‘To maintain majesty of law’: SC sentences Vijay Mallya to 4-month imprisonment

Chennai, July 8: The Indian government-owned oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Friday said that it

refuelled more than 100 flights of the SriLankan Airlines. In a tweet, the BPCL said: “We are pleased to support SriLankan Airlines, with refueling of their long-haul flights at Indian airports, to overcome the Jet Fuel shortage in their country. So far, more than 100 flights have been refueled at #Trivandrum, #Chennai & #Kochi airports.” In reply the SriLankan Airlines tweeted: “Thank you @BPCLimited! We truly value our partnership.” The island nation is undergoing severe economic crisis, and its fuel stocks are extremely limited.

India sees 33% dip in startup funding at $6.9 bn in April-June

Bengaluru, July 7 (IANS): The funding in the Indian startup ecosystem nosedived by a huge 33 per cent to $6.9 billion in the April-June period (Q2), from $10.3 billion in the first quarter (Q1) this year, amid the economic meltdown and layoffs in the funding winter, a report showed on Thursday. In Q2, 121 new startups closed their first funding rounds, four startups turned unicorns, 62 startups got acquired, and five filed their IPOs, according to data intelligence platform Tracxn Technologies. The Indian startups raised $6.9 billion in Q2 in 409 funding rounds and the top startups were VerSe ($805 million), Delhivery ($304 million), and udaan ($275 million). They were followed closely by ShareChat ($255 million) and upGrad ($225 million). Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai are the top cities attracting the maximum investments, as per the report. “We aim to give industry stakeholders key insights of the ecosystem that would help in business decision making that is backed by extensive market intelligence and thorough research and data analysis,” said Neha Singh, Co-Founder, Tracxn. With Leadsquared, Purplle, PhysicsWallah, and Open becoming new unicorns, the total valuation of unicorns escalated to $31.8 billion in Q2. With respect to exits, while eMudhra, Delhivery, Handicrafts village, Eighty Jewellers, and Veranda Learning Solutions filed for IPOs, Blinkit (By Zomato), Whiteteak (By Asian Paints), and MyHQ (By ANAROCK) were the top acquisitions in the second quarter. Social Platforms, internet first media, payments, B2B e-commerce and e-commerce enablers are the top sectors receiving the most funding from investors between April and June, the report mentioned. The total funding in Q2 also witnessed a decline in comparison to the same quarter last year (Q2 2021), where the total funds raised were $10.1 billion. “Though investors are a little wary due to the current environment it hasn’t dampened the investment spirit of the community. They have become more decisive about the startups they want to nurture and are focusing extensively from a long-term gain perspective,” said Abhishek Goyal, Co-Founder, Tracxn. While IPV and Blume Ventures topped the investment charts in seed-stage startups, Sequoia Capital and Accel ranked highest in the early-stage startups funding standing. Sofina and DST Global are the leading late-stage institutional investors, theATracxn report mentioned.

Google India to guide 10K startups in tier 2 & 3 cities

New Delhi, July 6 (IANS): Google India on Wednesday announced the launch of Startup School to guide 10,000 startups in tier II & III cities in the country. Startup School is a series of guided online trainings designed to equip early-stage startup founders with the tools, products, and knowledge that growing companies need. The curriculum will feature instructional modules on subjects like shaping an effective product strategy, deep dives on product user value, roadmapping and product requirements document development, building apps for next billion users in markets like India, driving user acquisition and many more. The nine-week programme will also feature fireside chats between Google leaders and trailblazing collaborators from across the startup ecosystem spanning fintech, D2C, B2B and B2C e-commerce, language, social media and networking, and job search. “There will also be opportunities for founders to gain orthogonal insights from discussions around what makes an effective founder, formalising hiring and more,” Karthik Padmanabhan, Developer Relations Program Manager Lead and Aditya Swamy, Director - Play Partnerships, wrote in a blogpost. With close to 70,000 startups, India is the third largest birthing ground for startups in the world. And as more Indian founders lead their companies successfully to IPOs or unicorn status, it has set off a virtuous cycle wherein their success has ignited aspirations among young Indians across the length and breadth of the country. Startups are no longer restricted to Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai or Hyderabad. India has multitudes of fast-growing startups headquartered in centres such as Jaipur, Indore, Gorakhpur and more. But, “these account for nearly 50 per cent of all recognised startups in the country. About 90 per cent of all startups fail within the first five years of their journey -- mostly for the same key reasons -- unmanaged cash burn, flawed demand assessment, ineffective feedback loops or lack of leadership,” the blogpost read. “There is a need for programmes which can organise this knowledge into a structured curriculum and deliver it across a wide footprint. Startup School India -- a Google for Startups initiative is designed to do precisely that as we align our efforts to support this expansion,” it added.

CERT-In warns users of multiple bugs in Google Chrome, Zoho software

New Delhi, July 7: The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which comes under the IT Ministry, has warned users of multiple vulnerabilities in Google Chrome which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code and denial-of-service (DoS) conditions on the targeted system. A remote attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending specially crafted requests on the targeted system. “Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code and denial-of-service (DoS) conditions on the targeted system,” said CERTIn the advisory late on Wednesday. These vulnerabilities exist in Google Chrome due to ‘Heap Buffer’ overflow in ‘WebRTC’, ‘Type Confusion in V8’ and ‘Use after Free’ in Chrome OS Shell. The vulnerability (CVE-2022-2294) is being exploited in the wild, said the cyber agency, adding that the users are advised to apply patches urgently. CERT-In also advised users against a ‘Remote Code Execution’ vulnerability that has been reported in a Zoho Corporation software which could be exploited by an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system. This vulnerability exists in ‘Zoho ManageEngine ADAudit Plus’ due to a ‘misconfigured XML’ parser that processes user-supplied input without sufficient validation. “Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system,” warned the cyber agency, advising the users to upgrade to the latest Zoho ‘ManageEngine ADAudit Plus’ security build update.

Twitter claims it suspends 1 mn spam users a day

San Francisco, July 8 (IANS): As Elon Musk threatened to scrap the $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal over spam and fake accounts, the microblogging platform has revealed that it is suspending more than 1 million spam accounts a day. The new figure represents a doubling of its previous update. Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal had said in May that spam account suspensions were running at 500,000 a day, reports the Guardian. The report mentioned that Musk has agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, but his lawyers have written to the company accusing it of refusing to provide sufficient information about the number of spam users on the service. It has since started to supply him with public tweet data. Twitter has stated consistently in its quarterly results since 2014 that it estimates its spam account problem to represent less than 5 per cent of its daily active users. The one million figure will include accounts that are weeded out as they attempt to join the platform and therefore are never counted as daily users. The microblogging platform has just under 230 million daily active users. The Tesla CEO has expressed concerns that the 5 per cent figure is substantially higher, a stance that appears to be a bridgehead for either terminating or renegotiating a deal

that is bound by a tight legal agreement. Twitter has given Musk access to a stream of data comprising more than 500m tweets posted every day to answer his concerns, the report said.

5G FWA subscriptions to exceed 460 mn subscriptions by 2030

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS): As the buzz around 5G gains momentum, 5G-enabled Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband subscriptions to cross 462 million by 2030, from roughly 75 million in 2021. 5G FWA will drive the bulk of the growth beyond 2025, replacing 4G FWA connections that will be still prevalent in some markets across Middle East and Africa (MEA), developing Asia and Latin America until 2024, according to Counterpoint Research. FWA is a scalable cellular wireless option for broadband connectivity to stationary equipment that provides Internet access. “By the end of 2021, only one out of every three households around the world (excluding China) had access to fixed broadband. And only 25 per cent of those households enjoyed speeds greater than 100 Mbps,” said Principal Analyst Tina Lu. As 5G takes centre-stage, the new 5G network architectures and broader spectrum promises enhanced broadband services at a scale not possible in previous generations. Many developing economies as well as parts of developed economies still suffer from a digital divide with many unable to access broadband connectivity. “5G-enabled Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is a killer use-case for bridging this digital divide and providing connectivity where fibre or even DSL has not yet reached,” said the report. The report said that there is a significant push from operators and even governments to prioritise national broadband initiatives with 5G FWA becoming integral to their 5G rollout strategies. “The US is currently the single biggest 5G FWA market, with both Verizon and T-Mobile being bullish on 5G FWA with mmWave rollouts ideal for dense urban connectivity, and sub-6GHz spectrum driving broader coverage and above average throughput speeds,” said Lu. But the last-mile connection to fibre is very costly in rural areas, which opens the need for 5G FWA. “Africa, India, and other South Asian countries (excluding China), on the other hand, have the lowest fibre penetration and thus have the most potential to drive the 5G FWA subscriber growth this decade,” added Lu.

‘To maintain majesty of law’: SC sentences Vijay Mallya to 4-month imprisonment

New Delhi, July 11: The Supreme Court on Monday sentenced fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to four months’ imprisonment for contempt of court in 2017, as he had suppressed information from the court. It also ordered Mallya to deposit $40 million -- which he had transferred to his family members in violation of the court orders - failing which attachment of his properties will begin. A bench of Justices U.U. Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat, and P. S. Narasimha said: “In the circumstances, in order to maintain the majesty of law, we must impose adequate punishment upon the contemnor and must also pass necessary directions so that the advantages secured by the contemnor or anyone claiming under him are set at naught and the amounts in question are available in execution of the decrees passed in the concerned recovery proceedings.” The bench noted that Mallya never showed any remorse nor tendered any apology for his conduct, as it imposed a sentence of four months and fine of Rs 2,000 on him. The bench added that in case the amount of fine is not deposited within the time stipulated, Mallya would undergo a further sentence of two months. The bench also ordered Mallya to deposit $40 million, which he had transferred to his family members in violation of the court orders, failing which attachment of his properties will begin. “The contemnor (Mallya) and the beneficiaries under said transactions, shall be bound to deposit the amount received by such other agencies or instrumentalities shall carry out the directions issued by this court with due diligence and utmost expediency. A Compliance Report shall thereafter be filed in the Registry of this Court,” it said.

On February 10, the top court gave final opportunity to Mallya, seeking his appearance, before it pronounced sentence in contempt case filed by banks, in which he was found guilty. The top court said it has found Mallya guilty of contempt and punishment has to be imposed. It added that going by normal logic, the contemnor has to be heard, but he has not appeared before the court so far. It had said that if Mallya is not present in the hearing, then the matter will be taken to its logical conclusion. According to a judgment delivered on July 14, 2017, Mallya was found guilty of contempt for not paying Rs 9,000 crore worth of dues to the banks despite repeated directions. Additionally, he was also accused of not disclosing his assets and also secretly trying to dispose of the assets to defeat the purpose of recovery proceedings. On October 6 2020, the MHA told the Supreme Court that the UK Home Office has intimated, there is a further legal issue which needs to be resolved before Mallya’s extradition takes place and this issue is outside and apart from the extradition process having effect under the UK law.

beneficiaries along with interest at the rate of 8 per cent per annum with the concerned Recovery Officer within four weeks,” it said. “In case the amounts are not so deposited, the concerned Recovery Officer shall be entitled to take appropriate proceedings for recovery of said amounts; and Government of India and all the concerned agencies shall extend assistance and complete cooperation. It shall be open to take such appropriate steps including the appointment of Forensic Auditor(s).” The top court also directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to secure the presence of the contemnor to undergo the imprisonment imposed upon him. “Needless to say, the Government of India including the Ministry of External Affairs and all

Now top crypto broker Voyager Digital files for bankruptcy

San Francisco, July 6 (IANS): Top cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital on Wednesday filed for bankruptcy in the US, after top crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) did the same last week, in which Voyager has made significant investments which the company is yet to get back. It had significant investments in Singapore-based hedge fund 3AC, which failed to make payments on a loan of 15,250 Bitcoins and $350 million USDCs -- that makes the loan worth more than $650 million. “This comprehensive reorganisation is the best way to protect assets on the platform and maximize value for all stakeholders, including customers,” said Stephen Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager. The prolonged volatility and contagion in the crypto markets over the past few months, and “the default of Three Arrows Capital on a loan from the company’s subsidiary, Voyager Digital, require us to take deliberate and decisive action now,” he said in a statement. Earlier this week, Voyager suspended all trading, deposits, withdrawals and loyalty rewards on its platform. Voyager has approximately $1.3 bn of crypto assets on the platform and more than $350 million of cash for customers. The proposed plan of reorganisation “contemplates an opportunity for customers to elect the proportion of common equity and crypto they will receive, subject to certain maximum thresholds”, said the company. The company said it has over $110 million of cash and owned crypto assets on hand, which will provide liquidity to support day-to-day operations. Voyager said it was actively pursuing all available remedies for recovery from 3AC. The development came as popular crypto tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum nosedived by nearly 70 per cent from their record highs amid the economic meltdown. The Monetary Authority of Singapore last week slammed Three Arrows for providing false information and breaching an asset under management threshold. The mega fund, founded by Credit Suisse traders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies, once managed an estimated $10 billion in assets.

Massive personal data of 1 bn Chinese people up for sale on Dark Web

New Delhi/Beijing, July 5: In what could be the biggest-ever data breach, sensitive personal information about more than a billion people has been leaked from a government agency, possibly from China, and put up for sale on Dark Web for 10 Bitcoins. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, tweeted that their threat intelligence detected 1 billion resident records for sale on the Dark Web. “It includes name, address, national ID, mobile, police and medical records from one Asian country. Likely due to a bug in an ElasticSearch deployment by a government agency,” Zhao claimed in his tweet late on Monday. “This has an impact on hacker detection/prevention measures, mobile numbers used for account takeovers, etc. It is important for all platforms to enhance their security measures in this area,” he further posted. Binance has already stepped up verifications for users potentially affected, Zhao said. Media reports claimed that this leaked data may belong to Chinese citizens as a user on an underground hacking forum claimed to be selling a 23TB database for 10 Bitcoins of billions of Chinese citizens. The information may have been leaked from the Shanghai National Police (SHGA) database, although the Chinese government was yet to react to this. “In 2022, the Shanghai National Police (SHGA) database was leaked. This database contains many TB of data and information on Billions of Chinese citizens,” the post by the user named ‘ChinaDan’ said that also went viral on Telegram. “Databases contain information on 1 billion Chinese national residents and several billion case records, including: name, address, birthplace, national ID number, mobile number, all crime/case details,” the post added. The data breach was also referenced by rights activist Fu Xianyi on Twitter, who said the leak was from the “Shanghai public security database”, reports RFA. “Most likely it was leaked from Alibaba Cloud,” the report mentioned.

Top crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital files for bankruptcy

San Francisco, July 2 (IANS):

Top crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has filed for bankruptcy in the US, days after its liquidation began in the British Virgin Islands, the media reported on Saturday. The liquidation, and now Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York, comes as popular crypto tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum nosedived by nearly 70 per cent from their record highs amid the economic meltdown. According to court documents seen by the Financial Times, crypto options and futures exchange “Deribit claimed Three Arrows failed to repay $80 million, as financial woes have plagued the hedge fund”. “The company is or is likely to become unable to pay its debts as they fall due, and is therefore insolvent,” claimed Deribit. The Monetary Authority of Singapore this week slammed Three Arrows for providing false information and breaching an asset under management threshold, the report noted. The mega fund, founded by Credit Suisse traders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies, once managed an estimated $10 billion in assets. Its insolvency has forced major industry players to reshuffle operations and limit customer withdrawals amid a crypto selloff that seemed to catch plenty of mega firms off guard, according to The Verge. On Friday, beleaguered crypto lending firm BlockFi announced a deal with leading crypto exchange FTX US, saying it had lost around $80 million from its dealings with Singapore-based 3AC. The Chapter 15 bankruptcy will allow the foreign firm to protect its stateside assets while the liquidation is carried out in the British Virgin Islands.

RBI hits hard on Bitcoin, DeFi, crypto trading platforms

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slammed unbacked crypto assets (such as Bitcoin), stablecoins and decentralised finance (DeFi) and crypto asset trading platforms, underscoring the need for regulatory guardrails to ensure financial stability and consumer and investor protection. In its annual ‘Financial Stability Report’ (FSR) 2022, India’s central bank and regulatory body said that the early ramifications are reflected in the crypto ecosystem with one stablecoin losing almost all its value and another depegging from the US dollar. It referred to the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies that threw many investors into a panic in May. In a crash, the once bullish TerraUSD and sister coin Luna had lost almost all their value, sending shock waves across the world. “Several vulnerabilities associated with crypto asset markets have been highlighted such as linkages between crypto asset markets and the regulated financial system; liquidity mismatch, credit and operational risks, with the potential spillover to short term funding markets; increased use of leverage in investment strategies; concentration risk of trading platforms; and opacity and lack of regulatory oversight of the sector,” the RBI report highlighted. The International Organisation of Securities Commissions has noted that DeFi is a spectrum and not a ‘binary outcome’, and that some DeFi products and services may retain a level of centralisation through concentrated ownership of the ‘governance tokens’, or by restricting the governance decisions for users. “The risks associated with DeFi include speculative trading, flash loans, cross-border lending and borrowing, front running, cybersecurity, asymmetry and fraud,” said the RBI. This has stressed the need for continuous examination of this evolving landscape and its implications for traditional financial institutions. “The growing threat of the crypto-assets ecosystem warrants drastic approaches by national authorities,” the RBI noted. Global regulatory efforts continue to focus on risks associated with the crypto ecosystem and the threat of decentralisation. Stablecoins -- whose value is pegged to another asset like a fiat currency or a commodity -- are bad investments and are ill-suited as a form of money, Siddharth Tiwari, the Asia-Pacific head of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), said last week. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that cryptocurrencies are a clear danger to the financial systems, adding that the world must be mindful of the emerging risks on the horizon. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that the RBI will roll out the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in FY23 that will be based on Blockchain technology.

Crypto friendly Singapore mulls tougher restrictions amid meltdown

Singapore/New Delhi, July 5: The Singapore government is planning to introduce additional tough measures to safeguard consumers from the crypto meltdown, including restrictions on retail trading. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Minister in Charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said that the recent market conditions clearly demonstrate the risks with prices of several cryptocurrencies dipping significantly, reports ZDNet. The country, known for a crypto-friendly atmosphere, is now mulling over additional rules in cryptocurrency trading “necessary to safeguard the general public”. “MAS has been carefully considering the introduction of additional consumer protection safeguards. These may include placing limits on retail participation and rules on the use of leverage when transacting in cryptocurrencies,” Shanmugaratnam said in a written response to a parliamentary question. The Singapore authority in January this year restricted the marketing and advertising of cryptocurrency services in public places. Since then, crypto providers have removed cryptocurrency ATMs and advertisements from public areas and public transport venues. The European Union last week reached a provisional agreement on cryptocurrency regulations that aimed to “protect investors and preserve financial stability”. MAS in May announced plans to pilot use cases of asset tokenisation and assess the feasibility of autonomous trading powered by Blockchain technology. In India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week slammed unbacked crypto assets (such as Bitcoin), stablecoins and decentralised finance (DeFi) and crypto asset trading platforms, underscoring the need for regulatory guardrails to ensure financial stability and consumer and investor protection. In its annual “Financial Stability Report” (FSR) 2022, India’s central bank and regulatory body said that the early ramifications are reflected in the crypto ecosystem with one stablecoin losing almost all its value and another depegging from the US dollar. It referred to the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies that threw many investors into a panic in May. In a crash, the once bullish TerraUSD and sister coin Luna had lost almost all their value, sending shock waves across the world. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that cryptocurrencies are a clear danger to the financial systems, adding that the world must be mindful of the emerging risks on the horizon.

US charges South African firm, CEO with $1.7 bn Bitcoin fraud

Washington, July 1 (IANS): The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement action against a South African company and its CEO for running a fraudulent commodity pool worth over $1.7 billion in Bitcoin -- the largest fraudulent scheme involving Bitcoin charged in any CFTC case -- from thousands of people including 23,000 Americans. The case, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, charged Cornelius Johannes Steynberg of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa and Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI) with fraud and registration violations. Steynberg created and operated, through MTI, a global foreign currency commodity pool that only accepted Bitcoin to purchase a participation in the pool, with a value of over $1,733,838,372, the CFTC said in a statement late on Thursday. “The CFTC seeks full restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations,” the commission said in a statement. The CFTC cautioned victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of money lost, “because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets”. From May 18, 2018 till March 30, 2021, Steynberg engaged in an international fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme, in addition to social media, to solicit Bitcoin from members of the public for participation in a commodity pool operated by MTI. During this period, Steynberg accepted at least 29,421 Bitcoin - with a value of over $1,733,838,372 at the end of the period, to participate in the commodity pool without being registered as a commodity pool operator as required. “The defendants misappropriated, either directly or indirectly, all of the Bitcoin they accepted from the pool participants,” the agency said.

Rajini, Kamal, Chiranjeevi, Khushboo hail Ilaiyaraaja’s RS nomination

Chennai, July 6 (IANS): Several celebrities from the film industry, including two of Tamil cinema’s top stars -- Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan -- congratulated Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja on being nominated to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his happiness over Ilaiyaraaja’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha in a tweet in which he said: “The creative genius of Ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. “What is equally inspiring is his life journey -- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha.” Superstar Rajinikanth tweeted, “My hearty congratulations to my dear friend Ilaiyaraaja who has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha.” He and Ilaiyaraaja are going to reunite after 28 years for R. Balki’s next film with Rajinikanth in the lead. Khushbu Sundar, actress and influential BJP member, was among the first to react to the news. She tweeted: “The greatest. The magician. The Maestro. Illayaraja gets nominated to the Rajya Sabha. What more can we ask for! The most happiest craziest fan like me can’t ask for more. Vaazthukkal (congratulations, sir).” Kamal Haasan, who shares a very close bond with Ilaiyaraaja, also congratulated the Maestro. But his tweet was not a simple one. Writing in Tamil, Kamal Haasan put out a tweet that said, “If it is to honour the incomparable and greatest Ilaiyaraaja for his art, he could be offered the post of the President unanimously. Even then, let us congratulate him for his nomination to the Rajya Sabha.” Telugu Mega Star Chiranjeevi also wholeheartedly congratulated Ilaiyaraaja. He tweeted: “Heartiest congratulations to Shri Ilaiyaraaja, the unparalleled music genius. Your presence in the Rajya Sabha would certainly add the touch of genius to the Upper House.” On a personal note, he added: “A matter of personal delight for me as I had the good fortune of you composing music for several of my films.” Chiranjeevi went on to thank the Prime Minister for nominating Ilaiyaraaja. “Grateful thanks to Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for bestowing the well-deserved honour of Presidential nomination as Rajya Sabha members on extremely deserving stalwarts from the film Industry -- Shri K.V, Vijayendra Prasad garu and Shri Ilaiyaraaja garu.” K.V. Vijayendra Prasad, incidentally, was most recently in the news for being the ‘RRR’ screenwriter. One of the greatest music composers of the country, Ilaiyaraaja hails from a small village called Pannaiyapuram in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. He has scored music for more than 1,400 movies and composed over 7,000 songs, many of which have gone on to emerge as chartbusters and timeless classics. Winner of five National Awards, Ilaiyaraaja was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2010 and the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second highest civilian award in 2018.

Tejashwi accuses Centre of snatching 1.3cr jobs per month

Patna, July 9 (IANS): Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday accused the Narendra Modi government of snatching 1.3 crore jobs per month. “During the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, the NDA had promised to provide 19 lakh jobs to people. During the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised two crore jobs and assured that 80 crore people of the country will be employed till 2022. Instead of providing jobs, this government has snatched 1.3 crore jobs per month,” Tejashwi said in a tweet. Unemployment is one of the key issues that the RJD leader has been raising against the BJP government and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. During the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, Tejashwi had promised to give 10 lakh jobs in his first cabinet meeting if he was elected to power. The NDA leaders countered his claim with providing 19 lakh jobs to the youth of Bihar. The RJD leader had earlier said that the Prime Minister recently announced to give 10 lakh jobs in next one-and-a-half years. “Bihar government is claiming to provide 19 lakh jobs and the Centre is saying it will give 10 lakh jobs. Will 10 lakh jobs count from the 19 lakh jobs promised in Bihar?” Tejashwi asked.

Punjab CM starts second innings, marries doctor Kaur

Chandigarh, July 7 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday tied the knot with Gurpreet Kaur, a doctor from Haryana, in a low-key small private ceremony as per Sikh rituals at his official residence here amidst the presence of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal. It is for the first time that a marriage ceremony was solemnised in the Chief Minister’s residence. Mann, 48, divorced his first wife Inderpreet Kaur in 2015. He has two children from that marriage -- daughter Seerat Kaur Mann (21) and son Dilshan Singh Mann (17), who attended Mann’s swearing-in ceremony on March 16. The Chief Minister made a surprise wedding announcement a day earlier. It is believed to be an arranged marriage. Donning golden attire and a yellow turban with traditional studded ‘kalgi’ atop, groom Mann arrived for the wedding under a Phulkari ‘dupatta’ with AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha, Kejriwal and a select few AAP senior leaders walking beside him. Kejriwal performed the wedding rituals as Mann’s elder brother. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also performed with the bride’s women friends blocking the entrance of the marriage venue. After the conclusion of Anand Karaj ceremony, the couple took blessings of those present at the wedding. Bride Kaur, 32, an MBBS degree holder from Maharishi Markandeshwar University in Mullana in Ambala district, is the youngest of three sisters. The elder ones are settled in the US and Australia. Just hours before tying the knot, Mann’s would-be bride said the auspicious day has come. “Din Shagna Da Chadyaa (the auspicious day has come (for her wedding),” Kaur tweeted and also posted her photo. Only close family members, including Mann’s mother, sister and a few relatives and friends attended the wedding. Speaking to the media before attending the wedding, Kejriwal said his younger brother Bhagwant Mann is getting married and embarking on a new journey. “My younger brother is getting married and embarking on a new journey. My best wishes to him,” Kejriwal told the media at the Chandigarh airport. Responding to Mann’s wedding, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Chadha told the media here, “Happiness is back in Bhagwant Mann’s house after a long time.” An elated Chadha added, “Saade veer da vyah, sanu gode gode chah (My brother is getting married, I am extremely happy).” He shared a picture on Twitter with Mann, who was seen in wedding golden attire donning a yellow turban. Consul General of Canada in Chandigarh, Patrick Hebert, greeted the Chief Minister by tweeting, “Beautiful day for a wedding in #Chandigarh. Congratulations to Chief Minister @BhagwantMann and @DrGurpreetKaur_and best wishes for a happy life!” The food menu for the wedding includes karahi paneer, lasagna Siciliano, tandoori kulche, dal makhani, navratan biryani, apricot stuffed kofta and Burrani Raita. A variety of lip-smacking sweets include fresh fruit trifle, moong dal halwa, angoori rasmalai and rabari.

India is emerging through Atmanirbhar: Goa Governor

Chennai, July 9 (IANS): Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai has said that Indian economy has emerged through Atmanirbhar Bharat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was speaking at a function on the launch of Green Silver Nano particle treated natural fibre saris, here on Saturday. The Goa Governor said that the British had looted the country and had even forcefully taken over our textile technology during the regime. He said that before the British rule in India, the share of the country in world trade was 27 per cent but after the British left in 1947, the share of our country in world trade was only 2 per cent. Sreedharan Pillai said that Swadeshi Jagaran Manch’s idea of self reliant or Atmanirbhar Bharat is being promoted in the country now and added that several local level entrepreneurs have come up with quality products. The Goa Governor said that while India is presently 5th in World Economy ratings, Britain lags behind at 6th place. Kanthaswarna Niranjan Kumar received the green silver Nano particle treated natural fibres sari from the Goa Governor. Shekar C. of Anakaputhur natural fibre weaver cluster spoke about the manufacturing of sari and cloth material from natural fibre. Kanthaswarna Niranjan spoke about the need for support from Government of India to the natural weavers and other textile clusters in the country and asked the Goa Governor to take the initiative. Mahesh Krishnamoorthy of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch presided in the meeting while C. Rajeev of Centre for Policy and Development Studies expressed vote of thanks.

Cong charges BJP of ‘Talibanizing’ India in veil of nationalism

Mumbai, July 9 (IANS): In a blistering attack, the Congress on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of ‘bloodying’ the country’s atmosphere in the guise of ‘hypocritical nationalism’, and labelled it as a ‘Bharat Jalao Party’ against the backdrop of a spate of violent incidents across India. AICC spokesperson Ajay Kumar said in the recent past weeks, there been several instances like the Pulwama killing, murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur, a jailed terror financer Niranjan Hojai in Assam, in which the BJP’s links have emerged, “tearing the veil” of its hollow nationalism. Detailing the incidents at a media conference, he alleged that the BJP’s activists was involved in some of these killings and terror activities in the country. “A prime accused in the Udaipur killing - one Mohammed Atari - turned out to be a BJP worker and employed with a company of a BJP leader Gulabchand Kataria’s sonin-law, and enjoys close ties with several senior BJP leaders,” said Dr. Kumar. Similarly, one of the two Lashkar-eTaiba militants captured in Jammu & Kashmir, Talib Hussain Shah, is a BJP office-bearer and his photos with Union Home Minister Amit Shah have gone viral, while another BJP leader and a Sarpanch, Tariq Ahmed Mir was nabbed in J&K in 2020 on charges of supplying arms to terrorists, he added. Maharashtra Congress Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe said in the June 2022 murder of a pharmacist Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, the prime accused Irfan Khan had taken part in the election campaign of local independent MP Navneet Kaur-Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana. “The links between the BJP and the Rana couple are no secret... The Amravati killing occurred on June 21, the Udaipur murder took place on June 28, yet Navneet Kaur-Rana wrote a letter to Amit Shah on June 27, demanding the NIA should probe the matter. How did she know about the incident one day in advance? Was it all pre-planned?” Londhe demanded. In the local body elections in Srinagar, the BJP had fielded Mohammed Farooq Khan, a supporter of the terrorist Masood Azhar, while a Dy.SP of J&K Devendra Singh was arrested for transporting two militants to Delhi. “The then Lt. Governor had written a letter saying that it would not be in the national interest to probe the matter. Where is Devendra Singh now? He was in Pulwama during the February 24, 2019 terror attacks and it is still not clear from where the 200 kg RDX used in it came from,” said Kumar. Following the Indian Airlines plane hijack (1999), the former BJP government had released the Jaish-e-Mohammed dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar at Kandahar in December 1999, and he later masterminded the attacks on Indian Parliament (December 13, 2001), the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and Pulwama strike in February 2019. In Madhya Pradesh, a Bajrang Dal activist Balram Singh was arrested in 2019 in a terror funding matter, and earlier in 2017, Dhruv Saxena of the BJP’s IT Cell was linked with Pakistan’s ISI in an illegal telephone exchange case, said Dr. Kumar. Labelling the BJP as ‘Bharat Jalao Party,’ he said it is not in the national interest to ally with terrorists and sell-out the country’s interests -- and cited the examples of former Congress Prime Ministers who sacrificed their lives without compromising on the nation’s security. Referring to the Amravati incident, Londhe said though it has been over a fortnight since Kolhe was killed, Navneet Rana goes around performing poojas everywhere instead of visiting the Kolhe home to console the family. The Kumar-Londhe duo said that the ‘Bharatiya Jhootha Party’ is attempting to Talibanize India, but the Congress will not allow it at any cost.

In election year, Himachal CM lays foundation for projects worth Rs 55 cr in Shimla

Shimla, July 8: Ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled later this year, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday laid the foundation for four development projects worth Rs 55 crore in Shimla. These include construction of a vegetable market at Darni Ka Bagicha, a flyover in Khalini and foot-over bridges near Vikasnagar. While addressing a public meeting at Dhalli near here, the Chief Minister said these projects would not only prove to be a landmark for Shimla, but would also facilitate locals as well as tourists. He said Shimla is not only the state capital, but also had the distinction of being the summer capital of British India besides being a popular tourist destination. The state government is committed to restore the old glory of Shimla, besides making it a smart city, he said. He said efforts are being made to widen the existing roads, construct pedestrian paths and parking slots, improve water supply and beautify parks. Thakur said the Chabba water supply scheme at an outlay of Rs 70 crore was completed in a record time of nine months after Shimla witnessed unprecedented water crisis in the summer of 2018. He said this has solved the water problem of the town. He also accused the previous state government for ignoring the interests of the people of Shimla. He said the present government has initiated several projects for Shimla to facilitate the people of the state capital. The Chief Minister said a Rs 1,813 crore water supply scheme is being constructed for Shimla, which on completion would provide 24-hour water supply to the people of the town. Thakur also said a double-lane tunnel is being constructed in Dhalli, which would ensure smooth and uninterrupted plying of vehicles on the busy route. He added that not even a single tunnel has been constructed after Independence in Shimla. Stating that he is a silent worker who does not believe in politics of vendetta and vengeance, the Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his benevolence towards the state and its people. He said the Prime Minister chose Shimla for celebrating eight years of the NDA government and again for organising the chief secretaries’ conference in Dharamsala, which showed his affection towards the state. He said 20 more electric buses would be provided for Shimla and 15 for Dharamsala to facilitate the commuters of these towns. A charging station would also be setup at Taradevi near Shimla.

Ayurvedic drug can help kidney recovery: Study

New Delhi, July 9 (IANS): Patients suffering from ascites -- a condition in which fluid collects in spaces within the abdomen -- can be treated by Ayurvedic poly-herbal drug that has potential not only to slow down the progression of chronic kidney disease but also restore normalcy in functional parameters of the vital organ, a team of researchers has claimed. In a study published in latest issue of Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences, Assistant Professor Komala A, Siddesh Aradhyamath and researcher Mallinath IT from JSS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital in Karnataka gave a range of Ayurvedic formulations along with AIMIL Pharmaceutical’s innovation Neeri KFT for impaired kidneys. “A dose of 20 ml of this ayurvedic formulation daily --morning and evening -- was given for a month,” the researchers said, adding the outcome was positive. The herbal drug not only helped protecting the kidneys of the patients from further damage due to the condition but also helped excreting the collected fluid from their abdomen. The consumption of herbal formulation had flushed out fluid from the abdomen through the urinary tract, said the researchers. The NEERI-KFT, a herbal medicine extracted from plants, is composed of herbs such as Punarnava, Varun, Sigru, Sariva, Makoi and Sirish, also known for their diuretic properties. Sanchit Sharma from AIMIL Pharmaceuticals told IANS that in the past few years Neeri KFT has proven to be effective in strengthening the kidney as well as clearing toxic fluids from the body. Ascites usually occurs when the liver stops working properly or it malfunctions, leading to a build-up of fluid in the space between the abdominal lining and the organs. Ascites is the most common complication of cirrhosis (scarring of the liver). It affects around 60 per cent of people with cirrhosis within 10 years of their diagnosis, and the two-year survival rate is 50 per cent. Patients suffering with ascites may have the symptoms like painless swelling in the abdomen that worsens rather than going away; abdominal discomfort; weight gain; feeling full after eating a little, shortness of breath as pressure increases in the abdomen, pushing up on the diaphragm and reduction in the space for the lungs to expand.

Head injuries in kids can affect brain size, learning difficulties

London, July 10 (IANS): Traumatic brain injury may lead to reduced brain size in some children and teenagers, which can be linked to cognitive problems, a new study has shown. People who experience a serious blow to the head can suffer brain injury resulting in long-term cognitive problems such as difficulties with memory, concentration and solving problems. While the problem has been studied in adults, it is harder in children and teenagers because their brains are growing and changing so rapidly. In the new study, researchers at Imperial College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital collated detailed measurements of children’s brains that are developing normally and used these as a guide to help spot any differences with children who have suffered a moderate or severe brain injury. They discovered that injury can result in some children’s brain volumes being smaller than expected and found that this can be linked to learning and behavioural problems. Their findings are published in the journal Brain. “The effects of head injuries are complicated and vary from person to person. If we can get to a point where precision analysis of scans assists in routine clinical management, that could help us identify why some children and young people are at risk of learning or behavioural difficulties and provide them with additional support or rehabilitation,” said Professor David Sharp, from the Imperial’s Department of Brain Sciences. “This is really important as difficulties experienced by young people can have lasting impacts on their education and subsequent opportunities in adult life.” The researchers used MRI scans to make detailed measurements of the brains of more than 1,200 healthy children and young people aged from 8 to 22 years, enabling them to understand the normal growth and development of different areas of the brain. They compared these with brain scans taken of a group of 39 teenagers, aged between 12 and 16 years, who had suffered a moderate or severe brain injury in the previous months or years. Among the 39 teenagers with brain injury, 11 had a reduced volume in at least one area of white matter in their brain and seven had a reduced volume in at least one area of gray matter in their brain. White matter is made up of the “wiring” that connects different parts of the brain, while gray matter is made up of cell bodies where information is processed and thinking takes place. They also found that those teenagers who had relatively smaller brain volume also had issues such as slower mental processing speed, learning difficulties, higher levels of depression, apathy and anger compared to the group of healthy children. Among some children without low brain volume, they or their parents reported difficulties in everyday functioning, highlighting the challenges of addressing the needs of children following an injury.

MP Shocker: Video of boy cradling infant brother’s body goes viral

Bhopal, July 10: In a shocking scene, a 8-year-old boy is seen seated with the body of his 3-yearold brother on his lap in Madhya Pradesh as his family desperately looks around for an ambulance, as per a video going viral. In the video, taken in the state’s Morena, the boy is seen seated on the ground, against a wall, waiting for his father to take the body home for cremation. The father was seen searching for a vehicle to take the body home as the hospital refused to provide an ambulance. As per reports, villager Poojaram Jatav had brought his three-year-old son Raja to the district hospital. Raja was suffering from anaemia, and succumbed during the treatment at the government-run district hospital. As the ambulance that brought Raja from Ambah Hospital had returned immediately, Jatav asked the doctors and staff of the hospital for a vehicle to take the body back to the village but they refused, saying that there was no vehicle in the hospital, and asked him to hire another vehicle. A hapless Jatav then came out of the hospital with the body of Raja, along with his eight-year-old son Gulshan. On receiving the information, SHO Yogendra Singh reached the spot. He picked up the body and went straight to the district hospital. Soon, the hospital administration arranged an ambulance and the body was sent to home. This is the third such incident reported from the state in the last five months. Opposition Congress slammed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government over the incident. Veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister, Kamal Nath took to Twitter to slam Chouhan and urged him to strengthen the medical system in the state. “I again request you that as the head of the state, you should strengthen the medical system so that seven crore people of the state do not have to suffer for your negligence. “I want to know from Chief Minister that why cases of non-availability of ambulances keep coming up in Madhya Pradesh at regular intervals. Sometimes a pregnant woman has to lose her life due to non-availability of an ambulance, and sometimes people have to take their sick relatives to the hospital on a cot,” he said in a series of tweets about Sunday’s incident.

High-fat diet not only expands your waistline but also shrinks brain

Adding salt to your food at table may raise your risk of death: Study

Sydney, July 10 (IANS): Love to binge on a high-fat diet always? Beware fatty foods may not only be adding to your waistline but also playing havoc with your brain. An international study led by neuroscientists at University of South Australia established a clear link between mice fed a high-fat diet for 30 weeks, resulting in diabetes, and a subsequent deterioration in their cognitive abilities, including developing anxiety, depression and worsening Alzheimer’s disease. Mice with impaired cognitive function were also more likely to gain excessive weight due to poor metabolism caused by brain changes. The findings, published in the journal Metabolic Brain Disease, adds to the growing body of evidence linking chronic obesity and diabetes with Alzheimer’s disease, predicted to reach 100 million cases by 2050. “Obesity and diabetes impair the central nervous system, exacerbating psychiatric disorders and cognitive decline. We demonstrated this in our study with mice,” said Larisa Bobrovskaya, Associate Professor from the varsity. In the study, mice were randomly allocated to a standard diet or a high-fat diet for 30 weeks, starting at eight weeks of age. Food intake, body weight and glucose levels were monitored at different intervals, along with glucose and insulin tolerance tests and cognitive dysfunction. The mice on the high-fat diet gained a lot of weight, developed insulin resistance and started behaving abnormally compared to those fed a standard diet. Genetically modified Alzheimer’s disease mice showed a significant deterioration of cognition and pathological changes in the brain while fed the high fat diet. “Obese individuals have about a 55 percent increased risk of developing depression, and diabetes will double that risk,” Bobrovskaya said. “Our findings underline the importance of addressing the global obesity epidemic. A combination of obesity, age and diabetes is very likely to lead to a decline in cognitive abilities, Alzheimer’s disease and other mental health disorders,” she added.

New York, July 10: Love to add salt to your food at the table? Beware, you may be at higher risk of dying prematurely from any cause, warned a study of more than 500,000 people. The study, published in the European Heart Journal, defines premature death as death before the age of 75 years. Researchers from Tulane University in the US showed that those who always added salt to their food had a 28 per cent increased risk of dying prematurely, compared to those who never or rarely added salt. About three in every hundred people aged between 40 and 69 die prematurely. The increased risk from always adding salt to food seen in the current study suggests that one more person in every hundred may die prematurely in this age group. In addition, the study found a lower life expectancy among people who always added salt compared to those who never, or rarely added salt. Men and women in the habit of always adding salt to their food had 1.5 years and 2.28 years knocked off the life expectancy. The study “provides novel evidence to support recommendations to modify eating behaviours for improving health”, said Professor Lu Qi, from the University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in the US. “Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits, especially when it is achieved in the general population,” Qi added. However, the researchers also found that the risks of salt tended to be reduced slightly in people who consumed the highest amounts of fruit and vegetables, although these results were not statistically significant. “We were not surprised by this finding as fruits and vegetables are major sources of potassium, which has protective effects and is associated with a lower risk of premature death,” said Qi. In an editorial to accompany the paper [3], Professor Annika Rosengren, a senior researcher and professor of medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who was not involved with the research, writes that the net effect of a drastic reduction in salt intake for individuals remains controversial. “Given the various indications that a very low intake of sodium may not be beneficial, or even harmful... it is important to distinguish between recommendations on an individual basis and actions on a population level,” Professor Annika Rosengren, Professor of medicine at University of Gothenburg in Sweden, wrote in an editorial accompanying the paper.

US FDA mulls to okay overthe-counter birth control pill

Washington, July 12 (IANS): Amid the US Supreme Court’s decision to ban abortion in the country, the Food and Drug Administration is considering to approve the first-ever over the counter (OTC) birth control pill. Two companies -- French drugmaker HRA Pharma and US-based Cadence Health -- have approached the FDA to authorise their pill for OTC-sales in the US. HRA Pharma has applied for an Rx-to-OTC switch for Opill, a progestin - only daily birth control pill (also referred to as a mini pill or non-estrogen pill). The pill has already been approved for use in the US since 1973, but only with a prescription. If approved, this would be the first daily birth control pill available OTC without a prescription in the US, the company said in a statement. “This historic application marks a groundbreaking moment in contraceptive access and reproductive equity in the US,” said Frederique Welgryn, Chief Strategic Operations and Innovation Officer at HRA Pharma, in the statement. “More than 60 years ago, prescription birth control pills in the US empowered women to plan if and when they want to get pregnant. Moving a safe and effective prescription birth control pill to OTC will help even more women and people access contraception without facing unnecessary barriers,” Welgryn added. Cadence, whose pill is a combination of progestin and oestrogen plans to submit an application in the coming year, The New York Times reported. While both companies have been in discussions with the FDA for years, the timing of the HRA Pharma application is “a really sad coincidence,” Welgryntold The Times. “Birth control is not a solution for abortion access,” she stressed. The FDA is expected to take around 10 months to make a decision on HRA Pharma’s application, media reports said. Meanwhile, major medical organisations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Family Physicians, have expressed support for moving birth control pills OTC. Earlier this year, the US House of Democrats also signed a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf requesting a “timely review” of applications to make birth control pills available OTC, and more than 100 Democrats have signed on to a bill to make health insurance companies cover the cost of OTC birth control, The Times reported.