Ankola: Fishermen jump into sea protesting against commercial port in Keni
Ankola: Hundreds of fishermen in Keni village, most of whom were found to be women, protested on Monday, and also attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the sea, opposing the construction of a commercial port in Keni.
Three women who fell ill during the protest were shifted to a government hospital in a police ambulance.
Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Lakshmipriya K had denied permission to stage a protest in village under Bavikeri Gram Panchayat in Ankola taluk and Keni village from Monday 6 am to Tuesday 6 am as precautionary measure.
The fishermen, who held the protest in spite of the prohibitory orders by the DC, have warned to continue the stir until the survey of the area for the port, ‘Keni Greenfield’ by JSW, continues. “We will stage the protest again and also commit suicide if the authorities go ahead with the construction of a commercial port in Keni,” they have added.
“Since we are dependent only on the sea for our livelihood, we will continue our protest intensely. Women too are ready to sacrifice their lives if the work on the commercial protest continues. Any such port can only be constructed on our graves,” Shrikanth Durgekar, leader of the fishermen has hit out at the authorities concerned, also asking that fishermen be permitted to continue their work at sea at peace.
Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police M Narayana, Deputy SP Girish and Inspector Chandrashekhar Mathapathi arrived at Keni and pacified the fishermen, who continued to demand that the survey be halted.
Several leaders of the fishermen, including Durgekar, Sanjeeva Balegara, Shankar Balegar, Hoova Khandekar, Umakantha Hoskota, Chandrakantha Pirankar, Rajeshwari Kenikar, Suraj Harikanthra, participated in the protest.
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Indian AI startups should work towards global leadership: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the world's trust in India is its biggest strength and emphasised the need to ensure that Indian Artificial Intelligence (AI) models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles.
He also said that the startups should work towards global leadership from this country, and noted that India can promote affordable AI, inclusive AI, and frugal innovation globally.
Chairing a roundtable with Indian AI start-ups ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Modi suggested that Indian AI models should be distinct and should promote local and indigenous content and regional languages, an official statement said.
The prime minister said startups and artificial intelligence entrepreneurs are the co-architects of the country's future.
As many as 12 Indian AI start-ups that have qualified for the 'AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge' summit to be held next month attended the roundtable and presented their ideas and work.
During the meeting, Modi highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence in bringing about transformation in society.
He noted that India will host the India AI Impact summit next month, through which the country will play a major role in the technology sector.
The prime minister highlighted that India is making efforts to bring about a transformation by leveraging AI.
He emphasised that startups and AI entrepreneurs are the co-architects of India's future and said the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation.
India should present a unique AI model to the world that reflects the spirit of 'Made in India, Made for the World', Modi said.
These start-ups are working in a diverse set of areas, including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video; 3D content using generative AI for e-commerce, marketing, and personalised content creation; engineering simulations, material research and advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making across industries; healthcare diagnostics and medical research, among others.
The AI start-ups commended India's strong commitment to advancing the artificial intelligence ecosystem in the country. They highlighted the rapid growth and vast future potential of the AI sector, observing that the centre of gravity of artificial intelligence innovation and deployment is beginning to shift towards India.
The leaders said India now offers a robust and enabling environment for AI development, firmly placing the country on the global AI map.
The meeting was attended by CEOs, heads and representatives of Indian AI start-ups, including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra and Zenteiq.
Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also present in the meeting.
A PMO press release reads, "PM chairs Roundtable with Indian AI Start-Ups. 12 Indian AI Start-ups, who have qualified for the AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge in the India AI Impact Summit 2026, present their ideas and work." pic.twitter.com/RvjNly04hl
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 8, 2026
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