India

Speaking at the Security Council meeting on Palestine on Tuesday, he said that terrorist acts are “unlawful and unjustifiable whether they target people in Nairobi or Bali, in Luxor, Istanbul, or Mumbai, in New York or Kibbutz Be’eri”.

“They’re unlawful and unjustifiable whether they are carried out by IS, by Boko Haram, by al-Shabaab, by Lashkar-e Taiba, or by Hamas. This Council has a responsibility to denounce member states that arm, that fund, and train Hamas or any other terrorist group that carries out such horrific acts."

Rejecting attempts to equivocate on the Hamas terrorism that killed over 1,400 people in Israel and had more than 200 kidnapped on October 7, Blinken said: “As this Council and the UN General Assembly have repeatedly affirmed, all acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable."

Outlining the worst of the Hamas attack like the execution of children before their parents, the beheading of young people and the burning of families alive, Blinken said that “we have to ask – indeed it must be asked – where is the outrage? Where is the revulsion? Where is the rejection? Where is the explicit condemnation of these horrors?".

“We must affirm the right of any nation to defend itself and to prevent such horror from repeating itself. No member of this council – no nation in this entire body – could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people."

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Munir Akram reacted swiftly to the mention of 26/11, LeT and Hamas, and said without directly naming the US:“Some in this Council have offered protection to their allies who are oppressing occupied people in Palestine and in Kashmir."

Blinken defended the right of Israel itself in the face of the brutal attack by Hamas, but added: “It means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians."

As for Hamas, he said that it should not use civilians “as human shields”.

Some have suggested that Western countries have double standards in how they view Palestinian and Israeli lives.

Blinken said: “There is no hierarchy when it comes to protecting civilian lives. A civilian is a civilian is a civilian, no matter his or her nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, faith.

“That’s why America mourns the loss of every single innocent life in this crisis, including innocent Israeli and Palestinian men, women, children, elderly people, Muslims, Jews, Christians, people of all nationalities and faiths, including at least 35 UN staff members."

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

--IANS

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This is to check delay in handing over new projects and buildings.

To avoid expenditure over security and maintenance of ready buildings, the departments concerned will have to take over the property within 45 days.

At least 63 big ticket building projects, each commissioned with a budget of at least Rs 10 crore, are in the final stages of completion.

The need to speed up the handover process was felt as the Public Works Department cited difficulties it was facing due to the unwarranted delay.

Chief secretary D.S. Mishra has circulated the new SOP (standard operating procedure) through which the timeline for the handover process along with roles of the contracted agency and that of the government department which has outsourced the project, has been fixed.

A four-member committee headed by chief development officer will be constituted in each district to facilitate the handover.

A senior PWD officer said that a letter will be sent to the concerned department 30 days in advance of the official handover date to make a thorough inspection. "List of inventories of items that have been supplied along with the building plan will be provided. In case any defect or shortcomings are detected, PWD will have to be informed in writing. In case no written objection is received, after 45 days it will be deemed that official handover has been done," said the officer.

Similarly, a timeline for phase-wise handover will be prepared between two agencies in case a project comprises multiple buildings or components.

A district-level committee, comprising chief development officer, executive engineers of PWD, irrigation and power departments will also facilitate the handover of buildings and provide their opinion on the work quality.

Among the 13 medical colleges that are being established across the state, 12 are expected to be handed over to the health department in December, while 13 out of 18 Atal residential schools are also ready.

--IANS

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The deceased was identified as Shabnam, a resident of Chand Bagh area.

According to police, in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, a police control room call was received at 12:46 a.m. regarding the incident at Dayalpur police station.

During initial inquiry, it was revealed that Umeed (40), the accused, and Shabnam live on rent in E- Block, Chand Bagh.They have been married for seven years and Umeed is a carpenter.

“On the fateful day, the couple fought with each other. Umeed strangulated his wife, after which she lost consciousness. She was taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, where she was declared brought dead,” said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey.

They have four children -- three from present marriage -- one nine-year-old daughter from the previous marriage of the deceased.

“Umeed suspected that his wife was having an illicit love affair.A case of murder is being registered at Dayalpur police station,” the DCP added.

--IANS

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Gowda, who had openly expressed his displeasure regarding BJP's alliance with JD(S), is expected to meet the National President J.P. Nadda and other top leaders.

Recently, Gowda had stated that he was not consulted regarding the alliance with JD (S) party in Karnataka.

According to sources close to him, DyCM and State Congress president D.K. Shivakumar had approached him to join the party ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections.

Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar had also spoken to him.

Sources explained that Gowda, once given prominence in the party failed to impress the high command with his performance.

After giving up his CM's post as per the party's instructions, Gowda was given the prestigious Railway ministry in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first cabinet.

Later, the ministry was taken back and he was made Union Minister for Law and Justice.

Afterwards, he was made Union Minister for Statistics and Program Implementation. He was made to step down from his post ahead of cabinet reshuffle in July 2021.

Gowda, who represents Bengaluru North Parliamentary seat, came to limelight after taking over as the chief minister after B.S. Yediyurappa was asked to step down following allegations of corruption.

Yediyurappa played a role in Gowda getting the coveted post. However, the sources explain that Gowda joined hands with former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda's family went against Yediyurappa resulting in his ouster.

Presently, Gowda is fearing that he might miss the ticket from Bengaluru North Parliamentary seat from the BJP as it is rumoured that the seat will be given to the JD (S) or independent MP from Mandya Parliamentary seat Sumalatha Ambareesh who will get the ticket from the saffron party.

The sources close to him explain that the disgruntled leader will take a call on joining the Congress after the talks with the party leadership.

--IANS

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This is being done under the ongoing fourth phase of Mission Shakti campaign.

This campaign is aimed at “strengthening women’s leadership and promote gender equality in the community” and will constitute modules on development related issues, leadership skills and sustainable development goals.

Under the two-day programme, the trainers will focus on addressing specific needs to women leaders, especially those who are completely new to leadership positions.

Calling it a first of its kind campaign, a government spokesperson said that the aim behind such a programme was to help develop necessary skills among the women leaders to handle their work and the community and, therefore, had the requisite knowledge of issues and laws.

“In the course of the training the pradhans will learn about their administrative responsibilities, village secretariat arrangements, operation of public service centres and other issues related to village development. They will learn how to prepare a blueprint for the overall development of the village and how to present it to officials for implementation. Another area of focus will be on monitoring of health, nutrition and sanitation services,” said the spokesman.

Manoj Singh, additional chief secretary, Panchayati Raj, said that while women are often more aware of the overall development of the village, basic amenities and family health, it was necessary to help finetune this mindset of female village leaders to empower them to fulfil their responsibilities.

“The initiative is a positive step towards promoting women leadership in local governance and gender equality. It may serve as a model for similar programmes in other regions or states. Discussions on the outcomes and best practices could benefit women leadership development across India,” he said.

--IANS

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The court said the use of ‘Puma’ trademark and logo by the defendant on inferior quality products will lead to erosion of brand equity.

The plaintiff, Puma, a German company had filed a suit seeking injunction against counterfeit products manufactured and sold under the mark ‘Puma’ by defendant, ‘Kumkum Shoes’, a trading business in Agra.

The court noted as per the local commissioner’s report, ‘Kumkum Shoes’ made a profit of nearly Rs 18 lakh to Rs 19 lakh from selling counterfeit ‘Puma’ shoes and the suit was liable to be decreed in favour of ‘Puma’ with damages of Rs 10 lakh and costs of Rs 2 lakh.

The local commissioner’s report revealed that the defendant was running a full-scale manufacturing operation with respect to counterfeit ‘Puma’ shoes. As the defendant chose to stay away from the proceedings, the court passed the decree of permanent injunction.

--IANS

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The beauty of the Two Sigma problem theory lies in its immediate intuitiveness. Across nations and societies, personal tutoring is a clear preference for anyone who can afford it. In India, the concept of a revered 'Guru' who enlightens his disciples with knowledge through super-personalised attention finds numerous references in both history and mythology. As the Industrial Revolution proliferated, coinciding with the invention of the printing press, education moved from being a noble person's privilege to a more accessible bridge to opportunity. It marked the introduction of the classroom method, which continues to be omnipresent centuries after its introduction.

Indian classrooms, in particular, have continued to be characterized by large average sizes - predictable for a country with over 250M actively enrolled students and much less than 1/100th the number of high-calibre teachers. Even among the most recent attempts at delivering education, aka ed-tech, one-to-many interactions dominate all viable business models. Bloom's notes highlighted this challenge very well: he concluded that one-to-one tutoring is "too costly for most societies to bear on a large scale" and challenged education researchers to find methods of group instruction as effective as personal tutoring.

We at Accel in India believe that the long-standing two-sigma problem might finally have gotten a promising solution from technology: Generative AI. If we pan out a bit to observe what LLMs are good at - analysing a tonne of unstructured information and creating personalised answers - their applicability to powering learning tools becomes quite apparent. Unsurprisingly, many students are among the most regular users of ChatGPT, and global ed-tech giants like Duolingo and Khan Academy have already seen remarkable feedback on their recently launched AI tutor features.

We predict that, over the next few years, Generative AI will be applied to Indian education extensively in the following three ways:

Hyper-personalisation: While AI-based recommendation systems have long powered surfacing relevant content to users (ed-tech included), generative AI goes one step beyond by not just recommending but creating highly contextual content. Customised learning paths for every student are poised to be a reality as the marginal cost of creating new content further descends to near zero.

In the short to medium term, many emerging personalisation features will become omnipresent in ed-tech: AI-generated micro lectures, 24*7 available QnA bots, personalised test feedback, and instant practice problems, to mention a few. In the long term, AI-generated customised learning paths can help us move from the current top-down, relatively rigid design of pedagogy in India to a more fluid one - with more weightage to original expressions (e.g., AI-art) and intersectional topics (e.g., computational chemistry vs chemistry and computer science).

New intuitive interfaces: Many, if not most, of today's popular digital learning applications look similar: live/recorded video lectures, a comments-like section for QnA, and practice problems/tests. However, in a world where computers come with inbuilt capabilities to understand our language, many assumptions around the suitable learning interface should be (and are being) questioned. The best ed-tech interfaces of this decade will create original designs that combine multi-modal input capabilities (chat, voice, image, symbols) with immersive, generative UI spanning audio, video, text, and 3D.

AI for teacher productivity: Within a few quarters of LLMs going mainstream, we've already seen 'co-pilots' pop up for many professions - the most notable being software development. The 85M+ global teacher population will likely be one of the following early adopters for specialised teaching co-pilots. From helping craft classroom lessons to auto-grading assignment submissions, such applications can free up teachers' busy work to help them focus more on nurturing student relationships, a significant driver for delivering learning outcomes.

We believe that Generative AI offers a once-in-a-generation level of transformative potential for education that will continue to manifest itself for many years into the future. We are particularly excited about the chance to create a more equitable world with accessible quality education. Secondly, we hope that unlocking true personalisation in education with AI will lead us to celebrate every learner's individuality rather than suppressing it, culminating in more original thinkers who propel humanity forward.

(Anagh Prasad is an investor at Accel. He can be reached at aprasad@accel.com)

--IANS

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An official spokesperson said the park would accommodate 60-70 production units that would work to manufacture 452 medicines and 23 starting materials.

“This budget includes Rs 460.6 crore for infrastructure, Rs 20 crore for zero liquid discharge systems, Rs 144.2 crore for land acquisition and Rs 10 crore for administrative, consultancy and programme management expenses,” the spokesperson said.

He said the government has created a corpus of land that will provide 94 plots of various sizes ranging from five to 50 acres.

“Out of the pharma park’s total area, the government will provide plots for industry setups in 53 per cent, while the remaining portion will be allocated for other facilities.”

The list of facilities includes dry port spanning 50 acres, a common facility area for processes like CETP/ STP and other utilities covering 70 acres, logistics and warehousing over 100 acres, institutional, testing and research and development spaces within 60 acres, road and transport infrastructure extending over 270 acres, as well as greenery and water resources over 250 acres. The park will also allocate 60 acres for residential (housing group) and 40 acres for commercial activities.

“The initiative is expected to generate more than 1.5 lakh job opportunities. Additionally, supporting industries related to pharma will also come up in the bulk drug park, which will indirectly create 3 lakh jobs,” he said.

Officials said that 12 types of relaxations are being extended to pharma sector entrepreneurs to attract investment. They said that steps have also been taken to build a favourable ecosystem for the pharma park.

--IANS

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Addressing the coronation ceremony of Lord Shri Ram at Mansarovar Ramlila Maidan on Tuesday evening, he said: “After a long wait of 500 years, Lord Ram is about to be enshrined in his grand temple, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under his leadership, has ensured that the ideals of his kingdom are embraced by providing homes, toilets, food, healthcare, and other essential facilities for crores of poor people. The government's public welfare schemes are the foundation of Ram Rajya.

“The celebrations of Vijayadashami and Diwali are special for this year as after a long wait of 500 years, Lord Ram will be seated in his grand temple in 'Ayodhyadham'. This generation is fortunate that it is going to see this divine scene. As a result of the positivity of the people, when a double-engine government of one ideology was formed in the Centre and the state, the way for the construction of Lord Shri Ram's temple was paved amicably.

"Before the enshrinement of Lord Shri Ram in his temple, Prime Minister Modi has put forward the ideals of Ram Rajya in the country. He has provided housing for 4 crore poor people, built 12 crore toilets, distributed free rations to 80 crore people, offered healthcare security worth Rs 5 lakhs to the poor, and provided Rs 5 lakh in case of disaster.

"The way Vijayadashami is celebrated in villages, towns, streets, and neighbourhoods may vary, but everyone's deep faith in Lord Shri Ram strengthens their connection with him.

"The presence of negative forces has not been limited to just the Treta Yuga, but in every age, along with divine powers, there have been demonic tendencies. If positive forces unite and walk the righteous path, then the victory of righteousness, truth, and justice will continue to benefit the nation and society.

"If disunity or negative forces prevail in society, they manifest in forms such as terrorism, naxalism, extremism, separatism, criminality, lawlessness, and more. Therefore, it is everyone's responsibility to promote positivity and unity in society."

The Chief Minister elaborated on Lord Shri Ram's ideals and quoted Maharishi Valmiki, stating that Lord Shri Ram embodies righteousness.

"'Sanatan Dharma' encourages us to be dutiful, virtuous, and ethical. Those who oppose Sanatan Dharma are the ones who want to divide society and national unity through caste-based discrimination," he added.

--IANS

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En route to the knockouts, Sunil Chhetri and Co. lost to China 5-1 in the opener before beating Bangladesh 1-0 and holding Myanmar to a 1-1 draw. India finished second in Pool A behind China to seal a pre-quarterfinal spot.

India's plan, right from the get-go was to turn the game into a physical, gritty, scrappy battle. Igor Stimac had stressed on the importance of fighting it out on the pitch and it was no surprise to see the Blue Tigers put bodies behind the ball and rely on the counter to surprise their opponents.

Despite holding possession for large periods of the first half, Saudi Arabia didn't really have too many clear-cut chances to go ahead, and for the first quarter, were reduced to taking potshots at goal from distance, Chinglensana Singh and Sandesh Jhingan marshalling the defence beautifully to keep them at bay.

India had their first chance of the game in the 14th minute, Chhetri the architect and the artist, cutting past three Saudi players, before a lucky bounce presented him with a chance to shoot at goal from outside the box. Shoot he did, albeit straight into the arms of Ahmed Fahad.

From thereon, Saudi recognised India's threat on the counter and pressed higher and harder to negate it. Every clearance or loose ball was immediately snatched upon, and the Indian team were forced back into their own half for most of the half.

In the 22nd, Saudi Arabia came close to opening the scoring, Haitham Asiri curling a shot from just outside the box onto the crossbar. From an ensuing melee, the ball dropped to Awad Al Nashri, whose shot from a narrow angle, drifted wide.

Deep into the half, Dheeraj Singh made a smart save dropping low to his right to save from an Asiri freekick, and Jhingan blocked from Zakaria Al Hawsawi in injury time, to ensure India went into the break level.

Saudi came quickly out of the blocks in the second half, and six minutes in, Marran Mohammed headed in a cross by Abu Al Shamta to give them the lead. He got a second in the 57th minute, calmly collecting Saad Al Nasser's through ball, cutting past Dheeraj and slotting it into the net.

From there it was all about game management, for both sides. Saudi Arabia were keen to not let their levels drop, and for the Blue Tigers, it was crucial to not open up at the back in the search for a goal and concede more.

Dheeraj made some brilliant saves — the standout being one where he went diving backwards to save a header from Rayan Hamed — to ensure the deficit wouldn't increase. In the end, the Blue Tigers' first appearance in the knockouts in over a decade ended valiantly, though without any dividends.

--IANS

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