CHENNAI  MONDAY  NOVEMBER 09, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 36  LATE 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 HOW TO CHECK IF YOU HAVE BEEN AFFECTED 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 ■ ■ 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 $3bn 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 the LoC in one of fiercest shootouts in the UT 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 75,215,986 popular vote 70,812,803 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 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 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 H1-B, caused tension among Indians, especially the IT sector. CONTINUED ON: P9 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 , 43, 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. President-elect Biden is likely to make an official announcement on Monday . Dr Murthy is a former Vice Admiral in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, who served as the 19th Surgeon General of the US under 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 Murthy 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 Murthy has strongly criticised President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic. CONTINUED ON: P7 Kolams and crackers for the ‘daughter of Tiruvarur village’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Thanjavur/Chennai People celebrating in the hometown of Harris’ maternal grandfather | PTI KAMALA HARRIS HAS MADE TN PROUD: EPS Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami congratulated United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris for the victory. In a tweet on Sunday, he congratulated the two, and said, “I’m extremely glad that @KamalaHarris is the first woman to be elected as the Vice President of US. She has made Tamil Nadu proud with this astounding victory. #BidenHarris2020.” DEEPAVALI was celebrated a week earlier by residents of Thulasendrapuram Painganadu village in Tiruvarur district as they burst crackers, distributed sweets and drew kolams to commemmorate the victory of their mostfamous American connection, Kamala Harris. The US Vice-President elect’s maternal grandfather, PV Gopalan’s quaint village has now become a prominent spot in the global map. Though Gopalan left the village in the 1930s along with his family Oakland-born Harris con, tinues to be the daughter of this village, as much as her Chennaiborn mother, Shyamala Gopalan. “We have no words to describe our feelings”, says an excited J Sudhakar, the Naattamai (traditional head) of the village and the president of Mannargudi green city rotary club. Villagers held placards with the photo of Harris and distributed sweets. “We wish the daughter of our village (Kamala Harris) to visit us,” says Sudhakar. The villagers also drew colourful kolams in front of their houses wishing Harris. “Our prayers to the village deity, Sri Dharma Sastha Ayyanar, were answered,” says Sudhakar, recalling the special prayers held P4 in the temple. The wait for organ transplants in GHs gets longer O M J A S V I N M D @ Chennai PATIENTS awaiting organ transplants in Chennai’s government hospitals may have to wait longer as doctors are hesitant to resume such surgeries amid the high-risk Covid atmosphere. Though the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) released regulations in June for hospitals that wish to resume organ transplants, the doctors are not willing to take the risk, saying the pandemic is not over yet. The surgeries were stopped in March when the pandemic struck. Senior surgeons and doctors from Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Kilpauk Medi- cal College Hospital and the Stanley GH are reluctant to resume transplant operations as various factors, such as determining the Covid status of donors, the risk of recipients getting infected during or after transplant and ensuring a safe atmosphere for the surgery, need to be taken into account. Dr N Gopalakrishnan, Director of Institute of Nephrology, RGGGH, said resuming renal transplant fully depends on the Covid trend in the near future. “There are challenges in cleaning the donors and getting swab results. Also, it is risky to perform surgeries in a high-viral atmosphere,” P4 he said. 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. INTERVIEW ‘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: P9 EXPRESS READ Next round of talks with China soon New Delhi: In their recent military-level talks on LAC, India and China agreed to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation. They decided to hold the next round of talks soon, indicating the Nov 6 round was inconclusive | P9 WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 36 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID), 4 OF CITY EXPRESS 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 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: P10 stuck in politics.”