by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology, World
By Nishant Arora,
Sydney : Three Indian teams are among the 12 finalists who will vie for the top slot in the Microsoft Imagine Cup Asia Regional Semifinals here and move one step closer to win the grand prize of $100,000 at the world championship in the US.
First place at the Asia competition will secure $15,000 and a spot in the world championship to be able to win the grand price of $100,000 at Microsoft’s Redmond-based headquarters later this year, while the first runners-up will get $5,000 and the second runners-up $1,000.
The team from Faridabad-based Manav Rachna Institute of Research and Studies has developed “Caeli” — a smart automated anti-pollution and drug delivery mask specifically designed for asthmatic and chronic respiratory patients.
Caeli implements breakthrough features to improve the quality of life for respiratory patients living in polluted areas like in north India and especially in the Delhi-NCR region.
The team from Tamil Nadu-based Vellore Institute of Technology has designed “Spot” which allows you to recognise packaged foods and check if it contains a certain ingredient or exhibits a certain character.
The third team from Bengaluru-based R.V. College of Engineering has designed “RVSAFE”, a one-stop solution for effectively handling any kind of disasters be it natural or man-made.
Disasters leave behind a trail of destruction, adversely affecting human life, and property.
The loss caused by disasters can be significantly reduced with better communication and proper management.
Considered as the “Olympics of Technology”, Imagine Cup is a global annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft.
Over the past 10 years, more than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in the “Imagine Cup”.
In addition to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain and Machine Learning (ML) have been key technologies that students focused on for the competition.
Last year, “Team DrugSafe” project from R.V. College of Engineering won the award under the Big Data category at the Microsoft Imagine Cup world championship.
This time, the three Indian teams are facing some tough competition from innovative solutions designed by students from China, South Korea, New Zealand, Malaysia and others.
(Nishant Arora is in Sydney at an invitation from Microsoft. He can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Medium Enterprise, SMEs, World
Beijing : The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 414 basis points to 6.7495 against the US dollar on Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 per cent from the central parity rate each trading day, Xinhua news agency reported.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World, Opinions
By D. C. Pathak,
President Donald Trump’s policy responses to the new global terror that arose out of a faith-based motivation range from an unequivocal denunciation of the countries that provided safe havens to Islamic radicals to an announcement of withdrawal of American troops from the two theatres of ‘war on terror’- Afghanistan and Syria. His decision on ending the deployment of US soldiers there is significantly rooted in his intrinsic aversion to the idea of US playing ‘the policeman of the world’ when others were not doing their bit – the businessman in him apparently getting the better of a supposed world statesman. Also, the US President was somewhere feeling the ‘comfort of distance’ and therefore seeking even some patchwork solution of a decidedly messy situation in Afghanistan so long as it reduced the threat of an attack from Islamic extremists on American soil.
It is ironic that Pakistan, criticised by the entire democratic world for harbouring terrorists on its soil and even reprimanded by Trump by way of the suspension of aid given to it earlier as an ally in the ‘war on terror’, is now likely to emerge as the biggest beneficiary of the US policy on Afghanistan. A half-baked truce struck by the US with the Taliban – in its impatience to see a phased withdrawal of American soldiers in Afghanistan in quick time – would be relished by the Pak army which had an intrinsic bonhomie with the radical outfit dating back to the victory of Afghan Jehad against the Soviet occupation. A Taliban-friendly dispensation in Afghanistan would tend to bring in Pakistan there and shut out India from its affairs.
A new situation is developing in Afghanistan posing an added strategic challenge for India. President Trump has no reason to remain stuck with the geo- politics of the Cold War- he already views Russia as a country at par with the European nations and regards China not so much as an ideological adversary as an economic rival. Although he had a visceral dislike of Islamic extremism- he ended the artificial divide between ‘good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’ in relation to the groups active within Pakistan- he has changed the contours of the ‘war on terror’ by emphasising on the obligation of the Islamic countries – particularly members of the OIC chaired by Saudi Arabia- to come forth to counter radicalism for their own future interest, calling upon other countries having stakes in a peaceful Afghanistan to share the military burden in that troubled territory and gravitating towards a workable agreement between Taliban and the Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan for return of peace howsoever temporary.
The main point of assurance that the US Special Envoy for Afghan peace talks, Zalmay Khalizad, has sought from the Taliban leadership during the six-day long parleys at Doha in January is that no attack will be made on US targets. The Taliban has sensed an advantage in pursuing its prime objective of getting the US troops to leave Afghanistan in return for some kind of a cease-fire being announced by the former. The Taliban, which had an unalienable axis with Al-Qaeda, is now being acknowledged by the US in these talks as a rightful shareholder in Afghan ruling dispensation notwithstanding the history of its Emirate that had run the country from 1996 till 2001 with a brutal show of Islamic revivalism and gross fundamentalism.
The call of an ‘Afghan-led and Afghan-owned’ peace negotiation that India has actively supported is just a slogan yet as the Taliban leadership is being recalcitrant against the idea of talking to the Ashraf Ghani government and is merely aiming at securing withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan without having to surrender its own arms. Pakistan is not on best of terms with Ashraf Ghani and is candescently watching the American moves to tackle Taliban- confident that the latter’s presence in Afghan mainstream would only help Pakistan. Pak army has tried to project itself as a helpful mediator between US and Taliban. Both Russia and China have kept Pakistan on the round table on Afghanistan for their own reasons of keeping their periphery protected from Islamic militancy with the cooperation of Pakistan. All of this adds to the prospect of Pakistan ending up having a sway in Afghanistan to the great disadvantage of India – and India alone. So long as US presence was there in Afghanistan the process of reconstruction of the Afghan National Defence & Security Forces(ANDSF) could go on and India’s contribution to the development of that country also remain unhindered. Ashraf Ghani has his writ running only in half of his country and it is doubtful if the involvement of the Taliban in the government would work to his or India’s advantage. The Pak-Afghan belt is destined to become a cause of deeper concern for us in the time to come.
The ‘war on terror’ is fizzling out because the two presumptions on which it was launched following 9/11 failed more or less completely – the expectation that the ‘moderates’ in the Muslim world will combat the radicals at home and that the US funding would help to advance the cause of democracy there. Pakistan, the ‘frontline’ ally of the US in the ‘war on terror’, is a stark illustration of this failure with Prime Minister Imran Khan finally making it public that Pakistan committed a mistake in fighting ‘the American war’. As a stalemate sets in both in Syria and Afghanistan, Pakistan feels even more free to step up its proxy war against India.
The Pakistan army looks at the Islamic elements of all hues as its strategic assets. This is clearly in evidence in the escalation of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and the new moves Pakistan is making to get the separatists in the Valley to back gun-wielding terrorists and stonepelters who were targeting security forces. The Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is also reaching out to the Khalistani elements operating outside of India to revive an anti-India movement. It is no surprise that Pakistan is trying to fish in the troubled waters of India’s domestic politics in the run-up to the General Election here. Internal security concerns of India are likely to aggravate because of the attempts of Pak ISI to spread radicalisation and create more sleeper cells of Islamic terror in different parts of the country. Pakistan may remain a major challenge for India’s security strategy in the months ahead.
(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Women Entrepreneur, World
Tulsi Gabbard
Honolulu : Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu US Congresswoman, has officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign in Hawaii.
“It is this principle of service above self that is at the heart of every soldier, at the heart of every service member, and it is in this spirit that today I announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America,” CNN quoted Gabbard as saying said on Saturday at an event here.
“I will bring this soldier’s principles to the White House, restoring the values of dignity, honour and respect to the presidency and above all else, love for our people and love for our country.
“I ask you to join me, join me in putting this spirit, this spirit of service above self at the forefront and to stand up against the forces of greed and corruption.
“The road ahead will not be easy. The battles will be tough. The obstacles great, but I know when we stand united by our love for our people and for our country, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome. There is no battle we cannot win,” said Gabbard, who is not of Indian descent but comes from a Hindu family in Hawaii.
The official launch of the 37-year-old four-term Democratic congresswoman’s campaign gives her presidential bid a chance at a reset after weeks of discord heading into the announcement.
Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran who gained national prominence in 2016 as an outspoken supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, will run for President as an anti-interventionalist Democrat who supports a populist economic agenda.
While the Congresswoman has highlighted health care access, criminal justice reform and climate change as key platform issues for her presidential run, her tenure in Congress has been defined by her anti-interventionist foreign policy positions.
Gabbard, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, is the only military veteran to declare her candidacy and could be relying on her two tours in the Middle East to differentiate her from many Democratic presidential candidates, including Indian and African-Jamaican descent Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro.
She is popular for some progressive policies, though she received flak even within her own party over a 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and past positions opposed to LGBTQ rights.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Arul Louis,
New York : The US government has announced new regulations to give greater preference to workers with advanced degrees from US institutions for H-1B non-immigrant professional visas.
The new rules that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday will go into effect on April 1 and could potentially reduce the visas available to candidates educated elsewhere.
The DHS said in a statement that it was estimated that the new regulations will lead to 5,340 – or 16 per cent – more H-1B visas for workers with a Master’s or Ph.D degrees from US institutions.
Explaining the new rules, Doug Rand, an independent immigration expert, said now all applicants will first be put into the same pool and 65,000 will be selected for the visas open to all, then all the unselected US advanced degree-holders would be moved into the pool reserved for them and 20,000 of them will be randomly picked.
This would give US-educated professionals who did not get selected in the first round another chance at getting the highly-coveted visas.
Congress set the limit of 65,000 H-1B visas every year and the additional quota of 20,000 for professionals with higher education qualifications from the US.
Since there are far more applicants than there are H1-B visa slots, the government holds a lottery to pick the candidates for the visas.
Francis Cissna, the Director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said the new procedure would further President Donald Trump’s “goal of improving our immigration system”.
“As a result, US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with a US Master’s or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H-1B lottery,” he added.
The DHS linked the changes to Trump’s “Buy American and Hire American” executive order. It said the order specifically mentioned the H-1B programme and directed agencies to “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries”.
The new regulations were being implemented rapidly in less than two months of the initial proposal in December. “Trust me, that’s warp speed for a government agency,” said Rand, who had worked in former President Barack Obama’s White House on immigration policy.
“This is the first regulation affecting the legal immigration system that the Trump administration has moved all the way through the regulatory process, from start to finish – and there are many more in the pipeline, such as eliminating work permits for spouses of H-1B workers,” said Rand, who is the co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a technology company that helps families navigate the immigration process.
Earlier this month, Trump said he will change the H-1B visa system for professionals to ensure “certainty” and a path to citizenship for them.
He tweeted: “H-1B holders in the US can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship. We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the US.”
However, there had been no concrete proposals from him or the government for implementing those assurances.
Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visas and 76 per cent of them in 2017, according to government statistics.
According to a recent report by the State Department and the Institute of International Education, 95,651 Indians are now studying for advanced degrees in the US and 75,390 are in practical training programmes after graduation.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
—IANS
