Tag: Report

Adani Group used paid editors to ‘clean’ its Wikipedia entries: Report

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In a new development in the Adani-Hindenburg report, Wikipedia’s online newspaper The Signpost published a news report stating that Adani Group employed several undeclared paid editors to ‘clean its Wikipedia page’.
The Signpost focuses on English Wikipedia, its sister projects, the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Wikimedia movement at large.
It categorically says “no entirely on-Wiki investigation of a user’s edits can completely identify an editor’s name or employer. Even if the editor identifies themself as an employee of a company, they may be simply trying to embarrass the company…We can, however, examine the nearly complete record of edits made to Wikipedia and identify editors that are likely to be fraudulent, or that appear to be working together with other accounts.”
Hindenburg Research’s founder Nate Anderson tweeted about the report on his page, “Of all things—now the Signpost, Wikipedia’s independent newspaper, is out w/ an article showing how Adani systematically manipulated its Wikipedia entries using sock puppet accounts, undisclosed paid editors & removing the evidence of conflicts of interest.”
Of all things—now the Signpost, Wikipedia’s independent newspaper, is out w/ an article showing how Adani systematically manipulated its Wikipedia entries using sock puppet accounts, undisclosed paid editors & removing evidence of conflicts of interest.https://t.co/s7Yzw8rXys pic.twitter.com/UVG6dVWtfu
— Nate Anderson (@ClarityToast) February 20, 2023
The article was written by a Wikipedia user called Smallbones. Smallbones has now been staged under the ‘disinformation report’ category.
The article titled ‘The “largest con in corporate history”?’ states that Hindenburg accused the conglomerate of alleged financial fraud, stock price manipulation and money laundering.
Signpost recently banned over 40 sockpuppets (a false online identity, typically created by a person or group in order to promote their own opinions or views) or undeclared paid editors who were employed to create a clean image of the industrialist, his family members including wife Priti Adani, son Karan Adani and nephew Pranav Adani as well Adani Group. Wikipedia reported that all 40 sockpuppet accounts have been banned.
Signpost also reported that there was one person who activated from the company’s IP address and rewrote the article for ‘Adani Group’ entirely.

“Many of them edited several of the articles and added non-neutral material or puffery. A declared paid editor, using a company IP address, completely rewrote the Adani Group article. Others removed warnings about conflict-of-interest editing. Some created articles by unusual methods that avoided Wikipedia’s quality control systems,” the report says.
Another account called ‘Hatchens’ misused its power of position and edited seven of the nine articles edited by the Signpost team.
The report also mentions about two single-purpose accounts or SPA – ‘Adanigrouponline’ and ‘Adani Group’- which were later blocked after they were found of editing and cleaning Adani’s image. The two SPAs were dedicated to rewriting or editing Adani-related articles as well as adding a detailed list of business units, and a list of awards, the report noted.

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#Adani #Group #paid #editors #clean #Wikipedia #entries #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 22, 2023
Man orders iPhone, kills the delivery agent while receiving it: Report

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A 20-year-old man allegedly killed a Flipkart delivery partner who came to deliver an iPhone at Karnataka’s Haasan district, reported The Hindu.
The accused stabbed the delivery person as he did not have money to pay for his order.
According to the report, Hemant Datta, the resident of Lakshmipuram in Haasan district’s Arsekere ordered an iPhone through Flipkart in the beginning of February. Hemanth Naik who works as a delivery agent with the e-commerce site came to the house of the accused on February 7 to deliver the phone. While delivering the phone, there was an argument over the payment and unboxing the mobile phone between the two and Datta allegedly stabbed Naik with a knife in his house. Police said that Naik died on spot and Datta had hidden the dead body in a gunny bag. Two days later, Datta threw the bag on a nearby railway track and later buried the body with petrol.
As the deceased went missing from February 7, his brother Manju Naik filed a police complaint with Arsekere police station. The police found the dead body at a railway track and the accused was arrested on Saturday. A case has been filed on the accused and police are investigating the matter further.
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#Man #orders #iPhone #kills #delivery #agent #receiving #Report
( With inputs from : kashmirpublication.in )

February 21, 2023
Deaths in US prisons up by 50% during 1st Covid year: Report

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Washington: US state and federal prisons saw deaths surging nearly 50 per cent during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in six states they had more than doubled, a media report revealed.
The New York Times report on Sunday was the first comprehensive data on prison fatalities in the era of the pandemic.
“The tremendous jump in deaths in 2020 was more than twice the increase in the US overall, and even exceeded estimates of the percentage increase at nursing homes, among the hardest-hit sectors nationwide,” Xinhua news agency reported citing the newspaper as saying.
While there was ample evidence that prisons were Covid hot spots, the data underscored how quickly the virus rampaged through crowded facilities, and how an aging inmate population, a correctional staffing shortage and ill-equipped medical personnel combined to make prisoners especially vulnerable during the worst public health crisis in a century, according to the report.
Covid infections drove the death tolls, but inmates also succumbed to other illnesses, suicide and violence, according to the data, which was collected by law school researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Altogether, at least 6,182 people died in American prisons in 2020, compared with 4,240 the previous year, even as the country’s prison population declined to about 1.3 million from more than 1.4 million, the report said.
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#Deaths #prisons #1st #Covid #year #Report

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 20, 2023
Govt Considers Withdrawal Of Army From Kashmir In Phased Manner: Report

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SRINAGAR: The Union government is considering a phased withdrawal of Indian Army from the hinterland of the Kashmir Valley, according to a report.
Newspaper The Indian Express on Monday reported that the Narendra Modi government is considering a plan to withdraw the Army from the interior of Kashmir in a phased manner and replace it with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
The report says the plan has been in the making for around two years and the Union Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs along with the military and J&K Police are part of the deliberations.
The Modi government’s plan is in “advanced stage” and it is a matter of when rather than if, reported The Indian Express.
However, the final call is yet to be taken on the plans and it’s still in the deliberative phase for now.
The Indian Express reports that the withdrawal is not just a sign of normalcy in Kashmir Valley but it’s a way to make the normalcy visible as the Modi government believes the security situation has improved since August 2019 when the J&K’s special status was scrapped.
On August 5, 2019, the Modi government scrapped the special status of J&K, converted it from a state into a Union Territory (UT), and bifurcated it into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh. Since then, the Modi government has claimed that the security situation has improved and stone-pelting has reduced.
A Union Home Ministry official told The Indian Express, “Since the August 5, 2019 decisions, violence in the Valley has steadily reduced. Stone pelting has almost vanished and the law-and-order situation is largely under control. However, a large presence of the Indian Army in the hinterland would sit oddly with claims of normalcy.”

If the plan is implemented, then the Army would only be deployed in forward areas of Kashmir along the Line of Control (LoC), the de-fecto India-Pakistan border.
If the Modi government approves the plan, then the Army would first be removed from two districts and then further action would be taken based on the resultant security situation, according to report.
The stand of the Indian Army is to reduce the numbers of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) personnel in Kashmir.
The Express reports, “The official said that one proposal discussed is to remove the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of the Indian Army in three phases and replace them with CRPF…Another official, privy to details of the discussions, said as of now the Army is only talking about decreasing the strength and not removing RR completely. The Army, according to defence sources, is already planning a resizing.”
As per the report, first companies in existing battalions would be reduced and this way around 15,000 personnel could be freed from interior regions.
Notably, several thousand additional security personnel were deployed in Kashmir region around the time J&K’s special status was scrapped.

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#Govt #Considers #Withdrawal #Army #Kashmir #Phased #Manner #Report
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

February 20, 2023
Corroded wires, welded suspenders behind Morbi bridge tragedy: SIT report

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Morbi: Gujarat government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has in its preliminary probe found that corrosion on nearly half of the wires on a cable and welding of old suspenders with new ones were some of the major faults that led to the collapse of a suspension bridge in Morbi last year in which 135 people were killed.
Of the two main cables of the British-era bridge, built by the erstwhile rulers in 1887 over the Machchhu river, one cable was having issues of corrosion and nearly half of its wires “may be already broken” even before the cable snapped on the evening of October 30, 2022, the SIT noted.
The main cable on the upstream side of the river snapped, leading to the tragedy, as per the SIT.
The findings are part of the ‘Preliminary Report on Morbi Bridge Incident’ submitted by the five-member SIT in December 2022. The report was recently shared by the state Urban Development Department with the Morbi Municipality.
Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river which collapsed on October 30, 2022.
The SIT found several lapses in repairs, maintenance and operation of the bridge.
Each cable was formed by seven strands, each comprising seven steel wires. Total 49 wires were clubbed together in seven strands to form this cable, the SIT report said.
“It was observed that out of the 49 wires (of that cable), 22 were corroded, which indicates that those wires may have already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires recently broke,” it said.

The SIT also found that during the renovation work, “old suspenders (steel rods which connect the cable with the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders. Hence the behaviour of suspenders changed. In these types of bridges, single rod suspenders should be used to bear the load”.
Notably, the Morbi Municipality, without the approval of the general board, had awarded the contract to maintain and operate the bridge to Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited), which had closed the bridge in March 2022 for renovation and opened it on October 26 without any prior approval or inspection.
According to the SIT, there were nearly 300 people on the bridge at the time of collapse, which was “far more” than its load bearing capacity.
It, however, said the actual capacity of the bridge will be confirmed by laboratory reports.
The probe report also pointed out that replacing individual wooden planks with an aluminium deck also played a role in the collapse.
“Walking structure was made up of rigid aluminium panels instead of flexible wooden planks. If there were individual wooden planks (which were there before renovation), the number of casualties could have been lower. Moreover, no load test or structure test was conducted before opening the bridge,” it added.
The aluminium honeycomb panels were fixed without any gap in between, which makes the deck less flexible to deform in its own plane, the SIT said, adding the use of aluminium could have increased the overall weight of the bridge too.
IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal, IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, a secretary and a chief engineer from the state Roads and Building Department and a professor of structural engineering were members of the SIT.
The Morbi police have already arrested 10 people, including Oreva Group’s MD Jaysukh Patel, and booked them under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any rash or negligent act) and under 338 (causing grievous hurt by doing rash or negligent act).
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#Corroded #wires #welded #suspenders #Morbi #bridge #tragedy #SIT #report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 20, 2023
Corroded wires, welded suspenders behind Morbi bridge tragedy: SIT report

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Morbi: The Gujarat government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has found in its preliminary probe that corrosion on nearly half of the wires on a cable and welding of old suspenders with new ones were some of the major faults that led to the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi last year in which 135 people were killed.
These findings are part of the ‘Preliminary Report on Morbi Bridge Incident’ submitted by the five-member SIT in December 2022. The report was recently shared with the Morbi Municipality by the state Urban Development Department.
Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river that collapsed on October 30 last year. The SIT had found several lapses in repairs, maintenance and operation of the bridge.
IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal, IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, a secretary and a chief engineer from the state Roads and Building Department and a professor of structural engineering were members of the SIT.
The SIT noted that of the two main cables of the bridge, built by the erstwhile rulers in 1887 over river Machchhu, one cable was having issues of corrosion and nearly half of its wires “may be already broken” even before the cable snapped on October 30 evening.
According to the SIT, the main cable on the upstream side of the river snapped, leading to the tragedy.
Each cable was formed by seven strands, each comprising seven steel wires. Total 49 wires were clubbed together in seven strands to form this cable, the SIT report said.
“It was observed that out of the 49 wires (of that cable), 22 were corroded, which indicates that those wires may have already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires recently broke,” the SIT said in its report.
The SIT also found that during the renovation work, “old suspenders (steel rods which connect the cable with the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders. Hence the behaviour of suspenders changed. In these types of bridges, single rod suspenders should be used to bear the load”.

Notably, the Morbi Municipality, without the approval of the general board, had awarded the contract to maintain and operate the bridge to Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited), which had closed the bridge in March 2022 for renovation and opened it on October 26 without any prior approval or inspection.
According to the SIT, there were nearly 300 persons on the bridge at the time of collapse, which was “far more” than the load bearing capacity of the bridge. It, however, said the actual capacity of the bridge will be confirmed by laboratory reports.
The probe report also pointed out that replacing individual wooden planks with an aluminium deck also played a role in the collapse.
“Walking structure was made up of rigid aluminium panels instead of flexible wooden planks. If there were individual wooden planks (which were there before renovation), the number of casualties could have been lower. Moreover, no load test or structure test was conducted before opening the bridge,” it added.
The aluminium honeycomb panels were fixed without any gap in between, which makes the deck less flexible to deform in its own plane, said the SIT, adding that the use of aluminium could have increased the overall weight of the bridge too.
Morbi police have already arrested ten accused, including Oreva Group’s MD Jaysukh Patel, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any rash or negligent act) and under 338 (causing grievous hurt by doing rash or negligent act).
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#Corroded #wires #welded #suspenders #Morbi #bridge #tragedy #SIT #report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 19, 2023
Special audit report of BGSBU reveals financial irregularities, violation of procurement norms

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Srinagar, Feb 18: A special audit report of the Jammu and Kashmir government regarding Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) Rajouri, has pointed out large-scale financial irregularities and violation of norms on account of procurements made by the university.
According to the Special Audit Report of Directorate of Audit and Inspections, sent to Higher Education Department, J&K Government, a copy of which is with news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), has made several observations and recommendations in respect of working of the University based on the examination of records.
While taking review of the establishment section of the University, the Audit team observed that service records of employees were not being maintained and updated as per the prescribed procedures.
“It has also been observed that some of the important positions of the University are being manned by the re-employed teachers working in the University in contrary to the UGC model guidelines for re-employment,” the Audit report reads, adding that a superannuated re-employed teacher shall not be eligible for holding administrative or financial responsibilities at the institution or elsewhere.
The Audit has revealed that Prof Parvez Iqbal, Retired Faculty Dean Academic affairs and co-ordinator of TEQIP-III after attaining superannuation on June 30 of 2018 is still holding various administrative and financial powers.
“Assignment of financial powers to superannuated re-employed officers is fraught with risks in view of lack of accountability, absence of deterrence of the service codes or any mechanism for recovery in case of loss, fraud or embezzlement,” the audit report has observed.
The Audit report has also raised queries over management of Welfare Fund being utilised by the University authorities saying that the payments out of the welfare fund were released and sanctioned as “Grant-in-Aid” to the employees who are suffering from serious illness.
“However, no specific guidelines in respect of payments from the welfare fund have been laid down by the University and thus the payments made out of the Fund could not be verified in absence of specific guidelines,” it reads.

The Audit has also revealed that welfare fund @ Rs.100 per employee is being deducted from the salaries and is credited into a separate bank account no.894 in JK Bank BGSBU as Welfare Fund Account.
The Audit report has observed that some of the purchases were made by the University during the period under enquiry in contravention to the codal provisions.
“For the procurement of 200 student desks, the supply order issued to the firm is that of steel desk and the survey committee also submitted its report that goods so purchased are as per the quantity and specifications mentioned in the supply order. But the bill of payment provided by the supplier indicates that the desks are made of wood instead of steel which is contrary to the terms and conditions of the supply order and grave financial malfeasance, causing loss to the Exchequer,” it reads.
The Audit report has also revealed that the multi-media projector and projection screen have been purchased in contravention of the norms. “The maker of the product so procured has not been mentioned either in the supply order or in the bills of payment,” it reads—(KNO)
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#Special #audit #report #BGSBU #reveals #financial #irregularities #violation #procurement #norms
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 19, 2023
Rs 6K cr earmarked to implement 7th Pay Commission report: Bommai

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Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said Rs 6,000 crore has been earmarked for the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission report.
The report would be submitted by a committee headed by former chief secretary Sudhakar Rao regarding the revision of the salaries of state government employees.
Talking to reporters after presenting the budget for FY 2023-24 here on Friday, he said any additional amount required for the implementation will be provided in the supplementary budget.
The reports of the pay commission will be implemented from FY 2023-24.
“Whether the committee presents its interim or final report, the state government will take immediate action. Since the grants have been reserved in the budget, there will be no problem with the implementation,” he said.
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#earmarked #implement #7th #Pay #Commission #report #Bommai

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 17, 2023
Reopening of Schools: Only Secondary, Senior Secondary teaching staff to report back on Feb-20: Officials

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Srinagar, Feb 17: Amid confusion among the teachers of the School Education Department regarding reporting back to their respective institutions after the winter vacations, officials Friday said only teachers of Secondary and Secondary Schools will have to report on February-20.
The official said that as per the instructions, the teaching staff of High and Higher Secondary Schools will have to report back to their respective schools on February-20.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the official said, “There is no mention of resumption of duties for primary school teaching staff. So it is clear that they would not have to report on February-20.”
“However, such teaching staff may be ordered to report back to their respective institutions a few days earlier for streamlining the things,” the official said.
Earlier in November-2022, the School Education Department had said, “The Teaching staff of High and Higher Secondary Schools shall report back to their respective schools on February-20-2023, so that they remain available for making arrangements regarding preparation of ensuing examinations.”
”All teachers shall remain available on demand for any online guidance of students during vacation period. Any default on part of the Head of the Schools or Teaching staff in observance of the above schedule shall attract strict action under Rules,” it reads—(KNO)
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#Reopening #Schools #Secondary #Senior #Secondary #teaching #staff #report #Feb20 #Officials

( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 17, 2023
‘Committee should examine truthfulness of Hindenburg report’, Centre to SC

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New Delhi: The Central government has told the Supreme Court that the “truthfulness” of the allegations levelled by a US short seller against the Adani Group should be examined and a fact-finding exercise is required to be undertaken as a one-time measure and without making it a precedent.
In a note submitted in the apex court, the Central government supported the formation of a committee to probe the allegations made in the Hindenburg report.
The government said in view of the unprecedented financial loss suffered by the investors and in view of the complexities involved in the subject which requires urgent consideration, a fact-finding exercise requires to be undertaken as a one-time measure and a committee can be constituted with a former judge of the Supreme Court as its head.
The Centre proposed the committee could include the Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Director of the Enforcement Directorate.
“The committee shall have all the powers to undertake an effective investigation with all powers which are available under the relevant legislations regulations/rules, including every authority and power to avail all assistance and protocols for its investigation outside India,” said the note.
It added that this committee should have no reflection either on the ability or competence of Sebi and all other statutory agencies, and it should submit a report within a period of eight weeks.
The Centre said the committee should submit a report “regarding the truthfulness or otherwise of the allegations levelled against Adani group of companies in the Hindenburg report”.
The note added, “To ascertain and submit a report regarding Hindenburg’s admitted claim of taking a ‘short position in Adani Group companies through US traded bonds and non-Indian traded derivatives instruments’ prior to the publication of its subject report with all underlying transactions undertaken/made either by Hindenburg itself, its associated companies/concerns and/or connected entities/individuals, whether within or outside India in violation of any regulatory/penal/preventive or other statutory provisions.”

It added that the committee should ascertain and submit a report regarding the details of all undisclosed “short positions” and/or other transactions, source of funds and profits made by short sellers in India or abroad prior to and/or in near proximity of the Hindenburg report.
“Suggest measures to strengthen investor awareness including at the point of trade. Suggest measures to strengthen statutory and/or regulatory framework for further and better protection of investors,” added the note.
The Supreme Court is yet to issue an order on setting up of a panel proposed to examine investor protection mechanisms against the backdrop of the Hindenburg report.
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#Committee #examine #truthfulness #Hindenburg #report #Centre
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 17, 2023