Tag: Experts

Adani-Hindenburg row: SC to pronounce order on panel of experts on Thursday

[ad_1]
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Thursday its order on a batch of PILs on the recent Adani Group shares crash triggered by the Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala is likely to deliver its verdict over setting up of a panel of domain experts for strengthening existing regulatory measures for stock markets.
While reserving its order, the top court on February 17 refused to accept in a sealed cover the Centre’s suggestion on a proposed panel of experts.
Observing that it wanted full transparency for the protection of investors, the top court had also ruled out the possibility of any sitting judge overseeing the functioning of the proposed panel.
Stressing that statutory bodies like the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are fully equipped and are on job, the central government had expressed apprehension that any unintentional message to the investors that regulatory bodies in India needed monitoring by a panel may have some adverse impact on the flow of money into the country.
The Centre had told the bench that it wanted to provide details such as names and the scope of the panel’s mandate in a sealed cover.
Stock market regulator SEBI, in its note filed in the top court, had indicated it is not in favour of banning short-selling or sale of borrowed shares and said it is investigating allegations made by a tiny short-seller against the Adani Group as well as its share price movements.
Till now, four PILs have been filed in the top court on the issue by lawyers M L Sharma, Vishal Tiwari, Congress leader Jaya Thakur and Mukesh Kumar, who claims to be a social activist.

Tiwari, in his PIL, sought a direction from the Centre to constitute a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to inquire into the Hindenburg Research report which has made a slew of allegations against the business conglomerate led by industrialist Gautam Adani.
Another PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma sought prosecution of short-seller Nathan Anderson of the US-based Hindenburg Research and his associates in India and the US for allegedly exploiting innocent investors and the “artificial crashing” of the Adani Group’s stock value in the market.
Congress leader Thakur, in his plea, has sought an investigation under the supervision of a sitting apex court judge against the Adani Group of companies in light of the allegations.
The fourth PIL seeks a probe by multiple central government agencies under the supervision of a panel or a former apex court judge against the Adani Group following allegations of fraud and share price manipulation.
“Direct appropriate audit (transactional and forensic audits), inquiry and investigation by appropriate agencies such as Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO); Registrar of Companies (RoC); Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI); ED (Directorate of Enforcement) on money-laundering aspect; I-T (Income-Tax Department on aspects of offshore transactions and tax-havens involved and DRI( Department of Revenue Intelligence), ” the fourth plea said.
Besides seeking a direction to the Centre and its agencies to render cooperation in the probe, the PIL has sought a direction to appoint a retired judge of the apex court or a committee to oversee and monitor the inquiry and investigation.
Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani Group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
[ad_2]
#AdaniHindenburg #row #pronounce #order #panel #experts #Thursday
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 1, 2023
A panel of experts analyzes the strategic agenda of the Community
[ad_1]
E.F.Q. MURCIA.
Monday, February 27, 2023, 09:23
Set up a strategic agenda that contributes to reaching the cruising speed that the Region of Murcia needs to guarantee a prosperous and solid development. This is the main objective of the ‘En Futuro’ cycle, which will hold its second day tomorrow, February 28, with a panel of experts from different sectors of activity. A cycle that has set itself the purpose of unifying positions and shedding light on the challenges and trends that mark the short, medium and long-term future of the Community in different areas.
Moderated by the head of the Local Area of LA VERDAD, Manuel Buitrago, the meeting will take place in the Graduate Hall of the Faculty of Law, on the La Merced Campus of the University of Murcia, starting at 9:30 am. The president of the regional government, Fernando López Miras, will be in charge of the institutional opening of the act, which will include two round tables. The first, of a markedly institutional character, will have as protagonists Marcos Ortuño, Minister of the Presidency, Tourism, Culture, Youth, Sports and Spokesperson; Miguel López Abad, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Murcia; José María Albarracín, president of Croem, and Ramón Madrid, dean of the College of Economists of the Region.
MORE INFORMATION
That.
‘In Future Region of Murcia’.
Organize.
LA VERDAD, sponsored by the Region of Murcia, CaixaBank, Universae, Grupo Orenes, Hozono Global, Hidrogea, University of Murcia and the Murcia Chamber of Commerce.
When.
Tuesday, February 28, at 9:30 a.m., at the UMU Law School.
Information and registration
in
120th anniversary.laverdad.es
The business table, for its part, will be made up of Joaquín Hernández, president of the Círculo de Economía de la Región de Murcia; Pilar Berral, notary and member of the Circle of Economy of the Region of Murcia; Carmen Ayala, director of AC Hotel and president of the Tourism Board of the Region of Murcia; Francisco Espín Sánchez, president of the Business Association for Renewable Energies and Energy Savings (Aremur), and Pedro García, director of Institutional Relations, Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility of Grupo Orenes.
sponsors
‘En Futuro: Región de Murcia’ is organized by LA VERDAD and is sponsored by the Region of Murcia, CaixaBank, Universae, Grupo Orenes, Hozono Global, Hidrogea, University of Murcia and the Chamber of Commerce of Murcia.
looks to the past

The ‘En Futuro’ cycle is complemented by ‘Expo 120 years’, an exhibition that rescues a selection of the most outstanding front pages of LA VERDAD from the year the newspaper was founded to the present day. The exhibition will open tomorrow at the Auditorium of the University of Murcia, when the event ‘En Futuro: Región de Murcia’ ends, and can be visited until March 28. It consists of a series of 40 covers, selected for the relevance of the news. Among them, the first cover of LA VERDAD stands out, dating from September 25, 1903; the approval of the Tajo-Segura Transfer, on September 14, 1968; the massive demonstration against the 11-M attacks, on March 13, 2004, and Carlos Alcaraz’s first Grand Slam at the US Open, on September 12, 2022. This initiative is organized by LA VERDAD, sponsored by the Region of Murcia, Murcia City Council, CaixaBank, Universae, Hozono Global, Hidrogea, Murcia Chamber of Commerce and University of Murcia.
[ad_2]
#panel #experts #analyzes #strategic #agenda #Community
( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )
February 27, 2023
Indian govt’s popular news agency ANI makes up sources, experts: Report

[ad_1]
EU Disinfo Lab, a non profit based in Brussels has criticised ANI (Asian News International), a popular Indian news agency for allegedly using quotes and statements from made-up think tanks and experts. EU DisinfoLab, specialises in weeding out disinformation campaigns.
In their new report, “Bad Sources: How Indian news agency ANI quoted sources that do not exist”, they pulled up the organisation for referencing personalities and groups which were allegedly made up.
The EU DisinfoLab research, released on Thursday, is the third in a series of reports on a purported Delhi-based Srivastava Group-amplified Indian influence network based on fictitious NGOs and experts that were published in 2019 and 2020.
The most recent investigation focuses on the website of the International Forum for Rights and Security, a think tank with Canadian roots (IFFRAS). Around 200 times between May 2021 and January 2023, ANI cited IFFRAS.
Though IFFRAS was dissolved in 2014, its website remained online and was being updated. EU DisinfoLab said that the same IP address hosted the IFFRAS website and other websites from the Srivastava group.
The report said that when it tried to trace the speakers mentioned on the website, they discovered that they were mostly non-existent.
“Our guess is that the sole purpose of the IFFRAS is to produce content that can be covered by ANI and then republished widely throughout the Indian press,” said the report.
The EU DisinfoLab researchers also looked into other foreign experts at ‘think tanks’ that were mentioned by ANI.

They discovered the Policy Research Group (POREG), whose “geopolitical specialists” were frequently cited by ANI on topics including Chinese foreign policy and Pakistan’s army doctrines.
According to the study, despite repeated attempts to reach these experts—names like “James Duglous Crickton,” “Magda Lipan,” or “Ms. Valentin Popescu,” depending on the spelling—they did not appear to be available.
A third organisation that ANI began quoting findings from in 2021, was the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), a research group with French roots that is legitimately registered in Hong Kong. However, ANI was also disseminating information that EU DisinfoLab “could not attribute to genuine individuals” in addition to the CPFA team’s reliable findings.
The latest EU DisinfoLab report was released in conjunction with the “Story Killers” project to investigate the disinformation-for-hire-industry. Coordinated by French non-profit Forbidden Stories, the project hopes to continue the work of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh.

[ad_2]
#Indian #govts #popular #news #agency #ANI #sources #experts #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 24, 2023
Lithium discovery important for India’s EV push but mining poses serious environmental risks: Experts

[ad_1]
New Delhi, Feb 24: The discovery of lithium in Jammu and Kashmir is significant for India’s push towards electric vehicles but any environmental gains could be negated if it is not mined carefully, say experts, citing risks such as air pollution and soil degradation in the fragile Himalayan region.
The Geological Survey of India recently identified a potential deposit of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium in Reasi district’s Salal-Haimana area, the first such anywhere in India, which imports lithium. GSI said the site is an “inferred resource” of the metal, which means it is at a preliminary exploration stage, the second of a four-step process.
The discovery of lithium deposits can be a potential “game changer” for the country’s clean energy manufacturing ambitions in several ways, said Siddharth Goel, senior policy advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
“First of all, the scale of the reserves is significant, and can — if proven to be commercially viable — reduce India’s reliance on imports of lithium-ion cells, which are a key component for EV batteries and other clean energy technologies,” he said.
But there is a flip side too.
“Reports indicate that approximately 2.2 million litres of water are needed to produce one tonne of lithium. Further, mining in the unstable Himalayan terrain is fraught with risks,” cautioned Saleem H. Ali, distinguished professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware.
Lithium mining in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, for instance, has led to concerns over soil degradation, water shortages and contamination, air pollution and biodiversity loss.
“This is because the mining process is extremely water-intensive, and also contaminates the landscape and the water supplies if not done in a sustainable method,” Ali said.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), about a fourth of the Earth’s known lithium deposits (88 million tonnes) would be economical to mine, said Charith Konda, energy analyst, Electricity Sector at at US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
“Applying this benchmark, India could probably economically extract 1.5 million tonnes of lithium from the 5.9 million tonnes discovered in preliminary studies,” Konda told PTI.
Economically here would mean that the resources and technology used to extract will give good return in terms of usage of the resource.
“India has a vision of increasing the share of electric vehicle sales to 30 per cent in private cars, 70 per cent in commercial vehicles, 40 per cent in buses, and 80 per cent in two- and three-wheelers by 2030. In absolute numbers, this could translate to 80 million EVs on Indian roads by 2030,” Konda said.
The battery pack of an average electric car, he explained, requires 8 kg of lithium. By this metric, India’s economically extractable lithium reserves should be enough to power 184.4 million electric cars.
Currently, India is import dependent for several elements such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Ministry of Commerce data shows that India spent around Rs 26,000 crore importing lithium between 2018-2021.
In 2021, preliminary surveys by Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) showed the presence of lithium resources of 1,600 tonnes in Mandya District in Karnataka. However, there has been no report of mining the resource till date.
An IISD study found that access to critical elements such as lithium is a key challenge faced by companies investing in India’s EV ecosystem.
“These reserves could potentially be a huge carrot to attract investment into domestic battery manufacturing and other clean energy technologies,” Goel said
The potential site in Reasi has the same amount of lithium as the reserves in the US and more than China’s current reserves which are around 4.5 million tonnes.
However, the world’s largest lithium reserves in South America — especially in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina — are several times greater, collectively over 40 million metric tonnes.
According to University of Delaware’s Ali, domestic supply of usable lithium, if developed, could help develop batteries for solar and wind storage and EV usage.
What is critical in this scenario is the government putting in place the right support to make sure that securing these critical minerals is done in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, experts agree.
Environmentalists also argue that the focus should be on redesigning cities to reduce car usage in general instead of using metals like lithium to shift to EVs.
“This could specially be done in high density population centres of India with smarter urban planning,” Ali said.
This is because even when safeguards try to limit the social and environmental harm around fossil fuel extraction, which is considerable, there is no “fix” for air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, IISD’s Goel added.
“Given that lithium-ion batteries are the most advanced batteries available, they would continue to play a major role for the foreseeable future. India should mine lithium with proper environmental and social safeguards in place given the ecological and political sensitivities of the area,” IEEFA’s Konda said.–(PTI)
[ad_2]
#Lithium #discovery #important #Indias #push #mining #poses #environmental #risks #Experts
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 24, 2023
Air quality worsening in India’s cleanest city Indore, say experts

[ad_1]
Indore: Indore may have earned the prestigious tag of being the cleanest city India, but its air quality is worsening due to rapid development in the transport, construction and industrial sectors, said experts on Wednesday stressing the need for intensifying efforts to control the situation.
As per the data shared by the Central Pollution Control Board, the air quality of Indore on Wednesday was “moderate”, which can cause breathing discomfort to people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases.
Indore has been selected by Clean Air Catalyst, a global alliance working to improve air quality, apart from Jakarta (Indonesia) and Nairobi (Kenya) for one of its projects.
As part of the project, three air pollution monitoring stations have been set up in Indore to record data on pollutants like fine particulate matter or PM2.5, carbon monoxide and black carbon, an official of the Clean Air Catalyst said.
“Indore is not among the most polluted cities in the world, but it is not even one of the cleanest cities in the world in terms of air quality,” Hisham Mundol, chief advisor in India for the Environmental Defense Fund associated with the Clean Air Catalyst, told PTI.
He said that the air quality in Indore is being affected due to the rapid activities taking place in the transport, construction and industrial sectors.
Mundol said that under the ‘Clean Air Catalyst’ project, the data on air pollution in the city will be studied for the next two years and after that appropriate solutions will be provided to the local administration.
According to Dr Dilip Vaghela, an environmental expert associated with the Clean Air Catalyst and a former officer of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the challenges of air pollution in Indore are increasing continuously.

“In Indore, the amount of pollutants like PM10 and PM 2.5 increases a lot, especially during the winter season and lack of wind,” he said.
Vaghela said that most of the roads in densely populated Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, are not very wide, while the density of vehicles on them is very high.
“The population of the city is between 38 to 40 lakh, while the number of vehicles is estimated to be between 18 to 20 lakh, which means, there is a vehicle for every two people in the city. This ratio is probably the highest in the whole country,” he said.
“Efforts need to be intensified to improve the air quality to prevent the situation in the city from deteriorating,” he said.
Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said the traffic and air quality problems in the city were like a “spot on the beautiful moon”.
“We have taken up the task of solving both these problems in a major way with the help of the Clean Air Catalyst,” he added.
[ad_2]
#Air #quality #worsening #Indias #cleanest #city #Indore #experts
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 16, 2023
Deficit set to hit $1.4T this year amid persistent inflation, federal experts say

[ad_1]

Deficits as a share of the economy are expected to grow from 5.3 percent this year to 6.9 percent of GDP in a decade, “a level exceeded only five times since 1946,” the independent budget office noted on Wednesday.
Debt held by the public is also expected to reach its highest level ever recorded in the next 10 years, hitting 118 percent of GDP in 2033. The debt could skyrocket to 195 percent of GDP by 2053, thanks to growing interest costs and increased mandatory spending on programs like Medicare and Social Security, CBO analysts said.
Inflation will “gradually” slow this year as demand starts to sync more closely with supply. But the budget office projects that inflation will be higher this year and next year than originally anticipated, with the Federal Reserve likely hitting its target inflation rate of 2 percent in 2027.
Just last spring, the budget office said inflation would likely cool to the Central Bank’s target sometime after 2024, after initially predicting prices would reach that point by the end of last year.
Due to the Federal Reserve’s rapid interest rate hikes, economic activity is also expected to stagnate this year, with falling inflation and rising unemployment. The unemployment rate is projected to climb from 3.6 percent at the end of 2022 to more than 5 percent by the end of this year.
Real GDP growth is expected to rebound as the Central Bank eases up on interest rate hikes, averaging 2.4 percent annually through 2027.
The budget office cautioned that its economic projects are subject to change based on a variety of factors, including fluctuations in the labor market and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
[ad_2]
#Deficit #set #hit #1.4T #year #persistent #inflation #federal #experts
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 16, 2023
Obesity can lead to 13 different types of cancer: Experts

[ad_1]
Bengaluru: Obesity can lead to the development of 13 different types of cancer, experts said, adding people with obesity or severe obesity are 1.5 to 4 times at risk of developing cancer in organs like oesophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, colorectal, gallbladder, kidney, and thyroid.
Tausif Ahmed Thangalvadi, Medical Director at NURA, a collaboration between Fujifilm Healthcare and Kutty’s Healthcare offering AI-enabled imaging in Bengaluru, highlighted key findings from a working group document of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on the occasion of World Cancer Day.
Research has shown that obese women also face the impact of reproductive organ cancers like endometrial (4-7 times the risk compared to non-obese women), breast cancer (1.5 times) and ovarian cancer (1.1 times).
Breast cancer and colorectal cancer are the most common obesity related cancers in women and men, respectively, with 30 percent higher risk compared to non-obese people. A 2019 study found that obesity related cancers accounted for nearly 4 percent of the global burden of cancers, Thangalvadi said.
As per Unicef’s World Obesity Atlas 2022, India is predicted to have 2.7 crore children with obesity by 2030, he said.
Thangalvadi said: “There are many ways in which obesity can increase the risk of cancer. Fat tissue in the human body releases excess levels of oestrogen, which in women leads to an increased risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. High levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in obese people increases risk of colorectal, kidney and prostate cancer. Obesity also leads to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress on tissues, further increasing the risk of cancer.”
[ad_2]
#Obesity #lead #types #cancer #Experts

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 4, 2023
Inadequate steps in Joshimath; declare Himalayas eco-sensitive zone: Experts

[ad_1]
New Delhi: Unplanned and uncontrolled construction in the name of development in Uttarakhand has brought Joshimath on the brink of sinking, experts said here, demanding that the Himalayas be declared an eco-sensitive zone.
In a resolution passed at a roundtable organised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Saturday, experts termed as “inadequate” the steps taken to deal with the prevailing situation in subsidence-hit Joshimath.
They also asked the government to consider taking long-term measures to address the problem, saying a similar situation may arise in Nainital, Mussoorie and other areas of Garhwal as well if the “so-called development driven by human greed” is not checked in the hill state.
“Declare Himalayas as an eco-sensitive zone. Regulate big projects causing devastation,” the resolution said.
While the width of the road under the Char Dham road widening project must be regulated to an intermediate standard to minimize the damage to the terrain, the Char Dham railways project should be reassessed, it added.
“Chardham railways is an over ambitious project that will cause much devastation and will further overburden the tourist centric state of Uttarakhand. This project should be reassessed and re-looked at,” the resolution said.
A detailed carrying capacity assessment of Uttarakhand should be done to ensure that the number of tourists visiting these places is accounted for and also to ensure that the tourist flow does not cause environmental overburdening, it added.
The roundtable, organised to deliberate on the topic ‘Imminent Himalayan Crisis’, was attended by former chairperson of a Supreme Court-appointed committee on the Centre’s Char Dham project Ravi Chopra, its former member Hemant Dhyani and others, SJM co-convenor Awshwani Mahajan told PTI.

“Sri Adi Shankaracharya founded the city where the holy Jyotirlinga is located in the eighth century, which is known as Joshimath (Jyotir Math). Today, this math is at the brink of collapse. The news of the sinking of Joshimath has shaken the whole country,” Mahajan said.
“Even though some steps have been taken in view of the current crisis, experts believe that the sinking of this first Jyotir Math established by Adi Shankaracharya cannot be stopped,” he added.
Terming the steps taken by the government to deal with the prevailing situation “inadequate”, the resolution noted that while on one hand a large number of people are going to be displaced due to the sinking of Joshimath, on the other, the solution is being sought only by way of rehabilitation of affected residents.
“Currently work on the mega projects in this area – the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) hydropower project, Helang bypass road construction which is part of Chardham road widening project and ropeways project, has been stopped by the district administration succumbing to the local protests,” it noted.
It can be seen that areas such as Bhagirathi ESZ, where large scale mega projects have not been implemented and the local ecology has not been tampered with, land subsidence, landslide incidents and devastating disaster events are minimum to none, it underlined.
“This is proof enough that the indiscriminate, unplanned robust construction everywhere else in Uttarakhand has directly or indirectly impacted and aggravated the disaster like situation,” it added.
It is worth mentioning that the way the mountain was cut at the foothills of Joshimath for the construction of Chardham Marg and how without a proper hydrogeological study, the NTPC dug a tunnel in the middle of the mountain, this fragile mountain was destroyed,” the resolution noted.
“It is also noticed that due to robust and unplanned construction of high-rise hotels and buildings, there is inadequate arrangement for sanitation, which makes Joshimath more unstable and burdened,” it said.
“Due to all this, today the entire area of Joshimath is sinking and there is no way we can save it,” it added.
In the name of development, the resolution noted, construction work and tampering with nature is going on continuously all over Uttarakhand.
Due to the massive deforestation, there is hardly any greenery left on the mountains; and due to this, landslides have become a common feature in these youngest fold mountains, it claimed.
“Disastrous construction in the name of development without assessing the expected impact is becoming the cause of today’s and earlier tragedies. This crisis can be avoided only by curbing this indiscriminate construction,” the resolution said.
“In view of this type of rapid destruction in the past, it has become necessary to consider that the so-called development driven by human greed cannot be allowed to continue. It is necessary that long-term measures are taken to deal with this problem,” it demanded.
[ad_2]
#Inadequate #steps #Joshimath #declare #Himalayas #ecosensitive #zone #Experts
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 29, 2023
India promotes racism by being the bright spot in the global economy: Economic Experts

[ad_1]
Critic of Govt economic policies, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday called Indian Govt economic policies discriminatory. Raghuram Rajan’s statement came after International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that India will be a bright spot in global economy in 2023.

Lauding India’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals, IMF said that India is in a better position to deal with the global headwinds. However, economists in India called it a bad sign as India is promoting racism by being bright spot and not dark spot. Economists said that India’s economic policies are against the Black Lives Matter movement.
Earlier, economic expert had said that India will be cornered if it doesn’t get hit by recession like rest of the world. Read here.

Reportedly, India is likely to incorporate some points in the upcoming Budget 2023 to avoid being a bright spot. The Fauxy sources suggest that the government is likely to do away with the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme and would rather donate Rs 72,000 to every Indian to ensure India is hit by recession.
[ad_2]
#India #promotes #racism #bright #spot #global #economy #Economic #Experts

[ Disclaimer: With inputs from The Fauxy, an entertainment portal. The content is purely for entertainment purpose and readers are advised not to confuse the articles as genuine and true, these Articles are Fictitious meant only for entertainment purposes. ]

January 21, 2023