by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved an ordinance that provides for death penalty to those convicted of raping a child below the age of 12 and life term for raping a girl below age of 16.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, approved at cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeks to provide effective deterrence against rape and instill a sense of security among women, particularly young girls in the country.
The government also decided to put in place a number of measures for speedy investigation and trial of rape cases including a two month time limit for investigation, two months for completion of trial and six months for disposal of appeals.
There will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years.
The Cabinet also decided to strengthen investigation and prosecution including setting up fast track courts, and special forensic labs in each state besides maintaining a national database of sexual offenders.
The ordinance came in the wake of a nation-wide outrage over rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, and other instances in different parts of the country including rape of a nine-year-old girl in Surat.
Sources said the government has taken a serious note of the rape incidents in the country and has decided on a comprehensive response to deal with the situation, with the ordinance approved in view of urgency and seriousness of the issue.
The ordinance seeks to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act by stringent provisions in case of rape of children and minors.
It provides that punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years will be minimum 20 years imprisonment or imprisonment for rest of life or with death.
Punishment for gang rape of a girl under 16 years of age will invariably be imprisonment for rest of life of the convict.
In case of gang rape of a girl below 12 years, punishment will be imprisonment for rest of life or death sentence.
The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.
In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which shall mean imprisonment till that person’s natural life.
The ordinance also provides that court has to give notice of 15 days to Public Prosecutor and the representative of the victim before deciding bail applications in case of rape of a girl under 16 years of age.
The Cabinet also approved a number of important measures in order to give effect to the legal provisions and to improve the capacity of criminal justice system to deal with rape cases.
As part of strengthening the courts and prosecution, new Fast Track Courts will be set up in consultation with states and union territories and high courts. New posts of public prosecutors will be created besides setting up related infrastructure in consultation with the states.
There will be dedicated manpower for investigation of rape cases in a time-bound manner. Police Stations and hospitals will be provided with special forensic kits for rape cases.
Special forensic labs will be set up in each state and union territory to deal exclusively with rape cases.
The measures will form part of a new mission mode project to be launched within three months.
As part of measures to strengthen the national database, the National Crime Records Bureau will maintain a national database and profile of sexual offenders, and this will be regularly shared with states and union territories for tracking, monitoring and investigation, including verification of antecedents by police.
The present scheme of One Stop Centres for assistance to victim to be extended to all districts in the country.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate Governance, Emerging Businesses, Employment, Investing, News, Politics
New Delhi : The new UK-India Tech Partnership agreed to during the bilateral meeting between visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Theresa May will help generate significant investment and create jobs, the British High Commission here said.
“An ambitious new UK-India Tech Partnership is expected to generate significant investment and support the creation of thousands of new jobs across the UK,” the High Commission said in a statement.
It said under the Partnership, Britain will establish a new UK-India Tech Partnership to identify and pair businesses, venture capital, universities and others to provide access routes to markets for British and Indian entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises.
“It follows on from the success of the UK-Israel Tech Hub which has generated £62 million worth of deals over the past five years, with a potential impact of 600 million pounds for the UK economy,” it stated.
“The most up-to-date figures show the UK exported 358 million pounds of digital services to India in 2015.”
According to the statement, based on these figures, the success of the UK-Israel Tech Hub and the size of the Indian economy, Britain believes this initiative could give its economy a significant boost.
It said the UK-India Tech Partnership is expected to contribute to an increase of thousands of tech jobs in the UK in the coming years.
“Our world-leading digital economy is booming, worth more than 116 billion pounds a year and employing more than two million people,” British Digital Secretary Matt Hancock said in the statement.
“We’re determined to see this incredible success continue, and this ambitious UK-India Tech Partnership will bring together some of the best minds working in tech to unlock its future potential and deliver high-skilled jobs and economic growth in both countries.”
According to the High Commission statement, Britain will initially invest 1 million pounds to pilot the approach and potentially up to a further 13 million pounds by 2022.
“To build the network the government will engage in-country experts to work with the British High Commission in New Delhi, the Indian government and the private sector in order to increase tech investment, exports and research and development,” it said
It also said that smaller regional teams will link specific cities and regions in India and Britain.
“The Partnership will encourage innovation and productivity by helping businesses in the UK and India collaborate on emerging technologies, develop mentoring relationships and exchange staff,” the statement said.
“The regional teams will also ensure the impact is felt across the breadth of both nations’ expansive tech sectors, and that successful approaches adopted in one region can be shared and adopted in others.”
Initially the pilot will connect Britain with Pune in Maharashtra, focussing on the Future of Mobility, including low emission and autonomous vehicles, battery storage and vehicle light-weighting. Additional connections will be linked to Bengaluru with a focus on augmented and virtual reality, advanced materials and artificial intelligence.
If it is as successful as expected, the Partnership can be scaled up to bring in more regions of Britain and India which share expertise in the relevant fields.
In parallel, Britain and India’s tech trade associations TechUK and Nasscom will work together through a new UK-India Tech Alliance, bringing senior tech leaders together to collaborate, help develop policy and encourage innovation, according to the statement.
“This is an incredibly important partnership and something tech businesses from both countries have been driving for. The UK and India are leaders in the development and use of digital tech, and there is a huge amount we can learn from each other and big opportunities to join forces in innovation,” Julian David, CEO of techUK, said in the statement
“This is an incredibly important partnership and something tech businesses from both countries have been driving for. The UK and India are leaders in the development and use of digital tech, and there is a huge amount we can learn from each other and big opportunities to join forces in innovation,” David said.
“India is also a key strategic partner for the UK with world-class digital skills. Deepening our engagement will open up opportunities for business in both countries and help ensure we maximise the benefits of technology for our societies and citizens.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Events, News, Politics, Social Round-up
Stockholm : Aiming to build a win-win partnership through Sweden making use of the opportunities offered by India’s development programmes, the two countries on Tuesday signed a Joint Action Plan and an Innovation Partnership following a bilateral summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven here.
Jointly addressing the media here along with Lofven after the talks, Modi said that Sweden has been a strong contributor to the Make in India programme from the beginning and recalled that the Swedish Prime Minister himself led a big business delegation to the Make in India summit in Mumbai in 2016.
“The main theme of our discussions today was how to develop a win-win partnership between Sweden and India through the opportunities offered by India’s development programmes,” Modi said. “As a result, we agreed to a Joint Action Plan and an Innovation Partnership.”
Stating that innovation, investment, start-ups, manufacturing were among the main areas of cooperation between the two countries, he said that attention was also paid on renewable energy, urban transport and waste management to improve the quality of life of the Indian people.
“Defence and security is an important pillar of our bilateral reltionship,” Modi said.
“Sweden has been partner of India in defence sector for a long time. I am confident that new opportunities for cooperation in this sector will arise in the future, especially in defence production.”
Stating that Sweden is an important partner of India for defence and security, the Indian Prime Minister said that there will be new opportunities for defence production in the future.
According to Modi both sides also agreed to further strengthen security, especially cyber security cooperation.
“One more thing that we have agreed upon is that the importance of our relationship should be reflected at the regional and global levels,” he said. “We have been been closely cooperating on the international platform and this will continue.”
Modi also said developments in Europe and Asia also came up for detailed discussion during the bilateral summit
On his part, Lofven said that he believed that Sweden and India make a perfect match.
Stating that India is undergoing an unprecedented economic transformation, he said that Sweden has a lot of innovative solutions to offer in this connection.
“I am very pleased to announce that the Swedish government will kick start our Innovation Partnership by providing up to 50 million Swedish kronor (Over $59 million) for innovation cooperation with India in the field of smart cities and sustainability,” Lofven said.
Earlier in the day, Modi called on Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at the Royal Palace here and the two leaders exchanged views on strengthening bilateral cooperation.
This apart, Modi and Lofven will attend a round table of Swedish CEOs.
India and Sweden will on Tuesday also co-host the first ever India-Nordic Summit, where, apart from Modi and Lofven, the Prime Ministers of the other four Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway will also be present.
Modi will hold separate bilateral meetings with the leaders of the other four Nordic countries on the sidelines of the summit.
The Indian Prime Minister arrived here on Monday evening on the first leg of his three-nation tour of Europe that will also see him going to Britain and Germany.
This is the first prime ministerial visit from India to Sweden in 30 years after that by Rajiv Gandhi in 1988.
After attending an Indian community event here late on Tuesday night, Modi will depart for London on the second leg of his tour.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New York : Sharply criticising Prime Minister Narendra’s silence over rape cases in India, the New York Times in an editorial on Tuesday said such and other violent incidents were part of “an organized and systematic campaign by nationalist forces” to terrorise women, Muslims and Dalits in the country.
The editorial titled “Silence as Women Are Attacked” appeared on in the New York edition of the daily, reminding how Modi tweets “frequently and considers himself a talented orator”.
“Yet he loses his voice when it comes to speaking out about the dangers faced by women and minorities who are frequent targets of the nationalist and communal forces that are part of the base of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,” said the Times.
It recalled how on Friday, Modi said the rape cases had brought shame on the country and that “our daughters will definitely get justice”.
“But his remarks ring hollow because he waited so long to talk about the cases and spoke in broad generalities — describing the crimes as ‘incidents being discussed since past two days’.”
The daily accused the Prime Minister of taking a similar approach in the past when addressing cases in which vigilante groups affiliated with his political movement attacked and killed Muslims and Dalits, falsely accused of killing cows.
There was a widespread public outrage as people across the country protested against rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in January in Jammu and Kashmir and rape of a teenager in Uttar Pradesh.
The Prime Minister, however, has not directly spoken about the crimes and other cases involving supporters of the BJP.
Modi has also not talked about a rape accusation against a ruling BJP lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh.
“Modi’s silence is as perplexing as it is distressing,” the Times said, adding he seemed to have failed to learn the lesson of the Congress that did not forcefully respond to protests in late 2012 and early 2013 after a young woman was raped and killed on a public bus in New Delhi.
“The BJP won the elections in large part because Modi promised to make the government more responsive to the needs of Indians who were left behind by a government dogged by corruption scandals and widely considered rudderless.
“Instead, he has exhibited a pattern of silence and deflection that is deeply worrying to anybody who cares about the health of the world’s largest democracy.”
The Times editorial said Modi could not be expected to discuss every crime committed by someone who supports him.
“But these cases are not isolated or random examples of violence. They are part of an organized and systematic campaign by nationalist forces that want to terrorise women, Muslims, Dalits and other underprivileged citizens.
“The Prime Minister has a duty to safeguard and fight for all of the people of India, not just those who are allied with him politically.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Events, News, Politics, Social Round-up
By Aroonim Bhuyan,
New Delhi : When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Sweden and England from April 16 to 20, during the course of which he will participate in the first ever India-Nordic Summit and this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), cooperation in the areas of innovation, technology and education will top his agenda.
Modi will reach Stockholm on April 16 evening in what will be the first prime ministerial visit from India to Sweden in 30 years since the visit of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1988.
On April 17, Modi and his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven will hold a bilateral summit during which bilateral, regional and global issues are expected to figure.
According to Sweden’s Ambassador to India Klas Molin, innovation is an important aspect of the India-Sweden relationship.
“How do we cooperate further, how do we get our best and the brightest people together, how do we also perhaps think about funding certain areas, how do we go into areas where we can cooperate even more and develop new technologies, create employment and sustainable solutions on a number of issues,” he said.
During Modi’s visit, an India-Sweden Innovation Partnership is also expected to be launched.
“I think it is something we are discussing with the Indian side but exactly how this will look, of course, will have to be finalised,” the ambassador said.
“But I think it is a way of focusing our attention on both sides to create a platform that, in turn, can attract investments, that can attract companies to plug in.”
With education being another sector in which the two sides are expected to forge deeper ties, Molin said “we are hoping to increase exchanges between our universities”.
“Student exchanges… graduates, doctorate and post-doctorate. The sky is the limit here,” he said.
On bilateral economic relations, the Ambassador said that trade is growing on both sides “and quite impressively so”.
Though bilateral trade dipped to $1.9 billion in 2016-17 from $2.17 billion, both countries have set a lofty total trade target of $5 billion.
There are over 170 Swedish companies in India that have invested $1.4 billion since 2000 while 70 Indian companies have established their presence in Sweden.
On April 17, India and Sweden will also co-host the first ever India-Nordic Summit, where, apart from Modi and Lofven, the Prime Ministers of the other four Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway will also be present.
Molin said that Nordic countries are close as neighbours and cooperate very closely in a number of issues.
“But we are not a political entity in that way,” he said. “It’s not like the EU, it’s not a regional organisation in any way. It’s a convenient forum.”
According to Subrata Bhattacharjee, Joint Secretary (Central Europe) in the Ministry of External Affairs, the Nordic region represents a prosperous society with high incomes and a strong focus on quality and innovation.”
“For India, Nordic countries are a potential source for clean technology, environmental solutions, port modernisation, cold chain, skill development, innovation etc.,” Bhattacharjee said at a media briefing here in connection with the upcoming visit.
According to figures provided by the External Affairs Ministry, India’s trade with the Nordic countries totaled around $5.3 billion in 2016-17, with cumulative foreign direct investment in India at $2.5 billion.
From Sweden, Modi will leave for Britain on April 17 evening. This is the third exchange of prime ministerial visits after Modi’s visit to Britain in November 2015 and British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to India in November 2016, her first outside the European Union after assuming office.
At a separate media briefing here, British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith said the visit comes at a time when the bilateral relationship is in “very, very good health”.
Modi’s visit to Britain this time has been themed “Living bridge and tech partnership”. Modi and May are scheduled to hold a bilateral summit on April 18.
Stating that trade between the two countries increased by 15 per cent in the last one year, Asquith said that it is “remarkably balanced” in terms of trade in goods and services.
In terms of finance, he said the London Stock Exchange is playing an increasingly important role as a place to raise money to meet India’s huge infrastructure requirements.
In terms of investments, he said that while Britain is the largest investor in India among the G20 countries, India is the fourth largest investor in Britain.
“Then what will be very much a focal point is the technology partnership between the two countries,” he said. “The complementaries, strengths that each of us have and they are truly complementary.”
Asquith said that both sides will look into putting more resources in this sector in areas like digital aspect of technology, collaboration, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and data protection and the fintech that goes with that among others.
According to K. Nagaraj Naidu, Joint Secretary (Europe West), both sides are looking at announcing an India-UK Tech Alliance which will comprise young CEOs from both the countries who have done exceptionally well in the tech space.
In terms of cooperation in education, Asquith said that there was a 30 per cent rise in the number of student visas issued by his country to Indians last year.
Stating that 14,000 Indian students go to Britain for masters degree programme every year, he added that “we want to build on that”.
Regarding this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which Modi will attend in London on April 19-20, the High Commissioner said that around 50 heads of state and government will be present.
The agenda, he said, will include climate change, vulnerability of small island nations, peacekeeping and helping poorer countries.
(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in )
—IANS
