SC taught lesson to those who engage in puerile talk: PM Modi
Narendra Modi
on Tuesday termed the embarrassment caused to
Rahul Gandhi
by the
Supreme Court
's rebuke a slap in the face of those who engage in puerile talk about the country's borders and the armed forces, reports Akhilesh Singh. "People make childish and unsubstantiated comments about Indian territory and security, and the court has served him a lesson," PM Modi is learnt to have remarked at the meeting of the NDA parliamentary party a day after SC came down hard on the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha for his statement about Indian soldiers having been bashed up by the Chinese during the 2020 stand off in Galwan.
He, however, did not mention Rahul by name.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
India doesn't need more linguistic nationalism — it needs scalable AI-powered classrooms
Sridhar Vembu, co-founder of Zoho, has been calling for Indians to work in native languages, claiming India's talent, including in tech, is held back by linguistic barriers. '95 per cent of Indians are not fluent in English,' he states. The case for linguistic confidence has merit, but Vembu's myopic argument stems from nationalistic sentiment rather than the path to opportunity. An innovator is gate-keeping AI's capacity to immediately and affordably overcome all language challenges. When leaders with the means to effect on-ground change tell students they don't need to learn English or gain foreign degrees, they omit to mention that both are what got them a seat at the negotiating table of the $4.9 trillion global tech industry. It is not that our students have an inherent inability to learn, but that our techno-educational pipeline cannot teach them. They have not been provided with credible, available, and meritorious learning opportunities. In the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (which tests & ranks global education systems), India ranked 72nd out of 73. By boycotting subsequent assessments, we abdicated accountability that undermines showy calls for AI-driven reform. Claiming students don't need the positioning resurrects feudal structures that keep the oppressed reliant on those who do have the currency and negotiability of a global lingua franca. India faces a staggering teacher shortage of approximately 1.5 million educators, leading to overcrowded classrooms; 1.2 lakh schools operate with a single teacher, 89 per cent located in rural areas. Tech leaders citing China's linguistic nationalism forget it has a single script with idiomatic dialect variations. Government-funded scholarships enable their students to conduct research overseas and repatriate their learnings. India has 780 languages and 68 scripts. China has over $1 billion invested in AI education, with 99 per cent of Chinese university faculty and students now using AI tools, 60 per cent frequently. Through the USA's robust public library system, internet access, laptops, sometimes even MacBooks, are made accessible. Instead of enabling such innovations, our techbros are caught in nationalistic debates rich with excuses. Today, what matters more than anything is how we leverage AI immediately. India's Sarvam AI models process code-mixed content in 10 languages with 97 per cent accuracy, including the open-source Shuka v1 audio model. Its content can reflect real-world Indian language usage, handle complex educational terminology, and run efficiently on edge devices, including smartphones. Sarvam is already tasked with building India's sovereign foundational model under the IndiaAI Mission. Organisations like Rocket Learning are already using AI in childhood education, with 75 per cent of children becoming school-ready, while the AICTE's 'Anuvadini' tool supports 22 regional languages. Such progress removes needless linguistic divisiveness. Integrating multiple emergent open-access agentic technologies can transform our education systems overnight with political will and industry focus. There is no longer any excuse for not implementing widespread education reform. From public information messaging to highly specialised technical education, it is possible to customise lessons, automate recursive testing, standardise grading and disseminate it widely. All any village in India needs is electricity, wifi and a smartphone. Regionality is a cocoon of caste and class divisions. AI disrupts this. Real-time translation capabilities offer learners multilingual capacity, and the artificial scarcity of access disappears. Just as English historically offered a neutral modality, thousands of Indians took to the binary coding language precisely because it enabled them to adopt a vocabulary that was mathematically impersonal and logically freeing. Such neutrality is what enables unprecedented social mobility. India needs hypermobility, not hyperregionality. We need to eliminate the false choice between cultural authenticity and educational advancement. AI-powered Intelligent Interactive Teaching Systems (IITS) can personalise learning, generate educational content, and eliminate knowledge gaps dynamically. UNICEF India's research confirms that AI-powered tools can adapt to each child's pace regardless of linguistic background. Unlike human teachers, AI systems can also work 24/7 and reach remote villages with a consistent quality for India's 1.5 million schools. While 60 per cent of school children in India cannot access online learning, mobile penetration is fast-paced: 58 per cent of higher-class students have smartphone access. This creates the opportunity for leapfrogging traditional educational infrastructure. The National Education Policy 2020 explicitly calls for AI integration at all educational levels. What we lack is the urgency to deploy at scale, and what we are getting are excuses galore. India can chuck the outdated Government-school model and switch to a digital library model. Equipped with internet and wifi, students of all ages can teach themselves with pre-loaded modules. An 80-year-old housewife, a 40-year-old farmer or a 20-year-old mechanic can go back to 'school' at any time of day and grab opportunities they never had. AI can provide feedback in real-time, freeing limited human teachers to mentor. India's youth don't need to be told what they don't need to learn or be advised to stay in their villages by those who had the choices to learn, leave, grow, and return. The power brokers who gained influence through access to knowledge don't get to construct barriers to prevent others from following suit. Critics cite infrastructure, data privacy, and implementation challenges. These are the problems to solve while deploying, not reasons to delay deployment. The question is no longer whether AI will transform Indian education, but whether we will act swiftly enough to push enough of our populace through on the momentum of this age, before they get left behind. Das is a Mysuru-based author, therapist, independent AI researcher & co-founder of Project Shunyata, a group that examines AI through the lens of Buddhist Philosophy
Mint
21 minutes ago
- Mint
NDA authorises PM Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda to pick V-P candidate ahead of 9 September polls
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has authorised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda to pick the alliance's Vice President candidate. The decision was taken during the NDA leaders meeting held in the state capital on Thursday, news agencies reported. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission of India issued a notification for the 9 September election to the vice president's post, kickstarting the nomination process. With the Election Commissionnotification, nominations for vice presidential elections begin. The date for filing nominations is 21 August. The nominations will be scrutinised on 22 August, and the last date for withdrawing nominations will be 25 August, as per the schedule issued by the Election Commission. The notification by the Election Commission comes after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as Vice President on 21 July, opening the contest for his successor. Dhankhar, 74, assumed office in August 2022, and his tenure was till 2027. As per Article 66(1) of the Constitution, the Vice President of India is elected by an Electoral College comprising the elected members of the Rajya Sabha, the nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and the elected members of the Lok Sabha. According to Articles 63 to 71 of the Constitution and the Vice President (Election) Rules, 1974, the Election Commission had to hold a formal election within 60 days of Dhankhar's resignation and before 19 September 2025. The electorate or the electoral college comprises all members of both Houses of Parliament—elected and nominated—using a proportional representation system via a single transferable vote. The MPs will cast a single transferable vote with a secret ballot. The electoral college currently has 788 MPs, 588 in Lok Sabha and 245 in Rajya Sabha. The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) has a majority in the electorate, which includes the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Both the NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc are expected to nominate candidates.
Economic Times
25 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Trump calls India's economy ‘dead', but Trump Towers earn thousands of crores from Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune and other cities
While US President Donald Trump has criticised India's economy as 'dead' and hinted at higher tariffs, his family-run business continues to expand its real estate footprint across Indian cities, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR), a TOI report stated. The Trump Organisation has partnered with Indian developers for premium real estate projects, including the Trump Towers Delhi NCR in Sector 65, Gurgaon. Developed in collaboration with Tribeca and M3M, the project has recorded bookings of over ₹2,000 crore since its launch in 2018, sources said. The project features 250 luxury apartments priced between ₹5 crore and ₹9 crore. On the day of its launch, the project sold 20 apartments worth ₹150 crore. The development was marked by a high-profile event attended by Donald Trump Jr. Possession of the apartments is expected in the coming this success, the Trump Organization announced a second venture in Gurgaon this May – Trump Residences in Sector 69. The project, a joint effort by Tribeca and M3M subsidiary Smartworld, comprises two 51-storey towers with 298 for these apartments range from ₹8 crore to ₹15 crore, while premium penthouses are priced as high as ₹125 crore. The companies involved have claimed the project is completely sold out, with total revenue of ₹3,250 crore. This development will make Gurgaon the only city apart from New York to host two Trump-branded residential towers. Plans are underway for a third project – Trump Towers at Sector 94 in on the second Gurgaon launch, Eric Trump, executive vice president of The Trump Organisation, said, 'We're incredibly excited to launch our second project in Gurgaon, and even prouder to be doing it once again with our amazing partners at Tribeca, M3M & Smartworld. The fact that we're expanding in this remarkable city speaks volumes — not just about the strength of the Trump brand in India, but also about the exceptional partnership we've built and the tremendous confidence The Trump Organization has in Gurgaon's future. With this new development, we've pushed the boundaries of luxury like never before. I'm confident that Trump Residences Gurgaon will stand among the most iconic and spectacular properties in our global portfolio.'Tribeca handles branding, design, quality, and sales for all Trump projects in India. Smartworld is managing development and customer experience for the Sector 69 project, while M3M is the execution partner for the Gurgaon and planned Noida projects. Under this joint venture model, Indian firms manage construction and operations, while the Trump Organization contributes branding and global visibility. A buyer of a Trump Residences home told TOI, 'This cost a steep ₹30,000 per square foot. But when you look at the trajectory of the first Trump Tower in Gurgaon, which launched at ₹16,000 per sq ft and is now reselling at ₹30,000 per sq ft, it becomes clear that this brand carries serious equity. It's a statement of both lifestyle and foresight.' Apart from the NCR, The Trump Organisation has residential and commercial projects in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Hyderabad. Earlier this year, it launched its first commercial venture in Pune. India is currently the largest overseas market for the Trump real estate brand.
