Author: Aishwarya Malewar

I believe that carefully written or spoken words can change the world. I am currently interning with Eduindexnews.

‘LEARN FROM HISTORY’ SAYS DONALD TRUMP

As America comes face to face with it’s racism in its past, President Donald Trump has firmly back lined up with those who argue that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of removing statues and other symbols of that flawed history, saying errors will be repeated unless learned from and understood.

Trump’s campaign also sees the division over this new political flash point as a way to improve the president’s reputation, which has weakened through his treatment of the coronavirus epidemic and the social discrimination demonstrations that accompanied the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. After weeks spent demanding “law and order” in response to the protests sparked by Floyd’s death by police, Trump began to draw a line in the sand.

He vowed executive action to preserve landmarks after several Confederate statues and other historical icons with checkered life stories were violently pulled down from parks and other socially popular spots.

Trump says he wanted the highest penalty possible under federal law — up to a decade in prison — for anyone who wrecks or tamper with public property monuments commemorating those who served in the U.S. military. He said the executive order would “strengthen” existing legislation.

“We are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators,” Trump said, referring to protesters who have vented their anger over racial injustice by toppling statues of figures tied to America’s racist history.

He spoke out after an attempt Monday night to bring down a Lafayette Park statue of Andrew Jackson, one of Trump’s favorite presidents, was foiled by police in the park across from the White House. Trump called it a “sneak attack” on the statue of Jackson, who owned slaves and was ruthless in his treatment of Native Americans. “We should learn from the history,” he told Fox News in a taped interview broadcast Tuesday. “And if you don’t understand your history, you will go back to it again.”

Trump’s campaign sees the attempts to remove statues as a potential presidential lifeline. The campaign argues that liberals are dramatically overreaching by embracing calls to “defund the police” and remove statues of American icons taught in history books.

In the current climate, Trump’s prior support of Confederate statues and military bases named after such individuals posed a political risk. But aides now believe the president has found an unexpected new line of attack on Democrats as the effort to remove symbols has spread to include the likes of Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Jackson and George Washington in some places.

Although all three figures were flawed individuals, Trump’s campaign believes he can use them to wage a culture war and position the president as the defender of a way of life threatened by demographic change and generational shifts in views on issues ranging from marriage to racial justice.

Calls to overhaul policing and confront lingering racial inequality may be bipartisan, but Trump’s reelection team believes the most aggressive steps being pushed by some Democrats will turn off centrists and energize the president ‘s base-– many of whom share his avowed commitment to safeguard symbols of the nation’s past. A White House official and a campaign assistant summarized the president’s rationale by speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday cast the “lawlessness” of the attacks on statues as a cultural phenomenon among “far-left radicals” in need of a history lesson.

Source:https://indianexpress.com/article/world/trump-says-learn-from-history-instead-of-removing-statues-6473595/

Will US pause on H1-B visas will impact Indian companies?

On Tuesday, the U.S. government announced it extended the 60-day immigration and non-immigrant worker visa ban until the end of 2020. Popular work visas including the much coveted H-1B and H-2B and some categories of H-4, J and L visas will also remain suspended until 31 December, the White House said in a press release.

The move, said US President Donald Trump, was to protect domestic workers who had been affected in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic because of a contraction in the economy.

To fill a shortage with highly qualified low-cost workers in IT and other similar fields, the U.S. government issues a variety with permits per year allowing businesses outside the U.S. to send staff to work on customers.

Among all working visas, the H-1B remains the most common among IT companies in India. Per year, the US government has a quota of 85,000 H-1B total visas. Of this, 65,000 H-1B visas are issued to highly skilled foreign workers, while the remaining 20,000 may be allocated additionally to highly skilled foreign workers who have an American university degree in higher education or master’s.

In addition to the H-1B visas, the US government also issues L1 visas allowing companies to transfer highly skilled workers to the US for up to seven years. H-2B visas enable food and farm workers to seek employment in the US.

After its introduction in 1952, the H-1 visa system has undergone several modifications and amendments to authorize or disallow other groups of foreign workers in the US, depending on the country’s economic situation.

Together with the arrival of the internet and low-cost computers in developing countries such as India and China, the technology boom saw a large number of graduates willing to work at relatively low costs in the US, a win-win situation for both the employer and the staff. Since then, though, it has been frequently criticized for sending low-cost workers to the US at the expense of homeworkers.

After taking over as US president in January 2017, Trump had suggested that low-cost workers hampered the economy and undermined citizens’ jobs. The US then suggested that the “broken” H-1B visa system be reformed.

Trump seized the opportunity presented by Covid-19’s economic contraction by first banning the entry of non-immigrant workers until June 23, and then extending it until December 31.

Trump said in his executive order extending the ban that while “properly administered temporary worker programs can bring benefits to the economy” under normal circumstances, the extraordinary economic contraction created as a result of Covid-19 posed a threat to American workers.

As the ban is in place immediately, issuance of the additional types of visas H-1B, H-2B, J, and L will have to be halted. This means that those who do not have a valid non-immigrant visa as of June 23, and who are outside the US, will not be allowed to enter the country until December 31. Some relief has been given to workers in essential services in the food sector and their entry will be decided by the immigration services consular officer.

Source:https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/us-h1b-visa-suspension-india-it-companies-6471966/

SOUTH KOREA FINDS BOLTON’S MEMOIR DISTORTED

Accounts by former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton of discussions between leaders of the United States and the two Koreas in his upcoming book are inaccurate and distorted, South Korea said on Monday.

In the discussion in the book Bolton provides specifics before and after three meetings with the U.S.  President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and what was the cause for the falling through of their second Vietnam Summit .

The novel, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Autobiography,” is expected to be published Tuesday but excerpts have been released by various media outlets. Reports have cited Bolton as writing that Moon, who is keen to improve relations with North Korea, had raised unrealistic expectations for his own “unification” agenda with both Kim and Trump.

“It does not reflect accurate facts and substantially distorts facts,” South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said in a statement referring to Bolton’s description of top-level consultations. Chung did not elaborate on specific areas South Korea saw as inaccurate but said the publication set a “dangerous precedent”.

“Unilaterally publishing consultations made based on mutual trust violates the basic principles of diplomacy and could severely damage future negotiations,” he said.

Trump and Kim met in Singapore for the first time in June 2018, raising hope for efforts to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. Yet their second summit, in early 2019 in Vietnam, failed after Trump refused Kim ‘s bid to give up North Korea ‘s primary nuclear facilities in exchange for lifting certain sanctions.

Bolton reportedly cites Chung as relaying Moon’s response to the breakdown as, on the one hand, Trump was right to reject Kim’s proposal but on the other, Kim’s willingness to dismantle the Yongbyon facility was a “very meaningful first step” toward “irreversible” denuclearisation.

South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea, or ROK) is
One of the most significant strategic and
commercial allies in Asia. The U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty , signed at the end of the Korean War in 1953, promises the United States to help South Korea defend itself, especially from North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK), and the relationship helps the United States advance its interests in East Asia and around the globe. For eg, ROK troops got fought in US-led military conflicts alongside U.S. troops.

About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are deployed in the ROK.
The U.S.-South bolster the strategic alliance Free-trade agreement with Korea (KORUS FTA). South Korea is the seventh-largest trading partner of the United States and the United States is the second-largest trading partner of South Korea, behind China.

Under the administration of Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in, policy cooperation between the United States and South Korea has been inarticulate. In May 2017, Moon, a progressive, had been elected President.

Although the two sides have generally managed to navigate differences , for example over trade and North Korea policy, underlying tensions on a range of issues continue to surface. Most recently, the U.S.-ROK “Special Measures Agreement” (SMA) on how to split the cost of basing U.S. troops in South Korea expired at the end of 2019, and subsequent negotiations were not successful.
Moving to a consensus. As a result, in April 2020 around 4,000 South Korean workers were furloughed on US bases. The Trump Administration has demanded Seoul increase its payments by 400 percent, and Trump publicly said it is debatable
Whether the presence of US troops is in the interests of the U.S.

Source: 1.https://in.reuters.com/article/northkorea-usa-southkorea/south-korea-says-boltons-memoir-on-trump-kim-summit-is-distorted-idINKBN23T0F0.

2.https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10165.pdf

RESTRICTIONS ON UBER REMOVED

A Colombian court reversed an order that required ride-hailing company Uber to temporarily halt it’s activities in the country last year and to change the company’s service delivery model.

The Industry and Commerce Superintendency (SIC), which regulates fair competition and protects consumers, said Uber had violated the rules of competition in a taxi company lawsuit in December. In February Uber resumed transporting passengers with a new model of service that allows users to rent cars with drivers.

But in a decision dated Thursday, the Superior Tribunal of Bogota said the time limit for the taxi company to present its complaint had expired.

The SIC has repeatedly fined technology companies like Uber and Rappi this can mainly be attributed to the lack of regulatory framework for delivery and ride-hailing apps. DiDi and Cabify also operate in the country.

“It must be remembered that the situation of digital platforms in regards to the provision of these types of services is a regulatory issue that must be resolved via laws,” the head of the SIC Andres Barreto .

After recently announcing salary cuts and layoffs for its workers, Uber has furloughed hundreds of its employees in India, as coronavirus is chewing up sales. The company has announced that it will no longer operate with 600 workers in its Indian business, as the company is looking to slash expenses in the wake of a pandemic. The figure is 25 per cent of Uber ‘s total nation workers, Uber said Tuesday in a tweet. The announcements made by Uber follow an earlier statement made by its local competitor Ola, which had laid off 1,400 employees or around one in every third employee.

 “Around 600 full time positions across driver and rider support, as well as other functions, are being impacted. These reductions are part of previously announced global job cuts this month,” Pradeep Parameswaran, President for Uber’s India and South Asia businesses, said.

Job cuts were implemented through out various departments from client and driver service, corporate growth, compliance, regulation, communications, and finance. As part of the company ‘s corporate turnaround program, Uber has retrenched about 6,700 employees this month. The American multinational ride hailing company said it gave the laid off workers 10 to 12 weeks of pay. Uber has provided them with medical benefits over the next six months.

“The impact of Covid-19 and the unpredictable nature of the recovery has left Uber India with no choice but to reduce the size of its workforce. Today is an incredibly sad day for colleagues leaving the Uber family and all of us,” the statement said.

But with easing lockdowns the company said on Wednesday trip requests were gradually picking up, but still remained significantly below prior year levels, as several countries start to lift coronavirus-led restrictions.

Trip requests are now down about 70% from a year earlier, slightly lesser than April’s 80% drop, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in a conference with Bank of America analysts. He said the company’s rides business is improving on a week-over-week basis, adding that the surge in food-delivery orders at Uber Eats recorded in the first quarter, showed no signs of slowing in May, easing concerns of investors who thought it could be a one-off trend during the pandemic.

Source: 1.https://in.reuters.com/article/uber-colombia/colombia-court-overturns-restriction-on-uber-idINKBN23R0DQ?il=0

2.https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/uber-lay-offs-coronavirus-lockdown-startups-uber-india-staff-fired-industry-salary-cuts-job-loss-uber/1970594/

3.https://www.deccanherald.com/business/uber-signals-recovery-in-rides-as-coronavirus-lockdown-restrictions-ease-845468.html

TENSION BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA ESCALATES

India is considering multiple, comprehensive measures to curtail China’s economic dependence on the country, targeting trade , investment, and project services in the wake of hostilities at the border. These are expected to include limits on Chinese firms’ involvement in government contracts and infrastructure programs, higher tariffs on imported Chinese finished goods as well as closer review of free trade arrangements that the country uses to indirectly export goods to India.

According to Economic times, a high-level meeting, likely to be attended by key stakeholder ministers and top officials from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), is expected soon to discuss the details and the extent of measures.

“Measures are being examined… All pros and cons of how and when as also their repercussions on Indian businesses will be looked into,” said a government official.

On the trade side, tariff as well as non-tariff measures could be put in place to discourage China’s imports which added up to $70 billion in FY19, which was more than any other country. In FY19, India had a trade deficit of $53 billion with China, and attempts to address it have made little progress. Chinese firms have a significant portion of the cell phone and electronics industries in India. The government should take steps to curtail Chinese imports while at the same time creating an atmosphere for domestic production of these goods.

India will also review its free trade arrangements with other countries to determine whether China is using them to enter the local market. India has already left the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations, which includes China among others, on the grounds that there is no safeguard against a further increase in exports to India from that country. In addition, stringent quality standards and controls could be introduced to contain the country’s goods inflow.

Various options are being examined by the law ministry on the exact contours of the clause to ensure it cannot be challenged and meets international norms. The omnibus clause could cover all countries, the official said, though it is primarily aimed at Chinese companies.

One of the first sectors to introduce the clause could be roads and highways before it is expanded to others and eventually includes public sector units, said the officials. The ministries of road transport and highways and law are already in discussions to finalise the wording of the new clause, one official said.

The government has sought to cancel and rework contracts with state-owned telecommunications firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) to keep Chinese vendors out of security issues. Additional criteria could be introduced to ensure Indian suppliers of goods and services secure contracts awarded by the government as well as public sector entities. The Ministry of Law is examining the feasibility of introducing such a clause examining the feasibility of introducing such a clause in contracts in accordance with restrictions or strict conditions imposed by some other countries on Indian firms from contracting.

“These stiff criteria essentially are barriers to ensure that only local companies can participate,” the official said, adding that such restrictions imposed by other countries are also being examined in detail.

The exercise was already underway as part of the Atmanirbhar government’s mission, or self-reliance, and gained importance following changed border circumstances, he said. The cabinet secretary, who also chairs a committee to boost local manufacturing, has had discussions with various ministries dealing with infrastructure projects on how to boost local sourcing of both goods and services.

The lowest bidder is generally accorded prior security clearance but there’s a growing view that a more stringent framework is needed, said the official cited above.

Some bids in which Chinese companies were roped in as partners by an Indian company in the roads sector have been cancelled recently, including one in Nagpur. The government has already reserved supply contracts of up to ₹200 crore for local producers. The government is likely to revisit these criteria to ensure wider participation by domestic companies, another official said.

Source:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/india-set-to-erect-a-great-wall-against-chinese-companies/articleshow/76455684.cms

North and South Korea RELATIONS

North Korea blew up the joint liaison office with South Korea in Kaesong, an industrial area on its side of the border, becoming one of the two countries’ most damaging conflicts without ever going to war. The collapse of the joint liaison office followed a growing breakdown of ties between Pyongyang and Seoul, which came just hours after Pyongyang had threatened with military action at the border with South Korea.

Tensions between the two countries had increased since last week, after Pyongyang took offence to South Korean activists and defectors sending anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets, rice and bibles using ballons across the border into North Korean territory, and cut off communication with Seoul. Experts believe that these movements follow the frustrations of North Korea over the inability of South Korea to revive inter-Korean economic projects that, under US pressure, had benefited Pyongyang, along with UN sanctions.

The liaison office was set up in Kaesong in 2018 to facilitate communication between North Korea and South Korea. Following the demolition of the office, North Korean state media outlet KCNA released a statement saying the office had been “tragically ruined with a terrific explosion”.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in called for an urgent national security meeting following the demolition. The country’s Unification Ministry called the incident “a senseless act”, one that had “destroyed the hopes of those who wished for peace on the Korean Peninsula”.The South Korean government said they would “respond strongly” if the situation were to worsen but did not elaborate on how it would retaliate. The demolition occurred just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong had threatened to destroy the liaison office.

North Korea and South Korea jointly established a liaison office in North Korea’s Kaesong, in 2003. The Kaesong Industrial Complex is a joint industrial zone where both North Koreans and South Koreans operate and run  factories. Approximately 120 factories operated in this industrial zone at its height, with more than 50,000 North Korean employees and several hundred managers, according to a BBC report. Pyongyang had threatened to close this liaison office last week and had cut off his lines of communication with Seoul.

Following the demolition of the liaison office, North Korean state media KCNA announced that Pyongyang would be sending troops in demilitarised areas, including in the Kaesong industrial zone. The KCNA added that North Korea would be adding artillery units along the border with South Korea for reinforcement and North Korean police posts that had been withdrawn when relations had improved between the two countries would now be instituted once again.

Observers say North Korea has been the most provocative by doing these actions in the last few years. During the last few years, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has made efforts to improve relations with Pyongyang. Researchers say that such provocations may have happened because Pyongyang aims to compel Seoul to make it more concessions that will be economically favorable to North Korea, which has been hit hard by sanctions. Although it is not clear how COVID-19 has affected North Korea, experts believe it is likely that the country has not escaped unscathed, particularly in the context of how China is the main trading partner for North Korea.

Source:https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/why-north-korea-blew-up-a-joint-liaison-office-and-what-it-means-for-relations-with-seoul-6463170/

europe & us relations turning sour due to pandemic

Historically, major tech investors have shrugged off the challenge from Margrethe Vestager, the competition tzar of the European Commission who wants to reduce the internet domination of US behemoths. Apple, Amazon.com, Facebook and Google controller Alphabet ‘s total market cap has increased more than tripled to $4.4 trillion since the Dane’s first term ended in 2014. Two new Apple probes, launched Tuesday, suggest it’s time to start taking her more seriously.

Vestager is convinced that rivalry is skewed by the rules for Apple’s preponderant app store. Music streaming rival Spotify Technology complained that Apple is levying a 30 per cent “tax” on smartphone user purchases made within apps, while at the same time stopping app developers from steering customers to cheaper options. Apple Pay’s second probe center allows customers to purchase things using an iPhone. Vestager is concerned that Apple makes it difficult for its popular smartphones to work smoothly with competing payment systems. Apple said it was upset that the European Commission is “advancing complaints from a few businesses who just want a free pass.”

But chief executive Tim Cook – and investors from the company – should be concerned about this. The mobile industry is large, and that’s an problem for Apple as it accounts for about half the sales. In the first quarter of 2020, iPhone smartphone revenues dropped 7 per cent. Apple has paid for its entertainment and music offerings by offering additional games, and subscriptions. Thanks to the rapid growth, these services close in on a quarter of all revenue. Citi economists say the app store accounts for 30 percent of all sales from utilities.

That has convinced the market to revalue Apple, as consumers favor recurring revenue from services to one-off hardware purchases. The company’s shares are valued, using data from Refinitiv, at 24 times estimated earnings over the next 12 months. That’s almost twice as high as the multiple from 2015 through to the end of 2018. If Apple is pressured by the commission to slash App Store prices and encourage rival programs to Apple Pay, its sales growth will stall, potentially warrant a lower number, and jeopardize its $1.5 trillion market capitalisation.In other words, Vestager is getting critical – unlike previous probing in Google’s shopping platform and Android operating system , causing no difference to the main business of the firm. Cook ‘s shareholders should be worried, as should those in other tech behemoths.

The Coronavirus has added more tension to the relationship between the United States and the European Union. The decision by President Donald Trump to ban European citizens from the United States and his definition of the virus as “Chinese” has weakened US relations with the European Union. Europeans and the US could not even agree to a joint text by the G7 foreign ministers on attacking the virus.

Nearly European ambassadors said that the relationship between the United States and Europe today was worse than any other modern U.S. administration, including during the Iraq War of 2003. On top of EU-U.S. Economic disagreements — such as on finance, security , climate change and Iran — ambassadors berated the “ideological animosity” of the Trump administration to the EU and NATO. One described the administration as showing “blatant disregard for shared values that have for decades underpinned the transatlantic alliance” and “lack of decorum” by the president when engaging European allies. The President ‘s calling the EU a “foe” and “crime-ridden” European countries was characterized as “violent.”

Source: 1. https://in.reuters.com/article/us-apple-antitrust-breakingviews/breakingviews-europes-latest-apple-bite-is-close-to-the-core-idINKBN23N2H4

2. https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/04/04/u.s.-relations-with-europe-likely-to-remain-strained-regardless-who-wins-november-election-pub-81493

Japan’s economy in turmoil

The Bank of Japan has expanded the total size of its funding packages for cash-strapped companies from about $700 billion reported last month to $1 trillion. While they announced on Tuesday that they would keep monetary conditions stable and hold on to their expectation that the economy would slowly rebound from the coronavirus pandemic on it’s on, suggesting that they have taken ample measures to sustain recovery for now. The BOJ remains focused on steps to ease corporate funding strain.

“Given markets have calmed down and the economy appears to be bottoming out, there’s no reason for the BOJ to take action anytime soon,” said Hiroshi Shiraishi, senior economist at BNP Paribas Securities.

“Fiscal policy will play a main role in responding to the virus fallout, so the central bank will continue to indirectly help the government by keeping borrowing costs low,” he said.

The BOJ kept its yield curve control targets at -0.1 per cent for short-term interest rates and 0 per cent for long-term rates in a widely expected move. The central bank has also made no significant improvements to its programmes to alleviate the pressures of corporate finance, including a loan facility aimed at channeling funds to businesses.

Due to the way it is designed, the amount of money to be pumped out via the programmes will reach 110 trillion yen ($1 trillion) if more loans are taken out via government schemes, the central bank said.That was larger than an estimate of 75 trillion yen made in May, as the government expanded the range of eligible loans under a second stimulus package.

Japan’s economy appears to have hit bottom and is eyeing a recovery from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, its finance minister said, underscoring cautious optimism spreading among policymakers after the relaxation of lockdown measures.

“We’ve succeeded in putting a floor on the economy, which seems to have hit bottom. How strong the recovery will be depends not just on domestic conditions but overseas developments,” Finance Minister Taro Aso told parliament on Friday.

In April, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proclaimed a state of emergency telling enterprises to shut down and people to remain at home, a development that dealt a serious blow to income and sales by corporations. Although the state of emergency was lifted in late May, economists estimate that in the current year, after falling into recession in January-March, the economy experienced more than a 20 percent annualized contraction.

Last year, Japan was a tourist mecca welcoming 31.9 million foreign visitors. That was a peak after seven consecutive years of growth.But in a sudden turn of events, prolonged coronavirus travel bans have brought Japan’s tourism industry to a standstill, with a 99.9 percent fall in tourists in April, the high time for cherry blossom viewings.The tourism Industry in almost all countries around the world have been devastatingly affected due to the pandemic.

However, the new domestic travel improving initiative from the government — the “Go To” program unveiled last month — has since been delayed after reports of an unsustainable administrative and office expense allocation. The “Go To” program is a collaborative public-private partnership that provides consumers purchasing travel goods from approved distributors in the four groups, tentatively named Go To Ride, Go To Eat, Go To Case, and Go To Shopping Strips, discount vouchers of 50 to 20 percent off. The initiative was dubbed “murky” and “untransparent” by the opposition.

Adding to the controversy is the bidding method the government adopted to attract business contractors. Before the official bidding start date, the Ministry of Economy had interviewed Japanese global advertising giant Dentsu 10 times. But the minister for economy explained that meetings had been held with 50 businesses along with Dentsu and that the 10 interviews with Dentsu had been consultations for reference due to the company’s experience in “implementing projects of unprecedented scale.”

In response to criticisms the government said it would suspend the open recruitment for business contractors and would revise the budget from the ground up to ensure unnecessary expenses are removed. The tourism recovery campaign was expected to launch in July, but to the disappointment of struggling local businesses a new start date has yet to be determined.

Source: 1.https://in.reuters.com/article/us-japan-economy-boj/bank-of-japan-holds-fire-pledges-1-trillion-to-struggling-firms-idINKBN23N0D5

2.https://japantoday.com/category/politics/Japan’s-economy-bottoming-out-says-Aso

3.https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/japans-campaign-to-revive-virus-hit-tourism-sector-postponed-amid-cost-controversy/

Indian social media app migrates to google cloud

Homegrown social media site, ShareChat, announced Monday the full transition of its technology to Google Cloud that supports more than 60 million active monthly users. The regional platform has made the shift to scale its market, boost productivity, cut costs and enhance the overall success of the app that houses active users in 15 Indian languages.

ShareChat following a host of Indian companies that, during the lockdown, changed or rebalanced their cloud provider mix to scale up to the massive increase in usage and reliance on such services. ShareChat’s IT network was divided between Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud according to the platform ‘s previous privacy policy claim.

Given the high-intensity data , high volume of content and traffic that the platform generates such as posts, likes, views and followers, ShareChat relies heavily on IT infrastructure. A significant proportion of their mobile-application’s subscribers come from cities that come in tier-2 and tier-3, with most of them heavily  depending on 2 G networks. Therefore the it is most critical for such businesses to be able to minimize the impact of mobile bandwidth and providing all users with a great experience, the management said.

Cloud service companies have seen consistent increase in revenue in the first six months of 2020 with multinational technology firms such as Amazon.com, Microsoft Corp, and Google Inc. announcing solid growth in the demand for cloud computing as growing percentages of institutions turned to online connectivity for continued research.

As per the numbers shared by the companies for January-March, Amazon Web Services ( AWS) continues to lead with a global market share of 32 percent followed by Microsoft Azure (17 percent) and Google and Alibaba at around 6 percent each. India is currently a high-priority destination for these companies, with a growing number of established firms, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) looking to embrace cloud and IT technologies in the face of the government’s drive for a stronger digital presence. The pandemic has only added to that urgency.

In April 2020, ShareChat decided to migrate to Google Cloud to successfully scale and achieve its customer service goals.

“We are happy to share that a couple of months down the line we have not only experienced 100% uptime but also we see the cost benefits of our choice much beyond our initial expectations. The scale at which ShareChat is, we wouldn’t have looked beyond the top three providers and Google was the perfect fit for us,” said Venkatesh Ramaswamy, vice president of engineering, ShareChat.

In the middle of the covid-19 crisis, the monumental eight-hour move from ShareChat ‘s predominant cloud network to Google Cloud forced the former to conduct a meticulous review for nearly three months, preparing and conducting a detailed operational and strategic approach to fulfill their market needs.

“60 million users, is among the largest that we have helped migrate in recent times. Because they had a very specific requirement about the timing and method of migration, our people across the professional services, India engineering and cloud teams, APAC and global teams were all on standby to handle any situation that arises,” said Karan Bajwa, managing director (MD), Google Cloud India.

Source:https://www.livemint.com/news/india/sharechat-migrates-60-million-users-to-google-cloud-11592197345377.html

Telecommunications workers held in Peru over Covid-19 5G cell tower conspiracy theoris

Villagers in rural Peru have detained technicians from broadband provider Gilat Peru over fears they were installing 5G technology, which they claimed was responsible for the coronavirus, police and the company said Friday.

The eight-member maintenance crew have been held since Wednesday by villagers in Acobamba province, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of the capital Lima.The incident occurred late Wednesday when workers were sent to maintain an antenna in mountainous Acobamba’s Huancavelica region.

“They have detained eight workers from a telephone company, who maintained the antennas that provide internet to public places such as educational centers, under the pretext that they are 5G antennas that, in some way, cause Covid-19,” regional police chief Alejandro Oviedo told TV Peru.

“They were held when they tried to leave and we had no communication with them since Wednesday night,” said Gilat Peru spokesman Arieh Rohrstoc. “They mistakenly think Covid is transmitted by radio waves, our technology is wireless, and the virus cannot be transmitted by electromagnetic waves,” he said. Farmers from the Huachhua Chopcca community in Acobamba demanded the technicians remove existing antennas as a condition of their release.

“The engineers have not been kidnapped,” community spokesman Lorenzo Escobar told PPP radio, adding that they were free to move around and were given food. He said the men had been held when they entered the area after the start of the nighttime curfew and had broken quarantine rules. Escobar said the community council would hold talks with Gilat Peru representatives on Saturday and the men would be released.

Peru is the second-most afflicted country behind Brazil in Latin America, with more than 214,000 confirmed cases and more than 6,000 deaths. Acobamba province, which rises to just about 4,000 meters above sea level, has one of the country’s lowest infection rates.

Due to spread of misinformation and lack of awareness about the virus, paranoia and hysteria has spread rapidly around the world . As reported by The Hindu in April, mainly people around the world have been tearing down cell phone towers believing especially 5G towers to be linked to the spread of the Corona-virus.

I was reported that in the month of April alone , 50 towers had been damaged in Britain, and 16 in the Netherlands, along with similar reports surfacing from Ireland, Cyprus, and Belgium as well.

Popular beliefs and the conspiracy theories that wireless communications pose a threat have long been around, but the global spread of the virus at the time that countries were rolling out fifth generation wireless technology has seen some of those false narratives amplified.

“I am absolutely outraged, absolutely disgusted, that people would be taking action against the very infrastructure that we need to respond to this emergency,” said Stephen Powis, Medical Director of the National Health Service in England, in early April.

Posting treats of attacking phone masts were received on likes of Facebook.One Anti-Vaccine Group posted in April on Facebook 12 photos of charred phone mast, with quote, “Nobody wants cancer and covid19. Stop trying to make it happen or every pole and mobile store will end up like this one.”

Source: 1.https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/telecommunications-workers-held-in-peru-over-covid-19-5g-scare/story-PVu1bSAp7Uo7LwEGjvDOJP.html?utm_campaign=fullarticle&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=inshorts

2. https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/conspiracy-theorists-burn-5g-towers-claiming-link-to-coronavirus/article31395286.ece