The government will raise ₹88,000 crores this year by leasing infrastructure assets of central government ministries and state-run companies under a ₹6 trillion National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) it unveiled on Monday.

The funds will then be used to build new infrastructure assets, helping boost economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.

Annual targets under the four-year pipeline have been set at ₹1.62 trillion for FY23, ₹1.79 trillion for FY24 and ₹1.67 trillion in the following year.

The top five sectors by value under the government’s asset monetization programme are roads (27%), railways (25%), power (15%), oil and gas pipelines (8%) and telecom (6%).

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the monetization pipeline will be co-terminus with the ₹100 trillion national infrastructure pipeline from this year. “There won’t be any land sale happening under it. The NMP is talking about brownfield assets where investment has already been made, which are either languishing, not fully monetized or remaining underutilized. So, by bringing in private participation, you are going to monetize it better, and with whatever resource you are getting, you can put it into further infrastructure creation,” she added.

WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said that there is a growing need for “more companies, and, critically, governments, to take steps to hold NSO Group accountable,” and urged for a “global moratorium on the use of unaccountable surveillance technology now.” 

Pegasus has kicked off the debate around tracking individuals, including journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists in various countries. This new investigation, which was primarily based on a large information leak and was carried out by 16 media organisations together with India’s The Wire and international shops corresponding to The Washington Post and The Guardian NSOs Pegasus is used to “commit horrible human rights abuses” globally and “it must be stopped”, WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart stated on Twitter. India is discovered to be amongst greater than 50 nations the place the adware is believed for use as a cyber-surveillance weapon. 

In a series of tweets, Cathcart has put forward some points in a protracted thread on Twitter that human rights defenders, tech corporations, and governments should work collaboratively to extend personal safety and maintain the entities abusing the Pegasus adware accountable.

“This is a wake-up call for security on the Internet,” he stated. “The mobile is the primary computer for billions of people. Governments and companies must do everything they can to make it as secure as possible.”

He also tweeted that in 2019 Whatsapp fought back against the tool from NSO. “In 2019, WhatsApp discovered and defeated an attack from NSO. They rely on unknown vulnerabilities in mobile OSes, which is one of the reasons why we felt it was so important to raise awareness of what we’d found.” 

Cathcart added that in 2019, WhatsApp worked with CitizenLab, which identified over 100 cases of abusive targeting of human rights defenders and journalists in more than 20 countries. “But today’s reporting shows that the true scale of abuse is even larger, and with terrifying national security implications,” Cathcart adds. 

“We need more companies, and critically, governments, to take steps to hold NSO Group accountable,” he said. “Once again, we urge a global moratorium on the use of unaccountable surveillance technology now.”

According to the government of India, the story has been crafted in such a way that the conclusions are skewed “However, the questionnaire sent to the government of India indicates that the story being crafted is one that is not only bereft of facts but also founded in preconceived conclusions. It seems you are trying to play the role of an investigator, prosecutor as well as jury,” the government said in response to the Guardian about the latest NSO leak.