vijayawada l sunday l january 12, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION Now Meta, Amazon nix diversity programs ahead of Jan 20 Tech giants join Ford, McDonald’s, John Deere and Walmart in scaling back their diversity, equity and inclusion programs ahead of Trump inauguration Meta outlines sweeping changes to DEI DEI invites ire in the los angeles wildfire Meta outlined widespread changes, including elimination of its diverse slate hiring approach and the disbanding of its DEI team in an internal memo, which was leaked online. The move by US companies comes after recent Supreme Court decisions on how courts will approach DEI going ahead. Amazon said it is winding down outdated programs ■ ■ Besides the SC decision, the move by companies comes as Trump, who has long riled against tech giants for being biased towards him, is set to become the president Elon Musk targeted DEI during the Los Angeles wildfire. He said, “They prioritised DEI over saving lives and homes” 81 Anti-dei bills in colleges which have been introduced in 28 states 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 NTA exams may AP signs MoU for `14,000-cr Fab unit go UPSC way for better security E x p r e s s New s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Would involve DM, SP to make the process of conducting entrance tests fully secure K a v i ta B a je l i - D at t @ New Delhi 20 arrested for horrific rape of Kerala minor, hunt on for 40 J a i s o n W i l s o n @ Pathanamthitta A day after the shocking revelation that more than 60 people had raped a minor over five years, the police arrested 20 people, including a juvenile. Police have registered six cases, including under the POCSO Act, with more to follow. Based on the survivor’s statement, the police had on Friday arrested five persons. On Saturday they arrested 15 , more, including a 17-year-old boy. A special investigation team, headed by Pathanamthitta DSP S Nandakumar, is questioning the accused. The girl, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, had revealed her ordeal to the Child Welfare Comm i t t e e ( C WC ) members who subsequently infor med the police. According to the survivor’s account, the sexual abuse began when she was 13, with Subin, the son of her father’s friend, luring her into a cycle of sexual exploitation that would continue for years. When the girl turned 16, Subin took her to a secluded rubber plantation and sexually assaulted her. He also recorded videos of the act on his phone. This was followed by regular sexual abuse, police said. Subin’s actions were enabled by a network of accomplices, who shared explicit visuals and videos of the girl. The perpetrators used the girl’s father’s mobile phone to communicate with her. Police have identified 40 individuals as potential perpetrators and are working to bring them to book. The government is mulling to conduct all entrance exams to higher education institutions (HEIs) using the UPSC model to ensure strict security and avoid any future allegations of cheating and mismanagement, highly placed sources said. The Union education ministry is considering this approach so as to involve all state and district administrations during the entrance exams, which will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). “Now, the government is thinking of conducting all entrance exams to HEIs using the UPSC model. The UPSC model means the district administration and the state government are involved in the entrance exam process,” the source told this paper. UPSC exam centres are heavily secured by district administrations, with the collector and superintendent of police involved in the entire process. The government is looking at applying the same rigour for conducting various entrance exams, which include CUETUG, CUET-PG, JEE-MAINS, and NEET-UG. NEET-UG was mired in controversy following allegations of cheating and mismanagement last year. The source said the entire state administration is involved in the UPSC exams. “This will help make the entire exam procedure much more secure as the state administration will be Why big reforms A series of reforms are being undertaken so as to make NTA a globally-recognised exam body. “NTA handles one crore students. This is huge as compared to any other country. It will increase,” the source said part of the process. The government’s thinking is to conduct all exams related to admission in such a fashion. Also, the state administration will feel part of the exam system.” The plan to adopt the UPSC model was discussed following the recommendation of the committee led by former ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan. The committee was set up to suggest exam reforms, better security protocols, and their operation by the education ministry following the NEETUG fiasco. Last month, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced that NTA will focus solely on conducting entrance exams for admission to higher education institutions. The idea was to make the system “error-free”. In a significant milestone for India’s journey to become a global leader in chip manufacturing, Indichip Semiconductors Limited with its joint venture partner Yitoa Micro Technology Limited (YMTL) of Japan, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the G o ve r n m e n t o f A n d h r a Pradesh to establish the country’s first private semiconductor manufacturing facility with an investment of over `14,000 crore at Orvakal Industrial Park in Kurnool district. This cutting-edge facility will focus on manufacturing Piyush Bichhoriya, Managing Director of Indichip, and Saikanth Varma, CEO of APEDB, sign an MoU for setting up of a `14,000 crore Fab unit at Orvakal | Express Silicon Carbide (SiC) chips, contributing to India’s technological advancement and sustainability goals. The Government of Andhra Pradesh, under its the Semi- My Davos visit will help attract large scale investments to AP: CM S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has felt that his visit to Davos to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 will come in handy to attract large scale investments to the State. During an informal interaction with mediapersons at the TDP headquarters on Saturday , Naidu said networking with world class institutions and explaining the opportunities in Andhra Pradesh will enable the State to get more investments. Asserting that all the opportunities in green energy and biofuel sectors will be fully utilised, the Chief Minister said 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations will be set up in the @ Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh police have decided to use the advanced technology such as drones and artificial intelligence to prevent the banned rooster fights and anti-social activities during Sankranti festivities. Director General of Police Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao held a video conference with all the district SPs and IG rank officers, and directed them to intensify the raids against rooster fights to ensure that the festival of harvest Sankranti is celebrated with gaiety and traditional fervour. Necessary instructions have been given to all the ground level officials to carry out peri- Police seized 1,300 rooster knives from a blacksmith during a raid in Eluru district on Saturday | Express odical drone-based patrolling with the available 130 devices in all the problematic locations in the State. The banned blood sport is famous in the erstwhile united Krishna and twin Godavari district during Sankranti. Despite ban, rooster fights and gambling used to be conducted on a large scale every year in the Coastal Andhra districts. Focusing more on NTR, Krishna, Eluru, West Godavari, East Godavari, Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram and BR Ambedkar Konamseema districts, additional forces have been deployed to thwart any untoward incidents during the festival. Recently, the AP High Court also expressed displeasure over police for not implementing the orders issued in 2016 banning the blood sport during Sankranti. “Use high-end technology to identify the places where rooster fights and gambling activities are organising. Implement zero tolerance policy towards illegal activities in the name of festivities,” the DGP said. Potholes to be filled by feb-end Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu receives grievances from the people at the TDP headquarters in Mangalagiri on Saturday | Express State in the near future. Informing that farmers will get `30,000 annuity per acre through the compressed bio 1,300 rooster knives seized During raids on rooster fight arenas, Eluru police have seized as many as 1,300 knives from a blacksmith. On the other hand, police are also conducting awareness programmes on the blood sport in villages Fan, fandom & Harish: India-Oz cricketing bridge In terms of support, the Melbourne Cricket Ground almost looks like any other ground in India. There is a sea of blue in every corner and the din was as loud as one could hear back home. There have been times, especially during practice, when the Indian crowd outnumbered those from the home side Australia. The BorderGavaskar Trophy is slowly turning out to be one of the most popular bilateral series in cricket.   The MCG witnessed history when 373,691 fans poured in for the Boxing Day Tests throughout the Melbourne crowd during the Boxing Day match five days of absorbing cricket. It incidentally recorded the highest attendance for any Test played in recent times. With the growing Indian population, there has been a shift in the administrative set-up too. Harish Rao, who has roots, including cricketing ones in Chennai, became the first Indian-Australian to be appointed on the board of Cricket Victoria in its close to 150year history The Indian diaspora . has become a pivotal part of Australian cricket. It all started in 2022 when IndiaPakistan T20 World Cup match was played in front of a capacity crowd of 90,293. India won and Australia realised the growing popularity among the Indian fans. The same year India and Australia signed the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement. Realising the significance of the Indian diaspora, Cricket Victoria contacted Harish, an Indian Australian Business leader, who founded Australia India Chamber of Commerce, and was a past board member of AustraliaIndia Institute before coming back to his cricketing roots. “There’s been a huge momentum in the Australia-India relationship over the last few years, especially after the signing of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement in 2022. That has filtered through to many different aspects of relationships and certainly sport,” Harish explains.  P13 Harish Rao Asserting that all the opportunities in green energy and biofuel sectors will be fully utilised, the Chief Minister said 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations will be set up in AP N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister sports connect G o m e s h S @ Sydney 5,000 ev stations to be set up soon We will bring changes in the lives of people by making use of drones, AI, IOT, CCTV cameras and Aadhaar cards. Better administration is possible through real time monitoring and analysis of the people’s information Police turn to drones & AI to prevent rooster fights and anti-social activities P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i conductor and Display Fab Policy 2024-29 announced in November 2024, aims to transform the State into a hub of electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. The new SiC Fab facility will begin with a production capacity of 10,000 wafers per month, ramping up to 50,000 wafers per month within 2-3 years. This strategic investment is aligned with India’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat and addresses the growing global demand for energy efficient technologies, electric vehicles, and renewable energy solutions. The MoU was signed between Piyush Bichhoriya, Managing D i r e c t o r, I n d i c h i p, a n d Saikanth Varma, CEO, Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board, in the presence of HRD and IT Minister Nara Lokesh and Industries and Commerce Minister TG BharP6 ath on Saturday  . gas (CBG) plants to be established by Reliance, he said the waste generated from the units will be utilised as fertiliser. P6 Express read Changes are visible with the execution of road repairs in the State. All the potholes on roads will be filled by the end of February. All the road works will be completed in a phased manner, Naidu said WITH THIS ISSUE Uddhav’s Sena to go it alone in civic polls New Delhi: In a seismic shift that threatens to upend Maharashtra’s political landscape, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has announced its decision to contest the upcoming local body elections on its own. The decision was conveyed on Saturday by senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, who said that the move to go solo has the backing of party chief Uddhav Thackeray and is meant to preserve the party’s organisational growth and provide more opportunities for its workers. Parental Guidance PLUS 12 PAGES