‘SIM expired', 5 lakh school tablets go offline in Haryana; broadband solution proposed
Nearly five lakh tablets distributed to students and teachers in government schools in Haryana have become non-functional as the validity of the SIM cards expired. Officials now propose providing broadband facilities in schools to ensure the tablets remain operational.
The Haryana government had distributed tablets to nearly five lakh students of class 10, 11 and 12 in 2022. The officials had then claimed that the tablets would help in imbibing 21st century skills like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data sight, data analysis, block chain management & cloud computing.
The ambitious scheme was named as e-Adhigam (Advance Digital Haryana Initiative of Government with Adaptive Modules) under which tablets equipped with Personalized Adaptive Learning (PAL) software will be provided to the students studying in Class 10 to 12 in government schools.
In a directive issued on May 23 to all district education officers, the state directorate of school education stated that students could access PAL software using their private internet connections at home. Additionally, if broadband is available in schools, students may utilise it under the supervision of teachers.
Haryana Vidyalaya Adhyapak Sangh president Prabhu Singh said that the government should at least provide SIM cards for the upcoming month-long summer vacation, starting June 1. 'Immediate recharging of SIMs would greatly assist students in continuing their studies. Without it, students might unlock the tablets, leading to potential misuse,' he said.
However, an education department official said that SIM card availability could lead to tablet misuse. In 2023, sarpanchs from Jind district had informed officials that some students were misusing the tablets by installing various apps, watching inappropriate content, and playing games.
A senior education department officer told The Indian Express that plans are underway to provide broadband connections in schools. 'We have submitted a proposal to the government. If students use the tablets within school premises, the likelihood of misuse will be significantly reduced,' the officer said.
Sources said that the state has spent around Rs 180 crore to provide internet services via SIM cards from two mobile companies. These SIM cards are unlikely to be recharged for the current academic session, sources said.
Sukhbir Siwach's extensive and in-depth coverage of farmer agitation against three farm laws during 2020-21 drew widespread attention. ... Read More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
Cops probe role of others in multi-crore fraud by former ICICI Bank employee
Kota: After ICICI Bank's internal investigation pinpointed Sakshi Gupta, a former relationship manager at the bank's DCM branch in Kota, as the key figure behind a multi-crore fraud involving customer accounts, Kota police have launched an investigation to determine if others were involved and requested relevant documents from the bank. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Tarun Dadhich, manager of the city's ICICI DCM branch, on Feb 18, 2025, submitted a report at the Udhyog Nagar police station alleging that Gupta, the former relationship manager at the bank, siphoned off Rs 4.58 crore from 110 accounts belonging to 41 customers over a period between 2020 to 2023. Following the police inquiry, Sakshi Gupta was arrested on May 31 and was remanded to judicial custody following a one-day police remand for interrogation. Udhyog Nagar police station Circle Inspector Jitendra Singh said Saturday that while the internal inquiry identified Sakshi Gupta as solely responsible for the fraud, the police have sought additional documents from the bank to probe the possible role of other persons involved with her in orchestrating the multi-crore fraud. However, Singh said, prima facie, no involvement of other persons has surfaced yet. According to the police, Sakshi Gupta withdrew funds from more than 110 accounts belonging to 41 customers over a span of two and a half years, investing the siphoned amounts in the stock market. However, she suffered significant losses. To hide the transactions from customers, she replaced the registered mobile numbers on several accounts with those belonging to her relatives, ensuring that transaction alerts and OTPs were diverted from the actual account holders. In one instance, she used an elderly woman's account—without her knowledge—as a 'pool account', moving over Rs 3 crore through it by Feb 15, 2023. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The investigation also revealed that Gupta misused debit cards, PINs, and OTPs for unauthorised transactions, and even activated overdraft facilities on 40 accounts without customer consent. Further inquiry found she prematurely closed fixed deposits belonging to 31 customers, redirecting Rs 1.34 crore into unauthorised accounts. A fraudulent personal loan of Rs 3.4 lakh was also disbursed. Multiple transactions were executed using Insta Kiosk installations and digital banking platforms, with Sakshi exploiting four customers' debit cards for ATM and internet banking usage. The proceeds were transferred to demat accounts as part of an attempted cover-up. Meanwhile, an ICICI Bank spokesperson said Friday, "The interest of our customers is of paramount importance to us. Immediately upon discovering the fraudulent activity, we filed an First Information Report with the police. We have a zero-tolerance policy against any fraudulent activity and thus suspended the employee involved. We would like to reassure that genuine claims of impacted customers have been settled. "
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Rs 9 crore lost to 21 digital arrest scams in Jan-May this year
1 2 3 Pune: Police recorded 21 digital arrest scams between Jan and May this year in which the victims lost Rs 9.21 crore. In Nov last year, a top executive of a Mumbai-based software company lodged a complaint with the Pune cyber police, stating that online fraudsters posing as CBI officials, digitally arrested him in a money laundering case, and extorted Rs6.30 crore from him. During investigations, Pune cyber police nabbed a mule account holder Tushar Harischandra Wajantri (28), a resident of Roha in Raigad district. His wife is a sarpanch of the village. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) started a ringtone in Jan this year, alerting citizens not to fall prey to online scamsters, especially those involving digital arrests. Despite this ringtone and awareness by the cyber police, cases of digital arrest are being reported regularly. Last year, police recorded 81 cases of digital arrests in which victims were cheated out of Rs49.76 crore by fraudsters. "Despite all the awareness measures, cases are being reported regularly. However, the number of such cases has reduced," said senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of Pune cyber police. Of the 21 cases between Jan and May this year, 16 were registered by local police stations, while five were recorded by Pune cyber police station. Last year, 16 cases were registered by the cyber police station, while local police stations registered 65 cases. Police did not register a single complaint in 2023. "Last year, Rs 6.3 crore was the highest amount lost by an individual to fraudsters. Then, we received complaints in which the victims were duped of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 60 lakh. In most of these cases, elderly couples or individuals from Deccan, Bund Garden Road, Vimannagar, and Sahanagar were the victims," Shinde said. "With suspects using mule accounts and virtual private networks, it has become difficult to investigate such cases," she said. "If the prime mule account operators are arrested by the police, it will deter others from giving their bank accounts to fraudsters who are mostly based in foreign countries like Dubai or Cambodia," Shinde said. Sandip Gadiya, a cybercrime investigator & cyber forensic expert, said, "Fraudsters play with the sentiments of people in four ways, capitalising on fear, greed, lack of awareness, and carelessness of the victims. And these factors contribute to cyber crimes." He said, "Digital arrest fraud cases are based on fear factor in which a person is put in fear of arrest and jail, and money is extorted from him by fraudsters posing as officials of Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and police." "Though the number of digital arrest cases has reduced, the effectiveness of awareness campaign has been minimum because people do not care about frauds, thinking that these will not happen to them," Gadiya said. "Banks and telecom companies must do KYC checks of their customers properly, and if done thoroughly, the nuisance of mule bank accounts will reduce," he said. "Suspects use virtual private networks (VPNs) to make digital calls or calls through video call-making applications. The govt must keep a check on VPNs. Investigations take too long because of VPNs," he said. Year - No of cases - Amount 2023 - Nil - Nil 2024 - 81 - Rs 49.76 crores 2025 - 21 - Rs 9.21 crores (Till May end) MSID:: 121646160 413 | Pune: Police recorded 21 digital arrest scams between Jan and May this year in which the victims lost Rs 9.21 crore. In Nov last year, a top executive of a Mumbai-based software company lodged a complaint with the Pune cyber police, stating that online fraudsters posing as CBI officials, digitally arrested him in a money laundering case, and extorted Rs6.30 crore from him. During investigations, Pune cyber police nabbed a mule account holder Tushar Harischandra Wajantri (28), a resident of Roha in Raigad district. His wife is a sarpanch of the village. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) started a ringtone in Jan this year, alerting citizens not to fall prey to online scamsters, especially those involving digital arrests. Despite this ringtone and awareness by the cyber police, cases of digital arrest are being reported regularly. Last year, police recorded 81 cases of digital arrests in which victims were cheated out of Rs49.76 crore by fraudsters. "Despite all the awareness measures, cases are being reported regularly. However, the number of such cases has reduced," said senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of Pune cyber police. Of the 21 cases between Jan and May this year, 16 were registered by local police stations, while five were recorded by Pune cyber police station. Last year, 16 cases were registered by the cyber police station, while local police stations registered 65 cases. Police did not register a single complaint in 2023. "Last year, Rs 6.3 crore was the highest amount lost by an individual to fraudsters. Then, we received complaints in which the victims were duped of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 60 lakh. In most of these cases, elderly couples or individuals from Deccan, Bund Garden Road, Vimannagar, and Sahanagar were the victims," Shinde said. "With suspects using mule accounts and virtual private networks, it has become difficult to investigate such cases," she said. "If the prime mule account operators are arrested by the police, it will deter others from giving their bank accounts to fraudsters who are mostly based in foreign countries like Dubai or Cambodia," Shinde said. Sandip Gadiya, a cybercrime investigator & cyber forensic expert, said, "Fraudsters play with the sentiments of people in four ways, capitalising on fear, greed, lack of awareness, and carelessness of the victims. And these factors contribute to cyber crimes." He said, "Digital arrest fraud cases are based on fear factor in which a person is put in fear of arrest and jail, and money is extorted from him by fraudsters posing as officials of Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and police." "Though the number of digital arrest cases has reduced, the effectiveness of awareness campaign has been minimum because people do not care about frauds, thinking that these will not happen to them," Gadiya said. "Banks and telecom companies must do KYC checks of their customers properly, and if done thoroughly, the nuisance of mule bank accounts will reduce," he said. "Suspects use virtual private networks (VPNs) to make digital calls or calls through video call-making applications. The govt must keep a check on VPNs. Investigations take too long because of VPNs," he said. Year - No of cases - Amount 2023 - Nil - Nil 2024 - 81 - Rs 49.76 crores 2025 - 21 - Rs 9.21 crores (Till May end) MSID:: 121646160 413 |
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Drug cartel's hawala cash trail ends in washing machine in Goa
HYDERABAD: In a major breakthrough, Telangana Anti Narcotics Bureau's (TGANB) investigation to trace the inter-state hawala cash trail of international drug cartels ended in a washing machine in a Goa flat, from which it seized Rs 50 lakh a few days ago. TGANB director Sandeep Shandilya, said the money, collected over just two days, was moments away from being laundered to Nigeria. "Had we delayed the raid by an hour, the entire amount would have been transferred. It was neatly stashed inside the washing machine, ready for dispatch," he said. Following a month-long surveillance operation in Goa, TGANB --- assisted by Goa police --- zeroed in on hawala transactions being conducted from Sangeetha Mobile Shop in Mapusa and an apartment in Goa's Highland Park. 'Accused laundered over 2 crore of drug proceeds' The key accused, Uttam Singh, who runs the mobile shop, was arrested. Investigators revealed he had laundered Rs 2.1 crore of drug proceeds in just one week. "Drug money collected in cash was handed over to Uttam, often by foreign nationals. He then moved the funds to Mumbai through informal channels, and from there, it was transferred to Nigeria," Shandilya explained. The investigation into the hawala trail started after Nigerian national Emmanuel Bediako, alias Maxwell, revealed it to TGANB. Between May 26 and June 1, officials tracked 58 hawala transactions involving Rs 2.1 crore. A few days after establishing this link, a raid on Highland Park apartment led to the recovery of Rs 50 lakh in cash. Over the past month, four Nigerian nationals have been arrested during TGANB operations in Goa. Authorities believe Uttam is one of several hawala operators facilitating cross-border drug money transfers. Police officials suspect a wider network of hawala operators is active, working hand-in-glove with international narcotics cartels.
