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Hindustan Times, September 01, 2019 The deputy chairman of India’s Rajya Sabha and the deputy speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly were involved in a heated exchange on the situation in Kashmir while participating in the South Asian Speakers’ Summit in the Maldives on Sunday. The exchange was triggered when Qasim Suri, the deputy speaker of Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament, commented during his speech that the “oppression” of the Kashmiri people cannot be ignored. Suri said the world community cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the problems of the Kashmiris and that Pakistan’s Parliament stands with “all oppressed people”. He said the Kashmir issue should be settled in line with the UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people. This prompted Harivansh Narayan Singh, the deputy chairman of India’s upper house of Parliament, to raise a point of order that was allowed by the Maldives Speaker Mohamed Nasheed. Singh said: “We strongly object to

Hindustan Times, September 02, 2019 As tensions simmer on the 3,323-km-long India- Pakistan border, the Indian army is set to deploy its first Integrated Battle Group (IBG) along the frontier by the end of this year, Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said. In all, the Indian Army plans to form and deploy 11 -13 IBGs to protect its western and eastern borders. The ministry of defence (MoD) has cleared the reorganisation of IX Corps, based in Yol in Himachal Pradesh, to form the IBGs to be deployed along the western border. Raised in 2009, IX Corps is one of the army’s youngest corps and is part of the Chandimandir, Haryana-based Western Army Command. This is one of the biggest reorganisations of the Army and General Rawat is its prime mover. Restructuring of the combat potential of the Indian army will happen “selectively from sector to sector,” Rawat said. “The international border portion of J&K Kashmir will see reorganisation first followed by others, making the I

BusinessLine, August 31, 2019 Tech giant Google on Saturday said it has signed a statement of intent with the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) for rolling out ‘Build for Digital India’ programme. The programme will offer a platform to engineering students to develop market-ready, technology-based solutions that address key social problems, a release said. As part of the program, engineering students across the country will be invited to present their ideas and solutions in areas like healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, women safety, smart mobility and transportation, environment, accessibility and disability and digital literacy. Applicants will take part in online and offline learning opportunities on key technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Cloud and Android that will be offered through Google’s Developer Student Club network and other Google Developer networks, it said. Google will also offer mentorship sessions in product d

Business Line, August 31, 2019 Concerns linger over registration, pricing, launch logistics There was much cheer earlier this month when the USFDA  approved pretomanid to treat some stubborn drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis. After all, the significance of having a drug that can reduce the treatment timeline and address the drug resistance issue cannot be over-emphasised. Pretomanid is the third new drug developed for TB in over half a century, after bedaquiline and delaminid. It is a novel compound developed by non-profit organisation TB Alliance that has a collaboration with Mylan to commercialise the drug. The new drug is part of a three-drug (bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid), six-month, all-oral regimen for the treatment of people with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) or multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) who are treatment-intolerant or non-responsive. Tempering the optimism But optimism over the drug is being tempered with caution, as concerns emerge on reg

Defence News, September 01, 2019 China is allegedly spying on Indian Naval bases in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) through its advanced surveillance ship in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the intelligence agencies have warned. According to the inputs gathered by central intelligence agencies, China has been regularly sending its surveillance ships in the IOR to gather more details about the Indian naval bases and the warships deployed in the area. An intelligence report, accessed by Zee News, said that the Chinese Navy had recently deployed one of its latest intelligence-gathering ships - Dongdiao class ship Tianwangxing - in the IOR to keep an eye on the Indian naval installations. The Chinese spy ship had entered into India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and stayed there for a few days. The Chinese spy ship was spotted very close to the eastern sea border near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the report said. The Andman and Nicobar islands is a very sensitive and impo

Business Standard, August 31, 2019 Around 200 Chinese nationals working at an atomic energy plant in Pakistan have been tested positive for dengue, a media report said on Saturday. The Chinese nationals were working in different capacities at the atomic energy plant near the coastal beach area of Hawkes Bay in Karachi, the Daily Jang reported. Quoting Azra Fazal, the health minister for Sindh province, the report said around 200 Chinese who are working at the atomic energy plant were suffering from dengue viral infection. The affected persons are undergoing treatment and out of danger, it said. According to official reports, dengue claimed six lives and 1,200 positive cases detected this year in Sindh province. Besides, the province has also been hit by the deadly tick-borne viral congo fever, with 10 deaths reported so far. https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/200-chinese-nationals-working-at-pak-atomic-energy-plant-diagnosed-with-dengue-119083100

Business Standard, 01 September 2019, The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has said its systems will be ready within three months to offer the facility of issuing Aadhaar cards to NRIs with Indian passports without the mandatory 180 days waiting period, as announced in the Budget. UIDAI systems are being readied for the facility and necessary legal measures are to be notified soon, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI. UIDAI systems will be tuned to offer the facility within three month's time, he said. "We are working to make the appropriate technological changes and we will provide an appointment facility where people outside the country also can apply for a time slot and specify the place they would like to go to get their Aadhaar made...as soon as they come to India they can, very conveniently, go and get their Aadhaar made," Pandey said. In her Budget speech on July 5, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said: "I propose to con

The Indian Express, September 01, 2019 Weeks after Maruti Suzuki said it has cut 3,000 contract jobs, Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director and CEO of the company, said that despite the slowdown, investment plans worth Rs 15,000 crore are on track in Gujarat. He also said the Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd (SMG) will commission the third assembly line and a Lithium ion battery project at Hansalpur in 2020. “The slowdown is short-term. We are preparing for capacity enhancement in Gujarat… The slowdown is not severe. We are planning to export more from Gujarat,” said Ayukawa, while interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of India-Japan Business and Tourism Conclave at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on Saturday. Ayukawa said there are about 7,000 workers at Hansalpur and there are no plans of job cuts in Gujarat. “Hansalpur has about 7,000 workers. Next year, it will be around 10,000,” he said. “To start the third plant next year, we are preparing to hire,” he said, addi

The Indian Express, September 01, 2019 THE SHIV Sena on Saturday said that though the economy was impacted by the slowdown, there was “rise in banking fraud” cases. In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, it said the picture on the economic front was “worrisome”. The editorial referred to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recent report indicating that the banking sector reported 6,801 frauds involving a total Rs 71,542.93 crore. It also showed that the number of fraud cases has increased by 15 per cent compared to last year and the amount involved in the frauds has gone up by almost 74 per cent. The editorial said the banking frauds have become a “blot on the Indian economy”. “The bank scams have not stopped and the amount of fraud has gone up by 74 percent. It may lead people to ask what change has happened on the economic front in our country. The bank scams have become biggest obstacle in the economic development,” said the editorial. “Various industries an