Heena Sharma Blog

The CVC might summon CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana to record their statements as part of an inquiry being conducted on the Supreme Court's direction, according to the graft watchdog's chief K V Chowdary. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) initiated the probe following a complaint of corruption against Verma. The commission has got most of the files related to the cases, in whose probe, the charges of alleged interference by Verma came up, Chowdary told reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of an event here. "We have got most of the files. We are in process of getting some files from the CBI. Nothing much can be said now as the matter is sub judice," he said. He said no summons have been issued either to Verma or Asthana to appear before it in connection with the probe. The CVC had on Tuesday examined some CBI officials probing crucial cases which figured in Asthana's complaint of corruption against th...

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday urged public to hold patience on the ongoing Babri Masjid-Ram Mandir case and have trust on the Supreme Court. "The case is ongoing in the Supreme Court and the court is independent. All the devotees must be patient and must trust the court," he said. "Justice must be done in time and we must all believe in the Supreme Court's decision," Adityanath added. The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was pulled down on December 6, 1992 allegedly by a group of Hindu activists, claiming that the mosque was constructed after demolishing a Ram Temple that originally stood there. Since then, several hearings have been held in the top court to resolve the issue. Read Complete Article Business Standard

Even as developers are still grappling with possible web tools to monitor and prevent fake news on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, Uttar Pradesh Police has raised a network of 200,000 'digital volunteers' to tackle the menace. UP Police, touted as the world’s largest single command police force with headcount of nearly half-million, wants the total strength of these volunteers to cross 365,000 in the state. In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll , there is even greater urgency to weed out the spectre of fake news circulating on social media and rumours being spread by vested interests to disturb peace. All the 1,465 police stations in UP have so far networked over 200,000 digital volunteers drawn from the civil society and comprising teachers, journalists, village heads, doctors, corporators, lawyers, traders, members of civil defence, religious groups etc. Read Complete Article Business Standard

A recent research has found that young men are more likely to die in the summer season . The study pertains to the young men living in the US and was published in eLife. The trend is just one of several highlighted in an analysis spanning nearly four decades, which will help inform public health strategies to reduce deaths now and in the future. Robbie Parks, lead author of the study said, "It is well established that death rates vary throughout the year, but there is limited information on how this seasonality varies by local climate and how it has changed over time for different diseases and at different ages. In this study, we set out to comprehensively characterize the patterns of death over different time periods and geographical areas to understand when and where death rates are at their highest and lowest." The study used data on 85,854,176 deaths in the US between 1980 and 2016 from the vital registration. It was analysed using a technique called wav...

Candidates who appeared in the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) Probationary Officer (PO) Prelim 2018 exam can see their results on the IBPS's official website ibps.in. The IBPS declared the PO online preliminary exam result today. The results will be available on the official website ibps.in till November 7, 2018. IBPS PO Mains 2018 is scheduled for November 18, 2018. The results for the same will be declared on December 2018. The IBPS PO 2018 examination was conducted on October 13 and 14. Steps to check IBPS PO Prelims 2018 results: Step 1: Go to the official website ibps.in Step 2: Click on the link 'click here' to view your result status of online preliminary examination for CRP PO/MTs-VIII' Step 3: Enter your credentials (registration number and date of birth) to log in Step 4: Download your result You can directly go the result webpage by clicking here Read Complete Article Business Standard

For numerous reasons, fans have been eagerly waiting for sci-fi film '2.0' and one amongst them is definitely the unsettling avatar of Akshay Kumar . The 'Gold' star on Wednesday treated the audience with another poster of one of the most anticipated films of 2018. With the date of the trailer launch approaching soon, the actor shared his look on social media. He wrote alongside, "The FIFTH FORCE is coming...Humans beware!!!#2Point0Trailer in 3 days! @2Point0movie @DharmaMovies @LycaProductions #2Point0 #2Point0TrailerOnNov3" Akshay, who plays the antagonist in the film, had released the teaser of the film earlier in September. The trailer of the Rajinikanth starrer will be out on November 3. Directed by S. Shankar, '2.0' - the sequel to superstar Rajinikanth's Enthiran - also stars Amy Jackson, who plays a droid in the film. The 'Padman' actor plays the role of an antagonist, a scientist who becomes eccentric afte...

Apple 's new iPads will more closely resemble its latest iPhones as they ditch a home button and fingerprint sensor to make more room for the screen. As with the latest iPhone models the XR and XS the new iPad Pro will use facial-recognition technology to unlock the device and to authorize app and Apple Pay purchases. Apple also unveiled new Mac computers, including a MacBook Air laptop with a high-resolution screen. Tuesday's announcements took place at an opera house in New York, where the company was emphasizing its products' ability to create music, video and sketches. Neither the Mac nor the iPad generates as much revenue for Apple as iPhones. Tablet sales have been declining overall, though Apple saw a 3 percent increase in iPad sales last year to nearly 44 million, commanding a 27 percent market share, according to research firm IDC. Apple has been promoting its high-end iPad Pro as ideal for artists, photographers and other creators. The iP...

Chinese tech giant Huawei Consumer Business Group on Tuesday announced it was ready to bring its wireless charging capabilities with the launch of premium Mate 20 Pro smartphone in India next month. The wireless charger is developed on the Qi standard for universal compatibility, thus, allowing it to identify smartphones, earbuds and other devices and adjust output power automatically to charge them safely. With a 10-minute 15W wireless charging session, the wireless charger tops up the battery 12 per cent, while a 30-minute charge gives the battery 31 per cent juice, the company said in a statement. "With the launch of the flagship Mate 20 Pro slated next month, wireless reverse charging is also a feature that the device is capable of, thus, enabling users to take maximum advantage of the large battery inside the device to charge other Qi-enabled devices," the company added. The Mate 20 Pro would be the first device from Huawei's stable which is powe...

Top political leaders on Wednesday paid homage to India's third prime minister Indira Gandhi to commemorate her 34th death anniversary. "Tributes to our former Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary ," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress President Rahul Gandhi also took to the micro-blogging site to remember his grandmother "with a deep sense of happiness." "Remembering Dadi today with a deep sense of happiness. She taught me so much and gave me unending love. She gave so much of herself to her people. I am very proud of her," his tweet read. The Congress President, along with his mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also paid floral tributes to the 'Iron Lady' at her memorial Shakti Sthal. Indira Gandhi, who was hailed as one of the tallest world leaders, was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards at her residenc...

Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said it is a major task to ensure that new technologies create more employment opportunities compared to the amount of job losses they cause. Speaking at MobiCom 2018 here, he also said that he is optimistic about technological disruption creating more opportunities despite all the apprehension. A major task is "to ensure that new and disruptive technologies create more employment opportunities than they take away," Ambani said. Although he expressed optimism regarding employment opportunities, he said there is apprehension in the society regarding the same and these apprehensions may delay the process of digital transformation. "These very apprehensions could resist or delay digital transformation of our societies. That would be a mistake," he noted. Ambani emphasised that governments, businesses and civil society organisations should put together an ecosystem for massive upskillin...

Taiwanese smartphone brand Asus has a slim portfolio of smartphones across segments. Unlike most of its Chinese counterparts, the company launched only a couple of devices this year – the Zenfone Max Pro M1 (review) in the budget segment and the Zenfone 5Z (review) in the midrange segment. With festive-season sales in sight, Asus recently launched the Zenfone Max M1 and Zenfone Lite L1 budget smartphones at Rs 8,999 and 6,999, respectively. Though these Flipkart-exclusive devices have the same screen size, processor and design, they have different camera modules and battery. The Zenfone L1 Lite, being the more cost-effective one, also trades off some other features of its premium counterpart, such as the fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone and reverse battery charging. Design and display The Zenfone Max M1 and Zenfone Lite L1 have curved unibody designs with a metallic finish. While the Max M1 has curved sides that give it a more uniform appeal, the Lite L1 ha...

While the technology put into building a perfect laptop has evolved exponentially with time, the innovation has come to a standstill for sometime now with manufacturers upgrading only the specs. A few years ago, Apple did something new by introducing a touch bar on the top of the keyboard and although it was not a runaway success, Macbook fans did like the concept. Asus has now gone a step further by introducing an 'over-sized' touchpad that doubles up as a full 1920x1080 HD touch interface termed 'ScreenPad'. At 5.5 inches, the ScreenPad functions as a second screen to the 15.6-inch 4K display and has the potential to be your perfect companion if you love watching music videos at work, even as you rack your brains over that ever-boring presentation for the next meeting. The ScreenPad also comes with pre-installed apps like a calendar, a music player and two calculators, and can act independently if needed. The Zenbook Pro 15 boasts an Intel Core i9-8950 ...

South Korean electronics giant Samsung usually keeps some surprise elements reserved for its flagship smartphones. Its midrange and budget smartphones, on the other hand, are mostly run-of-the-mill offerings inspired from premium series. However, the recently launched Galaxy A7 (2018), with a triple-camera module on the back, in a first, seems to be a game-changer in the company’s midrange portfolio. The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) is primarily a camera phone. A successor to last year’s A7, the 2018 edition has grown in dimensions and comes with several new upgrades, apart from the triple-camera module on the back. Design and display The Galaxy A7 (2018) has a light-weight design and a modern appearance, thanks to its glass-metal-glass build. The phone looks sleek and has a premium feel. The back looks uniform with no obstruction other than the vertically aligned triple-camera module sitting on the top-left corner. The camera module bulges out a little from the frame, ...

NASA's historic Parker Solar Probe -- enroute to the Sun to unravel its mysteries -- has become the closest spacecraft to it. The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface on October 29, as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team, NASA said in a statement on Monday. The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976. As the Parker Solar Probe mission progresses, the spacecraft will repeatedly break its own records, with a final close approach of 3.83 million miles from the Sun's surface expected in 2024. "It's been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we've now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history," said Project Manager Andy Driesman from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. Read Complete Article Business Standard

Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus is gearing up to unveil the much-anticipated OnePlus 6T in New York today (October 29) at 8:30 PM. A successor to the OnePlus 6, this smartphone will launch in India on October 30 and go on sale from November 2 at select offline stores, besides online sale exclusively on Amazon India. Though the OnePlus 6T India launch is still a day away, Mukesh Ambani-owned telecommunication service provider Reliance Jio has already announced that the phone will be available at Reliance Digital stores as well. The phone’s price is still unknown, but Jio has announced it will be offering an instant cashback of Rs 5,400 in the form of 36 recharge vouchers of Rs 350 each. These could be redeemed on successive recharges of Rs 299 or more. In terms of upgrades, the OnePlus 6T would have a new screen format with a tiny notch on top (waterdrop), accommodating only the front camera. The earpiece and sensors would move to top bezel area, similar to how it...

As many as 50% of teenage Indian girls are underweight, 52% are anaemic, about 39% still defecate in the open and about 46% do not use hygienic methods of menstrual protection. These are the findings of a new survey report, the Teen Age Girls report (or the TAG report), released by Nanhi Kali, a project by the Naandi Foundation, which works with adolescent girls. As aspirations of teenage Indian girls soar, as we reported in the first part of the series, most of them struggle with gender norms and a lack of ‘new age skills’--such as travelling alone or typing out a document on a computer in English--as we reported in the second part of the series. This concluding part looks at the status of health and access to sanitation, at a time when 63.2 million teenage Indian girls are set to be first-time voters in 2019. The health of the teenage girl holds significance not only for her own life, but also for the health and well-being of the children she may have. The ...

The ill-fated Indonesian carrier Lion Air's flight , that crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta on Monday, was reportedly being flown by an Indian captain. The plane was carrying 188 passengers and crew and authorities are yet to find any survivor. According to the Times of India, the captain, Bhavye Suneja , was a resident of Mayur Vihar in Delhi. He joined Indonesia's low-cost carrier Lion Air in March 2011 and used to fly the Boeing 737. Citing the VP of a leading airline in India that operates the Boeing 737, the daily reported that Suneja was considering returning to India. “We spoke this July. He is a very sweet sounding person. Being an experienced pilot of the B737 with an incident, accident free record, we were keen to have him with us because of his good credentials. His only request was that he wanted a Delhi posting as he is from the city,” the senior official told TOI. Suneja's Linkedin profile shows that he got hi...

Apple is set to launch a new hardware line-up at a Brooklyn event on Tuesday, including the iPad Pro, MacBook Air and an updated Mac Mini . According to media reports, after launching new iPhones in September, the Cupertino-based tech giant will launch a new hardware series. "The new iPad Pros are getting completely overhauled with a new design. It's the iPad equivalent of the jump Apple made with the iPhone X last year," The Verge reported on Monday. Other changes for the iPad Pro may be a switch to USB-C and a redesigned Smart Connector. Apple is expected to improve the internal hardware too, upgrading the chip to a new variant of A12 Bionic chipset. Apple hasn't updated the MacBook Air since 2015 but the company is likely to announce a new MacBook Air. Another attraction is an updated Mac mini which last saw a new model in 2014, said the report. Read Complete Article Business Standard

It's that time of the year when companies across sectors will line up to provide customers n number of offers and deals. Well, one such offer is here for you to make the most of it. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has come up with a 100 per cent cashback Diwali offer on prepaid recharges. With prepaid recharges available across different slabs, a customer making a recharge of Rs 149 or above through a retailer, Jio website, app, or any of Jio's partner websites will be eligible for a 100 per cent cashback. The cashback will be given in ' Reliance digital coupons ' and customers who are active RJio users and are enrolled in the 'Jio Prime' membership will be eligible for it. The Offer is open to all eligible subscribers on and from October 18, 2018, to November 30, 2018. The coupons available will be valid till December 31, 2018. Read Complete Article Business standard

Your brain is an inexhaustible source of secure passwords – but you might not have to remember anything. Passwords and PINs with letters and numbers are relatively easily hacked, hard to remember and generally insecure. Biometrics are starting to take their place, with fingerprints, facial recognition and retina scanning becoming common even in routine logins for computers, smartphones and other common devices. They’re more secure because they’re harder to fake, but biometrics have a crucial vulnerability: A person only has one face, two retinas and 10 fingerprints. They represent passwords that can’t be reset if they’re compromised. Like usernames and passwords, biometric credentials are vulnerable to data breaches. In 2015, for instance, the database containing the fingerprints of 5.6 million U. S. federal employees was breached. Those people shouldn’t use their fingerprints to secure any devices, whether for personal use or at work. The next breach might steal photogr...

If you’re among the multitudes sceptical that computers might one day be trustworthy replacements for drivers, consider this: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 94 per cent of serious crashes are the result of human error. So yes, computers may prove to be safer at the controls. It’s not a high bar. The secret sauce of those computers’ becoming our chauffeurs is the ubiquitous force of artificial intelligence, which is already active in virtual personal assistants and a bank’s customer-service chatbot. But it’s the automobile where AI could have a critical role for the greatest number of people. Few AI applications carry the responsibility of automotive safety systems, where actions must be carried out in nanoseconds and an ill-considered response may have costly consequences. Systems that marry microprocessors, sensors and software to make fully driverless cars possible are in the advanced stages of development, but experts say the leap fro...

Congress President Rahul Gandhi Friday courted arrest after staging a protest outside the CBI headquarters in New Delhi against the move to divest CBI Director Alok Verma of his powers and send him on leave. Earlier addressing the gathering Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. He also accused him of destroying institutions including the CBI, the Election Commission and the Enforcement Directorate. Senior Congress leaders, including Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora, Veerappa Moily and Anand Sharma, took part in the march that culminated in a demonstration ahead of the CBI headquarters. Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, CPI leader D Raja and TMC's Nadimul Haque joined the protest. The Congress' protests in the national capital were replicated in other parts of the country. State Congress leaders led demonstrations in their regions against what the Congress described as the "illegal, unconstitutional and ill...