77% of total income of BJP, Cong from unknown sources in FY16

Agencies
September 6, 2017

New Delhi, Sep 6: The BJP and the Congress together saw more than 77 per cent, or Rs 646.82 crore, of their total income coming from "unknown sources" in 2015-16, says a report.

Voluntary contributions and coupon sales were the key income sources for the ruling BJP and the Congress (INC) while the two parties' cumulative total income amounted to Rs 832.42 crore in fiscal 2016, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

A non-government organisation that works for electoral reforms, ADR said the total declared income of the BJP and the Congress stood at Rs 570.86 crore and Rs 261.56 crore, respectively, in 2015-16.
The findings are based on an analysis of the two parties' income and expenditure data submitted to the Election Commission of India.

In 2015-16, the BJP's income from unknown sources was Rs 460.78 crore while that of INC was Rs 186.04 crore.

Income from "unknown sources" refers to those where the source is not declared for donations below Rs 20,000. Such income includes those from sale of coupons, relief fund, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions and contribution from meetings or morchas, stated the report.

The contribution statements, submitted by the political parties declaring names and other details of donors who contribute above Rs 20,000, are the only known sources of income parties, ADR said.

Among the unknown sources of funding, maximum funds were collected under "voluntary contributions" by the BJP, which amounted to Rs 459.56 crore in fiscal 2016, it said.

The total amount of voluntary contributions, including donations of over Rs 20,000, received by the BJP was Rs 536.41 crore in 2015-16.

As for the Congress, the report said the party collected Rs 167.96 crore from "sale of coupons" during the same period.

"Total income of seven national parties for 2015-16 was Rs 1,033.18 crore, of which the parties spent Rs 754.45 crore and declared an unspent amount of Rs 278.73 crore (26.98 per cent unspent of total income)," the report added.

Among the seven national parties, the report said the BJP had the highest total income at Rs 570.86 crore in 2015-16, followed by the Congress at Rs 261.56 crore, the CPM (Rs 107.48 crore), the BSP (Rs 47.39 crore), the Trinamool Congress (Rs 34.58 crore), the NCP (Rs 9.14 crore) and the CPI (Rs 2.18 crore).

According to the analysis for 2015-16, 23 per cent of BJP's total income remained unspent whereas it was 26 per cent in the case of the Congress.

Compared to its total income of Rs 970.43 crore in 2014- 15, the BJP saw the amount fall 41 per cent to Rs 570.86 crore in 2015-16.

The Congress saw total income drop 56 per cent to Rs 261.56 crore in 2015-16, from Rs 593.31 crore in the year-ago period.

The report further said the contribution statements submitted by the political parties declaring names and other details of donors who contribute above Rs 20,000 are the only known sources of income parties.

Funds from "known sources (donations above Rs 20,000)" accounted for Rs 97.27 crore of the two parties' total income in 2015-16 put together.

Of the BJP's total income, Rs 76.85 crore came from such sources whereas the same stood at Rs 20.42 crore in the case of the Congress.

Apart from known and unknown sources, the total income includes "other known income" -- which include sale of moveable and immoveable assets, old newspapers, membership fees, delegate fee, bank interest, sale of publications and levy. In 2015-16, the BJP and the Congress received Rs 33.23 crore and Rs 55.10 crore, respectively, by way of "other known income".

Income from bank interest accounted for Rs 19.617 crore and Rs 44.67 crore for the BJP and the Congress, respectively.

"The BJP declared a total income from donations above Rs 20,000 of Rs 76.85 crore, a mere 14.33 per cent of total donations, from donors whose details are available," the report said.

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News Network
May 2,2020

New Delhi, May 2: With 2,293 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of cases in a single day, India's COVID-19 tally reached 37,336 on Saturday, including 1,218 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As many as 71 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total number, 9,951 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

In the state of Maharashtra, the number of coronavirus positive cases has crossed the 10,000-mark with at least 485 deaths.

The positive cases in Maharashtra has reached 11,506, including 1,879 discharged cases.

After Maharashtra, Gujarat has the most number of COVID-19 cases (4,721). The state has reported 236 deaths, while 735 people have been discharged.

The Centre on Friday extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown for two more weeks with effect from May 4 till May 17 while allowing different sets of relaxations in red, orange and green zones.

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Agencies
May 28,2020

Several India-based firms are spoofing the World Health Organisation (WHO) by creating fake Gmail accounts and luring business leaders in disguise of informing them of latest COVID-19 announcements and hack their personal and financial information, Google has warned.

These "hack-for-hire" firms, many based in India, have been creating Gmail accounts spoofing the WHO, largely targeting business leaders in financial services, consulting, and healthcare corporations within numerous countries including, the US, Slovenia, Canada, India, Bahrain, Cyprus, and the UK.

"The lures themselves encourage individuals to sign up for direct notifications from the WHO to stay informed of COVID-19 related announcements, and link to attacker-hosted websites that bear a strong resemblance to the official WHO website," security researchers from Google's Threat Analysis Group said on Wednesday.

The sites typically feature fake login pages that prompt potential victims to give up their Google account credentials, and occasionally encourage individuals to give up other personal information, such as their phone numbers.

On any given day, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said it is tracking more than 270 targeted or government-backed attacker groups from more than 50 countries.

Last month, it sent 1,755 warnings to users whose accounts were targets of government-backed attackers.

"Our team of analysts and security experts is focused on identifying and stopping issues like phishing campaigns, zero-day vulnerabilities and hacking against Google, our products and our users," said the tech giant.

Google continues to see attacks from groups like Charming Kitten on medical and healthcare professionals, including WHO employees.

"We're seeing a resurgence in COVID-related hacking and phishing attempts from numerous commercial and government-backed attackers," said the company.

Government-backed or state-sponsored groups have different goals in carrying out their attacks: Some are looking to collect intelligence or steal intellectual property; others are targeting dissidents or activists, or attempting to engage in coordinated influence operations and disinformation campaigns.

Google said that since March, it has removed more than 1,000 YouTube channels that were part of a large campaign and behaving in a coordinated manner.

"These channels were mostly uploading spammy, non-political content, but a small subset posted primarily Chinese-language political content similar to the findings of a recent Graphika report," said the company.

Several cybersecurity firms have seen a spike in COVID-19 related scams and hacking attempts. Hackers are also creating scam sites similar to COVID-19 relief packages.

Researchers at Check Point Software Technologies revealed in mid-May that they have seen 192,000 coronavirus-related cyber-attacks per week over the past three weeks, a 30 % increase compared to previous weeks.

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Agencies
July 20,2020

New Delhi, Jul 20: Reiterating that China has still occupied India's territory, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he has fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power which has now become India's biggest weakness as he has to protect the idea of 'Chhapan Inch'.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader posted a video message and wrote, "PM fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power. It was his biggest strength. It is now India's biggest weakness."

In the video message, speaking on "China's Strategic Game Plan" the Congress leader said: "What is China's strategic and tactical game plan? It is simply not a border issue. The worry I have is that the Chinese are sitting in our territory today. Chinese don't do anything without thinking about it strategically."

"In their mind, they have mapped out the world and they are trying to shape the world. That's the scale of what they are doing. That's what Gwadar is, that is what belt and road is. It is a restructuring of the planet. So when you are thinking about the Chinese you have to understand that that is the level at which they are thinking," he added.

Now at the tactical level, they're trying to improve their position. Whether it is Galwan, whether it's Demchok or whether it is Pangong Lake. The idea is to position themselves, he said.

"They are disturbed by our highway they want to make our highway redundant and if they are thinking larger scale, they want to do something with Pakistan in Kashmir. So it is not simply a border issue. It is a border issue designed to put pressure on the Prime Minister of India," the Congress leader said.

"And they are thinking of putting pressure in a very particular way. And what they are doing, is that they are attacking his image. They understand that it in order for Mr Narendra Modi to be an effective politician; in order for Mr Narendra Modi to survive as a politician, he has to protect the idea of--Chhapan Inch. And this the real idea the Chinese are attacking. They are basically telling Mr Narendra Modi that if you do not do what we say, we will destroy the idea of Mr Narendra Modi as a strong leader," he added.

Gandhi continued saying, now the question is, how will PM Narendra Modi react. Will he take them on? Will he take on the challenge and say absolutely not, I'm the Prime Minister of India. I do not care about my image I'm going to take you on. Or will he succumb to them?

"The worry I have so far is that the Prime Minister has succumbed. The worry I have is, the Chinese are sitting in our territory today and the Prime Minister has said publicly they are not, which to me tells me that is worried about his image and defending his image," said Gandhi.

"And if he allows the Chinese to understand that they can manipulate him because of his image, the Indian Prime Minister will no longer be worth anything for India," he added.

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