HYDERABAD l Thursday l February 19, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION Indians among students seeking compensation from 36 U.K. univs Around 500 Indians figure in a larger group of students seeking compensation for not receiving the level of education they paid for during Covid ‘Covid curbs affected quality of education’ Pre-class action suit letters sent While they paid for in-person teaching and access to university facilities like libraries and studios, their teaching was moved online and facilities were closed for lengthy periods during Covid, Student Group Claim, leading the action said. Fees for online degree courses in the UK are up to 50% less than in-person courses. Universities should have paid that difference, it said ■ ■ Pre-class action letters have been sent to 36 universities including Imperial College, LSE and King’s College London. Student Group Claim is inviting more students from 2020-21 year to join its action It comes as a confidential settlement was recently agreed by the University College London with about 6,000 of its students 20,000 international applicants are part of the class action suit 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 Global investments, collabs pour in at A.I. Impact Summit Microsoft, Google, Qualcomm line up to plug into India’s AI space R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi the India AI Impact Summit 2026 has seen major stakeholders lining up to announce their plans to invest in and build on India’s AI ecosystem. While global majors Qualcomm and Microsoft announced significant investment plans, OpenAI and NVIDIA outlined new partnerships to strengthen the ecosystem and build AI infrastructure. Google also announced the America-India Connect initiative, a subsea cable project aimed at enhancing data connectivity between the US, India and the Southern Hemisphere. Qualcomm said it would invest $150 million to support India’s rapidly expanding technology and AI startup ecosystem. The announcement coincided with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon’s participation in the AI summit, which has now been extended till February 21. Microsoft plans to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to expand AI access across the Global South. Vice-chair and President Brad Smith and Vicepresident and Chief Responsible AI Officer Natasha Crampton said urgent action is needed CM: Net Zero Hyd by 2034 is our goal E N S @ Hyderabad Stating that Hyderabad was targeted to achieve Net Zero by 2034, Chief Minister A Re v a n t h Re d dy o n Wednesday said that his government will undertake a city-wide carbon footprint audit. He said that within five years there would be almost no industry or factory within the urban area, with units progressively shifting to peri-urban zones. Speaking at Mumbai Climate Week organised by the Government of Maharashtra in Mumbai, Revanth outlined sustainability measures, including the rejuvenation of the Musi River, lake restoration, strengthening of water and energy grids, and the setting up of HYDRAA, described as India’s first dedicated environmental police force. Tracing India’s development phases, he said priorities from 1950 to 1990 centred on education and irrigation, followed by liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation from 1991 to 2020, which made India a services hub. He said manufacturing opportunities were missed, but the approach has changed, especially after Covid. Calling energy the real currency of any economy, the chief minister said development is reflected in power generation and consumption. Telangana’s average daily consumption is 16,610 MW. Peak demand touched 17,162 MW last year, is expected to cross 19,000 MW this year, and is projected to exceed 34,000 MW by 2034 as the state targets a $1 tn economy About 24.8% . of the state’s power is sourced from green energy , Revanth said. inside Hyd Hospitals poisoning Musi? I P3 J&K team into Ranji Trophy final I P11 Galgotias Univ chucked after robot dog byte R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in New Delhi | pti to prevent a widening AI divide from exacerbating global economic disparities. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the America-India Connect initiative, a subsea cable project to improve data connectivity between the US, India, and the broader Souther n Hemis p h e r e. T h e a n nouncement followed his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We believe India is going to have an extraordinary trajectory with AI, and we want to be a partner. To help, we have launched new America-India Connect subsea cable routes, building on our $15 billion investment in India’s infrastructure, including a fullstack AI Hub in Vizag,” Pichai said. In addition, Google committed $30 million each for the Government Innovation Impact Challenge, aimed at supporting AI-powered government-to-citizen solutions, and the Science Impact Challenge, a global fund for researchers advancing scientific discovery using AI. THE government has asked Galgotias University which show, cased a Chinese-made robotic dog as its own creation at the India AI Impact Summit, to vacate its booth. MeitY secretary S Krishnan said the government expects companies to follow a defined code of conduct and will not encourage plagiarism or misinformation. When asked whether the products being showcased were verified or certified, he said these were not meant for sale. “Certification happens when something is meant for public distribution... If we start certifying everything that is exhibited, it could end up stifling innovation and creative work.” The controversy began after a professor from the university claimed in an interview that the AI-powered Chinese robodog was developed by the university’s Centre of Excellence. Oppn slide expected in RS polls P ree t h a N a ir @ New Delhi Riding high on its strong showings in the Maharashtra and Bihar elections, the NDA appears set to make significant gains by winning at least half of the 37 Rajya Sabha seats going to biennial polls on March 16. The INDIA bloc may have to settle for 10, down from 19 seats. Based on its legislative strength, the NDA is expected to win 15-18, while nine of its MPs are retiring next month. The seats will fall vacant on April 2 and 9 following the retirement of several members, including Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh (JDU), NCP-SP’s Sharad Pawar, former Lok Sabha deputy Speaker M T hambidurai (AIADMK), DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Union ministers Ram Nath Thakur (JDU) and Ramdas Athawale (RPI-A). The vacancies are spread across Maharashtra (7), Odisha (4), Telangana (2), Tamil Nadu (6), Chhattisgarh (2 seats), West Bengal (5), Assam (3), Haryana (2), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Bihar (5). In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP-led alliance is likely to win six seats while the opposition MVA may get one if they put up a united fight. The Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP-SP are likely to lose one seat each. In Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK is likely to retain four of the six seats, while the AIADMK is expected to secure one. In Bengal, the ruling TMC is expected to win four seats, and the BJP one. Five seats will be up for grabs in Bihar. Legal eagles Congress is keen to have legal luminaries like Justice Sudershan Reddy and Abhishek Manu Singhvi speaking in the Rajya Sabha on subjects like SIR, sources say | P4 State finalises engineering college fees for 2025–28 M e g h n a N at h @ Hyderabad The state government has finalised the fee structure for unaided engineering colleges for the 2025–28 academic period. Official orders are expected within a day or two. The Finance department has approved revised fees, per annum, for 160 unaided B.E/B.Tech courses, based on the recommendations of the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee. The revision factors in NAAC accreditation, placement performance and academic quality . Reduced fees (2025–28) Name of the College Reduced by Nalla Mallareddy Engineering College `45,000 Guru Nanak Institutions `43,000 Anurag Group of Institutions `35,100 CMR Institute of Technology `31,900 CMR Technical Campus `25,300 Mahaveer College of Engineering `25,000 CMR College of Engineering and Technology `23,800 Malla Reddy Engineering College for Women `22,700 Arjun College of Technology and Science `22,000 Vidyajyoti Institute of Technology `19,800 Fees have also been reduced in a few other engineering colleges Increased fees (2025–28) Name of the College Narayanamma Vasavi Gokaraju Rangaraju Sridevi Women’s Engineering College Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology VNR Vigyan Jyoti (VJEC) BVRIT Women’s College Vignan Institute of Technology Arora Scientific (AURG) KITS Warangal Vignan Bharati Institute of Technology Chaitanya Bharati Institute of Technology TKR College of Engineering and Technology Increased by `62,000 `35,000 `30,500 `27,000 `26,200 `24,600 `23,500 `23,000 `22,800 `21,200 `18,200 `18,000 `17,900 Existing `1,62,000 `1,75,000 `1,60,500 `1,37,000 `1,29,200 `1,59,600 `1,43,500 `1,23,000 `67,800 `1,46,200 `1,03,200 `1,83,000 `1,02,900 2014 ordinance Formal Maha order nullifies 5% Muslim quota S u d h ir s u r ya w a ns h i @ Mumbai The Maharashtra government has formally scrapped the 5% reservation for Muslims in government and semi-government jobs and education. According to a government resolution (GR) issued by the state social justice department on Tuesday night, a 5% reservation was granted to socially and educationally backward Muslim groups under the Special Backward Category in 2014 through an ordinance. However, this ordinance was not converted into a law by passing it through both Houses of the state legislature, and therefore, it has lapsed automatically . The government has cancelled the earlier decisions and circulars from 2014 and stopped issuing caste and non-creamy layer certificates to Muslims in the Special Backward Category , the GR stated. The ordinance was issued by the Congress-led government of Prithviraj Chavan ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, along with a 16% reservation for the Maratha community. The BJP came to power that year and the ordinance on Muslim reservation was not converted into law.