SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘INDIA OUTPERFORMS GLOBAL AVERAGE IN UN SUSTAINABILITY GOALS’ RUSSIAN DISSENTERS P8 P6 SENSEX 73,142.8015.45 WEATHER Sunshine along with some cloudy intervals. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 28 °C and 20°C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 71% Max: 28.3°C SUN RISES 06:02 hrs MOON RISES 17:33 hrs P7 ` vs $ 82.938 PAISE EAM cautions against ‘mind games’ by China Min: 20.5°C SUN SETS 17:37 hrs MOON SETS 05:59 hrs AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 23 FEBRUARY xternal Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar on Friday said that India should not give power to other countries to influence its policy changes and should be confident enough to "leverage the international system to create the best possible outcome" for itself. “Today, when I say think through your own solutions is don't give another country which is clearly a competitive country a veto over our policy changes. Unfortunately, in past, it has happened. We should be confident enough to leverage the international system to create the best possible outcome," he said while participating a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue 2024 in the national capital. Addressing a question on India-China bilateral relations, the External Affairs minister said that the biggest challenge for both the countries would be that instead of getting E New Moon on 24 February THUMBNAILS Elderly men pose for a selfie amidst the blooming tulips at Lodhi Garden, in New Delhi on Friday.  ANI MEA responds to Indians caught in conflict in Russia, urges caution: Responding to the reports of Indian nationals forced to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that it is aware of the matter and urged the community there to exercise due caution. "We are aware that a few Indian nationals have signed up for support jobs with the Russian army," Randhir Jaiswal, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, said in a statement. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar speaks during a panel discussion on 'The Wonk Tank: Where Expertise Meets Authority' at the 9th edition of the Raisina Dialogue 2024, in New Delhi on Friday.  ANI caught up in "mind games", India should harness other factors to get better terms to arrive at an equilibrium and then maintain it. He said that the immediate issue between India and China was the latter's decision to make a departure from border agreements put in place in the late 1980s. “There was a departure after almost after 30 years, a departure on their side in terms of how they behaved on the border. And there is a pushback from Google’s AI chatbot Gemini violates India’s IT laws: Rajeev Chandrasekhar AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 23 FEBRUARY our side. So,I think arriving at equiluibriums then maintaining those is going to be one of the biggest challenges for both countries. It is not going to be easy,” Mr Jaishankar said. “The mind games which were being played, would be just between the two of us (India and China), there is nobody, other 190 odd countries in the world don't exist in our relationship. That will be the mind game which will be played. I don't think we should play it. Because if there are other factors out there in the world, which can be harnessed by me to get better terms on an equilibrium. Why should I forgo that right?” the minister said. “The problem is both of us are rising at a different pace with different starting point. the Chinese started off earlier, much more intensively and robustly than we did. but it's in the nature of things that you know at some stage everybody flattens out. there will be period where they will be flattening out and we will be growing. I am not in denial of what would be the stage. look for example at the Goldman Sachs prediction, we will both really to by about 2075 end up and its USD 50 trillion-dollar economy and will be the too closest to each other,” he added. On 19 February, India and China held the 21st round Corps Commander level meeting at the Chushul-Moldo border to defuse tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh since the standoff between the two countries in May 2020. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi passes away LOS ANGELES, 23 FEBRUARY Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday expressed concern over the potential violation of Indian IT laws by Google's Gemini AI chatbot. His reaction comes after users on the social media platform X posted Gemini AI responses regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other well-known political figures from other countries. "This #GeminiAI from @google is not just woke, it's downright malicious @GoogleIndia. The GOI should take note," a user wrote who responded to the post containing Gemini AI's responses on political figures. To which, Chandrasekhar replied: “These are direct violations of Rule 3(1)(b) of Intermediary Rules (IT rules) of the IT act and violations of several provisions of the Criminal code. @GoogleAI @GoogleIndia @GoI_MeitY." The issue was raised by verified account of a journalist alleging bias in Google Gemini in response to a question on Modi while it gave no clear answer when a similar question was asked for former US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Some news portals have reported that the IT Ministry is in the process of issuing a notice to Google over the “problematic” responses generated by its AI platform Gemini regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier this week, Google paused the ability for Gemini AI to generate images of people, as controversy erupted over inaccuracies in AIgenerated historical images. The controversy erupted when images generated by Gemini AI depicted specific white figures (like the US ‘Founding Fathers’) Naziera German soldiers as “people of colour”. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have also accused Google of running "racist, anti-civilisational programming" with its artificial intelligence (AI) models. Former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi passed away on Friday following a cardiac arrest, family sources said. He was 86. He was admitted to P D Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai onWednesday. In a statement, the hospital said the veteran leader was severely ill upon admission. The statement also indicated that he suffered a cardiac event and was under close observation by medical professionals. "My father had been admitted to the ICU and was under observation. He had cardiac trouble on Wednesday. He had prolonged age-related health issues. He passed away in the early hours of Friday. We will be performing the last rites at Shivaji Park crematorium and before this, the mortal remains will be brought to our house in Matunga," Joshi's son Unmesh told SEE PAGE 5 reporters. Govt tweaks rules to make life easier for power consumers STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 23 FEBRUARY The Centre has approved amendments to the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, with Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy R K Singh (in photo) saying the amendments further reduce the timeline for getting new electricity connections and simplify the process of setting up rooftop solar installations. The minister informed that the amendments empower consumers living in multistoreyed flats in choosing their connection type and ensure separate billing for common areas and back-up generators in residential societies, thus enhancing transparency. The amendments also provide for check meters to be installed by distribution companies in case of consumer complaints, to verify elec- tricity consumption, he said. The government has said that the major amendments aim at facilitating easier and faster installation of rooftop solar systems; separate connections for electric vehicle charging stations; new connections and change in existing connections to be obtained faster; additional rights for consumers in residential colonies and flats; and mandatory additional meter in cases of complaints. The amendments facilitate faster installation and enhance the ease of setting up rooftop solar PV systems at the premises of prosumers. Exemption has been given for the requirement of technical feasibility study, for systems up to a capacity of 10 kW. For systems of capacity higher than 10 kW, the timeline for completing the feasibility study has been reduced from twenty days to fifteen days. Further, in case the study is not completed within the stipulated time, the approval will be deemed to have been given. Additionally, it has now been mandated that the distribution system strengthening necessary for rooftop solar PV systems up to 5 kW capacity will be done by the distribution company at its own cost. Further, the timeline for the distribution licensee to commission rooftop solar PV systems has been reduced from thirty days to fifteen days. Also, with the new arrangement at place, the consumers can now obtain separate electricity connections for charging their electric vehicles (EVs). This aligns with the country's goal of reducing carbon emissions and reaching Net Zero by the year 2070. CMYK P12 SILVER 74,500 GOLD 63,885.00 ‘India should not give power to other nations to influence its policy changes’ Min. 58% TEMPERATURE NIFTY 22,212.704.75 ROOT’S 31ST TEST TON HELPS ENGLAND PAST 300-RUN MARK ‘CONGRESS WILL IMPROVE N-E TALLY' BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 80.581.41 LS poll schedule likely to be out on 13-14 March AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 23 FEBRUARY The Election Commission of India (ECI) is expected to announce the schedule for the upcoming parliamentary elections around 13-14 March. The model code of conduct (MCC) will come into effect after the ECI makes the announcement. ECI teams have so far visited several states and held meetings with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to take stock of the poll preparedness there. The ECI officials are currently visiting Tamil Nadu, where they are taking a detailed view of the election-related preparations by the state machinery. In the coming week, the ECI will visit Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Sources told IANS news agency that the full Commission would visit Jammu and Kashmir on 11-12 March to assess the poll preparedness and the security scenario there. J&K is last on the ECI’s schedule to visit different states to take a firsthand view of the situation and issue necessary directions. US makes first lunar landing in over 50 yrs AGENCIES LOS ANGELES, 23 FEBRUARY Private US company Intuitive Machines' lunar lander touched down on the moon early Friday morning, making the first American spacecraft to land on the lunar surface in more than 50 years. The uncrewed lander, named Odysseus, landed at the lunar South Pole on Thursday at 6.23 p.m. Eastern Time (4.53 a.m. India time), according to NASA. Odysseus carries NASA science and other commercial payloads to the moon. The spacecraft was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday last week from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, codenamed IM-1, marks Intuitive Machines' first robotic flight to the moon's surface. The scientific objectives of the mission include studies of plumesurface interactions, radio astronomy, and space weather interactions with the lunar surface.