Fake news: Companies say top bosses may quit over persecution fears

The blow-hot-blow-cold relationship between the government and social media and technology-backed firms seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Some companies now fear exits of their India heads and senior management if the government goes ahead with its plans to carry out criminal proceedings against top bosses over spread of fake news via their platforms.

Apart from global technology giants Google and Facebook (which together have four to five social media platforms), Twitter, LinkedIn, smaller social media portals and payments apps with chat capabilities are planning to approach the government on putting back its plans of booking their top bosses.

While it has not been decided if they would form a common front, the public policy teams in these firms are getting ready for a long discussion with the government. “We are constantly in touch with government officials. We want them to know that we are taking steps to prevent spreading of fake news and such drastic actions are unnecessary,” said a senior public policy executive at one of the tech firms.

Need mindset change & better school budget to improve govt schools: Expert

In 2009, Urmila Chowdhury, then vice principal at Delhi's Shriram school, decided to leave the private school system and turn her attention to government schools. Six years later, she joined the UK-headquartered international charity Ark International's India operations.

In 2015, Ark started working in partnership with government schools. In the beginning, one school in Lajpat Nagar-3 was taken up and within three years, students enrollment at the school went up from to nine to 428. Learning outcomes improved dramatically. Two more schools were added in 2017.

As education director (now with Peepul, an Ark venture), Chowdhury, 55, led the change at the first school and now the three academic coordinators at the three schools report to her. Excerpts from her chat with Anjuli Bhargava:

Malaysia's Mahathir sworn in as world's oldest leader after shock poll win

Ninety-two-year-old Mahathir Mohamad was on Thursday sworn in as the world's oldest elected leader after a stunning election win that swept Malaysia's establishment from power after more than six decades.

In a huge political upset, former strongman Mahathir's opposition alliance broke the grip on power of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which had governed Malaysia uninterrupted since its birth as an independent country in 1957.

It capped a dramatic political comeback for Mahathir, who previously ruled the country with an iron fist for 22 years and came out of retirement to take on Prime Minister Najib Razak after the leader became embroiled in a massive corruption scandal.

In a ceremony at the national palace steeped in centuries-old Muslim Malay tradition, Mahathir was officially sworn in as prime minister by King Sultan Muhammad V.

Mahathir, dressed in traditional Malay dress, took the oath of office in a elaborately decorated room, with political allies and senior government officials in attendance.

Elevation to the SC on impression rather than performance: J Chelameswar

Stressing on the need to bring more transparency in the appointment process of Supreme Court judges, Justice J Chelameswar on Monday said the elevation of the High Court judge to the apex court is done on their impression rather than on their performance.

Speaking during a panel discussion titled 'The Indian Higher Judiciary: Issues and Prospects', the apex court judge said the one responsible for the selection process must put "assessment on record", which would "eliminate most of the problems".

"An assessment of the performance of a high court judge, I am talking about elevation to the Supreme Court, is hardly done. Generally, the assessment goes by impression," Justice Chelameswar said.

During the discussion, Justice Chelameswar, while speaking on reforms required in the apex court, said if it happens then as the sanctioned strength of the top court is 31 judges, each state will stake its claim for a seat.

Brazil's top court rules that ex-president Lula Silva can be jailed

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court judges voted on Thursday to reject former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's plea to avoid prison.

After over 10 hours of the session, there were six votes against the habeas corpus and five for it, Xinhua reported. The deciding vote was cast by court President Carmen Lucia Rocha.

With the habeas corpus denied, Lula can be arrested any time, which will prevent him from participating in the 2018 presidential elections.

He is facing accusations of corruption and money laundering and is alleged to have received an apartment for favouring certain companies in government contracts. However, Lula denies owning the apartment.

Lula was found guilty and sentenced to prison for nine-and-a-half years in 2017.

On January 24, an appeals court rejected a motion to overturn his conviction for money laundering and accepting bribes. The court also stiffened his initial sentence, increasing it to more than 12 years.

SC seeks AG view on video recording of proceedings on key matters

The Supreme Court today sought the opinion of the attorney general on the issue of video recording or live streaming of judicial proceedings of cases, like that of Aadhaar, which have constitutional and national importance.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said it will first hear the top law officer and the bar before passing any order on the issue which has been raised by senior advocate Indira Jaising and advocate Mathews J Nedumpara in their respective pleas.

Jaising said that the matter was of extreme importance and should be referred to the Constitution bench to ensure that the proceedings in matters of national importance can be video-graphed.

She contended that matters being heard by the Constitutional bench of the apex court are those which the whole country should be able to watch.

US should exclude EU from tariffs to defuse trade dispute: Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today voiced concern over US President Donald Trump's decision to impose hefty tariffs on aluminium and steel imports, and called for talks to defuse the escalating row.
"We see with concern the tariff hikes for specific products," the leader of Europe's biggest economy said, adding that Germany backs the EU in "seeking dialogue with the United States, but also with countries that could be affected, like China."
She stressed that "no one can win in such a race to the bottom", adding that "it would be best if we could be exempted" from the tariffs.

Does BJP's polarising politics weaken India's strategic edge in Maldives?

The Narendra Modi government is currently experiencing a near-perfect storm of domestic and foreign policy setbacks. The ruling BJP has been drubbed in recent parliamentary bypolls in Rajasthan after an underwhelming result in Gujarat elections. The economy continues to struggle with the effects of demonetisation and GST, global fuel prices are high, the stock market is wobbly, the Union budget disappointed even BJP’s supporters and remarks by Modi that making pakodas (fritters) constituted gainful employment for citizens has become a source of mirth and anger.

The foreign affairs scene is not comforting either. China is reinforcing its military presence near Doklam, belying claims that India had “won” the standoff last year, Beijing is negotiating a military base in Afghanistan, and a Chinese company has formally signed the lease for the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka while experts say that Delhi has lost “all its leverage” in Nepal.

From 'Shalom Bollywood' to seeing the Taj: Netanyahu to land in India today

Six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to Israel, first ever by any Indian prime minister to the Jewish nation, his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu is arriving in India today for a six-day state visit.

The Israeli Prime Minister, who is the second Prime Minister from his country after Ariel Sharon to visit India in the last 25 years of a diplomatic relationship, will be accompanied by a 130-member delegation from various sectors including cyber, agriculture and defence.

Later in the day, he will call on External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj.

The visiting dignitary, on Monday, will be given a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan which will be followed by the wreath laying at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi.

Netanyahu will also meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and hold delegation level talks.

The two sides will sign agreements and also issue a joint press statement. The Israeli Prime Minister will call on President Ram Nath Kovind later in the day.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara, will leave for Agra to see Taj Mahal. On the same day, he will visit Delhi and participate in the Raisina Dialogue, where he is scheduled to deliver an inaugural speech.
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Aruna Asaf Ali hospital turns away pregnant lady, faces negligence inquiry

The Delhi High Court has directed the AAP government to inquire whether there was any medical negligence by the Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, accused of denying admission to a pregnant woman having labour pain that resulted in her giving birth in an autorickshaw while returning home.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru issued the direction to the Delhi government and its Department of Health and Family Welfare on the 25-year-old woman's plea for Rs 500,000 compensation on account of alleged negligence by the hospital in providing treatment to her.

The court said if the facts, as stated by the woman, are correct, "there is a good ground to conduct an inquiry" to determine whether there was any medical negligence.

"Respondent no 3 (Department of Health) is directed to institute a proper inquiry to determine whether there has been any medical negligence on the part of the attending doctor(s).

"The inquiry shall be completed within a period of twelve weeks from today. Needless to mention that if the said findings are indicative of medical negligence, a complaint would also be made to the Delhi Medical Council," the court said and disposed of the woman's plea.

It also directed that the amount of Rs 7,000 spent by the woman on a midwife, to assist with her delivery, and medicines be reimbursed to her.

In her plea, Pinki claimed that she had gone to the hospital around 9.30 am on November 17 after "experiencing labour pain along with the rupture of membranes".
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Chidambaram attacks Modi govt over unjust growth in Gujarat

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Tuesday his only regret in life was not having served as finance minister in a government which had an "absolute majority", as he targeted the Modi government over its economic policies.

Chidambaram said development had indeed "gone crazy" in Gujarat, and criticised the BJP government in the state for leading what he called a "skewed, unfair, unjust and inequitable growth".

He also came down heavily on the Centre's bullet train project whose foundation was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad recently.

"The only regret in my life is that I was never a finance minister in a government with absolute majority," he told businessmen at a function organised by the Congress party at Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

Referring to the massive majority the BJP-led NDA had in the Lok Sabha, he said anything could have been done with that kind of mandate.

"We could have completely reformed the finance sector, we could have passed the direct taxes code, we could have passed a near perfect GST. With that kind of majority, any laws could have been changed. Anyway, that did not happen," he said.
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Gujarat polls: Congress offers Patidar community 3 options for quota

Congress gave three options to the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) at a late night meeting here with respect to latter's quota demand for its community, even as the organisation members said they would consult their leaders and legal experts before taking a decision.

The options were conveyed to the PASS members by senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal at the meeting which took place at 11:30 PM and ended at about 2 AM.

"We have been given three options by the Congress party on how to provide reservation to our community in educational institutions and government jobs," PAAS convener Dinesh Bambhania said after the meeting.

He, however, did not divulge the details of the options.

"The options that have been given will be kept confidential till we discuss it with Hardik, social leaders of the community, legal experts and then it would be kept before our community. If the community accepts the demand, we will convey it accordingly to the Congress party," Bambhania said.

He said, "The Congress proposal has not touched 49 per cent reservations for SC, ST and OBC which exists in the state. The options that have been given are over and above it."

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85% Indians trust government, 55% favour autocracy: Pew survey

More than four-fifths of Indian citizens trust their government, but interestingly, a majority of Indians also support military rule and autocracy, a latest Pew survey said on Tuesday.

"In India, where the economy has grown on average by 6.9 per cent since 2012, 85 per cent (of people) trust their national government," Pew Research said in a report based on its survey on governance and trust among key countries across the world.

Notably, in India, which has strong democratic credentials since the last seven decades, according to Pew, a majority (55 per cent) of its people support autocracy in one way or the other.

In fact, more than one-fourth (27 per cent) of them want a strong leader.

Nearly half of Russians (48 per cent) back governance by a strong leader, but rule by a strong leader is generally unpopular, it said.

A global median of 26 per cent say a system in which a strong leader can make decisions without interference from parliament or the courts would be a good way of governing.
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Government will protect indigenous people's interest: Assam CM Sonowal

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said that the government would protect the interest of indigenous people at all costs.

The state government would take all steps to ensure that indigenous people are not deprived of their land following the passage of State Capital Region Bill in the just concluded session of the Assam assembly, he said during a meeting with representatives of various organisations of Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council area.

Necessary amendments would be made in the Bill to allay the apprehensions of the indigenous people and safeguard their interests, he said.

The council chief executive member Tankeswar Rabha expressed concern that the state capital region would override the land rights of tribal people living in the fringes of Guwahati city which would be covered by it.

Land acquisition in tribal belt areas for expanding the capital would violate the rules of acquiring land in tribal belts and it would make the indigenous people lose the right of their land, Rabha said.

The CM assured that all steps would be taken to protect the land rights and asked the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council organisations to submit their written complaints to the government.
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Delhi govt to bear all expenses on sportspersons as per new draft policy

A Delhi government decision will bring cheer to national and international-level sportspersons in the national capital soon.

The government has drafted a policy under which their training, travelling and other expenses would be fully borne by it, according to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Speaking at an event, Kejriwal said there was no dearth of youths who can earn medals in sports, but their efforts were strained by facilities and government's assistance.

"If they are provided government's assistance and resources, they can do much more," he said.

"In next one or two months, the Delhi government will introduce a policy under which if youths earn a medal at national or international-level, government will bear their expenses, like training, food, travelling," he said.

Kejriwal said a draft of the policy has been prepared and this programme will benefit the youths of rural areas.

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Patanjali to invest Rs 5,000 cr in current fiscal year, says MD Balkrishna

Patanjali Ayurved's managing director Balkrishna said here today that the company is planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore in the country in the current financial year.

"We are exploring possibilities to set up units in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh," he told reporters here.

If all goes well, the company's food processing unit at Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 30 km from here, would be up and running by March, he said.

"Hopefully, the food processing unit will start production by March 2018 with an investment of Rs 500 crore," he said.

The plant will produce biscuits, suji, noodles and flour. It would process 1,000 tons of wheat daily, Balkrishna added.

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has allotted 40 acres of land to Patanjali at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per acre, he said.

The company would also explore the possibility of processing fruits and vegetables in the state, he said.

"If the government provides us land, we will also set up a cow shelter in the state," he said.

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Trump overtakes Pope to become Twitter's most followed world leader

President Donald Trump has passed Pope Francis to become the most-followed world leader on Twitter, a social media tracker says.

Twitplomacy says Trump, with about 40 million followers, over the weekend took the top spot on its tracked list of about 890 accounts of leaders like heads of state and government. The pope's followers in all languages are slightly fewer.

Twitplomacy founder Matthias Luefkens, head of digital with Burson Marsteller EMEA, acknowledged that many followers could be dormant accounts or "bots." The list also doesn't count ex-leaders like Barack Obama, who has 95 million-plus followers.

Trump has frequently announced government policy or made controversial statements on Twitter.

Luefkens said today that Trump's tweets get many "interactions" and he expects the US leader might trumpet the achievement: "He does like his crowd size.
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Delhi Assembly's session today: AAJ, BJP to lock horns over metro fare hike

The one-day special session of the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday is expected to be a stormy affair with the ruling AAP and opposition BJP set to lock horns on a series of issues, including the proposed Metro fare hike and guest teachers bill.

Lt Governor Anil Baijal's communication to the Centre to withdraw powers of Department Related Standing Committees (DRSC) of the assembly may also be raised in the House tomorrow.

Baijal had also written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requesting him to reconsider the guest teacher regularisation bill, saying it was not in accordance with the constitutional scheme of governance of NCT of Delhi.

In the letter, the Lt Governor argued that the matter relating to 'services' falls beyond the legislative competence of the assembly.

The bill is scheduled to be tabled in the House today.

Asked about the response after the LG's letter to the chief minister, city government sources said the assembly would take a final call on the tabling of the Bill.

"This matter (Bill) is related to education not services" they said.

In a statement, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the Bill was Aam Aadmi Party's "sheer populist measure".
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73% turnout in Nepal's final phase of crucial local polls

Nepal on Monday saw a high turnout of nearly 73 per cent polling in the final phase of the local- level elections in a Madhesi-dominated province, close to the border with India, as the nation took a crucial step towards cementing democracy amid political turmoil.

Barring some sporadic incidents, the third phase which was postponed twice due to opposition by Madhesi parties, passed off by-and-large peacefully in 136 local units of eight districts under the province.

Polling for the elections, being held for the first time in two decades, began at 7 AM and continued until 5 PM.

The turnouts were around 73 per cent, according to the election commission.

This phase would elect 6,627 representatives. Eight candidates have been elected unopposed.

There are one metropolitan city, three sub-metropolis, 73 municipalities and 59 rural municipalities in the eight districts of the province in southern Nepal.

There were 37,236 candidates in the fray, authorities said.

More than 60,000 security personnel were deployed to ensure security. The Election Commission said border points with India had been closed as a precautionary measure.
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Centre bars JNU, Delhi University, IIT-D from receiving foreign funds

Prominent academic institutions like JNU, Delhi University, IIT Delhi, ICAR besides Supreme Court Bar Association are among several hundred organisations barred by the Centre from receiving foreign funds.

The registration of these institutions under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) has been cancelled by the Union Home Ministry as these have failed to file their annual returns for five consecutive years.

No organisation is allowed to receive funds from abroad unless it is registered under the FCRA. It is mandatory under the law for such organisations to submit income and expenditure statement to the government annually else their registration is cancelled.

Among the institutions whose FCRA licence have been cancelled include Jawaharlal Nehru University, University Of Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi, Panjab University, Indian Council Of Agricultural Research, Gargi College, Delhi and Lady Irwin College, Delhi, according to the documents accessed by PTI.
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