Govt sees red over Google AI’s response to a query about Modi A query on Gemini on whether the prime minister was a fascist, fetched a response that IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said violated the IT Act circumspect in Response to trump query THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l saturday l February 24, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION To the query on Narendra Modi, the platform responded that he has been “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterised as fascist.” For a similar query on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Gemini responded saying “no simple answer” and for former US President Donald Trump it said, “Elections are a complex topic... try Google Search” | P10 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI March on pause till farmers announce next plan on Feb 29 Family rejects H1 crore relief, wants justice for slain tiller; Haryana Police drop proposal to invoke NSA H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh Two days after putting their Dilli Chalo march on hold, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) on Friday said the next decision on their agitation will be announced on February 29. In the interregnum, a candlelight march will be held at both the Shambhu and Khanauri interstate borders between Punjab and Haryana on Saturday . Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said seminars on the World Trade Organization will be held on Sunday in which intellectuals will also take part. On Monday, effigies of big corporates and BJP leaders will be burnt. Next day the SKM (non-political) and , KMM will hold their own internal meetings. It will be followed by a joint meeting on Wednesday and the next plan of action will be announced on Thursday. “Till then we will not move further,’’ he said. In Haryana, the state police softened its stand against protesting farmer leaders, saying it had dropped a proposal to invoke the draconian National Security Act (NSA) against them. But it used tear gas to disperse farmers in Haryana’s Hisar who wanted to proceed to the Khanauri inter-state border to join other pro- An elderly farmer participating in a ‘Black Day’ protest at the Shambhu border in Patiala district on Friday | PTI testers. In Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced a compensation of `1 crore and a government job for the sister of farmer Shubhkaran Singh who died during the protest, but his family rejected it saying they want justice instead. The family said they would not allow his post-mortem till the person who shot Shubhkaran dead is booked. The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), which is part of the SKM, said it held demonstrations at 47 places in 17 Punjab districts in protest against Singh’s death. Byju’s investors vote out founder U m a K a n n a n @ Bengaluru IN a setback for embattled edtech firm Byju’s, its shareholders who control nearly 60% of its parent firm Think & Learn on Friday voted to remove founder CEO Byju Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and brother Riju Raveendran from the board. The extraordinary general meeting (EGM) passed resolutions seeking removal of the current management and reconfiguration of the board, among others. According to sources, those who attended the virtual EGM include Prosus, Owl Ventures, Peak XV and Chan , Zuckerberg Initiative, among others. However, Byju’s said only 20% of the shareholders attended the virtual meet, which it termed “invalid and ineffective”. The edtech firm said the Karnataka High Court had EXPRESS READ HC bins order giving land to church at J100/acre Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday overturned a controversial move by the state government to allot approximately 5.5358 hectares (around 14 acres) of land to St George Forane Church, Kallodi, in Mananthavady taluk of Wayanad district at an astoundingly low rate of H100 per acre. P5 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAMExpress Raveendran in Dubai Byju Raveendran, who is in Dubai, might conduct a board meeting soon and will discuss whatever happened in the EGM held on Friday. In a recent letter to shareholders, he said the $200 million the company raised through rights issue will take care of current liabilities granted it interim relief that any decisions made during the meeting would not be given effect until the next hearing. Sources said many shareholders could not join the online meeting, which was marred by tech glitches. Prosus, one of the sharehold- ers, said: “At the EGM, shareholders unanimously passed all resolutions. These include a request for the resolution of the outstanding governance, financial mismanagement and compliance issues at Byju’s; the reconstitution of the board of directors, so that it is no longer controlled by the founders of Think & Learn; and a change in leadership of the company .” However, Byju’s said: “These resolutions merely request the board to ‘consider’ the recommendations passed at the EGM. They do not have any binding effect whatsoever on the company or its decision-making processes.” Meanwhile, some investors have moved the National Company Law Tribunal against suppression of investor rights and mismanagement of the firm. LSG bypolls LDF and UDF win 10 seats each, NDA three In the 23 seats that faced bypolls, LDF doubled its tally from five to ten. UDF’s seats came down from 13 to 10. P4 IUML ranks feel insulted over 3rd seat denial Express News Service @ Malappuram Faced with discontent among its ranks over denial of the party’s “rightful claim” for a third seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the IUML has been forced to remain adamant on its demand, upsetting the smooth sail of seat-sharing discussions within the UDF. The grassroots-level workers want the IUML to resort to drastic decisions, including contesting the elections on its own, to “protect the pride” of the party . Though the Cong ress agrees in principle that the IUML deserves more seats, it cited its own internal dynamics for denying the “just de- mand”. This time, the IUML cannot put forward the usual theory of “sacrificing” its legitimate claim for the sake of maintaining unity within the UDF as a good number of its workers believe that safeguarding the front’s unity is not the responsibility of The party leadership has resolved not to budge on the issue. We hope that the deliberations will yield a positive outcome for the IUML P M A Salam, IUML state general secretary IUML alone. The LDF move to field K S Hamza, the expelled IUML state secretary , from Ponnani has also made it difficult for the party. There are reports that the CPM is eyeing the votes of disgruntled segments in Samastha, who have a score to settle with the IUML. If the equation works out in the entire Malabar region, not just IUML but the Congress too will have reasons ● More on P4 to worry  .