Eyes of the India

Anurag Batra is the Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of the BW Businessworld Group and the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the exchange4media Group. Dr Anurag Batra has been writing on media for two-plus decades and is the Founder of exchange4media and the Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld. Dr. Anurag Batra, in his latest article discusses about the TV rating mechanisms that are prevalent in the industry in the present era and how that had changed from the mechanism in the earlier days. The ratings mechanism in the past has seen manipulation of data manually and there is a worry that this time too there is a similar chance. We need to ensure that the data is not tampered again. The worrying questions need to be answered honestly and in a granular way. “The advertisers and marketers and media planners and media buyers in my view should take the new ratings with a pinch rather than a fistful of salt and also ask more questions of the ratings mechanism’s board”, Dr. Anurag Batra says. ...

 Naveen Jindal is not only one of the nation’s major steel and power producers but also a 2-time MP from Haryana. He has also represented the country in the South Asian Federation Games. Jindal’s petition was responsible for securing the Supreme Court decision that allowed citizens to hoist the national flag at any time and place during the year. Naveen Jindal Personal Details Name: Naveen Jindal Occupation: Industrialist Designations: Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Chancellor of O. P. Jindal Global University. Date of Birth: 9-Mar-70 Age: 51 Place of Birth: Hisar, Haryana, India Marital Status: Married Spouse’s Name: Shallu Jindal Children: 2, Venkatesh Jindal and Yashaswini Jindal Zodiac Sign: Pisces Spoken Languages: English, Hindi Hobbies: Playing Polo, Yoga, Reading Travelling Naveen Jindal Educational Qualifications Jindal completed his schooling at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road He graduated in Commerce from Hans Raj College, Delhi University in 1990 ...

 PM Kishida has been battling criticism over links between the sect and politicians since former premier Abe was shot dead in July Tokyo: The Japanese government will propose a new law to prevent harmfully large donations to religious groups, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday, after Shinzo Abe’s assassination heightened scrutiny of the Unification Church. Kishida has been battling criticism over links between the sect and politicians since former premier Abe was shot dead in July. The man accused of Abe’s murder reportedly resented the Unification Church over massive donations his mother made that bankrupted the family. Kishida said he had met people who had suffered because of large financial contributions to the church, which denies wrongdoing and has pledged to prevent “excessive” donations. “It was heartbreaking to hear their stories,” the prime minister told reporters as he outlined plans to curb “malicious donations” in which members of religious groups are pressured ...

 Talks between the two sides on strategic stability have been frozen since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine on Feb. 24, even as the New START treaty on nuclear arms reduction stays in effect. Russia and the United States are discussing holding talks on strategic nuclear weapons for the first time since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, Russian newspaper Kommersant said on Tuesday, citing four sources familiar with the discussions. Talks between the two sides on strategic stability have been frozen since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine on Feb. 24, even as the New START treaty on nuclear arms reduction stays in effect. The talks may take place in the Middle East, the paper said, adding that Moscow no longer saw Switzerland, the traditional venue, as sufficiently neutral after it imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

 The Tesla billionaire and self-declared free-speech absolutist has fired thousands of staff — with sustainability executives Sean Boyle and Casey Junod among those signing off from the platform last week. Paris: Climate deniers looking to block action and “greenwashing” companies could have free rein on Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover, analysts warned as leaders pursued anti-warming efforts at the COP27 summit. The Tesla billionaire and self-declared free-speech absolutist has fired thousands of staff — with sustainability executives Sean Boyle and Casey Junod among those signing off from the platform last week. Mr Musk has promised to reduce Twitter’s content restrictions and after the takeover announced plans to create a “content moderation council” to review policies. “It’s not clear what Mr Musk really plans to do. However… if he removes all attempts at content moderation, we can expect a surge of disinformation, as well as increases in misleading and greenwashing advertise...

  Delhi liquor policy case: Businessman Dinesh Arora was granted bail by a Delhi court last week and the CBI had not opposed it New Delhi: A businessman who is an accused in the Delhi liquor policy case will become the government’s witness in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told a city court today. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also an accused in the case. Businessman Dinesh Arora was granted bail by a Delhi court last week and the CBI had not opposed it. Today, the CBI filed a petition in a city court saying Mr Arora would be their witness in the case. The CBI has said the businessman cooperated with investigators and gave key information. The Delhi government had come out with a new policy for selling liquor in the national capital. The Lieutenant Governor red-flagged it over alleged corruption and told the CBI to look into it. The Arvind Kejriwal government cancelled the new policy and reverted to the old one. The Delhi Chief Minister has...

 CUET has provided equal opportunity to all as individual boards have their own rules, regulations and methods of evaluation, says DU Vice-Chancellor Students from Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education, who formed the second highest number of candidates to be admitted to undergraduate courses at Delhi University last year, have slipped to the seventh position this admission season after the introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), according to admission data shared by the university. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which has affiliate schools across the country and therefore applicants from various States, remains at the top position this year as well, followed by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination. The State education boards of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana are placed higher than the Kerala Board, according to the admission data available after the second round of seat allocation. This year, DU has intr...

 Gandhada Gudi was Puneeth Rajkumar’s last film. In a statement, the late actor’s wife Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar said the prices of the film’s tickets in Karnataka would be reduced for some days. She added it was Puneeth’s wish that more and more children should watch Gandhada Gudi. Puneeth Rajkumar’s wife Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar on Sunday took to Twitter to announce that the ticket prices for her late husband’s last film Gandhada Gudi will be slashed from Monday till Thursday across Karnataka for all shows. The move seeks to ensure that more children come forward and watch the movie. Welcoming the move, fans called it a great initiative to take forward Puneeth’s legacy.   In the film, Puneeth and the director embark on a journey across the length and breadth of the state, exploring its rich bio-diversity. The film was released in the last week of October, and it was well received by the audience. Videos and pictures on social media showed some fans turning emotional duri...

 Fans of actor Prabhas criticised Netflix after a tweet from the streamer’s Indonesia division seemed to mock the actor and a popular action sequence from his 2019 action film Saaho. Fans of Prabhas were left rather unimpressed and miffed with Netflix when the official Twitter handle of Netflix Indonesia shared a clip of an action sequence from his film Saaho with a caption that was interpreted as sarcastic by many fans. The actor’s fans took the post as an insult to him and began trending ‘unsubscribe Netflix’ sharing screengrabs and videos of themselves cancelling their subscriptions and uninstalling the app.  Saaho, directed by Sujeeth, was released in 2019, and starred Shraddha Kapoor apart from Prabhas. The film eventually began streaming on Netflix months after its release. On Tuesday, Netflix Indonesia shared a video from the film with the caption that roughly translates to: ‘what is this action?’ The clip shows a shirtless Prabhas jumping off a cliff after throwing th...

 The searches were carried out as part of the Enforcement Directorate’s probe into the Delhi government’s now-scrapped liquor policy. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted searches at four places, including the house of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s personal assistant (PA), in connection with a money laundering probe it had launched on the government’s liquor policy. On Saturday, at 2.17 pm, Sisodia tweeted, “They got my house raided by lodging false FIR , searched bank lockers, also went to my village but found nothing against me. Today, they did not find anything in ED’s raid at my PA’s house, so now they have arrested him and taken him away. BJP people! So much fear of losing the election,” he tweeted in Hindi. Sources said Sisodia’s PA has been picked up for questioning after conducting a search at his home. “We have conducted a search at his home and picked him up for questioning in connection with destruction of evidence. But we have not...

 The frontline indices traded with minor gains in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded a tad above the 18,150 mark. PSU bank, metal and auto stocks advanced while pharma, healthcare and media shares were under pressure. At 11:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 40.25 points or 0.07% to 60,990.61. The Nifty 50 index gained 34.30 points or 0.19% to 18,151.45. The broader market outperforms the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.44% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.50%. The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,045 shares rose and 1,332 shares fell. A total of 196 shares were unchanged. Auto sales up 48% YoY in Oct: FADA: On YoY basis, total vehicle retail for the month of October 2022 saw a growth of 48%, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said its release today, 7 November 2022. All the categories closed in green. 2W, 3W, PV, Trac and CV were up by 51%, 66%, 41%, 17% and 25% re...