Tag:

Government

Amazon India’s FDI Proposal for Food Product Retail Approved by Government

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Amazon India's FDI Proposal for Food Product Retail Approved by Government

The government has approved American e-commerce major Amazon’s proposed $500 million investment in retailing of food products in India, an official said.

The proposal was pending before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) which has been abolished now.

Hence, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) gives the green signal to the proposal.

As per the proposal, the company will open a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to carry out the business. It will stock food products and sell online.

Currently, the government permits 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector. As per norms, a foreign company can open a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to retail food products produced and or manufactured in the country by way of opening stores or online.

The government had received investment proposals from three companies – Amazon, Grofers and BigBasket – worth $695 million for retail of food products.

While US-based retail giant Amazon is one of the major e-commerce players in India, Grofers and Big Basket are into online grocery space.

Amazon has proposed to invest around $500 million in retail of food products.

The government last year allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) through approval route for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and produced in India.

In 2016-17 (April-December), the food processing sector in the country received FDI of $663.23 million.

The Union Cabinet last month decided to wind up the 25-year-old FIPB, which had been vetting FDI proposals requiring government approval, to expedite the clearance process.

Under the new mechanism, proposals related to retail sector is being approved by the commerce and industry ministry.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Microsoft Lawsuit Versus Secret US Government Searches Moves Ahead

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Microsoft Lawsuit Versus Secret US Government Searches Moves Ahead

A judge refused the US government’s request to throw out a lawsuit from Microsoft that claims a federal law is unconstitutional because it prohibits technology companies from telling customers when the government demands their electronic data.

US District Judge James Robart, who temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s travel ban last week, agreed with Microsoft that the law violates the company’s First Amendment right to speak to its customers when their private information is collected during criminal investigations.

But Robart denied its claim that the law violates customers’ rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, saying a third party like Microsoft can’t assert constitutional rights for someone else.

The case will now head to trial, where Microsoft will argue that “people need to get notice when the government comes knocking at the door to seize all that stuff that historically would have been stored in a file cabinet,” Microsoft lawyer Stephen Rummage said during a recent hearing.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act compels companies to divulge data stored in “third-party computers,” such as Microsoft’s Cloud, and keep the move secret. Microsoft successfully argued that the law harms the company by eroding customer confidence in its cloud services, Robart said in the ruling published Thursday.

“Government surveillance aided by service providers creates unique considerations because of the vast amount of data service providers have about their customers,” Robart said.

The service providers know the websites we visit, Google keeps records of our searches and Facebook keeps records of our friends and what we “like,” he said. Several court cases have found that material deserves constitutional protection, he said.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company is pleased with the order.

“This ruling enables our case to move forward toward a reasonable solution that works for law enforcement and ensures secrecy is used only when necessary,” Smith said.

Nicole Navas, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the agency is reviewing the decision and declined to comment.

Microsoft sued last year saying the government has increasingly sought to obtain information from providers instead of customers. Federal courts have issued more than 3,250 secret orders for data over a 20-month period ending May 2016 and more than 450 of those orders had no end dates, the company said.

One magistrate judge in southern Texas reported that the Electronic Privacy Act docket “handles tens of thousands of secret cases every year,” Robart’s order said.

Companies including Apple, Twitter and Amazon as well as media outlets such as The Associated Press, the Seattle Times and Washington Post filed court briefs supporting Microsoft.

The Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the government has an interest in keeping criminal investigations confidential and customers often eventually learn about the data demands when charges are filed.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Government Has Received Over 1,300 Complaints Against E-Commerce Firms

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Government Has Received Over 1,300 Complaints Against E-Commerce Firms

Government has received over 1,300 complaints against direct selling and e-commerce companies till December 2016, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

It also made clear that there is no proposal to bring in a separate law to regulate e-commerce platforms.

Placing the details of complaints received by its National Consumer Helpline against direct selling and e-commerce companies in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs C R Chaudhary said: “The received complaints were dealt with as per consumer grievance redressal procedure.”

A consumer can file a complaint relating to e-commerce transactions in the appropriate consumer forum established under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, he said in his written reply to the Lower House.

As per the data, 1,386 complaints have been received up to December 2016.

A maximum of 449 complaints were against bookmyoffer.com, followed by ebay (135), snapdeal.com (120), amazon.in (114), flipkart.com (92), whaaky.com (79), shopclues.com (47), and paytm.com (46).

Around 15 complaints were received against Homeshop 18, followed by jabong.com (15), naaptol.com (13), Shop CJ Network India (10), askmebazar.com (6) and myntra.com (2) during this period, the data showed.

The minister also said there is no proposal for setting up of National Consumer Safety Authority.

However, the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, already introduced in Parliament, seeks to provide setting up of a central consumer protection authority to look into, inter alia, unfair trade practices, he added.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

The government is not about to fudge this: the PM wants proper old-fashioned grammar schools

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

grammar schools

There are clever educational strategies that one might use to finesse the government’s commitment to increasing selection, but they’re unlikely to satisfy Downing Street like “red meat” grammar schools

There are those in education who seem to think that if they close their eyes really tight, the government’s plans to roll out grammar schools across the country will just go away.

They believe that a combination of near-universal opposition from the education sector (it’s almost impossible to find a head or teacher who thinks more selection is a good idea) and within Parliament will result in the idea will be shelved.

I wish it weren’t so, but this is wildly optimistic. The political mechanics of how it will be forced through are not yet clear, but when a prime minister really wants something, it pretty much always happens.

Let’s not forget that the speech in which the grammar school policy was unveiled was Theresa May’s very first on public sector reform in the afterglow of becoming PM. Such landmark speeches are not easily put on the backburner.

No 10 is, I understand, well up for a political scrap, too. They reckon that a year or two of battling the profession and the “liberal elite” on this one will probably play quite well in post-Brexit Britain.

Comprehensive dream

Then there are those within education – especially within the academies and free school movement – who think that they can manage the whole reintroduction of selection in a way that would be a little more palatable to those who remain committed to the comprehensive dream.

They think that they will get away with creating ultra-selective special units for super-bright pupils, probably within multi-academy trusts. Sort of special schools, but for the extremely gifted and talented. These units might not even be schools as we would recognise them with fluid pupil-roll, and students treated on a need-by-need basis.

This idea is one iteration of the “non-binary” selective system that the DfE – not keen on the idea of more grammar schools – is keen to promote as a way of placating the opposition that has grown up around more selection.

One problem. This isn’t going to cut the mustard in No 10: not after Theresa May stood up and announced the policy; not after the story was briefed in the Sunday Telegraph as the return to grammars.

No, Number 10 and its senior people are going to want some red meat for the Tory faithful – something that looks, sounds and smells like a grammar school in every area.

So when the government’s response to the Green Paper is published in (I understand) March, that’s what you can expect. It may well feature some of the fuzzy-around-the-edges, non-binary options, but there’ll be plans for proper old-fashioned grammar schools, too.

Best get used to it.

[Source:- tes]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Government to Soft Launch Malware Cleaning System on Tuesday

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Government to Soft Launch Malware Cleaning System on Tuesday

Government will kick start operations of a long-awaited malware and botnet cleaning centre with soft launch on December 20, a programme aimed at automatically disinfecting computers and mobiles from viruses and malicious software for free.

“Major cyber-security initiative of Digital India. Soft Launch of BotNet cleaning centre of India CERT from December 20,” Ministry of Electronics and IT, Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar tweeted on Sunday.

Botnet is a network of malicious software that can steal information, take control of device function and carry out cyber-attacks like Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) that prevent access of websites.

Government has earmarked Rs. 100 crores for setting up this facility. The project was expected to be launched in 2014. When contacted, Kumar said, “From December 20, Indian CERT will start informing Internet service providers about infected systems. They will have to synchronise their system to meet the requirement of botnet and malware cleaning centre. ISPs will then alert their customers about infection in their PC or mobile and recommend them downloading of software from website of BotNet centre to remove malware.”

The software will be available for free from the BotNet centre, he said. The new system will do away need of installing anti-virus software in PC and mobile phones.”We are expecting that from around December 26 complete system will be operational,” Kumar said.

[Source:- gadgets. ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Female graduates earn £6,500 less than male equivalents, government report warns

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Top female employees earn an average of £6,500 a year less than their male counterparts five years after leaving university, latest government figures have revealed.

Women’s salaries are marked at £31,000 on average across a range of graduate professions – 18 per cent lower than men, who earn an average of £37,500.

The findings, from the Department for Education’s Longitudinal Education Outcomes report have prompted fresh concerns over a widening gender pay gap.

Analysing data from 236,630 men and women who graduated in the 2008-09 academic year, the statistics are the first of their kind to track university leavers and their wages according to gender.

While men and women were found to be earning the same or similar pay during the first year after graduatation, the gap increased with each year of employment and was particularly noticeable in the upper wage range industries.

By year three, high earning women were found to be earning almost 15 per cent less – £26,500 compared to £31,000 for men.

Five years after graduating, the lowest earning men were found to have overtaken women completely – earning an average of £20,000 compared to £17,500.

The DfE report also noted that Black and Asian British-Pakistani graduates earned the lowest average salaries five years after graduation.

Commenting on the figures, Fawcett Society Chief Executive, Sam Smethers, called the gender pay gap a “huge waste of potential”.

She said: “We have the best educated female workforce that we have ever had but these figures show that we are just not getting them into the right roles at the right levels.

“The pay gap is a productivity gap. We need to end occupational segregation and open up senior roles to flexible & part-time work.”

Asking students to estimate their starting salary post-graduation, the National Student Money Survey reported that women expect to make over £3,300 a year less than their male equivalents, indicating they may be “primed” to expect lower earnings from a young age.

A Trade Union Congress (TUC) report earlier this year also found that women earn less than their male peers at every stage of their careers.

TUC head, Frances O’Grady, said the figures suggested the UK was almost half a century off achieving equal pay.

A Government spokesman said: “No woman should be held back just because of her gender. We now have the lowest gender pay gap on record, and we are working to get more women into the top jobs at our biggest companies.

“But we know there’s more to do – that’s why we are requiring employers to publish their gender pay and gender bonus gap for the first time from April and we are working to get more girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects so that they get into more lucrative professions when they are older.”

[Source:- independent]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Government ‘looking into’ making sex and relationships education compulsory in all schools

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Education secretary Justine Greening is looking to make sex and relationships education (SRE) compulsory in all schools

Pupils would be taught about pornography and sexting in all schools under new plans being drawn up by the government.

The proposals could be included in amendments to the Children and Social Work Bill, which is currently before parliament.

The chairs of five different Commons select committees recently called on education secretary Justine Greening to make SRE a statutory subject.

Their demand came after a report from the Women and Equalities Committee found that sexual bullying is now endemic in schools.

Currently free schools and academies do not have to teach sex education or personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. Parents can withdraw their children from sex education classes.

A government source told the Sunday Times: “Justine is clear that this is something that has to be looked at. It is not just a question of making it mandatory but also of what we should be teaching, including issues such as sexting and domestic violence.”

It is understood that it is now a priority area for Ms Greening and proposals have been drawn up.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “High-quality education on sex and relationships is a vital part of preparing young people for success in adult life – helping them make informed choices, stay safe and learn to respect themselves and others… we are actively looking at options to ensure that all children have access to high-quality teaching of these subjects.”

[Source:- tes]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Cashback, Awards of Rs. 340 Crores by Government on Digital Payments

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Cashback, Awards of Rs. 340 Crores by Government on Digital Payments

To give a big push to cashless transactions, the government Thursday announced daily, weekly and mega awards worth Rs. 340 crores for consumers and merchants on small digital payments beginning Christmas Day.

Announcing ‘Lucky Grahak Yojana’ and ‘Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana’, to be launched on December 25 as a “Christmas gift” to the nation, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said it is specially focussed on bringing the poor, lower middle class and small businesses into the digital payment fold.

The schemes will cover small transactions between Rs. 50 and Rs. 3,000 to encourage every section of the society to move to digital payments.

“The primary aim of these schemes is to incentivise digital transactions so that electronic payments are adopted by all sections of the society, especially the poor and the middle class,” Kant said.

He said the estimated expenditure of the first phase of the scheme (up to April 14) is Rs. 340 crores and going forward the government will announce a slew of other measures to move towards a less-cash economy.

Both the schemes will be supervised by National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) and it will also conduct a technical audit of schemes at back-end operations.

Under the Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers, there will be daily reward of Rs. 1,000 each in a cashback mode to 15,000 lucky winners for a period of 100 days from December 25 till April 13.

Besides, there will be weekly prizes of Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5,000 for consumers using digital payment mode.

For merchant scheme ‘Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana’, there will be weekly prizes worth Rs. 50,000, Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 2,500 to be announced during the period.

There will be 7,000 weekly awards each for consumers and merchants. The scheme will end on B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on April 14, with mega prize announcements for consumers of Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 25 lakh for doing transactions digitally between November 8 to April 13.

Likewise, for merchants, the mega prize comprises Rs. 50 lakh, Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 12 lakh awards.

Kant said only 5 percent of personal transactions in India are done through digital channels, meaning 95 percent is done on cash which is giving rise to a very large informal economy, limiting state’s ability to levy and raise tax base.

Detailing digital transactions post demonetisation of old Rs. 500/1000 notes, he said PoS transactions witnessed a jump of 95 percent since November 8 (till December 7).

RuPay Card transactions were up 316 percent and e-wallet 271 percent, while both UPI about and USSD witnessed increase of about 1,200 percent each.

All forms of transactions through UPI, USSD, Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) and RuPay cards will be eligible for lucky draws.

Niti Aayog also said the scheme is not applicable for transactions done through private credit cards and e-wallets of private companies.

Kant said the government has taken a host of measures in last two-and-a-half years to fight corruption and black money and there is a big drive to promote digital payments and a transition to less-cash economy is a strategic manner.

[Source:- gadget.ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Bihar Government to Block Porn Sites From Free Wi-Fi in Colleges

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Bihar Government to Block Porn Sites From Free Wi-Fi in Colleges

The Bihar government will block pornography and other “undesirable sites” while providing free Wi-Fi in colleges and universities to ensure that the facility is used purely for educational purposes.

Restrictions would be put on data usage on the premises of educational institutions.

Providing free Wi-Fi in colleges and universities forms part of the ‘Seven Resolves’ which the Nitish Kumar government has adopted as a policy of good governance.

Chief Minister Kumar, while addressing a meeting in Purnea on Friday last during his ‘Nischay Yatra’, said free Wi-Fi facility in all colleges and universities would be in place by February next.

“We have decided to block all pornography and other undesirable sites to enable the service for educational purpose only on the campuses of educational institutions,” Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Beltron), Patna Managing Director Rahul Singh told PTI on Monday.

Beltron, which is an executive wing of the state IT department, has been entrusted with the job of providing Wi-Fi system in the educational institutions.
Beltron officials said free Wi-Fi service would be provided in over 300 colleges and nine universities of Bihar.

Besides, the Information Technology department has decided to put restrictions on data usage in all institutions which would be provided free Wi-Fi service.

“We will put a data-limit for usage, which will depend on usage. The quantum of data-limit is being worked out,” Singh said.

While colleges would be provided with Internet speed of 10Mbps, universities and other bigger institutions like IIT would be provided with the speed of 20Mbps, Singh said.

In a ‘Chetna Sabha’ at Purnea on Friday last, the Chief Minister had asked youths to use the facility for downloading books and knowledge materials and not for watching films.

Citing a case of how free Wi-Fi was being misused, he had said, “It came to our knowledge that one gentleman has downloaded 300 movies on the 22 km area of main city street where the facility is available.”

“Downloading one-two movies is OK, but the free Wi-Fi facility in colleges and universities is conceived to help students download books and knowledge material,” Kumar had said.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Banks, Government Emails All Vulnerable to Us, Warn Hackers Legion

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Banks, Government Emails All Vulnerable to Us, Warn Hackers Legion

Legion, which has hacked the Twitter account of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, tycoon Vijay Mallya and NDTV journalists Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar, says its next target will be government officials, according to an interview with Factor Daily.

“Next is a dump of sansad.nic.in emails/ Which is – quite big. It includes a lot of _BIG FISH_,” Legion disclosed.

Legion describes itself as “anarchists” without political alignments, and told the Washington Post that its membership is “in the higher single digits” with lots of applicants in line.

At a time when the government is pushing with all its might for digital transactions, Legion has threatened banks and payment gateways. “We ourselves have confidential data pertaining to NPCI/ IDRBT hub servers, and even have the encryption keys/ certificates used by some banks in India (Not disclosed)

So, theoretically, we could generate ‘fraudulent’ financial messages- Let’s say, VIA IMPS or NEFT!” they told Factor Daily.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said security is being tightened with banks and “drills” are being carried out to guard against systems being compromised.

“Does that make #DigitalIndia safe? Maybe Modi should think all of this through before launching it” is what Legion said to FactorDaily.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment