Where was your respect when you broke away, Sena asks Modi

Tech mogul Elon Musk has sent a storm across social media after he tweeted that electronic voting machines should be replaced by paper ballots since he believes such devices are prone to getting hacked.

"We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high," said the Tesla CEO as he retweeted Independent POTUS candidate Robert F. Keddy, who in a post talked about voting irregularities in voting machines in Puerto Rico.

"Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected. What happens in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail?," Kennedy said.

"US citizens need to know that every one of their votes were counted, and that their elections cannot be hacked. We need to return to paper ballots to avoid electronic interference with elections," he further added.

Soon after Musk's post, BJP leader and former IT Minister of State Rajeev Chandrashekhar took to X and said, "This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong."

He further added, "@elonmusk's view may apply to US n other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines.(sic)"

Chandrasekhar continued, "But Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media - No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed.(sic)"

He even went on to say, "Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We wud be happy to run a tutorial Elon. (sic)"

Soon after, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi posted an image of a news article that says an individual had access to a mobile phone with which an EVM can be unlocked.

Rahul said in his post, "EVMs in India are a "black box," and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability."

The news report by Mid-Day reveals that the accused in question, Mangesh Pandilkar, is a relative of Mumbai North West MP Ravindra Waikar, who belongs to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

The article cites police officials as saying that the phone can be used to generate a one-time password (OTP) to unlock an EVM machine, and was used on June 4 inside the NESCO Centre. The phone in question has been sent for forensic tests.

New Delhi: After the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union government did not allow the Australian Deputy High Commissioner to meet three West Bengal ministers during his proposed visit to the state, the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday alleged 'federal and fiscal terrorism' on the state as people had defeated the BJP in the state.

Australian Deputy High Commissioner Nicholas McCaffrey was to visit Kolkata and Sunderbans between June 18 and 21. During this visit, he wanted to meet Commerce Minister Shashi Panja, Information Technology and Electronics Minister Babul Supriyo and Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.

However, Trinamool Congress said, the Oceania Division of the MEA wrote to the High Commission saying that they do "not recommend" meetings as requested by the Australian side with the ministers.

At the same time, the Oceania Division had "no objection from political angle" in the diplomat meeting BJP MPs Sukanta Majumdar and Dilip Ghosh and Trinamool Congress MPs Derek O'Brien and Jawahar Sircar.

Trinamool Congress sources said the Deputy High Commissioner had not come to Bengal as scheduled and their MPs would not have met him when the ministers were not allowed.

The Australian side had requested for meetings to discuss opportunities for collaboration against the backdrop of India-Australia trade discussions and explore areas of economic interest in West Bengal.

Government sources said that they have allowed the Australian diplomat to meet officials at appropriate level based on the principle of reciprocity. They said the Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Australia is not allowed to meet Australian ministers.

When contacted, an Australian High Commission spokesperson said, "Australia and India are close friends, with strong strategic, economic and community ties. Australian diplomats travel regularly across India to continue strengthening the political, business, cultural and sporting linkages between our two countries. We don’t comment on the specific details of programs when our officials travel."

Attempt to 'spite Bengal'

Setting stage for another round of confrontation, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose said the union government's action was 'completely autocratic' and an attempt to 'spite Bengal'. She said they would strongly raise this 'serious issue', which he described as 'fiscal terrorism', in Parliament after discussing it with I.N.D.I.A. allies.

Addressing a press conference here, Ghose and another MP Saket Gokhale claimed that the federal structure of the state is being destroyed.

"The representatives of the states who want to go abroad are being stopped and the way they are doing this in such a dirty, uncivilised manner is very shameful," Ghose said.

Gokhale described the development as "federal terrorism" while alleging that several diplomats have claimed that they were informally told by the union government that they could get clearance for investments only if they choose Gujarat. 

Over a week after a devastating fire in Kuwait killed 50 people, the Ministry of External Affairs said 17 injured Indians are still admitted in hospitals there and all are stable.

The Indian embassy is in touch with the local authorities, the patients and their kin to ensure their well-being, it said.

The massive fire had occurred at a seven-storey building in Kuwait’s Mangaf city in the southern Ahmadi Governorate on June 12 and at least 45 Indians died in the tragedy. The building was home to 196 migrant workers, mostly Indians.

The NBTC Group, where the victims of the fire tragedy were employed, recently issued a statement, extending its deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims and injured.

In response to a query at a weekly media briefing here, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that on the part of the Kuwaiti government, the Emir has announced USD 15,000 as compensation for the families of the people who have died in the fire incident.

The company has announced payment of Rs 8 lakh to the next of kin of people who have died, he said.

“This fire tragedy happened on June 12 and 45 Indians died, their mortal remains were brought to India on June 14. There are still 17 Indians who are injured, they are in hospitals. But, they are all stable. The (Indian) Embassy is making daily rounds, the embassy is in touch with the local authorities, the hospital authorities and even the patients and their family members to ensure their well-being,” Jaiswal said.

He said as far as compensation is concerned, the prime minister had announced on June 13 an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the families of people who had died and Rs 50,000 for the injured people.

In addition, different state governments have also announced their compensation for those who have died in this tragedy, the MEA spokesperson said.

In addition, the insurance money will also come from the insurance company, he said.

The company is also providing a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to all the injured and their medical expenses are being covered by the company. It will also undertake rehabilitation of those who are injured, Jaiswal said.

A C-130J IAF aircraft carrying 45 bodies landed at the Kochi international airport on June 14 morning. Thirty-one bodies were received at the airport by Central and state ministers, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The remaining 14 bodies were sent to Delhi in the same aircraft as a domestic flight from Kochi, and after being brought to Delhi were sent on to their forward journey.