Comments on AI taking away jobs nonsense, bakwas: Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Chennai (PTI): Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar termed as "nonsense, bakwas" comments about artificial intelligence taking away jobs in India.
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, nonsense, bakwas," he said.
"Generative AI today is task-focused and essentially makes tasks more efficient, mimicking human behaviour..."
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 (SAMEER) here on Friday.
He said the government was working with a data sets programme where government anonymised data would be made available to Indian artificial intelligence researchers and start-ups.
"These are data sets that would be offered on a curated basis and the design for those five works were set up by the Ministry," the minister said.
Two consultations were held and very soon the government would be announcing the entire architecture of the data sets programme.
On the semiconductor industry in India, he said the government was engaged in building a semiconductor ecosystem which is expected to come up in three to five years.
Elaborating, Chandrasekhar said 18 months ago there was none and today we have got almost 30 start-ups engaged in semiconductor design.
"You see in IIT Madras, which was supposed to be a PhD project, is receiving private capital funding asking it to grow...that is the difference in 18 months. It is not government money. It is private investors backing a company to do the next generation of computers from semiconductors design from Chennai," Chandrasekhar said.
He said India would soon have a semi-conductor research centre and the country would be a player in the global semiconductor value chain.
"We are going to end up doing in 10 years what China took 30 years to do and failed. China has spent USD 2 billion in the last 15 years in trying to create a semi-conductor industry, and what do they have today? In Hindi there is a phrase, zero battey sannata," the minister said.
"This (semiconductor design) is really transformative and what is this really why we are confident is because electronics as an industry did not exist pre-2014 and had been laid to waste because of imports. Today, we (India) are a trusted and significant player in electronics...," he said.
"In three-five years, we will have a fully competitive world-class semiconductor ecosystem in India," he added.
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Mumbai-Pune Expressway ‘missing link’ to open on May 1; will improve travel safety: Shinde
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said the long-awaited ‘missing link’ on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, aimed at bypassing the winding Bhor Ghat section and improving safety, will be inaugurated on May 1.
Shinde, who inspected the project site, said the new stretch will make the expressway fully access-controlled, easing congestion in the hilly section.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to inaugurate the 13.3-km-long missing link, which connects Khopoli on the Mumbai side to Kusgaon near Lonavala, on Maharashtra Day, which is celebrated on May 1, he said.
The deputy CM said that 99 per cent of the project work has been completed. “I personally inspected the quality of work and found it satisfactory. The remaining minor works will be completed in the next few days,” Shinde said.
Shinde said the new alignment will bypass sharp curves and accident-prone stretches in the ghat section, helping reduce delays and improve commuter safety. He claimed accidents in the section would reduce substantially once the project becomes operational.
“The missing link project will make travel between Mumbai and Pune quicker, safer and more convenient, and will contribute significantly to the state’s development,” he said.
The Rs 6,700-crore project, developed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), includes two tunnels, high viaducts and a cable-stayed bridge over Tiger Valley.
The missing link will reduce the travel distance between Mumbai and Pune by approximately 6 km and shorten the journey time by 20 to 30 minutes, said officials.
Initially, only light motor vehicles and buses will be permitted on the new stretch to reduce congestion on the existing ghat section, officials said, adding that heavy goods vehicles will be prohibited due to safety concerns.
“There will be no toll hike because of the missing link project. No increase has been proposed at the Khalapur toll plaza either,” Shinde said.
The project comprises two eight-lane tunnels of 1.75 km and 8.92 km in length and two viaducts measuring 850 metres and 650 metres, said officials. It has been designed to bypass the old Khandala ghat section, a winding route that has long slowed down traffic and posed safety risks, said officials.
The 650-metre viaduct will feature what officials described as India’s tallest road cable-stayed bridge, with pylons rising to 182 metres, taller than those on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
Officials claimed that the tunnels have a width of 23.75 metres and are among the widest road tunnels in the world. An MSRDC official said the tunnel is likely to be included in the Guinness Book of Records.
The route runs beneath the Lonavala lake area and was executed in difficult terrain marked by heavy rainfall and strong winds, officials said.
Shinde said projects such as the missing link would boost access to tourist destinations such as Lohagad Fort, Visapur Fort and Karla Caves.
MP Shrirang Barne, former corporator Abasaheb Bagul, MSRDC Managing Director Anilkumar Gaikwad and senior engineers from executing agencies were present during the inspection, officials said.
Krishnamurthy Subramanian, executive chairman of construction and engineering company Afcons International Private Limited, said the journey to completion of “India’s highest road cable-stayed bridge” was challenging.
“The bridge, located in the Sahyadri region, presented extreme challenges, including narrow ridges that left little room for heavy machinery, sudden wind speeds reaching up to 100 kmph, and dense fog reducing visibility to a few metres. Despite these conditions, we are proud to deliver this engineering marvel,” he said.
The expressway, spanning approximately 95 km, holds the distinction of being India's first access-controlled highway.
