Technology

New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) Amid the evolving situation in West Asia, the government has stepped up efforts to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply and maintain stability across key sectors, with 1.43 crore domestic LPG cylinders delivered against bookings of around 1.50 crore cylinders in the last three days, it was announced on Thursday.

The government said that despite disruptions linked to the prevailing geopolitical situation, LPG supply to domestic households has been prioritised to ensure uninterrupted availability.

They added that no dry-outs have been reported at LPG distributorships across the country, indicating steady supply management.

“In the last 3 days, about 1.43 crore LPG cylinders were delivered against bookings of around 1.50 Crore LPG cylinders,” the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said.

The government further noted a sharp rise in digital and secure delivery mechanisms, with online LPG cylinder bookings increasing to about 99 per cent on an industry basis in the last 24 hours.

Delivery Authentication Code (DAC)-based deliveries have also been scaled up to around 96 per cent, aimed at preventing diversion at the distributor level.

The DAC system is sent to the registered mobile number of consumers to verify and authenticate deliveries.

On the commercial LPG front, the government has decided to cap total commercial allocation at 70 per cent of pre-crisis levels, including a 10 per cent reform-based component.

During the same three-day period, about 1.57 lakh 5-kg FTL cylinders were sold, along with around 9,200 cylinders distributed through approximately 520 camps.

Officials also reported that a total of 19,372 metric tonnes of commercial LPG and around 649 metric tonnes of auto LPG were sold by PSU oil marketing companies in the last three days.

The government said these measures are part of a coordinated strategy to ensure fuel security, maintain supply chains, and protect consumers during a period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

--IANS

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New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) IndiGo on Tuesday said it will temporarily discontinue its flight operations to and from Manchester, with effect from August 31, due to continuing international airspace constraints leading to significantly increased flight duration and a challenging cost environment.

The airline said it plans to return one of the six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, taken on damp/wet lease, to Norse Atlantic Airways.

IndiGo said it will notify affected customers in advance and assist them with all possible options, including alternate travel arrangements or refunds, where applicable. It will continue to operate all its remaining long-haul flights as planned.

IndiGo had damp leased six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft from Norse Atlantic Airways in early 2025.

The objective behind this project was to make strategic inroads to establish the IndiGo brand in the European market, ahead of the commencement of services using its own Airbus A350 aircraft.

However, the airline has since experienced a significant impact of prevailing industry‑wide challenges, including geopolitical developments in the Middle East, rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs, severe airspace constraints, and foreign exchange volatility resulting in operating costs being considerably higher than originally envisaged.

“It is unfortunate that longer flying times due to airspace constraints coupled with dramatically escalating costs compelled us to take the decision to temporarily discontinue our India–Manchester services,” said Abhijit Dasgupta, Senior Vice President-Network Planning and Revenue Management, IndiGo.

“We would like to thank our customers, trade partners in India and in the UK, and Manchester Airport for their amazing support. The response and support for these services have reinforced our belief in the opportunity for IndiGo’s long-haul ambitions, and this discontinuation is temporary in nature,” he added.

—IANS

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Seoul, June 2 (IANS) Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of US chip giant Nvidia, met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in Taipei to discuss the future of cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) memory.

The meeting took place in Taipei, according to a post on SK Group's Facebook account. Both executives were in the Taiwanese capital to attend Computex, one of Asia's largest technology trade shows.

"With SK hynix reaching a market capitalisation of US$1 trillion, the executives of both companies met to share the significance of the milestone," the post said, reports Yonhap news agency.

The gathering also provided an opportunity to reflect on the achievements the two companies have made together in AI memory and reaffirm their commitment to opening a new chapter in AI infrastructure, the post added.

Huang earlier cited robotics as a potential area for investment in South Korea ahead of his visit to the country later this week.

His trip to Seoul is expected to begin Thursday night, according to industry sources. On Friday, Huang is expected to hold a series of meetings with the heads of major South Korean conglomerates.

Among those expected to attend are Chey, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Lee Hae-jin, founder and chairman of Naver's board. Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung is also positively considering joining the discussions, the sources said.

Kim Taek-jin, the CEO of NC Corp., a South Korean gaming company, is also expected to meet with Huang on Sunday, according to industry sources.

A closed-door meeting with local robotics and AI startups is said to be planned for next Monday in Seoul, industry insiders said, including Upstage, which is a contender in a government-led competition for the developer of a homegrown AI foundation model.

Business observers say the upcoming talks could move beyond AI semiconductor cooperation to include robotics and physical AI, an emerging field focused on integrating AI with real-world machines and systems.

During his previous trip to Seoul in October, which coincided with his participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, Huang drew widespread attention when he joined Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Chung for a late-night meal of Korean fried chicken and beer, commonly known as "chimaek."

Onlookers in South Korea already appear to be excited over Huang's visit, with a website predicting his itinerary drawing attention online.

According to industry watchers, an individual under the name of "Jun" created an online map tracking possible movements of Huang and news reports related to the CEO's planned visit.

--IANS

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New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, on Monday said he met 17 of India’s most compelling startup founders, most of them building at the frontiers of deep tech.

“It was inspiring, but more than that, it was a reminder. The next India will not be built in silos. It will be built at the intersection of founders, infrastructure, capital, energy, logistics, AI, space and talent,” said the billionaire industrialist.

“Founders build companies. Ecosystems build nations,” Gautam Adani added.

The Adani Group Chairman said on Sunday the conglomerate was focusing on accelerating investments across energy, transport, logistics and digital infrastructure as part of the next phase of growth.

The Adani Group Chairman described the Rs 24,930 crore rights issue in the company’s flagship Adani Enterprises as a vote of confidence from investors, at a time when the conglomerate faced questions over governance and regulatory issues.

"Even though it was a year in which the world grew more fractured, complex energy security models returned to the centre of national strategy and technology became inseparable from sovereignty, Adani Group remained anchored to an unwavering belief - India's future cannot wait. While others debated, the Group built, advancing its journey as the world's most integrated infrastructure platform - across energy, transport, logistics, utilities and industrial manufacturing," Gautam Adani said.

And this progress did not come in calm conditions for the ports-to-energy conglomerate.

"It came in the middle of extraordinary scrutiny. However, we did not bend. We did not pause," he remarked.

"Because what we have always been defined by is: Not the noise that surrounds us, but the strength of our response. Not the intensity of the challenge, but the clarity of our purpose. Not the criticism, but the nation-building we continue to believe in," the Adani Group Chairman said.

—IANS

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Mumbai, June 1 (IANS) The CBI has arrested top executive of Reliance Communication Group, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala for causing a loss of over 6,000 crore to an SBI-led consortium of banks. He was the Group Managing Director of Reliance Communications group at the relevant time and was controlling the affairs of important functions like corporate finance, banking and utilisation of funds, according to a CBI statement issued on Monday.

Jhunjhunwala coordinated with senior formations of the bank for loans and advances. Based on his directions, loan funds received from the banks were managed or utilised by other officials of the Rcom group. It is alleged that due to misutilisation of loan funds, the banks suffered wrongful losses.

He was instrumental in getting loans from various banks. As the company did not pay the amounts back, the accounts have become NPAs (non-performing assets). He was taking instructions from the promoters of the Reliance Communications Group companies, the statement said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered this FIR on the basis of a complaint received from the State Bank of India against Reliance Communications Limited and Anil D. Ambani for allegedly causing a loss of Rs. 2,929.05 crore to the bank.

Term Loans were sanctioned to Reliance Communications Limited by the consortium of 11 banks led by the State Bank of India, who together suffered a loss of 6,015 crores. Further, as per the complaint, the total exposure towards RCom amounted to Rs. 19,694.33 crore involving 17 PSU Banks.

CBI has also registered another 6 FIRs against RCom, RHFL, RCFL and RTL based on the complaints given by various public sector banks and LIC. These cases are under investigation. The investigation of these cases is being monitored by the Supreme Court.

Amitabh Jhunjhunwala was in judicial custody in a case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, Delhi, and was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. In order to take him into custody in the present case, production warrants were obtained from the Special Judge, Mumbai.

The jail authorities had referred the accused to AIIMS, New Delhi, for a medical examination. Following examination by the Medical Board of AIIMS, Jhunjhunwala was declared fit to travel. Accordingly, he was brought to Mumbai and produced before the Court, Mumbai, on June 1.

After his production, the CBI affected his formal arrest, which was taken on record by the Court. Thereafter, the accused was remanded to judicial custody in the RCom case of the CBI and sent to Arthur Road Jail. His police custody petition will be taken up tomorrow, the statement explained.

The CBI had filed its first chargesheet in the Rcom case on 29th May 2026 against 16 accused which included the company, five senior executives of RCom and 10 bank officials.

--IANS

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New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) The debate over digital security in education systems has intensified after the maker of the widely used Canvas platform reached a deal with hackers following a major cyberattack that disrupted thousands of universities and colleges globally, according to multiple reports.

While concerns are now being raised about the robustness of systems handling sensitive student data, including exam records and answer sheets in cloud storage such as those under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) ecosystem, the Canvas breach has highlighted the growing vulnerability of large-scale education infrastructure.

US-headquartered Instructure -- which operates Canvas LMS -- confirmed that it has reached an agreement with the hackers behind April’s cyberattack, which impacted an estimated 9,000 institutions across the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Reports said the breach led to widespread disruption, including interruptions during exams after the Canvas platform went down.

The attackers had claimed to have stolen around 3.5 terabytes of student and institutional data and threatened to publish it online unless a ransom was paid.

Reports suggest that Instructure said the hackers have claimed to have deleted the stolen data and assured that no customers would be further extorted under the agreement.

While the company has not confirmed any financial transaction, cyber experts note that such agreements are often associated with ransom negotiations conducted through encrypted channels.

According to Instructure, the agreement includes confirmation that the data has been returned, digital verification of its deletion and assurances that affected customers will not be targeted further.

The breach was discovered on April 29 and claimed by the Shiny Hunters extortion group, which has previously been linked to multiple global cyber incidents.

Notably, Canvas LMS, a learning management system, was impacted by both the data breach and service outage.

Instructure said it was investigating a cybersecurity incident involving certain user data, including names, email addresses, student ID numbers and messages exchanged among users.

The company added that there was no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identification numbers or financial information were accessed in the breach.

--IANS

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New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) IT major TCS said that a brief technical issue caused a delay of around two hours in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG examination in the morning shift on Saturday.

K. Krithivasan, CEO and MD, TCS, said in a statement that the issue was promptly identified and resolved by “our technical teams and the examination has since resumed without any impact to the sanctity of the exam”.

“We regret the inconvenience. Our teams are actively monitoring all systems. We remain committed to working closely with NTA to ensure seamless conduct of the computer-based tests,” said Krithivasan.

Earlier, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced revised timings for the Common University Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate courses (CUET-UG) in 2026, after a "technical glitch" delayed the examination at some centres on May 30.

In a post on X, the NTA blamed its service provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), for the glitch. "M/s TCS has reported that a technical glitch at their end delayed the commencement of CUET (UG) 2026 at some centres on 30.05.2026," it said.

However, the NTA stated that the issue has now been resolved. "The issue has since been resolved, and the exam is being conducted with full compensatory time so that no candidate is disadvantaged."

It added that the morning-session candidates are being given "the full duration of the paper and may exit only after completing it". The NTA said that it sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to students and parents.

The CUET provides a common platform and equal opportunities to candidates across the country, especially those from rural and other remote areas, and help establish better connections with the universities.

The registration for CUET-UG 2026 began from the first week of April. In 2025, 13.54 lakh students had registered for CEUT-UG 2025.

--IANS

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New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) India has crossed a historic milestone by connecting 40 lakh homes to rooftop solar under the ‘PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana’, Union Petroleum and Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.

Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this initiative is not only freeing the country's common citizens from electricity bills and making them ‘Atmanirbhar’ but also saving the environment. Puri posted on X.

“India becomes superpower of solar power -- A major achievement in the direction of clean energy,” said the minister.

Echoing similar sentiments, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that your own roof is becoming a home of energy,

“Family is becoming empowered and life is becoming self-reliant. Under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, more than 40 lakh families have already connected with solar energy,” Goyal posted on X.

Under the leadership of PM Modi, “this new India is not only saving electricity, but also scripting a new revolution of change in the energy sector,” he noted.

Under the scheme, funds amounting to Rs 14,585.29 crore have been utilised in FY26 (till March 5), against Rs 7,822.92 crore in FY25.

Launched in 2024, the PM Muft Bijli Yojana is a demand-driven scheme wherein all residential consumers in the country having grid connected electricity connection of the local discom can avail the benefits of the scheme, for the installation of Rooftop Solar systems, by applying on the National Portal of the scheme.

The government estimates that installations of rooftop solar systems in one crore households could produce renewable electricity of 1,000 billion units, potentially reducing emissions by 720 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent over the 25‑year lifetime of the systems.

The top five states in implementation as of 2025-end include Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Rajasthan.

The government is also implementing the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), with an objective to make India a global hub of production, usage and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives, the minister added.

--IANS

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Geneva, May 28 (IANS) Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels in the next five years, with Arctic temperature anomalies expected to continue to be higher than the global mean, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) stated on Thursday.

The conclusion was drawn from the WMO report 'Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update 2026-2035', produced by Britain's Met Office and the WMO Lead Centre for Annual to Decadal Climate Prediction, which synthesised predictions contributed by 13 institutes.

The update report also takes a look at the observed climate over the past five years and gives regional predictions for temperatures and precipitation over the next five years, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the report, annual global mean near-surface temperatures during the period from 2026 to 2030 will range between 1.3 and 1.9 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average. It is likely that one year coming between 2026 and 2030 will surpass 2024 as the warmest year on record.

It predicted that the average global temperature for 2026-2030 will likely exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average, while no single year during the period is likely to exceed 2.0 degrees Celsius.

The predicted average temperature in the central tropical Pacific indicates a tendency towards El Nino conditions in the next five years, particularly in 2027 and 2028.

Leon Hermanson, lead author of the report, said: "There is an El Nino predicted for the end of 2026, which increases the chances of the following year, 2027, being the next record-breaking year."

The levels of 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline specified in the Paris Agreement on climate change refer to long-term warming sustained over an extended period, typically assessed over 20 years. Individual years with annual global mean temperatures exceeding these levels do not mean that the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement are out of reach. Temporary exceedances are expected to occur with increasing frequency as the underlying rise in global temperature approaches these levels.

Another key finding of the report is that Arctic temperatures over the next five extended northern hemisphere winters running from November to March are predicted to be 2.8 degrees Celsius above average temperatures for 1991-2020, an anomaly more than three and a half times that of the global mean temperature anomaly over the same period.

–IANS

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New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) India and South Korea have decided to create dedicated sub-groups to deepen discussions on digital trade, supply chain cooperation and strategic industrial collaboration as part of efforts to upgrade the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK CEPA), it was announced on Thursday.

The talks were conducted pursuant to the Joint Declaration signed on April 20 by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo during the State Visit of the President of the Republic of Korea to India, according to an official statement issued after the latest round of negotiations in the national capital.

According to the statement, both sides reviewed the progress made so far in the CEPA upgrade negotiations and held discussions in a “constructive and cooperative spirit”, reflecting the “Futuristic Partnership” envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

“Both sides reviewed the progress achieved so far in the IK CEPA upgrade negotiations,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

“The discussions were held in a constructive and cooperative spirit, reflecting the strong bilateral relationship and the ‘Futuristic Partnership’ envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the Republic of Korea Lee Jae-myung,” it added.

During the latest round, negotiators discussed multiple areas including trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin and origin procedures, investment, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards.

India and South Korea also acknowledged the widening bilateral trade deficit since the original IK CEPA came into force in 2010 and agreed to address the issue within the broader CEPA framework.

The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to conclude the CEPA upgrade negotiations in a time-bound manner with the aim of achieving a modernised and mutually beneficial agreement that promotes balanced bilateral trade and stronger economic cooperation.

--IANS

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