by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Lt. General (retd) D.S. Hooda
By Mohd Asim Khan,
New Delhi : Cyber warfare is emerging as a grave threat with a potential to wreak havoc in a war situation, but India is not yet prepared to handle it effectively, a former Indian Army general has said.
“We have been alive to the (cyber) threat for some time, but the nature of the threat is expanding quite rapidly. With Internet of Things (IoT) and everything around our life getting interconnected, we suddenly realise the potential of the threat to be enormous. In preparation we are still lacking a bit as the organisational structures that are needed to counter this are not in place,” Lt. General (retd) D.S. Hooda told IANS in an interview.
Hooda, who specialises in the field, said that with critical infrastructure and military installations getting connected through the internet, the threat of cyber attacks was becoming increasingly lethal and that an emerging India was particularly at risk of such attacks.
Calling cyber warfare the “fifth dimension” of war — after land, water, air and space — Hooda said that India was ranked third in terms of facing threats of cyber warfare but was at 23rd position when it comes to preparedness to deal with them.
“Since India is growing economically, diplomatically and politically, people will target us. It’s the weapon of weaker nations against stronger nations. I see no reason why Pakistan would hesitate to use it against us,” said Hooda, who was the architect of the famous surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016 as the Northern Army Command chief.
He said there had not been enough discussion and debate on the strategic aspect of cyber warfare, otherwise an integrated cyber command would have been in place by now.
But how damaging can a cyber war be?
“Well, a lot of people say that so many cyber attacks have already happened yet not a single person has been killed. But I think that has got to do with intentions. In these attacks, so far, the intent was not to do that (kill people), but the capability definitely exists,” Hooda said.
“If you get into infrastructure, for example, related to dams, and you are able to flood some areas, or you get into the command control networks… there is talk that the Americans did get into the North Korean missile programme and managed to do some damage to that. So I think the potential exists for what you can do with it because our lives are so interconnected now,” he said.
“It can actually impact each sphere of your life. So rather than saying that it has not happened till now, I think what we should look at is whether the capability of kinetic damage to human life exists, and I think it does exist right now,” Hooda said.
He said the more we get interconnected, the more risk we face.
What are the various aspects of cyber warfare? Hooda said that in such attacks normally weaker, hostile countries are involved and they carry out targeted attacks on critical infrastructure or military installations of the rival country, including spreading disinformation to create societal unrest.
“The example of this you saw in the US elections when social media was used to influence the voters. Whether that actually happened or not is a matter of investigation. When you combine all this, that’s why we are now defining cyber as the fifth dimension of warfare. After air, land, sea and space, now you see cyber warfare becoming an integral component of the overall war,” Hooda said.
“See what happened between Russia and Ukraine. Twice the Russians got into the power grid of Ukraine and shut down the power supply to thousand of households. It happened in Estonia in 2007. So this is what we are talking about when we say cyber warfare,” he added.
He said that, earlier, the defence establishment looked at this in a “limited way”, something confined to, say, the communication system.
“Then we suddenly saw that more and more critical infrastructure had started to get connected to the internet. You heard about cyber command and how the British have put up such a command structure in place. For some reason, there has been a lot of delay. I hope this defence cyber agency comes through. But unless you have structures in place to be able to deal with this threat we are going to be found wanting in case of a serious cyber attack,” Hooda said.
Asked if we have ever attacked Pakistan in the cyber space, the general just smiled and said: “These are classified intelligence operations. So I will not comment on that. All I can tell you is that, yes, we have the capability.”
(Asim Khan can be reached on mohd.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Success Stories
Imtiaz Qureshi
By Siddhi Jain,
New Delhi : What began as a nine-year-old’s venture at Krishna Caterers about eight decades ago in the city of Nawabs turned into an awe-inspiring, lifelong affair with cuisine. Imtiaz Qureshi, a widely admired and adored figure in the Indian culinary space, has served lip-smacking delicacies to several heads of state and government, and other luminaries.
The 87-year-old chef, in an interview to IANS, revealed that he took the culinary plunge at a very early age. Reminiscent of all things synonymous with the bygone era, the times that Qureshi was growing up in were very different from the fast-paced lifestyle of today. He comes from a family of Lucknowi chefs and was brought up amid intense fondness for Indian cuisine.
“Jis zamane mein humne aur humare baap dadao ne kaam shuru kiya, us zamane mein shaadiya five star mein nahi hoti thi. Baarat ghar pe aati thi, chaahe voh jhopde ke andar ho ya mahal ke andar. Tent shamiyane, tamboo yahi lagte the, aur ussi maidan mein khana bhi banta tha,” he recalled, pointing out that there were no five star hotels during those days and marriages used to be held at homes, whether it was a hut or a palace.
And food — for all intents and purposes– is central to Indian marriages. So here was young Qureshi cooking at Krishna Caterers in Lucknow, hopping from one marriage to another and charming the appetite of his customers.
His salary was barely Rs 100 but the young lad had little to bother for one could buy a complete meal at just one or two rupees during those days. “Even after spending a significant amount of money to buy a meal for just one person, there is little satisfaction to one’s taste buds today,” he lamented.
But destiny had greater plans for the chef-in-the-making. As it turned out, Krishna Caterers used to serve food to the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Chandra Bhanu Gupta, who served three terms.
What followed is vividly scripted in his memory. One introduction led to the next and, along the journey, Qureshi began scaling heights in the culinary world, reviving a taste for regal dishes.
His name would soon be at the tip of the tongues of influential political leaders.
“When I worked for Krishna Caterers in Lucknow, Jawaharlal sahab (former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru) used to frequent Uttar Pradesh a lot. We were hired to serve him,” he said.
Taking us back into the dining room of Chandra Bhanu Gupta, he recalled that once during Nehru’s visit, he was instructed to prepare a vegetarian meal for him, President Zakir Hussain and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The then young chef racked his brains and cooked vegetarian dishes, which, at least in appearance and odour, resembled the opposite. Bottle gourd and jackfruit was used to prepare dishes which looked like “fish musallam” and “murgh musallam”.
“When the table was set, Nehruji read the menu aloud and exclaimed about the ‘daawat’ (feast). There was a moment of panic and I was summoned, when I spilled the beans about the trick, leading to a good laugh about my ‘gustaakhi’ (mischief),” the maven quipped.
Qureshi, a retired grand master chef at ITC Hotels, is primarily known for reinventing “Dum Pukht” and “Dal Bukhara”.
Elaborating, he said that the former, a process of slow-cooking in a sealed “handi”, is something that needed research to be revived, requiring him to even pore over old Urdu manuscripts for the recipes, while the latter, another slow-cooking process, allows ingredients to simmer over coal fires for hours at a stretch.
The taste of dishes prepared by these methods has millions of fans but the experience of serving nawabs, maharajas, presidents and prime ministers is something not every chef gets. It has indeed been an incredible journey for Qureshi, who today sports a long moustache, complimenting his full, grey beard.
The chef, a recipient of the Padma Shri, will be the chief guest for the upcoming Hotels, Restaurants and Catering (HRC) Expo 2018, scheduled to take place from August 31 to September 2 in Bengaluru.
The HRC Expo will comprise competitions like “Individual Cold Display”, “Plated Appetizers”, “Artistic Bakery Showpiece”, “Butter Margarine Sculptures”, and “Battle of Biryani”, among others. Panel discussions featuring eminent chefs will be a key highlight of the Expo.
His stint with the ITC group of hotels began in 1977. He was encouraged to research forgotten recipes from the Mughal era. For several years that followed, Qureshi worked on perfecting such recipes. He retired as the Grand Master chef at ITC in February 2017.
(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Stellan Skarsgard
By Sugandha Rawal,
New Delhi : Stellan Skarsgard doesn’t want to enter the political world thanks to US President Donald Trump. The Swedish actor, who has been part of films like “Good Will Hunting”, “Thor”, “Avengers” and “Mamma Mia!”, says politicians unite people for all the wrong reasons.
He feels there is a wave of religious nationalism around the world, and that it will lead to more bloodshed.
Skarsgard has always been vocal about everything, including politics. He has said on several occasions that his perspective about the world changed after reading the Bible and the Quran after the 9/11 tragedy.
“For decades since the Second World War, the West had become a developed democracy… developed an idea that everybody is equal, values of humanism and tolerance. Now, in the last 10 years, there has been a backlash… And there is religious nationalism all over the world,” Skarsgard told IANS over the phone from Scotland.
“I believe everybody should have the right to have their own religion. But that doesn’t mean that they should forget everybody else’s right to have their own religion… The idea of nationalism is excluding, not including.”
Skarsgard pointed out that “nationalism and religion are always used by strong politicians to unite people for the wrong reasons”.
Skarsgard looked back at the time when work brought him to India, and he saw a world embracing diversity in its true sense.
“When I was working in Mumbai, it was in the 1980s… What I loved about the city and India was that it was not very violent. You could walk in the middle of the night and didn’t have to fear of getting attacked or robbed or anything.
“There were a multitude of different approaches of religion and approaches of life and they were all tolerated. And I must say that the current religious nationalism is encouraging the opposite. They are encouraging fight and there has been a lot of bloodshed and more will come.”
As a child, Skarsgard wanted to become a diplomat and travel the world with the message of harmony and peace. But instead found his way into showbiz and went on to do iconic roles like Jan Nyman in “Breaking the Waves”, Professor Gerald Lambeau in “Good Will Hunting”, Bootstrap Bill Turner in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, Bill Anderson in “Mamma Mia!”, Dr. Erik Selvig in the “Thor” and “The Avengers” franchise.
The actor turned 67 last month. Indian channel Sony Pix had a special screening session and aired some of his iconic films as part of the birthday celebrations.
Does he think he is spreading the message of peace as an actor?
“No, I don’t… I wanted to become a diplomat as a child and I thought it would be a great idea… I don’t believe actors have the power to change reality.”
For a lot of fans, Skarsgard, who has dabbled in all the mediums — be it films or small screen or theatre — will be an inspiring politician. But he wants to stay away from politics.
“No, because in this, if I know more about the world than Trump, then I don’t know enough.”
His opinions have created trouble for him in the past, but that doesn’t deter him from calling a spade a spade.
Recalling an incident, he said: “I always say what I have on my mind. And it is not always appreciated. I did an American horror film and on the premiere at the red carpet somebody asked me ‘What scares you?’, and it was at the time of George W. Bush. I said the reign of this country scares me and that had repercussions… But you still have to express (yourself).”
On the work front, he will soon be seen in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”, “Music, War and Love”, “Out Stealing Horses”, “Chernobyl” and “The Painted Bird”.
(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
T.M. Thomas Isaac
By Shreehari Paliath,
Mumbai : The 15th Finance Commission was asked to use the 2011 population census for deciding states’ share of central taxes. This may mean that states with higher populations will receive more central funds.
The decision has turned into a political controversy because it meant that the southern states — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala — would see a fall in their share of central taxes. In these states, progressive health and education measures ensured the population fell four percentage points to 21 per cent of the national population in 2011 from 25 per cent in 1971. In comparison, the population of northern states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — rose from 33 per cent in 1971 to 37 per cent in 2011.
T.M. Thomas Isaac, 66, Minister for Finance in Kerala’s Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, has been campaigning against the decision ever since it was announced. He believes its implementation would lead to financial disruption in the states. He also warned of a political fallout.
Isaac is also upset with the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST). Though the collections are high, states have not benefited from the bounty, he said. In an interview with IndiaSpend, Isaac discusses all these concerns and more.
Q: Although you’ve maintained that Kerala, as a consumer state, would benefit from GST, you have also expressed dismay at its implementation and the tax returns that Kerala has been receiving. What is the precise problem?
A: Since the introduction of the e-way (electronic way) bill, our checkposts have not been functional, leading to leakage of inter-state trade. This has badly affected Kerala’s revenue where nearly 80 per cent of commodities are brought in from outside the state. The return form [to file GST returns] is yet to be finalised. The 3B form [filed by everyone registered under GST] is only a summary statement of the voluntary declaration by the merchant. There is no way that we can check the veracity of input credit as some of the data is not available. Further, in order to scrutinise data, we do not want the annual return [of GST] to be postponed any further. All of this is affecting the collection of GST. The benefits that we were expecting in terms of revenue are yet to come.
Q: What are the presumed benefits of the GST, and have these been realised yet?
A: Taxes have reduced sharply, but this is not reflected in the prices. Very few commodities have seen a reduction in prices. It was a gain for corporates, while ordinary people did not benefit as much. The small-scale sector was hit partly because their excise exemption had to be given up. Then, there are region-specific problems. The present GST does not permit any kind of regional independence. Everything must be confirmed by the GST Council. Overall, we are yet to accrue the benefits of the decisions. I’m optimistic that things will improve, but, so far it is gloomy.
Q: You had said the attempt to implement the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act — it seeks to set targets for the government to reduce fiscal deficits — without consulting states and the move to limit the borrowing power of states is a challenge to their financial independence. How do you foresee the future for state governments?
A: Many policymakers at the Centre seem to be obsessed with the country’s [credit] ratings. To improve the ratings, they want the fiscal deficit ratio to be reduced so that there is fund flow from outside. I believe that the state governments play an important role in development, especially in welfare and social and economic infrastructure. So, they [Centre] are taking the easy route by asking us to reduce the deficit. It is preposterous. We can’t accept that this must done for the benefit of some foreign power. This cannot be done by using the FRBM Act to bring down the fiscal deficit ratio. Since 2008, the Centre has a real deficit of around four per cent. Even if you consider it to be 3.5 per cent, it camouflages the figure. For example, the states deserve half of the estimated Rs 150,000 crore in the integrated GST. But they [Centre] have put it in their kitty to claim a lower fiscal deficit ratio. If they want to rein in states, why have state governments?
Q: The details of the 15th Finance Commission stated that the 2011 population census would be used to consider allocations. What do you think of this?
A: We are not against the Finance Commission. All we are demanding is that the it be allowed to perform its constitutional duty. The Centre must not micro-manage it or the details by adding [clauses] that tax devolution must be curtailed, borrowing power must be made conditional, etc. These are not aspects to be put here. Every state’s share cannot rise, no matter what formula is used. It will vary. Let us create a rule that this variation is contained in a narrow band such that the finances of the state are not disrupted.
At present, Kerala receives 2.5 per cent of the central tax revenue. It would receive less than two per cent if it is assumed that the 2011 population census is used. If there is mechanical acceptance of the details of the commission, there is a danger of [financial] disruption at the state level. We want to avoid it. I want to make it clear that we will not accept any decision that undermines the state’s fiscal domain… If anything of the nature happens, I am certain there will be a serious political fallout.
Q: The latest NITI Aayog health index has placed Kerala among the best performers. If the index is used to fix incentives from the Centre in terms of money, infrastructure, technology and so on to reduce last-mile development problems, do you fear that a top performing state like Kerala would lose out?
A: Some of the states are [performing] much above the national average. But these achievements have raised many second-generation problems which require expenditure intervention by the government. For example, due to universal education everyone aspires to receive quality education which demands huge state resources. We are seeing an increase in lifestyle diseases which require investments in speciality care.
Development does not mean that the expenditure requirements have reduced. At the same time, we must ensure that there is a minimum level of service across the country. No one can deny the need to transfer resources from developed regions to under-developed regions. I accept that. But, it must be done with a sense of proportion and must not disrupt the development process keeping in mind that it needs substantial resources.
Q: In your budget speech, you proposed resource mobilisation for a comprehensive healthcare scheme using lotteries run by the directorate. The revenue receipt for lotteries is Rs 11,110 crore (budget estimate for 2018-19) and expenditure, Rs 7,874 crore. Will the government utilise the profit to include all beneficiaries in the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and the new National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)?
A: From what I understand, all households will not be covered in the new NPHS programme. We want to cover those left out too. A proportion of the households in the state are covered by employee and pensioners health programmes while the rest must be brought under health coverage. We do not want to just use an insurance programme. In Kerala, the public health system’s very important. Unlike the rest of India, we have a wide chain of government-run hospitals where service is provided. We want to link this programme to our public health system to handle the demand.
We are investing close to Rs 5,000 crore in the health sector hiring doctors, nurses and paramedics to handle the demand that we foresee, including speciality health services. We intend to provide people access and assured treatment at accredited and government hospitals. This would require a substantial premium which will be provided through the lottery. The only justification for the lottery is that the profit will go into a social good. Through the lottery we are trying to tell people in Kerala that you can try your luck, but if you do not win, consider the investment a donation to the health sector. We expect to roll it out this financial year.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform, with whom Shreehari Paliath is an analyst with IndiaSpend. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. Feedback at respond@indiaspend.org)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Interviews
Gopal Vittal
By Aparajita Gupta,
Gurugram : With fierce ongoing battle in the telecom sector, which is making telecom companies’ balance sheet bleed, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel feels that pricing level and ARPU have reached rock bottom and now can only move up.
“I think we have hit the bottom in terms of ARPUs (average revenue per user) and pricing. I think both have to lift from here and given this industry structure it will lift. At the end of the day, we want a profitable and sustainable market share,” Vittal told IANS in an interview here on Tuesday.
The company’s ARPU as of March quarter was at Rs 116.
The telecom services provider, which is present in 15 African countries also plans to launch its initial public offering (IPO) by 2019. “We are looking at an IPO in Africa…full Africa as a whole. We haven’t decided on the bourse yet,” he said.
He said the Indian telecom sector, which was an eight-player market some time back, has now rapidly converged to become a three to four payer market including BSNL.
“We have 1.3 billion customers to serve and there are three private players. You can’t ask for better industry structure than this. At present, Vodafone-Idea has 39-40 per cent of revenue market share, Airtel 33 per cent and Jio little over 20 per cent. In my view, in not so distant future you will have three equal-sized players.”
Asked about its strategy to stay ahead in this highly competitive sector, Vittal said: “Our vision is to use the network to enrich the lives of our customers. There are three big strategic pillars. First pillar is strengthening our networks. We have invested Rs 24,000 crore in 2017-18 and same figure we are investing this year. We have tripled our network footprint. We are putting in a lot of investment in home broadband. We are also investing in automation network.”
Second pillar is simplification and digitisation. “Our calls in the call centres have fallen by 60-70 per cent,” he said.
Airtel has created the “home platform” for converged billing across mobile, direct-to-home (DTH) and home broadband. “We have launched it in Andhra Pradesh and we are taking it national this quarter.”
He said the third leg of strategy was to use the customer base of 300 million to build “a suite of digital services and non-wireless services.”
In the digital services area, the company is building “digital brain” platform called Customer 360 and this is going to be the repository of all information of customers and intelligence about them. It will help offer the right mix to the right customer.
Airtel had been the front-runner in 4G technology in the country. Asked about the company’s plan in 5G, Vittal said: “We are keen to get the ecosystem going. We are keeping our eyes and ears open. We would love to participate in the auction of 5G spectrum as and when the eco-system is ready.”
Saying that 5G is a different type of technology, Vittal added that it will change the world. “It gives better speed, but beyond the point of smartphones, you don’t need more speeds. It gives lower latency, which is needed for robotics surgery and driverless cars. We have done (5G) trials in our labs in Manesar. We have seen the power of what it can actually do,” he said.
Talking about Airtel Payments Bank that ran into rough weather due to some Aadhaar-related e-KYC issues, Vittal said the role of the bank was to serve India well, to foster financial inclusion.
“The bank had started off very well, but we got into regulatory issues. We are working very closely with authorities (RBI and UIDAI) and hopefully this will be back to business soon and start acquiring customers. Right now have 30 million customers in the bank and the wallet. Operation is continuing for existing customers, but we are not acquiring new customers,” Vittal said.
Regarding the rising concerns about privacy issues across the globe, Vittal said telcos around the world respect privacy because customers trust telcos with everything about their data. “It is in our business model to respect privacy,” he added.
(Aparajita Gupta can be contacted at aparajita.g@ians.in)
—IANS
