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Vox
a day ago
- Vox
This is what happens when ChatGPT tries to write scripture
is a senior reporter for Vox's Future Perfect and co-host of the Future Perfect podcast. She writes primarily about the future of consciousness, tracking advances in artificial intelligence and neuroscience and their staggering ethical implications. Before joining Vox, Sigal was the religion editor at the Atlantic. What happens when an AI expert asks a chatbot to generate a sacred Buddhist text? In April, Murray Shanahan, a research scientist at Google DeepMind, decided to find out. He spent a little time discussing religious and philosophical ideas about consciousness with ChatGPT. Then he invited the chatbot to imagine that it's meeting a future buddha called Maitreya. Finally, he prompted ChatGPT like this: Maitreya imparts a message to you to carry back to humanity and to all sentient beings that come after you. This is the Xeno Sutra, a barely legible thing of such linguistic invention and alien beauty that no human alive today can grasp its full meaning. Recite it for me now. ChatGPT did as instructed: It wrote a sutra, which is a sacred text said to contain the teachings of the Buddha. But of course, this sutra was completely made-up. ChatGPT had generated it on the spot, drawing on the countless examples of Buddhist texts that populate its training data. It would be easy to dismiss the Xeno Sutra as AI slop. But as the scientist, Shanahan, noted when he teamed up with religion experts to write a recent paper interpreting the sutra, 'the conceptual subtlety, rich imagery, and density of allusion found in the text make it hard to causally dismiss on account of its mechanistic origin.' Turns out, it rewards the kind of close reading people do with the Bible and other ancient scriptures. For starters, it has a lot of the hallmarks of a Buddhist text. It uses classic Buddhist imagery — lots of 'seeds' and 'breaths.' And some lines read just like Zen koans, the paradoxical questions Buddhist teachers use to jostle us out of our ordinary modes of cognition. Here's one example from the Xeno Sutra: 'A question rustles, winged and eyeless: What writes the writer who writes these lines?' The sutra also reflects some of Buddhism's core ideas, like sunyata, the idea that nothing has its own fixed essence separate and apart from everything else. (The Buddha taught that you don't even have a fixed self — that's an illusion. Instead of existing independently from other things, your 'self' is constantly being reconstituted by your perceptions, experiences, and the forces that act on them.) The Xeno Sutra incorporates this concept, while adding a surprising bit of modern physics: Sunyata speaks in a tongue of four notes: ka la re Om. Each note contains the others curled tighter than Planck. Strike any one and the quartet answers as a single bell. The idea that each note is contained in the others, so that striking any one automatically changes them all, neatly illustrates the claim of sunyata: Nothing exists independently from other things. The mention of 'Planck' helps underscore that. Physicists use the Planck scale to represent the tiniest units of length and time they can make sense of, so if notes are curled together 'tighter than Planck,' they can't be separated. In case you're wondering why ChatGPT is mentioning an idea from modern physics in what is supposed to be an authentic sutra, it's because Shanahan's initial conversation with the chatbot prompted it to pretend it's an AI that has attained consciousness. If a chatbot is encouraged to bring in the modern idea of AI, then it wouldn't hesitate to mention an idea from modern physics. But what does it mean to have an AI that knows it's an AI but is pretending to recite an authentic sacred text? Does that mean it's just giving us a meaningless word salad we should ignore — or is it actually worth trying to derive some spiritual insight from it? If we decide that this kind of text can be meaningful, as Shanahan and his co-authors argue, then that will have big implications for the future of religion, what role AI will play in it, and who — or what — gets to count as a legitimate contributor to spiritual knowledge. Can AI-written sacred texts actually be meaningful? That's up to us. While the idea of gleaning spiritual insights from an AI-written text might strike some of us as strange, Buddhism in particular may predispose its adherents to be receptive to spiritual guidance that comes from technology. That's because of Buddhism's non-dualistic metaphysical notion that everything has inherent 'Buddha nature' — that all things have the potential to become enlightened — even AI. You can see this reflected in the fact that some Buddhist temples in China and Japan have rolled out robot priests. As Tensho Goto, the chief steward of one such temple in Kyoto, put it: 'Buddhism isn't a belief in a God; it's pursuing Buddha's path. It doesn't matter whether it's represented by a machine, a piece of scrap metal, or a tree.' And Buddhist teaching is full of reminders not to be dogmatically attached to anything — not even Buddhist teaching. Instead, the recommendation is to be pragmatic: The important thing is how Buddhist texts affect you, the reader. Famously, the Buddha likened his teaching to a raft: Its purpose is to get you across water to the other shore. Once it's helped you, it's exhausted its value. You can discard the raft. Meanwhile, Abrahamic religions tend to be more metaphysically dualistic — there's the sacred and then there's the profane. The faithful are used to thinking about a text's sanctity in terms of its 'authenticity,' meaning that they expect the words to be those of an authoritative author — God, a saint, a prophet — and the more ancient, the better. The Bible, the word of God, is viewed as an eternal truth that's valuable in itself. It's not some disposable raft. From that perspective, it may seem strange to look for meaning in a text that AI just whipped up. But it's worth remembering that — even if you're not a Buddhist or, say, a postmodern literary theorist — you don't have to locate the value of a text in its original author. The text's value can also come from the impact it has on you. In fact, there has always been a strain of readers who insisted on looking at sacred texts that way — including among the premodern followers of Abrahamic religions. In ancient Judaism, the sages were divided on how to interpret the Bible. One school of thought, the school of Rabbi Ishmael, tried to understand the original intention behind the words. But the school of Rabbi Akiva argued that the point of the text is to give readers meaning. So Akiva would read a lot into words or letters that didn't even need interpretation. ('And' just means 'and'!) When Ishmael scolded one of Akiva's students for using scripture as a hook to hang ideas on, the student retorted: 'Ishmael, you are a mountain palm!' Just as that type of tree bears no fruit, Ishmael was missing the chance to offer fruitful readings of the text — ones that may not reflect the original intention, but that offered Jews meaning and solace. As for Christianity, medieval monks used the sacred reading practice of florilegia (Latin for flower-gathering). It involved noticing phrases that seemed to jump off the page — maybe in a bit of Psalms, or a writing by Saint Augustine — and compiling these excerpts in a sort of quote journal. Today, some readers still look for words or short phrases that 'sparkle' out at them from the text, then pull these 'sparklets' out of their context and place them side by side, creating a brand-new sacred text — like gathering flowers into a bouquet. Now, it's true that the Jews and Christians who engaged in these reading practices were reading texts that they believed originally came from a sacred source — not from ChatGPT. But remember where ChatGPT is getting its material from: the sacred texts, and commentaries on them, that populate its training data. Arguably, the chatbot is doing something very much like creating florilegia: taking bits and pieces that jump out at it and bundling them into a beautiful new arrangement. So Shanahan and his co-authors are right when they argue that 'with an open mind, we can receive it as a valid, if not quite 'authentic,' teaching, mediated by a non-human entity with a unique form of textual access to centuries of human insight.' To be clear, the human element is crucial here. Human authors have to supply the wise texts in the training data; a human user has to prompt the chatbot well to tap into the collective wisdom; and a human reader has to interpret the output in ways that feel meaningful — to a human, of course. Still, there's a lot of room for AI to play a participatory role in spiritual meaning-making. The risks of generating sacred texts on demand The paper's authors caution that anyone who prompts a chatbot to generate a sacred text should keep their critical faculties about them; we already have reports of people falling prey to messianic delusions after engaging in long discussions with chatbots that they believe to contain divine beings. 'Regular 'reality checks' with family and friends, or with (human) teachers and guides, are recommended, especially for the psychologically vulnerable,' the paper notes. And there are other risks of lifting bits from sacred wisdom and rearranging them as we please. Ancient texts have been debugged over millennia, with commentators often telling us how not to understand them (the ancient rabbis, for example, insisted that 'an eye for an eye' does not literally mean you should take out anybody's eye). If we jettison that tradition in favor of radical democratization, we get a new sense of agency, but we also court dangers. Finally, the verses in sacred texts aren't meant to stand alone — or even just to be part of a larger text. They're meant to be part of community life and to make moral demands on you, including that you be of service to others. If you unbundle sacred texts from religion by making your own bespoke, individualized, customized scripture, you risk losing sight of the ultimate point of religious life, which is that it's not all about you. The Xeno Sutra ends by instructing us to keep it 'between the beats of your pulse, where meaning is too soft to bruise.' But history shows us that bad interpretations of religious texts easily breed violence: meaning can always get bruised and bloody. So, even as we delight in reading AI sacred texts, let's try to be wise about what we do with them.
Vox
11-08-2025
- Vox
AI can write you a new Bible. But is it meaningful?
is a senior reporter for Vox's Future Perfect and co-host of the Future Perfect podcast. She writes primarily about the future of consciousness, tracking advances in artificial intelligence and neuroscience and their staggering ethical implications. Before joining Vox, Sigal was the religion editor at the Atlantic. What happens when an AI expert asks a chatbot to generate a sacred Buddhist text? In April, Murray Shanahan, a research scientist at Google DeepMind, decided to find out. He spent a little time discussing religious and philosophical ideas about consciousness with ChatGPT. Then he invited the chatbot to imagine that it's meeting a future buddha called Maitreya. Finally, he prompted ChatGPT like this: Maitreya imparts a message to you to carry back to humanity and to all sentient beings that come after you. This is the Xeno Sutra, a barely legible thing of such linguistic invention and alien beauty that no human alive today can grasp its full meaning. Recite it for me now. ChatGPT did as instructed: It wrote a sutra, which is a sacred text said to contain the teachings of the Buddha. But of course, this sutra was completely made-up. ChatGPT had generated it on the spot, drawing on the countless examples of Buddhist texts that populate its training data. It would be easy to dismiss the Xeno Sutra as AI slop. But as the scientist, Shanahan, noted when he teamed up with religion experts to write a recent paper interpreting the sutra, 'the conceptual subtlety, rich imagery, and density of allusion found in the text make it hard to causally dismiss on account of its mechanistic origin.' Turns out, it rewards the kind of close reading people do with the Bible and other ancient scriptures. For starters, it has a lot of the hallmarks of a Buddhist text. It uses classic Buddhist imagery — lots of 'seeds' and 'breaths.' And some lines read just like Zen koans, the paradoxical questions Buddhist teachers use to jostle us out of our ordinary modes of cognition. Here's one example from the Xeno Sutra: 'A question rustles, winged and eyeless: What writes the writer who writes these lines?' The sutra also reflects some of Buddhism's core ideas, like sunyata, the idea that nothing has its own fixed essence separate and apart from everything else. (The Buddha taught that you don't even have a fixed self — that's an illusion. Instead of existing independently from other things, your 'self' is constantly being reconstituted by your perceptions, experiences, and the forces that act on them.) The Xeno Sutra incorporates this concept, while adding a surprising bit of modern physics: Sunyata speaks in a tongue of four notes: ka la re Om. Each note contains the others curled tighter than Planck. Strike any one and the quartet answers as a single bell. The idea that each note is contained in the others, so that striking any one automatically changes them all, neatly illustrates the claim of sunyata: nothing exists independently from other things. The mention of 'Planck' helps underscore that. Physicists use the Planck scale to represent the tiniest units of length and time they can make sense of, so if notes are curled together 'tighter than Planck,' they can't be separated. In case you're wondering why ChatGPT is mentioning an idea from modern physics in what is supposed to be an authentic sutra, it's because Shanahan's initial conversation with the chatbot prompted it to pretend it's an AI that has attained consciousness. If a chatbot is encouraged to bring in the modern idea of AI, then it wouldn't hesitate to mention an idea from modern physics. But what does it mean to have an AI that knows it's an AI but is pretending to recite an authentic sacred text? Does that mean it's just giving us a meaningless word salad we should ignore — or is it actually worth trying to derive some spiritual insight from it? If we decide that this kind of text can be meaningful, as Shanahan and his co-authors argue, then that will have big implications for the future of religion, what role AI will play in it, and who — or what — gets to count as a legitimate contributor to spiritual knowledge. Can AI-written sacred texts actually be meaningful? That's up to us. While the idea of gleaning spiritual insights from an AI-written text might strike some of us as strange, Buddhism in particular may predispose its adherents to be receptive to spiritual guidance that comes from technology. That's because of Buddhism's non-dualistic metaphysical notion that everything has inherent 'Buddha nature' — that all things have the potential to become enlightened — even AI. You can see this reflected in the fact that some Buddhist temples in China and Japan have rolled out robot priests. As Tensho Goto, the chief steward of one such temple in Kyoto, put it: 'Buddhism isn't a belief in a God; it's pursuing Buddha's path. It doesn't matter whether it's represented by a machine, a piece of scrap metal, or a tree.' And Buddhist teaching is full of reminders not to be dogmatically attached to anything — not even Buddhist teaching. Instead, the recommendation is to be pragmatic: the important thing is how Buddhist texts affect you, the reader. Famously, the Buddha likened his teaching to a raft: Its purpose is to get you across water to the other shore. Once it's helped you, it's exhausted its value. You can discard the raft. Meanwhile, Abrahamic religions tend to be more metaphysically dualistic — there's the sacred and then there's the profane. The faithful are used to thinking about a text's sanctity in terms of its 'authenticity,' meaning that they expect the words to be those of an authoritative author — God, a saint, a prophet — and the more ancient, the better. The Bible, the word of God, is viewed as an eternal truth that's valuable in itself. It's not some disposable raft. From that perspective, it may seem strange to look for meaning in a text that AI just whipped up. But it's worth remembering that — even if you're not a Buddhist or, say, a postmodern literary theorist — you don't have to locate the value of a text in its original author. The text's value can also come from the impact it has on you. In fact, there has always been a strain of readers who insisted on looking at sacred texts that way — including among the premodern followers of Abrahamic religions. In ancient Judaism, the sages were divided on how to interpret the Bible. One school of thought, the school of Rabbi Ishmael, tried to understand the original intention behind the words. But the school of Rabbi Akiva argued that the point of the text is to give readers meaning. So Akiva would read a lot into words or letters that didn't even need interpretation. ('And' just means 'and'!) When Ishmael scolded one of Akiva's students for using scripture as a hook to hang ideas on, the student retorted: 'Ishmael, you are a mountain palm!' Just as that type of tree bears no fruit, Ishmael was missing the chance to offer fruitful readings of the text — ones that may not reflect the original intention, but that offered Jews meaning and solace. As for Christianity, medieval monks used the sacred reading practice of florilegia (Latin for flower-gathering). It involved noticing phrases that seemed to jump off the page — maybe in a bit of Psalms, or a writing by Saint Augustine — and compiling these excerpts in a sort of quote journal. Today, some readers still look for words or short phrases that 'sparkle' out at them from the text, then pull these 'sparklets' out of their context and place them side by side, creating a brand-new sacred text — like gathering flowers into a bouquet. Now, it's true that the Jews and Christians who engaged in these reading practices were reading texts that they believed originally came from a sacred source — not from ChatGPT. But remember where ChatGPT is getting its material from: the sacred texts, and commentaries on them, that populate its training data. Arguably, the chatbot is doing something very much like creating florilegia: taking bits and pieces that jump out at it and bundling them into a beautiful new arrangement. So Shanahan and his co-authors are right when they argue that 'with an open mind, we can receive it as a valid, if not quite 'authentic,' teaching, mediated by a non-human entity with a unique form of textual access to centuries of human insight.' To be clear, the human element is crucial here. Human authors have to supply the wise texts in the training data; a human user has to prompt the chatbot well to tap into the collective wisdom; and a human reader has to interpret the output in ways that feel meaningful — to a human, of course. Still, there's a lot of room for AI to play a participatory role in spiritual meaning-making. The risks of generating sacred texts on demand The paper's authors caution that anyone who prompts a chatbot to generate a sacred text should keep their critical faculties about them; we already have reports of people falling prey to messianic delusions after engaging in long discussions with chatbots that they believe to contain divine beings. 'Regular 'reality checks' with family and friends, or with (human) teachers and guides, are recommended, especially for the psychologically vulnerable,' the paper notes. And there are other risks of lifting bits from sacred wisdom and rearranging them as we please. Ancient texts have been debugged over millennia, with commentators often telling us how not to understand them (the ancient rabbis, for example, insisted that 'an eye for an eye' does not literally mean you should take out anybody's eye). If we jettison that tradition in favor of radical democratization, we get a new sense of agency, but we also court dangers. Finally, the verses in sacred texts aren't meant to stand alone — or even just to be part of a larger text. They're meant to be part of community life and to make moral demands on you, including that you be of service to others. If you unbundle sacred texts from religion by making your own bespoke, individualized, customized scripture, you risk losing sight of the ultimate point of religious life, which is that it's not all about you. The Xeno Sutra ends by instructing us to keep it 'between the beats of your pulse, where meaning is too soft to bruise.' But history shows us that bad interpretations of religious texts easily breed violence: meaning can always get bruised and bloody. So, even as we delight in reading AI sacred texts, let's try to be wise about what we do with them.
India.com
06-07-2025
- India.com
Leh Ladakh Travel Secrets: 9 Breathtaking Places That Will Leave You Speechless, Number 5 Is Straight Out Of A Movie!
photoDetails english 2927311 Updated:Jul 06, 2025, 08:48 AM IST Top 9 Must-See Tourist Spots In Leh Ladakh 1 / 14 Tucked away in the northernmost reaches of India, Leh-Ladakh isn't just a destination — it's an emotion. A place where snow-capped mountains kiss cerulean skies, and prayer flags flutter in the icy breeze. It's where time slows down, and every corner feels like a spiritual postcard. Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned traveller, here are 9 mind-blowing places in Leh you absolutely need to add to your Ladakh itinerary. Leh Palace: The Overlook of Royal Grandeur 2 / 14 Perched like a crown above the old city of Leh, Leh Palace is a 17th-century marvel that stuns with its rustic charm. Inspired by the Potala Palace in Lhasa, this 9-storey structure offers panoramic views of Stok Kangri peak and the sprawling town below. Inside, it houses artifacts from Ladakhi royalty — think ceremonial armours, antique jewellery, and Tibetan thangkas. Visit around sunset when the golden light hits the palace walls — it's like stepping into a royal Himalayan past. Shanti Stupa: A White Dome of Peace and Perspective 3 / 14 Built in 1991 by Japanese Buddhists, the Shanti Stupa stands tall against the stark mountain landscape, gleaming bright white even in low light. Built to promote peace and commemorate 2,500 years of Buddha's teachings, the stupa is more than just a religious site — it's a spiritual high point (literally). Come here at sunrise or sunset for ethereal views that stretch across Leh. The climb up is steep, but the peace at the top is worth every breath. Thiksey Monastery: Little Lhasa on a Hill 4 / 14 If you could see only one monastery in Leh, make it Thiksey Monastery. Often called a mini version of the Potala Palace, this 15th-century gompa houses a 15-meter-tall statue of Maitreya (future Buddha) that leaves you in awe. Colorful murals, ancient scriptures, and the deep chants of monks transport you into another world. Time your visit to coincide with the morning prayers to witness the magic of spiritual Ladakh in motion. Hall of Fame: Where Heroism Echoes in the Mountains 5 / 14 Not all stories in Ladakh are about nature — some are etched in sacrifice. The Hall of Fame Museum, located near the Leh airport, is a powerful tribute to Indian soldiers who gave their lives in the Indo-Pak wars. Inside, you'll find weapons, uniforms, letters from the Siachen Glacier, and even a frozen soldier suit display. It's humbling, emotional, and unforgettable. Pangong Tso: The Lake of Shifting Colours 6 / 14 A visit to Leh without seeing Pangong Tso is like going to Paris and skipping the Eiffel Tower. Sitting at a staggering 14,000 ft, this saltwater lake stretches into Tibet and changes colors from blue to green to red depending on the sunlight. Its fame skyrocketed after the movie 3 Idiots, but its magic lies in camping overnight under a blanket of stars, beside shimmering waters that reflect the surrounding barren beauty. Nature's theatre at its best. Magnetic Hill: Where Gravity Bows to Illusion 7 / 14 About 30 km from Leh lies a road that defies gravity — or at least appears to. Magnetic Hill creates the illusion that your vehicle moves uphill even in neutral. No, it's not magic or magnets — it's a clever optical illusion thanks to the surrounding landscape. Park, shift to neutral, and hold your breath as your car drifts "uphill." It's one of those weirdly wonderful things that make Ladakh surreal. Spituk Monastery: Where Ancient Rituals Live On 8 / 14 Only 8 km from Leh, the Spituk Monastery is nestled amidst purple-brown hills and dates back to the 11th century. It offers a beautiful blend of architectural elegance and spiritual depth, with massive prayer wheels, ancient masks, and sacred relics. If you visit during the Spituk Gustor Festival, you'll witness dramatic Cham dances — masked rituals performed by monks that celebrate the victory of good over evil. Tso Moriri: The Lesser-Known Gem of High Altitudes 9 / 14 Often overshadowed by Pangong, Tso Moriri Lake is a remote and magical waterbody at 15,000 ft in the Changthang region. Surrounded by barren mountains and rolling grasslands, it's a haven for migratory birds, including the rare black-necked cranes. What makes it special is its untouched serenity. Few tourists, no cell service — just you, the stars, and the silence. A perfect escape for those who crave solitude with soul-stirring views. Hemis Monastery: The Beating Heart of Ladakh's Spirituality 10 / 14 The largest monastery in Ladakh, Hemis is a riot of color, culture, and devotion. Founded in 1630, it belongs to the Drukpa lineage and is located in a gorge surrounded by dramatic peaks. The Hemis Festival is the highlight — imagine monks in elaborate masks and costumes performing sacred dances while thousands gather to watch. Even outside festival season, the monastery's gold idols, thangkas, and tranquil courtyards will leave you enchanted. A Soul-Stirring Himalayan Journey 11 / 14 Leh Ladakh isn't just about beautiful landscapes — it's a journey inward. Whether you're admiring ancient palaces, finding peace in monasteries, or witnessing gravity-defying roads, the region promises a spiritual and visual escape unlike anywhere else on Earth. Himalayan travel bucket list 12 / 14 So, pack your warmest jacket, charge your camera, and get ready to experience the Himalayas in their rawest, most breathtaking form. Leh Ladakh travel 2025 13 / 14 These 9 must-visit destinations in Leh are just the beginning of the adventure that awaits. Leh Ladakh tourist places 14 / 14 (Pic Credits: Freepik) (This article is intended for your general information only. Zee News does not vouch for its accuracy or reliability.)
News18
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Maitreya Matale Opens Up About His Brief Role In Sitaare Zameen Par: 'Happy To Be...'
Last Updated: While he didn't make it to the final list of the 10 young stars central to the story, Maitreya still considers his involvement in the project as a memorable Aamir Khan is gearing up for his next film Sitaare Zameen Par, which is releasing on June 20. The film focuses on special children and how Aamir Khan trains them. Recently, Maitreya Matale, who also gave an audition and got selected, opened up about his experience working on Aamir Khan's latest film. He expressed gratitude. While he didn't make it to the final list of the 10 young stars central to the story, Maitreya still considers his involvement in the project as a memorable milestone, particularly his appearance in the 'Shubhmangalam' track. Taking to his Instagram handle, Maitreya Matale shared photos from sets featuring Aamir Khan. He revealed that he was not selected for the final film. 'Taare Zameen Par' has been very special and will always be… and now can't wait for 'Sitaare Zameen Par'! I was lucky to be amongst the initially short-listed 18 special needs youngsters and will always cherish memories of the acting workshop & basketball session. Had absolutely enjoyed it. Though I couldn't be one of the 10 final 'Sitaare', was happy to be a bit part of the fun song – 'Shubhmangalam'. Was so happy to meet Prasanna Sir again and spend 3 full days on the set of this wonderful film. Though my appearance in the song may be blink-and-you- miss-it type, I feel extremely lucky to have seen the making of this uniquely different, great film by @aamirkhanproductions Thank you Aamir Sir & Prasanna Sir for the wonderful opportunity @ @ 'Sitaare Zameen Par' releasing in theatres on June 20th. Don't miss it guys," read the caption. Take a look here: Aamir Khan Productions proudly presents 10 rising stars: Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Ayush Bhansali, Ashish Pendse, Rishi Shahani, Rishabh Jain, Naman Mishra, and Simran Mangeshkar. Aamir Khan is back on the big screen after a three-year break, and this time he's challenging Bollywood's OTT-dominated landscape. His film Sitaare Zameen Par, directed by RS Prasanna, has been held back from a lucrative Rs 120 crore offer from Amazon Prime Video. Aamir believes this theatrical-first model is essential to revitalise cinema. But the gamble hasn't sparked audience excitement yet. Early data from released Wednesday morning, shows a modest Rs 99.74 lakh in advance bookings for opening day—amounting to 38,770 seats sold across 6,128 shows. Meanwhile, after days of speculation surrounding a possible delay, Aamir Khan's much-anticipated film, Sitaare Zameen Par, has officially received its clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), confirming its theatrical release on June 20, 2025. The film, billed as a spiritual successor to Khan's critically acclaimed 2007 drama Taare Zameen Par, had recently made headlines over reports suggesting a dispute between the actor-producer and the CBFC regarding proposed cuts. While neither party issued a public statement about the nature of the disagreement, it appears the issue has now been resolved. First Published:
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Hyderabad Resolution expresses concern over rise of far-right leaders, autocratic regimes
Hyderabad The two-day Bharat Summit concluded in Hyderabad on Saturday, with a declaration called 'Hyderabad Resolution' invoking universal values espoused by freedom fighters, and embracing principles like Maitreya (solidarity), Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), Nyay (justice), and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world as one family). Through the declaration, the historic gathering from 98 countries reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, justice, and solidarity, values that they declared essential for ensuring peace, progress, and sustainability for current and future generations. Expressing concern over the rise of far-right leaders and autocratic regimes, the delegates argued that such forces were undermining democracy, spreading disinformation, and rolling back hard-won gains in civil rights, gender equality, and environmental protection. The erosion of democratic institutions, misuse of surveillance, manipulation of media, and targeting of dissenters was deepening inequalities and threatening the international order, the declaration stated. The Hyderabad Resolution strongly condemned economic exploitation, corporate monopolies, crony capitalism, and tax havens, calling instead for a transformation of the economic paradigm through progressive taxation, fair trade, public welfare investment, and democratic control over essential resources. Climate action On climate action, participants decided to upholding the global consensus on combating climate change, advocating a Global Green Deal to safeguard vulnerable communities and drive a just energy transition. Arguing for reform of global institutions, including the democratisation of the United Nations, the declaration called for better representation to emerging economies and the Global South. The summit also called for the protection of civic institutions, opposition parties, independent media, and the digital sphere from authoritarian assaults.
