A fire sprinkler
system is an active fire protection method, consisting of a water supply
system, providing adequate pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping
system, onto which fire sprinklers are connected. .. .. Insurers speak about
this daily on analyzing their risks ! Life has changed – long ago – the Telephone Directory
was a prized possession – could we have
imagined that a day might come when people would not like their nos listed /
revealed .. ! - yet one gets no. of
calls offering services, products – many a times, they would have most of our
information including DoB, Occupation, Address, ownership of vehicles, homes,
products and .. .. – one may be surprised that most companies buy data thinking
them to the goldmine for furtherance of their business.
Unconnected
but in news is ‘Sprinklr’ - a New York City-based software company that develops
a SaaS customer experience management (CXM) platform. The company's software,
also called Sprinklr, utilizes artificial intelligence, and combines different
applications for social media marketing, social advertising, content
management, collaboration, employee advocacy, customer care, social media
research and social media monitoring.
On Wednesday, US tech
giant Facebook announced that it would invest $5.7 billion (Rs 43,547 crores)
in RIL's wholly-owned subsidiary Jio Platforms to expand its presence in India.
With this investment, Facebook will own 9.9 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.
This would be Facebook's biggest minority shareholding ever. Reliance Jio, a
part of Jio Platforms, has been the fastest-growing telecom network in the
country since its launch in 2016. Jio has more than 388 million customers in
India.
After
the announcement, in early morning trade, shares of Reliance Industries (RIL)
gained 7 per cent at Rs 1,326 on the BSE and with day’s gain, the stock of RIL
has rallied 14 per cent from its Tuesday’s low of Rs 1,164. In a press release
shared by the company, it says, "This investment by Facebook values Jio
Platforms at Rs 4.62 trillion pre-money enterprise values ($65.95 billion,
assuming a conversion rate of Rs 70 to a US Dollar). Facebook’s investment will
translate into a 9.99 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted
basis," it added. As Facebook, the world’s largest
social media company, invests $5.7 billion for a 9.99 per cent stake in
Reliance Jio Platforms, the deal is also seen as a powerful alliance to take on
formidable players in e-commerce and payments space such as Amazon, Flipkart
and Google.
Down
under, a five-Test series played exclusively at Adelaide Oval with players
housed in the ground's new hotel is far from an outlandish suggestion as
Cricket Australia contemplates all possible ways of ensuring that India's
scheduled tour takes place next summer in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
CA's chief executive Kevin Roberts stressed that the governing body was being
as "creative" as possible to try to ensure the tour goes ahead at the
end of the year. Its success rests hand in hand with ensuring that the game in
Australia can maximise its revenue next summer so that they could offer
players, the states and community cricket and its own staff a flow of cash
somewhere near the torrent that has rushed through over the past decade.
Player
pay could veer wildly depending on whether the India tour is able to go ahead.
Certainly more so than the scheduled T20 World Cup that is still slated to
precede it amid growing doubts about staging an event of far greater complexity
than housing just one touring team. The
majority of staff, approximately 200, will be stood down next week on 20% of
their salary or the equivalent of the Australian government's JobKeeper payment
of A$1500 per fortnight, which was introduced to help companies during the
pandemic, until the end of the financial year on June 30. CA employees are not
eligible for the actual JobKeeper payment because the board's revenue hasn't
fallen enough. The executive team (led by CEO Kevin Roberts) and a skeleton
staff to maintain basic operations will continue on 80% of their salaries for
the same period. Stood down staff at Cricket Australia may find themselves
working at Woolworths after the chief executive Kevin Roberts approached the
supermarket giant and cricket sponsor about temporary work opportunities amid
the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid
the coronavirus lockdown, a good news made its way from the agricultural sector
of Varanasi region as for the first time, a consignment of four tonnes of green
vegetables including chilli, cucumber and lauki (gourd) left for Delhi to be
exported to the UK, which is reeling under the onslaught of the virus. Earlier,
vegetable consignments were sent only to the Gulf countries from Varansi
region. Speaking to TOI on Wednesday,
divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal said, “On Tuesday evening, a truck left with
four tonnes of farm fresh green chilli, gourd and cucumber in air-conditioned
containers for Delhi. The vegetables grown by a progressive farmer, Anil Kumar
Rai, in his fields in Ghazipur district, will reach London by air cargo on
Thursday from the Delhi airport.” “It is a welcome development for the Varanasi
region as the dispatch to London will generate opportunities in the European
market also. In the past, exports of fresh vegetables were limited only to the
Gulf countries,” he added.
The
last dispatch by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA), in its endeavour to promote exports from rich
agricultural regions of India, was made on December 20, 2019 from Varanasi to
Dubai. It was the first trial shipment of vegetables through sea route to
Dubai.
Whilst
the touted backward UP region is selling vegetable to Europe, Kerala is caught
in a scam of selling personal data .. .. .. describing
Sprinklr issue as the biggest data scam the state has ever seen, Opposition
leader Ramesh Chennithala questioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s role in
awarding the contract to manage the details of people under Covid-19 quarantine
to an American company. In a fresh allegation, he also said the government had
allowed the firm to “steal” the data of 87 lakh ration- card holders as well.
He said the scam was happening in the state under the cover of Covid-19 at a
time when an investigation is on against Sprinklr in the USA for data fraud.
Speaking at the
daily press briefing later, Pinarayi said the information on people under
Covid-19 surveillance collected through SaaS — the software tool provided by
the US-based company free of cost — will not be misused. He read out a note
listing the factors that prompted his government to select Sprinklr without
following the normal selection procedures. Meanwhile, the BJP also demanded a
detailed probe into alleged transfer of sensitive Covid-19 data by Kerala
government to the company.
Kerala’s leader of
the opposition Ramesh Chennithala filed a petition in the Kerala high court
demanding that the agreement between the state government and US-based company
Sprinklr for sharing data of Covid-19 patients be quashed, even as chief
minister Pinarayi Vijayan who is in the eye of the Sprinklr storm remained in
denial. The LDF government has been pushed to the wall ever since charges
surfaced that the government had not done due diligence while collecting
sensitive Covid-19 data or to ensure that this data didn’t fall into the wrong
hands. On Tuesday, the high court said it cannot, prima facie, agree to the
state government’s stance that data of Covid-19 patients and suspects being
shared with Sprinklr is not sensitive or privileged. Sprinklr reportedly has
links to pharma giant Pfizer.
On Tuesday, in an
attempt at damage control, the state government constituted a committee -
comprising former additional chief secretary (health) Rajeev Sadanandan and IT
expert and former Union civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar - to
inquire into the allegations of breach of rules and privacy in the agreement
with Sprinklr. However, Chennithala said the two-member committee had no power
to conduct an inquiry into an international deal and cannot summon the
necessary documents or interrogate the chief minister who is also the minister
for IT. The high court on Tuesday had
questioned the need for engaging a third party software as a service provider
when the number of patients in Kerala was very low. “There is only one thing
that we are concerned about... how can you guarantee us that the data is
remaining confidential? Just guarantee us that,” the HC observed.
The CPM continued
to support Vijayan, arguing that the government had the right to take
extraordinary steps in extraordinary situations. “The government has the
responsibility to take unusual steps to save the lives of people. Existing laws
provide the government the right to do that. Life of people and wellbeing of
the society is more important at this juncture than individual freedom,” a
statement issued by the state secretariat here said.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
23.4.2020.
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