The Evening Wrap: Health Ministry denies CoWIN data breach

The Health Ministry on June 12 said that reports of data breach of beneficiaries who have received COVID vaccination in the country are “without any basis and mischievous in nature”. CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) portal of Health Ministry is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy, it maintained. “It does not appear that Cowin app or database has been directly breached,” tweeted Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics, and Information Technology, clarifying that the data being accessed by bot from a threat actor database, seems to have been populated with previously breached/stolen data. The database, he said, was other than CoWIN. He added that with reference to some alleged CoWIN data breaches reported on social media, @IndianCERT has immediately responded and reviewed this. Further he tweeted that a Telegram Bot was throwing up Cowin app details upon entry of phone numbers. “National data governance policy has been finalised that will create a common framework of data storage, access and security across all of govt,” he tweeted. But what is more worrying is the fact that CoWIN — which serves the function of registration, appointment scheduling, identity verification, vaccination and certification of each vaccinated member — has also been integrated into the Aarogya Setu and UMANG Apps. UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive mobile governance in India. UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies. Meanwhile, as per reports, the current data breach is possible if the mobile number of a person is entered — details such as the identification number of the document submitted for vaccination (Aadhaar, passport, PAN card and so forth), gender, date of birth, and the centre where the vaccine was administered, are provided as reply in an instant by the messenger bot in question. These details could be accessed even if the Aadhaar number was entered instead of the phone number. The passport numbers of those who had updated the CoWIN portal for travel abroad were also leaked. Details, now available in the public domain, include that of Ram Sewak Sarma, chairman of CoWIN high-power panel (the leak gives information on the ID papers submitted for vaccination), senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi and Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal (location at which they got vaccinated), the mode of registration for Kerala Health Minister Veena George. The Telegram bot (a programme that behaves like a normal chat partner with additional functions) — is also giving details of individuals and several Opposition leaders’ data including Rajya Sabha MP and TMC Leader Derek O’Brien, former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha Haribansh Narayan Singh, Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Sanjay Raut, among others. TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale accessed details of several politicians and journalists, in an attempt to highlight the lapse. While the bot has now been taken down, there are speculations of it returning. The CoWIN site provides vaccination certificates to the beneficiaries, which acted as Vaccine Passports during the COVID-19 pandemic for the beneficiaries and can be stored in DigiLocker. Users can access the platform via desktop, tablet, and mobile phones. While there have been multiple questions about the leaks, health authorities have maintained that CoWIN has a state-of-the-art secure infrastructure and has never faced a security breach and even maintained that the data of the citizens are absolutely safe. Meanwhile, this is not the first time that such a leak has been reported. In June 2021, a hacker group named ‘Dark Leak Market’ claimed that it had a database of about 15 crore Indians who registered themselves on the CoWIN portal. Health authorities had rubbished the claims. Mumbai Police file FIR against 29-year-old man for sharing Aurangzeb’s photo as WhatsApp status The Vashi Police on Sunday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a 29-year-old man for allegedly sharing Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s photo as his status on WhatsApp. The accused, a resident of Navi Mumbai, is a manager in a private firm had put Aurangzeb’s photo as his status on WhatsApp and someone took a screenshot of it and shared it with some people on WhatsApp. A right-wing organisation’s worker got his hands on the screenshot and approached the local police to file an FIR against him. The Hindu perused the FIR that said, “Recently, communal clashes had erupted in Ahmednagar, Sambhaji Nagar and Kolhapur over the issue of posting Aurangzeb’s photo. At such time, the accused has posted a photo of Aurangzeb as his WhatsApp status, in order to disturb the communal harmony in Navi Mumbai, and also by trying to create discord between the two communities and to disturb the public peace.” The accused has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 298 (uttering words etc. with deliberate intend to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Senior police inspector Shashikant Chandekar of Vashi police station told The Hindu, “The accused is not arrested. We have issued a notice to him under section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. We have not disclosed the names of the accused and complainant because it’s a sensitive issue given the current political scenario.” On June 7, in Kolhapur, some protesters from the right-wing organisation had thrown stones during a demonstration against the alleged use of 18th-century Mysore rule Tipu Sultan’s image along with an allegedly objectionable (to Hindu sentiments) audio messages on social media status by some locals. Haryana farmers block Delhi-Chandigarh highway after mahapanchayat seeking MSP for sunflower seed Farmers on June 12 blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh highway after holding a mahapanchayat to press for minimum support price for sunflower seed. The “MSP Dilao, Kisan Bachao mahapanchayat”, called by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), was held at a grain market in Pipli close to the National Highway-44. After the mahapanchayat, the farmers gathered on the highway and blocked it. Police were diverting traffic from Delhi through the Kurukshetra bypass. Apart from leaders of various khaps and Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, Olympic medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, one of the grapplers who have been demanding action against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, were present at the mahapanchayat. Farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan too attended the gathering. At the mahapanchayat, farmer leader Karam Singh Mathana said the local administration had assured them of a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss their demands. “But now they say the chief minister has left Karnal”. “Because of this, the local committee, which organised the mahapanchayat, decided to block the National Highway-44 till our demands are met,” Mathana said. The highway also connects the Delhi-Kurukshetra-Amritsar route. The Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra, Shantanu Sharma, told PTI that the district administration has been holding talks with BKU leaders since Sunday to resolve the issue of procuring sunflower seed on MSP. “Even today we asked them to give us some time so that we can arrange a meeting with the chief minister. But the BKU leaders preferred to block the highway,” he said, adding that farmers were being asked to lift the blockade. On June 6, farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni blocked National Highway-44 near Shahabad here demanding that the government procure sunflower seeds at minimum support price. Police used water cannons and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters. Later, nine BKU (Charuni) leaders, including its president, were arrested over various charges, including rioting and unlawful assembly. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who attended the mahapanchayat on Monday, said the government should procure sunflower on MSP and the farmer leaders arrested in Shahabad should be released. Addressing the mahapanchayat, Tikait announced that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha would start a pan-India agitation if a law for MSP, “as promised by the Union government”, is not brought. The government announces MSP but fails to procure it at that rate, he alleged. Tikait condemned the police action against Churni and the farmers who on June 6 blocked National Highway-44 and asked, “What wrong has the BKU (Charuni) leader done when he sought MSP for sunflower crop.” He said though various farmers’ organisations attended the Pipli mahapanchayat under their own banners, they were all united in their fight for the farmers’ cause. He said the issue of MSP for sunflower not only affects farmers in Haryana but those sowing various crops across the country as they have to make distress sale in the absence of an MSP law. Bengal panchayat polls: Opposition leaders ‘assaulted’, ‘stopped’ from filing nominations Several incidents of clashes were reported from different parts of West Bengal on June 12, as unidentified miscreants allegedly attacked Opposition leaders while they were on their way to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls, a senior official said. The skirmishes were reported in Daspur (Paschim Medinipur), Kakdwip (South 24 Parganas), Raninagar (Murshidabad), Saktinagar and Barshul (both in Purba Bardhaman) and Minakhan (North 24 Parganas), he said. A CPI(M) party office at Minakhan in Basirhat subdivision was “vandalised” and the candidate was “assaulted” by the miscreants when he was going to file his nomination, the official said. In another incident at Sonamukhi in Bankura district, BJP MLA Dibakar Gharami was allegedly attacked by unidentified people as he was heading to the nomination centre. “Several such incidents of clashes have been reported, and we have sought details in this regard from the DMs and SPs,” the senior State Election Commission (SEC) official told PTI. The development comes on a day the SEC directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CRPC in 1-km radius of all nomination centres. The orders, which were issued on Sunday, will be in force till Thursday. The panchayat polls are scheduled to be held on July 8. The SEC official said over 10,000 nomination papers have been filed so far. Meanwhile, the SEC on Monday told the Calcutta High Court that it can extend the last date of filing nominations for the panchayat polls by a day to June 16. After hearing petitions of Opposition leaders for extension of date for filing nominations and deployment of central forces for the July 8 polls, the court had on June 9 observed that the time given for filing papers is prima facie inadequate. No bike-taxi in Delhi for now as Supreme Court stays HC order The Supreme Court on June 12 stayed the Delhi High Court order by which it had essentially allowed bike-taxi aggregators Rapido and Uber to operate in the national capital by asking the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against them till a new policy was formulated. A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal granted liberty to the two aggregators to request urgent hearing of their plea by the Delhi HC. The bench, which stayed the May 26 order of the High Court, also recorded the Delhi government counsel’s submission that the final policy will be notified before July-end. The top court was hearing two separate petitions by the AAP government challenging the May 26 order of the High Court asking it not to take any coercive action against the bike-taxi aggregators until the final policy was notified. The top court had in the last week sought a response from the Central government on both the pleas of Delhi government. In Brief: India’s retail inflation eases to 4.25% in May India’s retail inflation eased further to 4.25% in May, from 4.7% in April, with price rise in food items faced by consumers moderating to 2.91%. This is the third successive month that inflation has remained below the RBI’s upper tolerance limit of 6% after a prolonged streak above it. Urban consumers continued to face slightly higher inflation at 4.27% than their rural counterparts (4.17%), but food inflation was lower in urban areas, easing significantly to 2.43% from 3.7% a month earlier. In comparison, rural food price rise moderation was less benign, cooling to 3.2% in May from 3.9% in April. On a month-on-month basis, however, price levels continued to firm up, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising 0.51% for the second successive month. Cyclone Biparjoy to make landfall near Jakhau on June 15 As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the extremely severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy is likely to make landfall near Jakhau port on June 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting today to review preparations to mitigate the impact of the cyclone. The NDRF has pre-positioned 12 teams, which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters and telecom equipment, and has kept 15 teams on standby, the PMO said. Around 7,500 people have been shifted to safer places, and a proper evacuation operation will begin from Tuesday for people residing in villages located within a distance of 10 kilometres from the coast in Kutch-Saurashtra districts, officials said. UPSC declares result of civil services preliminary exam; 14,624 candidates qualify More than 14,600 candidates have qualified the 2023 civil services preliminary examination, the results of which were declared on June 12 by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select officers for services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS). The 2023 civil services preliminary exam was held on May 28. The list carrying serial numbers, roll numbers and names of successful candidates has been put on the UPSC’s website, and according to it, 14,624 candidates have qualified the preliminary exam. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 12 June 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( CoWIN data breach reports without any basis: Health Ministry [The Health Ministry on June 12 said that reports of data breach of beneficiaries who have received COVID vaccination in the country are “without any basis and mischievous in nature”](. CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) portal of Health Ministry is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy, it maintained. “It does not appear that Cowin app or database has been directly breached,” tweeted Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics, and Information Technology, clarifying that the data being accessed by bot from a threat actor database, seems to have been populated with previously breached/stolen data. The database, he said, was other than CoWIN. He added that with reference to some alleged CoWIN data breaches reported on social media, @IndianCERT has immediately responded and reviewed this. Further he tweeted that a Telegram Bot was throwing up Cowin app details upon entry of phone numbers. “National data governance policy has been finalised that will create a common framework of data storage, access and security across all of govt,” he tweeted. But what is more worrying is the fact that CoWIN — which serves the function of registration, appointment scheduling, identity verification, vaccination and certification of each vaccinated member — has also been integrated into the Aarogya Setu and UMANG Apps. UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive mobile governance in India. UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies. Meanwhile, as per reports, the current data breach is possible if the mobile number of a person is entered — details such as the identification number of the document submitted for vaccination (Aadhaar, passport, PAN card and so forth), gender, date of birth, and the centre where the vaccine was administered, are provided as reply in an instant by the messenger bot in question. These details could be accessed even if the Aadhaar number was entered instead of the phone number. The passport numbers of those who had updated the CoWIN portal for travel abroad were also leaked. Details, now available in the public domain, include that of Ram Sewak Sarma, chairman of CoWIN high-power panel (the leak gives information on the ID papers submitted for vaccination), senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi and Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal (location at which they got vaccinated), the mode of registration for Kerala Health Minister Veena George. The Telegram bot (a programme that behaves like a normal chat partner with additional functions) — is also giving details of individuals and several Opposition leaders’ data including Rajya Sabha MP and TMC Leader Derek O’Brien, former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha Haribansh Narayan Singh, Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Sanjay Raut, among others. TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale accessed details of several politicians and journalists, in an attempt to highlight the lapse. While the bot has now been taken down, there are speculations of it returning. The CoWIN site provides vaccination certificates to the beneficiaries, which acted as Vaccine Passports during the COVID-19 pandemic for the beneficiaries and can be stored in DigiLocker. Users can access the platform via desktop, tablet, and mobile phones. While there have been multiple questions about the leaks, health authorities have maintained that CoWIN has a state-of-the-art secure infrastructure and has never faced a security breach and even maintained that the data of the citizens are absolutely safe. Meanwhile, this is not the first time that such a leak has been reported. In June 2021, a hacker group named ‘Dark Leak Market’ claimed that it had a database of about 15 crore Indians who registered themselves on the CoWIN portal. Health authorities had rubbished the claims. Mumbai Police file FIR against 29-year-old man for sharing Aurangzeb’s photo as WhatsApp status [The Vashi Police on Sunday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a 29-year-old man for allegedly sharing Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s photo as his status on WhatsApp](. The accused, a resident of Navi Mumbai, is a manager in a private firm had put Aurangzeb’s photo as his status on WhatsApp and someone took a screenshot of it and shared it with some people on WhatsApp. A right-wing organisation’s worker got his hands on the screenshot and approached the local police to file an FIR against him. The Hindu perused the FIR that said, “Recently, communal clashes had erupted in Ahmednagar, Sambhaji Nagar and Kolhapur over the issue of posting Aurangzeb’s photo. At such time, the accused has posted a photo of Aurangzeb as his WhatsApp status, in order to disturb the communal harmony in Navi Mumbai, and also by trying to create discord between the two communities and to disturb the public peace.” The accused has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 298 (uttering words etc. with deliberate intend to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Senior police inspector Shashikant Chandekar of Vashi police station told The Hindu, “The accused is not arrested. We have issued a notice to him under section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. We have not disclosed the names of the accused and complainant because it’s a sensitive issue given the current political scenario.” On June 7, in Kolhapur, some protesters from the right-wing organisation had thrown stones during a demonstration against the alleged use of 18th-century Mysore rule Tipu Sultan’s image along with an allegedly objectionable (to Hindu sentiments) audio messages on social media status by some locals. Haryana farmers block Delhi-Chandigarh highway after mahapanchayat seeking MSP for sunflower seed [Farmers on June 12 blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh highway after holding a mahapanchayat to press for minimum support price for sunflower seed](. The “MSP Dilao, Kisan Bachao mahapanchayat”, called by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), was held at a grain market in Pipli close to the National Highway-44. After the mahapanchayat, the farmers gathered on the highway and blocked it. Police were diverting traffic from Delhi through the Kurukshetra bypass. Apart from leaders of various khaps and Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, Olympic medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, one of the grapplers who have been demanding action against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, were present at the mahapanchayat. Farmers from Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan too attended the gathering. At the mahapanchayat, farmer leader Karam Singh Mathana said the local administration had assured them of a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss their demands. “But now they say the chief minister has left Karnal”. “Because of this, the local committee, which organised the mahapanchayat, decided to block the National Highway-44 till our demands are met,” Mathana said. The highway also connects the Delhi-Kurukshetra-Amritsar route. The Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra, Shantanu Sharma, told PTI that the district administration has been holding talks with BKU leaders since Sunday to resolve the issue of procuring sunflower seed on MSP. “Even today we asked them to give us some time so that we can arrange a meeting with the chief minister. But the BKU leaders preferred to block the highway,” he said, adding that farmers were being asked to lift the blockade. On June 6, farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni blocked National Highway-44 near Shahabad here demanding that the government procure sunflower seeds at minimum support price. Police used water cannons and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters. Later, nine BKU (Charuni) leaders, including its president, were arrested over various charges, including rioting and unlawful assembly. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who attended the mahapanchayat on Monday, said the government should procure sunflower on MSP and the farmer leaders arrested in Shahabad should be released. Addressing the mahapanchayat, Tikait announced that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha would start a pan-India agitation if a law for MSP, “as promised by the Union government”, is not brought. The government announces MSP but fails to procure it at that rate, he alleged. Tikait condemned the police action against Churni and the farmers who on June 6 blocked National Highway-44 and asked, “What wrong has the BKU (Charuni) leader done when he sought MSP for sunflower crop.” He said though various farmers’ organisations attended the Pipli mahapanchayat under their own banners, they were all united in their fight for the farmers’ cause. He said the issue of MSP for sunflower not only affects farmers in Haryana but those sowing various crops across the country as they have to make distress sale in the absence of an MSP law. Bengal panchayat polls: Opposition leaders ‘assaulted’, ‘stopped’ from filing nominations [Several incidents of clashes were reported from different parts of West Bengal on June 12, as unidentified miscreants allegedly attacked Opposition leaders while they were on their way to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls]( a senior official said. The skirmishes were reported in Daspur (Paschim Medinipur), Kakdwip (South 24 Parganas), Raninagar (Murshidabad), Saktinagar and Barshul (both in Purba Bardhaman) and Minakhan (North 24 Parganas), he said. A CPI(M) party office at Minakhan in Basirhat subdivision was “vandalised” and the candidate was “assaulted” by the miscreants when he was going to file his nomination, the official said. In another incident at Sonamukhi in Bankura district, BJP MLA Dibakar Gharami was allegedly attacked by unidentified people as he was heading to the nomination centre. “Several such incidents of clashes have been reported, and we have sought details in this regard from the DMs and SPs,” the senior State Election Commission (SEC) official told PTI. The development comes on a day the SEC directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CRPC in 1-km radius of all nomination centres. The orders, which were issued on Sunday, will be in force till Thursday. The panchayat polls are scheduled to be held on July 8. The SEC official said over 10,000 nomination papers have been filed so far. Meanwhile, the SEC on Monday told the Calcutta High Court that it can extend the last date of filing nominations for the panchayat polls by a day to June 16. After hearing petitions of Opposition leaders for extension of date for filing nominations and deployment of central forces for the July 8 polls, the court had on June 9 observed that the time given for filing papers is prima facie inadequate. No bike-taxi in Delhi for now as Supreme Court stays HC order The [Supreme Court on June 12 stayed the Delhi High Court order by which it had essentially allowed bike-taxi aggregators Rapido and Uber to operate in the national capital]( by asking the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against them till a new policy was formulated. A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal granted liberty to the two aggregators to request urgent hearing of their plea by the Delhi HC. The bench, which stayed the May 26 order of the High Court, also recorded the Delhi government counsel’s submission that the final policy will be notified before July-end. The top court was hearing two separate petitions by the AAP government challenging the May 26 order of the High Court asking it not to take any coercive action against the bike-taxi aggregators until the final policy was notified. The top court had in the last week sought a response from the Central government on both the pleas of Delhi government. In Brief: India’s retail inflation eases to 4.25% in May [India’s retail inflation eased further to 4.25% in May, from 4.7% in April]( with price rise in food items faced by consumers moderating to 2.91%. This is the third successive month that inflation has remained below the RBI’s upper tolerance limit of 6% after a prolonged streak above it. Urban consumers continued to face slightly higher inflation at 4.27% than their rural counterparts (4.17%), but food inflation was lower in urban areas, easing significantly to 2.43% from 3.7% a month earlier. In comparison, rural food price rise moderation was less benign, cooling to 3.2% in May from 3.9% in April. On a month-on-month basis, however, price levels continued to firm up, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising 0.51% for the second successive month. Cyclone Biparjoy to make landfall near Jakhau on June 15 As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the extremely severe [cyclonic storm Biparjoy is likely to make landfall near Jakhau port on June 15](. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting today to review preparations to mitigate the impact of the cyclone. The NDRF has pre-positioned 12 teams, which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters and telecom equipment, and has kept 15 teams on standby, the PMO said. Around 7,500 people have been shifted to safer places, and a proper evacuation operation will begin from Tuesday for people residing in villages located within a distance of 10 kilometres from the coast in Kutch-Saurashtra districts, officials said. UPSC declares result of civil services preliminary exam; 14,624 candidates qualify [More than 14,600 candidates have qualified the 2023 civil services preliminary examination]( the results of which were declared on June 12 by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select officers for services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS). The 2023 civil services preliminary exam was held on May 28. The list carrying serial numbers, roll numbers and names of successful candidates has been put on the UPSC’s website, and according to it, 14,624 candidates have qualified the preliminary exam. 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