Director-General condemns murder of journalist Dharmendra Singh in the Indian State of Bihar

November 30, 2016

Paris, 29 November—The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today called for an investigation into the killing of journalist Dharmendra Singh in the town of Sasaram in Bihar on 12 November.

“I condemn the murder of Dharmendra Singh,” said the Director-General “Every assassination of a journalist is a setback for freedom of expression, freedom of information, and rule of law. It is in the interest of society as a whole that the authorities investigate this crime and bring its perpetrators to justice.”

Three unidentified gunmen shot Dharmendra Singh, a reporter for the national Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, on 12 November in the town of Sasaram.

The Director-General of UNESCO issues statements on the killing of media workers in line with Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States at the Organization’s General Conference of 1997, entitled “Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.” These statements are posted on a dedicated webpage, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.

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Ninth Qualifier ​(East Delhi Round) of ​ the seventh annual International Robotronics Challenge

November 30, 2016

The Ninth Qualifier (East Delhi Round) of the seventh annual International Robotronics Challenge (popularly known as  IRC League) was successfully held at Indirapuram Public School, Crossings Republik, Ghaziabad on 29 th November  2016. The programme started with the lighting of the lamp by Mrs. Sushma Negi, Principal, Ms. Sudha Sivadas, the Headmistress  followed by welcome song and Ganesh vandana by the students. The event saw participation of 5 0  teams from 20 different Schools. More than 200 students from reputed schools of Noida, Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Meerut participated in the event enthusiastically. The theme of this season of IRC League is “ You Are the Change. “ The event witnessed teams vying to win while making an ardent effort , through their Robots, to combat issues that are bothering our world currently or will bring progress to our shores, starting with Interplanetary travel to solving everyday near and far problems, such as deforestation or waste management system to make our lives better.

The International Robotronics Championship was organized by Avishkaar Box as a qualifier round.  The winning team from the junior level, Middle level and senior level would be representing their school in the national round.  The winners from the national round will represent their countries  in the International Chapter scheduled to be organised at Beijing in 2017.  WINNING TEAMS at Indirapuram Public School, Ghaziabad are: Junior Level : Step By Step Noida Middle Level :  Bluebells Model School, Gurgaon Senior Level: The Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar

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Foreign Funding: BJP and INC withdraw their appeals in the Supreme Court

November 30, 2016

29th November,’16

New Delhi: The Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) filed by BJP and INC were “dismissed as withdrawn: today by the Supreme Court after both the parties conjointly told the Apex Court about their decision to withdraw the SLPs they had filed in the year 2014. This decision to withdraw the appeals came after both the parties had sought time from the Supreme Court to clarify the effect of the amendment brought this year to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 in their matter. BJP and INC had filed these appeals against a Delhi High Court verdict which held them prima facie guilty of accepting foreign funds and violating the provisions of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). BJP and INC had accepted donations from Vedanta and its subsidiaries, registered in England and Wales for the period up to the year 2009.

The Delhi High Court in its judgment dated 28th March, 2014 had directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against the two parties within six months. The judgment was announced on a petition filed in public interest by Mr. EAS Sharma, Former Secretary, Government of India, and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in Delhi High Court in January 2013. The petitioners had asserted that there is a blatant violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 FCRA) and Representation of People’s Act, 1951 by these two major National political parties.

(For the High Court’s judgment, please click here)

With the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss these appeals as withdrawn by the parties, the onus is now on the Government to act. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) should abide by the High Court’s ruling and take action against these parties within six months as the Delhi High Court’s order of March 2014 is now legally binding and final.

For complete details of the case, kindly refer here http://adrindia.org/legal-advocacy/judgements-and-orders .

Thanks & Regards

Media and Journalist Helpline +91 80103 94248 Email: adr@adrindia.org

Maj Gen Anil Verma (Retd.) Head – NEW & ADR +91 8826479910 anilverma@adrindia.org

Prof Jagdeep Chhokar IIM Ahmedabad (Retd) Founder Member – NEW & ADR +919999620944 jchhokar@gmail.com

Prof Trilochan Sastry IIM Bangalore Founder Member, NEW & ADR +919448353285, trilochans@iimb.ernet.in

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Over 1,000 Ongo Enabled TABCab Taxis in Mumbai Now Powered by Visa

November 30, 2016

Over 1,000 Ongo Enabled TABCab Taxis in Mumbai Now Powered by Visa

• 1,000 TABCab Taxis will receive digital payments through mVisa, the ‘QR code based Visa solution’ currently offered by 6 banks and 1 non-FI player
• Marks the expansion of Visa’s innovative mobile payment solution to a new category
• Consumers can avail promotional offer of 50% cashback (up to Rs 200)

National , November, 30, 2016: mVisa, a Quick Response (QR) code-based mobile solution by Visa, will now support payments to over 1,000 TABCab taxis powered by Ongo.  The announcement marks the expansion of mVisa to a new category (taxi) after success with merchants like TataSky, Idea, Pizza Hut and others.

Using mVisa, customers will be able to pay their fare through their respective bank’s mobile banking app by scanning the driver’s QR code displayed as a badge or a sticker in the taxi. The driver will receive a payment notification either through an SMS or on the Ongo app (for smartphone users). The service is currently available on the following apps – Axis Bank Mobile Banking App, Bank of Baroda M CLIP App, Bank of India mVisa App, HDFC Bank PayZapp, Pockets by ICICI Bank, State Bank Anywhere App and Udio Payments App.

Consumers can also be eligible for an attractive promotional offer. For every mVisa transaction, the consumer gets 50% cashback (up to Rs 200). This offer is valid till 31stDec 2016.

Powered by India Transact Services Limited. (ITSL), a fully owned subsidiary of AGS Transact Technologies Limited, the Ongo app was launched in September 2015 to enable mobile based P2M (Person to Merchant) transactions for autorickshaws and taxis in Mumbai. With the introduction of mVisa, Ongo enabled taxi drivers will now be able to receive cashless payments.

T.R. Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said,“With the exponential growth in internet and mobile penetration in India, mobile based payment solutions are rapidly picking up. We are excited by the increasing acceptance for mVisa and believe QR codes as a payment method will play a crucial role in development of digital payments as they are supported by the full range of smartphones, including low cost models. mVisa presents an opportunity to electronify everyday spends, and public transport is an important category that we are solving for.”

Ravi B Goyal, Chairman & Managing Director, AGS Transact Technologies Limited, added, “In line with Ongo’s vision to create and deliver an alternate transactions ecosystem, we are consistently working towards developing mobility-based payment solutions that encourage alternative transactions ecosystem. Our partnership with Visa will help us further fuel the company’s vision where paying or getting paid digitally becomes the first choice for consumers and merchants.”

Visa, the global leader in payments technology and payment solution provider AGSTTL-ITSL, aim to maximise the integration of mobile based payments to Mumbai’s local transportation as well as small merchants, working closely with government authorities, trade and merchant bodies and partners.

mVisa is a payment service that allows consumers to use their mobile phones to make cashless purchases. Users securely link their Visa debit, credit or prepaid account to the mVisa application and make purchases by scanning an mVisa Quick Response (QR) code at a retailer and initiating a transfer of funds from their card to the retailer’s account. mVisa eliminates the need to carry cash by providing customers a more convenient and secure way to pay.

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks – VisaNet – that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visitwww.visa.co.in

About India Transact Services Limited

India Transact Services Ltd. (ITSL), a fully owned subsidiary of AGS Transact Technologies Ltd., is an Omni-channel merchant payment solutions company providing cutting-edge technology and innovative payment solutions. ITSL aims to consistently simplify the process of Transacting, Merchant Acquisition and Value Added Services.

ITSL offers a host of products and services including payment processing platform for routing commercial and retail payments between buyers and sellers across the country. The company is also an independent Service organization providing services   like distribution, merchant enrollment, training, activation, field support, transaction switching, network, reconciliation, settlement, and fraud & chargeback management. ITSL’s unique Value Added Services enables merchants to run their own Loyalty Program through Prepaid and Reward Cards.