Wednesday 4 March 2015

एस्सार कंट्रोवर्सी के चलते अब मीतू जैन ने Times Now से दिया इस्तीफा एस्सार की कंट्रोवर्सी के बाद Times Now  की डेप्युटी न्यूज एडिटर मीतू जैन ने नौकरी... प्रसार भारती के चेयरमैन बोले, कुछ न्यूज चैनलों को तो एंटरटेनमेंट श्रेणी में रखा जाना चाहिए प्रसार भारती के नए चेयरमैन के तौर पर ए. सूर्य प्रकाश बहुत सी योजनाओं पर...  अपने नए वेंचर को लेकर उत्साहित हैं वरिष्ठ पत्रकार बरखा दत्त, बताए फ्यूचर प्लांस पहले NDTV की तरफ से एक खबर आई थी कि सीनियर जर्नलिस्ट बरखा दत्त का डेजिग्नेशन...  मोदी को भी पसंद आया आजतक का ये शो, ट्वीट कर कहा enjoy न्यूज चैनल आज तक पर सो सॉरी नाम का पॉलीटून सेगमेंट काफी पसंद...  24X7 टीवी ने दिया है महिला जर्नलिस्टों को ज्यादा मौका: विनोद मेहता सीनियर जर्नलिस्ट विनोद मेहता की किताब एडिटर अनप्लग्डः मीडिया, मेगनेट्स, नेताज एंज मी काफी चर्चित हो रही है... वरिष्ठ पत्रकार बलदेव शर्मा बने एनबीटी के अध्यक्ष सीनियर जर्नलिस्ट बलदेव शर्मा को नेशनल बुक ट्रस्ट (एनबीटी) का अध्यक्ष...  अब ट्विटर पर बनेगा महाभारत का सीक्वल ब्रिटेन स्थित एक भारतीय शिक्षाविद् ने ट्विटर पर महभारत का सिक्वल बनाने की योजना तैयार की है...

US, Iran resume talks after Netanyahu warning

The US and Iranian foreign ministers began a third day of talks over Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday, Reuters reported. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif resumed the meeting just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that the deal being negotiated was a serious mistake. The US-Iranian discussions are being held in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux, with an aim to work out a framework deal by late March.

Snowden could return to US only if situation was in ‘judicial field’

Former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden could return to the US if his situation was in the judicial rather than political sphere, RIA Novosti quoted his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena as saying on Wednesday. Politicians’ statements show that a fair trial of Snowden is impossible in the US, Kucherena said. He told a news conference on Tuesday that he has teamed up with US and German lawyers to work on the issue, but gave no further details, AP reported.

Netanyahu calls his speech ‘practical alternative to Iran deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his speech to the US Congress gave a “practical alternative” to a possible Iranian nuclear deal. Netanyahu spoke in Israel on Wednesday after US President Barack Obama said the Israeli leader had offered no viable alternative to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons, AP reported. His alternative would extend the breakout time for Iran to create a bomb, Netanyahu said. It would maintain sanctions until Tehran stops “its sponsorship of terrorism around the world, its aggression against its neighbors and its calls for Israel’s destruction,” he added.

Person in custody over Maryland shootings – FBI

A person believed responsible for shootings along highways over the last two weeks in the Baltimore-Washington area is in custody, the FBI said early Wednesday. The shootings include bullets that damaged a National Security Agency building. A person was taken into custody in Anne Arundel County on Tuesday night, county police said in a Facebook statement posted on Wednesday morning from a verified account, AP reported.

Airbus A330 skidded off the runway in foggy Nepal

A Turkish Airlines plane skid on the field after it overshot the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu March 4, 2015.

Flight THY726 coming from Istanbul missed the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu early Wednesday morning.Turkish Airlines passengers nearly  escaped serious injuries after their Airbus A330 skidded off the runway in foggy Nepal and crash-landed nose down in a grassy field.two days of rain and because of dense fog, the aircraft bounced off the pavement to land in the field. According to Air Traffic Controller, the Turkish Flight missed the runway central alignment and landed in between the TIA runway and taxiway that forced the aircraft to skid on grassy land. Airport officials said no deaths or serious injuries have been reported on the plane which had 238 people on board, with passengers suffering bumps and bruises. Officials suspect bad weather conditions and low visibility to have been the main causes for the disaster.

Dear Mr. Sagar Please see my article "Jaitley's bold new trajectory" below that appeared in the Mail Today on Sunday, 1st March. Your feedback and response will be truly appreciated. Warm regards Rajiv Kumar
Jaitley's bold new trajectory
I WAS full of trepidation because of the huge expectations from the Budget. This was clearly a make or break Budget for the Modi government as it would have lost the benefit of the doubt, which it has enjoyed until now. Moreover, the fear was that with the electoral outcome in Delhi, the government could get scared and veer away from the path of reforms. It is indeed to the credit of the government that they have proven our fears to be unfounded. The Budget is replete with forward looking and reformist measures, whose cumulative positive impact will be significant in the coming years. For me the five most important features of the Budget are: First, its emphasis on infrastructure investment by increasing budgetary allocation by a whopping `70,000 crore. This is buttressed by allocating `20,000 crore as seed capital for National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and issuing of tax free infrastructure bonds for rail, road and irrigation. This infrastructure focus was necessary for promoting the 'Make In India' program. Second, initiating measures against the generation of black money and the related menace of widespread use of cash in our economy. These include incentives for using credit/debit cards combined with disincentives for cash transactions; stricter provisions and penalties against the use of cash in the construction industry, which is notorious for it; and the proposed stringent law against black money specially for wealth stashed abroad. The provisions for a ten year rigorous imprisonment, making the offence non-compoundable; denial of access to the Settlement Commission; and a penalty of 300 per cent will be a huge deterrent and surely minimise the outflow of funds abroad. Investment Third, the Budget's focus on improving the business environment especially for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) is laudable. This includes the setting up of the MUDRA bank, with seed capital of `20,000 crore and a `3,000 crore credit guarantee corpus for improving access to formal financing for the 57 million MSMEs. In addition the Finance Minister announced the launching of an e-biz portal which integrates 14 regulatory permissions at one source.	The FM's bold initiatives will keep India's growth story alive. Further, an Expert Committee is being set up to suggest a draft legislation for replacing multiple prior permissions with a pre-existing regulatory mechanism. This will greatly reduce the procedural delays and regulatory complexities whose burden fell disproportionately on the MSMEs. Fourth, the Finance Minister has shown that he is not beholden to any fiscal dogma and has his attention focused sharply on the need to raise investment. He has demonstrated this by opting for a more moderate glide path for meeting the medium term fiscal deficit goal of 3 per cent of GDP. This will now be achieved over three instead of two years as earlier targeted. Accordingly the fiscal deficit next year will be pegged at 3.9 per cent, giving the government greater fiscal space to make the much needed investments in infrastructure and agriculture. Fifth, the Finance Minister accepted my suggestion to give the workers in smaller organisations the option to move out of the EPFO to New Pension schemes and to choose medical insurance in place of compulsorily registering under the ESI. The importance of these reforms in formalising the informal sector and slowing down the expansion of contract labour in Indian industry. This is the first important step in eliminating the unacceptable dualism that currently characterises Indian industry. The Budget has also given 1st April 2016 as the fixed date for the inception of the Goods and Service Tax. It has raised service tax to 14 per cent in an attempt to bring it line with the likely GST rate. Taxation It has also announced a phased reduction in the rate of corporate tax from the present 30 to 25 per cent along with the elimination of exemptions.	The Budget has thus provided long term stability in the tax regime. The elimination of exemptions will minimise the discretionary behaviour of the tax officials and thereby reduce the number of tax disputes, which today account for a massive `4.5 lakh crore in locked up revenues. There are several other reform suggestions tucked away in the speech. These include the move towards establishing a Holding Company for Public Sector Banks; setting up a Public Debt Management Agency and taking the function out of the RBI; moving towards a monetary policy committee for bringing the RBI and the government in sync; reduction of tax rate on royalty payments from 25 to 10 per cent to encourage younger entrepreneurs who are looking for new technology; and doing away with the obnoxious wealth tax whose administration costs were surely larger than the measly `1,008 crore it garnered as revenues; Growth That the Budget has not disappointed, despite the sky high expectations, is in itself creditable. More creditable is that it has not succumbed to populism despite BJP’s loss in Delhi elections and the forthcoming Bihar elections. The Modi- Jaitley (MJ) team has done well to make this a growth and investment oriented Budget while at the same time retaining and indeed increasing outlays on social welfare measures as reflected in the highest ever allocation of `34,699 crore for MNREGA. Therefore, the Budget's biggest achievement is to counter the widespread perception of an irresolvable trade-off between promoting growth and enhancing public welfare. The Budget represents one of the boldest, though understated, and comprehensive attempts at giving a new direction to not only the fiscal regime but indeed to the economy. Author is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and Founder Director of Pahle IndiaFoundation. The most recent book is Exploding Aspirations.

ACCA to host State Minister for IT,

UN Women Executive Director’s Message for International Women’s Day

In 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, world leaders committed to a future where women are equal. One hundred and eighty nine countries and 4,000 civil society organizations, attended the conference. Women left Beijing with high hopes, with a well-defined path towards equality, and firm commitments at the highest level. Their hope was that we would see this by 2005. Today, not one single country has achieved equality. It is more urgent than ever that we define – and stick to – a time frame. There has been some progress in the last 20 years – although it has been slow and uneven. Countries have narrowed the gender gap in education and some have even reached gender parity in school enrolment. They have reduced the toll of maternal mortality and morbidity. Many more women survive pregnancy and childbirth than in 1995. Many countries have created institutions that address gender inequality. Many have passed laws against gender-based discrimination. Many have made domestic violence a crime. This is all good news. And yet we are still a long way from achieving equality between men and women, boys and girls. Implementation of good policies has been patchy. Allocation of the resources needed for effective implementation has been insufficient to fund women’s ministries, gender commissions, gender focal points, and gender-responsive budgeting. For too many women, especially in the least-developed countries, not enough has changed. In Africa, 70 per cent of crop production depends on women yet women still own only 2 per cent of the land. Violence against women continues to blight lives in all countries of the world. And no country has achieved gender equality. Women need change and humanity needs change. This we can do together; women and girls, men and boys, young and old, rich and poor. The evidence is overwhelming of the benefits that equality can bring. Economies grow, poverty is alleviated, health status climbs, and communities are more stable and resilient to environmental or humanitarian crises. Women want their leaders to renew the promises made to them. They want leaders to recommit to the Beijing Declaration, to the Platform for Action, and to accelerated and bolder implementation. They want more of their leaders to be women. And they want those women, together with men, to dare to change the economic and political paradigms. Gender parity must be reached before 2030, so that we avert the sluggish trajectory of progress that condemns a child born today to wait 80 years before they see an equal world. Today, on International Women’s Day, we call on our countries to “step it up” for gender equality, with substantive progress by 2020. Our aim is to reach ‘Planet 50:50’ before 2030. The world needs full equality in order for humanity to prosper. Empower women, empower humanity. I am sure you can picture an equal world!

ACCA to host State Minister for IT,

04MAR2015Leave a comment

by newdelhisamachara in Uncategorized Edit

The Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) to host State Minister for IT, Mr. S.R. Patil at Industry and Eminent Persons Dialogue at its Q1 Meeting on 5 Mar 2015 in Bangalore

The premiere APAC industry association for cloud computing is in Bangalore to meet local players, and launch a new research report,“Asia’s Financial Services: Ready for the Cloud — A Report on FSI Regulations Impacting Cloud in Asia Pacific Markets”

4 March 2015, BANGALORE – The Asia Cloud Computing Association will be in Bangalore on 5 Mar to host an Industry and Eminent Persons Dialogue, and launch a new report on cloud adoption by the financial services industry. The Association represents key stakeholders in the cloud computing ecosystem, and provides a vendor-neutral platform to discuss implementation and growth strategies for accelerating cloud computing throughout the Asia Pacific.

This is the first time that the ACCA is visiting India. “We elected to visit Bangalore as it is home to the technology heartbeat of India,” says Ms Lim May-Ann, Executive Director of the Asia Cloud Computing Association. “As the apex cloud computing association in Asia, we knew we had to make visiting the country a key priority for our 2015 plans.”

“We are pleased to be hearing about the Digital India plans from State Minister Shri S. R. Patil,” added Mr Bernie Trudel, Chairman of the ACCA. “We have been following India’s budget discussions, and are pleased to hear the continued focus on inclusive growth, and the focus on technology – such as cloud computing – as the backbone for government processes and systems.”

“The ACCA continues to provide an excellent bridge for networking between private sector players, and a platform for public-private dialogue in the cloud industry,” says Mr. Aman Neil Dokania, Vice-Chairman of the ACCA, and Vice-President and General Manager for Cloud, HP Asia Pacific and Japan. “As hosts of ACCA’s meeting in Bangalore, we extend a warm welcome to all participants from the India cloud ecosystem to our Industry and Eminent Persons Dialogue, and look forward to a fruitful discussion on the building, management and consumption of cloud for business success in India.”

The ACCA holds quarterly meetings in different Asia Pacific markets. This is the ACCA’s 2015 Q1 meeting, and will be held on 5 Mar 2015 at the ITC Windsor Hotel. For more information or interview requests, please contact Ms Aparajita Rao at aparajita@trpc.biz or +91-88613 72461

***

About the Asia Cloud Computing Association

The ACCA is an industry association that represents stakeholders of the cloud computing ecosystem in Asia. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing through Asia Pacific by helping to create a trusted and compelling market environment, and a safe and consistent regulatory environment for cloud computing products and services. Through dialogue, training, and public education, the ACCA provides a vendor-neutral platform to discuss implementation and growth strategies, share ideas, and establish policies and best practices relating to cloud computing.

More about ACCA Leadership

Bernie Trudel, Chairman
	Bernie has been in the ICT industry for over 25 years. He is currently the Cloud CTO at Cisco Asia Pacific, where he has been involved in a number of technical roles for the last fourteen years. Prior to Cisco, Bernie worked for as an IT consultant in Europe and ANZ during which he advised enterprises and service providers on their Wide Area Network architecture. Bernie is an Electronic Engineer from Canada, where he started his career as a hardware design engineer and earned two patents for his innovative work.
Aman Neil Dokania, Vice-Chairman
	Aman Neil Dokania is vice president and general manager of Cloud Division for HP Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). In his current role, Aman is responsible for HP cloud across APJ, for private, public and hybrid solutions. He is driving HP’s regional leadership in cloud ecosystem development through partnering with leading ISVs, SIs, Service Providers and channel communities delivering customer centric solutions for both build and consume services for cloud. He plays a key role in driving HP’s strategy on HP Helion (HP Cloud), HP OpenStack, HP BladeSystem and CloudSystem. Prior to this, Aman spearheaded sales for HP Bladesystem, management and virtualisation business in APJ. He also developed and executed growth strategies for HP India’s Enterprise Storage and Server business, which were established as best practices for emerging markets.
Before moving to Asia, Aman was responsible for driving future specifications for the HP BladeSystem c-Class in the United States. He also led the development and introduction of HP’s first management software and introduced the concept of lights-out management, for which he holds a patent for related technology. Aman holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from St. Xavier’s College (India) and a master’s degree in business from Oregon State University, and he is a Kellogg Scholar of Marketing from Northwestern University.
Lim May-Ann, Executive Director
	May-Ann is currently the research director at TRPC and the chair of ACCA’s public policy regulatory working group. She has over a decade of experience in development, tech policy and communications across the Asia Pacific, working with organisations on thought leadership, government relations and stakeholder outreach efforts. Her career has spanned a number of regional and global institutions, including the World Bank, the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), and the Singapore Internet Project. She is an active member of a number of trade associations and civil society groups. Through TRPC, she has worked with the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an advocacy group comprising Internet companies lobbying for free and open Internet policies, and is active in the Internet Society (ISOC), recently having been appointed as ISOC Ambassador to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Oct 2013. May-Ann lectures on Internet and ICT Policy at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

To Celebrate International Women’s Day 2015,

04MAR2015Leave a comment

by newdelhisamachara in Uncategorized Edit

E-INVITATION

To Celebrate International Women’s Day 2015,

United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan

and

Alliance Française de Delhi

cordially invite you to a

Photo Exhibition and Panel Discussion

at 6.30pm on Sunday, 8 March 2015

at Alliance Française de Delhi.

*

The e-invitation is attached.

As noted in the e-card, please do bring a photo id and follow security instructions at the gate.

Looking forward to welcoming you at Alliance Française on the 8^th March.

Best regards,

RAJIV CHANDRAN

National Information Officer

United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan

55 Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110003, INDIA

Phone:  91-11-4653-2237

mobile:  98106-06833

www.unic.org.in