protect user data but could hit planned investments by the firms in the Indian market, where they currently have limited data storage. The issue could further undermine the already strained economic relations between India and the US. Technology executives and trade groups have discussed approaching Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office to express their concerns to him. Separately, the industry is considering pitching the issue as a trade concern and raise the matter at the India-US talks in September in New Delhi, two sources said. Although a final decision h...

The Asian Age August 20, 2018 US chipmaker Intel has trained as many as 99,000 developers, students and professors in artificial intelligence (AI) in India since April 2017, against a target of 15,000 for the first year of its programme, according to the tech major. It has also tied up with premier educational institutes like the IITs in Delhi, Mumbai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Chennai, and IIITs in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, BITS Pilani, ISI Kolkata, IISc Bangalore, CDAC and companies like Shell and TCS among others for training under its AI developer education. "Though we had committed to train 15,000 developers, students, and professors in AI initially through training and workshops, we have already exceeded the target over seven-fold at over 99,000 by roping in many of them from 100 organisations," said Prakash Mallya, managing director for sales and marketing, Intel India. The programme was launched in April 2017 and the initial target was for a year...