India gripes over border, trade woes on Li's first foreign trip

May 20, 2013

China_PM

New Delhi, May 20: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told visiting Chinese President Li Keqiang on Sunday a recent military standoff in the Himalayas could affect relations between the two countries as they looked to boost bilateral trade.

At a meeting shortly after Li arrived in India on his first foreign trip, Singh said relations were affected when "peace and tranquillity" on the border was impacted, a senior government official with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

The official said Singh was referring to a three-week standoff over disputed territory in the western Himalayas, which was only resolved on May 3 after a public outcry in India.

The world's two most populous nations disagree about large areas on their ill-defined border and fought a brief but bloody war across it 50 years ago. Although there have been no shooting incidents for decades, both sides maintain a large military presence and often patrol inside disputed areas.

The latest incident distracted diplomats' attention from negotiations on investment and trade ahead of Li's trip and soured Indian public opinion toward China.

TRADE

Bilateral trade between the two countries touched $73 billion in 2011, making China India's largest trade partner, but slipped to $66 billion last year.

Singh also said it was important to find a way to balance out India's $29 billion trade deficit with China as the two countries aim for $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2015.

"While we are committed to the $100 billion by 2015 we will have to have a more balanced rate," said the official, who was briefed about the restricted meeting.

The official described the conversations as constructive and cordial but said he did not know Li's response to Singh's comments.

"I am looking forward to exchanging views with Indian leaders on bilateral ties and regional and global issues of common concern," Li said in a statement issued after his arrival in India and reported by China's state news agency Xinhua.

Up from next to nothing in the 1990s, trade has been heavily skewed in favour of China. It exports power and telecoms equipment to its neighbour, which as one of the world's fastest growing major economies could offer brighter opportunities for business than the stagnant West.

The growing deficit is a bone of contention though, and India is pressing for greater access for its pharmaceuticals and IT services.

China has never sought a trade surplus or blocked imports, its deputy trade minister Jiang Yaoping said on Thursday, blaming the imbalance on "differences in the two countries' economic structures".

Prior to the visit, Li said he chose his first destination on the four nation tour to show how important India is for China and also because he had fond memories of visiting as a Communist youth leader 27 years ago.

The two countries are expected to sign agreements on trade, agriculture, the environment and culture, Xinhua said after Li arrived on Sunday. Li is due to leave India on Wednesday to travel to Pakistan, then Switzerland and Germany.

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Agencies
February 20,2020

Kanpur, Feb 20: Inspector general, Kanpur range, has ordered a probe into a woman's allegation that the cops misbehaved with her at Raipurwa police station when she went there with her father to lodge a complaint of harassment and eve-teasing.

The woman posted her complaint on the Twitter handle of Kanpur police.

The woman, 21, alleged that instead of listening to her complaint, Raipurwa cops asked her, "Zyada padh gayi ho, itna advance kisne bana dia hai, tumhare Papa ne?" (You are too educated. Who made you so advanced - your father?)

She further said that instead of taking necessary action on her complaint, the police forced her father to compromise with the accused, the son of her landlord, who harassed her on Monday.

The woman also stated that there were no female cops at the police station and she had to wait for several hours.

"Throughout my presence at the police station, I had to interact with male cops," she tweeted.

Inspector, Raipurwa, Sunil Kumar, however, has denied allegations.

"Her allegations are not true. Both the parties settled the dispute on their own," he said.

IG Range, Mohit Agarwal, meanwhile, said, "I have asked the SSP to initiate a probe in this regard and take action against guilty cops."

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News Network
March 5,2020

Lucknow, Mar 5: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said last night that the role of teachers would come under the scanner when "anti-India" slogans are raised at universities and institutions of higher education.

"When anti-India slogans are raised at institutions of higher education, we should be prepared to ask why this type of distortion occurrs among our students?" he said at a programme organised by the Basic Shiksha Parishad in Lucknow.

"We begin our work with pledge for the country's unity and integrity and today slogans are raised for the division of the nation. In such a situation, questions are raised over the role of teachers who are considered equal to god in society," he said.

"Who all are involved in this sin and chaos? Governments can provide resources, but the one who has given them basic education, who has given them secondary education and who has led them to that place, all of them should evaluate their actions today," the chief minister said.

Speaking about the condition of education in the state when his government came to power three years ago, he said there was an atmosphere of chaos and anarchy in the state and the condition of basic education was very bad.

"The worst problem was that of proxy teachers. Our government started the process of prohibiting proxy teachers in the first phase," he said.

Adityanath said that a teacher is not just a government servant, but the fate of the nation. He said teachers should learn from Chanakya.

Had Chanakya confined himself to Nalanda University, he would not have been able to make India a superpower of the world during that period. Teachers will have to prepare themselves according to the challenges and need of society, he added.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 6,2020

New Delhi, May 6: The government on Wednesday said no data or security breach has been identified in Aarogya Setu after an ethical hacker raised concerns about a potential security issue in the app.

The app is the government's mobile application for contact tracing and disseminating medical advisories to users in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.

On Tuesday, a French hacker and cyber security expert Elliot Alderson had claimed that "a security issue has been found" in the app and that "privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake".

Dismissing the claims, the government said "no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker".

"We are continuously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified," the government said through the app’s Twitter handle.

The tweet gave point-by-point clarification on the red flags raised by the hacker.

"We discussed with the hacker and were made aware of the following... the app fetches user location on a few occasions," it said, but added that this was by design and is clearly detailed in the privacy policy.

The app fetches users’ location and stores on the server in a secure, encrypted, anonymised manner - at the time of registration, at the time of self assessment, when users submit their contact tracing data voluntary through the app or when it fetches the contact tracing data of users after they have turned COVID-19 positive, it said.

On another issue that users can get COVID-19 stats displayed on the home screen by changing the radius and latitude-longitude using a script, Aarogya Setu said that all this information is already public for all locations and hence does not compromise on any personal or sensitive data.

"We thank the ethical hacker on engaging with us. We encourage any users who identify a vulnerability to inform us immediately...," it said.

Responding to Aarogya Setu's clarification, Alderson tweeted, "I will come back to you tomorrow".

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