Archive For The “General” Category
New Delhi, Oct 4 : After the violent clash in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, a panchayat was called by Naresh Tikait, national president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), in Sisauli village of Muzaffarnagar late in night, wherein it was decided that a demonstration will be staged at the district collectorate on Monday.
Reportedly six people died in the violence, however officially four deaths have been confirmed so far.
An atmosphere of tension prevails in the state since the incident.
From farmer leaders to political leaders, everyone is making efforts to reach Lakhimpuri Kheri.
Naresh Tikait addressed the farmers and expressed displeasure over the incident.
As per the information, it has been decided that the farmers will stage protest against the violence at the district collectorate.
Security arrangements have also been beefed up on the Delhi borders.
Administrative officers also took stock of the movement site at Ghazipur.
Farmers were staging a sit-in at Benipur village located in Lakhimpur Kheri and sat on protest at a Helipad, where the helicopter of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya was supposed to be landed.
After which it was decided that the Deputy Chief Minister will reach Lakhimpuri Kheri via road.
The incident reportedly occurred after the farmers showed black flag to the convoy of the Deputy Chief Minister and Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra.
However, heavy police force has been deployed in the district and internet services have also been suspended.
--IANS
msk/shs.
Source: IANS
Reportedly six people died in the violence, however officially four deaths have been confirmed so far.
An atmosphere of tension prevails in the state since the incident.
From farmer leaders to political leaders, everyone is making efforts to reach Lakhimpuri Kheri.
Naresh Tikait addressed the farmers and expressed displeasure over the incident.
As per the information, it has been decided that the farmers will stage protest against the violence at the district collectorate.
Security arrangements have also been beefed up on the Delhi borders.
Administrative officers also took stock of the movement site at Ghazipur.
Farmers were staging a sit-in at Benipur village located in Lakhimpur Kheri and sat on protest at a Helipad, where the helicopter of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya was supposed to be landed.
After which it was decided that the Deputy Chief Minister will reach Lakhimpuri Kheri via road.
The incident reportedly occurred after the farmers showed black flag to the convoy of the Deputy Chief Minister and Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra.
However, heavy police force has been deployed in the district and internet services have also been suspended.
--IANS
msk/shs.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Oct 3 : The day is not far when India will see its own mega private aerospace company like Elon Musk-owns SpaceX or Jeff Bezos-run Blue Origin, taking travellers to the edge of space and beyond, Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO of rocket startup AgniKul Cosmos, has envisioned.
In a chat with IANS, Ravichandran who is ecstatic after Agnikul Cosmos was granted access to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facilities and expertise for the development and testing of systems and subsystems of its rockets, said that the pact with ISRO will allow them to ultilise its facilities to test out various sub-systems of their launch vehicle.
"This will, in turn, help us with reduced capital expenditure and expedited testing," he said.
The next step, he added, will be to aim multiple launches per year and scale to the extent of having a launch once in two-three weeks.
"Beyond that would be about making the vehicles more efficient, thereby providing even cheaper access to customers.
We are doing this through a mix of innovations on various technologies in the vehicle," Ravichandran informed.
Last month, Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos received the nod by the Department of Space to carry out multiple tests and qualify its single piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine and other systems of its rocket at various ISRO centres.
This is the second pact that the Department of Space has signed with a rocket maker, after the first with Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace on September 11.
According to Ravichandran, their rocket engines are 100 per cent 3D-printed, that too in a single shot.
"This allows us to directly assemble what comes out of the 3D printer in our launch vehicle. The big advantage of this is the ability to provide and enable rapid launch access and, at the same time, make customisable launch vehicles," elaborated Ravichandran.
He formed the startup with Moin SPM within IIT-Madras with a seed funding of Rs 3 crore, with an aim to develop and launch its first rocket in 2021 and subsequently develop ability to provide launch service for satellites.
The current investors in the spacetech startup are Mayfield India, PI Ventures, Speciale Invest, Beenext, Artha and others.
In June, India decided to allow private companies to establish and operate rocket launch sites within and outside the country, subject to prior authorisation from the government.
Similarly, any rocket launch (orbital or sub-orbital) from Indian or overseas territory can be carried out only with authorisation from Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe), an independent body constituted by the Government of India, under the Department of Space (DOS).
The launch could be from own or leased launch site and also from mobile platforms (land, sea or air) as per the Draft National Space Transportation Policy-2020 brought out by the Department of Space.
"Now that we also have to plan the entire engine building facility in-house, we are confident that we can control engine making end-to-end in India, thereby not only enabling 'make in India' but also 'design in India'," Ravichandran told IANS.
He said that anyone who wants to do a space tech startup should do it today.
"Right now is the best time to do a spacetech startup in India. The government has been very forthcoming in terms of the help provided to enable private missions and now would be a good time to get started to get things done," Ravichandran noted.
(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
--IANS
na/pgh.
Source: IANS
In a chat with IANS, Ravichandran who is ecstatic after Agnikul Cosmos was granted access to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facilities and expertise for the development and testing of systems and subsystems of its rockets, said that the pact with ISRO will allow them to ultilise its facilities to test out various sub-systems of their launch vehicle.
"This will, in turn, help us with reduced capital expenditure and expedited testing," he said.
The next step, he added, will be to aim multiple launches per year and scale to the extent of having a launch once in two-three weeks.
"Beyond that would be about making the vehicles more efficient, thereby providing even cheaper access to customers.
We are doing this through a mix of innovations on various technologies in the vehicle," Ravichandran informed.
Last month, Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos received the nod by the Department of Space to carry out multiple tests and qualify its single piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine and other systems of its rocket at various ISRO centres.
This is the second pact that the Department of Space has signed with a rocket maker, after the first with Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace on September 11.
According to Ravichandran, their rocket engines are 100 per cent 3D-printed, that too in a single shot.
"This allows us to directly assemble what comes out of the 3D printer in our launch vehicle. The big advantage of this is the ability to provide and enable rapid launch access and, at the same time, make customisable launch vehicles," elaborated Ravichandran.
He formed the startup with Moin SPM within IIT-Madras with a seed funding of Rs 3 crore, with an aim to develop and launch its first rocket in 2021 and subsequently develop ability to provide launch service for satellites.
The current investors in the spacetech startup are Mayfield India, PI Ventures, Speciale Invest, Beenext, Artha and others.
In June, India decided to allow private companies to establish and operate rocket launch sites within and outside the country, subject to prior authorisation from the government.
Similarly, any rocket launch (orbital or sub-orbital) from Indian or overseas territory can be carried out only with authorisation from Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe), an independent body constituted by the Government of India, under the Department of Space (DOS).
The launch could be from own or leased launch site and also from mobile platforms (land, sea or air) as per the Draft National Space Transportation Policy-2020 brought out by the Department of Space.
"Now that we also have to plan the entire engine building facility in-house, we are confident that we can control engine making end-to-end in India, thereby not only enabling 'make in India' but also 'design in India'," Ravichandran told IANS.
He said that anyone who wants to do a space tech startup should do it today.
"Right now is the best time to do a spacetech startup in India. The government has been very forthcoming in terms of the help provided to enable private missions and now would be a good time to get started to get things done," Ravichandran noted.
(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
--IANS
na/pgh.
Source: IANS
Chandigarh, Oct 3 : A day after protests erupted across the agrarian states Punjab and Haryana with the postponing procurement of paddy to October 11, the Centre on Sunday started procurement in both states.
Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his immediate personal intervention to advise the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to start procurement, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi said this decision would be now instrumental in ensuring smooth and hassle-free procurement to the satisfaction of the farmers.
The Chief Minister met Modi on October 1, who had assured him of early resolution of this issue.
In Haryana, a government official said the farmers whose schedule for selling the paddy was fixed for October 1 and 2 could bring their paddy for sale on Sunday.
The work of procurement will be done according to the schedule from Monday.
The Centre has fixed a target for procurement of 170 lakh tonnes of paddy in Punjab.
However, as per state estimates, 191 lakh tonnes is expected.
The original procurement date for paddy at the minimum support price (MSP) was October 1 in Punjab.
In Haryana, it was officially due to have started on September 25.
The Centre had said delaying the paddy procurement was in the "overall interest of farmers and consumers as well because of the untimely rains, maturity of paddy grains is delayed".
--IANS
vg/ksk/.
Source: IANS
Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his immediate personal intervention to advise the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to start procurement, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi said this decision would be now instrumental in ensuring smooth and hassle-free procurement to the satisfaction of the farmers.
The Chief Minister met Modi on October 1, who had assured him of early resolution of this issue.
In Haryana, a government official said the farmers whose schedule for selling the paddy was fixed for October 1 and 2 could bring their paddy for sale on Sunday.
The work of procurement will be done according to the schedule from Monday.
The Centre has fixed a target for procurement of 170 lakh tonnes of paddy in Punjab.
However, as per state estimates, 191 lakh tonnes is expected.
The original procurement date for paddy at the minimum support price (MSP) was October 1 in Punjab.
In Haryana, it was officially due to have started on September 25.
The Centre had said delaying the paddy procurement was in the "overall interest of farmers and consumers as well because of the untimely rains, maturity of paddy grains is delayed".
--IANS
vg/ksk/.
Source: IANS
Ballia, Oct 3 : At least 939 prisoners in Ballia jail have been shifted to prisons in adjoining districts following water logging due to incessant rains.
Divisional Commissioner Azamgarh, Vijay Vishwas Pant, convened a meeting of officials on Saturday evening to finalise strategies for clearing of water from the inundated areas of Ballia and Azamgarh.
"Mainly the main city areas of both the districts are badly hit by the continuous rain fall.
Most of the city localities in Azamgarh are waterlogged while massive waterlogging inside Ballia jail has led to shifting of prisoners to the jails in Azamgarh and Ambedkar Nagar districts," he said.
Ballia and some other districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh witnessed heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday, leading to water logging.
Heavy duty pumps were brought in to pump out the water.
Ballia district jail superintendent Lal Ratnakar Singh said that there was heavy waterlogging inside the barracks and officials issued order for shifting the prisoners.
"On getting orders for shifting of 939 prisoners including 61 women, as many as 600 had been sent to Azamgarh jail, while 339 were transferred to Ambedkar Nagar jail," he said.
Officials arranged for buses and ensured tight security arrangements for the shifting of prisoners till late Saturday night.
In Azamgarh, six marriage halls were converted into shelter homes for those whose homes had been inundated with water.
--IANS
amita/ksk/.
Source: IANS
Divisional Commissioner Azamgarh, Vijay Vishwas Pant, convened a meeting of officials on Saturday evening to finalise strategies for clearing of water from the inundated areas of Ballia and Azamgarh.
"Mainly the main city areas of both the districts are badly hit by the continuous rain fall.
Most of the city localities in Azamgarh are waterlogged while massive waterlogging inside Ballia jail has led to shifting of prisoners to the jails in Azamgarh and Ambedkar Nagar districts," he said.
Ballia and some other districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh witnessed heavy rainfall on Friday and Saturday, leading to water logging.
Heavy duty pumps were brought in to pump out the water.
Ballia district jail superintendent Lal Ratnakar Singh said that there was heavy waterlogging inside the barracks and officials issued order for shifting the prisoners.
"On getting orders for shifting of 939 prisoners including 61 women, as many as 600 had been sent to Azamgarh jail, while 339 were transferred to Ambedkar Nagar jail," he said.
Officials arranged for buses and ensured tight security arrangements for the shifting of prisoners till late Saturday night.
In Azamgarh, six marriage halls were converted into shelter homes for those whose homes had been inundated with water.
--IANS
amita/ksk/.
Source: IANS
Jammu, Oct 3 : In a historic event Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday inaugurated Retreat Ceremony at Octroi Post, Suchetgarh on the India-Pak International Border.
The event was witnessed by hundreds of tourists and local residents.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lieutenant Governor observed that the ceremony on the lines of Amritsar's Wagah Border reflects the great legacy and valour of Border Security Force (BSF), India's first line of defence.
"On the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversaries of Gandhi ji and Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, Border Security Force has made a new beginning that will ensure a massive push to the border tourism in the UT, besides putting Suchetgarh into the global tourism map," he said.
With the beginning of retreat ceremony, the long pending demand of the people of Suchetgarh has been fulfilled.
Now, the tourism potential of Suchetgarh will be fully tapped, giving a fillip to the economic development of the area, Sinha said.
Giriraj Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj was the special guest on the occasion.
--IANS
zi/shs.
Source: IANS
The event was witnessed by hundreds of tourists and local residents.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lieutenant Governor observed that the ceremony on the lines of Amritsar's Wagah Border reflects the great legacy and valour of Border Security Force (BSF), India's first line of defence.
"On the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversaries of Gandhi ji and Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, Border Security Force has made a new beginning that will ensure a massive push to the border tourism in the UT, besides putting Suchetgarh into the global tourism map," he said.
With the beginning of retreat ceremony, the long pending demand of the people of Suchetgarh has been fulfilled.
Now, the tourism potential of Suchetgarh will be fully tapped, giving a fillip to the economic development of the area, Sinha said.
Giriraj Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj was the special guest on the occasion.
--IANS
zi/shs.
Source: IANS
Mumbai, Oct 2 : In a first initiative of its kind, an all-electric cars rally was held in Mumbai on Saturday as part of the 'Green Mumbai Drive-2021', to reduce pollution in the country's commercial capital, officials said.
The 110-km long rally saw the participation of over 30 electric cars manufactured by various Indian and international companies and was flagged off by Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray, who himself drove an electric car.
Organised by Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd.
(AEML), and Autocar India, the rally was intended to create awareness among people about motoring with zero tail-pipe emissions and supported the Maharashtra government's new Electric Vehicles Policy announced in July.
Speaking on the occasion, Thackeray said that in the last few years, there has been a huge development in the field of electric vehicles.
"The state government is taking various measures through the new EV Policy to ensure more citizens use these vehicles with emphasis on reducing pollution," Thackeray urged.
He said there has been a good response for electric vehicles from all the cities and efforts are now underway to increase the number of charging stations.
AEML Managing Director and CEO Kandarp Patel said that nearly 30 per cent of our carbon footprint comes from transportation.
"As Mumbai's electric utility, we aim to lead the way in powering Mumbai's transition to electric mobility with a goal to drastically reduce the carbon emissions," Patel said.
The AEML owns and operates a fleet of 15 EVs and is committed to procuring only EVs for all future requirements wherever feasible, he added.
Autocar Editor (and) Publisher Hormazd Sorabjee said carbon dioxide is the root cause of global warming and the only way to reduce it is by getting rid of hydrocarbons on which internal combustion engines run.
"EV are becoming popular globally because there are targets to reduce carbon dioxide and the best way is through alternative sources of energy.
The goal of Green Mumbai Drive 2021 is to raise awareness about the role EVs can play in reducing CO2 emissions and combating climate change," said Sorabjee.
The unique EV rally started with the vehicles zooming off from Mahalakshmi Racecourse and ended in Vikhroli via the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai's main green lung, turning heads en route.
It saw participation of around 30 EVs, manufactured by Indian and foreign companies including Tata, Tesla, Volvo, Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes, MG, Hyundai and others.
--IANS
qn/pgh.
Source: IANS
The 110-km long rally saw the participation of over 30 electric cars manufactured by various Indian and international companies and was flagged off by Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray, who himself drove an electric car.
Organised by Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd.
(AEML), and Autocar India, the rally was intended to create awareness among people about motoring with zero tail-pipe emissions and supported the Maharashtra government's new Electric Vehicles Policy announced in July.
Speaking on the occasion, Thackeray said that in the last few years, there has been a huge development in the field of electric vehicles.
"The state government is taking various measures through the new EV Policy to ensure more citizens use these vehicles with emphasis on reducing pollution," Thackeray urged.
He said there has been a good response for electric vehicles from all the cities and efforts are now underway to increase the number of charging stations.
AEML Managing Director and CEO Kandarp Patel said that nearly 30 per cent of our carbon footprint comes from transportation.
"As Mumbai's electric utility, we aim to lead the way in powering Mumbai's transition to electric mobility with a goal to drastically reduce the carbon emissions," Patel said.
The AEML owns and operates a fleet of 15 EVs and is committed to procuring only EVs for all future requirements wherever feasible, he added.
Autocar Editor (and) Publisher Hormazd Sorabjee said carbon dioxide is the root cause of global warming and the only way to reduce it is by getting rid of hydrocarbons on which internal combustion engines run.
"EV are becoming popular globally because there are targets to reduce carbon dioxide and the best way is through alternative sources of energy.
The goal of Green Mumbai Drive 2021 is to raise awareness about the role EVs can play in reducing CO2 emissions and combating climate change," said Sorabjee.
The unique EV rally started with the vehicles zooming off from Mahalakshmi Racecourse and ended in Vikhroli via the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai's main green lung, turning heads en route.
It saw participation of around 30 EVs, manufactured by Indian and foreign companies including Tata, Tesla, Volvo, Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes, MG, Hyundai and others.
--IANS
qn/pgh.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Facebook-owned WhatsApp, which kicked off its ambitious peer-to-peer (P2P) digital payments pilot project in India in 2018 with nearly 10 lakh users, has failed to make it a success ever after more than three years of its inception, as the transaction value of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments continues to break all records in the country.
In the month of September, 3.65 billion transactions worth Rs 6,54,351 crore were recorded.
Major UPI players in India currently are PhonePe, IPO-bound Paytm and Google Pay. PhonePe continues to dominate transactions -- almost half the market size at 47 per cent, followed by Google Pay at 35 per cent.
The current figures are dismal for the Mark Zuckerberg-run platform. The late entrant WhatsApp currently has a mere 0.01 per cent share of the UPI payments volume, according to the latest NPCI data.
After facing regulatory roadblocks and data compliance issues with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for more than two years, WhatsApp finally went live with the UPI payment service in India in November last year, after receiving a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The Facebook-owned messaging service had received approval from the NPCI to take UPI live in a phased manner.
WhatsApp Payments is still restricted to the cap of some 2 crore users in the country, the growth has stalled and numbers evidently paint a sorry picture.
What has failed WhatsApp, which has more than 40 crore users in India, to fast-track its payments feature in a country, dominated by the likes of Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay?
Industry experts feel it is a mixed bag, led by the heated political debate on the security of key financial data, latest Facebook data-sharing row, insufficient messaging for its users and uncertainties over the regulation landscape.
"WhatsApp Payments needs to be seen with microscopic eye, primarily because in payment you will be dealing with sensitive personal data and cyber security is going to be an essential building block component for WhatsApp to demonstrate its due diligence," Pavan Duggal, one of the nation's top cyber law experts, told IANS.
Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR), said that for India, WhatsApp has been the de facto messaging app of choice for long now.
"Leveraging WhatsApp's reach and scale in other spheres, such as mobile payments, would seem an easy and natural step forward for the platform.
However, WhatsApp's strong brand resonance around messaging is hindering WhatsApp's uptick in payments," Ram told IANS.
A case against WhatsApp Payments is still pending in the Supreme Court for compliance of data localisation as per the RBI's April 2018 circular.
The Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) had taken WhatsApp to the court.
The data protection debate has reached its nadir in India in the last couple of months, and the government, the RBI and the NPCI are constantly evaluating the risk of allowing social media apps into the digital payment ecosystem.
In such 'trust deficit' times, it is all the more difficult for WhatsApp to cement its position in the digital payments space.
WhatsApp on Thursday unveiled the Indian rupee symbol in its chat composer to make sending payments using its platform easier for users in India.
According to the company, with these latest updates, Payments on WhatsApp will become more inclusive and intuitive.
'Bharat' needs simple solutions that remove the friction to learn 'How to Pay', an inclusive product that is simple, relatable and easy to access for rural and urban users alike and a platform like WhatsApp that they can trust, to drive adoption, said Manesh Mahatme, Director (Payments), WhatsApp India during the Global FinTech Festival (GFF) 2021.
He said that the company is "scaling up in a phased manner right now" and "we are partnering with the NPCI to work through this scale".
The platform is also reportedly working on a feature for payments called 'cashback' for its Indian users.
The users will be able to receive cashback by using WhatsApp Payments after 48 hours.
However, the road to success is still too far for WhatsApp Payments in a country that is fast growing in digital transactions.
"To succeed in a hyper-competitive digital economy, WhatsApp would need to invest in understanding evolving consumer perceptions, and leverage that for creating user awareness and understanding around new WhatsApp use cases," said Prabhu.
(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
--IANS
na/pgh.
Source: IANS
In the month of September, 3.65 billion transactions worth Rs 6,54,351 crore were recorded.
Major UPI players in India currently are PhonePe, IPO-bound Paytm and Google Pay. PhonePe continues to dominate transactions -- almost half the market size at 47 per cent, followed by Google Pay at 35 per cent.
The current figures are dismal for the Mark Zuckerberg-run platform. The late entrant WhatsApp currently has a mere 0.01 per cent share of the UPI payments volume, according to the latest NPCI data.
After facing regulatory roadblocks and data compliance issues with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for more than two years, WhatsApp finally went live with the UPI payment service in India in November last year, after receiving a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The Facebook-owned messaging service had received approval from the NPCI to take UPI live in a phased manner.
WhatsApp Payments is still restricted to the cap of some 2 crore users in the country, the growth has stalled and numbers evidently paint a sorry picture.
What has failed WhatsApp, which has more than 40 crore users in India, to fast-track its payments feature in a country, dominated by the likes of Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay?
Industry experts feel it is a mixed bag, led by the heated political debate on the security of key financial data, latest Facebook data-sharing row, insufficient messaging for its users and uncertainties over the regulation landscape.
"WhatsApp Payments needs to be seen with microscopic eye, primarily because in payment you will be dealing with sensitive personal data and cyber security is going to be an essential building block component for WhatsApp to demonstrate its due diligence," Pavan Duggal, one of the nation's top cyber law experts, told IANS.
Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR), said that for India, WhatsApp has been the de facto messaging app of choice for long now.
"Leveraging WhatsApp's reach and scale in other spheres, such as mobile payments, would seem an easy and natural step forward for the platform.
However, WhatsApp's strong brand resonance around messaging is hindering WhatsApp's uptick in payments," Ram told IANS.
A case against WhatsApp Payments is still pending in the Supreme Court for compliance of data localisation as per the RBI's April 2018 circular.
The Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) had taken WhatsApp to the court.
The data protection debate has reached its nadir in India in the last couple of months, and the government, the RBI and the NPCI are constantly evaluating the risk of allowing social media apps into the digital payment ecosystem.
In such 'trust deficit' times, it is all the more difficult for WhatsApp to cement its position in the digital payments space.
WhatsApp on Thursday unveiled the Indian rupee symbol in its chat composer to make sending payments using its platform easier for users in India.
According to the company, with these latest updates, Payments on WhatsApp will become more inclusive and intuitive.
'Bharat' needs simple solutions that remove the friction to learn 'How to Pay', an inclusive product that is simple, relatable and easy to access for rural and urban users alike and a platform like WhatsApp that they can trust, to drive adoption, said Manesh Mahatme, Director (Payments), WhatsApp India during the Global FinTech Festival (GFF) 2021.
He said that the company is "scaling up in a phased manner right now" and "we are partnering with the NPCI to work through this scale".
The platform is also reportedly working on a feature for payments called 'cashback' for its Indian users.
The users will be able to receive cashback by using WhatsApp Payments after 48 hours.
However, the road to success is still too far for WhatsApp Payments in a country that is fast growing in digital transactions.
"To succeed in a hyper-competitive digital economy, WhatsApp would need to invest in understanding evolving consumer perceptions, and leverage that for creating user awareness and understanding around new WhatsApp use cases," said Prabhu.
(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
--IANS
na/pgh.
Source: IANS
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 2 : The Kerala government on Saturday during a Covid analysis meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to announce more relaxations including opening the cinema halls from October 25.
It was also decided during the meeting that from next Monday, all colleges will open for final year students while the regular classes for all students will start from October 18.
Those who will come to attended the classes should be vaccinated with both the doses.
Theatres will, however, be allowed to function with 50 per cent seating capacity and all employees, and those coming to watch the movies should be vaccinated with the two doses.
With regards to marriages, it has been decided to increase the number of guests from 20 to 50, and grama sabhas also can be convened, but will have to follow the Covid protocols.
On Saturday, 13,217 people tested Covid positive after 96,835 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 13.64 per cent, said a statement.
The day saw 14,437 people turn negative, while there were 1,41,155 active cases with 11 per cent of the patients admitted in hospitals.
There were also 121 Covid deaths taking the total death tally to 25,303.
On the vaccination front, 92.6 per cent (2.47 crore) of the population above 18 years have received one dose, of which 41.5 per cent have got both the doses.
--IANS
sg/pgh.
Source: IANS
It was also decided during the meeting that from next Monday, all colleges will open for final year students while the regular classes for all students will start from October 18.
Those who will come to attended the classes should be vaccinated with both the doses.
Theatres will, however, be allowed to function with 50 per cent seating capacity and all employees, and those coming to watch the movies should be vaccinated with the two doses.
With regards to marriages, it has been decided to increase the number of guests from 20 to 50, and grama sabhas also can be convened, but will have to follow the Covid protocols.
On Saturday, 13,217 people tested Covid positive after 96,835 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 13.64 per cent, said a statement.
The day saw 14,437 people turn negative, while there were 1,41,155 active cases with 11 per cent of the patients admitted in hospitals.
There were also 121 Covid deaths taking the total death tally to 25,303.
On the vaccination front, 92.6 per cent (2.47 crore) of the population above 18 years have received one dose, of which 41.5 per cent have got both the doses.
--IANS
sg/pgh.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Oct 2 : To ensure smooth traffic flow in the national capital, the Delhi Transport Department is working on the removal of encroachment on the roads.
"There are teams of enforcement departments, 55 teams, which are working to address such issues on roads.
We have updated a decentralised structure of Deputy Commissioners in three zones and one of their mandates is to ensure that there is no encroachment on the left side of the roads.
This will be done with the help of the traffic police," Principal Secretary and Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra told IANS.
"We had a high-level meeting recently to make sure that the lane dedicated for the bus and other heavy goods vehicles is not encorached upon so that that section of the road could become usable for motorised transport.
We are collaborating with the traffic police on this," he added.
About one-third of the roads in the city are usually encroached by parked vehicles and street vendors, rendering a significant percentage useless for transports of all sizes, which are compelled to move in the same lane.
This leads to traffic slowdown.
The Transport Department on Friday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the IIT-Delhi's Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer to work jointly on the road safety projects and policies in Delhi.
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot inaugurated the Delhi Road Safety 2021 Summit at the Taj Mahal Hotel, along with a six-month social media campaign to raise awareness on the same.
At the launch, the Minister shared the importance of timely scientific analysis of road accidents to ascertain their cause.
"With the help of the timely scientific analysis of a crash, we can pinpoint what factors have actually caused the accident.
We are in touch with Delhi Police and we have requested them to inform us whenever an accident takes place so that members of the Road Safety Cell could examine the site before the evidences are removed.
This will help us ascertain the reason behind the accident - the driver, design or any other factor," Gahlot said.
"The Delhi government has taken numerous steps to make roads safer.
The automated driving test tracks is a conscious step in the same direction. If we can produce sensitive and sensible drivers, we could reduce the number of road accidents, most of whose victims come from the economically weaker section of the society," he added.
--IANS
rdk/ksk/.
Source: IANS
"There are teams of enforcement departments, 55 teams, which are working to address such issues on roads.
We have updated a decentralised structure of Deputy Commissioners in three zones and one of their mandates is to ensure that there is no encroachment on the left side of the roads.
This will be done with the help of the traffic police," Principal Secretary and Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra told IANS.
"We had a high-level meeting recently to make sure that the lane dedicated for the bus and other heavy goods vehicles is not encorached upon so that that section of the road could become usable for motorised transport.
We are collaborating with the traffic police on this," he added.
About one-third of the roads in the city are usually encroached by parked vehicles and street vendors, rendering a significant percentage useless for transports of all sizes, which are compelled to move in the same lane.
This leads to traffic slowdown.
The Transport Department on Friday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the IIT-Delhi's Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer to work jointly on the road safety projects and policies in Delhi.
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot inaugurated the Delhi Road Safety 2021 Summit at the Taj Mahal Hotel, along with a six-month social media campaign to raise awareness on the same.
At the launch, the Minister shared the importance of timely scientific analysis of road accidents to ascertain their cause.
"With the help of the timely scientific analysis of a crash, we can pinpoint what factors have actually caused the accident.
We are in touch with Delhi Police and we have requested them to inform us whenever an accident takes place so that members of the Road Safety Cell could examine the site before the evidences are removed.
This will help us ascertain the reason behind the accident - the driver, design or any other factor," Gahlot said.
"The Delhi government has taken numerous steps to make roads safer.
The automated driving test tracks is a conscious step in the same direction. If we can produce sensitive and sensible drivers, we could reduce the number of road accidents, most of whose victims come from the economically weaker section of the society," he added.
--IANS
rdk/ksk/.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Oct 2: In a recent video posted on twitter, the supremo of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has once again warned the Pakistani rulers, especially the Pakistani army, to immediately stop their military operations in Waziristan and Balochistan.
In a recorded message, Noor Wali Mehsud said that the TTP will free all tribal lands from Pakistan and make them independent.
'Pakistan Army is a colonial legacy; Pashtuns are divided because of the Durand Line.
Our fight is with only Pakistan as we are at war with Pakistan Armed forces,' said Mehsud, clearly taking a leaf from the Afghan Taliban's ideology.
In another video released by the TTP, militants are shown using IEDs to attack a Pakistani army convoy with, in the Tank district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
One Pakistani was killed and several soldiers were injured.
According to the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), a think tank in Islamabad, the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) has launched 55 attacks that involved suicide bombers, IED explosive devices, snipers and ambushes on the Pakistani army between July1 to September15 killing more than 100 soldiers.
One of the biggest suicide attacks was on a Chinese convoy near Dasu hydroelectric project in Kohistan district which killed 9 Chinese engineers .
This raised Chinese security concerns regarding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
'The TTP may conduct more activities in Pakistan and more Chinese people or Chinese projects may be attacked in order to increase pressure on the Pakistan government,' warned China's state affiliated media The Global Times on September 18, quoting Chinese security experts.
Incidentally, the same day the New Zealand cricket team decided to leave Pakistan without playing a single game amid the heightened security threat.
Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is getting impatient.
He had hoped that the Afghan Taliban would reign in the TTP but the group has become more emboldened. According to Pakistani and Afghan experts, the Taliban will never meet Islamabad's demand. In fact, after coming to power last month, the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has said that the 'issue of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is not for Afghanistan to resolve but must be sorted out by the Pakistani government and its religious ulemas'.
The former chief of Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani says that the Taliban will never 'will not do anything at Pakistan's behest that is not in their interest.
Remember, the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden despite the US threats.'
'TTP has also changed its indiscriminate targeting strategy.
In a smart move, Noor Wali Mehsud, has taken such steps to ideologically justify, operationally sustain and morally legalize the group's violent struggle in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in the post-US withdrawal scenario.
After all, the TTP calls the Afghan Taliban its big brother,' says Abdul Basit, a Pakistani analyst based in Singapore.
Last week, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Imran Khan government would pardon the group if its members laid down their arms, abandoned their militant ideology and respected the constitution.
But the TTP vehemently rejected the offer. Instead, it asked Pakistan to vacate the region from its occupation.
'We are hoping to take control of the tribal region and make it an independent area,' warns the TTP chief.
Iftikhar Firdous, a Peshawar based security analyst told Nikkei Asia that TTP rejected Islamabad's offer because it enjoys the protection of the Afghan Taliban, and also 'because it still has the capacity to carry out attacks in different parts of the country.'
'Islamabad should know it that the TTP, al-Qaida and other transnational militant groups are part of a larger jihadi network with a similar global agenda, and they helped the Afghan Taliban capture most parts of Afghanistan,' Abdul Bari, a former Afghan security official told Nikkei Asia.
(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
--indianarrative.
Source: IANS
In a recorded message, Noor Wali Mehsud said that the TTP will free all tribal lands from Pakistan and make them independent.
'Pakistan Army is a colonial legacy; Pashtuns are divided because of the Durand Line.
Our fight is with only Pakistan as we are at war with Pakistan Armed forces,' said Mehsud, clearly taking a leaf from the Afghan Taliban's ideology.
In another video released by the TTP, militants are shown using IEDs to attack a Pakistani army convoy with, in the Tank district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
One Pakistani was killed and several soldiers were injured.
According to the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), a think tank in Islamabad, the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) has launched 55 attacks that involved suicide bombers, IED explosive devices, snipers and ambushes on the Pakistani army between July1 to September15 killing more than 100 soldiers.
One of the biggest suicide attacks was on a Chinese convoy near Dasu hydroelectric project in Kohistan district which killed 9 Chinese engineers .
This raised Chinese security concerns regarding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
'The TTP may conduct more activities in Pakistan and more Chinese people or Chinese projects may be attacked in order to increase pressure on the Pakistan government,' warned China's state affiliated media The Global Times on September 18, quoting Chinese security experts.
Incidentally, the same day the New Zealand cricket team decided to leave Pakistan without playing a single game amid the heightened security threat.
Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is getting impatient.
He had hoped that the Afghan Taliban would reign in the TTP but the group has become more emboldened. According to Pakistani and Afghan experts, the Taliban will never meet Islamabad's demand. In fact, after coming to power last month, the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has said that the 'issue of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is not for Afghanistan to resolve but must be sorted out by the Pakistani government and its religious ulemas'.
The former chief of Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani says that the Taliban will never 'will not do anything at Pakistan's behest that is not in their interest.
Remember, the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden despite the US threats.'
'TTP has also changed its indiscriminate targeting strategy.
In a smart move, Noor Wali Mehsud, has taken such steps to ideologically justify, operationally sustain and morally legalize the group's violent struggle in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in the post-US withdrawal scenario.
After all, the TTP calls the Afghan Taliban its big brother,' says Abdul Basit, a Pakistani analyst based in Singapore.
Last week, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Imran Khan government would pardon the group if its members laid down their arms, abandoned their militant ideology and respected the constitution.
But the TTP vehemently rejected the offer. Instead, it asked Pakistan to vacate the region from its occupation.
'We are hoping to take control of the tribal region and make it an independent area,' warns the TTP chief.
Iftikhar Firdous, a Peshawar based security analyst told Nikkei Asia that TTP rejected Islamabad's offer because it enjoys the protection of the Afghan Taliban, and also 'because it still has the capacity to carry out attacks in different parts of the country.'
'Islamabad should know it that the TTP, al-Qaida and other transnational militant groups are part of a larger jihadi network with a similar global agenda, and they helped the Afghan Taliban capture most parts of Afghanistan,' Abdul Bari, a former Afghan security official told Nikkei Asia.
(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
--indianarrative.
Source: IANS