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THE INDIAN EXPRESS, NOVEMBER 09, 2020  India’s top online grocer BigBasket has suffered a potential data breach   resulting in personal information of over 20 million customers   being allegedly sold on the dark web. This incident follows a series of data breaches that have impacted Indian companies. When did the Bigbasket breach happen? According to cybersecurity firm Cyble, which first made the details of the potential breach public, the alleged breach occurred on October 14. The firm said that it first detected the breach on October 30 and after validating the breach, it disclosed the breach to the Bigbasket management on November 1. The cybersecurity firm made the details of the breach public on November 7. What BigBasket information has been leaked? Cyble has claimed that personal information of as many as 20 million users such as full names, email IDs, password hashes (potentially hashed OTPs), pin, contact numbers (mobile and phone), full addresses, date of birth, location, and

 The Hindustan Times, November 10, 2020 In a series of review meetings with states regarding the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan virtually met health ministers and senior state officials of nine states. The states he reviewed have been reporting higher Covid-19 case loads as compared to the national average—Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana and Kerala. “…some districts in the States have been reporting a rise in the number of cases, high average daily cases on a seven day average, decline in testing, high rate of mortality within the first 24, 48, 72 hours of hospitalisation, high doubling rate, higher death among the vulnerable population groups,” said the health ministry in a statement. With the onset of winter, the risk of the Covid-19 situation getting worse in the next few weeks is high, as it has been observed in countries with colder climates that as the temperature drops, the

 The Hindustan Times,  Five years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Start-Up India initiative, we are witnessing a golden chapter in the history of Indian entrepreneurship. India now has 38,756 officially-recognised start-ups –– with 27 unicorns, eight of which achieved this status in 2020 –– and is the third-largest tech start-up hub globally. According to Praxis Global Alliance, start-ups are growing at an average rate of 12–15% annually. Start-ups have raised $63 billion between 2016–20 in funding, $20 billion of which was raised in 2019 over 1,854 deals. Investments in start-ups are growing incrementally each year ($12 billion, $25.2 billion, $26.3 billion, and $34 billion invested in the last four years, respectively), with $16.7 billion till May 2020. Start-Up India kickstarted an entrepreneurship revolution. Several policy interventions were since announced, giving the entrepreneurial ecosystem a much-needed launchpad. The overhaul of the digital payments ecosystem

 Livemint, November 09, 2020 Gold and silver prices today tanked in Indian markets after Pfizer Inc announced that its experimental  covid vaccine  was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a large study. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE are the first drugmakers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. On MCX, gold futures crashed around 5% or  ₹ 2,500 to  ₹ 49,659 per 10 gram. Silver futures on MCX fell 6% or about  ₹ 4,000 to  ₹ 61384 per kg. In global markets, spot  gold  fell about 5% following the covid vaccine announcement, its biggest slide since August. Gold has now erased all its gains since the US election, when hopes for more fiscal stimulus helped prices break out of a narrow trading range. Pfizer-BioNTech SE said they have found no serious safety concerns so far, and expect to seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month. "Today is a great day for both science and humanity, a

 The Hindustan Times, November 09, 2020 The government’s public procurement policy announced in mid-May, which prohibited global tendering to source goods and services up to Rs 200 crore in order to promote domestic industries, is not applicable for procurement of spare parts from original equipment manufacturers, two officials said. The clarification was issued on October 29 after several government concerns and public sector companies—particularly in energy, telecom, health and infrastructure sectors—faced difficulties in sourcing specific components domestically as they are available only with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are often foreign entities, the officials working for two economic ministries said requesting anonymity. Also Read: Industrialists in Ludhiana seek resumption of freight services The finance ministry on May 15 disallowed global firms from participating in government tenders worth up to Rs 200 crore, a move in line with the Rs 20 lakh crore Aatma

 The Express Tribune, November 10, 2020 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will lend $300 million to support Pakistan’s fragile foreign exchange reserves after Islamabad met almost all the conditions related mainly to lowering barriers to imports. The board of directors of the Manila-based lending agency is likely to approve the $300 million worth of second tranche of the Trade and Competitiveness Programme in the last week of current month, sources in the lending agency told The Express Tribune. The $300 million is part of the $800 million budgetary support programme and the regional lender has already disbursed the first tranche in August last year. The ADB has so far extended over $600 million in loans to Pakistan in the current fiscal year and after the upcoming approval, its lending will jump close to $1 billion. However, about 60% of lending is in the shape of policy loans, which are not helpful in the long run. Both the money and timing of approval are crucial for Pakistan when th

 The Hindustan Times, November 07, 2020 The NK Singh-led 15th Finance Commission (FFC), which decides the sharing of resources between the Centre and states, has devised a formula to “balance out” a potential loss in the financial share of southern states because they had better demographic outcomes and lower population, an official with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity. The FFC is set to submit its final report to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 9. It is unlikely to be made public immediately and will likely be tabled in Parliament when the budget is presented next year. To decide a state’s share in taxes and revenues, finance commissions usually rely on parameters such as income distance, population size, geographical location and forest cover, etc, which are then assigned weights. Income distance is the difference between the per capita income of a state and the average per capita incomes of all states. Poorer states, usually with high population burden,

 The Indian Express, November 09, 2020 Four years after the government announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016, the currency with public for the fortnight ended October 23, 2020 stood at a record high of Rs 26.19 lakh crore — up 45.7 per cent or Rs 8.22 lakh crore from a level of Rs 17.97 lakh crore on November 4, 2016. In the fortnight ended October 23, 2020, the currency with public rose by Rs 10,441 crore to hit a new high. After Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were withdrawn from the system in November 2016, currency with the public, which stood at Rs 17.97 lakh crore on November 4, 2016, declined to Rs 7.8 lakh crore in January 2017 soon after demonetisation. Cash in the system has been steadily rising, even though the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pushed for a “less cash society”, digitisation of payments and slapped restrictions on the use of cash in various transactions. However, the pace of rise in currency with the public has been very sharp over that last 10

 Dailyhunt, November 08, 2020 Islamabad : In an unprecedented move, the UN took a scathing dig at Prime Minister Imran Khan for his intolerant views and Pakistans inclusion in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Pakistan was recently re-elected to the UNHRC even as the country's human rights record is one among the worst in the world. Two weeks ago, a French teacher was beheaded by an Islamist in Paris for exhibiting Charlie Hebdo cartoons in a class on the idea of freedom of expression. While President Emmanuel Macron has made it clear that Islamic radicalism and terrorism will not be tolerated in France, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan justified the brutal act of beheading by arguing that the teacher had committed 'blasphemy' by showing the cartoons of the Islamic Prophet. The official Twitter handle of the government of Pakistan had quoted Khan saying, 'Blasphemy in garb of freedom of expression is intolerable.' The Geneva-based rights group, which is the onl

 Dailyhunt, November 08, 2020 The Income Tax Department carried out searches at five locations in Chennai and Madurai, in relation to a case of a Chennai-based group operating in the IT Infra sector. The search has led to the unearthing of evidence relating to investments in a Singapore-registered company. The shareholding of this company is held by two firms, one owned by the group searched, while the other company is a subsidiary of a major infrastructure development and financing group. It has been found that the company belonging to the searched group has invested a very nominal amount although it has 72 percent shareholding, while the other company which has only 28 percent shareholding has invested almost the entire money. This has resulted in a benefit/gain of almost SD 7 crore, i.e., around Rs 200 crore in the hands of the company belonging to the searched group, which was not disclosed by it in its return of income and also in the FA Schedule. Thus, there is a suppression of f

 The Hindustan Times, November 08, 2020 Three terrorists and four security personnel, including an officer, were killed when a joint team of the Indian Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Machil sector, officials said on Sunday. The forces identified one of the deceased personnel as 38-year-old BSF constable Sudip Kumar from Tripura. According to an official, a BSF patrol team noticed the movement of the terrorists near the LoC on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. “The team challenged the terrorists, who then opened fire. The BSF team retaliated, killing one of the terrorists immediately while the others hid,” said a BSF spokesperson. The official added that Pakistan resorted to ceasefire violation at the same time in an attempt to help the terrorists infiltrate. “During the gunfight, BSF jawan Sudip Kumar received bullet injuries but he continued fighting with utter disregard for his per

The Hindustan Times, November 09, 2020 Chinese state media struck an optimistic tone in Monday in editorials reacting to Democrat Joe Biden’s win of the US presidential elections, saying relations could be restored to a state of greater predictability and could start with trade. While acknowledging the United States was unlikely ease pressure on China on issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong, state-backed newspaper Global Times said Beijing should work to communicate with the Biden team as thoroughly as it can. The Trump administration had deliberately created tensions in China-US relations, especially after adopting a campaign strategy of pressuring China, which led to “bubbles” occurring in US-China policy, it said. “We believe it is possible to pop those bubbles,” it said. “It’s in the common interests of people from both countries and of international community that China-U.S. relations become eased and controllable.” The Global Times is a tabloid published by the People’s Daily, t