tirupati l monday l november 09, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l anantapur EDITION Data of 2 crore bigbasket users on sale on dark web A hacker has put customer data, including contact details, on sale for about `30 lakh, cyber intelligence firm Cyble said email-ids, addresses leaked: Cyble According to Cyble, which routinely monitors the dark web, the data put on sale includes names of customers, email IDs, password hashes, contact numbers, addresses, date of birth, location and IP addresses. The data breach occurred on October 14, but was detected only 17 days later on October 31. After validation, Cyble informed BigBasket on November 1 ■ $3bn how to check if you have been affected ■ BigBasket said it has lodged a complaint with the Bengaluru Cyber Cell and is evaluating the authenticity of the claim If you are worried that your BigBasket data is compromised, you can register on Cyble’s data breach monitoring platform, AmiBreached.com, to ascertain your risks expected size of India’s online grocery segment by year end CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Army officer, 3 jawans killed in J&K encounter Forces foil infiltration attempt by armed terrorists near LoC in one of fiercest shootouts in the state this year, kill three F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Three Army personnel, including one of officer rank, and a Border Security Force constable were killed during an operation to thwart an infiltration bid by a group of heavily-armed terrorists in J&K’s Machil sector on Sunday. Three of the terrorists were eliminated. According to defence spokesman in Srinagar, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, it all started around 1 am when a joint team of Army and BSF troops guarding the Machil 290 sector noticed suspicious movement, about 3.5 km from the Line of Control (LoC). On inspection, it was found that an infiltration attempt was underway The troops . confronted the infiltrators, leading to an encounter, which lasted until 4 am. A BSF jawan, identified as constable Sudip Sarkar, was killed. One terrorist was also killed while others managed to slip away after three hours of gunfight. JOE BIDEN More troops were then rushed to the area in the pre-dawn hours to search and track the other terrorists down. Drones, helicopters and other surveillance equipment were also deployed. Finally, more than six hours after the initial gunfight ended, the Army found the ter rorists. Around 10.20 am another gunfight erupted about 1.5 km from the LoC, during which two terrorists and three Army soldiers were killed, Kalia said. 214 DONALD TRUMP Electoral college votes Electoral college votes 75,199,800 popular vote 70,804,676 popular vote 270 TO WIN Expect green card, H1-B visa squeeze to ease P u s h k a r B a n a k a r @ New Delhi With Joe Biden set to enter the Oval Office in January the prot, estations of President Donald Trump notwithstanding, lakhs of Indians who head to the United States every year for studies, employment and immigration could heave a sigh of relief. In the four years of the Trump administration, it has not been smooth sailing for Indians for whom the US is a land of opportunities and a stepping stone for economic prosperity. From green card holders, students and H1-B visas, the numbers have been steadily going down. Take the lawful residence permits, or green cards. The road to the US has been bumpy since Trump took tenancy of the White House, resulting in a decline of Indians acquiring the coveted residency permit. n 2010 when Barack Obama was President, more than 69,000 Indians got the green card (see table). The number peaked in Graphics heading Year Indians who got green card % increase/ decrease 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 69,162 69,013 66,434 68,458 77,908 64,116 64,687 60,394 59,821 54,495 ---0.2 -3.7 3.04 13.8 -17.7 0.89 -6.6 -0.9 -8.9 Source: Department of Homeland Security 2014, when nearly 78,000 Indians managed to get it. But in the years since, and particularly after Trump became President, it has slowly gone down. Last year only about 54,000 Indians got the green card, registering a sharp drop of 8.9% from the previous year. “Biden is likely to be more open to easing restrictions on visas and immigration. It is worth noting that he is the only presidential candidate to release an agenda proposal aimed at Indian-Americans, which among other things, lays out his plan for visas and immigration,” said Kriti Upadhyaya, a researcher at the Washingtonbased Center for Strategic and International Studies. She felt that Biden would be more supportive of familybased immigration. “His more progressive visa plans include exempting recent graduates of PhD programmes in STEM fields from any caps,” Upadhyaya said. H1-B visas, the most sought after by Indians, is another area where Trump has cracked down and proposed curbs. Though a US court stayed the move, Trump’s decision to halt all nonimmigrant visas, including H1B, caused tension among Indians, especially the IT sector.  Continued on P7 While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities - Kamala Harris, US Vice President-elect J&K LG pays tributes to slain soldiers J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha paid tributes on Sunday to the four security forces personnel killed in Kashmir. “The L-G saluted the supreme sacrifice of the jawans and lauded the courage and valour displayed by them while protecting the integrity and sovereignty of the country,” a spokesperson said Biden set to pick PIO doc to lead Covid task force K S h i v a K u m a r @ Mysuru With Democrat Joe Biden winning the US Presidency former US , Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy , who traces his roots to Hallegere in Karnataka’s Mandya district, is expected to take over as the head of the Covid-19 task force of the United States. President-elect Biden is likely to make an official announcement on Monday . Murthy is a former Vice Admiral in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, who served as the 19th Surgeon General of the United States under former President Barack Obama. With the Covid-19 pandemic raging in the US, Dr Vivek will have a tough job on hand. Speaking to TNIE, his father Dr H N Narasimha Murthy confirmed that Dr Vivek will be named the head of the Covid Task Force on Monday. “We deeply appreciated all the prayers for Vivek’s success and his family when he was appointed as Surgeon General by then President Obama,” he said. Dr Vivek has strongly criticised President Donald Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 situation. Nandyal suicide: 2 cops held, top officials to probe case E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kurnool/Vijayawada The police on Sunday arrested a CI and a head constable in connection with the suicide of a fourmember auto driver’s family due to alleged police harassment in Nandyal, following the intervention of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in the matter. Abdul Salaam (45), an auto driver, his wife Noorjahan (38), their daughter Salma (14) and son Dadhi Khalandar (10), died by suicide on November 3. They threw themselves before a running train Auto driver Abdul Salaam with his family members | File photo at Kavuluru village under the Panyam police station limits. They took a selfie video before taking the extreme step, in which they blamed the Nandyal police for their suicide. Abdul, a resident of Rojakunta Street in Nandyal, worked in a jewellery shop in the town earlier. He was accused of stealing 3 kg gold from the shop recently After . recovering 500 grams of gold from his house, the police arrested Abdul and he was sent to judicial remand. After coming out on bail in the case, Abdul started running P5 an auto for livelihood.  Two soldiers, who were injured were evacuated to a military hospital for specialised treatment. The anti-militancy operation was still going on when the reports last came in. Defence sources said Sunday’s encounter was the second deadliest along the LoC this year. Sources added that the Army has beefed up security and antiinfiltration grid along the LoC, anticipating Pakistani attempts to push more militants into Jammu and Kashmir before the onset of winter. In t e r v i e w ‘Worth printing notes for stimulus’ Delaying the enforcement of a strict lockdown would have helped lessen the economic impact of the pandemic, feels Economics Nobel Abhijit Banerjee. Also, India could have printed notes amounting to 3% of its GDP and given it away to the people as stimulus. Even now, it’s worth printing and giving 1% of GDP to people, he feels Abhijit Banerjee Nobel Laureate in Economics full report: p7 `6.3K cr rain loss in ap AP has prepared a detailed report on the losses suffered by the agriculture and other departments due to heavy rains and floods. It is set to seek `5,279.11 crore relief from the Centre | P4 WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) No Sevas at Tirumala till Unlock 6.0 norms Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Executive Officer KS Jawahar Reddy has said a decision on restoring Sevas and providing darshan to senior citizens at Tirumala temple will not be taken till the Centre releases guidelines for Unlock 6.0. He spoke to 29 pilgrim callers during the ‘Dial Your EO’ programme on Sunday. @ Rajamahendravaram Five new districts -- Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram, Amalapuram, Narasapuram and Eluru -- will be carved out of East and West Godavari as part of the State government’s plan to convert all the 25 Lok Sabha constitu- to come under the purview of Araku district, which will be carved out of Visakhapatnam. Agency areas like Rampachodavaram and Chintur are likely to be merged with Araku. While Annavaram and Talupulamma temples will go to Kakinada, Draksharamam in Ramachandrapuram will be part of Amalapuram. Dwaraka Tirumala, which is popularly known as Chinna Tirupati, which is in West Godavari district, is mostly likely to come under the purview of Rajamahendravaram. The temple located in Gopalapuram Assembly constituency, is now part of Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha P5 segment.  @ Muzaffarpur/Darbhanga/Bhagalpur If the exit poll projections come true when the votes are counted on Tuesday then the “double engine” , that has powered Bihar since 2017 faces the danger of getting derailed. The “double engine” refers to the combination of the Nitish Kumar Growth dip government in Bihar and the NDA Bihar Economic government at the Centre that, in Survey 2019their proclamation, is taking the 2020 says the state on the path of development. primary sector Both Nitish and Prime Minister grew by 9.6% in Narendra Modi referred to the 2012-13, but fell “double engine” during the cam- to 0.6% in paign. From the first rally in Sas- 2018-19 aram on October 23 to the last address to the voters through an open letter, Modi said he had “full faith that the power of the double engine will take Bihar to new heights of development in the next decade.” But did Bihar really take huge strides because of the double engine? The record is mixed, with the state’s economy growing in double digits during 201718 and 2018-19 but not doing so well on other fronts. The cold statistics find expression among the people, with the mood on the ground overwhelmingly of Nitish doing a lot of good work in his first two terms in office but faltering in the last five years, three of which were with the double engine. Vinit Vijay, a banker in Darbhanga, said “all the developmental work relating to roads, electricity, water and other basic infrastructure were carried out in the first two terms of Nitish Kumar, but in the last term he got Continued on P8 stuck in politics.”  Handcuffing Amaravati farmers: NHRC directs CS to take action within 8 weeks Vijayawada: The NHRC has forwarded the complaint of president of AP Civil Liberties Association Muppalla Subba Rao, who wrote to the commission seeking action on State police for handcuffing farmers of Amaravati, to the Chief Secretary and the DGP directing that “appropriate action” be taken on the issue. The commission has given eight weeks for the same. After the handcuffing incident, TDP, Congress and other parties complained to the NHRC against the violation of norms. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Vijayawada Araku likely to gain with more agency areas encies in Andhra Pradesh into districts. According to official sources, Kakinada will continue to be the district headquarters and Eluru will also remain the district headquarters even after carving out of new districts. Eastern Ghats and Papikonda National Park located in East Godavari are most likely MU K E SH RA N J A N APSRTC starts operating 452 buses to TS, occupancy rate 67% New districts E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Slow chug for the double engine in Bihar’s last lap 166 APSRTC buses to TS from Vijayawada A total of 166 buses will be operated to Telangana from Vijayawada, followed by Ongole (88), East Godavari (83), West Godavari (69), Guntur (61), Kurnool (54), Chittoor (30), Anantapur (29), Kadapa (28), Visakhapatnam (17), Nellore (11) and Vizianagaram (2). No bus services are operated to Telangana from Srikakulam. Almost a week after entering into an agreement with Telangana to resume inter-state bus services, the APSRTC has finalised the routes for operating the buses. It has already started operating 452 buses out of the total 638 inter-state services, Of the 452 buses, 389 are being operated to Hyderabad alone, while the remaining 63 are to other parts of Telangana. “The occupancy rate in the inter-state bus services stood at 67 per cent as of now and the RTC is earning `68.17 lakh per day,” APSRTC Executive Director (Operations) KS Brahmananda Reddy said. The 638 buses to Telangana cover a total distance of 1,60,999 km. Of the total, 534 buses are operated to Hyderabad alone from 13 districts of AP covering a distance of 1,49,998 km per day. Remaining 104 buses cover a distance of 11,001 km to other places of Telangana. The TSRTC also submitted its route map and started operation of bus services on the same routes.