Ram Jethmalani will defend Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and five others in the defamation case filed by Arun Jaitley. The Finance Minister has accused AAP leaders of filing false and defamatory cases against him regarding the irregularities during his tenure as the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). » The release of the juvenile convict in the 16 December Nirbhaya gang-rape has caused national outrage. With the SC yet to hear the plea against the release, the Indian media taking the matter in their own hands went into overdrive. Sticking cameras everywhere and then outraging about the law taking its own course, CNN-IBN went a step further as it tweeted that it had breaking news which it couldn’t break! » A Mobilink ad featuring Nargis Fakhri on the front page of Urdu newspaper Jang has stirred controversy. The ad showing Fakhri in a red dress lying down with a phone in her hand has been called ‘cheap’ and ‘absurd’ on social media. » PM Modi unveiled battery run busses for MPs yesterday. Promoting solar energy, the gift from the ‘Make In India’ campaign will transport MPs to the Parliament.
Modi
Gatekeeper FB
Free Basics, the latest offering by Facebook with regard to Internet.org is raising eyebrows. Violating Net Neutrality, the program establishes Facebook as a global gatekeeper for internet connectivity, affecting billions of peoples’ ability to connect to the free and open internet. » PM Modi’s Townhall Q&A at the Facebook HQ with Mark Zuckerberg was one to remember. Discussing various topics, Modi revealed that social media “brought about a big change in his way of thinking”. “We used to have elections every five years, now we have them every five minutes”, he said. Sharing stories about his engagement with other government leaders on social media, Modi said “I don’t think anyone ever thought this is what diplomacy would look like.” “Social media was changing relationships between whole governments”, he added. » Two journalists who survived the attack on Charlie Hebdo are leaving the organization. Artistic director Luz has made known that next week would be the last day of his career as a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist. Writer Patrick Pelloux also announced that he would be leaving, “probably” in January.
Naga Newspaper
In a historic development, the North-Eastern Naga community got their own local language newspaper on Friday. The Makuilongdi Express, launched in Tamenglong district in Manipur, is the first newspaper in Liangmai, a language with about 50,000 speakers spread across Manipur, Assam, and Nagaland. » During one of PM Modi’s meeting with the America’s media big wigs, speedier digitization of the Indian network was demanded. The CEOs, from 21st Century Fox, News Corp, Star India, Discovery Communications, and more, were all positive about the ‘Digital India’ initiative and keen to ride India’s growth trajectory in the media sector. » “Wrong reportage often leads to trouble for the government”, said Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat. Addressing mediapersons at the Uttaranchal Press Club, he urged reporters to exercise restraint especially during disasters.
Zuckerberg Goes Desi
In support of Digital India, Modi and Zuckerberg changed their profile photos on Facebook having a tri-color themed filter. Participate and lend your support to Digital India at fb.com/supportdigitalindia. » San Francisco based Indian-origin entrepreneur; Sachin Dev Dugga has launched a new photo sharing app called ‘Shoto’. Real Ventures and Kunal Nayyar, the Indian-origin actor of popular TV series “The Big Bang Theory” are investors for the app. The app, available on the App Store and Google Play Store, can be downloaded in over 120 countries with local language support. » Twitter launches a new feature, ‘Video App Card’ for global advertisers. This feature will let advertisers use video to promote their mobile apps on Twitter. To get started, advertisers can log onto ads.twitter.com.
Exclusive Coverage from Ground Zero
As Modi gears up for his US tour, NewsX and India News are set to serve their viewers expansive coverage of his visit. The line-up will include a multitude of special shows, exclusive interviews, round-table discussions and live updates as events unfold in the US. The key journalists covering the tour will be editorial experts, Rahul Shivshankar, Editor-in-Chief, NewsX and Deepak Chaurasia, Editor-in-Chief, India News, along with Kartikeya Sharma, Geeta Mohan and Sheetal Rajput, providing views from Ground Zero. » In response to a chorus of criticism, the Indian government has hastily withdrawn its draft of the National Encryption Policy. The draconian proposal comes as an embarrassment to India as it is days before PM Modi travels to Silicon Valley to attract investment and promote India as an emerging market for digital technology. » The hashtag #BackOffIndia on Tuesday trended worldwide on Twitter and Facebook. Nepal disapproved of what they termed as “India’s intrusion in their internal affairs.” The backlash came after the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement requesting Nepal to hold a dialogue as India was worried about protests affecting the border regions given Nepal’s newly adopted democratic constitution.
PM’s US Tour
The Modi mania continues. His five day US tour includes dinner with 50 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, a visit to the Facebook HQ, as well as an address at the UN Sustainable Development Summit. However Modi is most enthusiastic about the “India-US Start-up Konnect”, an event where Indian start-ups will showcase their innovations and forge partnerships with the vibrant American start-up industry. » Nepal adopted its new Constitution – “Constitution 2072” on Sunday. Transforming the country from a Hindu monarchy to a secular democracy and federal republic, Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav called for “unity and cooperation of all at this historic moment.” » In week 36 of the BARC ratings, the English News genre saw Times Now lead by a high margin at number one position with its ratings as 511. NDTV 24×7 grabbed the second spot with ratings at 220, followed by CNN-IBN with 165.
Groupthink over India’s Economy
PM Modi will meet leading Indian industrialists, economists, bankers and key policymakers today to confer views on the development of the nation’s economy in the global economic scenario. Around 40 industry skippers have been invited to ponder on the scope for India against the backdrop of global events and its concerns about the slow pace of reforms. The meet will be addressed by the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley today at 10:30 am at the PM’s Race Course Road residence. » The News Media Association, UK (NMA) has criticized BBC’s latest proposal of ‘BBC Open’ under which the corporation plans to offer a network of 100 local public service reporters & content (among other features) to local newspapers. Ironically, BBC had pitched the idea after NMA had earlier urged them to share resources and do more to promote commercial news rivals; in context of the ‘renewal debate’. NMA has dubbed the move as expansionist and has accused BBC of using “backdoor recruitment” tactics. The Corporation meanwhile has defended itself by stating that “BBC Open” is about creating a more open BBC – not a bigger BBC.”
#ModiInDubai
Top Editors Shekhar Gupta, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Rahul Kanwal and others cheered for PM Narendra Modi on twitter making #ModiInDubai trending. Modi recently addressed a crowd of more than 50,000 Indians at the Dubai Cricket Stadium in UAE underlining the need for both the nations to focus on stepping up economic engagement in a range of sectors. » The hunt for India’s most Innovative Minds has started by Accenture, in partnership with Yahoo India by launching the fourth season of #InnovationJockeys. The theme will focusing on ‘Cognitive Computing and Internet of Things’ and ‘Digital Application Marketplace’ aims to discover bright, young, and home-grown innovators. The deadline for submitting entries is September 20, 2015. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 6, 2015 in Bangalore. » Google makes a new move to draw more users to its services by launching WiFi router ‘OnHub’. The router will help the users to prioritize a device so that they can get the fastest Internet speeds for data-heavy activities such as downloading content or streaming a movie. It will also automatically update new features and the latest security upgrades, just like the company’s Android OS and Chrome browser.
Amazon Gear Up
The former Top Gear trio is back on track, this time on Amazon Prime! Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have been signed up by Amazon for a new motoring show to rival the BBC’s Top Gear. Having signed a 3 series deal, the production will begin soon and will launch next year. Amazon UK announced the deal on Instagram using the hashtag #Drive2Prime. » At one minute past midnight today, India and Bangladesh will finally swap tiny islands of land, ending one of the world’s most difficult border disputes that has kept thousands of people in stateless limbo for almost 70 years, reports DNA. 50,000 residents along the border will light candles and celebrate their “new found freedom” following a historic deal sealed between the two countries’ PMs. The residents can choose to live in India or Bangladesh and will be granted citizenship.
Oops I Did It Again!
Internet giant, Google again swiftly apologized for a search blunder showing Modi among world’s ‘Most Stupid’ Prime Ministers in the world (not so long back the search engine had also classified PM Modi amongst the Top 10 Criminals). » Facebook is all set to square with YouTube as it announces as it experiments a new ad revenue sharing model with content creators (link); and new ‘video library’ with a feature that allows page owners to better manage and organize their video content. » Microsoft is squeezing into the messaging marketplace and has launched a ‘WhatsApp’ like free app called Send. With the first release happening in Canada, a global roll out is expected.
goskribe.wordpress.com 