Strengthen capabilities to check social media misuse: Rajnath
New Delhi, June 18: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday sought strengthening the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to check misuse of social media for illegal activities, an official statement said.
Chairing a review meeting in the ministry, he cautioned against the challenges being posed by crimes in cyberspace and called for effective measures to improve cyber security.
Rajnath Singh called for greater vigilance against evolving cyber threats and called for regular cyber auditing of IT infrastructure of all organisations under the Home Ministry.
Expressing concern over rising misuse of internet for child pornography and other obscene material, he directed the ministry officials to expedite the launch of an online cybercrime reporting portal.
According to the statement, the portal will enable affected people in states and union territories to lodge complaints which will be investigated by the respective law enforcement agencies and action taken for removal of such content.
The Home Minister appreciated the efforts made in expediting security clearance for proposals in sensitive sectors and noted with satisfaction that the average duration for the clearance of a proposal has come down to 53 days compared to 120 days four years ago.
He also directed further reducing the clearance time by making use of online systems in coordination with administrative Ministries for processing the proposals to "further improve efficiency and monitoring".
Rajnath Singh also directed upgradation and updation of National Information Security Policy and Guidelines for the government sector and also expressed concern over financial frauds being committed on gullible public by phone call fraudsters and stressed on increasing public awareness and strengthening of institutional framework for checking such frauds.
The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officials of the Ministry.
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Rupee hits record low of 96.14/USD, settles at fresh closing low of 95.86/USD
Mumbai (PTI): The Indian rupee crashed below the 96/USD mark on Friday before closing at an all-time low of 95.86 (provisional) against the US dollar as elevated crude oil prices and inflation concerns added to the downside pressure on the rupee.
Rupee has registered over 6 per cent losses so far this year, and in the past six trading sessions, it has depreciated nearly 2 per cent as Iran war risk escalation pushed crude oil prices higher. The dollar index moved northwards after strong US retail sales and stable labour market data reduced expectations of aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Forex traders said global uncertainties, relatively high valuations, and the lack of AI-led investment opportunities have weighed on capital flows.
Moreover, weak net FDI inflows are likely to exert pressure on the balance of payments, while rising crude oil prices stoke inflation worries.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.86, then slumped to a record low of 96.14 in intraday trade, registering a fall of 50 paise from its previous close.
The USD/INR pair finally settled at 95.86 (provisional) against the US dollar, registering a fall of 22 paise from its previous close, helped by likely RBI intervention.
On Thursday, the rupee weakened to a fresh record low of 95.96 before closing with a marginal gain of 2 paise at 95.64 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.15, higher by 0.34 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading up 3.14 per cent at USD 109.04 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex fell 160.73 points to settle at 75,237.99, while Nifty declined 46.10 points to 23,643.50.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 187.46 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the country's exports in April rose by 13.78 per cent to USD 43.56 billion despite global challenges, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Friday.
Imports grew 10 per cent year-on-year to USD 71.94 billion in April. The trade deficit during the month stood at USD 28.38 billion.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on elevated crude oil prices and inflation concerns. Strong dollar and FII outflows may also weigh on the rupee. However, any intervention by the RBI and hiking of import duty on gold and silver may support the rupee at lower levels. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 95.60 to 96.20," said Anuj Choudhary, Research analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday hailed their talks as "historic" and "landmark", as the American leader wrapped up his three-day visit on a high note, but no deals on any contentious issues were announced.
Both Presidents, who held several rounds of talks covering a range of global issues, including the Iran war and bilateral trade frictions, concluded their discussions with a private meeting at Zhongnanhai, the well-guarded compound in Beijing where top leaders reside.
