Page 8 - Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Comments about AI taking away jobs non-sense: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Comments about artificial intelligence taking away jobs in India are "zero, non-sense, bakwas", Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday. The minister of state for electronics, information and technology said Artificial Intelligence (AI) today is task-focused and essentially makes tasks more efficient, mimicking human behaviour. "I am sorry to be sounding cynical. In 1999, the whole of 1999, I heard how Y2K is going to wipe out the world. Then I hear AI will finish our jobs and there are obviously people who want to look at the worst case scenario of any innovation. AI will finish our jobs, zero, non-sense, bakwas," he said. "Generative AI today is task-focused and essentially makes tasks more efficient, mimicking human behaviour...," he said. Chandrasekhar was talking to reporters after unveiling the fully automated state-of-the-art electromagnetic interference and compatibility laboratories at the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEE

India in exciting period in technology space: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

India is in an "exciting period" in the history of the country when it comes to the technology space, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said. Speaking at the 113th annual general meeting of industry body Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) here today, Chandrasekhar said the country has developed capabilities, capacities, and confidence in the last nine years, particularly with regard to technology and innovation. Releasing the 'Emerging Tech Trends in 2023" guide at the event, the minister said that in the global value chain, electronics is the second highest traded commodity after hydrocarbons and energy but India did not find a place in it before 2014. "I want to draw attention to two quotes one from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, a son of Chennai and Tamil Nadu. He spoke about how it was almost prescient on the part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji to anticipate the power of technology and launch ..

100,000 unicorns, 1-2 mn startups doable: Chandrasekhar on tech opportunity

India's success with innovation, entrepreneurship, electronics manufacturing as well as its digital clout is just the "tip" of a massive growth opportunity before the country, and the nation has the ability to scale to one lakh unicorns and almost 10-20 lakh startups in future, according to Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Chandrasekhar -- who completes two years as Minister of State for Electronics and IT -- said the India Stack and the digital public infrastructure built by the country, have demonstrated to the world how technology can be deployed for good, to benefit people, society and communities, and the country at large. The extent of digitalisation of government, governance and economy is going to "accelerate even more", Chandrasekhar promised. The last two years have seen Chandrasekhar keeping a razor-sharp focus on driving India's digital agenda and work on measures to promote electronics and semiconductor manufacturing in the country. He has also been deeply involved

Twitter's challenge to govt order part of Dorsey's fiction creation: MoS IT

Twitter moving to a court against the government notice to block some accounts was "part of the fiction" that company's former CEO Jack Dorsey had put out, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday. Dorsey, who had quit as Twitter CEO, has claimed that the Indian government "pressured" the company with threats of a shutdown and raids on employees if it did not comply with requests to take down posts and restrict accounts that were critical of the government over the protest by farmers against new agri laws in 2020 and 2021. In response to views on the Karnataka High Court order rejecting Twitter's appeal, the minister said that the order clearly lays down non-compliance to government order is not an option and all platforms, big or small, need to comply with Indian laws. "In this particular case as you remember they (Twitter) were given a large number of directions under the law which they did not comply with and then when they were sent a legal ..

Finfluencer advertisement using govt logo by YouTube stirs a hornets' nest

Not an endorsement by the government, clarifies MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Semiconductor announcements to create 80,000 jobs: MoS IT Chandrasekhar

The big-ticket announcements by players including Micron, Applied Materials, and Lam Research during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit will create an estimated 80,000 jobs, and underscore the resolve of the two countries to shape the future of technology, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday. The Minister of State for Electronics and IT termed the announcements by Micron Technology, Applied Materials and Lam Research as a "significant and meaningful milestone" and "central piece" in the growth semiconductor ecosystem in the country. "These three investment decisions will create a minimum of 80,000 jobs directly in my estimate and indirectly the numbers could be much higher. More than that it will be a catalyst to the overall electronics and semiconductor ecosystem," Chandrasekhar said. US memory chip firm Micron Technology will set up its semiconductor assembly and test plant in Gujarat entailing a total investment of USD 2.75 billion (around Rs 22,540 crore), th

India set to achieve $300 bn electronics manufacturing target: MoS IT

The govt is right on the path to achieve the $300 bn electronics manufacturing target which will be a massive 20-25 times growth in almost a decade, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT said

Target is to have technology be 20-25% of Indian GDP by 2025-26: MoS IT

The Indian Government has set a goal of making technology 20-25 per cent of the nation's GDP by 2025, India's IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has told Indian American entrepreneurs and asked them to be part of this story of India. Over the last nine years digital economy has expanded, diversified and currently there isn't a slice or space in the tech sector that Indian entrepreneurs, Indian startups are not present in; whether it is semiconductors, micro-electronics, AI, the blockchain and web three high-performance computing languages and consumer internet, Chandrasekhar said in his virtual address to the annual conference of the Global Indian Technology Professionals Association. Any part of technology that you look at today, there is significant presence and momentum by Indian startups, Indian enterprises and Indian innovators. Over the last five years, in particular, during and after COVID-19, the Indian innovation economy has grown from the four-five per cent in 2014 to ten per

M K Stalin behaving like the original Stalin: Union minister Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin was acting like the original Stalin for whom he said the freedom of people and their rights didn't matter. He was reacting to the arrest of Tamil Nadu BJP leader S G Suryah under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act allegedly over a social media post. Yesterday, our senior worker from TN (S G Suryah) was arrested, just simply because he tweeted about the death of a sanitation worker in the constituency where there is a CPM elected person, Chandrasekhar told PTI in Margao town of South Goa. The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology is in the coastal state to participate in the party's organisational programmes. He said that it is a sign of irony and hypocrisy that the Congress used Section 66A during UPA (United Progressive Alliance) regime to put people in jail over their tweets. Now, their alliance partners, including NCP and Stalin, are do

Chandrasekhar rebuts Raghuram Rajan's criticism on PLI, calls it misleading

Terming former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan as a repeat offender, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday issued a word-by-word rebuttal of his criticism of the production-linked incentive scheme for mobile phone manufacturing. Rajan in a social media post questioned the outcome of the PLI scheme for mobile phones as companies continue to import most of the components, and the subsidies are paid on finished phones and not on the value addition done by the mobile phone companies. He also questioned if subsidies being paid to the companies under the PLI scheme and tax waivers are more than the value addition the mobile phone makers are doing in the country. The minister of state for electronics and IT said that he had responded to Rajan eight months ago when he tried to discredit the smartphone PLI after which he went and "now he is back with some deceitful numbers and shoddy comparisons". The PLI scheme for mobile phones was notified on April 1, 2020. The scheme extends an ..

Govt's relationship with media platform is simply via prism of laws: MoS IT

The government's relationship with any social media platform is simply through the prism of compliance of law and rules, and therefore there is nothing personal or adversarial against one platform or the other, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said. The platforms have to respect the Indian laws, the Minister of State for IT and Electronics asserted. Chandrasekhar, who was speaking at the inaugural edition of FinancialExpress.com's Digital Bharat Economy Conclave 2023 on Wednesday, made it clear that the government's relationship with any social media platform is simply through the prism of compliance of law and rules, and thus there is nothing personal or adversarial against one platform or the other. "But we certainly and consistently ask from these platforms to respect the Indian laws," he said. The minister also rebuffed claims of an alleged data breach of the CoWin platform (the Covid vaccination portal). "I would like to emphasise that there was no breach of the CoWin

Is Dorsey trying to gain relevance in US political season, asks MoS IT

"We neither shut down Twitter or had any other punitive consequences imposed on Twitter. We are a democratic country and live by the rule of law," he added

Chandrasekhar slams Twitter ex-CEO Dorsey's comments on farmer protest

"This is an outright lie by @jack - perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of Twitters history," said the Minister in his tweet

DPI framework future of digital governance for India: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The digital economy is a powerful opportunity with digital public infrastructure as a key enabler, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday adding India has demonstrated that DPIs are a "force multiplier" for the population that wants to progress and develop. Speaking at the Global DPI Summit in Pune, the Minister of State for IT and Electronics said DPI framework is the future of digital governance for India and the world. "Over USD 400 billion have been transferred from the government to the citizens of India over the last five years without any leakage and without any intimidation, that is the power of DPI and that is the power that India has demonstrated," Chandrasekhar said. He added: "The partnership that we are today proposing around the DPI is truly a win-win' for all those nations around the world that in a sense have lagged behind in digitalisation". The Minister termed the digital economy as a powerful opportunity and DPIs as an enabler of that powerful ...

India a case study for nations to create digital public infrastructure: MoS

Chandrasekhar emphasised that it's important for governments to formally recognise that cybersecurity threats hamper innovation, trust in essential services and consumer confidence

Weekend Bites: Battle for post-iPhone world, and urban cowboys ride again

In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views

AI won't be a threat to jobs for next 5-10 years: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

'It is disruptive… will regulate against user harm'

Do not see any threat to jobs from current form of AI: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the Centre will regulate AI technology to ensure that it does not harm digital citizens

Cong's 'prism' of looking at history limited to Nehru-Gandhi family: MoS IT

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar on Friday hit out at the Congress government in Karnataka over reports about it removing a lesson on RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar from school textbooks, saying the party's views on history are limited to the Nehru-Gandhi family. The senior BJP leader termed the reported move as Congress antics to grab attention, and alleged that it has a long history of rewriting the country's history to remove those who are not part of a "dynasty". On Thursday, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa had said revision of school textbooks will be done this year itself in the interest of students. Bangarappa, while talking to reporters in Bengaluru, had also indicated that the proposal on the textbook revision will be placed before the Cabinet probably when it meets next. He, however, did not wish to go into details, when asked about reports stating that plans are on to remove some lessons from textbooks introduced by the previou

Apple unlikely to apply for subsidies under PLI 2.0 scheme: Report

Apple will continue to focus on making iPhones in India and make Vietnam a hub to make MacBooks