Latest news with #RajSingh
News18
2 days ago
- Politics
- News18
NCERT forms panel to review textbooks amid row over Rajput, Ahom history
New Delhi [India], August 7 (ANI): The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has constituted a committee to examine feedback received on textbook content, including objections to the depiction of Jaisalmer as part of the Maratha Empire, alleged misrepresentation of Ahom history, and the exclusion of the 1817 Paika a statement on Thursday, the NCERT said that in keeping with its established practice, it has formed a panel comprising senior experts to examine suggestions and concerns related to the educational content in a few textbooks. 'This committee will examine the feedback in light of the available evidence and submit its report as soon as possible," the statement committee is headed by Professor Ranjana Arora, head of the NCERT's Department of Curriculum Studies and move comes amid mounting criticism from public figures and historians over alleged factual inaccuracies and exclusions in recently revised school has begun rolling out newly updated textbooks for several classes as part of its curriculum revision. While all books till Class 8 have already been released, the remaining ones–from Class 9 to 12–are expected to be out by the end of the the recent feedback under review is the depiction of Jaisalmer as part of the Maratha Empire in the Class 8 Social Science textbook, sources told Raj Singh, a descendant of Jaisalmer's former royal family, criticised the NCERT Class 8 social science textbook for portraying the Rajput state as part of the Maratha the depiction 'historically misleading and factually baseless", Singh urged Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to 'correct" what he termed 'erroneous, malicious, and agenda-driven content".Objections have also been raised over the portrayal of other regional Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed disappointment over the removal of the 1817 Paika Rebellion from the Class 8 history textbook. Calling it a 'watershed moment in Odisha's history", Patnaik said the exclusion undermines the legacy of the Paikas, who led a revolt against British rule nearly four decades before the 1857 said the committee is likely to examine representations made on topics including the Ahoms in Assam (in the Class 8 social science book), coverage of South Indian dynasties, and certain chapters in vocational and physical education R Madhavan also recently joined the chorus of voices questioning the revised syllabus, specifically pointing out the disproportionate focus on Mughal and British rule, while Southern Indian dynasties like the Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, and Cheras receive less NCERT said feedback is routinely reviewed through institutional mechanisms. 'It is a well-established practice that whenever substantial feedback or suggestions are received regarding the content or pedagogy of a textbook, a committee comprising domain experts is constituted to carefully deliberate on the matter and recommend appropriate actions." (ANI)
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Unbelievable, Jeff! Hartlepool's beef with Stelling is a baffling business
You come at the Stelling you'd best not miss, as the famous quote from The Wire's Omar Little kind of goes. Feared by his enemies and loved by viewers, the scar-faced stick-up man's advice suggests that anyone attempting to challenge the established order should be prepared for unpleasant consequences if their plan backfires. It is a lesson Hartlepool United owner Raj Singh is currently learning the hard way after sending a letter to each of Hartlepool's fellow National League clubs asking them to ban Jeff Stelling – the TalkSport and former Soccer Saturday host, and national treasure – from their boardrooms and hospitality suites for the season ahead. In scenes that his chum Chris Kamara would almost certainly describe as 'Unbelievable, Jeff!' (unless they in some way involved an Anthony Vanden Borre red card at Fratton Park), Stelling resigned from his role as president of Hartlepool in May, in protest at Singh's handling of negotiations over the protracted non-sale of his beloved hometown club. Apparently still fuming over Stelling's decision to step down from an honorary role in which he wielded the same amount of power as your average regimental goat, Singh recently embarked on a letter-writing campaign to call upon his fellow owners to deny Stelling any of the myriad lavish trappings of hospitality associated with cash-strapped non-league clubs when he travels to Hartlepool away games. Having initially made it clear that Jeff was not to be considered for any freebies specifically designated for club officials, Singh added: 'In the unlikely event that Mr Stelling independently attends any Hartlepool fixture at your home ground, I'd further request that you consider to seat Mr Stelling separately to any HUFC dignitaries or staff.' And while nobody is denying Hartlepool has its dignitaries, it seems actual dignity is currently at a premium in their corridors of power. Football Daily doesn't claim to be familiar with the nitty-gritty of the beef, but what we can say for sure is that we hope Stelling has another one of his charity walks teed up, so that he'll be able to march off the excess blubber he's certain to put on after National League clubs the length and breadth of the country fall over each other to defy what looks like a petty and sly act of vindictiveness. In calling for Stelling to be denied hospitality, Hartlepool's owner has almost certainly guaranteed that the universally popular broadcaster will be subjected to the kind of extreme levels of corporate largesse unlikely to be witnessed in the fifth tier ever again unless Manchester City end up playing in it after the verdict on those 100-plus charges is finally announced. 'I'm a lifelong supporter of that football club and if it came down to the fact that I travelled and stood with the Poolies, the Hartlepool supporters, wherever they are, then that's fine,' a slightly baffled Jeff told his radio audience. 'I'd already bought my ticket – we're away to Yeovil on Saturday – to be with the fans, so I didn't get the issue or why Mr Singh wanted to raise it. The other thing that I took offence to was in the statement he says in the unlikely event that I attend games independently. Well, I mean, last season I went to Aldershot, Eastleigh, Solihull, Southend, Sutton, Wealdstone, Woking, Dagenham and Redbridge, Ebbsfleet, Maidenhead and a few others as well, so, it's not so unlikely that I'll attend. I'll be at Yeovil on Saturday and I'll tell you what, I'll say it right now – if Mr Singh is there, I'll be happy to meet him and have a chat with him.' Meet him? If the Yeovil Town hierarchy have anything at all about them, Jeff will be sitting right beside the man he says he hasn't seen in at least a year. It certainly sounds like it's time for either a long overdue catch-up or 90 minutes of awkward silence. I've done one live performance which felt a bit weird – there was a live band playing the drums and I had to literally use it as an instrument, which felt crazy, but I enjoyed it. It's all about timing …' – Fulham's Alex Iwobi gets his chat on with Ed Aarons about how he enjoys dabbling with being a musician as a chance to breathe away from football, but is still 100% committed to the game. I know Mr Francis has dumped all of your sisters but not giving him letter o' the day for the nominative determinism belter (yesterday's Football Daily) was just petty. Noble rot!' – Harry Piano. Marvellous contribution, as always, from Noble Francis. I found his comments on nominative determinism doubly fascinating, as I'd always assumed his name was Francis, with Noble being an epithet, as in Teflon Tony or Stinky Pete. You really do learn something every day. (And yes, I'm fully aware that I don't actually have to explain to Big Website readers what an epithet is …)' – Phil Taverner. It was very sad to hear of Jorge Costa passing away, and at only 53 years old too. That's no age at all. Unsurprisingly, all the focus will rightly be on his eight league titles, five cups, Uefa Cup and Champions League but for some of us elder members of this parish, he will always be a key part of the best named back four in what was called, at the time, the Barclaycard Premiership: 'Young, Fish, Costa, Fortune'. RIP Jorge Costa' – Noble Francis. Many thanks for showing a beautiful photo of the Øresund/Öresund Bridge (yesterday's Still Wants More, full email edition) when marking the occasion of the Øresund/Öresund Strait Bigger Cup clash. I was one of 40,000 runners to make the journey to Malmö on foot in May this year, and may even be on your chosen picture (although very close to the back). What an experience' – Iain Moore. Thanks for linking to the article about Noel Blake (yesterday's Quote of the Day), and I wish him well. I can testify to the man's footballing brilliance. At Exeter, December 1996, I once saw him nullify an entire Cardiff City attack by a tactic best summed up as: 'He's just chatting to Peter Fox in the centre circle, no hang on, he's exactly in the right place to sort that out, and now he's chatting to Peter again.' The rest of the Exeter City defence were free to join in the rather random bombardment of the Cardiff end, which eventually, and rather painfully led to two goals. From my position amongst the Cardiff City Soul Crew (don't ask) I can accurately report the Exeter goal was never threatened. I've never seen before or since, one defender, using such intelligence and pure class to boss a game. Mind you, I think Peter Fox nearly froze to death' – Jon Millard. If you have any, please send letters to Today's winner of our letter o' the day is … Jon Millard, who lands some Football Weekly merch. Terms and conditions for our competitions are here. Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the Football Weekly pod squad take a dep dive into the thorny issue of football finance as the new season begins. On Thursday 11 September, join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and a host of your other Football Weekly favourites live on stage for an evening of unfiltered football punditry at Troxy in London and livestreamed globally. Book now. From one gameshow host in Jeff Stelling to another. Gary Lineker's hasty departure from the BBC did not mean the end of the former Leicester and Everton striker's TV career. To further the comparisons with Des Lynam, he's on his way to ITV, though not to host a red-hot soccer show but to be its new Leslie Crowther. Come on down? Lineker, who doubles these days as a podcast tycoon, will not be reviving The Hitman And Her or Strike It Lucky but instead bringing his pun-laden drollery to The Box where '12 famous faces are put in boxes and given daring challenges', a cross between 'I'm A Celebrity and SAS: Who Dares Wins' that appears to be a big deal in Norway. Though so is cross-country skiing. The show seems set for a Saturday slot, though unlikely to clash with the hip, happening version of Match of the Day planned by BBC suits to replace Lineker. A record number of reports of abuse at matches in English football were made during the 2024-25 season, with complaints of sexism and misogyny driving the depressing increase, according to new data from Kick It Out. The relegation scrap could be feisty in Serie A next season after it was confirmed that players will have their salaries slashed by 25% if their teams go down. Russell Martin's 'love and care' approach to criticising his players has worked a treat after Rangers walloped Viktoria Plzen 3-0 in the first leg of their Bigger Cup third qualifying round tie at Ibrox. Darwin Núñez has been given the key to the Liverpool door marked Do One and given the green light to discuss a move to Al-Hilal for a fee of about £56m. Meanwhile, Newcastle's Alexander Isak has been punished for going awol by – and wait for it, you'll like this – being banned from the club barbecue. Yep! No sausages for you Alex, lad. Son Heung-min is hoping to make a splash in LA, baby! Who has the power? Andros Townsend, that's who. The Steve Claridge du jour has signed for Thai club Kanchanaburi Power on a freebie. It's his 16th club! And the big news of the day is that Ed Sheeran has got his squad number back at Ipswich now they are back in the EFL. Premier League rules barred the club from naming the guitar-jangler as their No 17, a shirt he was given when investing 1.4% in the club in 2021, but Championship suits are more lenient. An owner, a scout, an agent and a player go into a bar speak to a team of Big Website writers to reveal just how this transfer business rolls. Neymar's prodigal return to Santos hasn't gone quite as planned, as knack and bust-ups with fans continue to blot the copybook. Still, he's added star quality, writes Tom Sanderson. Which football teams have met in fixtures at the most different home grounds? The Knowledge knows. Agog on the Tyne. Louise Taylor examines the absolute state of Newcastle's summer transfer market woes. And we have more Big Website Premier League previews hot off the production line: Brighton and Burnley. 4 June 2012: A fan in Berlin embraces a Madame Tussauds waxwork of a very young-looking Cristiano Ronaldo before Portugal's match against Germany at the European Championship. Let's hope the summer heat didn't cause it to melt.
Geek Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Geek Wire
Secretive startup backed by Concur co-founders uses AI to rethink customer experience software
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . co-founder and CEO Ardie Sameti (left) and co-founder/executive chairman Raj Singh. Concur co-founders Raj Singh and Mike Hilton are backing a stealthy new Seattle-area startup called that's positioning itself at the intersection of customer experience, generative AI, and enterprise operations. The company was incorporated in June and is just getting off the ground. Singh, who was most recently CEO at Accolade, is co-founder and the executive chairman. Hilton, who helped launch corporate expense giant Concur with Singh and was an exec at Accolade, is an investor. SCALA is led by CEO Ardie Sameti, a restauranteur-turned-techie who spent nearly a decade leading product teams at Accolade, the healthcare software giant that recently turned private in a $621 million deal with Transcarent. Sameti didn't divulge many details about the startup in an interview with GeekWire, but said it's building a platform with tailored vertical agentic AI solutions to help unlock companies more value from their interactions with customers and customer data. The startup is targeting various sectors including healthcare, financial services, and retail. 'I think a lot of folks are playing for efficiency and low-level task automation,' Sameti said. 'We're building something much greater than that.' The customer experience (CX) industry is led by incumbents such as Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey, along with other customer data-focused startups including Seattle startup Amperity. Singh was on Amperity's board for seven years before departing in November. Sameti's journey into the tech startup world is unique. Born in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, he immigrated to the U.S. with his mother and settled in the Seattle region. His first exposure to business and customer experience came from the hospitality industry, where he worked on back-office tasks and eventually operated restaurants. Sameti was intrigued by the tech sector and joined Accolade in 2015 as Singh's assistant. He worked his way up the company and eventually led its AI efforts as a director and VP. Singh called Sameti the 'best single person to reinvent CX in the era of AI,' pointing to Accolade's success in healthcare as a launching pad for SCALA's broader ambitions. 'SCALA is taking everything we learned and building a transformative set of tools to create real-time value for exec teams in any industry,' Singh said. Singh and Hilton co-founded Concur in 1993. The company sold to SAP for $8.3 billion in 2014. Singh and Hilton then joined Accolade in 2015. Accolade, which provides healthcare delivery, navigation, and advocacy services through employers, went public in 2020. Singh led the company as CEO before stepping down this year in April. Hilton, who was chief product officer, departed in 2023. 'I am more excited about the opportunity to innovate than ever,' Singh said. 'This is the best time in history to be an innovator and creator who loves solving problems.' SCALA has less than 10 employees and is still developing its product. It is working out of a WeWork in Bellevue, Wash.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Sky Sports legend hits out at controversial owner over leaked letter
Broadcaster Jeff Stelling has pledged to join Hartlepool United supporters on the terraces, intensifying an ongoing dispute with the National League club's owner, Raj Singh. The former Sky Sports and current TalkSPORT presenter jokingly suggested he might need to don a "Blues Brother" costume to back the club, following reports that Singh had written to rival teams, urging them to deny Stelling access to their boardrooms this season. The 70-year-old stepped down as Hartlepool 's honorary president in May. His resignation was a direct protest against the owner's handling of negotiations to sell the club to a local consortium, talks for which had reportedly stalled. While Stelling anticipates he will not be welcomed at the Prestige Group Stadium, he remains resolute in his commitment to supporting his beloved team at away fixtures. Asked about the situation on TalkSPORT on Wednesday morning, Stelling said: 'You know what? It didn't bother me, I'm not president of the football club anymore. 'It's my football club, I'm a lifelong supporter of that football club and if it came down to the fact that I travelled and stood with the Poolies, the Hartlepool supporters, wherever they are (...) I'd already bought my ticket – we're away to Yeovil on Saturday – I'd already bought my ticket to be with the fans, so I didn't get the issue or why Mr Singh wanted to raise it. 'But of course, then it was leaked to the media and then of course it all spiralled and spiralled out of control. 'The other thing that I took offence to was in the statement he says in the unlikely event that I attend games independently. 'Well, I mean, last season I went to Aldershot, Eastleigh, Solihull, Southend, Sutton, Wealdstone, Woking, Dagenham and Redbridge, Ebbsfleet, Maidenhead and a few others as well, so, it's not so unlikely that I'll attend.' In his letter – which was sent last month – Singh wrote: 'You may be aware from media coverage that Jeff Stelling has resigned as honorary president of Hartlepool United Football Club. 'As chairman of Hartlepool United Football Club, I would kindly and considerately ask that Mr Stelling is not provided with official HUFC dignitary spaces in your boardroom or equivalent for any Hartlepool United fixture at your home ground. 'In the unlikely event that Mr Stelling independently attends any Hartlepool United fixture at your home ground, I'd further request that you consider to seat Mr Stelling separately to any HUFC dignitaries or staff.' In response to Singh's move, the town's MP Jonathan Brash has in turn written to National League clubs urging them to treat the popular broadcaster with the 'respect and courtesy that he has most certainly earned'. Stelling, who confirmed he had introduced the agent of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to the club after they had expressed an interest in buying it before they opted to invest in Wrexham, has insisted he would be happy to discuss the situation with Singh. He said: 'I haven't spoken to Mr Singh for months – it might even be a year – so this was just completely out of the blue. I just don't regard it as any big deal. 'I don't think I'd be welcome at home games – I'd probably have to go in disguise – but certainly at away games, I'm very happy to go with the fans, no problem whatsoever. I'd rather go with the fans, let's put it that way. 'I'll be a Yeovil on Saturday and I'll tell you what, I'll say it right now – if Mr Singh is there, I'll be happy to meet him and have a chat with him.'
The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
I'd rather sit with the fans, says Jeff Stelling amid row with Hartlepool owner
Broadcaster Jeff Stelling has vowed to join Hartlepool fans on the terraces amid an escalating row with the National League club's owner. Former Sky Sports and now TalkSPORT presenter Stelling joked on Tuesday evening that he might have to dress up as a Blues Brother to support the club after Raj Singh reportedly urged Pool's league rivals not to admit him to their boardrooms this season. The 70-year-old stood down as honorary president in May in protest at the owner's handling of negotiations to sell Hartlepool to a local consortium after talks had stalled, and while he believes he will not be welcome at the Prestige Group Stadium, he will continue to support his team on the road. Asked about the situation on TalkSPORT on Wednesday morning, Stelling, who revealed he was asleep when the story broke on Tuesday night, said: 'You know what? It didn't bother me, I'm not president of the football club anymore. 'It's my football club, I'm a lifelong supporter of that football club and if it came down to the fact that I travelled and stood with the Poolies, the Hartlepool supporters, wherever they are, then that's… 'I'd already bought my ticket – we're away to Yeovil on Saturday – I'd already bought my ticket to be with the fans, so I didn't get the issue or why Mr Singh wanted to raise it. 'But of course, then it was leaked to the media and then of course it all spiralled and spiralled out of control. The other thing that I took offence to was in the statement he says in the unlikely event that I attend games independently. 'Well, I mean, last season I went to Aldershot, Eastleigh, Solihull, Southend, Sutton, Wealdstone, Woking, Dagenham and Redbridge, Ebbsfleet, Maidenhead and a few others as well, so, it's not so unlikely that I'll attend.' In response to Singh's move, the town's MP Jonathan Brash has in turn written to National League clubs urging them to treat the popular broadcaster with the 'respect and courtesy that he has most certainly earned'. Stelling, who confirmed he had introduced the agent of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to the club after they had expressed an interest in buying it before they opted to invest in Wrexham, has insisted he would be happy to discuss the situation with Singh. He said: 'I haven't spoken to Mr Singh for months – it might even be a year – so this was just completely out of the blue. I just don't regard it as any big deal. 'I don't think I'd be welcome at home games – I'd probably have to go in disguise – but certainly at away games, I'm very happy to go with the fans, no problem whatsoever. I'd rather go with the fans, let's put it that way. 'I'll be a Yeovil on Saturday and I'll tell you what, I'll say it right now – if Mr Singh is there, I'll be happy to meet him and have a chat with him.'
