villupuram l saturday l december 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Google trims its top team by 10% to improve efficiency Google has cut its number of top management roles by 10% in its push for efficiency, the US firm’s CEO Sundar Pichai told staff in a meeting Move to simplify company structure Some roles changed to non-managerial According to a Business Insider report, Pichai told staff the process to trim the company’s top team has been going on for the past two years, adding the larger goal is to simplify the company structure by reducing layers of managers that hinder growth. The report quoting Pichai said the efficiency push included a 10% cut in managers, directors, and vice-presidents ■ The efficiency push has coincided with AI rivals such as OpenAI ■ A Google spokesperson said some of those roles were changed to nonmanagerial positions while others were eliminated entirely unleashing new products that threaten Google’s search business ■ In 2022, Pichai had said he wanted Google to be 20% more efficient 12,000 Number of jobs Google eliminated in January 2023, biggest in its history 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 Session ends, discord doesn’t B R Ambedkar issue set to resonate in the forthcoming Delhi and Bihar assembly elections P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Firefighters douse the fire at the accident site on the Jaipur-Ajmer Highway | pti 11 killed, 40 injured as LPG tanker hits truck and explodes R a j e s h A s n a n i @ Jaipur AT least 11 people were killed and 40 others seriously injured when an LPG tanker exploded after colliding with a truck near Bhankrota on the JaipurAjmer highway on Friday morning. Over 20 of the injured suffered more than 50% burns. Sources said the toll could go up as the condition of many of the injured is critical. The Bharat Petroleum LPG tanker was going from Ajmer to Jaipur when the accident happened. At around 5:45 am, the tanker was attempting a U-turn near Delhi Public School on the outskirts of Jaipur when another truck rammed into it. Sushant Kumar Singh, deputy general manager (fire and safety) of GAIL India, said five nozzles on the tanker broke in the impact of the collision, releasing liquid LPG all over the area. The leaked gas ignited due to a spark, leading to a massive ex- plosion that left the entire vicinity in flames. The fire spread across a 300metre radius, reducing dozens of vehicles to ashes. Among the destroyed vehicles were 29 trucks, two passenger buses, two gas tankers, three cars, three motorcycles, and two pickup vehicles. A nearby pipe factory and a sleeper bus were also severely damaged. Eyewitnesses reported seeing massive flames that were visible from miles away, trapping many individuals in their vehicles. Over 30 fire engines were pressed into service to extinguish the flames. To prevent further escalation, the LPG gas pipeline beneath the highway was shut off. Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma visited the injured in hospital. He also announced financial assistance of `5 lakh each for the families of the deceased and `1 lakh each for the injured. Tn Cm distributes welfare measures worth `284 cr to 5ok Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated 559 completed projects worth `951 crore and laid the foundation for 222 new projects worth `133 crore in Erode | P4 Waste found in 2 more TN sites as Kerala team visits THINA K ARAN RAJAMANI @ Tirunelveli A day after the National Green Tribunal directed the Kerala government and its pollution control board to remove biomedical and other waste dumped in Tirunelveli villages, the district administration on Friday revealed that waste from the neighbouring state had been found in two more villages —Sivaniyarkulam and Vadakku Ariyanayagipuram. TNIE visited Sivaniyarkulam, where the district administration had found waste, and spotted blood sample containers with blood, used PPE kits, gloves, plastic covers of surgical items, urinary bags and unidentified hospital waste wrapped in the bag of Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cancer Centre. Earlier, a team of officials from Kerala also visited the five sites where the waste has been found so far in Kodaganallur, Palavoor, Sivaniyarkulam, Vadakku Ariyanayagipuram and Kondanagaram. However, an official from Kerala said he had not seen any dangerous biomedical waste. P5 The winter session of Parliament, which saw unprecedented clashes between the Opposition and the ruling BJP, came to a close on Friday with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar cautioning the members to maintain dignity and decorum of the Houses. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die amid protests by the Opposition and treasury benches over the alleged insult to B R Ambedkar and directions by Speaker Om Birla to members against holding protests at any gate of Parliament. While Lok Sabha’s productivity was 57.87% in 20 days, passing four bills, the corresponding figure for the Rajya Sabha was 40.03% in 19 days and the passage of three bills. The session may perhaps go down in parliamentary history for setting a grim record for several reasons — from an ugly scuffle between the NDA and INDIA bloc members and a noconfidence motion by the Opposition against Upper House chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to a bitter discourse on Constitution and daily disruption of the House proceedings by both Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other INDIA bloc MPs during their protest against home minister Amit Shah over his remarks on Ambedkar | Shekhar yadav special team of police to handle Rahul case A special team of the Delhi Police is expected to take over the probe into the FIR filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly ‘assaulting’ BJP MPs, sources said. Given the conflicting claims, the team plans to call MPs present during the scuffle to piece together the sequence of events. The police will examine CCTV footage and speak to the injured MPs | P7 sides — to name a few. The main highlight of the session — a two-day debate on the 75th year of Constitution snowballed into a major point of confrontation between the BJP and the Congress over Union home minister Amit Shah’s comment on Ambedkar in Parliament. During his speech on Youth hacked to death near Nellai court, seven held E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Tirunelveli Exactly a month after an advocate was attacked in broad daylight at the Hosur combined court premises, a 25-year-old man was murdered, allegedly by a seven-member gang, near the gate of the Tirunelveli District Court campus on Friday . Police said the deceased, S Mayandi from Keezhanatham village, belonged to an intermediate caste and was killed by a gang of seven SC men in retaliation for the murder of SC panchayat ward member N Rajamani from the same Provide village in 2023. Tension pre- security in vailed around the court cam- courts: HC pus, in Keezhanatham and Chennai: The surrounding areas. Madras High “Mayandi had come to the Court on Friday court to attend a hearing in took suo motu connection with a criminal cognisance of case against him. After a the Tirunelveli gang tried to attack him at incident and Annapoorna Hotel near the directed the TN court, he escaped and ran to- government to wards the court campus. Spe- provide cial Sub-Inspector Uikkattan security in all spotted one of the accused, M courts in the Ramakrishnan (25), chasing state | P2 Mayandi with a sickle and managed to detain him. However, another member of the gang caught Mayandi near the gate of the court and hacked him to death. An inquiry with Ramakrishnan revealed that Mayandi was murdered in retaliation for Rajamani’s killing,” the city police said in a statement. On August 13, 2023, Rajamani was murdered by a gang from the intermediate caste while tending to his goats. P5 Wah chai Your cuppa is healthy, says US regulator P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati With the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognising tea from the Camellia sinensis plant is a healthy beverage, the North Easter n Tea Association (NETA) raised a toast to it. On December 19, the FDA issued a rule to update the “healthy” nutrient content claim to help consumers identify foods that are particularly useful as the foundation of a diet that is consistent with di- etary recommendations. “Fantastic news for the tea industry,” said Peter F Goggi, the president of Tea Association of the USA. “Tea is now officially recognized as a healthy beverage and tea can now claim this descriptor,” he added. Bidyananda Barkakoty, adviser to NETA and former vice chairman of Tea Board of India, too expressed joy “We are extremely . happy to know that tea derived from Camellia sinensis has got this recognition. Research worldwide has found the health benefits of drinking tea,” Barkakoty said terming it a “wonder drink”. The NETA urged the Centre to promote tea as a “healthy, lifestyle and wellness” beverage. Dipanjal Deka, secretary of Tea Association of India, Assam branch, said, “Ours is camellia assamica (Assam bush). I think the recognition is for tea in general. It is a good thing for us,” he added. Camellia sinensis The FDA said, “We agree that tea is derived from Camellia sinensis…We extend automatic qualification for the ‘healthy’ claim to tea—derived from Camellia sinensis.” the Constitution, he said, “It has become the new fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. Had they chanted God’s name as many times, they would have found a place in heaven.” The scuffle outside Parliament on Thursday led to an FIR against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi after the BJP filed assault charges against him for causing injury to two of its MPs. With both the Congress and the BJP escalating the issue outside Parliament, it is bound to gain more traction and dominate the narrative in the forthcoming Delhi and Bihar assembly elections. Most part of the 25 day-long session revolved around two tycoons. While Opposition members demanded a debate on the US indictment of businessman Gautam Adani, the treasury benches sought to counter it with the alleged links between the Gandhi family and US billionaire George Soros. Battle lines were also drawn over INDIA bloc’s impeachment motion against Chairman Dhankhar for his alleged partisan conduct in the House. Though it was rejected by deputy Chairman Harivansh, it was the first time that such a motion was made against an RS presiding officer. The Lok Sabha also saw the introduction of the important ‘One Nation, One Election’ legislation, amid fierce protest by the Opposition. But the bill didn’t get two-thirds majority at the introduction stage. Subsequently, it was sent to a 39member JPC for vetting. MEA ticks off Yunus aide for silly remarks Express News Service @ New Delhi the government on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that 2,200 cases of violence against Hindus and other minorities were reported from Bangladesh this year up to December 8. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh gave the information said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka is closely monitoring the situation, adding that New Delhi has raised the issue with Dhaka. In another development, India has lodged a strong protest with Bangladesh over a nowdeleted social media post by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s aide Mahfuz Alam, claiming certain areas of India should be part of Bangladesh. Earlier, he had posted on Facebook a map purportedly showing parts of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam as parts of Bangladesh. “We would like to remind all concerned to be mindful of their public comments,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson, Ministry of Exter nal Affairs.