Vol. II
| Issue 04
| February 2017
| Rs. 50
"LG Salutes soldiers to begin celebration of 20 Years in India"
Mr. Kim Ki Wan, MD LG Electronics India presenting a contribution cheque to Hon'ble Shri. Rajnath Singh, Home Minister, Govt. of India February 2017 SPO INDIA 1
2 SPO INDIA February 2017
Editor-in-Chief: Deepak Kumar Sahu Executive Editor: Dr. Vijay Anand Associate Editor: Deepak Singh Assistant Editor: Samrita Baruah Copy Editor: C. M. Dutta Sr. Correspondent: Aparna Mullick Art Director: Rakesh Kumar Network Administrator: Ashok Kumar Singh Manager-IT: Subhash Mohanta
C ontents
BUSINESS: Convenor & Secretary: Prasanna Rout General Manager: A.R. Dash Marketing Manager: Dipendra Kumar
CORPORATE OFFICE: A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, Ignou Road, New Delhi - 110030 Tel: 011-41656383, 46061809 Email: edit@spoindia.org
Bangalore: Bureau office Marketing Manager: S. Kamala kar D-103 G.F., Ashish JK Apartments Thubarahalli Extended Road Bangaluru- 560066, Tel: 080-49530399 Mobile:08904205750/9916134482
Mumbai: Bureau office Regional Manager (West): Anil Kumar Anurag Residency, 203 - “B” Wing, Plot No-5, Sector-9, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai-410 209 Tel: 022-65561292, Mobile: 08108017479
Chennai: Bureau office Branch Manager: M.S. Barani Door. No.8, Plot No.-837,89th Street, 13th Sector, K.K.Nagar, Chennai - 600 078 Mobile: 09444077065 E-mail: barani@varindia.com
SPOI SPECIAL | 18
LG's Kar Salam initiative salutes Indian jawans SPOI OVERVIEW 06 Re-imagining e-waste for a faster #DigitalIndia ROUND ABOUT 10 An open letter to President Donald Trump
Kolkata: Bureau office Marketing Officer: Sunil Kumar New Korola, Near Alampur, Land Mark Asian International School, Howrah - 711302 Mobile: 08100298033 Printed by Deepak Kumar Sahu and Published by Deepak Kumar Sahu on behalf of Mr Deepak Kumar Sahu and Printed at Pushpak Press Pvt. Ltd. Shed No. 203 - 204, DSIDC Complex, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi-110020 and Published at A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, Ignou Road, New Delhi - 110030, Editor - Deepak Kumar Sahu.
18
LG's Kar Salam initiative salutes Indian jawans
EVENTS SPECIAL 20
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH 11 Lenovo’s Thinkcentre X1
Cyber Security India Conclave 2017
UNION BUDGET REVIEW
Hyderabad: Bureau office Branch Manager: Sunil Kumar B 383 HAL Colony, Balanagar HYDERBAD, Telengana - 500042 Tel: 040-32989844/ Cell No. 08100298033 E-mail: sunil@varindia.com
SPOI SPECIAL
FACE TO FACE 12 Empowering persons with disabilities to harness their potential SPOI ANALYSIS 16 Applied Materials making a sustainable impact on the society
34
Budget 2017 eyes holistic growth
For Subscription queries contact: info@varindia.com Subscription: ` 600(12 issues) ` 1200 (24 issues) All payments favouring:
Socio Political Observer Of India
© All rights are reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. (2015) * All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi only.
Socio Political Observer Of India is a society approved by CIT(E) - Delhi under section BOG of the Income Tax Act vide its order No - CIT (E)/2016-17/ DEL-SE27118 - 20092016/7571
February 2017 SPO INDIA 3
India moving from Demonetisation to Digitalisation India is transforming digitally. Digital India, Digital Payment, etc are the buzzwords. In the popular parlance, government is generally seen as a technology backwater. However, the Indian government is changing that perception through a complete digital transformation. This is in essential fitness of things. Otherwise there are chances that India might find itself losing ground in the new era of technological transformation. Digital transformation helps in creating value, growth and competitive advantage through new age digital offerings. At the same time, we need to plan for a right strategy for cyber threat detection and response, identity and access management, online fraud prevention, governance, risk and compliance solutions. Technology has definitely changed business models by introducing more competition and challenges. Going forward, as more connected devices become available, the threat of ransomware of Things (RoT) has the potential to become a pervasive and disruptive phenomenon. At the same time in more ways than one the costs of cybercrime just keep going up. Cyber villains are taking resort to malware to target the rapidly increasing market of IoT devices in “jackware” or “RoT’ attacks. Cyber-security is at the top of all IT spending priorities, and most companies work to mitigate financial losses brought on by cyber threats. In coming days cyber security insurance is all set to be the game changer. Cybersecurity insurance mitigates financial damage should you suffer a cyber attack. Cybersecurity insurance will encourage businesses to improve security so they can negotiate lower premiums. Current challenge is on how to keep our business safe, while cybercrime often targets companies for immediate financial gain.It is a challenge for the enterprises on how to focus on growth, innovation and transformation in today’s volatile business environment. Financial institutions are well aware of the fact that data is their most powerful asset. Needless to say, they are investing in next generation technology to better leverage that data. There is a need for a culture shift on the part of banks to recognise and capitalise on the power of data to drive commercial benefit. It is the time to ask banks to show their compliance and the security checks they have. The Internet of Things (IOT) is permeating the marketplace. With IoT as an emerging focus for all players and with its increased adoption, many verticals like automotive, healthcare, networking and retail are expected to reap huge benefits out of it. IoT would not only ease our daily lives with a minimal usage of time but will prove to be cost efficient as well. However, IoT devices have become a much more attractive target for cyber criminals. Energy sector is the latest target of the Cyber villains and it is high time now to secure SCADA system.
Deepak Kumar Sahu President, SPOI | VARINDIA’s Development Initiative For CSR www.spoindia.org 4 SPO INDIA February 2017
February 2017 SPO INDIA 5
spoI overVIEW
Re-imagining e-waste for a faster #DigitalIndia The 4th Industrial Revolution is taking the world by storm and it has digital technologies at its core; it is the combination of data, internet sensors, cloud computing, analytics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality combined with 3D printing, robotics, advanced materials and energy storage that will have a multiplier effect on economic output and society. Digital India is a holistic vision to harness the energy of its demographic talent and potential of digitization for India. From affordable & ubiquitous connectivity, to locally manufactured devices and consumable content in all languages and forms, the vision is of a digitally empowered society solving problems of financial inclusion, access to healthcare, quality education, clean energy, agriculture information systems amongst others. Digital India will leapfrog India into a socio-economically digitally empowered society in the next 5 years by enabling consumers, citizens, small businesses, traders and farmers to harness technology for efficiency and productivity. Today we stand on the threshold of such a transformation, thanks to the vision of Prime Minister Modi. Demonetisation has given a much required push for consumption to be digitally driven and payments to go cashless. Every Indian will have access to full financial services through the revolutionary IndiaStack. IndiaStack is open innovation at its best, with tight integration of Aadhaar-identity, digital locker-paperless and payment systems available to all to build their innovations on top of these platforms. Banks will open new accounts using Aadhaar-linked e-KYC mechanisms in a few minutes. Consumers will make payments to merchants using the Unified Payments Interface. They will be able to get credit, get all benefits directly credited to their accounts (DBT) and get life insurance and medical insurance, and have opportunities to invest their savings electronically. While the Government focuses 6 SPO INDIA February 2017
on building this local infrastructure for manufacturing hardware, through attracting FDI and the “Make in India� campaign, there is an opportunity to fill the gap by re-deploying the existing IT assets that have been financially depreciated but still have another few years of functional life left. Policies and incentives need to be designed to encourage the re-use of assets that can be re-deployed. This will not only help reduce e-waste generation but will also result in making technology more affordable to those who couldn’t have otherwise benefitted from it. The startup ecosystem is in place to solve this problem, there needs to be policy clarity to make this happen. General awareness within enterprises and industry organization is also required to re-provision functional assets to village self service kiosks, government schools and panchayats. The revised e-waste rules released in 2016 has been a significant improvement over the past; however there is still a significant room for improvement by bringing more clarity in the policies. The e-waste guidelines should be clearer in defining what is e-waste. Ambiguity in e-waste definition is resulting in many companies declaring all used assets as e-waste, even if the asset can be re-
deployed or sold for further use. This is not only resulting in value destruction but also converting functional assets into e-waste. Similarly, EOU policies related to disposal of capital goods are unintentionally incentivizing creation of e-waste out of functional machines. In addition to clarity on the rules, the CSR guidelines should also encourage re-use and reduction of e-waste by allowing enterprises to take CSR credit for the amount of assets that they have re-deployed to other needy causes from certified refurbishers. Creation of Re-Use Index on the lines of Carbon Credits could also be a progressive step taken to spread awareness and branding. India is leading the world with its frugal and open innovation platforms having ability to operate at scale and affordability. Digital India is that major accelerator of economic and societal transformation, impacting all stakeholders by enhancing their quality of life. We need all steps possible to make this empowerment reach to every corner of India. Arvind Gupta is an IITBHU graduate and Eisenhower Global Innovation Fellow. He tweets @ buzzindelhi. The views expressed are personal.
February 2017 SPO INDIA 7
Corporate Office : A-84A/3 Rose Apartment, Paryavaran complex, Ignou Road, New Delhi - 110030 Tel: 011-41656383, 46061809 www.fisonspharma.com
CORPORATES IN CSR
Huawei & CSR Asia Launch White HCL Foundation organises BAL Paper on Education MELA event Huawei Technologies and CSR Asia have launched a white paper on current use and potential for Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education across China and ASEAN. “The Role of ICT in Realising Education for all by 2030 - Achieving Sustainable Development Goal Four” is the title of the paper. It focuses on the role that technology can play in helping achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number four (SDG4), which prioritises equitable access to quality education for all ages and aims to fill gaps in education systems worldwide. The paper explores the current reality of education in the region and the ways in which ICT could help drive positive change in access and quality. In a region with significant economic and social diversity, the greatest leveller, social unifier, and driver of sustainable development in all countries is education. Used strategically, ICT can dramatically enhance education equity, quality and efficiency through its ability to facilitate fast, synergetic and scalable change. However, compared with most developed nations, the region has yet to take full advantage of this opportunity.
HCL Foundation has organized the ‘BAL MELA’, an annual cultural event institutionalized to support staff and their families and children at HCL SEZ Campus, Sector-126, Noida. The support staff included security personnel, transport staff, housekeeping staff, cafeteria personnel and other third party paid staff. The one-day cultural event was organized to provide an opportunity for the support staff to let their hair down for a day and to showcase their artistic and creative abilities and to interact with HCLites. It was a day of fun, games and treats for the support staff being organized annually as they play an important role in ensuring that HCLites work in a safe and supportive environment. They are a key part of the fabric that make up the workplace and support employees in doing work in the best possible manner. HCL Foundation also awarded education scholarships to meritorious students of the support staff and Gurukul students, under ‘My Scholar’ project. My Scholar is a core project under Urban CSR with funds raised from employees’ contribution under ‘Power of One’.
Citiustech Partners with Tata Memorial Hospital
Wipro and PATH to Improve Health in Developing Countries
CitiusTech has announced its engagement with the Tata Memorial Hospital as part of its CSR initiative. CitiusTech has extended its support for the use of Percutaneous Intravenous Central Catheters (PICC lines) amongst children suffering from cancer, which eliminate the need of frequent needle pricks saving the children from psychological trauma associated with cancer treatment. CitiusTech will also offer technology consulting to build a robust hospital information system for the hospital. CitiusTech has provided financial aid to Tata Memorial Hospital over the past couple of years for the use of PICC lines and over 200 children have benefited from this program till date. “Tata Memorial Hospital is a leading cancer institution of our country and supporting them in this noble cause is a great privilege for CitiusTech. In addition to providing financial support, we look forward to sharing our learning in healthcare technology to help Tata Memorial Hospital build a globally-recognized healthcare technology platform.” said Jagdish Moorjani, COO, CitiusTech. 8 SPO INDIA February 2017
Wipro and PATH focused on improving health care, especially for women and children has announced a partnership. Wipro and PATH will partner to improve health outcomes in developing countries in Africa and Asia Pacific by collaborating on information and technology systems that accelerate progress on health innovations in low-resource environments. Jeffrey Heenan Jalil, Senior Vice-President and Global Head, Healthcare, Life Sciences & Services, Wipro Limited said, “We are delighted to partner with PATH to improve health in developing countries. We see this as a socially impactful opportunity to apply our experience and expertise in technological innovation to solve real-world health problems in resource-challenged corners of the world. This partnership will deepen our understanding of country-level needs so that we can develop digital strategies that take into account the complexities and nuances of global health work. Partnering with PATH to support the development of lifesaving technologies and strengthen health systems is a way for us to make a meaningful impact on people’s lives.”
Vodafone Empowers Underprivileged Kids with Study Material
350 employees of Allergan India pledge to donate eyes
Incap India adopts a school as part of CSR
Accenture Support Job-Skills Training for Persons with Disabilities
Vodafone India has visited MDD Bal Bhawan, Karnal and distributed goodie bags to more than 150 underprivileged kids at the Orphanage. This initiative is aimed at giving them basic learning and educative material to help them in their studies, building up curiosity to learn more and broaden horizons among kids. Vodafone took this initiative to empower the kids in enhancing their creative potential by giving them goodie bags full of books of their interest, colourful pens and crayons, chocolates, etc. Commenting on this initiative in Karnal, Mohit Narru Business Head–Haryana, Vodafone India, “Vodafone is committed to the safety, security and development of the society. We firmly believe that education is the most important element in the development of the country. With this initiative, our purpose is to help every child get access to education which is a fundamental to driving social change. It’s the first step to help the kids to learn and become independent.”
While the net profit of Incap Corporation's subsidiary in India, Incap Contact Manufacturing Services Private Limited has exceeded a certain level, the company in line with the local Companies Act 2013 requested to constitute a Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and to spend at least 2% of the average net profits of the company made during the three immediately p r e c e d i n g financial years to the CSR activities. The CSR Committee of Incap has identified a suitable CSR activity and the Board of Incap India has resolved to contribute to the School Development Monitoring Committee. The Committee is in charge of the development of Government schools in rural areas including among others the construction of class rooms, computer labs, science labs, libraries and reading rooms in the Government Schools in Maskal in the area of Tumkur Taluk, Karnataka, India.
Allergan India co-opted its 350 employees into pledging to donate eyes. The large group was brought together from across the country. They gathered in the wee hours of the morning at the Jawaharlal Nehru auditorium, formed a human chain and walked to Dr. R P Centre, united by the cause. 350 employees signed a pledge in support of eye donation. The walk was helmed by Sridhar Ranganathan, Allergan India, Dr Namrata Sharma, Dr Jeewan S Titiyal, andDr Radhika Tandon, all professors of ophthalmology at AIIMS. “At Allergan, the ethos of giving forms a part of our core value system. We also understand that philanthropy need not be restricted to monetary means. Our effort is to spread the culture of being charitable to society as a whole, which is why 600+ workforce of our organization has been able to participate. We are delighted to partner with the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences and the National Eye Bank, at AIIMS, on this venture. As the centre celebrates 50 years of being, this is a landmark event for them too, to encourage the spirit of volunteership,” said Sridhar Ranganathan, MD, Allergan India.
To increase job readiness and opportunity for persons with disabilities, Accenture has awarded a series of grants worth INR 48 million to its non-profit partners, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, Anudip Foundation and EnAble India. The grants – a part of Accenture’s Skills to Succeed global corporate citizenship initiative which aims to equip 3 million with job skills by 2020 – will enhance programs that provide job skills to persons with disabilities in India and connect them to open positions. Specifically, the grants will support: Dr. Reddy’s Foundation’s GROW skilling program for persons across India with locomotor disabilities and hearing impairment; the Anudip Foundation’s Specially Abled Vocational Education (SAVE) program in West Bengal and Odisha, tailored to the physically and visually challenged and EnAble India in scaling its innovative Namma Vaani system which, through interactive voice response, uses mobile phones to create an interactive, inclusive social platform to create a network for persons with disabilities. February 2017 SPO INDIA 9
ROUND ABOUT Dear Mr President, I would like to congratulate you on becoming the 45th President of the United States of America. Your bold views and commitment to serve the US citizens and to set a new governance structure for world at large, has instilled new hopes and aspirations among the people of the United States. Your message of “Make America Great Again” resonates with me as well as millions of Americans who supported you. I have more respect and faith for you as well as admiration because you are not a “professional politician” but a highly successful businessman and a person of very original ideas. I myself being a US citizen of Indian roots, feel an empathy with you – if you allow me to say so – because in my life and career I have had to cross barriers and overcome challenges – barriers and challenges thrown by ageold customs and conventions, wrong ideas and narrowness of mind, one’s friends’ and family’s obsession with economic security which is so illusive. You have made Trump Organization possible and you have entered the Oval Office despite a world full of opposition and media clamour, and this proves you are a crusader for your causes and you know how to have faith in yourself. Undeniably, it will seek to redefine the political and social narrations world over. The Indian IT landscape is in for a radical change, thanks to a slew of measures being taken by the successive governments. This present dispensation has kick-started far-reaching programmes that can catapult India to a powerful and robust economy. India is already the third- largest economy in the world, after the US and China. The size of the Indian economy has registered quantum jumps in the recent times. India’s gross domestic product is over US$2 trillion and, going by the growth forecast by various multinational think tanks, India’s growth in the coming years will be spectacular. Some of India’s best brains are heading some of the big corporations in the US. They are in the forefront in creating wealth and employment to this great country, whom they or their forefathers have adopted years ago and are working tirelessly for its multifaceted development. The people of Indian origin have contributed immensely to the American literature, science and technology. They are recognized both in the US and India as well for their contributions. There are 10 SPO INDIA February 2017
also Nobel Prize winners among them, who set trailblazing examples for scientific community. Many of them are heading large research projects of vital importance to the US. Similarly, some of the American corporations are household names in India. Their presence in India can be dated back to a few centuries. There is hardly any American Fortune 500 company which does not have a strong presence in India. They have been playing important roles in the economic and social development of India. India is on the cusp of a new development trajectory. India is the sixthlargest manufacturing hub in the world and is working hard to move up in the value chain. India has a strong agricultural base. The Indian business community is technology hungry all the time. India has massive plans like building 100 smart cities, a strong Digital India, a vibrant pharmaceutical sector, a strong and forward-looking agribusiness and so on. These are areas that open up opportunities for India and the US to work together. American companies are a natural pick for Indian corporations for joint ventures, technological tie-ups, etc since they have an excellent track record of partnerships. Let me focus on our shared vision of using information technology to leverage the potentials of both countries. There are some of the potentials that exist in India that the US corporations can tap. In the healthcare sector, India’s objective is to provide universal healthcare to 1.3 billion people in the conceivable future. Faced with resource crunch, India is toying with different concepts to widen the coverage of the healthcare, which should be affordable, accessible and of high quality. Driven by shortage of health professionals like doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, India is now focussing on telemedicine, using disruptive apps like mobile telephones, biomarkers, sensors, artificial intelligence, etc. This will enable them to treat the people closer to their home using modern virtual devices. There is a goldmine awaiting the US corporations in marketing these gadgets in India. Already, India imports a large quantum of medical devices from the US. The Indo-US cooperation in defence, aerospace and in high-tech areas is well known. Similarly, of late India has embarked on an ambitious project known as “Make in
An open letter to President Donald Trump
India”. This presupposes India becoming a powerful manufacturing sector. This is a double whammy for the US corporations. First, the US could be a lead supplier of capital goods that are needed for the manufacturing sector. Two, the US can be an effective partner in building capacities in India by entering into joint ventures with Indian companies for the manufacture of these products in India. Finally, let me point out how IT has helped the two countries to achieve potentials. It is not all about outsourcing and body shopping. India is also a favourite place for American corporations to invest in high-end R&D because of the abundant availability of highly skilled researchers and scientists passing out from India’s hallowed institutions. They do the work at a fraction of the cost, what otherwise would have incurred in any other country. I wish you all success for your presidency and sincerely hope that the people of the United States will immensely benefit from your stewardship.
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
Lenovo’s Thinkcentre X1
The Thinkcentre X1 comes styled in the usual Lenovo charcoal-grey color scheme, with a 23.8-inch, 1920x1080 non-touch display featuring an anti-glare coating. This All-in-one PC ideally save space, minimize clutter, and allow unrestricted access to the surface they reside on. X1 is Super Slim. The aluminum-alloy crafted chassis is just 11 mm thin/0.43 inches. Thinkcentre X1 is powered with 6th gen Intel Core processor with vPro, Windows 10 Pro operating system, mechanical (up to 500GB) or solid state (up to 1TB) hard drives and up to 16GB of RAM DDR4 memory. Pack this all-in-one with performance to power through work, collaborate through online meetings, or sit back and enjoy highdefinition entertainment. This all-in-one features a widescreen 23.8″ full HD antiglare display (1920 x 1080). The display has been treated at a microlevel to scatter light and prevent glare – so you get a vibrant, clear screen, even in brightly-lit environments. The X1’s thoughtful design is the arrangement of its ports and switches. Everything you are likely to leave plugged in connects to the back of the system: gigabit ethernet, Kensington lock port, power jack, a bi-directional Display 1.2 port and three USB 3.0 ports. For more daily use, you will find two USB 3.0 ports (one of which is always on, for charging purposes), a combination headphone/microphone jack, and a media card slot on the lower left hand side.Wireless keyboard and mouse are supplied with this machine.
February 2017 SPO INDIA 11
FACE TO FACE
Empowering persons with disabilities to harness their potential ALIMCO today is establishing itself as an ideal CSR executing agency for both private and Public sector. Given the insufficiency in funds to support the Persons with Disabilities, there is a strong need of CSR funding that would help this section and make them more productive for the society. Throwing more light on this, Shri D R Sarin, CMD, ALIMCO tells SPOI of how ALIMCO is trying to mobilise funds and bring everyone together to serve this vulnerable section of the society What is your reaction to the mandatory CSR provisions opened the ocean of opportunities under the new Companies Act, in the process of nation building. Various challenges like education, 2013? Today CSR is one of the major thrust areas of the Corporation. ALIMCO is immensely benefited with the introduction of Statutory Section in the Companies Act, 2013 relating to CSR and it is today one of the major alternative resources to reach out to more people in terms of providing Aids & Assistive Devices. As per CSR guidelines, implementing agency like ALIMCO should execute the CSR activity in project mode for the benefit of poorest among the poor which it mandates to fulfil. Moreover, the Corporation is qualified to get funds under CSR as it is registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.
What role do you visualise for Corporate India in addressing the development challenges through CSR? There is no doubt that CSR obligation under the companies Act 2013 has 12 SPO INDIA February 2017
skilled manpower supply, sanitation, environment protection issues of the developing nations are among the popular areas where CSR funds is being utilised. As far as ALIMCO is concerned, persons with disabilities are the integral part of the human resources and empowering them by providing aids and assistive devices under CSR to utilise their potential in the development process of our country. Therefore, the profit making corporate - both public and private have a duty towards this section of our society. I appeal to all Public and Private Sectors Heads to include activities relating to disabled persons under their CSR projects. It has been found that a majority of organisations are focussing only on compliance with CSR without perform their Social Responsibility with passion. What, according to you, should be done to motivate the organisations to do better for the society? If organisations believe that the basic
rule of business is to earn profit, then a strategic approach by the organisation towards CSR can bring benefits. By using their core strengths to build goodwill and earning consumer confidence and trust in business to build positive brand image will ultimately lead to business growth and profit of the company.
Can you discuss ALIMCO’s CSR journey? ALIMCO is “Not for profit motive” organisation and a Central Public Sector undertaking under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India, registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 , the mobilisation of CSR funds was started by the Corporation much before the introduction of Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013. It was started in 2011 after the issue of CSR guidelines by the Department of Public Enterprises. As per census 2011 India had a population of approximately 26.8 million Persons with Disabilities and majority of them came from poor strata of society. However government aided schemes is not adequate to serve the
needy PwDs (Persons with Disabilities). Hence, determined to empower the PwDs of our country, ALIMCO approached Corporates, particularly CPSEs to join hands with ALIMCO under their CSR Programmes to provide Assistive Aids & Appliances to PwDs.
for promoting disabled sports persons, participating in national and international level and skill development programme are the other initiatives in which the corporation is planning to concentrate.
Rs.10 Crores for Cochlear Implant which is likely to increase substantially during the current year. Many corporates have come forward to support this initiative of the Corporation under the CSR and Corporation is promoting this as a major activity of the Corporation under the CSR initiative.
Which one of your projects may be called a flagship What is the implementing activity, which you can promote Any information, you would method of CSR for the targeting the CSR spending like to share with our readers? corporate by your Company? companies, if any? Our implementation methodology is simple and clear. ALIMCO submits proposal to sponsoring agencies and once the proposal is accepted it is followed by the signing of MoU to proceed with the implementation process in the project mode. Thereafter, there are two major steps - firstly, the assessments of beneficiaries by qualified Prosthetic & Orthotics professionals/ Audiologist at the various locations which are finalized in consultation with sponsoring agencies and district administration after which complete beneficiaries details along with performa invoice are provided to sponsoring agency. Secondly distribution camps to provide prescribed assistive devices to identified beneficiaries are conducted. Various other micro level planning is involved during execution of the camps like finalising venue, timely dispatch and delivery of material, wide media publicity, food and water arrangements during camps etc. Eventually utilization certificate and completion report is also handed over to the sponsor agency.
Apart from providing Aids & Assistive Devices to Persons with Disabilities under CSR projects funded by Private and Govt. Corporate, ALIMCO has recently taken up the project of providing Cochlear Implants to children who can neither listen nor speak. Cochlear Implant is a medical device which can be implanted in children between the age group of 0-5 years and after implanting such device children are able to listen and speak. So far, the Corporation is able to mobilise
It is true that Govt. is supporting the Persons with Disabilities by providing free Aids & Assistive Devices under ADIP Scheme but the allocation of funds under this Scheme of the Govt. is not sufficient to meet the requirement. Hence, the CSR funding would help this vulnerable section of the society by providing mobility to them to make them more productive for the society. I appeal to all Public and Private Sectors Heads to include activities relating to disabled persons under their CSR projects.
What are the areas that ALIMCO has been concentrating on as a part of its CSR initiatives? Pursuant to the provision of CSR, ALIMCO has planned to undertake various activities as per the CSR policy of the corporation as approved by the board. The activities identified by the corporation for implementing its CSR are well covered under the schedule VII of section 135 focusing on promoting health and environment sustainability sector through primary healthcare camps and distribution of solar lanterns in the vicinity of the rural areas of the corporation and its centres all over the country. In addition to the provision
ALIMCO signed the Transfer of Technology (ToT) and Consultancy Services agreement with U.K based Motivation Charitable Trust for manufacturing of Active wheelchairs in India in the presence of Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Hon’ble Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment; Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment and Shri N. S Kang, Secretary, Department Of Empowerment of Persons with Disablities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. The MoU was signed by Shri D R Sarin, CMD, ALIMCO and Mr. Richard Frost, Chief Executive Officer, M/s Motivation Trust, U.K. at Shashtri Bhavan in New Delhi on 21.12.16. February 2017 SPO INDIA 13
NEWS IN FOCUS
Meritorious students given solar lanterns
NLC distributes aid to HIV affected children
Rs. 600 crore allocated for “Rooftop Solar Power Plants”
RECTPCL signs MoU with EESL
Chairperson of State Seed Development Corporation (SSDC) Ujjwal Raman Singh lauded Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for starting the scheme to distribute solar-powered lanterns to students in the state. Singh was participating at a ceremony where distribution of solar lanterns took place at Kasturb Gandhi Awasiye Balika Vidyalaya (KGABV) in Allahabad for the meritorious students. He said that lantern is a symbolic victory of light over darkness, and urged the students to utilise the lantern in the best possible manner to excel academically, thereby removing the darkness from their lives and that from the lives of others. The chairman of SSDC also said that there is no substitute to hardwork, and once a child is educated, his/her entire family too becomes educated. Singh also informed the gathering that soon solar energy would be harnessed throughout the state to generate electricity and that the state is progressing rapidly.
An amount of Rs. 600 crore has been allocated for the projects under "Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar power Plants Programme". Rs. 508.84 Crore has been released till January31. This was stated by power minister Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. The ministry of new & renewable energy (MNRE) has been promoting "Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme" with a Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of up to 30% of benchmark cost in General category States and up to 70 % in Special Category States, North Eastern States, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Residential, Institutional and Social sector are covered under this CFA pattern. For government sector, achievement linked incentive up to Rs.18750/kWp in General Category States and Rs.45000/kWp in Special Category States, North Eastern States and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep is available under the Programme. 14 SPO INDIA February 2017
The Corporate Social Responsibility team from NLC India Limited, along with Neyveli Ladies Club patrons and members, distributed essentials to children under the care of the HIV+ve Society Vridhachalam in Cuddalore. Yogamaya Acharya, president, Neyveli Ladies Club and Sneha Opportunity School of Neyveli, J. Peter James, general manager, CSR, distributed food packets, a specially prepared nutritious food items to HIV affected children, which contains cereals. Stocks of channa, dates, snacks, soaps and uniforms were also distributed to 75 children and sarees and lungis provided to their parents. NLC has committed its CSR team to provide ₹1.25 lakh worth food packets to 225 children at Puthupalayam and 75 children of Vridhachalam every month.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was executed between REC Transmission Projects Company Ltd. (RECTPCL) and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) for taking up Energy Efficiency and Energy Efficient Street Lighting projects. During the event, Ms. Ritu Maheshwari, IAS, CEO-RECTPCL and Mr. Saurabh Kumar, MD-EESL executed the MoU in the presence of Dr. P V Ramesh, CMDRECL and other senior officials of RECTPCL and EESL. R E C Transmission Projects Company Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of REC Ltd.) has been entrusted the responsibility of selection of developer for a number of inter-State transmission projects in accordance with guidelines notified by government. These transmission projects are required to be implemented on Build, Own, Operate& Maintain (BOOM) basis in accordance with Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Guidelines for Transmission Service & Guidelines for Encouraging Competition in Development of Transmission Projects notified by Ministry of Power, Government of India.
REC Extends CSR Support to AIIMS
Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC), has extended financial assistance of Rs. 13.02 crore under its CSR initiative to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for the project ‘’Renovation and provision of equipment for Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) of AIIMS along with procurement of new steam sterilizers and buy back of old sterilizers, on turn-key basis”. The main objective of the project is to significantly reduce nosocomial infections and improve the quality of patient care by ensuring that the entire Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) of AIIMS, New Delhi is renovated on a turnkey basis including renovation/ refurbishment and procurement of new steam sterilizes, washer disinfector and ultrasonic cleaner. The Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) in this regard was executed between REC and AIIMS in New Delhi on 21.02.2017. Shri Sanjiv Garg, Executive Director, REC and Dr. D. K. Sharma, Medical Superintendent, AIIMS signed the MoA in the presence of Dr. P. V. Ramesh, Chairman and Managing Director, REC, Shri Ajeet Agarwal, Director (Finance), Shri S. K. Gupta, Director (Technical) and other senior officials of REC and AIIMS.
AAI Chairman presents Dividend Cheque to Hon’ble Union Minister
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has declared an Interim Dividend of Rs.560 Cr. for the year 2016-17. AAI has earned a Revenue of Rs.10,824 Crores (previous year – Rs.9285 Crores), Profit Before Tax of Rs.3697 Crores (previous year Rs.2791 Crores) and the Profit After Tax of Rs.2537 Crores (previous year Rs.1959 Crores) for the year 2015-16. AAI has spent an amount Rs.4315 Crores during the last three years (2013-14 to 201516) on modernization of Airport terminals, passenger facilities and Air Traffic and Navigational Aids at its Airports and has planned to spend this year Rs.1974 Crores. AAI has paid Rs.1106 Crores as Dividend in the last three years (2013-14 – 2015-16) and has also contributed to the Central Exchequer Rs.6253 Crores in different forms during the same period, apart from paying Dividend.
NTPC installs robotic dry cleaning system for solar PV plant
NTPC Dadri has installed Robotic Dry Cleaning System (RDCS) for the solar panels at its solar PV plant in Dadri. This is a first of its kind in India which uses robotic method of cleaning solar panels said D K Sood, regional executive director NTPC Dadri, Badarpur and Faridabad (DBF). Built at a cost of Rs 76 lakhs, the design of RDCS is from an Israel based company - Ecoppia. Most of RDCS parts are manufactured in Chennai and other parts India. Sood who inaugurated the RDCS on Thursday maintained that "apart from being first of its kind in India, RDCS is wireless operated, self-powered, energy independent and self-cleaned as no man power is required to clean the solar panels because robo operation with seasonal tilt is used for the same," said Sood.
Cabinet Approves Proposal for Hydro Electric Project in Nepal
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the investment for generation component of Arun-3 HEP (900 MW) for an estimated cost of Rs. 5723.72 crore at May 2015 Price Level. The completion period of the project shall be 60 months from the date of financial closure which is planned for September this year. The project is located on Arun River in Sankhuwasabha District of Eastern Nepal. The Run-ofRiver scheme envisages about 70 mtr. high concrete gravity dam and Head Race Tunnel (HRT) of 11.74 Km. with underground Power House containing four generating units of 225 MW each on Left Bank. SJVN limited bagged the project through International Competitive Bidding. An MoU was signed between Government of Nepal and SJVN Limited for the project in March, 2008 for execution on Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 30 years including five years of construction period. February 2017 SPO INDIA 15
SPOI Analysis
Applied Materials making a sustainable impact on the society Applied Materials is committed to being a socially responsible corporation in India. Its commitment is demonstrated by its strategic charitable investments in local communities and by the passion of its employees and their involvement in non-profit and educational organizations. Srinivas Satya, President and Managing Director - Applied Materials India gives an account of some of the company’s recent initiatives and the broad areas in which it contributes innovative uses of technology to solve the world’s most pressing problems. This Global Humanitarian Award, named after Applied’s former longtime CEO, honors individuals whose leadership and vision positively impact humanity.
Can we have your thoughts and vision on Sustainability & CSR programs in India? As a responsible corporate citizen, Applied Materials works to make a positive contribution in the communities where our employees work and live. We conduct our business operations in a manner that preserves the environment and protects the health and safety of workers, customers and the world around us. Applied Materials is committed to making social contributions with sustainable impact to the communities where we operate. Our focus on being a socially responsible corporate citizen has earned us consistent recognition.
students to explore new ideas and experiences.
Could you share some of the recent initiatives of Applied Materials, of how it is shaping the path for CSR within the company?
Civic engagement: Through collaboration in local communities, Applied Materials helps meet basic needs, such as food and housing, works with youth leadership programs, and supports the infrastructure of the nonprofit sector.
Making a positive social contribution to the community is a value ingrained in our culture, and to achieve this objective, we make strategic investments, both financial and human resources, in the communities where we live and to the world around us. We also give employees ample opportunities for volunteering in their community.
Environment: By investing in environmental education and communitybased projects – especially those that engage employee volunteers – Applied Materials is working to build a more sustainable future around the world.
These are the broad areas where we contribute:
Education: We support strategic education efforts focused on academic achievement, teacher professional development and specific university projects – opening opportunities for 16 SPO INDIA February 2017
Arts & Culture: We consistently support arts and cultural organizations, and invest in programs and partnerships that recognize the essential role the arts play in the community and in education. We also have instituted The James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award at “The Tech Awards” that recognize
Employee Volunteering: Applied Materials’ community involvement programs help employees make a difference to society through volunteerism, educational outreach, technical mentoring, environmental stewardship and health-related activities. Employeeorganizedcampaignsincludingthe annual India “Food Drive” and “Book Drive” are planned and executed by employees, creating opportunities for the entire organization to come together to raise funds for a local cause of significance. These are events where teams are created cross-sectionally, and employees work shoulder-to-shoulder with diverse groups and teams across the organization. Corporate Program To Facilitate Employee Giving & Volunteering: We have evolved the “Applied Giving” program to further promote the concept of “giving” and “volunteering,” by matching employee contributions of money and timeto registered eligible charities. In a year, an employee can request personal financial contributions to eligible charities be matched up to $2000 from the Applied Materials Foundation. Employee volunteering (personal time) in the community is also financially matched with $400 a year for 40 hours of volunteer service for each employee. The employee can direct the funds to an eligible charity of his/her choice.
Recognitions to Promote Community Consciousness: The Exemplary Social Citizen Award at Applied Materials India is a special award given quarterly to employee(s) who have gone beyond the call of duty to contribute to society. This does not include community activities organized by the company, so it serves as a true recognition of social contributors and innovators. It also underscores Applied Materials’ commitment to make a positive contribution to the communities where we live and the world around us. Innovation for the Community: A recently concluded IoT hackathon at Applied Materials India had social responsibility as one of the streams open for ideas. The best ideas were reviewed in
have been no setbacks or concerns about adherence to the intent of the Bill. However, for organizations new to CSR, more clarity on the bill, increased information onspecifics, and industry case studies might be helpful in in facilitating CSR implementation. There have been many initiatives supported by industry organizations and NGOs, which businessescan learn from and leverage. Organizations also need to embrace CSR in spirit, and realize that it benefits the corporation and their employees in many ways. An in-house team managing CSR/ Sustainability will bring more structure and ensure continuity of initiatives.
What is your CSR vision for the year 2017? As mentioned earlier, our corporate responsibility initiatives range from
the Company’s Act changed the way your company plans its CSR programs? Applied Materials already had a fullfledged Community Affairs program, and this was part of the Applied India entity since its inception almost 15 years ago. We are proud that we had a strong foundation in CSR when the Company’s Act was passed, andwe are pleased that our programsadhere to the principles outlined in the Act. Because of this, there haven’t been any major changes in the way we planned or designed our programs.
detail by a panel to receive mentoring and funding support for further development. An idea currently being incubated is a project, “Wireless transmission of purity of potable water”.
Given the various setbacks to CSR implementation in the country, what is the need of the hour according to you for India to evolve a robust CSR framework? For Applied Materials, which had a CSR framework and programming in place prior to passage of the CSR Bill, there
How do you plan to position your company in the area of CSR & to Sustainability?
business sustainability practices, community involvement, to improving energy efficiency. Our vision for CSR stays the same – meaningful involvement in the community that ensures we are an engaged, responsible corporate citizen.
What is your mantra of running a successful CSR program? It’s quite simple - one of Applied’s core values is to operate with responsibility and integrity. Our commitment to CSR, our contributions to the community, and our engagement of employees are rooted in this fundamental value.
How has the CSR mandate in
Applied works to share information about our commitment to CSR and sustainability with key stakeholders both inside and outside the company. We publish an annual Citizenship Report, post to a CSR Applied Blog, and contribute articles and information for our employee intranet. To increase employee awareness of our CSR efforts, we often include relevant information at all-handsmeetings, in quarterly videos for the entire workforce, and via executive communication to staff. Applied is often recognized for our CSR efforts and we proudly share the distinctions with those who might be interested. February 2017 SPO INDIA 17
SPOI SPECIAL
LG's Kar Salam initiative salutes Indian jawans To mark the 20th Anniversary, LG Electronics India has donated Rs 1 crore to CRPF Welfare Fund. Nation’s consumer durable major, LG Electronics initiative to thank the Indian Forces, with A consumer connect campaign to wish the Soldiers by Indian Citizensby contributing to the Indian Defence Welfare Fund ( CRPF),with the launch of the #KarSalaam initiative is a commitment to LG’s corporate philosophy of ‘Life’s Good’ and a gesture of their support and solidarity to our nation’s soldiers for playing a great role in assuring that we lead a fearless and good life in this country. The 20th Anniversary celebrations kick-started with LG's #KarSalaam initiative dedicated to Indian soldiers, was launched prior to Republic day. The campaign invited the whole nation to come forward and send their wishes to the Indian Armed Forces. Through this initiative, LG salutes the soldiers’ spirit of magnanimous contribution and service
18 SPO INDIA February 2017
towards the nation. About this campaign all Indians were invited to post their wishes for soldiers on www.karsalaam.in . LG will be contributing a certain amount on every LG product purchased till 26th January towards the ‘CRPF Welfare Fund’, which is dedicated to the welfare of soldiers. Where, LG also seeks participation from the families of the soldiers to send their heart-warming messages to their near and dear ones who brave all odds to protect our country. Through this initiave, LG is saluting the soldiers’ spirit of selfless contribution and service towards the country. LG is committed to walk the extra mile, providing a good life to the citizens of India. Accordingly, the company will extend their support and solidarity to our soldiers who play a great role in ensuring that we lead a fearless and good life in this country. LG rolled out this campaign through radio, digital, outdoor and mall activities to capture the messages and wishes of the citizens of India for our soldiers. The company also engaged the people
through social media platforms and encouraged them to share their wishes on the microsite www. karsalaam.in, where more than 40,092 on-line wishes and 1,93,000 offline wishes written by citizens of the country were collected from all across the country. Taking this campaign forward, LG India’s MD Kim Ki Wan handed over a cheque of Rs 1 Crore to the home minister Rajnath Singh for ‘CRPF welfare fund’, which is dedicated to the soldiers. Rajnath Singh, minister, home affairs, government of India said, “We welcome LG Electronics’s gesture of showing solidarity to Indian Armed Forces; this is a very special gesture by a corporate. Today the entire nation is proud of its armed forces and response to this initiative in form of collecting good wishes for soldiers is an indication for the same. I would like to thank the people of India for extending their support to the armed forces." Kim Ki Wan, managing director, LG Electronics India said, “LG salutes the spirit of Indian soldiers who courageously give up their lives to protect the country. Therefore, we took this initiative to bring together the citizens of India to express their gratitude to our soldiers. With an aim to connect with the hearts of the entire nation and to pour out messages for these brave hearts, LG goes beyond boundaries to reach out to every citizen and invite them to express their gratitude for our soldiers who selflessly volunteer to serve our nation all day and night.”
LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. was established in India in 1997. It is one of the most formidable brands in consumer electronics, home appliances, IT hardware & mobile communication space. We are a truly make in India brand, we have six global design networks in the World and India is one of them, Gujral added.
Amit Gujral, head - Corporate Marketing, LG Electronics India said,We salute the spirit of our soldiers who valiantly give up their life to protect the country but hardly find an opportunity to reach out to them. Therefore, we took this initiative to bring together the citizens of India to express their gratitude to our soldiers “We would like to thank people for their overwhelming response. This truly shows the spirit of India towards our armed forces. Taking this forward, we would be claiming a Guiness record for maximum wishes collected offline.”
Company and Production over view of LG India
LG has earned a premiere brand positioning and is acknowledged for the Industry
India’s Most Attractive Brand 2016 Published by Trust Research Advisory
The overwhelming response from the people for campaign "Karsalaam" is truly shows the spirit of India towards our armed forces. Taking this forward, we would be claiming a Guiness record for maximum wishes collected offline • • • • •
Attempt a Guinness World Record Record : Longest Line of Notes with Wishes Existing World Record : 24,675 notes LG #KarSalaam wishes : 193,000 Event location : LG India Noida factory February 2017 SPO INDIA 19
Events special
With the growing publicity of high-profile cyber security incidents, India is be high profile attacks targeting household names and large employers, individua well as at home. Taking a cue from these harsh realities, VARINDIA organized India’s Cyber Security Framework; Securing FinTech Companies; Securing Smart Cyber Start-ups by 2025; and Strengthening
Kiren Rijiju, MoS for Home Affairs, Govt. of India delivering keynote address at Cyber Security India Conclave 2017 India is moving towards digital economy and we are going to face lots of challenges. Given the size of India and the nature of its society, lots of challenges stare us in the face. We may not have as robust a system as Israel or America because of the fact that the basic foundation of our country is slightly different and the structure of our nation is also a bit different. Nevertheless, the time is very crucial for us and we cannot lag behind in terms of understanding the challenges and the efforts to deal with the issues on hand. We all know that our Prime Minister’s effort and vision is very clear. We are talking about cashless economy and all related steps being taken by the Government will take us in a particular direction to accept the challenges and move ahead. We cannot achieve this alone in the government. We have to have all the private organizations integrated into our efforts at various levels and from all of the countries like Israel, America, etc. In recent times, whenever our Prime Minister or anybody from the government visits or exchanges some bilateral talks with friendly countries, the foremost understanding is on sharing of intelligence. This has become an integral part of any MoUs which we arrive at. Unless we share information with regard to various threats, security issues then the forging of partnership remains incomplete. The same reciprocal attitude has been seen from our friendly countries. The challenges are there for everybody so it has to be a combined effort. India needs to secure its digital payments system by building its own cyber security framework to provide secure payment to its citizens and it is not an easy task. In the Home Ministry, we keep on updating ourselves, but I could clearly see the challenges which are not going to be easy for all of us. This rapid development of digital technologies and a wide range of services provided for activities in the cyberspace raise the issue of cyber security as a serious concern for the government. Cybercrimes pose a direct threat to the security of critical infrastructure and information technologies. With the advent of advanced information and communication technologies, crime now knows no jurisdiction or national boundaries. The very nature of internet allows for unprecedented collaboration and interaction among particular communities of criminals. As cybercrimes can be created at anytime in the world in an unprecedented way, it becomes extremely difficult to track, prosecute and enforce penalties. Therefore, criminals are increasingly turning to internet to facilitate their activities and maximize their efforts. Using cyber-attacks, terrorists can cause a much wider damage to the country or region than they could by resorting to conventional physical violence. 20 SPO INDIA February 2017
s becoming increasingly aware of security considerations. With multiple recent iduals increasingly fear cyber crime and its resulting consequences at work as nized a full day seminar on Cyber Security and focused on topics like Building mart Cities and IoT Devices; Creating One Mn Cyber Security Experts and 1,000 ing Data Protection and Cyber Security Laws
P.P. Chaudhary, MoS for Electronics & IT, Law & Justice, Govt. of India delivering keynote address at Cyber Security India Conclave 2017 Friends, through a series of path-breaking transformative initiatives, under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country has taken giant strides to fast emerge as a digital economy and inclusive knowledge society. This also necessitates putting in place requisite infrastructure, mechanisms and process in place to fully secure our cyberspace from all possible cyber-attacks and cybercrimes as a pre-requisite and to keep our cyber defence in place. In this backdrop, I congratulate VARINDIA for organizing Cyber Security India Conclave 2017 which is both timely and relevant. Friends, I wish to assure you all that the government is alive to ever-evolving dynamic security scenario since cyberspace has taken several proactive measures to create a digitally trustworthy economy. Under the overarching IT Act, 2000 as amended from time to time, a national cyber security framework is in place which takes on board all the stakeholders and cover perspective of secure cyber ecosystem, assurance and regulatory mechanisms 24X7, security operations, use of indigenous security technologies, workforce availability and development. Global cooperation and gap analysis with several countries, a national cyber security policy is already in place in the public domain. Indian Computer Response Team (CERT-IN) has been operational on a 24x7 basis and all cyber security-related incidents are to be reported to CERT-IN. It works closely with affected entities and stakeholders both within and outside the country and provides initial response within four hours to a reported incident. CERT-IN undertakes activities of accessing the security posters of websites of sensitive organizations, particularly in the government, public financial sectors through both black box security audit and white box security audit. CERT-IN also empanels IT security auditing organizations which provide audit services on a commercial basis. Cyber crisis management plan for countering cyber-attacks on cyber terrorism, periodically prepared by CERT-IN and approved by the national crisis management committee, is widely circulated amongst central ministry departments, states and union territory governments for implementation at various organizational levels. Regular workshops and drills are also organized by CERT-IN for various stakeholder organizations both in the public and private sectors. The government has set up cyber forensics training and investigation labs at CBI academy and in the states of Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir and seven North-Eastern states of Assam, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura for training lawenforcement agencies and judiciary in these states. The CERT-IN cyber forensic lab also provides its services to law- enforcement agencies, state and union territory governments, PSUs, etc in the investigation of cyber security incidents and cybercrimes. February 2017 SPO INDIA 21
Events special
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
Session I: Building India’s Cyber Security Framework
From L to R: Eric Loit, Chief Systems Architect, RAN International; Marc Kahlberg, CEO, Vital Intelligence Group, Israel; Deepak Sahu, President, SPO INDIA; Deepak Kumar Rath, Editor, Uday India; Rama Vedashree, CEO, DSCI; Hemal Patel, Senior VP-India Operations, Sophos; Atul Gupta, Partner-Cyber Security Services, KPMG; and Dhiraj Gaur, Technical Lead (Govt., Defense and ICS Solutions), Check Point Software Technologies As the road to Digital India opens wider, cyber attacks have doubled year over year and Indian organizations and government sites have become more vulnerable. This necessitates the importance of a Cyber Security framework. With this backdrop, the first slot of speakers discussed on what should be the structure of Cyber Security Framework and the different components of this framework keeping in mind the changing times Marc Kahlberg: I managed to stop crime in 2002 in Israel by 70 per cent by implementing physical security concept which we call the secure zone or safe city. The cyber people of the world called it smart city. It is time to change as we are moving forward and we have to be aware. We have to work together to create a stop to the war that is going on in the cyberspace today. If you do not work together, nothing is going to happen. We have to encourage and cooperate between ourselves. We have to work together to create a platform of security. We have created and developed a couple of frameworks for cyber security. In the six Ps of cyber security, the primary concern is the threat, the provision of education and awareness, protection; preventative measures are necessary; predictive measures need to be proactive. There are long-term challenges. The tasks we have to take up to make these challenges a reality. Cyber security is all about intelligence and the best form of defence is a good offence. Rama Vedashree: It is a well-known fact that India is a powerhouse of Information Technology. India’s advantage in cyber security is a well-kept secret because most global corporations which invest in cyber security centres of excellence or security operation centres or network operation centres do not usually advertise that capability and in which location it is. So we are beginning to feel that India during the last three years has become a chosen destination for security operation centres for a number of global corporations. Similarly, all industry members, whether it is HCL, TCS or Infosys, have very 22 SPO INDIA February 2017
mature cyber security practices. We are also seeing companies like KPMG building capabilities in India for cyber security consulting and services to be able to deliver to the global clients. While it is a nascent industry, we are beginning to become a hub for innovation and product development. We are looking at security R&D. A number of global corporations like Symantec, FireEye, EMC and RSA have chosen India as an R&D centre. According to our estimate, there are around 150,000 people working in their professional capacity in the overall information security and cyber security domain. Hemal Patel: Cyber security framework consists of two things. One is definitely protecting our own assets in the country and building a leadership to promote cyber security products and services. Cybercriminals will always be ahead. Therefore, there will always be a data breach, cybercrime and data thefts. It is important for organizations or country to make sure how fast we can catch cyber terrorists and how fast we can respond to and how we can slow them down. Focussing on these three principles, if I have to build the cyber security framework to protect our own country’s asset. I don’t think there is a framework in the police force to record those events. One of the definite things government needs to strengthen is the patent office. Second, we need to have a lab to certify our products and we are the only odd country where the government has the lab and it should be privatized.
Atul Gupta: In the last presentation, it was mentioned that 3.2 million debit card hacks happened in India. So there is a need today for us to have a robust framework. While talking about the
good practices, the point goes back to awareness. I bring three elements around it. It is not just awareness. It is also making sure that you have the right skills and that is the bigger challenge today because making sure that skills are available to address cyber security effectively is a huge issue which we are facing as a country. The second area where we need to focus upon is competence and many times it gets interpreted as technologyrelated risk. I put it differently. It is a risk which has started because of technology but does not stop over there, but the challenge which comes when we start looking at technology which is changing at a fast pace. Deepak Kumar Rath: In India, cybercrimes come under the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act, 2000 which was amended in 2008. Since policing is a matter of state and complaints have to be lodged with the police, it all depends under the law that police register a case. It so happens that for most of the parts they prefer the age-old Indian Penal Code (IPC). Local police are not conversant with the intricacies of the IT Act. But once a case is filed under IPC, the method of investigation must follow certain guidelines that make it extremely difficult to prove most cybercrimes, according to experts.
Session II: Securing FinTech Companies
From L to R: Pravin Prashant, Consulting Editor, VARINDIA; K.B. Lal, Advisor, Information Security, Oxigen Services; Prem K Gurnani, DGM-SOC, State Bank of India; Arvind Gupta, National Technology Head, Bhartiya Janata Party; Carmit Yadin, CISO and Director of Cyber Division, Vital Intelligence Group; Puneet Kaur kohli, EVP - IT & Group CTO, Bajaj Capital; and Gurpal Singh, Sr. Market Analyst, IDC CCR India The remarkable step of PM Modi's demonetization of high currency notes on 8th November, 2016 has led to the adoption of digital payment in the country. But we need to keep a check on how secured are these digital payment getaways. To get a broader prospect on the same, the panelists discussed on the need of the hour – which is to secure both banks and mobile wallet companies Arvind Gupta: In the budget, digital economy was a special section and the Finance Minister has announced CERT for banks. The digital should be the norm and the cash should be the exception. The banks and the network layer need to be secure. We don’t concentrate on use, app and instrument they use. If the consumers would have adhered to cyber hygiene, people
would have saved around Rs.3,700 crore. The importance of mobile PIN is to get people digitally literate. So one needs to educate people on financial literacy. During demonetization, the highest number of requests for banks was I do not know my PIN number. In the BHIM app, the app layer is also secure. If you install an app, it requires 20 permissions. BHIM app is a February 2017 SPO INDIA 23
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
Dhiraj Gaur: Digital initiatives which the Government has taken are touching lives now. We are entering an era where we are talking publicly about available internet, universal acceptance to technology, IT jobs for everyone, e-Kranti situations where we are touching the lives of farmers, e-governance initiatives which are very well can be seen in every state and every state is competing with each other. So having this digitization is very good but at the same time it has a lot of IT components and automation involved in it. In this era of transformation, one important thing which we have seen is that the mobile phones are taking over desktops. We have also seen that social scenarios are beating the search engines. Messaging apps are challenging the usual way of communication. Everything around us is becoming connected. With the right architecture, the right strategy and having a thought process of staying one step ahead of the security advisory that should be our key approach to build a resilient cyber security framework.
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
Events special standard app where the user, app, mobile phone, network, and server is planned in a holistic way. In the FinTech companies, all these parameters are very critical. During demonetization, the E-wallet transactions increased in November and December, whereas in January these remained stable. In IMPS transactions, it peaked in December and January, whereas in the case of BHIM/ UPI app, the transactions have increased from Rs.90 crore to Rs.1,270 crore and are competing with all the wallets combined. The biggest challenge for FinTech companies is to make digital transactions secure and India is leading the world in FinTech revolution globally. Prem K. Gurnani: I am quoting a news story about millions of cards being blocked and SBI was mentioned in the headlines. We got calls from all over law-enforcement agencies and all regulators but what was the instance. It was a non-SBI company, a particular bank which had outsourced some activity to a particular service provider. SBI has the largest customer base, largest card base and nothing has happened in SBI. What I am trying to highlight is that being a leader has its own challenges. SBI, a couple of years back, has outsourced law monitoring security operations but depending upon the volumes we do not permit setting up logs outside. So, we set up our own security operations centre (SOC) and this environment is helping the banks. In 2011, RBI came out with the guidelines on information security which mandate banks for governance structure, IS Security, and CISO report to the management. On 2nd June, 2016, RBI came out with cyber security for banks with another list of activities which include: CERT-IN audits, cyber drills, NCIPC pitching, RABBIT, and opting of cyber security professionals. The ecosystem is converging and facilitating security for Buddy. Products need to be rolled out fast, but unless these are tested by the security team and a clearance is given, the products cannot be rolled out. You would see many times that SBI is not the first to roll out a product to hit the market. SBI has a strong security team taking care of products, a strong governance structure, strong awareness about customers and staff programme in place. We manage traffic as well as security and since it is SBI we see attacks every day – be it phishing attacks, DoS attacks and DDoS attacks at a regular frequency. Investigative measures are in place at the network layer, application layer and transaction layer. With transactions going up now, there is a separate setup for monitoring transactions to alert customers whenever there is any suspicion. K.B. Lal: Oxigen started in 2004 and the initial objective was to perform digital operations like mobile recharge, DTH and bill collection. When we want to assure our customers, we have to look at external threats as well as internal threats. We want to assure the customers and we want to make it easy. 24 SPO INDIA February 2017
Wallet has a six-digit password and has a two factor authentication but the customer does not want it. Cyber security has a two dimension perspetive. Defensive provides comprehensive vulnerability and is somewhat protected from attacks. On the preventive side, train our partners and designers to use secure coding guidelines formalized structure within the government. The focus is also on third-party audit or ISO 27001. This is all endless as cyber security is a continuous effort and we have to keep on improving. Puneet Kaur Kohli: FinTech industry needs to be digital savvy. We have taken an internal landmark where we will wait to have ISO 27001. It is not about IT security but enterprise level security. How consistent are we in terms of leveraging the certification and then utilizing the adoption and cultural change within the organization and regulated by IRDA and SEBI. One set of rules and regulations is not enough. Carmit Yadin: On cyber security, there are three main factors: 1. It is interesting time for India as it is going digital. How India is going to protect the biometrical database? Every person is going to get digital identity to manage his financial assets and the government needs to provide robust cyber security infrastructure on this asset. No one will change his fingerprint. How the government is going to protect people. If this information is leaked, financial information can be broken. 2. Awareness and education must be in place for the entire nation. Everybody has to understand the risk and needs to know how to avoid risk. 3. India has taken dramatic steps in this financial digital world. It also became very attractive targets to hackers and enemies and everyone wants to put a hand on these critical assets and the way I see and working with different governments in the world now it is right time for India to build a strong robust cyber intelligence methodologies and create cyber intelligence infrastructure. These are very interesting and important and how it looks from outside. India will be a secure nation. Whether India will be a secure nation or will India lead this industry and create standard. All countries around India will learn from India. Arvind Gupta: Our inspiration has been defined by our Prime Minister. We want to do innovations for the next six billion. We are technically an advanced superpower with one million engineers produced every year. The geopolitical situation we are in the world trust leaders. six billion grossly ignored because of the cost. All platforms have cyber security to the world. Gurpal Singh: Four mantras. First, for any organization, security infrastructure can be very expensive. Seocnd, if they don’t have architecture for the product ingrained by design and not as an afterthought as an interface. When you are writing the first code all the developers should have that piece. Third, what security tools are using to
identify and access management two factor authentication, privilege access management, encryption tools. Recently, CERT advised banks and NBFCs to have strong encryption capabilities. Every point your database, every point your mail, every point your product and that ownership lies with lot of Fintech companies. Regular third-party audits to access your security. Managing internal risk comes from
advice and third-party suppliers and contractors. Lastly, FinTech what kind of SLAs they have from the government bodies. The average lag time is 14 days in the production system. Post demonetization, FinTech companies got the scale but also got a lot of vulnerabilities in the ecosystem. So there is a need for establishing a regulatory authority for digital wallets.
Session III: Securing Smart Cities and IoT Devices
Cities worldwide seek to make urban living simpler, safer and healthier. From the discussion, the panel tried to understand on how to provide scalable IoT and security technologies to help bring smart cities to life and what should be those security standards Brijesh Singh: More than a policy question, it is about technology question when you look at IoT. It does not have enterprise security like protected firewall, IDS/IPS, Flow Analysis, Malware analysis and endpoint protection. I think security for IoT devices is not very developed still and it would need much better solutions. The IoT devices have very aggressive power management and they do not have an operating system and they are liable and susceptible to any kind of attacks. Surely, all this infrastructure is outside as the threat surface area is very, very large. So threat of IoT devices and smart cities is more like a technology challenge than a policy challenge and I hope we will have to find a better solution in the times to come. Pankaj Kumar Gupta: Gandhinagar became the first operational city a month back. It is much more than a regular CCTV as our Wi-Fi system has 15,000 concurrent users having about 2 Mbps and about 30 minutes free Wi-Fi usage. Gandhinagar smart city also has smart sensor- driven street lights, environmental sensors and many other components.
Technologies can be executed, but the big question is how secure are they. We have conducted 26 tests before we launched this project. The project was executed in about three months and it took four months to fix those gaps through 26 tests. I think we have security which needs to be implemented. IoT sensors are a very good technology. If implemented properly, they can definitely deliver results. And I can assure you as a consultant to Gandhinagar smart city, implementation is 100-per cent secure. Vipin Tyagi: What we have missed in smart city is design. The open platform has not been adopted as the focus is on the proprietary platform. Smart city requires an integrated IP-based core network and then you require applications. 30 per cent of the total traffic flow on Internet is BOT or BOT-like. Attacks are large-scale vectors or multi-vectors. How standardization will build security? Tower Monitoring Site (TMS) is a nationwide public infrastructure and it has to be secured. We need to have a standardFebruary 2017 SPO INDIA 25
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
From L to R: Pravin Prashant, Consulting Editor, VARINDIA; Brijesh Singh, Inspector General of Police (Cyber), Maharashtra Police; Purushottam Kaushik, Sr. Advisor- Smart Cities and Infrastructure, McKinsey India; Shree Parthasarathy, National Leader- Cyber Risk Services, Deloitte; Rajnish Gupta, Sales Director, RSA India; Vipin Tyagi, Executive Director, C-DOT; Samir Datt, Founder & CEO, Foundation Futuristic Technologies; Pankaj Kumar Gupta, OSD, Strategy, Business Growth & Operations, (n) Code Solutions (A Division of GNFC); and Ajay Purohit, Sr. Vice President, Fourth Dimension Solutions
Events special
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
based platform where everybody can connect. With respect to blast, law-enforcement agencies need to be fully equipped as they can trace where was the machine, who did it, at what time the command was actuated, at what time did the detonator go and its likely impact. Purushottam Kaushik: In smart cities, everything will become smarter. The challenge is all the pieces of smart city whether the endpoint which is in the streets or closer to your home and whether it is the gateway which is carrying the data network or central piece or command and control or maybe the data layer the exposure point is everywhere whether it is touched or played. The impact can be huge. Presently, we are not smart so we are not exposed. When everything gets connected, it is not too much of an effort to switch off the lights of the whole city. It does not take too much of an effort to keep playing with the transparent system of the city. That is where the big time impact or exposure can happen. Presently, smart cities are in silos. Somebody is focussing on Wi-Fi transport solutions, integrated traffic management, waste bin deployment or smart parking. All these projects are executed in silos as there is no framework or plan and how it will get integrated with smart city. As a technology leader, we will focus on how do we build silos around smart city. Now perhaps from the consulting point of view unless we look at it holistically, we will not be able to solve it whether we build a framework of security across the layers or on the services perspective as we move forward and how do we manage security on a day-to-day basis. We need to have continuous security layer on every piece at all exposure points. We need to build a services layer perspective. Any of these smart cities put a layer on top of it where we are going to have a third-party practice of analyzing each and every security layer. Certifying and auditing it after every three months will help us to be proactive. Shree Parthasarathy: We have involved from generation to generation, there are a lot of expectations from a fundamental city. As we are tagging a smart city, the expectations of the common citizens are just going to go up. ATM, which is a trusted network so far, the expectation was I go to my ATM and put my card and I will get money. For two months, ATM was out of order and the machine was not working. Let me take related services from the smart city perspective. So when you have the same expectation and when you look at security, you focus on confidentiality, integrity, availability and privacy of information. Once we get information about citizens, how do we ensure privacy of information. The second is availability and the biggest challenge facing the IoT industry is end sensor and power in the end sensor. IoT manufacturers are facing how to make it economically more viable and second how to maintain the power and third is how do you embed security in every layer. How to embed security to the sensor level all the way to data layer and how do you do that? The availability of sensor is significantly important as there is a reliance on sensor providing critical information and that goes into service layer and services and availability of sensor at that point is very critical. 26 SPO INDIA JANUARY February2017 2017
All these cities need to talk to each other in a very secure fashion and also the integrity of the data flow needs to be together. The last area is confidentiality and how it is managed? If you look at a smart city, you have government, you have a service provider, you have a number of organizations like us creating RFP, project plan, business plan, then you have technology providers. What is important is common framework, standards for a set of smart cities need to be consistent. Samir Datt: Let us go ahead 20 years into the future where artificial intelligence is speaking to each other. I think we are living in very revolutionary times where things are changing dramatically. Networks are getting heavily interconnected, standards exist and in the implementation of those standards there is a lot of gap. We talk about IoT, but any chain is as strong as the weakest link. Even if there is one device or one system that does not conform, you can bring the whole network down. What do we need to do? There was a movie – Live Free or Die Hard. In the movie, they hacked everything right from street lights, TV channels, cell phone networks, parking networks, communication between underground metros, underground-to-air network, electricity grid and even nuclear facility. We need to look at three important things – People, Process and Technology and we need to have smart people. Ajay Purohit: Managing the expectations of the clients – multi-technology, multi-vendor and multi-process the big question is will OEMs follow standards as they have their own proprietary technology and are they interested in interoperability. There is a big question mark on that. The only way to ensure such things going forward is to ensure by bringing in regulations or bringing standard frameworks. Presently, we do not have the capital outlay where you can go for 100- per cent smart city. The project will come in phases. So how will you ensure that when they are coming in phases they are all integrated. The bigger question is even if it is integrated, there is a technology shelf life. By the time you reach phase III, phase I technology is due for overhaul. So there has to be a policy in place on how a technology is evaluated, inducted, procured, implemented and then phased out. Unless and until these frameworks come into place, you will always have these models. A plethora of devices and a plethora of networks are all talking to each other but not making it secure. Rajnish Gupta: Smart City is like an enterprise. You have an endpoint, you have a network there is an application and there is data. Smart city is an enterprise and what we do in an enterprise is to educate our users and administrators to manage the entire security which is the biggest thing. The government and regulators have the responsibility to manage the sensor providers technology and they need to follow standards. Unless we follow the standard, we will get security breach points. The standard could be authorization, encryption, authentication and what can be done and how it can be embedded. Security is becoming a boardroom discussion. If we imbibe the security piece at the conceptual level, it becomes much more easier to roll out. If we roll out and then try to do this, we will never meet that. Sectoral CERT has come right now. We have to set up the governance model and how to mitigate the risk. How do we see what is happening on the network? How do we see what is happening on endpoint as they are most vulnerable?
Most attacks come from endpoint. Look at the vendors who give security as a preference, people who are making devices with more secure infrastructure in the component. Brijesh Singh: Our cyber security project is conceptualized by our Chief Minister and it is a Rs.1,000-crore project. First, technology assisted investigation for police. Second, Maharashtra will have its own CERT which will be state-of-the-art. Third, bring data analytics platform to be used by law-enforcement agencies. Fourth, a large awareness programme for people at large. Maharashtra has already formed one cyber police station per district. So presently it has 44 cyber police stations. It has the latest state-of-the-art tools, technologies and training. We are taking manpower from outside. We are taking people from the market at market rates so that we are not constrained by not having proper staff. Though it is experimental, we have had a fair amount of success.
We will have CERT in the next six months, followed by Big Data platform and very soon threat intelligence sharing platform. Other states have evinced interest as to how Maharashtra is doing it and if we are able to do it, it will increase the confidence of investors that you have a robust cyber infrastructure in Maharashtra and Mumbai and that would in turn help Maharashtra to be a good destination for investment. Pankaj Kumar Gupta: Please don't buy devices or equipment, but please buy outcomes. Gandhinagar Smart City RFP talks about what I need and what is the outcome. It is based on the Design-Build-Own-and-Transfer model. The security audit is conducted every three months, thereby improving the system and replacing the system. Shree Parthasarathy: As we move into the digital age and as we bring everything digital and everything online, the big question is how we adopt them and implement them across all layers and put right level of governance and risk management plans.
From L to R: Amajit Gupta, ICT Expert & Angel Investor; Rohit Srivastwa, Senior Director (Cyber Security & Education), Quick Heal; Shrikant Sinha, CEO, Nasscom Foundation; Debabrata Nayak, Chief Security Officer, Huawei India; Dinesh Pillai, CEO, Mahindra Special Services Group; Harold D’Costa, CEO, Intelligent Quotient Security System; and Trishneet Arora, CEO, TAC Security The increased risk of cyber-attacks is driving a demand for cyber-security professionals. But the lack of cyber security training centres in the country is a big concern which is why it is important to discuss the need of creating an Indian EC Council. To throw more light on this, the panellists sat together, trying to figure out of how the gap of the lack of cyber professionals can be filled Amajit Gupta: Definition of cyber security in terms of shapes and sizes and where is the money? I think national cyber security is getting more and more profound. It is the early stage industry. Like we do it in India one way, i.e. Jugaad. We find the size and shape to our story as we go along. We see a national vision from NASSCOM and DSCI of one million cyber security experts by 2025, but when we look at the drill you have missed the number by a factor of six times. The nearest number we need to train in this country is 6.5 million every year and that is cyber security awareness. The rest is IT initiated who need to be trained for cyber security are the software and the service providers and that market is 1-1.5 million professionals. What is the state on the supply side? On the supply side, only about 20,000 cyber security professionals of the IT kind churn out
every year or may be even lesser. Rohit Srivastwa: We are a start-up in cyber security and was acquired by QuickHeal. We are on the education side called QuickHeal Academy where we are designing the course curriculum for M.Tech in Cyber Security with the help of industry experts. We have signed an MoU with Gujarat Forensic Sciences University and Chitkara University. The focus is on converting the educated into employable in the cyber security space. Debabrata Nayak: For Huawei, it is do or die. There is no budget listed for cyber security. We have 160 cyber security professionals for thorough testing of equipments. Autonomous institutes can bring cyber security courses for B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D. This time, budget talks about cyber security. Institutions can bring cyber security courses and then train cyber security February 2017 SPO INDIA 27
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
Session IV: Creating One Mn Cyber Security Experts and 1,000 Cyber Start-ups by 2025
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
Events special OPEN YOUR EYES professionals. Dinesh Pillai: As an end-user, we do not follow basic hygiene. Technology shift will be there, but there is only one thing which is constant is people. We have to do a reality check with respect to training on cyber security. Who is going to teach? People who have done CCNS come and say I am a cyber security expert. What is the basic definition of cyber security. I am an expert in information security and not cyber security. Who is going to train? Who is going to accredit as cyber security course labs come at an exorbitant cost. Harold D’Costa: In 2006, diploma in cyber security in Maharashtra top universities was not the right time. Nashik University said yes to me for Diploma in Cyber Security and there were 101 admissions. 93 sat for the exam and 62 cleared. 25 per cent left the country and are serving in other places. Maharashtra Police Academy has launched a 3-day training programme for corporates to tell what the police is doing on cyber security from both the technical and legal side. In Nashik, there are 5,000– 6,000 industries and Nashik Police will train corporates on cyber security. As to training the judicial system, where are the people? As far as the government is concerned, there are 5,060 professionals in the government system. In 2012, AICTE sent circulars to all universities to start a mandatory course on cyber security. Many of the teachers who came from hardware were teaching cyber security. The big question was where are the people to teach cyber security? Build cyber security research cell where the government can introduce – and we will give them jobs and we will absorb them. Time has come for more action, more training and then absorb them at the earliest. Trishneet Arora: We are not empanelled even after four years. If we are not empanelled, how will you get 1 million ethical cyber security hackers.
In 2011, NASSCOM talked about 77,000 ethical hackers every year. How many you have got till 2016? A number of institutions provide 6-week and 6-month courses but they don’t know the commands. They are producing donkeys. We will have to get government empanelment. Otherwise, nothing is going to happen. We are fighting with young criminals. So how a 50-year- old man is going to fight with a 15-year-old kid. If I am fighting, I believe a lot of young start-ups are also fighting. We are testing financial institutions and banks. Dinesh Pillai: To manage 80,000 people, there are 8 people in the info security team and this bank is of national importance. 8 network and administrators moved to the security cell. If an attack happens, they would not be able to manage it. Amajit Gupta: We have to target large IT experts as government cannot comprehend the problems. Supply vendor relationship will destroy your business. Talent is over here, but we don’t have the environment to grow. I would urge upon large corporates to put money where the mouth is. For private risk ventures, cyber security should be a priority. Dinesh Pillai: The industry has enough challenges to address and there is scarcity of people. Many times, somebody has to do accreditation. The accreditation has to be done by government agencies. Rohit Srivastwa: The industry has to teach as real knowledge will come when the industry teaches. Trishneet Arora: We have students for industrial training and I think this is the only way to train resources. Cyber security is a business issue and not a technology issue. It is a business risk and we should give chance to cyber security start-ups so that they can come up. Who will train? An agency which should certify people. They in turn should train the trainers or professors and professors then should train the students.
Session V: Strengthening Data Protection and Cyber Security Laws From L to R: Pravin Prashant, Consulting Editor, VARINDIA; Rajat Chand, Managing Director, CSDC India; Samir S. Kanthale, Joint Director, Judicial Officer’s Training Institute, Nagpur; Anil Dhawas, Civil Judge Senior Division & Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Daryapur, Dist. Amravati, Maharashtra; Deepak Maheshwari, Director - Government Affairs, India & ASEAN, Symantec; Harmeet Kalra, Head – Alliance, F5 Networks; Amit Malhotra, VP Sales-India & MEA, Seclore Technologies; Harold D’Costa, CEO, Intelligent Quotient Security System; Keerti Nileish Mahajan, Professor, Bharati Vidyapeeth University; and Anyesh Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber cell), Delhi Police 28 SPO INDIA February 2017
India is still struggling for enduring an effective and concrete legislation for data protection. A new law dealing with data protection and information is the need of the hour as India is gearing up to become a digital nation. The next set of panellists from their discourse tried to come up to a solution of know the present cyber security laws can be strengthened and data can be protected. For example, in the state of Maharashtra, the office of the adjudication officer is at Mumbai, for West Bengal, the adjudication officer is at Kolkata. Do you expect the victim to go to the state capital for seeking the meagre amount of compensation? Why can’t you provide such powers of adjudication to the court at district places. Therefore, we need to revisit this provision and we need to amend the law. Proving electronic record is a difficult task. Recently in the year 2014, the Supreme Court laid down a law that every electronic record must be accompanied with a certificate as contemplated under Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act. Therefore, it becomes mandatory to have such certificate whenever any electronic record is to be proved. I feel that this judgment has made the prosecution very difficult to prove electronic record. It has also brought difficulties in proving electronic evidence in civil cases. Nowadays, in every case such question of electronic record comes. Unless there is a certificate, no electronic record including CD, DVD or computer printout can be admissible as evidence. In many cases, there was no such certificate. The fate of such cases is going to be culminated in acquittal, particularly criminal cases in which the question of electronic evidence is there. The certificate is now mandatory. But is it practicable to furnish such certificate all the time? I wish to give an example. If you go to a petrol pump and fill up the petrol, you pay the money by your card. The moment card is swapped, one will get a bill generated electronically. If something happens with regard to quality of petrol and if you are required to file a case, then you need to have a certificate duly issued by the petrol vendor. Do you expect a petrol pump man who fills up petrol would be issuing a certificate to every customer? Is it possible for him? Will he fill the petrol or issue the certificate? But the law says you must have a certificate. This is something illogical and absurd. Hence, we need to relook at the Information Technology Act and the relevant provisions of the Indian Evidence Act. For every minor printout, why a certificate should be made compulsory which is not practical? Hence, we need to change the law. An amendment in the Evidence Act has become necessary. After the Supreme Court’s judgment in the year 2014, the Government should have done something. The Government could have amended the provisions of Section 65-B or could have provided some provisions into the said section by enacting an amendment or by promulgating an ordinance. But the Government did not do anything. It is so because there is no will to do so. Mere passing stringent laws will not be sufficient. We need to educate the people from being protected from cyber incidents. Digital literacy is the need of the hour. We need to educate the people as to how to be secured in the cyberspace. What precautions should be taken, etc. I feel the Government should form a committee consisting of February 2017 SPO INDIA 29
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
Anil Dhawas: As a policy matter, the Government of India has announced digitalization of so many things, including digital payment, digital transaction, etc. Day in and day out, we come across digital evidence. Whatever we do electronically, we have to keeps digital footprints. Therefore, in fact, it is easy to catch the person who did digital transaction including commercial transaction or any crime. As far as privacy is concerned, I believe the privacy of the people is at risk. Some measures have already been taken by the government by enacting the Information Technology Act. Some measures have been taken by framing rules under the IT Act. My basic question is: Are these rules sufficient and enough to protect the citizens from vulnerability of cyber incidents? If a cyber incident occurs, the victim has to move from pillar to post. We have no specialized police in the requisite number; nor do we have specialized courts and judges trained in this field of knowledge. There is no uniformity in the courts with regard to the proof of digital evidence. There is an issue of jurisdiction, etc. For all such reasons amongst others, we need a uniform operating procedure to be followed by the courts. In the government sector, every department has its own manual. For instance, in Maharashtra, for police department, there are police manuals for courts and there are civil and criminal manuals, but there is no manual in respect of the use of digital matters. Recently, the Income- Tax Department has launched its own manual for investigation in respect of digital evidence. So whenever any income tax official has to do anything he has to follow the guidelines of the said manual. But there is no manual in other departments. The necessary manual needs to be brought into force regarding digital evidence in order to bring uniformity. There is no provision in the manual of any state police. Hence, such manuals are needed for proper guidance for the police department. There are rules framed in the year 2011 under the Information Technology Act in respect of the protection of privacy of citizens. The rules are not properly implemented. Surprisingly, what if those rules are violated? There is no punishment provided for the breach of the rules. How there would be deterrence in the minds of people unless there is provisions for imprisonment. If any victim sustains any loss due to cyber incident, what penalty is provided under the IT Act? Surprisingly, it is up to Rs.25,000. This is not a penalty, but it is a compensation by the person who supplies or shares the private information by committing the breach of rules. If the victims has sustained more loss, then such an amount of compensation is very meagre. Moreover, in order to get that amount of Rs.25,000, the victim has to approach to the adjudication officer. Anyway, where is this office? The adjudication officer sits in the state capital.
Events special
technical and legal experts to amend the law of electronic record and cyber security. Anyesh Roy: Very few police officials have manuals or standard operating procedures or standing instructions for collection of electronic evidence. We have recently framed a standing order for collection of electronic evidence that covers desktop, laptop and mobile phone and other basics on sources of digital evidence. Most of the organizations don’t have it. Even if they have it, it does not percolate to the investigating officer as they are very reckless in collecting electronic evidence and at the trial stage it may lead to acquittal and serious implications. The third issue is 65-B certificate. Even the courts are not updated about the provisions and the lower courts are not insisting on 65-B certificate at the initial stage. When cognizance is taken and charges are being framed but when it comes to the trial, the defence lawyer will rake up this issue, particularly after the judgement of Supreme Court in this regard. So these are the issues which need to be addressed and loopholes need to be plugged and only then the effective law enforcement will happen vis-a-vis cyber offences. Pavan Duggal: India doesn’t have a cyber security law in force. If you want to look at the Indian Information Technology law as cyber security law you would be disappointed. You can’t blame the lawmaker as the law was framed in 2000 and cyber security was nowhere on the horizon. We amended it in 2008 and cyber security had arrived but it was still not important and we have not amended the law. Bu the law in the present-day scenario is a sitting duck. As a nation, we are not prepared should a cyber-attack takes place in India. It would be a few hours before we surrender that’s the current level of preparedness. 30 SPO INDIA February 2017
In this scenario, you need to have adequate first and foremost legal frameworks and we need to know what is happening across the world. There is laxity in our approach, whereas China during the last 18 months has come up with two important legislations – one on national security and the other on cyber security. The law is not only applicable to not just entire China, entire Internet but outside space. The new concept of cyber sovereignty and what is India’s position on cyber sovereignty? India doesn’t have a stated position on cyber security. It is time we go beyond the paradigm of the IT Act. The IT Act is good when we began; it was a small legislation. When we amended it in the year 2008, we transformed small legislation to biggest omnipotent mother legislation with data and information in the electronic form. But we now incorporating communications device and computer resources, this law has become one of the three most significant pieces of information – the ther two being Indian Constitution and Indian Penal Code. India needs an independent Cyber Security Law independent of the IT Act. As a nation, we are unprepared tomorrow if our critical information infrastructure is attacked. We cannot afford to fight against the entire gamut of warfare agent critical infrastructure. Cyber terrorists are structuring their activities in such a manner that their activities cannot be brought under Section 6- F of the Information technology Act. As a nation, I am quite clear that India cannot fight cyber terrorism with one single provision. We need to have extensive legal provision for judiciary and law-enforcement agencies. It is time to revisit the law. It is time we need to do lot of capacity building. It is time when to come up with capacity deterrence and or states IT Act. We need to have cybercrime courts as cybercrime is happening all across the world. Cyber
A view of stalls at Cyber Security India Conclave 2017
Samir S. Kanthale: There are two things – awareness and capacity building. Maharashtra is the only state which has assigned training of public prosecutors. A question often arises if it is so technical, how do we deal with it. When we studied LL.B., this law was never in existence. It is not an easy task to try somebody who is an expert in IT before a court which has knowledge of the said subject. The Cyber Security Policy of 2011 has specifically dedicated state-ofthe-art facility for cybercrime investigation and dedicated state-of-the-art training facility for law- enforcement agencies and judiciaries. Unfortunately, it is yet to see the light of the day. As an incharge of the training institute, I am requesting cyber security experts to come and enlighten our prosecutors on the subject. When these cases are tried before the Supreme Court, we have just 65, but we don’t have separate rules for investigation and acceptability of evidence. We need to have standard investigation procedures recognized by law. The second thing is awareness. Even as a common man, we are hardly bothered about personal information pilfered or being misused. As a case-study, we studied the privacy policy of bank and we found that the privacy policy is indeed in a way to favour the banks, although prior permission is required to share the data with third party. I doubt whether this policy has been challenged at an appropriate authority. Another issue, I would like to highlight is the availability of free or paid app on the App store. This is totally unregulated area and I believe there needs to be some authority to regulate, certify subscriptions of apps.
Deepak Maheswari: The IT Act is at the central level. Otherwise, we would have a central legislation as well as a state legislation. Notwithstanding that, we do have National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 much before that IT Policy in 2012, but many states had the IT Policy right from 1997. Our policies have to be at least consistent and to be globally harmonized and even in the country it needs to be harmonized. On the encryption part, on 7th August, 1999 we had 40-bit encryption, but what is the situation today? We have different types of provisions within different regulations. In online trading there are three different provisions and it is incompatible with one another. We do need to have a consistent policy and legislative framework within the country. The third thing is evidence with respect to cyber crime. Now, if we want to sensitise and prioritise at the legislative level, this is very important. When we start looking at all these cases with respect to electronic evidence for cybercrime, then I hope legislations will uphold much higher authority in the realm of rules. In terms of institution capacity, we need to take definite steps. The cases are piling up at the Cyber Appellate Tribunal as there is severe shortage of judges. Symantec, along with NASSCOM, is doing capacity building for five curriculums for the National Skill Development which was unveiled last month and has rolled out in different colleges. For critical information provisions, we have three protected systems in India like the Communication System acquired by the Delhi Police during the Commonwealth Games. The second is Ministry of Shipping and third is Aadhaar CID Act. Apart from these, we do not have protected systems. Unless and until these are protected, the law does not allow higher level of penal provisions. We need to increase our critical information infrastructure, be it the Income Tax database, Voter ID database, RTGS switch, NEFT switch, international gateway of operators and others. Recently, the US has identified 16 sectors which include waterways and dams. Harmeet Kalra: Given the three pillars that we define problem are people, process and technology. We believe people and process are much bigger problems. Our opinion is that tangibility from technology is far more doable. Pointing out the combat, the firewall market is $200 million and application security market is $6 million. If we pick February 2017 SPO INDIA 31
CYBER SECURIT Y CONCL AVE
is centre to a variety of things. In 2017, my guesstimate is that 3 out of 5 cases require electronic evidence. It is time we revisit the rules for mobile evidence and who is going to give the certificate. According to a report, the global cost of cybercrime is going to exceed $2 trillion. According to Forbes, 80 per cent of cybercrime is done by organized crime. Keerti Nileish Mahajan: It is teacher’s responsibility for creating new leaders. We have to cover all aspects in 1-year, 2-year or 3-year programme. We have to arrange skill development for students for short-term courses. In Bharti Vidyapeeth, we have Legal Aid Centre, where we are getting lots of cases. We give legal advice to students for such kinds of cases and we are giving compulsory cyber security to all students. Around one lakh students in Bharti Vidyapeeth and students need to get compulsory cyber security certificates for getting degrees.
Events special up any attack on cyber infra only novices attack the actual user. Experts attack application and users are missing the application part on the top of this gigantic wave of digital. As we move towards digital, it is more important to start respecting the fact that it is the applications which the infrastructure is serving. And the focus on application security is right from the building stage of the applications. Amit Malhotra: If you look at the history of leaks, the majority of the leaks happen by trusted source. There is lot of focus on inbound protection. Missing on the 90 per cent data which is outside of the data center. Private banks and government banks are deploying the best of cyber technology. All of us on the vendor side and also on the enforcement would agree that banks and telecom sector addresses there cyber security requirement. The challenges are coming with respect to information movement. The big boss tells somebody to e-mail
top 100 customers. The e-mail comes on the mobile phone and it is not protected. Today, credit cards and banks will have the best of security, but the statement has to be printed and you have to go to the third party and there is an information flowing through a secured firewall. Data center to an outside world and do not know where it is going. And so what we believe in Seclor and that is the stuff we are looking at is instead of data of looking at data centered security we have to look at data- centric security. The data which is moving out in any form – be it a file, a pen drive, through network and peer to peer if you can provide security to that piece of data and security travels with that that potential is the best form. Other which is more critical is maintaining logs and audit trails. Harold D’ Costa: Data Protection law has to be encrypted and domain registration has to be governed by Indian authorities. n
Delhi NCR is the cybercrime hub for India. During the last 16 months, I have arrested 600 boys and girls in the Delhi NCR region, who were involved in cybercrimes. In one instance, through SQL Injection in database, the person was able to recharge Rs.25 lakh. Cybercriminals are just graduates and through data tempering tool they can bypass the payment gateway. Recently, a computer graduate from Skyline through social trade created a big empire of Rs.3,700 crore, which was cracked. The company had 6.5 lakh users and had around 9 lakh user IDs. The graduate Abhinav Mittal has been arrested and jailed, but the social media campaign is still going on. We only focus on preventive measures and detective measures but we do not focus on investigation. Investigation requires shared resources both on technical and legal front. Police is not up to the mark. We are training them and we have also hired the best of consultants. Anybody can spoof your mail ID and mobile number. In cyber black market you can buy anything – be it insurance fraud, debit card cloning and credit card cloning. Each and every crime is a cybercrime nowadays. Laws are not stringent in terms of cybercrime. For some, it is 7 years; otherwise, it is a non-bailable offence. The whole fraud supply chain is working in Delhi. 1. Each and everyone has to be aware. 2. 90 per cent of cases have used social engineering tricks. 3. Massive campaigning against awareness each and every user. 4. Capacity building for police, prosecution and judiciary. 5. Curriculum in university should have best of real experiences of police department and legal fraternity. Cyber forensic is an important aspect of cybercrime.
32 SPO INDIA February 2017
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
February 2017 29 February 2017 SPO INDIA 33
www.varindia.com
UNION BUDGET REVIEW
Budget 2017 eyes holistic growth The budget for the year 2017 is out and it has evoked mixed reactions from the industry. The budget this year was significant for it was the first time that both the Rail budget and General budget had been presented together The Budget Speech of the Hon’ble Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley was eagerly awaited by everyone. The theme of the Budget - Transform, Energize and Clean India augured well not only with the business class but also with the common people. Notwithstanding the diverse reactions that came out post budget, one thing evident was that the budget 2017 has 34 SPO INDIA February 2017
"The Union Budget will give an impetus to rural economy and bring about positive changes .If you ask a poor man, he will clearly share his dream. Owning a house is his biggest dream. Everyone from a middle class or neo middle class wants to own a house. How are we going to help them realize this dream? This is not possible without the help of the government. That’s why provisions have been made this time to give impetus to the housing sector and ensure a house to general household." Narendra Modi Prime Minister
been framed keeping a holistic growth in mind. Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley in his Union Budget announced a slew of measures to push important cogs of the economy. Many has hailed this budget as not to be a populist one, but a budget which caters sensibly to the poor, youth, farmers, villages and infrastructure to propel India further every year. The Budget this year was unprecedented in one more way. The practice of tabling a separate railway budget has been scrapped from this year and the railway estimates had been a part of the Union budget.
Impetus for Growth of SMEs and Start-up Community The new budget has made provisions to raise India’s innovation quotient, through the setting up of an innovation fund to encourage and fuel innovation amongst youth. The budget’s focus on making education more accessible to educationally backward blocks, along with the steps taken to ramp up the Skill India Mission will also help in maximizing the potential and capabilities of youth in the country. The budget indeed holds a lot of
promise for skilling the youth in the country. This is something that various industry bodies including the CII, have always advocated. The budget also promoted the startup ecosystem with tax benefits. Reduction in the corporate tax for Medium and Small Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) to 25% will also go a long way in attracting more investment in the country. It will surely give the domestic sector a massive push and indirectly help the country in restoring its healthy GDP growth forecast. Shilpa Mahna Bhatnagar, CEO & CoFounder Evoxyz Technologies says, “The Union Budget 2017 gives me a mixed feeling, certainly more on the positive side. On the positive side, there has been tax reduction on MSMEs, these concessions will also build a platform for MSMEs to embrace the company’s format, reduction
“The Finance Minister has made a strong attempt to pump prime the rural economy and the infrastructure sector. This would yield dividends and we foresee a multiplier effect in the form of demand generation and employment creation over time. The state of the agriculture sector on account of two consecutive years of monsoon failure was precarious and it deserved the attention that was needed”.
Harshavardhan Neotia President, FICCI
creation, increase capital expenditure and explore their digital journey. Incentives for labour intensive sectors including housing, farming and dairy will help SMEs to create new jobs. Focus and attention to bank NPAs, as well as increasing bank capitalization is great step towards strengthening the financial system of the country. Finally, the income tax rate changes will encourage more people to report their incomes and create a larger tax net for the country.
“Digital payments will be the new normal in 2017 and we are very excited about this. As we become more digital, India will see new taxpayers and better transparency in incomes.” Bipin Preet Singh Founder & CEO, MobiKwik
of custom duties on hardware for Fintech innovation and increase in child and women healthcare fund, the only concern which advances is that whether we as start-ups will be able to use them. The processes to leverage these reforms are so complex that entrepreneurs find it extremely difficult to use them; hence there should be more focus now on ease of execution of these reforms for start-ups to flourish.” “The Union Budget 2017-18 is extremely positive for the common man, farmers, small and medium businesses and would drive significant growth in Indian economy,” says Rajiv Srivastava, MD, HP India. “The Government’s commitment to make taxation rate reasonable, tax administration fair and expand the tax base is the step taken in the right direction. The tax relief given by the Government for the middle class tax payers will definitely boost the purchasing power, thereby aiding the overall growth of the economy. The major tax relief given to the MSMEs and SMEs with an annual turnover of Rs. 50 crores would enable them to invest in job
Aadhaar based smart cards for monitoring the health of senior citizens is a great way to leverage the citizen identity database while marrying technology with health. The move will reduce the burden on our health machinery to some extent and open up avenues to explore more applications of digital citizen identity database.
Singh, Founder & CEO, MobiKwik views that the focus on digital payments will lead to revolutionary transformation in Indians' payment habits. “Digital payments will be the new normal in 2017 and we are very excited about this. As we become more digital, India will see new taxpayers and better transparency in incomes.” The exemption of service charges for railway tickets booked via IRCTC will further act as a catalyst to encourage digital economy. This will push people to adopt digital economy and go cashless. Furthermore, citizens will become more responsible in terms of paying taxes and incomes will be transparent. However, the government must also consider promoting startups in the digital payments and digital security areas, as securing digital transactions is the only way to sustain India's habit of cashless payments. Tax benefits, incentives to use digital payments and extending loans based on a digital footprint will create a larger merchant ecosystem for digital payments. The Budget proposals also look to boost consumption. The impetus on affordable housing and rural infrastructure will boost lower and middle income and translate into consumption. Affordable housing focus
“The Government’s commitment to make taxation rate reasonable, tax administration fair and expand the tax base is the step taken in the right direction. The tax relief given by the Government for the middle class tax payers will definitely boost the purchasing power, thereby aiding the overall growth of the economy." Rajiv Srivastava MD, HP India
Boosting the Digital Payment system Upgrading digital infrastructure to support cashless transactions in rural and semi urban areas will encourage more merchants and consumers to transact on non-cash and online platforms. Bipin Preet
along with the realty sector SOPs (carpeted area calculation, delayed capital gains tax on unsold inventory, infrastructure status and reduced interests on home loans) will provide the much needed leg-up to the realty sector (more buyers and therefore more affordable homes) and also increase adoption of professional approaches in February 2017 SPO INDIA 35
UNION BUDGET REVIEW this unorganized sector. The promise of doubling income for farmers through the committed investments and SOPs will help in getting much needed focus back to an important GDP contributing sector. The provision to support NABARD in digitizing 63,000 primary agro-operatives is a healthy move in order to penetrate rural sectors to achieve its goal of a Digital India. Considering the power deficit situation in the country, the proposal to feed 7000 railway stations with solar energy will help in reducing dependence on conventional energy sources. The almost 1/3rd increase in resource allocation towards Integrated Power Development Scheme and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (from INR. 7874cr to INR. 10635cr) is also a step in the positive direction.
"There has been tax reduction on MSMEs. These concessions will also build a platform for MSMEs to embrace the company’s format, reduction of custom duties on hardware for Fintech innovation and increase in child and women healthcare fund, the only concern which advances is that whether we as start-ups will be able to use them." Shilpa Mahna Bhatnagar CEO & Co-Founder Evoxyz Technologies
mostly in line with the long-term economic development strategy of the present government. For the Retail/ FMCG segment, highway and road infrastructure focus will work well in tandem with the advantages of the GST implementation. This will also go a long way in allowing development of tier3/satellite towns closer to the Tier1/tier2 cities and thereby a little more even distribution of population across tiered cities and rural areas. The
"The Budget’s focus on investments in infrastructure creation while easing private sector’s access to credit will generate jobs and increase productivity. The thrust on digital economy, deployment of analytics in tax administration and initiatives on cyber-security demonstrate the significance of Information Technology among Government’s priorities." Jatin Dalal Chief Financial Officer, Wipro Limited
Emphasis has also been given to areas like infrastructure development, skill development, encouraging manufacturing and on Digital India. The DigiGaon initiative announced to provide telemedicine, education and skills through digital technology in rural India is heartily supported by everyone in the industry. There has been a continued and a strong commitment towards increasing technology adoption and usage across critical sectors like education, agriculture, financial inclusion and rural and infrastructure development. This will further drive the digitization of India. However, the budget has fallen short of creating avenues to increase the manufacturing of the technology solutions in India beyond smartphones. Finally, the reduction in tax rates for employees below 5L will also act as a catalyst in increasing the tax payers’ pool along with along with putting more money in the hands of tax payers especially the formal salaried employees."
And so…
Overall, the Union Budget 2017 is 36 SPO INDIA February 2017
SOPs towards getting closer to a cashless economy (Digitization SOPs, BHIM app and Aadhaar Pay drive, removal of service charges on e-ticket booking etc.) will help continue the aggressive approach against the black money economy and thereby provide the country with more compliant tax paying citizens, thereby get closer to the 3% fiscal deficit goal by FY’19. However, there are two important
economy in the coming financial year. “I commend the Finance Minister for delivering a Budget that is a clear continuation of policy direction. The Budget’s focus on investments in infrastructure creation while easing private sector’s access to credit will generate jobs and increase productivity. The thrust on digital economy, deployment of analytics in tax administration and initiatives on cyber-security demonstrate the significance of Information Technology among Government’s priorities. Corporate India welcomes the initiatives to expand the tax base and eliminate evasion. While the targeted proposals on corporate taxation are welcome, progressive steps towards achieving competitive tax rates could have attracted global investors,” admits Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, Wipro Limited. However, not everyone is happy, as is apparent from the views of Nita Kapoor, Head – India New Ventures, News Corp. “Much like the Startup India initiative, the Union Budget 2017 has left the Indian startup community asking for more. Be it a 5 year tax holiday or the profit linkeddeductions for start-ups are benefits which are virtually redundant. This is because there is a long gestation period for them to even
"Much like the Startup India initiative, the Union Budget 2017 has left the Indian startup community asking for more. Be it a 5 year tax holiday or the profit linked-deductions for start-ups are benefits which are virtually redundant." Nita Kapoor Head – India New Ventures, News Corp
aspects that need to be focused on to make the Budget effective – one, effective implementation and two, more banking infrastructure in the rural areas and Tier 4/5 cities to enable higher digital economy adoption across a larger population. Overall, the budget is progressive, and one can expect accelerated growth of the Indian
break even, forget achieving profitability. Had there been fiscal incentives for private sector to support the setting up of more incubators through industry academic partnerships that would have been a positive for startups in India.” n Samrita Baruah samrita@varindia.com
AGENDA 2017 - 18 FARMERS • Target for agricultural credit in 2017-18 has been fixed at a record level of 10 lakh crores • Farmers will also benefit from 60 days’ interest waiver announced on 31 Dec 2016 • To ensure flow of credit to small farmers, Government to support NABARD for computerization and integration of all 63,000 functional Primary Agriculture Credit Societies with the Core Banking System of District Central Cooperative Banks. This will be done in 3 years at an estimated cost of ` 1,900 crores • Coverage under Fasal Bima Yojana scheme will be increased from 30% of cropped area in 2016-17 to 40% in 2017-18 and 50% in 2018-19 for which a budget provision of ` 9000 crore has been made • Dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund in NABARD to achieve ‘per drop more crop’ with an initial corpus of ` 5,000 crores • A model law on contract farming to be prepared and circulated among the States for adoption
RURAL POPULATION • Over ` 3 lakh crores spent in rural areas every year, for rural poor from Central Budget, State Budgets, Bank linkage for self-help groups, etc • Aim to bring one crore households out of poverty and to make 50,000 Gram Panchayats poverty free by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi • Women participation in MGNREGA has increased to 55% from less than 48% • MGNREGA allocation to be the highest ever at ` 48,000 crores in 2017-18. • Pace of construction of PMGSY roads accelerated to 133 km roads per day in 2016-17, against an avg. of 73 km during 20112014 • Government has taken up the task of connecting habitations with more than 100 persons in left wing extremism affected Blocks under PMGSY. All such habitations are expected to be covered by 2019 and the allocation for PMGSY, including the State's Share is ` 27,000 crores in 2017-18 • Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin increased from ` 15,000 crores in BE 2016-17 to ` 23,000 crores in 2017-18 with a target to complete 1 crore houses by 2019 for the houseless and those living in kutcha houses. • As part of a sub mission of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), it is proposed to provide safe drinking water to over 28,000 arsenic and fluoride affected habitations in the next four years.
THE POOR AND THE UNDERPRIVILEGED • Mahila Shakti Kendra will be set up with an allocation of ` 500 crores in 14 lakh ICDS Anganwadi Centres. This will provide one stop convergent support services for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition • Under Maternity Benefit Scheme ` 6,000 each will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery and vaccinate their children • Affordable housing to be given infrastructure status • National Housing Bank will refinance individual housing loans of about `20,000 crore in 2017-18 • Government has prepared an action plan to eliminate Kala-Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018, Measles by 2020 and Tuberculosis by 2025 is also targeted • Two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences to be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat • The allocation for Scheduled Castes has been increased by 35% compared to BE 2016-17. The allocation for Scheduled Tribes has been increased to ` 31,920 crores and for Minority Affairs to ` 4,195 crores
INFRASTRUCTURE • For transportation sector as a whole, including rail, roads, shipping, provision of ` 2, 41,387 crores has been made in 2017-18. • For 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure of Railways has been pegged at ` 1, 31,000 crores. This includes ` 55,000 crores provided by the Government • For passenger safety, a Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh will be created with a corpus of ` 1 lakh crores over a period of 5 years • Railway lines of 3,500 kms will be commissioned in 2017-18. During 2017-18, at least 25 stations are expected to be awarded for station redevelopment. • 500 stations will be made differently abled friendly by providing lifts and escalators. • A new Metro Rail Act will be enacted by rationalizing the existing laws. This will facilitate greater private participation and investment in construction and operation. • In the road sector, Budget allocation for highways increased from` 57,976 crores in BE 2016-17 to ` 64,900 crores in 2017-18
February 2017 SPO INDIA 37
movers & shakers
Arun Kumar appointed as the secretary of Ajay Tyagi appointed as new Chairman of the ministry of mines SEBI Arun Kumar, 1983 batch Assam cadre IAS has been appointed as the new secretary of the ministry of mines. Kumar, currently a special secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment will take up the post on superannuation of the present incumbent Balvender Kumar, 1981 batch UP cadre IAS.
New SEBI chairman Ajay Tyagi (1984 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS) will have a new chairman. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) not only cleared Tyagi’s name as the new Sebi chief but gave him full five years tenure. Tyagi will take over from incumbent UK Sinha who is currently on extension.
Hema Jaiswal appointed deputy secretary Bibhuti Bhushana Dash appointed as in the department of food and public director in the ministry tourism distribution Bibhuti Bhushana Dash, a 1999 batch Indian ordinance Hema Jaiswal, 2004 batch Indian statistical service officer has been appointed as deputy secretary in the department of food and public distribution.
factory service officer has been appointed as director in the ministry tourism.
Karnal Singh appointed as director, Enforcement Directorate
Shri R. Sridharan appointed as Member (Finance), Space Commission
The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the appointment of Karnal Singh, 1984 batch AGMUT cadre IPS as director, Enforcement Directorate, for a period of two years.
Shri R. Sridharan, IAS (KN: 83), Special Secretary, Ministry of Mines has been appointed as Member (Finance), Space Commission, in the rank and pay of Secretary, by restoring the post to the level of Secretary.
Post of Shri Binoy Kumar upgraded to the rank and pay of Secretary
Bhargava appointed MD of LIC
The post of Shri Binoy Kumar, IAS (TG:83) and the present Director General, Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals (DGS&D), Ministry of Commerce & Industry has been temporarily upgraded to the rank and pay of Secretary, for a period of two years on until further orders.
38 SPO INDIA February 2017
Hemant Bhargava (LIC’s Zonal Manager, Delhi) has been appointed as Managing Director of State-owned Life insurer LIC till his superannuation on 31 July 2019. The top LIC management consists of the Chairman and three Managing Directors. Earlier Bhargava too was in the race for the post of Chairman of LIC.
February 2017 SPO INDIA 39
RNI No.: DELENG/2016/69058 Printing Date 27 & 28
Reg. No.: DL-SW-1/4197/17-19
40 pages including cover 40 SPO INDIA February 2017
Date of Posting Date 29 & 30 Every Month