The countdown for the November 7 launch of the Indian rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C49 (PSLV-C49), carrying the country's radar imaging satellite and nine other foreign satellites will begin on Friday. "The 26-hour countdown for the rocket launch will start tomorrow (Friday) from the first launch pad. The rocket with 10 satellites is expected to lift off at 3 p.m. on November 7 from the <keyword id="6355143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sriharikota">Sriharikota</keyword> rocket port," a senior official told IANS. The proposed launch will be the first space mission for the Indian Space Research Organisation (<keyword id="6358064" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="isro">ISRO</keyword>) in 2020. The nine foreign satellites are from: Lithuania (1-technology demonstrator), Luxembourg (4 maritime application satellites by Kleos Space) and the US (4-Lemur multi mission remote sensing satellites). However, the primary passenger of the 44.5 metre tall PSLV-C49 will be the Indian radar imaging satellite EOS-01 (formerly RISAT-2BR2) with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that can shoot pictures in all weather conditions. The satellite can take pictures day and night and will be useful for surveillance as well as civilian activities. This time around, the ISRO will be using the PSLV rocket's DL variant that will have two strap-on booster motors. This rocket variant was used the first time to put into orbit Microsat R satellite on January 24, 2019. The PSLV is a four stage/engine rocket powered by solid and liquid fuels alternatively with six booster motors strapped on to the first stage to give higher thrust during the initial flight moments. S. Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), had told IANS earlier that three rockets were getting ready for the launch at the rocket port in Sriharikota -- the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C49 (PSLV C49), PSLV C50 and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). After PSLV-C49, the next one to fly will be PSLV-C50 with the GSAT-12R satellite. It will fly from the second launch pad, he added. "We are targeting PSLV-C50 sometime in December. It needs about 30 days to get ready for another launch after one launch," Somanath had said. The other Indian satellites that are ready for launch are GISAT, Microsat-2A and GSAT-12R. The launch of the GISAT-1 satellite slated for March 5 this year was postponed due to technical reasons a day before the launch. "The GISAT-1 satellite will be carried by a GSLV rocket. The GSLV rocket was dismantled after the launch was called off. The rocket is being refurbished. The rocket's cryogenic engine has been brought down and it is being readied again," Somanath had said. According to him, the GSLV carrying GISAT-1 is expected to fly after PSLV C50. Somanath also said that the ISRO has developed a Virtual Launch Control Centre to test the rocket systems at the rocket port in Sriharikota remotely from the Thiruvananthapuram-based VSSC. "With Covid-19 pandemic prevailing, the Indian space agency in order to reduce the number of people travelling to Sriharikota, has developed a Virtual Launch Control Centre at VSSC. As a result, the testing of various rocket systems is being done at VSSC," Somnath had told IANS. The physical launch control centre is located in the building, housing the Mission Control Centre in Sriharikota and the systems there have been replicated at the VSSC in the form of a virtual launch control centre. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/rbi-and-indian-banks-wait-as-supreme-court-adjourns-loan-moratorium-hearing-to-november-18/articleshow/79057919.cms">RBI and banks caught in the crosshairs as the Supreme Court adjourns loan moratorium hearing for a second time to November 18</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/sbi-share-price-rises-over-6-after-strong-earnings-with-analysts-pegging-it-to-be-the-first-to-recover-among-public-sector-banks/articleshow/79055329.cms">SBI rallies over 6% after strong earnings with analysts pegging it to be the first to recover among public sector banks</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/foreign-policy/news/donald-trump-vs-joe-biden-us-election-result-and-relations-with-india-and-pm-modi/articleshow/79022098.cms">If Joe Biden wins, he’ll be the third US president to deal with Modi — Here’s how that could play out</a>

Countdown for India's first launch of 2020 with its radar imaging satellite onboard begins on Friday

<ul><li>It was the first Indian company to commercially launch an antiviral drug - <keyword id="2739896" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="favipiravir">Favipiravir</keyword> with brand name <keyword id="9431798" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="FabiFlu">FabiFlu</keyword> - for the treatment Covid-19 patients. </li><li>The company received marketing and manufacturing approval from the Drug Controller General of India and launched the product in the Indian market on June 20.</li><li>According to the company, the higher strength will improve patient compliance and experience, by effectively reducing the number of tablets that patients require per day. </li></ul> <keyword id="105572" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="glenmark-pharmaceuticals">Glenmark Pharmaceuticals</keyword>, a research-led global pharmaceutical company, on Thursday announced that it is set to introduce a 400 mg version of oral antiviral - FabiFlu -- for the treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in India. It was the first Indian company to commercially launch an antiviral drug - Favipiravir with brand name FabiFlu - for the treatment Covid-19 patients. The company received marketing and manufacturing approval from the Drug Controller General of India and launched the product in the Indian market on June 20. According to the company, the higher strength will improve patient compliance and experience, by effectively reducing the number of tablets that patients require per day. Earlier, the 200 mg dosage of FabiFlu required patients to take 18 tablets on Day 1, followed by 8 tablets each day thereafter for a maximum of 14 days. A higher pill burden has been associated with lower adherence to therapy, the latter affecting viral suppression and overall treatment outcomes. Reducing the pill burden has also been a demand from doctors and patients to enable adherence, the company said. "With the new 400 mg version, patients will now have a more relaxed dosage regimen, with 9 tablets required on Day 1, and thereafter 2 tablets twice a day from Day 2 till end of the course," <keyword id="46384" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Glenmark">Glenmark</keyword> Pharmaceuticals added. Explaining the significance of this development, Monika Tandon, Vice President and Head, Clinical Development of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited said, "The 200 mg dosage of FabiFlu was developed in line with global formulations of the drug Favipiravir, which had similar strength. The 400 mg version is a result of Glenmark's own R&amp;D efforts to improve treatment experience for patients in India." She added, "Being the first company to launch Favipiravir in India, we continue to innovate and seek new treatment options for Covid-19 patients. Introducing this higher strength of FabiFlu is in line with these efforts to ensure a smoother experience for patients, by reducing their daily pill burden." Glenmark has also commenced a Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) study on FabiFlu to closely monitor the efficacy and safety of the drug in a large pool of patients prescribed with the oral antiviral Favipiravir, as part of an open label, multicentre, single arm study. It is also conducting another Phase III <keyword id="122283" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Clinical-trial">clinical trial</keyword> to evaluate the efficacy of two antiviral drugs Favipiravir and Umifenovir as a combination therapy in moderate hospitalized adult Covid-19 patients in India. The combination study which is called the FAITH trial is looking to enrol 158 hospitalized patients of moderate Covid-19 in India. Early treatment with combination therapy will be evaluated for safety and efficacy as it is emerging as an effective approach in shortening duration of virus shedding, facilitating early clinical cure and discharge of patients. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/rbi-governor-shaktikanta-das-leaves-repo-rate-unchanged-to-check-inflation/articleshow/77387591.cms">‘Watchful’ RBI leaves repo rate unchanged to keep inflation in check</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/the-beirut-explosion-created-a-huge-mushroom-cloud-and-visible-blast-wave-but-nuclear-weapons-experts-say-it-wasnt-an-atomic-blast-heres-why-/articleshow/77362144.cms">The Beirut explosion created a huge mushroom cloud and visible blast wave, but nuclear weapons experts say it wasn't an atomic bomb. Here's why.</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/microsoft-for-startups-lathika-pai-says-entrepreneurs-pitching-for-investments-need-to-have-this-one-question-answered-in-their-pitch-decks/articleshow/77352935.cms">Microsoft for Startups’ Lathika Pai says entrepreneurs pitching for investments need to have this one question answered in their pitch deck</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/linkedin-tcs-disney-hotstar-zee-and-other-companies-hiring-right-now-in-india/slidelist/77352775.cms">LinkedIn, TCS, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee and other companies hiring right now in India</a>

Glenmark announces 400 mg 'FabiFlu' for Covid-19 treatment

The draft <keyword id="2617070" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Personal-Data-Protection-Bill">personal data protection bill</keyword> that seeks to empower the Centre to exempt any government agency from the provisions of the proposed legislation has the industry worried, as they warn that such exemptions represent "new, significant threats" to the privacy of Indians. The proposed bill also provides for voluntary verification of social media users and transfer of non-personal data. The outcry from industry watchers, analysts and civil society comes amid the draft bill suggesting that the Centre will be empowered to exempt any government agency from the application of the Act and verify social media users.
 One of the provisions of the draft bill states that the Centre can - in the interest of sovereignty, the security of the state, and public order - "direct that all or any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply to any agency of the Government in respect of processing of such personal data..."
 The bill, which was cleared by the Cabinet last week, is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha in the next couple of days.
 Mozilla's Policy Advisor Udbhav Tiwari said that if Indians are to be truly protected, it is urgent that Parliament reviews and addresses "these dangerous provisions before they become law".
 "Indians have been waiting for a strong data protection law for years now, and this latest bill delivers real privacy in regards to processing by companies and is a dramatic step backwards in terms of processing and surveillance by the government. Exceptions for government use of data, the verification of social media users, and the forced transfer of non-personal data all represent new, significant threats to Indians' privacy," said Tiwari.
 Mozilla is the not for profit entity behind the web browser Firefox.
 While the bill seeks to protect personal and sensitive data of individuals, it proposes to allow processing of private data without explicit consent in case of security, credit scores, debt recovery, operation of search engines and whistle blowing.
 The draft bill also states that the central government can frame policy for the digital economy with respect to non-personal data. In particular, it can direct any data processor to "provide any personal data anonymised or other non-personal data to enable better targeting of delivery of services or formulation of evidence-based policies by the Central Government".
 Further, social media entities with user base above a certain threshold and whose "actions have, or are likely to have a significant impact on electoral democracy, security of the State, public order or the sovereignty and integrity of India," will be notified as 'significant data fiduciary'.
 Every social media intermediary classified as a 'significant data fiduciary' will enable the users in India to voluntarily verify their accounts. Any user undergoing such voluntarily verification will have to be provided with a mark of verification that is visible to all users of the service. Such entities will also have to get their policies and conduct (of data processing) audited by an independent data auditor.
 Jaspreet Singh, Cyber Security Leader, EY India said termed the Bill a "double-sided sword".
 Singh said that while it protects the personal data of Indians by empowering them with data principal rights, "it bestows the central government with exemptions which are against principles of processing".
 "The State can process even sensitive personal data when required, without an explicit consent from the data principals. However, the government will need to show that any processing of personal data is necessary and processing of sensitive personal data is strictly necessary for the exercise of any function of the State authorised by law for the provision of service or benefit," Singh said.
 These broadly-worded carve-outs "can be misused and hence need to be carefully examined", he cautioned.
 Arun Prabhu, Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas noted that portions of the bill have been pared down, and some changes such as the lack of a clear implementation timeline, requirement to share non personal data, obligations for social media verification "may be a potential source of concern."
 He, however, said that certain changes made to the Draft Bill are business friendly, providing for increased certainty, a regulatory sandbox for Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and other innovative technology, limiting localisation to non-sensitive data and a potential carve out for non-Indian data processed under contract.
 Gartner said that the primary concern will be the execution of the bill across which will include advisory from regulatory bodies such as RBI, IRDAI, SEBI.
 "There must to very clear guidelines which the enterprises can easily follow without relying completely on consulting service providers. Very clear deadlines must be mentioned and clarity on the fines in case of violation must be clearly mentioned and should be available on public website," Rajpreet Kaur, Principal Analyst of Gartner said. SR MBI MR

India's proposed data laws won't apply to the government — businesses cry foul

<keyword id="45830" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bill-Gates">Bill Gates</keyword> is a lot of things. He’s the founder of Microsoft, one of the world’s richest men and arguably, the world’s most generous philanthropist. He’s also an advocate of the world’s largest biometric identification programme, the Indian government’s <keyword id="155319" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aadhar">Aadhar</keyword> scheme. It currently has over 1.1 billion Indian citizens enrolled. Gates has said that the scheme <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/aadhaar-doesnt-pose-any-privacy-issue-bill-gates/articleshow/64013082.cms">does not pose any privacy issues</a>. In an additional vote of confidence, he has also provided funding for <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-bank">World Bank</keyword> projects to replicate the scheme in other countries. Gates did, however stress, that the applications that use people’s Aadhar details need to be monitored effectively. “The individual applications that use Aadhaar, you have to look and see what's been stored and who has access to that information. And so, application by application, you have to make sure that's well managed”. Gate’s remarks echo similar sentiments expressed in November 2017, when he said that he didn’t called Aadhar a <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/india/bill-gates-on-aadhaar-elephantiasis-swachh-bharat">“12-digit lie detector”</a> and said that it didn’t intrude on people’s <keyword id="6355135" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Privacy">privacy</keyword> by itself. It’s worth noting that he was also a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bill-gates-lauds-govts-demonetisation-move/articleshow/55465263.cms">big fan of the Indian government’s demonetisation move</a> when it was launched, before<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Now-Gates-has-%E2%80%98no-opinion%E2%80%99-on-demonetisation/article16644671.ece"> changing tack the following month</a>. The Aadhar scheme has received a lot of backlash in recent years over security breaches, data leaks, its potential for mass surveillance and the fact that it requires the accumulation of several details of a person in a central database. There have also been fundamental concerns regarding the release of personal information to government agencies. In response, the government has consistently downplayed these concerns and cited the scheme as a tool for empowerment and the distribution of benefits. In July last year, K.K. Venugopal, the Attorney General representing the central government, said <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/right-to-privacy-not-fundamental-right-centre-tells-sc/article19369385.ece">that privacy could not be considered a fundamental right.</a> The <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme court</keyword> disagreed, accordingly, stating the following month that privacy was “<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/right-to-privacy-is-a-fundamental-right-supreme-court/articleshow/60203394.cms">intrinsic to the right to life</a>”. Hence, in implementing of the scheme, the government will have to focus on ensuring the right to privacy. The matter is still ongoing in the Supreme Court, and is said to be in its final stages. In the meantime, the linking of Aadhar details with mobile phones and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/epfo-suspends-services-through-csc-says-no-data-leakage-1225340-2018-05-02">provident fund accounts</a> has been suspended, although the RBI still made it mandatory <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/business/rbi-makes-aadhaar-linking-of-bank-accounts-mandatory/article23621105.ece">for opening a bank account</a>, subject to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

You Searched For "RBI surveillance" and got 4 results

Countdown for India's first launch of 2020 with its radar imaging satellite onboard begins on Friday

IANS

Glenmark announces 400 mg 'FabiFlu' for Covid-19 treatment

IANS

India's proposed data laws won't apply to the government — businesses cry foul

PTI

Bill Gates defends India's Aadhar scheme, again

Dilsher Dhillon