Suspected state-sponsored Chinese hackers have targeted the power sector in India in recent months as part of an apparent cyber-espionage campaign, the threat intelligence firm Recorded Future Inc. said in a report published Wednesday. The hackers focused on at least seven “load dispatch” centers in northern India that are responsible for carrying out real-time operations for grid control and electricity dispersal in the areas they are located, near the disputed India-China border in Ladakh, the report said. One of the load dispatch centers previously was the target of another hacking group, RedEcho, which Recorded Future has said shares “strong overlaps” with a hacking group that the US has tied to the Chinese government. “The prolonged targeting of Indian power grid assets by Chinese state-linked groups offers limited economic espionage or traditional intelligence gathering opportunities,” the Recorded Future report states. “We believe this is instead likely intended to enable information-gathering surrounding critical infrastructure and/or pre-positioning for future activity.” India has almost eradicated extreme poverty and brought down consumption inequality to its lowest levels in 40 years through state-provided food handouts, according to a new working paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF working paper — authored by economists Surjit Bhalla, Arvind Virmani and Karan Bhasin — said that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, at less than 1%, remained steady even during the pandemic on the back of “in-kind” subsidies, especially food rations. The study comes at a time when several recent global reports have pointed to the widening gap between the rich and poor in Asia’s third-largest economy, while studies on the economic shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic vary in their conclusions. Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday set up a Presidential Advisory Group, appointing a team of economic and fiscal experts to advise the government to tackling the worst economic crisis in decades. According to the government note accessed by ANI, the members of the advisory group are Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the former governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, former World Bank chief economist Prof. Shanta Devarajan and the International Monetary Fund’s former deputy director, Africa Dr. Sharmini Coorey. “Since the appointment of the presidential advisory group, the members have had a round of discussions with the President on key matters in going forward with the IMF programme, and continue to be in regular communication with related requirements,” the government note said. The Madras high court on Thursday upheld the 7.5% quota for government school students in Tamil Nadu’s medical colleges. A bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy gave the verdict while directing the state government to review the quota in five years. A detailed copy of the verdict was awaited. Chief minister M K Stalin welcomed the order and called the quota a form of social justice. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) said the judgement is a huge victory as the quota will provide a level playing field for medical aspirants from the economically weaker sections. An expert committee has also recommended the review of the quota and called for improving the standard of education in government schools. Those, who have studied from Class 6 to 12 in government schools and cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the all India exam for those seeking to pursue undergraduate medical courses, are eligible for the quota. Sri Lankan batting legend Sanath Jayasurya on Thursday expressed dismay over the ongoing economic crisis in the island nation and said it is unfortunate that the people are going through this situation, as reported by news agency ANI. In the report, the former cricketer also called India “big brother” and expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending aid amid the crisis. “You know as always as a neighbour, the big brother next to our country has been helping us… We are very grateful to the Indian government and the Prime Minister (Modi),” Jayasurya said. Supporting the ongoing demonstrations calling on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over his handling of the crisis, Jayasurya said, “There are fuel shortages and gas shortages; electricity is not there for 10-12 hours sometimes. It has been really hard for the people of this country. That’s why people have started to come out and protest.”
