<![CDATA[India Journal

<![CDATA[India Journal - India]]>Wed, 05 Apr 2023 23:04:29 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Netanyahu greets 'friend Modi', Indians on I-Day]]>Thu, 15 Aug 2019 18:32:39 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/netanyahu-greets-friend-modi-indians-on-i-dayNEW DELHI - "It's genuine friendship", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he greeted "my friend Prime Minister Modi" and the people of India on the occasion of its 73rd Independence day. Posting a video on Twitter of his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Israeli Prime Minister said: "To my friend Prime Minister Modi and...

the people of India. Namastey! Happy Independence Day!
"The relations between India and Israel are like never before. It's not merely cooperation in so many fields, it's genuine friendship. Happy Independence Day."
The post also carried a line in Hindi wishing the people of India happy Independence Day.
Last month, Israel's ruling Likud party put up 10-storey high posters of Modi with Netanyahu on the sides of the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, as part of its campaign for the September 17 snap polls.
The posters of Modi, as well as US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin, along with Netanyahu, were hung from the roof of Metzudat Ze'ev, the 15-storey Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Modi also featured in a video clip released by Netanyahu for the election campaign. Netanyahu, who is facing a tough challenge from his rivals, is set to visit India on a day-long trip on September 9. He created history on July 20 by surpassing Israel's first premier David Ben-Gurion's record as the longest-serving Prime Minister.

]]><![CDATA[Sindh's Hindu community rejects Modi govt's decision on J&K]]>Mon, 12 Aug 2019 16:43:46 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/sindhs-hindu-community-rejects-modi-govts-decision-on-jkLAHORE - The Hindu community in Pakistan's Sindh province has rejected the abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir by the Modi government and called it blatant terrorism. The News International reported Minister for Minorities Affairs Hari Ram Kishori Lal, special assistants to Sindh Chief Minister Dr Khatu Mal Jeevan, Veerji Kolhi, MNA Dr Mahesh Malani and...

MPA Rana Hameer Singh in joint statement on Saturday saying they stood with their Kashmir brothers in their legitimate struggle.
They said India had pushed the South Asian region towards a dangerous situation, and the Hindus of Sindh were ready to render any sacrifice for the protection of their beloved motherland.
According to the News International report, the Hindu leaders further said that Kashmir was a disputed territory, and the Indian government had no authority to alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir. They termed the annexation of Kashmir "a violation of international laws" and said that the Modi government had buried the secular ideology of India. They said the Hindu community would organise rallies on August 14 in various cities across the province to show solidarity with the Kashmiris and arrange special prayers for blessings on Kashmir. They also announced they would hoist the flags of Pakistan and Kashmir outside the temples.

]]><![CDATA[Delhi's water 'woes' turning into 'wars']]>Mon, 29 Jul 2019 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/delhis-water-woes-turning-into-warsNEW DELHI - Each day as the sun rises in South Delhis Neb Sarai, an un-authorised colony of the capital city, every household in the area goes to 'war' for water. A colony, having underground water as its key source and bore wells the only means to draw it, is facing a major crisis as the groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate of 10cm per year.

"A major chunk of the households in the colony still lacks a piped supply of water while the ones having the supply do not receive adequate supply of water," said Shweta Singh, a local resident.
"We have a connection of the Delhi Jal Board but it has been two months and we haven't received a single drop of water through its supply," said Ankita Das.
At a time when the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is all set to roll out the Master Plan for 2041, water remains one of the major issues in several areas of Delhi, especially southern parts, which needs to be addressed.
"We receive water only once a day and have to rely on water tankers and Bisleri bottles for our supplies of water. The DJB is really slow in processing connection request and does not act accordingly," said another resident who wished not to be named.
The AAP government recently announced that after due deliberations with the Modi government these colonies would be soon regularised/authorised.
At a press conference recently, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Centre should allow registry of properties in unauthorised colonies at the earliest,
Kejriwal added that the government should start using satellite images to fix boundaries in these colonies. He also said that in the first phase, 1,797 unauthorised colonies will be regularised while the remaining ones would be taken care of in the second phase.
"We have accepted the Centre's conditions to regularise these colonies. We have also sent our 12 suggestions to the Centre," Kejriwal said.
"Regularisation would only result in the change in property rates. These might benifit the property dealers but what about the living standards? What about the basic infrastructural needs? Who will fulfil them?" said Shubhang Chaturvedi, a local resident. "Ownership rights can solely not solve all problems. The major issue in our colonies is the lack of basic necessities like proper drainage and water supply. This is not because of un authorisation but is actually the result of massive failure of the civic bodies," said Radhika, a housewife residing in the area.

]]><![CDATA[Infosys' Murthy fetes son in-law becoming British minister]]>Thu, 25 Jul 2019 19:42:14 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/infosys-murthy-fetes-son-in-law-becoming-british-ministerBENGALURU - Global software major Infosys' co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy on Thursday congratulated his son in-law Rishi Sunak on his appointment as Minister in the new Boris Johnson-led British government. "Our advice to our children, including Rishi, has been to work hard, be honest and do good for society. We wish him well," Murthy told IANS in a statement here.

Married to Murthy's daughter Akshata, Sunak, 38, the Conservative Party MP from Richmond (Yorkshire), is one of the three Indian-born leaders appointed ministers by Johnson on Wednesday. He takes over as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
The other two are Alok Sharma and Priti Patel.
Elected for the first time to the House of Commons in the 2015 general election, Sunak was also a minister in the previous Therasa May's government.

]]><![CDATA[India rejects Trump offer on Kashmir, says Modi never made such request]]>Mon, 22 Jul 2019 21:09:28 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/india-rejects-trump-offer-on-kashmir-says-modi-never-made-such-requestNEW DELHI - India on Monday rebuffed US President Donald Trump's offer to mediate on the Kashmir issue, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never made such a request to him, and stressed that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are "discussed only bilaterally". "We have seen the US President's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate,

if requested by India and Pakistan, on the Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US President," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.
"It has been India's consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross-border terrorism. The Simla Agreement & the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India & Pakistan bilaterally," he said.
The statement comes as US President Trump at a media briefing with the visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Washington offered to mediate on the Kashmir issue, saying that Prime Minister Modi had broached the subject with him during their meeting in Osaka, Japan, last month.
Trump said: "I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks ago, and we talked about the subject. And he actually said, 'would you like to be a mediator, or arbitrator', and I said 'where?', and he said 'Kashmir', because this has been going on for many, many years. I was surprised for how long it has been going on," to which Imran Khan interjected to say "70 years".
"I think they (India) would like to see it resolved, and I think you (Pakistan) would like to see it resolved. And if I can help, I would love to be mediator," Trump said.

]]><![CDATA[Indian-origin scientists develop AI system to curb 'deepfake' videos]]>Sat, 20 Jul 2019 20:21:50 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/indian-origin-scientists-develop-ai-system-to-curb-deepfake-videosNEW DELHI - At a time when "deepfake" videos become a new threat to users' privacy, a team of Indian-origin researchers has developed Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven deep neural network that can identify manipulated images at the pixel level with high precision. Realistic videos that map the facial expressions of one person onto those of another -- known as "deepfakes",

present a formidable political weapon in the hands of nation-state bad actors.
Led by Amit Roy-Chowdhury, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, the team is currently working on still images but this can help them detect "deepfake" videos.
"We trained the system to distinguish between manipulated and nonmanipulated images and now if you give it a new image, it is able to provide a probability that that image is manipulated or not, and to localize the region of the image where the manipulation occurred," said Roy-Chowdhury.
A deep neural network is what AI researchers call computer systems that have been trained to do specific tasks, in this case, recognize altered images.
These networks are organized in connected layers; "architecture" refers to the number of layers and structure of the connections between them. While this might fool the naked eye, when examined pixel by pixel, the boundaries of the inserted object are different.
For example, they are often smoother than the natural objects.
By detecting boundaries of inserted and removed objects, a computer should be able to identify altered images. The researchers tested the neural network with a set of images it had never seen before, and it detected the altered ones most of the time. It even spotted the manipulated region.
"If you can understand the characteristics in a still image, in a video it's basically just putting still images together one after another," explained Roy-Chowdhury in a paper published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. "The more fundamental challenge is probably figuring out whether a frame in a video is manipulated or not".
Even a single manipulated frame would raise a red flag. Roy-Chowdhury, however, thinks we still have a long way to go before automated tools can detect "deepfake" videos in the wild.
"This is kind of a cat and mouse game. This whole area of cybersecurity is in some ways trying to find better defense mechanisms, but then the attacker also finds better mechanisms."

]]><![CDATA['Trump's tweet on Saeed sign of growing Indo-US counter-terror ties']]>Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:02:12 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/trumps-tweet-on-saeed-sign-of-growing-indo-us-counter-terror-tiesNEW DELHI - While the US House Foreign Affairs Committee countered President Donald Trump's tweet on Hafiz Saeed saying that the Mumbai attacks mastermind was roaming around freely in Pakistan, India on Thursday said it viewed his tweet in the context of growing counter-terror cooperation between India and the US. President Trump tweeted after the arrest...

of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Saeed on Wednesday: "After a ten-year search, the so-called 'mastermind' of the Mumbai Terror attacks has been arrested in Pakistan. Great pressure has been exerted over the last two years to find him!" The US House Foreign Affairs Committee asked Trump to hold on to his applause till Saeed is convicted. It said Saeed, who has a $10 million US bounty on his head, has been arrested and released eight times since 2001.
"FYI Pakistan wasn't searching for him for 10 years. He's been living freely, and was arrested and released in: December 2001, May 2002, October 2002, August 2006 (twice), December 2008, September 2009, January 2017. Let's hold the (welcome) until he's convicted," the US House Foreign Affairs Committee tweeted.
The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the US President's tweet has to be "seen in context of the cooperation India and the US have enjoyed on counter terrorism".
"In the last joint statement agreed to between the two sides during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, there are some very strong paragraphs -- the leaders called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terror attacks on another country and they further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks and by other Pakistan-based groups."
"The tweet has to be seen in the context of the global coming together in the fight against terrorism. Our agencies are working very closely to counter terrorism; we are in regular touch with the US on this," he said.

]]><![CDATA[Budget extends tax on NRIs for receiving gifts from resident Indians]]>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 22:14:53 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/budget-extends-tax-on-nris-for-receiving-gifts-from-resident-indiansNEW DELHI - The expensive gift that you kept for your overseas cousin or friend may attract tax from this year with the Budget 2019-20 proposing to impose withholding tax all such transfers, plugging an earlier loophole that allowed its tax- free treatment. The Finance Bill 2019 has imposed tax on any sum of money paid or any property situated in India,

transferred by a person resident in India to a person outside India, as it would be deemed to accrue or arise in India. The changes will be applied for all such transfers made on or after July 5, 2019. Currently gifts given by Indian residents to non-resident Indians - apart from the specified list of relatives - would be claimed as non-taxable. This is because the earlier tax put the onus on the recipient of the gift to make the disclosure and pay tax. As a gift to NRIs means that income is accrued abroad, it remained outside the tax net.
But now, all gifts to NRIs will be income accruing in India and would be taxed as per the normal slab rates applicable to resident Indians. This means that the origin of the gift becomes important for tax purpose, instead of the destination of the gift abroad.
The onus will be on the recipient (the NRI in this case) of the gift to disclose such gifts received if they originate in India and then pay a tax on it.
So, if the value of the gift is above Rs 10 lakh, the recipient will have to pay 30 per cent tax. The tax rate would get higher if the value of the gift, be it payment for studies or a house abroad, is more than Rs 2 crore or Rs 5 crore. In such cases, the highest tax rate for super rich, i.e. 35.7 and 42.7 per cent respectively would apply.
For the purpose, gift will constitute shares, property, vouchers, cash etc exceeding Rs 50,000 made to anyone, apart from the specified relatives or blood relations.
While making gifts to NRIs taxable, the Budget has proposed that in a treaty situation, the relevant article of applicable DTAA (double taxation avoidance treaty) shall continue to apply for such gifts as well. This amendment will take effect from April 1, 2020 and will, apply in relation to the assessment year 2020-21 and subsequent assessment years.
The specified relatives list in terms of Section 56 of the Income Tax Act is fairly wide. It includes brothers and sisters, and their spouses. Gifts to this category will not attract any tax. But acquaintances, friends, and other close family relations would come under the purview of the ta

]]><![CDATA[US-based techie dies during adventure biking in Hyderabad]]>Wed, 03 Jul 2019 21:54:01 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/us-based-techie-dies-during-adventure-biking-in-hyderabadHYDERABAD - A US-based software engineer from Hyderabad was killed after a four-wheeled All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) he was riding overturned at a resort in Telangana's Vikarabad district, police said on Wednesday. Arvind Kumar Peechara, 45, was riding the bike in the Hills and Valley Adventures Resort at Godamaguda near Hyderabad when the incident occurred on Monday.

The came to light on Wednesday after police registered a case on a complaint by Arvind's friends.
The techie, who was apparently riding the bike without a guide, tumbled as it was sliding down a small mound. The vehicle also overturned and fell on him. He sustained grievous injury on head and was rushed to a hospital at Vikarabad, where doctors declared him brought dead.
The techie, who was based in Dallas, was vacationing along with friends.
Vibha, a non-profit organization that supports the education of underprivileged children in India and the US, condoled the death of Peechara.
According to a Facebook post by Vibha, he earlier worked as Action Center Coordinator at Vibha Dallas and was also a former Vibha Project Lead for the Devnar Foundation for Blind.
"Arvind was a tireless advocate for child rights. His passion, sincerity and eagerness to make a difference was instrumental in strengthening Vibha in Dallas and still continues to inspire us. To Arvind volunteering was about the change the volunteer feels within as much as it was about the change he or she enables. We will deeply miss him," it said.

]]><![CDATA[India unhappy over Pakistan not giving visa to official Sikh jatha]]>Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:42:59 GMThttp://www.indiajournal.com/india/india-unhappy-over-pakistan-not-giving-visa-to-official-sikh-jathaNEW DELHI - India has registered a strong protest at Pakistan governments refusal to grant visa to an "official jatha" comprising 87 pilgrims who wanted to go there on the martyrdom day of Sikh Guru Arjan Dev, sources said here on Friday. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had requested for the visas for the pilgrims under the bilateral Protocol on Visit to Religious Shrines,

1974, they said. The MEA "expressed its concern at the disregard shown by the High Commission of Pakistan on the religious sentiments and devotion of the Indian pilgrims, especially by Pakistan unilaterally granting restrictive visa (by rail only) to a private group of Indian pilgrims," the sources said. The MEA called upon Pakistan to immediately grant visa without any restriction, they said.

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