YEH MERA INDIA
High-end software aided raids on celebrities
Mumbai: The Income Tax sleuths who carried out searches at the premises of Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif, were aided by ‘hero’, a small yellow suitcase which copied voluminous data from the actor’s computers.
The recently procured mobile portable forensic lab of the department, fondly called hero, looks like a yellow suitcase and helps I-T officials copy and replicate huge data quickly.
The portable lab has now been sent to the I-T forensic laboratory here, which is downloading the documents, copied from the actors and will then print them.
“The hero has really lived to its expectations. The department is increasingly using it in high-value searches,” I-T sources said.
Documents and data related to endorsements and investments were copied on to the portable forensic lab during the searches.
The I-T team that carried out the searches was also equipped with pre-wiped disks for imaging and cloning hard drives, portable labs for previewing computer hard disks, specially coated bags and tags to pack, label and transport the imaged and cloned data to its labs.
The ‘hero’ also has a technical name FREDDIE – Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device Diminutive Interrogation Unit – and was also used last year by the department while searching the premises of former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi.
The investigate wing of the I-T department has started using these software platforms after taxpayers and evaders have increasingly started using high-end software like ‘logic bomb’ which deletes all files as soon as officials try to source information from the hardware.
The I-T department has claimed to have found Rs 6 crore of unaccounted assets after the searches on Chopra.
Former Kerala minister convicted
New Delhi: The SC awarded one year rigorous imprisonment to former Kerala power minister R Balakrishna Pillai and two others in the Idamalayar dam corruption case.
A Bench of Justices P Santhasivam and B S Chauhan convicted the former minister while reversing the acquittal order passed by the Kerala High Court. The Apex court upheld the prosecution plea that Pillai, who formed the Kerala Congress (B), had entered into a criminal conspiracy that caused a loss of over Rs 2 crore to the Kerala State Electricity Board by awarding contracts for construction of a power tunnel and surge shaft of the Idamalayar hydro electricity power project to contractor Paulose (now deceased) at extra ordinary high rates.
The apex court, upholding the appeal filed by the then leader of the opposition and present chief minister V S Achuthanandan, said the high court had committed a grave error by overlooking the clinching evidence marshalled by the prosecution and the conviction rightly awarded by the special court in Kerala.
The apex court also expressed concern that cases of corruption relating to political personalities have been dragging endlessly in the country and pointed that in the present case, though the scandal took place in 1982, the prosecution was launched only in 1991.
Rajasthan minister resigns over remarks against President
Raipur: Rajasthan’s minister of state for panchayati raj and Waqt Amin Khan resigned after his remarks on President Prathibha Patil crated uproar and drew sharp criticism from Rashtrapati Bhawan. His resignation was been accepted by Governor Shivaraj Patil.
“Amin Khan has been asked to resign and he has done so. An explanation was demanded from him to which he has replied. It is the duty of every individual of the country to respect and maintain the dignity of the post of the President. Hence, he has been asked to resign. “CM Ashok Gehlot said. Gehlot was summoned by the Congress high command following Khan’s speech to party workers saying Patil had curried favour with the Gandhi family by doing dishes and cooking food for former PM Indira Gandhi in the late 70s.
Protesting kids destroys desks
Tumkur: Children of the Government Higher Primary School to K R Extension here protested against the transfer of their science teacher and destroyed desks, tables and threw stones at window panes.
There are more than 250 students from Class 5 to Class 7. The government transferred science teacher Balachandra who’s been there for the past five years. There were allegedly some differences between headmaster Narasimha Murthy and Balachandra. Murthy used his clout and got Balchandra transferred to Turuvakere. Ravi, a student, told The Times of India. “He is the only science teacher we have and our request is that he must be brought back.” Following the vandalism, police registered a case.
Give wealth back to society – Premji
Mumbai: Wipro chairman Azim Premji called upon Indian industry leaders to give their wealth back to the society.
“People who have had the fortune to accumulate wealth should give it back to the society rather than passing it on to subsequent generations,” he said while addressing the delegates at Nasscom Leadership forum 2011. The idea that the next generation of the family has a right to inherit wealth is not tolerable as it would increase the gap between haves and have-nots in the society. He urged the industry to look at Egypt to understand the impact of widening income gap in the society. The turbulence in Egypt is likely to spread to few other Middle East countries as well, he noted.
Premji noted that the idea that the rich should commit their wealth to the benefit of society is gaining in USA, Europe and other parts of the world, including India.
The rare candid speech showed a usually reticent Premji talking the walk he has already made. He recently pledged to transfer shares valued at 90.7 billion rupees ($2 billion) to his trust, Azim Premji Foundation, and use the dividends to improve education facilities in India.
Earlier Premji noted that feeling threatened by China, the US and European CEOs were looking at India as an alternative to spread the geography risk. “Despite the problems we create ourselves and the governance being in shambles, India was benefiting from this trend,” he said. As the economic growth in the West slowed, companies would have to embrace globalisation, diversify talent pool, cut cost and design products for the emerging markets. As customers in emerging markets sought more value for money and more rugged solutions, companies would have to ‘build up’ products for these markets. He noted that GE’s low-cost healthcare products initially designed for Indian market, were finding a market elsewhere. They are being sold even in USA and Europe where customers had become more cost conscious, he said.
Globalisation also required that work forces moved across the national boundaries freely, the way goods and services did, and putting protectionist barriers would be counter-productive, he said. The US will pay a price for what it is doing, he said referring to the recent spate of protectionist measures initiated by that country.
Mumbai: The Income Tax sleuths who carried out searches at the premises of Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif, were aided by ‘hero’, a small yellow suitcase which copied voluminous data from the actor’s computers.
The recently procured mobile portable forensic lab of the department, fondly called hero, looks like a yellow suitcase and helps I-T officials copy and replicate huge data quickly.
The portable lab has now been sent to the I-T forensic laboratory here, which is downloading the documents, copied from the actors and will then print them.
“The hero has really lived to its expectations. The department is increasingly using it in high-value searches,” I-T sources said.
Documents and data related to endorsements and investments were copied on to the portable forensic lab during the searches.
The I-T team that carried out the searches was also equipped with pre-wiped disks for imaging and cloning hard drives, portable labs for previewing computer hard disks, specially coated bags and tags to pack, label and transport the imaged and cloned data to its labs.
The ‘hero’ also has a technical name FREDDIE – Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device Diminutive Interrogation Unit – and was also used last year by the department while searching the premises of former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi.
The investigate wing of the I-T department has started using these software platforms after taxpayers and evaders have increasingly started using high-end software like ‘logic bomb’ which deletes all files as soon as officials try to source information from the hardware.
The I-T department has claimed to have found Rs 6 crore of unaccounted assets after the searches on Chopra.
Former Kerala minister convicted
New Delhi: The SC awarded one year rigorous imprisonment to former Kerala power minister R Balakrishna Pillai and two others in the Idamalayar dam corruption case.
A Bench of Justices P Santhasivam and B S Chauhan convicted the former minister while reversing the acquittal order passed by the Kerala High Court. The Apex court upheld the prosecution plea that Pillai, who formed the Kerala Congress (B), had entered into a criminal conspiracy that caused a loss of over Rs 2 crore to the Kerala State Electricity Board by awarding contracts for construction of a power tunnel and surge shaft of the Idamalayar hydro electricity power project to contractor Paulose (now deceased) at extra ordinary high rates.
The apex court, upholding the appeal filed by the then leader of the opposition and present chief minister V S Achuthanandan, said the high court had committed a grave error by overlooking the clinching evidence marshalled by the prosecution and the conviction rightly awarded by the special court in Kerala.
The apex court also expressed concern that cases of corruption relating to political personalities have been dragging endlessly in the country and pointed that in the present case, though the scandal took place in 1982, the prosecution was launched only in 1991.
Rajasthan minister resigns over remarks against President
Raipur: Rajasthan’s minister of state for panchayati raj and Waqt Amin Khan resigned after his remarks on President Prathibha Patil crated uproar and drew sharp criticism from Rashtrapati Bhawan. His resignation was been accepted by Governor Shivaraj Patil.
“Amin Khan has been asked to resign and he has done so. An explanation was demanded from him to which he has replied. It is the duty of every individual of the country to respect and maintain the dignity of the post of the President. Hence, he has been asked to resign. “CM Ashok Gehlot said. Gehlot was summoned by the Congress high command following Khan’s speech to party workers saying Patil had curried favour with the Gandhi family by doing dishes and cooking food for former PM Indira Gandhi in the late 70s.
Protesting kids destroys desks
Tumkur: Children of the Government Higher Primary School to K R Extension here protested against the transfer of their science teacher and destroyed desks, tables and threw stones at window panes.
There are more than 250 students from Class 5 to Class 7. The government transferred science teacher Balachandra who’s been there for the past five years. There were allegedly some differences between headmaster Narasimha Murthy and Balachandra. Murthy used his clout and got Balchandra transferred to Turuvakere. Ravi, a student, told The Times of India. “He is the only science teacher we have and our request is that he must be brought back.” Following the vandalism, police registered a case.
Give wealth back to society – Premji
Mumbai: Wipro chairman Azim Premji called upon Indian industry leaders to give their wealth back to the society.
“People who have had the fortune to accumulate wealth should give it back to the society rather than passing it on to subsequent generations,” he said while addressing the delegates at Nasscom Leadership forum 2011. The idea that the next generation of the family has a right to inherit wealth is not tolerable as it would increase the gap between haves and have-nots in the society. He urged the industry to look at Egypt to understand the impact of widening income gap in the society. The turbulence in Egypt is likely to spread to few other Middle East countries as well, he noted.
Premji noted that the idea that the rich should commit their wealth to the benefit of society is gaining in USA, Europe and other parts of the world, including India.
The rare candid speech showed a usually reticent Premji talking the walk he has already made. He recently pledged to transfer shares valued at 90.7 billion rupees ($2 billion) to his trust, Azim Premji Foundation, and use the dividends to improve education facilities in India.
Earlier Premji noted that feeling threatened by China, the US and European CEOs were looking at India as an alternative to spread the geography risk. “Despite the problems we create ourselves and the governance being in shambles, India was benefiting from this trend,” he said. As the economic growth in the West slowed, companies would have to embrace globalisation, diversify talent pool, cut cost and design products for the emerging markets. As customers in emerging markets sought more value for money and more rugged solutions, companies would have to ‘build up’ products for these markets. He noted that GE’s low-cost healthcare products initially designed for Indian market, were finding a market elsewhere. They are being sold even in USA and Europe where customers had become more cost conscious, he said.
Globalisation also required that work forces moved across the national boundaries freely, the way goods and services did, and putting protectionist barriers would be counter-productive, he said. The US will pay a price for what it is doing, he said referring to the recent spate of protectionist measures initiated by that country.
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