A number of leaders from Tamil Nadu, including 15 former MLAs and an ex-MP, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Wednesday as the ruling party looks to strengthen its presence in the southern state in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
"I noticed her absence during the #AdityaL1 launch. I thought she might be out of the office or something. But I didn't expect this sad news. I'll really miss her. Om Shanti," one user wrote.
On Friday, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had warned that Google's AI tool Gemini's response to a question around the Prime Minister is in direct violation of IT rules as well as several provisions of the criminal code.
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
Entities may be given about a year to tune their systems to comply with norms of Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of consultation with the industry, Chandrasekhar said the Data Protection Board and guidelines for the eight rules, including consent management, will be put in place within a month. "Industry wants some more time for age-gating, different timelines for transition for different data fiduciaries.
After the BRS lost the assembly elections recently, a number of its leaders quit the party to join the BJP or the Congress, which is in power in the state now.
The latest ultimatum underlines the hardening of the government's stance on the issue of deepfakes and misinformation powered by AI, after the Centre categorically told platforms to crack down with urgency on doctored and manipulated videos rampantly being circulated on social media.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government has asked Apple two questions: whether their devices are safe, and if so the reason for the alert was sent to the Opposition members.
"Government has decided to notify an entity through Meity and that organisation then would be the fact checker for all aspects of content online and only those that are related to the government," Chandrasekhar said. Talking about rules for online gaming, the minister said that there will be multiple self-regulatory organisations (SRO) which will decide on permissibility of online games based on the framework.
'They just showed riots created by some political party. They never mentioned the name of the place or the political party.' 'I don't know why these people are agitated.'
A case has been registered against Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar for allegedly making statements that promote enmity between different groups, police said on Tuesday.
The government may not be able to put in place the Digital India Act, which aims to replace over 23 years old IT Act 2000, before the next general election, as there is not much time left for extensive consultation, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday. While speaking at the Global Technology Summit 2023, the minister, however, said the rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act will be out later this month for consultation and are expected to be notified by the end of December or early January. Chandrasekhar said the existing IT Act doesn't even have the word internet, and there is a consensus that it can be safely superseded and replaced.
Apple has incorporated India's Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) GPS system in its iPhone 15 models, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday. NavIC, which is powered by ISRO satellites, will be available along with other GPS systems of Galileo and Glosnass in iPhone 15. On September 12, Apple unveiled iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models, and they will be available for purchase later this month.
The ceremony, held at the famous St Peter's Basilica and attended by clergy and dignitaries from around the world, witnessed the induction of 21 new cardinals from various countries.
The second phase of the Lok Sabha election ended on Friday, April 26, 2024, for 88 seats across 13 states.
Ministers' resignation accepted, portfolios farmed out
Twitter chief Elon Musk on Wednesday said the social media platform has no choice but to follow the local laws in any given country or risk being shut down.
In a strategic move, the BJP has welcomed prominent Christian figures like Anil K Antony, son of Congress stalwart AK Antony, and seasoned Kerala politician PC George, into its fold.
The government on Saturday said a person who is eligible for Aadhaar can enroll using iris scan in case fingerprints are unavailable. The statement comes after Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar intervened to ensure the enrollment of a woman, Josymol P Jose, in Kerala who could not get enrolled for Aadhaar as she did not have fingers. A team from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) visited Jose at her home in Kumarakam, Kottayam district, in Kerala, the same day and got her Aadhaar number generated, the statement said.
A deep fake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna has been circulating on social media platforms. Netizens claimed the video has been morphed and the actual video is of an Indian-origin person living in the United Kingdom.
Ever since, he has remained Thiruvananthapuram preferred MP, winning four elections on the trot, including the closely fought battle with Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in 2024. This could well be his swansong from the capital segment.
Union Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has rebutted The Washington Post report on the Indian government allegedly targeting Apple after the company warned independent Indian journalists and opposition party politicians that government hackers may have tried to break into their iPhones and called it 'half facts, fully embellished'.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inducting four new faces from Karnataka into his ministry, and chemicals and fertilisers minister D V Sadanda Gowda resigning ahead of the reshuffle, the state's representation in the Union council of ministers now stands at six.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a post on X that his 18-year-long stint in public service has come to an end.
'I will win the election. The Congress and BJP are fighting for second place.'
"It is now under control. We are speaking with Twitter to ascertain the exact reason," a party leader said.
E-commerce startup Dukaan has replaced 90 per cent of its customer support team with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, founder and CEO Suumit Shah informed on Tuesday. Attributing the decision to prioritising profitability, he said customer support costs reduced by 85 per cent while resolution time went down from over two hours to three minutes. "We had to lay off 90 per cent of our support team because of this AI chatbot. Tough? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely," Shah tweeted.
The government will assist citizens in filing FIR against social media platforms for violation of IT rules in case they are aggrieved from objectionable content like deep fakes.
The Congress' victory in the Karnataka assembly polls is likely to help the party get its candidates elected in three of the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state falling vacant next year.
Muslims' share in the reservation will keep on increasing also because of "conversion and infiltration because they are having a secular cover from them (the Congress)", he added.
Gandhi, who is seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala, in a video appeal said this election is to save democracy and the Constitution.
'To me, this is true patriotism - not deciding who should and should not say 'Bharat Mata ki jai,' in what language, with what inflexion, at what time, etc, but the recognition that the Indians who protected our country and the military traditions that made those men, must be honoured,' says Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday met social media platforms to review progress made by them in tackling misinformation and deepfakes, and asserted that advisories will be issued in the next two days to ensure 100 per cent compliance by platforms.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan sparked a political row on Friday, with his party quick to dissociate itself from the comments while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party latched on to them, accusing the Congress of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil.
He further added that the people of India respect different languages, religion, food and customs which varies from region to region. "That's the India that I believe in, where everybody has a place and everybody compromises little bit," he said.
Gandhi said he was "waiting with open arms".
Two full-fledged semiconductor fabrication plants are going to come up in India very soon entailing multi-billion dollar investment besides several chip assembly and packaging units, Minister of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. In an interview with PTI, the minister confirmed that the two projects include a $8 billion proposal submitted by Israel-based Tower Semiconductors and the other from Tata Group. "I am happy to share this with you and you are probably the first one I'm sharing this with.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
The G20 leaders will deliberate on pressing global issues at the grouping's annual summit here on September 9 and 10. India is hosting the summit in its capacity as the current G20 chair.
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