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BUSINESS STRANDED SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 MEGHA MANCHANDA Distressed employees of cash-strapped Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive the company and make it a strong telecom operator. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the staff of the beleaguered company said, “We heard that the finance ministry is proposing the closure of BSNL, instead of its revival.” “It is felt that those officers involved in the process may not get an opportunity to learn about the critical role played by BSNL in nation building and in implementing government schemes and projects,” general secretary of BSNL Union Sebastin. K said in the letter. Stressing the role played by the company during critical situations, the employees have sought relief from the government. Sebastin said during the recent developments in Jammu & Kashmir, the government is fully dependent on BSNL landline and mobile for providing services to a few government functiona...

INDIAN EXPRESS SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 SHUBAJIT ROY Trump, who was speaking to reporters ahead of his bilateral meeting with Modi Tuesday, stopped short of blaming Pakistan for supporting terrorism, and pointed to Iran as the biggest state sponsor of terror. In a measured comment with the Indian Prime Minister by his side, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believed Narendra Modi and Pakistan PM Imran Khan will “get together” and work something out on Kashmir. A day after he described Khan as a “great leader” before their bilateral meeting, Trump called Modi the “father of India” and compared his presence at the Howdy Modi event in Houston Sunday with that of Elvis Presley. But Trump, who was speaking to reporters ahead of his bilateral meeting with Modi Tuesday, stopped short of blaming Pakistan for supporting terrorism, and pointed to Iran as the biggest state sponsor of terror. Asked about Khan’s statement during an event Monday that the Pakistan Arm...

INDIAN EXPRESS SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 A bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose expressed serious concern over some social media platforms not being able to trace the originator of a message or an online content and said the government must step in now. Observing that technology has taken a “dangerous turn”, the Supreme Court Tuesday asked the Center to apprise it within three weeks about the time-frame needed to come up with guidelines to curb misuse of social media in India. Advertising A bench comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose expressed serious concern over some social media platforms not being able to trace the originator of a message or an online content and said the government must step in now. Calling it a scientific issue, the bench said that neither the top court nor the high court is competent to decide this.”It is for the government to come up with appropriate guidelines to deal with these issues,” it said according to PTI. ...

FIRSTPOST SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 AMIT KAPOOR AND ANIRUDHHA DUTTA The unemployment rate of both male and female in urban areas in unambiguously higher than those in the countryside. India has not been effective in providing sufficient employment opportunities to its workforce. Another curious and worrisome trend of the Indian economy evident from the data is that unemployment is the highest among the workers with the highest level of education. Even before biscuits, cars and growth numbers made the economic slowdown an uncomfortable reality for India, unemployment numbers gave the first indications of the impending doom. As early as January, media reports had declared that India’s unemployment rate had hit a 45-year high at 6.1 percent, which was officially confirmed post-elections by the National Sample Survey Organisation. However, the averages conceal significant disparities in unemployment trends across different regions, gender, and age groups. As depicted in ...

CGTN SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 Chinese officials on Monday rejected allegations by the U.S. administration of "religious persecution" in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence attended an event on the sideline of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and accused China of religious persecution in Xinjiang. While Trump called for an end to religious persecution without mentioning Xinjiang, Pence said China suppresses religious freedom. A spokesperson for the Chinese delegation to the 74th UN General Assembly accused Washington of interfering in China's domestic affairs and said such acts violate the UN Charter. "Unfortunately, we regret to see the U.S. using religious freedom as a cover to wantonly criticize other sovereign countries by disrespecting and distorting facts," the spokesperson said in a statement. He went on to say that "the freedom of religion is protected in the cou...

THE WEEK SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 Chinese telecom equipment provider Huawei, who has landed in trouble over network security concerns, has threatened to withdraw from investing further in India if the government adopts a hostile stance against its 5G technology. Jay Chen, CEO of Huawei in India, said his company was looking to invest more in export manufacturing in India. "We are open to manufacture 5G equipment, and even look at exports... but if I am not allowed to participate in 5G here, then why would I have manufacturing here?” Chen told the Times of India.  The embattled Chinese telecom major is facing sanctions from the US and Australia and fears a similar fate in India. The government is expected to begin 5G trials soon, ahead of spectrum auctions. It has sought letters of interest from companies for 5G trials.  IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told Parliament in June that the government has received six proposals for 5G technology trials in India "which incl...

THE HINDU SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 SRIRAM LAKSHMAN The presence of India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in New York City for discussions with United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and team on Tuesday afternoon (from 16:00 hrs), confirmed by several sources to The Hindu, has raised expectations that India and the U.S. are close to finalizing a limited trade package that has eluded them since the NDA 2.0 government took office at the end of May. This limited package is likely to be accompanied by the announcement that negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will begin. This, if it happens, will be something U.S. President Donald Trump can claim credit for with his constituents. Mr. Trump went further than he normally does for visiting heads of government and spoke at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Howdy Modi’ diaspora rally in Houston on Sunday. Larger issues for the U.S. like India’s policies and laws around data mobility and FDI in e-commerce a...

HINDUSTAN TIMES SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted Pakistan in his presence for backing terror against India, US President Donald Trump on Monday deflected a direct question on Pakistan-based terror and again offered to mediate on the Kashmir issue if both countries wanted him to. During a meeting with   Prime Minister Imran Khan  on the margins of the UN General Assembly, Trump, when asked by a reporter on whether he endorsed India’s assertion that Pakistan was the   “hub of terrorism” , said he had always pointed to Iran being the “number one” terror state. Trump further said he had heard a “very aggressive statement” on Monday from the Indian Prime Minister that he indicated he had not expected, though it had been “well received” by the audience of more than 50,000 at the “Howdy, Modi!” event in Houston. In Texas on Sunday, Trump shared the stage with Modi and positioned himself as a close friend of India. The US Presid...