Rs. 71 lakh is a small amount for Central Minister: Beni Prasad

October 15, 2012

VBK-_BENI_PRASAD

New Delhi, October 15: Seeking to defend his colleague, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Monday put his foot in his mouth saying a man like Salman Khurshid will not do any wrong for Rs. 71 lakh, which is a “very samll amount” for a Central Minister.

“Salman Khursid is a responsible person. He is a Central Minister. He was a Central Minister earlier as well. When he is saying there is no scam, he should be believed... I don’t think a person like Khurshid will do anything for an amount like Rs. 71 lakh. It is a very small amount for a Central Minister,” he told reporters here.

Mr Verma was commenting on the alleged misappropriation of funds by a trust run by Mr Khurshid and his wife. In a press conference on Sunday, Mr Khurshid had rejected the allegation and had offered himself to any probe.

“If it would have been Rs. 71 crore, even I would have been serious,” Mr Verma said adding Mr Khurshid should not resign from his current position.

Mr Verma trained his guns on activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal who has been demanding the resignation of Mr Khurshid on the issue.

“Kejriwal is going to launch a party. I have all the best wishes for him. India has a multi-party system and one more will come. It’s good. But, I have a piece of advice for him: Don’t bark day in day out, try sometimes to roar like a tiger. Those who always bark are of no value,” Mr Verma said.

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News Network
June 15,2020

New Delhi, Jun 15: Two officials working with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad have reportedly gone missing, sources said.

The two officials are untraceable for the last few hours.

Recently news agency reported on how Pakistan 's spy agency ISI has been tailing and harassing Indian officials and also increased their presence at the residence of Acting High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia.

This incident came in the backdrop when two Pakistani officials were caught red-handed and sent back trying to collect classified information and spying in Delhi.

South block is watching the developments closely, the Indian mission has also launched a complaint with local authorities and taken up the matter Pakistan Foreign Ministry.

This incident can cause a further dip in the already tense India-Pakistan relations.

Earlier in the month, India deported two Pakistani officials for espionage activities in India.

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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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News Network
July 12,2020

Hubli, Jul 12: Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday said that the Monsoon session of Parliament will be held with the government ensuring all health precautions for COVID-19 are followed.

"Monsoon session (of Parliament) will certainly be held. The government will do all the formalities and take all precautions," the Parliamentary Affairs Minister told reporters here.

Earlier in March, the Parliament had passed 12 bills during the curtailed budget session with Lok Sabha passing 15 bills and Rajya Sabha 13.
During the session, 19 bills were introduced in the two Houses (18 in Lok Sabha and 1 in Rajya Sabha). The two Houses were adjourned sine die after completion of the budgetary process including passage of the Finance Bill.

The second part of the session was curtailed in view of the threat of the spread of coronavirus.
On June 1, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had held a detailed discussion on holding the ensuing monsoon session of Parliament in view of the coronavirus-induced norm of social distancing, sources said.

They said the leaders have taken note of reports suggesting that the fight against COVID-19 is likely to be a long haul.

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