Editorial

The upcoming assembly elections in the Hindi heartland of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and the southern Congress bastion of Karnataka  have set the stage for a mini general elections as the ruling  BJP braces for a confrontation with its political opposition, the Congress party. Assembly elections are going to be followed by the general elections for the Lok Sabha next year. Leaders on both sides have set the process of selection of their party candidates and faces to lead the party campaigns in respective states.

Every year I receive a couple of phone calls and SMSes to wish me ‘Happy Good Friday’. It is not their fault. They all meant well but Good Friday is not ‘happy’ Good Friday.  According to the Bible, Jesus Christ was betrayed by one of his 12 trusted disciples, Judas Iscariot. What is shocking was that Jesus was arrested illegally in the night, flogged, ordered to carry the cross on which he would be crucified and then put to death even though Pontius Pilot, the Roman governor of the province of Judaea, found him not guilty. Indeed, it is difficult to see what is “good” about it.

As global solar power generation touched 100 gw, of which nearly half of it is in China and an additional 20 gw in India, very soon a new application — solar powered electric vehicles will become a reality providing clean and green transportation particularly in highly polluted cities like Delhi and Beijing.

Cyber security has always been discussed but never given the importance that it deserves in the boardroom. However the situation seems to be changing post 2017, which saw cyber breaches of global scale and magnitude. Myths — such as only information technology companies are prone to cyber attacks and that fairly advanced nations like the United States and United Kingdom would be the main targets of hackers whereas countries like India would not be victims — were broken. It is time to address cyber security as a business risk, and not just a technology problem.

Awaiting favourable news after a GST Council meeting is a trite routine for trade and industry. Each Council meeting seems to bring vivid yet mixed reactions from all corners. The 26th Council Meeting held on March 10 followed this same design.

The meeting keeps a status quo on the litigated issues under GST and focuses more on addressing systemic difficulties. Assessees expecting grandiose declarations on simplification of returns and change in invoice matching system were surely disappointed.

World Water Day is held annually on March 22 to advocate strongly sustainable management of freshwater resources the world over. In fact, an international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). On the eve of World Water Day, Watershed Organisation Trust, popularly known as WOTR, made a significant presentation to the law makers of the Maharashtra legislature. It was part of an event titled “Tackling climate change in Maharashtra” presided over by chief minister, DevendraFadnavis.

CBI arrests Accountant General (ACCOUNTS & ENTITLEMENTS) Chennai and three others in an alleged bribery case
The Central Bureau of Investigation has today arrested an Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlements), Chennai (Tamil Nadu); Senior Accounts Officer in the said office; an Assistant, PWD, Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvannamalai and another official working in PWD, Government of Tamil Nadu in Thiruvallur Collectorate in an alleged bribery case.

Where have all the sparrows gone? If you’ve ever wondered about that here’s the answer. Noted ornithologist UN Deb has blamed house construction engineers for disappearance of house sparrows in urban centres as they have failed to give space for the tiny bird while designing house plans. “The house sparrows generally build their nests in thatched houses. As the concrete structures no longer have such facilities, the house sparrows are not seen in the urban as well as rural areas.

The human is the weakest link in any cyber security attack. Most cyber security breaches happen because of the human error. Facebook breach is no exception.

The privacy laws should be intelligent enough to identify the active breach and the passive breach. Active breach is where the security are breached and compromised deliberately by a hacker. A passive breach is where human beings are tricked to part with their personal data. Personally, I feel that the data breach at Facebook should be treated as a passive breach.

When US President Donald Trump approved a travel bill allowing American representatives to meet their counterparts on the self-ruled Taiwan calling itself “Republic of China,” he was very much conscious of their ‘One China Policy’ and the likely reaction of Chinese, which would have been well thought through. This is sequel to newly declared trade war by US, slapping very heavy trade tariff on China.