Fire at Tata’s data center caused ‘extensive damage’
A fire at a data center owned by Singapore’s ST Telemedia and India’s Tata Communications caused “extensive damage” to parts of the facility, according to a report from Reuters news agency.
The fire was “so severe that it caused extensive damage” to parts of the facility and hindered services, Tata told one of its clients.
The fire has also made data recovery difficult.
One data center client, India’s Matrix Cellular, which provides international SIM cards, told Reuters it is struggling to recover two decades of data lost in the blaze.
“Despite our ongoing best efforts to recover the data, the severity of the damage … presents significant challenges to the recovery of the affected data and systems,” it said in the letter sent to Matrix Cellular.
The cause of the fire is not yet clear, and Delhi fire authorities said it occurred in lithium battery units.
“Matrix has potentially lost access to over 20 years of accumulated operational and business data stored in the affected Tata data center,” CEO Gaurav Khanna told Reuters.
“It’s been 20 days and they have not restored backup. If there is a backup it should have been restored by now.”
A representative of STT Global Data Centres India has told another client that it was running “detailed assessments and commissioned independent technical root cause analysis” of the incident, expected to be completed in five to seven weeks.
Trump named road in Congress-ruled state draws criticism from Modi’s BJP
A main road has been named after US President Donald Trump in the Congress-ruled tech hub of Hyderabad in the southern state of Telangana.
The move has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The road, named “Donald Trump Avenue,” runs next to the US consulate. Offices of major US tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are situated in the vicinity.
The road rename comes as Congress accuses Modi of being “compromised” for not standing up against Trump over issues like tariffs and US attacks on Indian-crewed tankers during the Iran war.
“Rahul Gandhi says President Trump (is) hurting Indian interests,” Shehzad Poonawalla, a BJP spokesperson, posted on X, referring to the prominent Congress lawmaker.
“Then why is his government in Telangana giving the ultimate tribute to him [Trump] by renaming a road after him?”
Congress said the road renaming gesture demonstrates Hyderabad’s “growing role” in the US-India partnership.
Flipkart, Amazon to ramp up quick commerce business
Walmart-owned Flipkart has said that it is planning to expand its quick commerce services in India.
Quick commerce, which allows the delivery of items within 30 minutes from neighborhood warehouses, is quite popular in India.
The company said that it is going to focus on smaller cities and increase its store count from 1,000 to 1,500 in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Amazon has also ventured into the quick commerce business and is also looking to expand it in the country.
In a statement, Amazon said it was expanding its ultra-fast delivery service “Now” to 300 Indian cities, a massive jump from the some 15 cities it is now active in.
Amid the service’s growing popularity in India, the government in January ordered companies to stop promoting their grocery deliveries as a “10-minute” service, with rider safety concerns in mind.
Government tightens foreign funding rules for NGOs
India’s Home Ministry has introduced changes to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) which will impose higher penalties on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS) for several offences related to the receipt and usage of foreign contributions.
NGOs that utilize other than the permitted 20% of the foreign contributions on administrative expenses will now face a penalty of Rs 1 lakh or 5% of the excess amount spent, whichever is more, according to a report by Indian newspaper Financial Express.
Rules regarding the registration under FCRA is where heavy revision has been made.
Reportedly, the new rules oblige organizations applying for foreign funding to clarify its exact purpose.
“Every application for registration shall mention the purpose or purposes for which registration is sought” and the states or Union Territories where the association proposes to undertake activities.
Under the religious purposes, activities range from construction to renovation, and maintenance of religious places, religious education, and promotion of devotional music, among others.
Since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has tightened restrictions on non-profit groups, suspending many and banning others from receiving foreign funding, accusing them of funneling the funds toward “anti-national activities.”
In 2020, a major FCRA amendment banned the transfer of foreign funds between NGOs, cutting administrative expense limits from 50% to 20%.
Ladakh businesses shutdown amid standoff with Delhi
Businesses were shut in India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh on Tuesday, at the calls of two main political groups representing the two regions that make up the Union Territory.
The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) called for the protests to express their disagreement with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
Business establishments and private institutions remained closed in most parts of the Union Territory. Thousands joined a rally demanding a “credible dialogue” with the Union government.
The groups have alleged that the government omitted agreed upon proposals regarding authority over the bureaucracy as well as constitutional safeguards for Ladakh.
The two groups accused the government of widening a “trust deficit” by failing to include key understandings reached during talks on 22 May in the official Minutes of Meeting (MoM).
What do we know about the Ladakh talks with Delhi?
The central government and the groups have held several rounds of talks since 2023. The talks were paused when four people were killed and over 80 injured in alleged police firing during protests in Leh last September over demands of statehood.
LAB and KDA have warned that if the “two essential” agreements are not reflected in the final minutes, they would return to their original demand of “full statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh.”
Inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution will safeguard tribal lands, local employment, and the fragile Himalayan ecology from outside conglomerates.
In 2019, the Indian government abolished Article 370 which resulted in the region’s separation from Jammu and Kashmir and its redesignation as a separate Union Territory.
The decision was initially welcomed by the Ladakhi residents but soon concerns grew over inadequate political representation.
