As households age, they pile up debt, a peculiarity unique to Indians, a Financial Stability and Development Council report has found. Here are the key takeaways.
Aadhaar is falling behind on technology, missing out on confidentiality and has gaps in its data archiving policy and preserving confidentiality in delivery of the cards to people, says a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The performance report, 'Functioning Of Unique Identification Authority Of India', tabled in Parliament on the last day of the budget session notes, assigning a unique identity to all resident Indians was supposed to be the key feature of Aadhaar. But "There were instances of issue of Aadhaar with the same biometric data to different residents indicating flaws in the de-duplication process and issue of Aadhaar on faulty biometrics and documents". It says close to half a million such records had to be cancelled by the Unique Identification Authority of India up to 2016.
WhatsApp will not delete any account for not accepting its new privacy update, but users not agreeing to the controversial terms after "several weeks" will not be able to access their chat list, and eventually, will not be able to answer incoming phone or video calls over the app.
Prime Minister Modi also made a veiled reference to China, saying the global order is based on the respect for the principles of the UN Charter, peaceful resolution of disputes, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Women are a minuscule minority of those arrested under the IT Act.
Unlike the race to buy airwaves by telecom companies, airports by infrastructure companies and city gas networks by energy companies, the race to develop super apps by consumer-facing companies in India has not brushed up against any regulatory issues. Officials at the ministry of electronics and information technology and at other regulators are happy they do not have to meddle in who among the Tata group, Reliance Industries Ltd, Flipkart or Paytm will manage to build an app that sweeps in customers. Unlike separate apps a customer uses on her mobile to order groceries, buy food or airline tickets or just make payments, a super app can perform all these functions.
The contentious bill providing for legal sanction to police to obtain physical and biological samples of convicts and detainees for investigation in criminal matters was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, with Home Minister Amit Shah asserting it will act as a defender of human rights of law-abiding citizens.
'They (the ransomware attackers) are not after any VVIP data.' 'Had that been the case, they would have quietly installed a different malware.'
The Delhi high court on Friday asked the Centre to reply to pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the new IT rules for social media intermediaries requiring the messaging app to "trace" chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information.
The country's cyber security agency CERT-In has advised Facebook users to strengthen their account privacy settings after a recent global 'data scraping' incident in the social media platform affected about 61 lakh Indians.
Australian Olympic champion rower Kim Brennan has spoken of her deep disappointment that her integrity as a clean athlete has been called into question over a shot of adrenaline administered in a medical emergency.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said financial inclusion will continue to be a "policy priority" for the central bank to make the post-pandemic recovery more equitable and sustainable. The Reserve Bank of India will very soon be coming out with the first financial inclusion index, which will assess progress in terms of access, usage and quality, Das said, while speaking at the Economic Times Financial Inclusion Summit. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that the financial ecosystem (including the digital medium) is inclusive and capable of effectively addressing risks like mis-selling, cybersecurity, data privacy and promoting trust in the financial system through appropriate financial education and awareness, he added.
Mohan will be responsible for aligning of teams, overall strategy in this country and driving Facebook's investments in India
Tharoor put the blame for the logjam in Parliament on BJP and accused the saffron party of reducing the "temple of democracy to a rubber stamp for its agenda or worse, a notice board to announce its unilateral decisions".
India on Wednesday banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security, taking the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by New Delhi to 224.
The standoff between the government and the opposition in Parliament has showed no signs of easing after it erupted on the opening day of the Monsoon session on July 19.
The panel decided to call Twitter officials against the backdrop of growing concerns about safeguarding citizens' data privacy and possibility that social media could be used to interfere in elections.
Amid concerns over minorities being targeted in India, former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday cautioned that an 'anti-minority' image for the country can lead to loss of market for Indian products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner. India enters the perception battle from a position of strength, the professor at Chicago's Booth School of Business said, alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is "ours to lose". The comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.
Upskilling would not only improve chances of employability but would also increase the scope of jobs based on skills they have acquired over a period of time, says Akhand Swaroop Pandit, co-founder and CEO, The Catalyst Group.
The solutions developed by the company cover a broad spectrum, including helping recruiter's gauge the behavioural profiles of candidates during virtual job interviews and assisting in real-time translation in vernacular languages, among others.
"Ordinary users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear about the new Rules. Its entire objective is to find out who started the message that led to commissioning of specific crimes mentioned in the rules," Prasad added.
Edward Snowden, the American National Security Agency whistleblower whose unprecedented leak of top-secret documents led to a worldwide debate about the nature of surveillance, insisted on Monday that his actions had improved the national security of the United States rather than undermined it, and declared that he would do it all again despite the personal sacrifices he had endured, Guardian reported.
Interoperability with other insurance companies - apart from banks, medical centres, among others - would be the eventual goal
The PwC survey found more than 50 per cent respondents reporting lack of adequate skill sets
Several Supreme Court lawyers on Monday wrote to the apex court alleging that they have received calls threatening judges over the case involving the security breach that left Prime Minister Narendra Modi stuck for 20 minutes on a flyover in Punjab last week.
The highest number of URLs actioned pertained to Abuse/Harassment and IP-related Infringement (46 each), followed by Privacy Infringement (35), Impersonation (16) and Defamation (15). URLs actioned under Misinformation/Synthetic and Manipulated Media category stood at 7, and Sensitive Adult Content and Hateful Conduct (one each).
According to the research, the digital transformation comes with its own share of risks.
China on Thursday criticised India's latest decision to block access to 54 more Chinese mobile apps over security and privacy concerns, saying that the move has damaged the legitimate interests of companies from China. India on Monday blocked 54 more apps with Chinese links, including Tencent Xriver, Nice Video baidu, Viva Video Editor, and gaming app Garena Free Fire Illuminate. The Chinese apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collect sensitive user data. The collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in a hostile country, sources in India said, adding that the IT ministry has issued interim directions for the blocking of 54 apps.
Google on Wednesday launched its global 'Be Internet Awesome' programme for children in India in partnership with Indian comic book publisher Amar Chitra Katha to interweave critical internet safety lessons across eight Indian languages. The tech giant has also launched an enhanced Google Safety Centre in eight Indic languages as part of its efforts to step up safety of users on the internet. Google has significantly increased its resources dedicated to India's Trust Safety teams, including product policy analysts, security specialists, and user trust experts that support over 10 vernacular Indian languages, enabling its central teams to benefit from the local nuance and inputs.
Chinese mobile brands are deeply entrenched in the Indian market. A move to bar them may send a bold diplomatic message. But its cost for the local industry is anybody's guess. In the event that Chinese brands face curbs, two handset makers - Samsung and Apple - squarely stand to gain.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
The panel said data protection law is designed to limit the processing of personal data to legitimate reasons and adds there is a conflict between transparency and privacy.
Facebook and Twitter now restrict users below the age of 13 from signing up on their platforms. LinkedIn doesn't provide its services to children below the age of 16.
India is investing in developing indigenous capabilities in 5G and 6G telecom technologies besides focusing on manufacturing semi-conductors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. In a virtual address at the Sydney Dialogue, the prime minister said the "greatest product" of technology today is data and that India has created a robust framework of data protection, privacy and security. "And, at the same time, we use data as a source of empowerment of people. India has unmatched experience in doing this in a democratic framework with strong guarantees of individual rights," he said.
A new mobile banking 'Trojan' virus -- SOVA -- which can stealthily encrypt an Android phone for ransom and is hard to uninstall is targeting Indian customers, the country's federal cyber security agency said in its latest advisory.
India has to put in place legislation and rules which seek more clarity and transparency from technology companies. Domestic and global companies that use consumer behaviour data to enhance addictive behaviour must be scrutinised and controlled. Currently the intermediary guidelines focus mostly on content management and grievance redressal. However, the underlying software engines that influence online consumer behaviour need oversight, too.
"Justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done," the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday while declining the Centre's plea to allow it to appoint an expert committee to probe the allegations of use of spyware Pegasus for surveillance of certain people in India.
He said the Aadhaar programme violated informational privacy, self-determination and data protection.
The alliance combines capabilities of both the companies to offer a set of solutions comprising connectivity, computing, storage solutions, and other technology services and applications required by Indian businesses, and will span the broad Reliance Industries ecosystem, including its existing and new businesses.
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