Apple to begin assembling iPhones in Bengaluru soon: Karnataka IT minister

To gain its foothold in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, Apple Inc is ready to start assembling iPhones in India.

“Apple Inc is ready to start assembling high-end iPhones in less than a month. This will boost its chances of gaining a foothold in the fast growing Indian market, said Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge on Thurday.

“In less than a month, we will have something out – Apple will start assembling and making its high-end iPhones at its plant in the city. Taiwanese contract manufacturer company, Wistron Corp will help Apple in in the process,”   Kharge added.

Recently, Apple has been in talks with Indian government seeking concessions on import of key components. However, the Indian government has rejected most of the demands of the Cupertino based company.

Kharge said if the Centre is keen on taking on China, it should not give special treatment to Apple alone, but to other players as well such as Samsung and Lenovo.

“Open the entire eco-system for high-end manufacturing of electronics if you really want to compete with China and Taiwan,” Kharge said.

Kharge also said that the government should give companies certain timelines, subsidies and incentives to create a level-playing field for them.

“The government should give companies a timeline, say in 10 years they should be able to manufacture 100 per cent of phones and its components by procuring them from the local market. Such a timeline should be given because we don’t have that environment now,” he said.

“The government should also give companies subsidies and incentives to create a level-playing field for them to strengthen the Indian eco-system,” Kharge said. (READ MORE)

BS III vehicles banned, even as car dealers sit on inventory of 900,000

A few thousand automobile dealers received a major jolt on Wednesday, as the Supreme Court decided to ban the sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from April 1, when a higher emission standard  BS-IV comes into force.

As many as 900,000 BS-III vehicles, including commercial vehicles and two-wheelers, are lying as inventory with dealers. Their combined value is estimated at Rs 12,000 crore.

Earlier, through an intervention application, the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Associations (FADA) had urged the Supreme Court to allow the sale of BS-III vehicles after March 31. “When the hearing comes up on Friday, we will be able to present our case. Dealers are caught in a crossfire between automobile manufacturers and the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA),” Nikunj Sanghi, director, international affairs, FADA, had said a week ago.

There are around 20,000 automobile dealerships in India. Almost all of them are carrying inventory of BS-III vehicles, especially commercial vehicle and two-wheeler dealerships.

“The original notification from the government mentioned clearly that the deadline for manufacturing of BS-III vehicles was March 31. It did not mention anything about sale and registration,” Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, which stopped making BS-III vehicles almost a year ago and now has no stock lying with dealers, had said.

He had also said that if the EPCA was of the opinion that sale and registration of BS-III vehicles be stopped from April 1, the body ought to have taken up the issue long back and lobbied with the government to ensure necessary legal changes. (READ MORE)

Mahakaushal Express accident: Crack in tracks apparently led to derailment

A crack in the tracks prima facie caused the derailment of eight coaches of Mahakaushal Express near Mahoba station in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said that “according to the Divisional Railway Manager, prima facie fresh weld failure on left side caused the derailment.”

Fresh welding means it was not an old crack and that the crack developed suddenly and could not be detected.

While the UP ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said 52 passengers were injured in the mishap, Sinha said 21 were injured, including one seriously.

The derailment took place near Mahoba station in Uttar Pradesh.

The DRM of Jhansi Division and General Manager of North Central Railway have rushed to the site after the accident to supervise the rescue and relief operations. (READ MORE)

ITR form simplified for salaried individuals; e-filing to start from April

A crisp income tax form for salaried individuals will be introduced from April 1, doing away with some columns to simplify the filing of returns.

Individuals with salary and interest income will have to fill fewer columns as some of these for claiming income deductions have been clubbed in ITR1 form called ‘Sahaj’.

In the form for Assessment Year 2017-18, deductions claimed under different sections of Chapter VIA have been removed and only mostly used ones have been included.

“Columns that will remain include those for claiming deductions under Section 80C, mediclaim (80D). Those individuals who want to show deductions under other heads can do so by selecting an option,” an official told PTI.

Currently, the ITR 1/Sahaj has 18 different columns for claiming deductions under Section 80 of the Income Tax Act.

Under section 80C, a deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh can be claimed from total income for investments in LIC, PPF and repayment of housing loan.

Section 80D provides for tax deduction from the total taxable income for the payment of medical insurance premium. This deduction is over and above the deduction under Section 80C. (READ MORE)

UIDAI blacklists agency that leaked M S Dhoni’s Aadhaar details for 10 yrs

Taking a serious view of public sharing of Aadhaar details of M S Dhoni, the Unique Identification Authority of India has blacklisted for 10 years the entity that had enrolled the ace cricketer.

The UIDAI has also ordered an inquiry to determine any possible involvement of others and take action as per the Aadhaar Act.

“We have blacklisted VLE (Village Level Entrepreneur) who enrolled M S Dhoni for leaking Aadhaar receipt which carried his personal information. At UIDAI, we are very strict on the privacy issue. We have ordered further inquiry on the matter and action will be taken against all those involved in the leak,” UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.

He also said action will be taken even against those involved in tweeting the picture of the receipt through the official Twitter account (CSCeGov) of the state-run CSC e-Governance Services.

The UIDAI crackdown came after Dhoni’s wife Sakshi flagged the matter and complained about it to Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who promised swift action.

The agency’s Common Services Centre (CSC) through its handle @CSCegov posted a tweet on Tuesday saying “ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his family get their Aadhaar updated at VLE Mariya Farooqui’s CSE at Ranchi, Jharkhand”.

Prasad was tagged in the tweet. It included a photograph of the cricketer with a CSC representative and another of his personal details on what appeared to be the Aadhaar website.

The tweet with the information was later removed.

“Is there any privacy left? Information of Aadhaar card, including application, is made public property,” Sakshi had tweeted.

While thanking Sakshi for bringing up the issue to his notice, Prasad said, “Sharing personal information is illegal. Serious action will be taken against this.” (READ MORE)

Shiv Sena forces 500 meat shops, KFC to shut in old Gurgaon

As many as 500 meat shops, including a KFC outlet, in old Gurgaon were allegedly shut down by over 200 Shiv Sainiks for nine days on account of Navratri.

They also threatened the shop owners yesterday to shut their establishments on every Tuesday.

“We have served notices to meat shop owners, including KFC, and other fast food outlets to shut their shops till Navratri ends and on every Tuesday,” Gautam Saini, the president of Shiv Sena, Gurgaon, told PTI.

The Sena workers assembled at Palam Vihar yesterday and forced the closure of meat market and dhabas such as Bismillah Khan eatery in others areas too.

However, ACP-PRO of Gurgaon Police Manish Sehgal said some meats shops were shut down but they were later opened. These shops have commercial licence to sell meat. Strict action will be taken against those forcing closure of shops illegally. (READ MORE)

Telecom wars: Bharti Airtel ramps up 4G data with Rs 1,600-cr Tikona deal

In the midst of an aggressive war in the telecom sector, leading operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday made public its plan to go big on data. The telco announced the acquisition of Tikona Digital Networks’s 4G business, including broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum and 350 sites across five circles. With the deal, which values Tikona at Rs 1,600 crore, Sunil Mittal-led Airtel is gearing up to face Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio with a stronger data offering and faster customer addition. The deal is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

The company’s total mobile data customers are around 54. 9 million, of whom 37.6 million are only 3G and 4G users. Jio crossed the 50-million mark for data customers in November 2016.

Bharti gets 22.8 per cent of its total mobile revenue from data. Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band in the Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles.

Airtel plans to roll out high-speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in those five circles, immediately after the closure of the transaction. (READ MORE)

Aadhaar linking to everything poses serious national security challenges

The widespread adoption of Aadhaar numbers and linkages to Unique Identification (UID) programme databases for the purpose of authenticating sensitive transactions should give pause to India’s foreign policy and military planners. That Aadhaar is a centralised database, and therefore susceptible to cyber attacks, is already known. But pervasive “Aadhaar-isation” brings together systems and platforms in a digital ecosystem without interoperable standards for security.

The UID is device-agnostic. Whether an Indian enters her Aadhaar number into a virus-infested desktop at a local cyber cafe or a highly secure iPhone, her device is linked to and authenticated by the Aadhaar database. In almost all cases, there is a two-step authentication process, involving a one-time password from the user. The UID Authority of India claims such authentication (at its most basic level) is a simply “Yes/No” interaction of the Aadhaar database with the machine, and that no biometric or personal information is sent back. Biometric or demographic records of Indians are available today in multiple databases, and hardly an invitation to target Aadhaar servers. Based on the specific transaction involved – filing tax returns, transferring money or purchasing health insurance – Aadhaar, however, creates a “map of maps” of Indians identifying, the platform, device, location and successful/failed attempts at authentication. Coupled with the demographic data that can anyway be extracted from an insecure mobile phone or app, this Aadhaar authentication data is of strategic value to a foreign adversary. (READ MORE)

Won’t apologise over AI plane incident, says Sena MP Gaikwad

An unrepentant Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad on Friday said that he would not apologise to the Air India staffer whom he assaulted, and instead blamed the airline employee for the incident.

The MP drew more flak on Friday, with four private Indian carriers banning him from flying, while Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathy Raju promised that action would be taken against him.

Gaikwad told reporters at the Maharashtra Sadan in the morning that he has no regret over his actions, saying “kaahe ka pashchaataap (what is there to repent)?”

“I will not apologise…He (AI Manager Sukumar) should come and apologise… Then we will see. A 60-year-old man should also know how to behave,” he said.

Gaikwad said he went out to watch a Bollywood movie Badrinath ki Dulhaniya last night to “relax” himself after journalists sought his reaction over the incident.

“Tension-free hona chahiye na…You also watch the movie…It’s very good,” he said.

The first-time lawmaker also said he had made Parliament “proud”, when asked if his act has brought shame to the temple of democracy.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she cannot take suo motu action and that she will take a call if it is brought to her notice in the House. (READ MORE)

Bharti Airtel to buy Tikona’s 4G business for Rs 1,600 cr

Telecom major Bharti Airtel today said it will acquire 4G business of Tikona Networks, including broadband spectrum and 350 sites across 5 circles, for about Rs 1,600 crore.

“Bharti Airtel shall acquire the 4G busienss of Tikona” for “approximately Rs 1,600 crore for the transaction” , the company said in a regulatory filing.

Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles.

With this acquisition, Airtel will be second company, after Reliance Jio, in the country to have pan-India presence in 2300 Mhz band — which has second largest ecosystem of 4G devices.

“We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE (4G technology for 2300 Mhz band) and FD-LTE (technology for 1800 Mhz and other spectrum bands) will further bolster our network, and help us provide unmatched high-speed wireless broadband experience to our customers,” Bharti Airtel MD & CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.

As per the Nokia MBIT report, 97% 4G devices being used in India are compatible with 4G services provided using 1800 Mhz band, earlier called 2G spectrum, and 90% are compatible with 2300 Mhz band.

“…The acquisition of the 4G business in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Himachal Pradesh will be undertaken by Airtel, while in the Rajasthan circle, it will be accomplished through Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Limited,” Airtel said in a statement.

Airtel plans to roll-out high speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction, it added.

Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the government.

“The deal will significantly bolster Airtel’s spectrum position in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, taking its overall BWA spectrum holding to 30 MHz each in these circles. Post completion of the deal, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2300 MHz band in 13 circles giving it tremendous advantage to handle the surging data demand,” the statement said.

Trilegal was the lead legal counsel for Goldman Sachs in sale of its shareholding in Tikona to Bharti Airtel. (READ MORE)