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CMs flag opposition to NCTC

April 17, 2012
17Th

New Delhi, April 17: The Opposition-ruled States used the annual Chief Ministers' meeting on internal security on Monday to focus attention again on their objections to the Centre's proposal to set up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre, saying it violated the principle of federalism.

This was even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his opening remarks, told them that a separate meeting, scheduled for May 5, would be devoted to the subject: “We will discuss the National Counter-Terrorism Centre on May 5 at a separate meeting as some Chief Ministers have suggested.”

The government's internal security agenda included a host of issues, ranging from Left-wing extremism to Kashmir to the Northeast to terrorism, but Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ensured that the spotlight remained on the Centre-State divide.

The gathering of Chief Ministers provided her with the opportunity to hold parleys of her own at the Tamil Nadu House with her counterparts from Odisha and Gujarat, Naveen Patnaik and Narendra Modi. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, too, was meant to join them, but was unable to make it as his speech got delayed and Ms. Jayalalithaa left for Chennai by a special flight at 4.15 p.m.

However, the three Chief Ministers did not have a joint meeting; Ms. Jayalalithaa had a one-on-one meeting, first with Mr. Patnaik and then with Mr. Modi.

‘No political forum'

Later, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, making a pointed reference to the Gujarat and Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers, said a nationally significant conference should not be converted into a “political forum.”

West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee who, like the Opposition Chief Ministers, has been waving the anti-NCTC flag, absented herself from the conference.

More assistance

But in her speech, read out by her Finance Minister Amit Mitra, she said her State could not be an “island of peace” unless the neighbouring States tackled the Maoist problem and the Centre pitched in with more assistance.

Earlier, opening the conference, the Prime Minister struck a conciliatory note: “Internal security,” he said, “is a matter in which the States and the Centre must work together, hand in hand, and in harmony.”

Effective mechanisms

Admitting that the “burden of the fight against terrorism falls largely on the States' machinery,” he stressed that the Centre was “ready to work with the States to put in place strong and effective institutional mechanisms…”

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Rajouri, Aug 3: Ashfaq Mehmood Choudhary, a 17-year-old boy from Chattyear of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, has developed a file-sharing app 'Dodo Drop' which would enable users to share audios, videos, images, and texts between two devices without Internet access.

While speaking to media persons, Ashfaq Mehmood said that the 'Dodo Drop' application is an alternative to the Chinese 'SHAREit' app. "The Indian government has banned several Chinese apps due to data breaching, and among those apps was SHAREit which was used for sharing files.

Users faced a lot of problems due to the ban, and so I decided to make this file-sharing app. With 'Dodo Drop', users can share audios, videos, images, and even texts," he said.

Ashfaq said that it took him four weeks to develop the application, and it was launched on August 1 this year. The 'Dodo Drop' application has a transfer rate of up to 480 mbps, which is faster than the SHAREit app and is "quite easy" to use.

"Users can transfer data comprising photos, videos, audios, apps, texts, etc. between two devices with no Internet access. The transfers are fully encrypted and secure," he added.

"Our Prime Minister has always asserted the need for decreasing the dependency on foreign products and apps and to focus on the development of India-based apps. I tried to be part of the initiative of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' by developing an India-based file-sharing app. I want to develop global-standard apps for India," he added.

"We support and cooperate with him. He generates his own income by working on some projects and utilises it. We will continue to support him," said Parvez Ahmed Choudhary, Ashfaq's father.

In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) banned 47 apps, which were variants and cloned copies of the 59 apps banned earlier in June. These banned clones included SHAREit Lite, Tiktok Lite, Helo Lite, BIGO LIVE Lite, and VFY Lite.

The 59 apps had been banned by the Centre in June in view of the information available that they were engaged in activities which were "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity and defence" of the country.

Almost all the apps banned had some preferential Chinese interest and the majority had parent Chinese companies.

The ban came amid border tensions with China in the Eastern Ladakh region.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Jammu, Jan 25: People in Jammu and Kashmir expressed happiness over the restoration of mobile data services and internet access through fixed-line across the Union Territory on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI Jitendra Sharma, a resident of Jammu said, "The government has taken a good decision. People had been facing hardship for a long period and I think it will improve further."

"It is a big relief to people. People can finish their pending work. I hope that 4G services will also be resumed soon," said a resident of Kashmir.

The internet speed is restricted to 2G only.

"Access shall be limited only to whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications allowing peer to peer communication and virtual private network applications. Directions shall be effective from January 25 and will remain in force till January 31," the statement by the government read.

Earlier on January 15, 2G services were reinstated in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur for white-listed sites.

The Central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

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Agencies
July 29,2020

New Delhi, Jul 29: The new National Education Policy (NEP) approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday is set to usher in a slew of changes with the vision of creating an education system that contributes directly to transforming the country, providing high-quality education to all, and making India a global knowledge superpower.

The draft of the NEP by a panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief Kasturirangan and submitted to the Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal when he took charge last year. The new NEP replaces the one formulated in 1986.

Some of the key highlights of the New Education Policy are:-

The policy aims to enable an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, scientific temper, creativity, spirit of service, and 21st century capabilities across a range of disciplines including sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, among others.

It identified the major problems facing the higher education system in the country and suggested changes such as moving towards multidisciplinary universities and colleges, with more institutions across India that offer medium of instruction in local/Indian languages, a more multidisciplinary undergraduate education, among others. 

The governance of such institutions by independent boards having academic and administrative autonomy has also been suggested.

Under the suggestions for institutional restructuring and consolidation, it has suggested that by 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall aim to become multidisciplinary institutions, each of which will aim to have 3,000 or more students, and by 2030 each or near every district in the country there will be at least one HEI.

The aim will be to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in HEIs including vocational education from 26.3 per cent (2018) to 50 per cent by 2035.

Single-stream HEIs will be phased out over time, and all will move towards becoming vibrant multidisciplinary institutions or parts of vibrant multidisciplinary HEI clusters.

It also pushes for more holistic and multidisciplinary education to be provided to the students.

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