Rush Hour: Galgotias University told to exit AI expo, Maharashtra scraps Muslim quota policy & more

Galgotias University was asked to vacate its stall at the India AI Impact Summit exhibition in Delhi. This came amid a controversy about the Uttar Pradesh-based university displaying a commercially available Chinese robot, claiming that it had been developed by the institute.

Social media users identified the robot as the Go2, manufactured by Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics. It is available online for about $1,600 or Rs 1.4 lakh.

The summit is being promoted as the first major gathering on artificial intelligence in the Global South. Twenty world leaders, officials from major technology companies and exhibitors from 30 countries are attending the event. Read on.

With Galgotias ‘robot’ dog row, ‘AI-washing’ comes full circle for India, writes Prithwiraj Mukherjee

The Maharashtra government scrapped the process of providing caste verification and validation certificates to Muslims. This formally closes a 2014 policy to provide 5% reservations to the community in jobs and education.

The quota had not been implemented due to legal hurdles. The order withdrawing the policy does not change the existing situation, but terminates the grant of certificates to around 50 Muslim groups seeking benefits under the Special Backward Category-A framework.

Criticising the move, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said the decision showed that the BJP-led government “does not value Muslim leaders...

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