WARANGAL  MONDAY  NOVEMBER 09, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 28  CITY 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. More troops were then rushed to the area in the predawn hours to search and track JOE BIDEN the other ter rorists down. Drones, helicopters and other surveillance equipment were also deployed. Finally, more than six hours after the initial gunfight ended, the Army found the terrorists. 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. Two soldiers, who were injured were evacuated to a military hospital for specialised treatment. CONTINUED ON P8 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 de- Up and down 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 cline 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 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. 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. 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 UNRIVALLED GEM Rare Golconda diamond ring sold for $1.5 mn A I H I K S U R @ Hyderabad YET another piece of Indian heritage has passed through many hands for huge sums of money This time, it is a spec. tacular marquise-cut diamond ring mined in the famed Golconda mines, which was recently auctioned in the US for over $1.5 million (approximately `11 crore). The rare 20th century diamond ring was sold in New Orleans, Los Angeles, on e-auctioning platform 1stDibs. It is certified by the Gemological Institute of America to be Type Ila, which is an indicator of its purity reads the auction , catalogue. “... meaning it is pure and lacking any trace of nitrogen, the element that gives a diamond its colour. This lack of nitrogen makes this diamond a full two shades whiter than the whitest diaThe Marquise-cut Golconda diamond ring of 8.03 carats was mond,” it says. auctioned at New Orleans, LA The catalogue describes the diamond as cut in marquise, which makes it glow further. “This breathtaking gemstone is flanked by tapered white diamond baguettes totalling .72 carats graded D colour and set in platinum,” it adds. The seller has praised the diamonds that originate from the Golconda region and termed these as the “purest of all diamonds, possessing a level of clarity purity and transpar, ency unrivalled by any other diamond”. CONTINUED ON P2 WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) YOUR LIFE COACH ‘WORTH PRINTING NOTES FOR STIMULUS’ | P7 CONTINUED ON P7 26-YEAR-OLD FROM NIZAMABAD MARTYRED Ryada Mahesh, 26, from Telangana’s Nizamabad district, was one of the soldiers who was martyred in the encounter in Kupwara district. Mahesh, from Komanpally village in Velpur mandal, joined the Army five years ago. He is survived by his wife and parents. Around 6 pm, his parents — R Raju and R Gangamallu — received a phone call informing them that Mahesh was injured in an encounter and taken to hospital. A couple of hours later, they got another call saying that he was no more. In no time, a pall of gloom descended on the tiny village of Komanpally. Meanwhile, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha paid tributes to the four security personnel killed. “He saluted the supreme sacrifice of the jawans and lauded the valour displayed by them while protecting the country’s sovereignty,” a spokesperson said Biden 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 US. Biden is likely to make an 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. Speaking to TNIE, his father Dr HN Narasimha Murthy confirmed that Dr Vivek will be named the head of the Covid Task Force on Monday Dr Vivek . has criticised Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Slow chug for the double engine in Bihar’s last lap MUKESH RANJAN @ Muzaffarpur/Darbhanga/Bhagalpur IF the exit poll projections come true when the votes are counted on Tuesday then the “double en, gine” that has powered Bihar since 2017 faces the danger of getting derailed. The “double engine” refers to the combination of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and the NDA government at the Centre that, in their proclamation, is taking the state on the path of development. Both Nitish and Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the “double engine” during the campaign. From the first rally in Sasaram 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 2017-18 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 but faltering in the last five years, three of which were with the double engine. CONTINUED ON P8 Growth dip Bihar Economic Survey 2019-20 says the primary sector grew by 9.6% in 2012-13, but fell to 0.6% in 2018-19. Vinit Vijay, a banker in Darbhanga, said, “All the developmental work were carried out in the first two terms of Nitish Kumar, but in the last term he got stuck in politics.” Farmer accused in Keesara case found dead EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad IN yet another twist to the corruption case involving former Keesara tahsildar Erva Balaraju Nagaraju, who killed himself at the Chanchalguda prison last month, a farmer was found dead at Vasavinagar on Sunday morning. The farmer, K Dharma Red- dy, — one of the accused in the case that pertains to the illegal issuing of passbooks for 25 acres — was found hanging from a tree at Vasavina g ar under the Kushaiguda police limits. The Anti-Corruption Bureau had arrested Dharma Reddy who prac, tised farming in Rampally village under the Keesara police CONTINUED ON P3 limits. Released on bail 10 days ago Dharma Reddy was released on bail 10 days ago, while his son K Srikanth Reddy, who was also arrested in connection with the Keesara tahsildar graft case, is in jail