NEW DELHI: India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs  Kiren Rijiju has advocated that law enforcement and security agencies worldwide must collaborate to tackle the threat posed by Cyber Crimes.

Addressing the Valedictory Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) here on Thursday,  he observed that the existing frameworks, programmes and tools are often too slow and bureaucratic to allow for a timely and effective response. Rather than multiple partners investing in and developing the same highly specialised skill-sets and expertise, perhaps a more effective, high-level model would be for law enforcement and relevant partners to focus on distinct core competencies and to make them available to others ‘as a service’, he added.

 He said that Law Enforcement Agencies that seek to keep communities safe are faced with increasing challenges of rapidly evolving technologies, cyber space being the most important.

Here is the text of the Minister’s address to the conference:

 Commission of cyber-crime is getting easier as the extent to which cyber technology provides it easy to commit crime at a faraway place, in total anonymity, and with global reach. Tools and techniques to conduct cybercrime — hacking software, malware — can be downloaded freely. There are even step-by-step video instructions online that explain how to use them.

In fact, crime-as-a-service is also being offered in dark web, we can see from looking at standard consumer technology that it only takes a few iterations of a product for it to become straightforward to use. So the barrier to entry for cybercrime is very minimal — just needs to access internet. In the past systems would have only been available only to technology-savvy cybercriminals. Now such criminal services can be bought and used by anyone, regardless of their technical skills. What this evolution has revealed is the extent to which other criminal activities, beyond economic crime, are now being supported by these infrastructures.

As per National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), a total of 33,531 cyber-crime cases were registered during 2014-2016. During 2016, 48.6% of cyber-crime cases reported were for illegal gain (5,987 out of 12,317 cases), followed by revenge with 8.6% (1,056 cases)  and insult to  modesty of women with 5.6% (686 cases). During 2016, cyber-crime (7.7%) was recorded as the fourth largest crime (first Cheating-68.4%,- second criminal breach of trust-11.7%, third forgery-8.6%) in India.

Among the more rampant cyber-crimes under Indian IT Act (various sections) are: tampering computer source documents,   publications / transmission of obscene/ sexually explicit contents,  breach of confidentiality / privacy,  data theft,  cyber terrorism

Among the cyber-crime motives are:   illegal gain,  revenge, insult to modesty of women,  extortion / blackmailing,  sexual exploitation,  causing disrepute,   inciting hate crime against community,  developing own business / interest,  political motives,  disrupt public services,  piracy,  steal information for espionage,  serious psychiatric illness viz. perversion, etc.

Recently we also noticed rise in sophisticated to naïve cyber-crimes in financial sector.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) based malware attack witnessed in two Indian Banks (Union Bank of India — 171 million USD, almost all them are recovered and City Union Bank — 2 million USD only part could be recovered till Feb 28, 2018). In the first Bank case, an employee of the Bank opened an email attachment, which looked like it had come from India’s Central Bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The attachment initiated the malware that hackers used to steal the Bank’s access code for the SWIFT, a system that lenders use for international transactions; the codes were used to send transfer instructions for about 170 million USD to Bank’s account at CitiGroup Inc in New York. However, bank could recover all the money back. In the other case, money was transferred in accounts in Dubai, Turkey and China. But in this case, a partial amount is yet to be recovered.

District of Jamtara in eastern India is getting notoriety for financial frauds. Here the youngsters (all 8^th or 10^th graders & dropouts) are using simple phishing techniques to obtain sensitive financial data (like PIN number, card CVV, etc.) and transfer the money to e-wallets and subsequently to bank accounts. They cleverly entice the victims to reveal OTP just through smart conversation. To obtain the SIMs they use “surrogate SIM” [being very poor and with lack of education, elderly people are lured to provide their biometric authentication through Aadhaar to obtain SIM. Fraudsters obtain 7 to 9 SIMs and pay small amount to the elderly] and transfer the money to “surrogate bank accounts” [Government has opened bank accounts for poor for facilitating government’s direct cash benefit transfer. Such bank accounts are hired by fraudsters to get their debit card on monthly rentals. The poor and elderly are not aware of their cards being misused for withdrawing money]. The fraudsters are also using techniques to evade detection by changing the mobile tower location while making phishing calls to the victims. This they do just by driving their motorbike/car around different mobile towers.

To further complicate the traditional cyber-crime challenges to policing, new technologies like Internet of Things, Virtual Currencies, Advanced Malware, Artificial Intelligence, etc. have taken the challenges to a new level. Coping with such rapid changing technologies by Police has become a huge task for effective Policing. Across many countries many cyber criminals use technologies like darknet, proxy servers, The Onion Router (TOR) services to hide their identity. Extensive use of VoIP, caller ID spoofing, use of crypto currencies, encrypted channel for communication, use of social media have virtually created a syndicates of criminals irrespective of their nationality.

The business of supporting online criminality has become a truly global enterprise, with help desks, regular software updates and platform development roadmaps created to service the needs of their users. In fact having imitated the very best enterprise approaches and unbound by legislative requirements, they have become innovative and agile businesses. This creates a two-tiered, organised criminal enterprise: those committing crimes that directly victimise and those that are automating and supporting the businesses of crime. The question becomes where should law enforcement’s limited resources be allocated: the criminals that carry out the crime, or those that provide the infrastructure that make it possible?

Law enforcement, policy makers, legislators, academia and training providers need to become even more adaptive and agile in addressing the phenomenon. Existing frameworks, programmes and tools are often too slow and bureaucratic to allow for a timely and effective response. Rather than multiple partners investing in and developing the same highly specialised skill-sets and expertise, perhaps a more effective, high-level model would be for law enforcement and relevant partners to focus on distinct core competencies and to make them available to others ‘as a service’.

It is important to consider law enforcement as one of the key partners in ensuring cyber security globally. Prevention campaigns should not focus solely on preventing citizens and businesses from becoming victims of cybercrime, but also on preventing potential cybercriminals becoming involved in such activity. Such campaigns must highlight the consequences of cybercrime for both the victim and perpetrator.

Besides technology, challenges in cyber-crime investigation stems from tack of adequate capacity as also legal challenges. Law enforcement should continue to focus on attribution and intelligence development in order to identify, locate and prosecute key criminal individuals to achieve more permanent impact on the criminal community. Law enforcement must continue to develop and invest in the appropriate specialised training required to effectively investigate highly technical cyber-attacks. A foundation level understanding of cyber-facilitated and cyber-enabled crime, including the basics of digital forensics should be required by all law enforcement officers, especially first responders.

India has sought to empower stakeholders and public through various policy initiatives which had positive outcomes at the operational level, – active partnerships with private sector both for R&D initiatives and also tangible deliverables. Police across the countries also needs to evolve a better coordination, information sharing mechanism and develop mutual trust by respecting the local Laws and Regulations. Without such international cooperation, it would be extremely difficult for a country to address the new age policing single handedly. Steps should be taken to facilitate intensified cooperation across government (law enforcement), to allow information sharing and a coordinated approach to response to cybercrimes and attacks.

Cyber diplomacy is an evolving subject at both bilateral and multilateral levels. India has sought to play a responsible role on both these fronts. Concerns of like-minded multiple stakeholders — the model that India supports — were articulated in the ICANN conference held in Hyderabad, ‘’

BENGALURU:  Stephen Hawking (January 8, 1942 – 14 March, 2018)  passed away in the early hours of March 14, leaving behind a rich intellectual legacy that will dominate theoretical physics for years to come. Coincidentally, March 14^th is Albert Einstein’s birthday and January 8 was the day on which Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy. Hawking held the Lucasian chair of Mathematics at Cambridge, a position once filled by Isaac Newton. It is indeed fitting that these names are all strung together in the same paragraph and mentioned in the same breath. They are the giants who transformed theoretical physics into the shape that it has taken today.

Hawking’s early work (in collaboration with Roger Penrose) was on singularity theorems in Einstein’s general theory of relativity. This work showed decisively that Einstein’s theory predicted singularities: regions of space and time where our theories no longer hold. Einstein’s general relativity seemed to predict its own demise. There was new physics beyond general relativity.

Another seminal work of his concerns the areas of black holes. Hawking showed that the area of a black hole always increases with time. This suggested an analogy with entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, which predicts that disorder of a closed system always increases. This analogy was initially not taken seriously because it seemed so farfetched and, indeed, flawed.

However, Jakob Bekenstein, an Israeli physicist, persisted with the analogy, despite the obvious flaw that black holes absorb light and do not let it escape, whereas black bodies in thermal physics emit as well as absorb light. Hawking’s striking insight was to realise that black holes were indeed thermodynamic objects which have a temperature and emit radiation- now called Hawking radiation. This brilliant insight nailed the analogy and has led to deep relations between gravitation, quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics which are still being explored today. Hawking has made many seminal contributions to cosmology, black holes and the relationship between geometry, gravitation and quantum theory, too numerous and technical to mention here.

Hawking brought to the subject a style of mathematical physics that used subtle methods from differential geometry and differential topology to bear on the physics of black holes and cosmology. There is a strong Indian connection here. The idea of a black hole had its roots in the work on the stability of white dwarf stars by S. Chandrasekhar, an American physicist of Indian origin. Hawking’s analysis of singularities and the area theorem relied crucially on an equation discovered by Amal Raychaudhuri, an Indian physicist whose name is perhaps better known abroad than in his native land. The classic book by Hawking and Ellis on the large scale structure of space time summarises some of these developments in a rigorous mathematical way.

Hawking has captured the public imagination both for the boldness of his ideas and the trying circumstances they were developed in. His bestselling book “A brief history of time”, and its sequels, have drawn lay public into the esoteric realms of space, time and black holes.

Hawking is very much a part of popular culture. He has appeared on “The big bang theory”, a popular television serial that pokes gentle fun at the arcane mysteries of theoretical physics and the curiously warped personalities and personal lives of the cerebral and self-absorbed people behind the science.

Hawking is featured in “The SimpsoBookns”, another popular and satirical television cartoon show. He has also been sensitively portrayed by Eddie Redmaynein the movie “The Theory of Everything”.

What is most remarkable and has captured the public imagination is the circumstances in which Hawking did his seminal work. At the age of 21, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease (also referred to as motor neuron disease). His doctors gave him two years to live. They were off by about fifty – 50 more years in which Hawking continued to defy the odds and leave his eternal mark on the theories of black holes and cosmology. (India Science Wire)

(The author is a theoretical physicist at Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, and works in the areas of general relativity, quantum theory and quantum information theory.) 

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed confidence that India would achieve the goal of complete elimination of Tuberculosis by 2025.

Inaugurating the “END TB Summit’’ here, Mr Modi said that India had set 2025 as the elimination year as against the global target of 2030.  The government is working comprehensively towards this goal, he said adding that the State governments have a key role of play in this regard. He said he had personally written to all Chief Ministers to join this campaign.  

Delhi End TB Summit would be a landmark event towards the complete elimination of TB, the Prime Minister said. He said every step taken towards the eradication of this disease, is also linked to the betterment of the lives of the poor.

Mr Modi said frontline TB physicians and workers are a crucial part of the drive to eliminate TB. He said those patients who overcome this disease also inspire others.

Citing the examples of Mission Indradhanush and Swachh Bharat, to show how the Union Government is speeding up progress towards desired targets, he said the same would be done with TB.

The global summit has been organized by the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Tuberculosis is a highly infectious disease that kills 4.80 lakh people every year in the country. One-fifth of the world’s TB cases are reported from India. TB was responsible for 1.7 million deaths in 2016, despite most cases being curable. Over 10 million people contract TB every year. WHO South-East Asia Region, which hosts about one-fourth of the global population, shares a disproportionate 46% global TB disease burden. 

NEW DELHI: With about 1,400 start ups beginning operations nationally every year, the ability of people to connect, co-mingle and thrive on the energy of new ideas is feeding India’s start-up ecosystem.

Addressing the World Government Summit in Dubai this February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said: “We are creating an innovation ecosystem in India via the Start-up India Programme, India has become a start-up nation.’’

Echoing similar views, Mr. Modi told Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit last month that one-district, one-production would be backed the Centre’s Skill Indi, Start-up India and Stand-up India initiatives.

His message was clear that state government leadership, policies and taxes can be instrumental in shaping dynamics of start-up operations. Therefore, the presence of a positive socio-cultural environment with a wide choice of entertainment and lifestyle options is as important as business enablement and, in fact can prove to be the game changer between cities that make it and those left by the wayside.

Dwelling upon his government’s key programme of Start-Up India, the Prime Minister said: “Our programme is a comprehensive action plan to foster entrepreneurship and promote innovation. It aims to minimize the regulator burden and provide support to start-ups,’’ Mr. Modi had told the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in November last.

Referring to his government’s MUDRA scheme to provide easy finance of up to Rs. One million to entrepreneurs, Mr. Modi pointed out that more than 70 million loans have been sanction to women entrepreneurs alone.

State governments today are having to rely on, promote and foster an enabling environment, which has at its fundamental roots common social values. India’s mosaic of cultures, languages, beliefs and customs are already testimony to its historical ability to co-mingle. Yet amidst India’s economic transformation, explosion of entrepreneurial talent and growth MSMEs in the coming decades, cities and towns that exemplify all of this shall undoubtedly prosper as future centres of success.  

Bengaluru in Karnataka is an interesting example of a city which has offered an enabling environment to attract the most innovative start-ups as well as global giants investing in the State. Besides offering good infrastructural support to businesses, it is very interesting to see how Karnataka has built an entire cultural reputation around one of India’s most cosmopolitan and forward-looking cities.

In its attempt to establish itself as a world-class city, known today as India’s Silicon Valley as it is home to some of the world’s best known IT and software companies, Bengaluru has taken many positive steps to build its cultural reputation of being modern, global and energetic. As a city where professionals from across India and the world work and live, Bengaluru has also provided its residents with a modern and world-quality lifestyle. Its leisure and entertainment environment includes India’s first microbreweries, which have revolutionized  pub culture in the country.

India’s traditional tier one centres have catered to and cultivated start-ups across the e-commerce, technology, logistics, payments and retail spaces, and they shall continue to do so. Beyond their borders, however, regional start-ups are carving out their own niches. This is aided by state government initiatives, the availability of local high net-worth individual investors, talent and a supportive business ecosystem.

Start-ups in India, thriving on digitalisation, a millennial workforce and unbridled ambitions, are all searching for the ideal location. Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai have long led the start-up scene as India’s locations of preference and with good reason. Combined, they funnelled almost US$12.2 billion into start-ups in the first half of 2017 alone. Start-ups located there have also benefited from a strong pool of experienced and fresh talent. Yet smaller cities across India are also beginning to find their feet, and their start-ups. And it’s not just all about the money.

State governments today are having to rely on, promote and foster an enabling environment, which has at its fundamental roots common social values coupled with tolerance and respect. India’s mosaic of cultures, languages, beliefs and customs are already testimony to its historical ability to co-mingle. Yet amidst India’s economic transformation, explosion of entrepreneurial talent and growth MSMEs in the coming decades, cities and towns that exemplify all of this shall undoubtedly prosper as future centres of success.  

Addressing the second International Technology Summit last year, Union IT and Electronics, Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had pointed out that India has emerged as the third biggest start-up movement in the world and the best young brains were now creating jobs through start-ups.

Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, said that India was looking for  great mentors who can actually join hands to transform India. “The key to transforming India is if private and public sectors can work together,’’ he said while speaking to IIM alumni last year.

An enabling environment to attract innovative start-ups as well as getting investments from global giants are key pre-requisites for Start-up programme. Bengaluru in Karnataka has emerged as an interesting example of a city which offers good infrastructural support to businesses. It is interesting to see how Karnataka has built an entire cultural reputation around Bengaluru, one of India’s most cosmopolitan and forward-looking cities. This includes its openness around bar and pub culture, vibrant nightlife, shopping, cinemas et al.

In its attempt to establish itself as a world-class city, known today as India’s Silicon Valley as it is home to some of the world’s best known IT and software companies, Bengaluru has taken many positive steps to build its cultural reputation of being modern, global and energetic. As a city where professionals from across India and the world work and live, Bengaluru has also provided its residents with a modern and world-quality lifestyle. Its leisure and entertainment environment includes India’s first microbreweries, which have revolutionized  pub culture in the country.

India’s traditional tier one centres have catered to and cultivated start-ups across the e-commerce, technology, logistics, payments and retail spaces, and they shall continue to do so. Beyond their borders, however, regional start-ups are carving out their own niches. This is aided by state government initiatives, the availability of local high net-worth individual investors, talent and a supportive business ecosystem.

What will perhaps enable the most conducive environment for these ecosystems to grow will be the social and cultural openness of cities like Jaipur, Pune, Chennai and Vizag which are making their mark in fintech, SaaS, agritech and deep tech. Local issues and social impact initiatives are also finding fertile ground and government support. Chhattisgarh governmnent’s ‘Start-up Chhattisgarh’ programme  logged over 3,500 ideas last year to address local issues. It is just one example of how nearly two-thirds of all incubators in India are now in tier two and three cities.

The drive India is witness to from these once distant centres is not simply a matter of policy, space and money, however. Trends once ascribed to the millennial workforce are growing ever more cross-generational and pervasive. Across the spectrum, India is seeing a migration to resource access, not ownership (think Uber and Ola). Environmental awareness is growing, as is the importance given to well-being and social impact. It is, in a positive sense, the rise en masse of the motivated individual. 

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Delhi End TB Summit in the Capital on Tuesday to review ongoing efforts and accelerate action to reach 2030 End TB goal.

Building on the momentum being created globally to end tuberculosis, world’s top infectious killer disease, leaders from across the globe are converging here for an End TB Summit.

The summit next week will set the stage for the September 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB. For the first time TB will be discussed in the UN General Assembly at the Heads of State level. The UN high-level meeting is expected to endorse an ambitious set of goals to put the world on course to ending TB. Till date there have only been five UN high-level meeting devoted to health issues.

 Hosted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the World Health Organization and the Stop TB Partnership, the Delhi End TB Summit 2018 will be addressed by the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mr J P Nadda, and Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Chair of the Stop TB Partnership. 
 
The health ministers of a number of countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh, South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, Peru and Brazil are also expected to participate. 
 
TB was responsible for 1.7 million deaths in 2016, despite most cases being curable. Over 10 million people contract TB every year. WHO South-East Asia Region, which hosts about one-fourth of the global population, shares a disproportionate 46% global TB disease burden. 
 
The Delhi End TB Summit builds on the Delhi Call to Action adopted by Member countries of WHO South-East Asia Region in March 2017, and the WHO Global Ministerial Conference “Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response,” held in Moscow in November last year.

As part of next week’s summit, health ministers and programme heads from WHO South-East Asia Region will review accelerated efforts being made by countries since the adoption of Delhi Call to Action.  
 
Since then, countries in the Region have beefed up efforts to end TB.  India, which had set a 2025 target, is matching it up with increased funding and efforts to proactively detect and treat patients. Sri Lanka is also aiming at ending TB by 2025, a statement issued by WHO said.

Bhutan is focusing efforts at the sub-national level. Indonesia is moving towards universal use of rapid molecular tests to diagnose and treat missing TB cases. While Thailand has approved a strategic plan to significantly reduce TB incidence, Maldives recently launched its national strategic plan, the statement said. 
 
Stop TB Partnership is continuing its global, regional and country advocacy work in addition to the support offered to country programmes and partners towards a TB free world. 
 
On 14-15 March, the Stop TB Partnership will hold its board meeting, which is being hosted in India after 14 years, demonstrating the country’s resolve to fast-track efforts to end the killer disease. 

NEW DELHI: The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched new guidance on the role tobacco product regulation can play to reduce tobacco demand, save lives and raise revenues for health services to treat tobacco-related disease, in the context of comprehensive tobacco control.

A new guide, “Tobacco product regulation: Building laboratory testing capacity”, and a collection of country approaches to regulation of menthol, presented in the publication titled “Case studies for regulatory approaches to tobacco products – Menthol in tobacco products” were launched at the 2018 World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town, South Africa.

In a statement issued here, the WHO said many countries have developed advanced policies to reduce the demand for tobacco, which kills over 7 million people annually, but governments can do much more to implement regulations to control tobacco use, especially by exploiting tobacco product regulation.

Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO’s Director of the Department for the Prevention and Control of Non Communicable diseases (NCDs), said “The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), a global treaty established under the auspices of the WHO to combat the tobacco epidemic, has played a critical role in tobacco control. The launch of these important publications will further aid the implementation of Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO FCTC, contributing to building tobacco product regulation capacity in WHO Member States”.

He further said “Tobacco product regulation is an under-utilized tool which has a critical role to play in reducing tobacco use. The tobacco industry has enjoyed years of little or no regulation, mainly due to the complexity of tobacco product regulation and lack of appropriate guidance in this area. These new tools provide a useful resource to countries to either introduce or improve existing tobacco product regulation provisions and end the tobacco industry ‘reign’.”

Most countries hesitate to implement policies, due in part to the highly technical nature of such policy interventions and the difficulties in translating science into regulation, explains Dr Vinayak Prasad, who leads WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative.

“Failure to regulate represents a missed opportunity as tobacco product regulation, in the context of comprehensive control, is a valuable tool that complements other tried and tested tobacco control interventions, such as raising taxes, and ensuring smoke-free environments,” adds Dr Prasad.

“Tobacco product regulation: Building laboratory testing capacity” provides practical, stepwise approaches to implementing tobacco testing. Such guidance is relevant to a wide range of countries in various settings, including those with inadequate resources to establish a testing facility. This laboratory guide is a useful resource for countries, and provides regulators and policymakers with comprehensible information on how to test tobacco products, what products to test, and how to use testing data in a meaningful way to support regulation.

Further, it provides a step-by-step guide to developing a testing laboratory, using an existing internal laboratory, contracting an external laboratory, and making use of the available support mechanisms both within WHO and externally. This calls for country prioritization and commitment of resources to tobacco product regulation, as the guide equips regulators with the necessary tools to strengthen tobacco regulation capacity, especially in relation to Article 9 of the WHO FCTC.

The publication “Case studies for regulatory approaches to tobacco products – Menthol in tobacco products” complements the 2016 advisory note on menthol published by the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation, which set out the available evidence on prevalence and health effects of menthol in tobacco products, as well as evidence-based conclusions and recommendations for policy-makers and regulators on menthol in its various forms.

NEW DELHI: India’s direct acquisition of the French fighter jet Rafale is on schedule. The government-to-government deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 while on a visit to Paris and the agreement was signed in 2016. .  

The Rafale deal has come under cloud and evoked controversy as the Congress has alleged a scam in the mega deal to acquire fighter jets for the Indian Air Force which is faced with depleted squadrons of fighter aircraft. The previous UPA government had decided to go in for 126 Rafale jets but the NDA government slashed it to 36 aircraft. The Congress has demanded to know the exact price of each Rafale fighter jet.

The detailed  joint statement, released on Saturday after delegation level talks between India and France, noted that both Mr Modi and the visiting French President Emmanuel Macron were satisfied with the “on-schedule progress in the implementation of acquisition related agreement, including the Rafale aircraft agreement signed in 2016.’’

 India and France decided to take their strategic partnership to a new level by holding biennial summits between India’s Prime Minister and the President of France.

 The French President Macron who is on his maiden visit to India and Prime Minister Modi agreed to deepen, strengthen the bilateral ties based on shared principles and values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights. Mr. Macron is in India on a four-day visit at the invitation of Prime Minister  Modi.

 They also noted the commissioning of INS Kalvari, the first Scorpene submarine made in India by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd., in collaboration with Naval Group, the French shipbuilder.

 The two leaders looked forward to continue their discussions to expand and deepen the ongoing defence manufacturing partnerships. They acknowledged that the Make-in-India initiative offers a valuable opportunity for Indian and French defence enterprises to enter into arrangements for co-development and co-production of defence equipment in India, including through transfer of know-how and technologies to the mutual benefit of all parties.

 “In this context, the leaders welcomed various joint ventures between Indian and French companies and reaffirmed their commitment to facilitate the establishment of new ones. The leaders noted ongoing discussions between DRDO and SAFRAN on combat aircraft engine and encouraged necessary measures and forward looking approaches to facilitate early conclusion,’’ the joint statement said.

 The two leaders will also co-host the Founding Summit of the International Solar Alliance in the Capital on Sunday. At the bilateral talks at Hyderabad House, the leaders held wide ranging and constructive discussions and underlined the growing convergence between the two countries on regional and international issues. The India-France strategic partnership has completed two decades.

 The leaders welcomed the signing of the “Agreement between India and France regarding the Exchange and Reciprocal Protection of Classified or Protected Information” between the two countries, reflecting the high level of strategic trust between them. Both sides also agreed to create an annual defence dialogue at the ministerial level.

 Both Mr. Macron and Mr. Modi appreciated the deepening interactions in the maritime domain for enhanced cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region. In that context, they welcomed the “Joint Strategic Vision of India-France Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region”, as a guiding beacon for such partnership.

 Another key agreement inked between the two countries provides for reciprocal logistics support between their Armed Forces, which seeks to extend logistical support on reciprocal access to respective facilities for Indian and French armed forces. The agreement is symbolic of the strategic depth and maturity reached in India-France defence ties.

 The two leaders emphasized the importance of the regular joint military exercises. They welcomed the successful conduct of the Varuna naval exercise held in France in April 2017, and the Shakti army exercise held in France this January 2018.  Both sides look forward to the next Varuna naval in India in the coming weeks and to the next Garuda air force exercise in France in 2019. Both sides affirmed their intention to enhance the level of joint military exercises and maintain the operational quality-level of these exercises in the future.

 They reiterated their strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism and terror-related incidents in France and India. Both leaders also affirmed that terrorism cannot be justified on any grounds whatsoever it may be and it should not be associated with any religion, creed, nationality and ethnicity. Recalling the joint statement on terrorism adopted by the two countries in January 2016, the two leaders reaffirmed their strong determination to eliminate terrorism everywhere it is to be found. They agreed that more must be done by the international community to stem terrorism financing and welcomed the organization of an International Conference on Fighting Terrorism Financing in Paris in April 2018 by the French government.

 They also called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and their financing channels, and halting cross-border movement of terrorists like Al Qaeda, Daesh/ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammed, HizbulMujahideen, Lashkar-e-Tayabba, and their affiliates as well as terrorist groups threatening peace and security in South Asia and the Sahel region.

 The two leaders in addition to pursuing the excellent cooperation between the intervention forces (NSG-GIGN) and the investigation agencies of the two countries, agreed to enhance operational cooperation between the Indian and French counter-terrorism agencies and launch a new cooperation effort to prevent and fight radicalization, in particular online.

 Both Mr. Modi and Mr. Macron agreed to strengthen counter-terrorism in Multilateral Fora such as UN, GCTF, FATF and G20 etc. They called upon all UN member countries to implement the UNSC Resolution 1267 and other relevant resolutions designating terrorist entities. The leaders also agreed to work together on early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN.

 They welcomed the conclusion of an Agreement on Prevention of the Illicit Consumption of and Reduction of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Chemical Precursors between the two countries aimed at effective institutional interaction and curbing transnational narcotics trafficking including disruption of terrorist financing.

 In pursuance of the 2008 Agreement on the Development of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between India and France as well as the January 2016 roadmap of cooperation, they noted with satisfaction the conclusion of the Industrial Way Forward Agreement between NPCIL and EDF for the Implementation of six nuclear power reactor units at Jaitapur, Maharashtra, India.

 The two leaders reiterated the goal of commencing works at the Jaitapur site around the end of 2018, and encouraged NPCIL and EDF to accelerate the contractual discussions in that respect. Once installed, the Jaitapur project will be the largest nuclear power plant in the world, with a total capacity of  9.6 GW. It will contribute, in addition to renewable energy, to achieving India’s goal of 40% non-fossil energy by 2030.

 They welcomed the understanding shared by the two parties on the enforcement of India’s rules and regulations on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages applicable to the Jaitapur project.

 Building on the historical and formidable linkages in the arena of civilian space, the leaders welcomed the “India-France Joint Vision for Space Cooperation” which spells out the concrete areas of future cooperation in this field.

 Prime Minister Modi and President Macron appreciated the role of continuing people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and underscored the necessity of greater youth exchange programmes for promotion of understanding of each other’s cultures. They welcomed in this regard the launch of the “France-India Programme for the Future”, a French initiative aimed at fostering youth exchanges,which are vital for future growth of India-France ties.

The leaders noted with satisfaction the involvement of French companies in several new and ongoing manufacturing partnership projects in India.

Both sides noted with satisfaction the growth in bilateral trade during the recent period, and expressed their desire that this momentum be sustained with the aim of raising trade in goods to 15 billion euros by 2022. They encouraged SMEs and mid-cap companies to play a growing role in the economic and commercial exchanges between the two countries.

India and France recognized with satisfaction a vibrant educational cooperation within the Governmental framework and amongst Universities and academic institutes and encouraged them to increase the number and quality of student exchanges, with the aim of reaching 10,000 students by 2020. They welcomed the signing of an agreement for the mutual recognition of degrees, which will facilitate the pursuit of higher education by Indian students in France and French students in India and enhance their employability.

The two countries set the target of one million Indian tourists in France and 335,000 French tourists in India by 2020.

NEW DELHI: In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has legalised the right to die in dignity but laid down strict guidelines for it.

Pointing out that human beings have the right to die with dignity, the Supreme Court allowed passive euthanasia while also allowing an individual to draft a living will specifying that they not be put on life support if they slip into an terminal coma requiring life support in the future. In a ‘living will’, a person can make a statement in advance that their life should not be prolonged by putting them on a ventilator or an artificial support system.

The order was passed by a five-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan on a plea by an NGO ‘Common Cause’.

While the judges gave four separate opinions, all of them were unanimous that a ‘living will’ should be allowed, because an individual should not be allowed to continue suffering in a vegetative state when they do not wish to continue living.

However, strict guidelines have been put in place before executing such a will to ensure the provision is not misused. For this, the Apex Court said a medical board would determine whether the patient in a vegetative state could be revived or not. 

The SC said it was aware of the pitfalls in giving effect to ‘living wills’, considering the property disputes relatives have. Therefore, the SC said the relatives of a patient who has not written a ‘living will’ can approach high courts asking for passive euthanasia.

The NGO had approached the court seeking a direction for the recognition of a ‘living will’ and contended that when a medical expert said that a person afflicted with terminal disease had reached a point of no return, then they should be given the right to refuse being put on life support.

“Right to life includes right to die with dignity. A person cannot be forced to live on support of ventilator. Keeping a patient alive by artificial means against his/her wishes is an assault on his/her body,” the petition had said.

The Centre, however, had told the court that the government had in principle decided to decriminalise attempt to suicide which at present is an offence punishable by up to one year jail term under Section 309 of Indian Penal Code.

The death of 66-year-old nurse Aruna Shanbaug in 2015, had sparked a national debate over the legalisation of euthanasia. She had been sexually assaulted and left in a vegetative state for more than 40 years.

However, the elderly couple from Mumbai, who had also sought legalistation of active euthanasia, said they are not satisfied with the Supreme Court order. Narayan (88) and Iravati (78) do not suffer from any terminal ailment but are motivated by the will to die after having lived a satisfactory life. They also fear having to live without the other. 

The couple told ANI that the government should give the right to active euthanasia and assisted suicide to people above 75.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani welcomed the Supreme Court decision on passive euthanasia stating that he believes any individual who is very ill and unable to take care of himself should be allowed to make a decision on his life. “Anyone who is reduced to a life that is unlike that of a sentient being should be given the choice of deciding on his/her life. Any liberty that is given is liable to be misused. Care must be taken to ensure this does not happen by putting strict guidelines,” he said.

Passive Euthanasia was made legal in India under exceptional circumstances. On 7 March 2011 the Apex Court legalised passive euthanasia by means of the withdrawal of life support system to patients in a permanent vegetative state. This decision was made as part of the verdict in a case involving Aruna Shanbaug, who had been in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) until her death in 2015.

In March 2011, the Supreme Court passed a historic judgement-law permitting Passive Euthanasia in the country. This judgment was passed in wake of Pinki Virani’s plea to the highest court in December 2009 under the Constitutional provision of “Next Friend”. It’s a landmark law which places the power of choice in the hands of the individual, over government, medical or religious control which sees all suffering as “destiny”.

The Supreme Court specified two irreversible conditions to permit Passive Euthanasia Law in its 2011 Law: (I) The brain-dead for whom the ventilator can be switched off (II) Those in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) for whom the feed can be tapered out and pain-managing palliatives be added, according to laid-down international specifications.

The same judgement-law also asked for the scrapping of 309, the code which penalises those who survive suicide-attempts. In December 2014, government of India declared its intention to do so.

However, on 25 February 2014, a three-judge bench of Supreme Court of India had termed the judgment in the Aruna Shanbaug case to be’inconsistent in itself’ and has referred the issue of euthanasia to its five-judge Constitution bench.

NEW DELHI:  French President Emmanuel Macron who arrived here on Friday on his maiden visit to India after becoming President was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport.  

The French President is visiting India on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi who broke the protocol and drove to the airport to receive him. He will be in the country on a four-day visit. He is accompanied by his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron and a business delegation as well as government officials. 

“The visit of President Macron is aimed at strengthening the bilateral economic, political and strategic dimension of our engagement,” the Ministry of External Affairs had earlier said while announcing his visit. 

“The strategic partnership between India and France, established in 1998, is one of the most important and comprehensive bilateral engagements and is marked by intense and frequent high-level exchanges and deep political understanding”, the MEA said in the statement. 

India and France will continue to enhance and cooperate in the defence, maritime, space, security, and energy-related sectors. Other crucial issues of concern to both the sides include terrorism, climate change, sustainable growth and development, infrastructure, smart urbanisation, science and technology cooperation and youth exchanges.

Mr. Modi and Mr. Macron will also co-chair  the first conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA)

 Prime Minister Modi and his French counterpart will co-chair the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on March 11.

Formed at the initiative of Prime Minister Modi in January 2016, the ISA is an alliance of more than 121 countries. It aims at efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

The French President, accompanied by Mr. Modi, will also pay a visit to Varanasi, the holy city of India and parliamentary constituency of Mr. Modi, on March 12. 

NEW DELHI: Demolishing the Left Front bastion, the BJP on Saturday stormed to power in Tripura and it looked set to form coalition governments in alliance with regional parties in Nagaland and Meghalaya giving new contours to the political map of northeast India.  

The BJP along with its ally IPFT dislodged the Manik Sarkar government in Tripura, bagging an impressive two-thirds majority, a historic verdict in its favour. In Nagaland, the BJP and its ally NDPP appeared reaching close to the magic half-way number of 30 seats, while in Meghalaya a non-Congress dispensation could be cobbled together.

With the BJP governments already in place in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the far-flung North-East region has shown a tectonic shift to the saffron party. A visibly happy Prime Minister  Narendra Modi told party workers at the BJP headquarters here that his government had taken Delhi to the doorstep of the people of the North-East, ending their alienation from the seat of governance.

The BJP and its allies are already in power in 19 states across India and adding Tripura and Meghalaya will put NDA in the seat of power in 21 states. In Nagaland, the BJP was in power
in alliance with regional party NPF.

Dedicating the unprecedented victory of the BJP to the untiring efforts, toil and sacrifices of the party workers over the last one year in the CPI(M)-citadel of Tripura, Mr Modi said the people had reposed their faith and trust in the Lotus party through the ballot, braving the politics of intimidation and violence. The CPI(M) could win 16 seats in Tripura where it has ruled since 1978 barring a five-year period of Congress rule from 1988 to 1993.

Congress which emerged as the single largest party in Meghalaya deputed senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Kamal Nath to explore possibilities of putting up a coalition government with regional parties and independents.  

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the BJP will have “requisite numbers” to form a non-Congress government with the support of NPP and UDP in Meghalaya.

In a statement on the verdict in Tripura, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said it will lead to the formation of a BJP-IPFT alliance government in the state.  After 25 years in government, the Left Front has been voted out of office.


“The BJP has, apart from other factors, utilized massive deployment of money and other resources to influence the elections.  The BJP was able to consolidate all the anti-Left votes virtually appropriating the erstwhile main opposition party, the Congress,” the statement said.