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topicnews · October 17, 2024

Mohandas Pai restarts the North-South debate on the Union government’s new AI centers of excellence, Sridhar Vembu responds in kind

Mohandas Pai restarts the North-South debate on the Union government’s new AI centers of excellence, Sridhar Vembu responds in kind

Mohandas Pai, through a post on

In a post by The Uttar Pradesh Index, Pai tagged Union Ministers D Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw and asked why no center of excellence had been announced in South India. He said: “…nothing in Bengaluru, the tech capital of India? Why are you and
@AshwiniVaishnaw ignores South in IT, ignores Bengaluru? Aren’t we also part of Bharat?”

In response, Padma Shri awardee and billionaire founder Sridhar Vembu streamlined the three Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in Uttar Pradesh. In a lengthy post on

“I ask people not to engage in north-south politics here,” he wrote.

He wrote a follow-up post refuting Pai and saying that the selected consortia had South Indian institutions. He informed that “the AI ​​CoE on Health led by AIIMS consortium includes IISc Bengaluru and IIT Chennai”.

To those who rejected his justification, Vembu took the time to respond.

The Union government on October 15 announced three CoE’s: one in healthcare jointly led by IIT-Delhi and AIIMS-Delhi, one on agriculture led by IIT-Ropar and the CoE on sustainable cities led by IIT- Kanpur. The news of CoEs was welcomed by many. One user said, “The AI ​​CoE will help Indian cities in sustainable development.”

As for Pai, there were few supporters. One

But most X users disagreed with Pai’s arguments for bringing a CoE to Bengaluru. One X user said that other cities also needed opportunities and benefits.

Another

An X user named Ullas Chirikandoth expressed a similar opinion and said Bengaluru is already well developed in the IT sector.

X user named Swayam Tewari said that Uttar Pradesh needs massive support in terms of infrastructure.

Some of them were completely critical of Pai’s stance towards Bengaluru. One X user told him to “set up infrastructure” and said Bengaluru has “enough”.

Another supported this argument, writing that Bengaluru has “reached its boiling point” and that it is a “living hell” for those “on the streets”.

An X user named Bharat said that “IT oligarchs shouldn’t be so selfish.”

Published on:

Oct 17, 2024

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