NEW DELHI: Digital channels of Prasar Bharati have registered more than 100 per cent growth in 2020, with Pakistan being the second highest digital audience for Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), the Government said on Sunday.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the channels across Doordarshan and Akashvani clocked over a billion digital views and over six billion digital watch minutes in the year.

“Interestingly during 2020, Pakistan accounted for the second highest digital audience for DD and AIR content after domestic audience from within India, with the United States close behind,” the Ministry said in a statement. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved conducting phase III trials of the country’s first DNA vaccine candidate against COVID-19 being developed by Zydus Cadila, the Department of Biotechnology said on Sunday.

The vaccine candidate has been supported by the National Biopharma Mission (NBM) under the aegis of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a PSU under the DBT. (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR: Pakistan”s intelligence agency and terror groups are now carrying out recruitment in Jammu and Kashmir using applications in cyber and mobile space as direct physical interactions have become difficult due to the security forces” hawk-eyed vigil, officials said on Sunday.
Fake videos of alleged atrocities committed by the security forces and building a false narrative are now often used by the ISI handlers from Pakistan to whip up emotions among the new recruits, they said, citing intelligence reports and technical surveillance.
Earlier, terrorist sympathisers used to establish physical contact with the prospective recruits to bring them into a terror group”s rank and files. However, after security agencies cracked down on such sympathisers, they changed their modus operandi.
In 2020, over two dozen terror modules were busted by security agencies leading to the arrest of over 40 such sympathisers.
Two surrendered terrorists, Tawar Waghey and Amir Ahmed Mir, who laid down their arms before 34 Rashtriya Rifles of the Army late last month, had given an insight into their joining of terror modules that showed that cyber recruitment was being carried out on a large scale.
Both the terrorists had come in contact with a Pakistan-based handler via Facebook who indoctrinated them before handing them over to a recruiter code-named Khalid and Mohammed Abbas Sheikh.
The two terrorists were provided training online using various links available on public platforms like YouTube and both of them had met their local contact only once in Shopian in south Kashmir, the officials said.
This, according to the officials, is done to avoid exposure of sleeper cells created by Pakistan”s ISI within the valley. Security agencies have busted several modules following intelligence inputs provided by local residents.
The two terrorists, after being recruited into The Resistance Front (TRF), which is believed to be a shadow outfit of banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, were receiving orders as well as religious teachings from Pakistan-based Burhan Hamza.
The officials said there were around 40 such cases where the recruitment was done and indoctrination carried out through social media, especially in south Kashmir. The new recruits were awaiting orders from across the border.
Terror groups are definitely facing a shortage of arms and that is one of the reasons why Pakistan-based terror outfits are more focused on sending more arms and less manpower, the officials said.
They gave an example of last month”s encounter on the outskirts of Jammu city where a valley-bound group of four terrorists was carrying 11 assault rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition.
The death of a 22-year-old local terrorist Amir Siraj in north Kashmir late last month was yet another case of cyber recruitment, the officials said.
A final year graduation student from Khawaja Gilgat in Sopore, Siraj was staying with his maternal uncle in Adipora in north Kashmir and would spend most of his afternoons playing football in the local ground.
He went missing on the afternoon of June 24, 2020. Later, it was found that he had been recruited by terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed from across the border via social media, the officials said.
The local terrorist had expressed his desire to surrender but was threatened by his accomplice that he and his family would be killed if he were to act on it, they said. (AGENCY)

SRINAGAR : Air traffic at Srinagar International Airport was suspended due to poor visibility and fresh snowfall since early Sunday morning.
“Barring one, all incoming and outgoing flights were initially delayed and later cancelled due to poor visibility and accumulation of snow on the runway following light to moderate snowfall since early this morning,” an official said.
He said only one flight, which came from Ahmedabad, was able to land at the airport in the valley after clearance of snow from the runway after a delay of over two hours. “The rest of the flights were cancelled,” he said, adding the flight operations from the airport will be resumed only after improvement in visibility and improvement in the weather conditions.
Meanwhile, passengers, who had arrived at the airport despite snowfall, were disappointed after they were informed that the flights have been cancelled. “I and my family were to travel to Delhi. We reached here early in the morning for an afternoon flight because he had to come from Baramulla. But after waiting for several hours, we were informed that the flight has been cancelled,” Shabir Ahmad, a local businessman said.
Similar views were expressed by other travelers, who were to board flights from Srinagar airport Sunday.
A Met department spokesperson said a fresh Western Disturbance (WD), which originated from the Arabian Sea and approached the region through Afghanistan and Pakistan, has hit the region on Saturday night.
He said under the influence of the WD, light to moderate rain and snow is expected at most places in Kashmir and Zojila area of Ladakh for three days from Sunday. “Weather is expected to improve from Thursday onwards,” he added.
He said a weather warning has been issued for Tuesday, when heavy rain and snow could occur at some places in the valley. (agencies)

NEW DELHI : In a massive clean up of legacy issues, nearly one-fifth of about 5 lakh entities locked in tax litigation with the Government have opted for a dispute redressal scheme, helping settle around Rs 83,000 crore of contested amount, a top finance ministry official said on Sunday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in her Budget for fiscal starting April 2020 announced a Vivad se Vishwas (VsV) Scheme to settle pending disputes relating to direct taxes. It was an attempt to release Rs 9.32 lakh crore blocked in approximately 4.8 lakh appeals pending at various appellate forums.
“Out of the pending cases, 96,000 have opted for the scheme to settle about Rs 83,000 crore (of disputed tax),” Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said in an interview.
Considering the surge in VsV application that got filed in December 2020 and demands of taxpayers, he said the government has extended the scheme by a month till January 31.
The entities opting for the scheme have to pay requisite tax and litigations are closed and penal proceedings dropped.
“Under this exercise, more than Rs 1 lakh crore tax demands, which arose because of incorrect entries, have been cleaned up,” he said.
The litigation and appeal cases are before the Commissioner (Appeals) and tax tribunals to higher courts and in arbitration.
Once an entity opts for the VsV scheme and pays the due tax, the cases are deemed to have been withdrawn from the forums, interest, penalty and prosecution are also withdrawn.
“We have extended the date till January 31. So, we hope to achieve a much higher figure. So that substantial number of cases which are pending will get settled under Vivad Se Vishwas scheme,” the Secretary said, adding a large proportion of entities opting to settle disputes is from the private sector.
The scheme provides for settlement of disputed tax, disputed interests, disputed penalty or disputed fees in relation to an assessment or reassessment order on payment of 100 per cent of the disputed tax and 25 per cent of the disputed penalty or interest or fee. (AGENCIES)