Happy Media

Business Today September 11,2018 Blowing the lid off what could possibly be one of the biggest data breaches of unique identity database of over a billion Indians, a report by Huffpost on Tuesday claimed that UIDAI' database has been compromised by a software patch that disables critical security features of the software used to enrol new Aadhaar users. What is Aadhaar software hack? According to the report, a software patch, which can be bought for as little as Rs 2,500, allows unauthorised persons, based anywhere in the world, to generate Aadhaar numbers. A patch is a set of code that is used to change a computer program or update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing bugs. However, it can also be used to introduce vulnerabilities. The report claimed that the Aadhaar software patch allowed users to bypass critical security features such as biometric authentication of enrolment operators to generate unauthorised Aadhaar numbers. Why is it a security risk? ...

The Indian Express September 12,2018 India, Iran and Afghanistan held their first tripartite meeting in Kabul on Tuesday during which implementation of the Chabahar port project and a host of other issues were discussed, officials said. The Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, while the Iranian team was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai chaired the meeting. “The meeting focused on consolidating economic cooperation, including Chabahar, as well as enhancing cooperation on counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, and continuing support to the peace and reconciliation process that is led and owned by Afghanistan,” the three countries said in a joint statement. It said that the three sides agreed to hold the next round of discussions in India next year. Sources said possible impact of US sanctions on the Chabahar port project was also discussed during the meeting. The Chabahar port is being...

The Indian Express September 12, 2018 Rahul Tripathi After both the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced that they will boycott the coming municipal and panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor Satyapal Malik is learnt to have conveyed to the two parties that the current dispensation in the state “is not an elected government”, and this is not the “right time” for parties to “take a position on Article 35A or Article 370”. J&K has been under Governor’s rule since June 20 and Malik, who took charge as Governor last month, has been holding consultations with political leaders to “ease (their) concern and address the issue,” sources said. Appearing for the J&K administration, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the Supreme Court on August 31 that “even debate or discussion on Article 35A will have serious repercussions on law and order”. If local body elections are not held as scheduled, Mehta had submitted, it...

The Economic Times September 12, 2018 Urmi A Goswami NEW DELHI: With extreme weather events  such as heat waves and floods becoming  more frequent, Poland, the host of this year’s  UN climate negotiations, is leaving no stone  unturned to ensure that rules for implementing  the landmark Paris Agreement aimed at  combating global warming will be finalised at  the meeting in Katowice in December.   Poland plans to kick off the summit with a  gathering of global leaders to help overcome  the deep political differences that remain on  key issues and ensure that negotiators have  the right impetus to complete the task. “Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has proposed a  summit on December 3 that will bring together all heads of state and government to share  their commitment to implement the Paris Agreement,” Poland’s Deputy Environment  Minister Micha³ Kurtyka, who will serve as the chair of the United Nat...

The Economic Times September 11,2018 After Nepal decided to skip the first ever  BIMSTEC military exercise in India, its newly  appointed Army Chief Purna Chandra Thapa  has declined an invite by the Indian Army to  attend a conclave of army chiefs of the  grouping on September 16, official sources  said.  The militaries of BIMSTEC member nations,  barring Nepal and Thailand, began a weeklong  anti-terror exercise at Aundh near Pune  on Monday to enhance cooperation in dealing  with the challenge of terrorism in the region.  Each participating country has sent its troops as well as a three-member team as  observers. Though Nepal and Thailand are not participating in the exercise, both the  countries sent observers for it.  The Indian Army has organised a conclave of army chiefs of the participating countries on  September 16, and barring Nepal, all the countries have accepted the invitation. They sa...

The Wire September 11,2018 New Delhi : The controversy surrounding the Rafale deal intensified on Tuesday with advocate-activist Prashant Bhushan and former BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie raising a fresh set of allegations on the timing and procedure of the aircraft deal. In particular, the trio has alleged that the manner in which contract was downsized and changed at the last minute violated the authority of the India air force and its categorisation committees, which are the only bodies that allegedly have the power to determine the number of aircraft required and the category under which the procurement would proceed. Over the last few months, the 36-fighter-jet deal has been a source of political controversy, with opposition political leaders and civil society activists having raised questions over the contract’s secrecy, its twists-and-turns and the last-minute inclusion of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as an offset partner. The  Congress, for ins...

The Wire September 12, 2018 Swati Chaturvedi New Delhi:   The former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Raghuram Rajan had red flagged “a list of high profile fraud cases of non-performing assets to the Prime Minister’s Office for coordinated investigation” and noted how the over-invoicing of imports by “unscrupulous promoters” was used to inflate the cost of capital equipment. Incredibly, the “Rajan list” did not set alarm bells ringing. Though Rajan does not mention the date he wrote to the PMO– setting off speculation in a section of the media that the prime minister who had been derelict was Manmohan Singh and not Narendra Modi – the  Hindustan Times  had reported in April 2015 that Rajan had written to the Modi PMO wanting action on bank frauds worth Rs 17,500 crore. “The bank accounts cited by the RBI belong to Winsome Diamond and Jewellery, Zoom Developers, Tiwari Group, Surya Vinayak Industries, Deccan Chronicle Holdings, First Lea...

Business Standard News September 11, 2018 Ananth Narayan The years since the global financial crisis of 2008 have brought into sharp focus the importance of managing financial stability in the Indian context. Post the crisis, developed economies focused solely on fostering growth, relegating fears around inflation and deficits into the background. In India’s case, however, when we focused on growth, we allowed financial instability from twin deficits, banking stress and inflation to set in. This led to our own economic crisis of 2013. Even today, our current framework does not pay sufficient attention to the quality of our external and internal balance, and the weaknesses in our financial services ecosystem. This keeps us vulnerable to shocks and stresses. As confidence and inflation collapsed after the global financial crisis of 2008, central banks and governments across the developed world adopted extraordinary policy measures to stave off panic and to bolster growth. C...

The Telegraph September 10,2018  Sarah Newey A new front has been opened up in the battle against malaria with the release of the first ever  genetically modified mosquitoes  in Africa. Some 10,000 sterile male mosquitoes will be released in Burkina Faso, a country at the front line of the war against the disease.  Last year there were 9.8m cases of   malaria  here, resulting in almost 4,000 deaths. Malaria is the biggest killer of children under five in Africa and the   most up-to-date figures show that there were 216 million malaria cases worldwide, and an estimated 445,000 malaria deaths. This is the first step in a programme to dramatically reduce the mosquito population in the country, and hopefully beyond.  The initial release of the mosquitoes will enable researchers to gather more data about the longevity and dispersal of the insects, as well as how they interact with the natural insect population.  Resear...

 The Economic Times September 11,2018 MUMBAI: Regulatory policies pose the  biggest risks for companies over the next  three years, followed by cyber security and  technology disruptions, a survey of over 100  top company executives has revealed.  The primary reason for this trend is that CXOs  are considering regulatory compliance as a  critical value protector exercise, the Deloitte  India Risk Survey 2018 noted.  The survey showed a divide on the viewpoint  of risk management amongst Indian  organisations.  While 44 per cent of businesses harness risks to find future opportunities and drive  returns, 36 per cent use risk management with an aim to drive compliance and prevent  losses .  This insight is further substantiated with the fact that regulatory risk with 44 per cent leads  amongst the top three risk areas in the country, followed by cyber security with 31 per cent  and technolog...