HYDERABAD SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 16 LATE CITY EDITION 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 VIOLATIONS OF INDIA’S IT ACT, SAYS GOVT 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” ■ ■ “These are direct violations of Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules of the IT Act and violations of several provisions of the criminal code,” minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in his post on X Reports suggest the IT ministry is in the process of issuing a notice to Google over Gemini’s “problematic and illegal” responses 8 YEARS SINCE GOOGLE BEGAN WORK ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 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 Centre biased against south: Revanth U M A H E S H @ Medaram CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy lashed out at the Centre for turning down the Telangana government’s request for national status for Asia’s biggest tribal festival, the Sammakka-Saralamma jatara. The chief minister, who offered prayers to the Sammakka and Saralamma deities in Medaram on Friday, criticised Union minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy for denying the “request of Telangana many times”. He asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to visit the jatara in the same spirit with which they went to Ayodhya for the consecration of the Ram temple. Speaking to media persons, Revanth said that though the Central government has a budget of `45 lakh Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy offers prayers to Sammakka-Saralamma at Medaram Friday crore, it released only `3.14 crore for the Medaram Jatara. It, however, had no hesitation in releasing `100 crore for the Kumbhmela. “This shows how biased the Centre is towards south India,” he alleged. He said that if the previous gov- ernment was thrown out, it was because of the disrespect it had shown to the Medaram tribal fete. He recalled how his Hath Se Hath Jodo Yatra which commenced from Medaram on February 6 last year, had helped the Congress win the November 30 Assembly elections in Telangana. “It was because of the blessings of the Adivasi deities,” he said, adding that his government would develop Medaram further. He likened the fight of Sammakka and Saralamma on behalf of their people against the Kakatiya rulers to his party’s fight against the previous dispensation to establish a people’s government. He reiterated his commitment to implementing all the electoral promises of the Congress — including the development of Medaram in consultation with all stakeCONTINUED ON P4 holders. March on pause till farmers announce next plan on Feb 29 Family rejects `1 crore relief, wants justice for slain tiller; Haryana Police drops proposal to invoke NSA on Thursday. “Till then we will not move further,’’ he said. TWO days after putting their Dilli In Haryana, the state police sofChalo march on hold, the Samyukta tened its stand against protesting Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the farmer leaders, saying it had dropped Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) on a proposal to invoke the draconian Friday said the next decision on their National Security Act (NSA) against agitation will be announced on Feb- them. But it used tear gas to disperse ruary 29. In the interregnum, a can- farmers in Haryana’s Hisar who dlelight march will be held wanted to proceed to the at both the Shambhu and Khanauri inter-state border Khanauri inter-state borders to join other protesters. between Punjab and HaryaIn Punjab, Chief Minister The proposal to na on Saturday . Bhagwant Mann announced invoke NSA Sarwan Singh Pandher, a compensation of `1 crore general secretary of the against a few farm and a government job for union leaders of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh the sister of farmer ShubAmbala district Committee, said seminars has been dropped hkaran Singh who died duron the World Trade Organiing the protest, but his famSibash Kabiraj, IGP zation will be held on Sunily rejected it saying they day in which intellectuals want justice instead. The will also take part. family said they would not allow his On Monday, effigies of big corpo- post-mortem till the person who shot rates and BJP leaders will be burnt. Shubhkaran dead is booked. Next day the SKM (non-political) and , The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta UgKMM will hold their own internal rahan), which is part of the SKM, meetings. It will be followed by a said it held demonstrations at 47 joint meeting on Wednesday and the places in 17 Punjab districts in pronext plan of action will be announced test against Singh’s death. H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh An elderly farmer participating in a ‘Black Day’ protest at the Shambhu border in Patiala district on Friday | PTI 30 POLICE PERSONNEL INJURED SO FAR Sibash Kabiraj, IGP (Ambala Range) said 30 Haryana Police personnel have been injured at Shambhu. As for initiating proceedings to seize the assets of farmers who damaged public property, he said it did not apply since farmers from Punjab have not entered Haryana yet BRS MLA Lasya Nanditha dies in accident on ORR E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @Hyderabad SECUNDERABAD Cantonment BRS MLA Lasya Nanditha, 37, died in a road accident on the Outer Ring Road near Patancheru at daybreak on Friday . As the news of her death spread across Hyderabad, gloom descended on her family and the BRS. Her SUV hit the guardrail of the ORR when the driver lost control of the vehicle. The car, which was travelling at more than 100 kmph, hit the metal railing, resulting in her death. Her personal assistant Akash, who was driving the car, is under treatment in a hospital for critical injuries. The Patancheru police have registered a case of negligent driving against Akash based on a complaint lodged by Nanditha’s sister. According to A Sanjeeva Reddy, additional superintendent of police, Sangareddy, the accident occurred around 5.30 am. The police suspect that Akash may have dozed off as he had been driving since Thursday night. The ASP however, said the police , were not ruling out a possible collision with another vehicle before hitting the railing. The police suspect the collision may have taken place after hitting another vehicle as they The mangled SUV in which MLA Lasya Nanditha (inset) was travelling at the time of accident on the Outer Ring Road on Friday found broken pieces of the headlamp of her car a few metres before the actual point of impact with the guard railing. The police said the speed of the vehicle at that time may have been between 100 and 150 kmph and noted that Nanditha, who was sitting in the front, was wearing a seat belt. The impact had ejected the balloons to minimise the force of the collision on her and her driver but Nanditha suffered a head injury nonetheless which killed her instantaneously . Local police and patrol vehicles reached the spot and found her body and the driver who was groaning in pain after suffering severe injuries. The driver is under treatment at a CONTINUED ON P3 hospital now. Working on bringing back Indians lured to Russia: MEA Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi THE Ministry of External Affairs is working closely with the Indian Embassy to bring back Indians who have been recruited as helpers by Russia for its ongoing war with Ukraine. About 100 Indians joined the Russian army in non-combat roles. “We are aware that a few Indian nationals have signed up for support jobs with the Russian Army The In. dian Embassy has regularly taken up this matter with the relevant authorities for their early discharge,” said MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal in New Delhi on Friday Lok Sabha MP . Asaduddin Owaisi in a letter to MEA on January 25 wrote that Indians are being misled by agents for jobs to Russia. They are recruited by the Russian Army and no proper training is given to them, he added. Two youths from Hyderabad and Narayanpet are also said to have found themselves on the RussiaUkraine war front. An online video report showed that though the Indians were recruited for non-combat roles, now they are being asked to fight alongside Russians. Relatives of many of these Indian nationals have said that their family members have been duped by recruiters and have been forced to join the Wagner Group, which is a state funded army of irregulars. 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 ter med “invalid and ineffective”. The edtech firm said the Karnataka High Court had 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 shareholders, 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.” EXPRESS READ Sandeshkhali erupts again Kolkata: The facelift move to repair political damage and soothe people’s anger in Sandeshkhali received a jolt as fresh incidents of violence erupted in the North 24-Parganas island on Friday when four representatives of the National Commission for Women visited the area. Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi is likely to address three rallies in six days of March first week in the southern part of Bengal | P8 First Sena Maha CM passes away Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi passed away on Friday morning. He was 86 and is survived by his son and two daughters. After a heart attack, Manohar Joshi was admitted to private hospital in Mumbai where he breathed his last early Friday morning. A former Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi was Shiv Sena’s suave face at a time when the party was known for its rustic and street politics | P8
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.