Airtel offers Perplexity Pro subscription worth ₹17,000/ year for free to all users
Bharti Airtel has announced a partnership with Perplexity. Airtel will offer a free Perplexity Pro subscription to its users. This offer is for all Airtel mobile, Wi-Fi, and DTH subscribers. The Perplexity Pro subscription includes advanced AI tools. It provides enhanced search, research, and productivity features. Airtel users can avail this offer through the Airtel Thanks App.
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New Indian Express
5 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Airtel, Jio perform Aadhaar face verification without consent for SIM cards
Taslima Begam*, a resident of TNHB Colony in Anna Nagar, said staff at the Airtel and Reliance Jio showrooms in Anna Nagar asked for her Aadhaar number when she approached for a new SIM. 'They then began clicking my pictures. A few minutes later, they told my husband that I needed to update my Aadhaar to proceed with the SIM purchase. At no point did they ask for fingerprint authentication, which I had used two years ago.' She also pointed out that she has been regularly using biometric verification of Aadhaar for purchases at fair price shops. S Chandran*, a lecturer from Mogappair, shared a similar experience. 'While buying a new SIM for my cousin, the staff held a phone in front of her face and asked her to blink. The screen displayed a tick mark. I assumed they were taking her photograph. When I asked the Airtel staff why fingerprint verification was not done, they said the process was over. No one mentioned that face authentication was done.' A union government employee from Padi recounted, 'At the Airtel showroom in Korattur, the staff who captured a photo of my friend asked him to unlock his Aadhaar on his mobile app. Only then did I realise it was face authentication and not clicking of a picture' An Airtel spokesperson acknowledged that there had been a 'communication gap' among showroom staff and said that, effective July 30 (Wednesday), fingerprint authentication has been implemented in Chennai. 'The staff concerned had been instructed not to deny SIM cards to anyone because of failed face authentication,' the spokesperson added. A Reliance Jio spokesperson, however, said face authentication is 'mandatory' for SIM replacements, while it is merely advisory for new connections. However, the spokesperson did not clarify why face authentications were being done without seeking consent. Official sources in the DoT confirmed to TNIE that Aadhaar authentication has been made mandatory for issuing new SIM cards from January this year. However, a SIM card cannot be denied solely on the basis of failed face authentication. 'Aadhaar authentication includes OTP, fingerprint, and iris scan. If any specific complaints are received, they will be looked into,' an official said. Violates UIDAI guidelines The practice, followed by Airtel and jio for the past one year, is in violation of UIDAI's guidelines, which say face authentication is 'consent based' and it is one among the many modes of authentication, which includes fingerprints, iris, and OTP. However, this was not followed by other prominent players in the market when TNIE checked (*names changed)
Mint
7 hours ago
- Mint
India is losing its best and brightest
Could Aravind Srinivas have achieved his full potential by remaining in India instead of moving to Silicon Valley? The co-founder and CEO of the AI-powered search engine Perplexity, which Mr. Srinivas, 31, describes as 'a marriage of Wikipedia and ChatGPT," is the latest tech superstar to be feted by the Indian media. Following a new round of funding this month, Perplexity is valued at $18 billion. Early investors in the startup include Jeff Bezos, former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan. Mr. Srinivas sees search engine behemoth Google as ripe for disruption. On one level, the answer is obvious. Mr. Srinivas couldn't have built a cutting-edge tech company in India, but neither could he have done so in France, Brazil or Russia. The unique mix of talented engineers and risk-taking investors that defines Silicon Valley doesn't exist anywhere else on the planet. But Mr. Srinivas's story also highlights an issue that Indians tend to overlook. The Indian media has published countless laudatory stories about Indian tech titans in the West. According to the Times of India, for instance, the roots of Mr. Srinivas's success lie in his mother's early encouragement to study one day at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in his hometown, Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Among educated Indians, Google's Sundar Pichai, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, IBM's Arvind Krishna and Adobe's Shantanu Narayen—all Indian-born tech CEOs—are household names. Sanjaya Baru, an Indian author and journalist, believes Indians are too sanguine about a sustained brain drain from their country. In a new book, 'Secession of the Successful," he points out that nearly 1.9 million Indians renounced their citizenship between 2011 and 2023. That's a small fraction of India's 1.45 billion people, but it includes some of the country's most talented engineers, doctors and scientists. Since independence in 1947, no Indian working in India has won a Nobel Prize in science or a Fields medal, the equivalent in mathematics. The last Indian in India to win a Nobel Prize for science was the physicist C.V. Raman in 1930. A 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research paper found that of the top 1,000 students who cleared the grueling nationwide entrance exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology in 2010, 36% had migrated eight years later, mostly to the U.S. At the very top—the top 10 students to clear the exam that year—the migration rate was 90%. 'It's not accurate to look at this as a pinprick on an elephant," Mr. Baru says in a phone interview from Hyderabad. 'Why has no Indian government been able to get some of the top guns to come back?" Why do so many Indians leave and so few go back? Economic opportunity plays a big part. In purchasing power parity terms, which takes into account the lower cost of most goods and services in poor countries, India's gross domestic product per capita of $11,000 is roughly an eighth of America's $86,000. But it isn't only about money. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, an Indian-born scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009, has pointed out that a lack of infrastructure, excessive bureaucratic and political interference, and overly complex rules make it hard for India to attract scientific talent. India spends only 0.6% to 0.7% of its GDP on research, a far smaller fraction than the U.S. or China. Urban squalor is another problem. The flashy Delhi suburb of Gurugram (formerly Gurgaon) pays a large chunk of the state of Haryana's taxes. But due to a lack of urban planning, and a political class beholden to voters in the countryside, Gurugram lacks a proper drainage system. Videos of luxury cars in Gurugram drowning in murky brown rainwater are a staple of Indian social media. The richest neighborhoods of Bangalore feature garbage rotting on the streets. Delhi has some of the most expensive real estate in Asia and some of the least breathable air in the world. India's failure to retain and attract global talent has geopolitical implications. Over the past two decades, China, with which India shares a disputed 2,200-mile border, has moved aggressively to attract global scientific talent to its shores. In 2008 the Chinese government launched the Thousand Talents Plan to bring top-tier scientific talent to China. Since then scores of high-profile scientists, many of Chinese origin, have moved to Chinese universities and laboratories. The Nature Index, which tracks 'high-quality" research, counts 45 Chinese universities in the top 100. (The U.S. has 31.) The highest ranked Indian institution, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, is ranked 212. Mr. Baru believes that rising anti-immigrant sentiment in the West may make it easier for India to retain or attract back some of its smartest people. But arguably the deeper cause—a political and intellectual culture geared toward redistributive justice rather than individual excellence—may be hard to overcome.
India.com
10 hours ago
- India.com
Masterstroke by Mukesh Ambani: Jio launches monthly plans under Rs…, 2GB daily data, Jio TV and more
Masterstroke by Mukesh Ambani: Jio launches monthly plans under Rs…, 2GB daily data, Jio TV and more Jio Cheapest 28 Days Plans: Private telecom service providers like Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea have increased prices of their tariff plans. Now, it has become very difficult for the users, especially school and college goers, to find the right recharge plan on a low budget every month. However, Jio still provides several budget plans for its users, that too under Rs 300 only. These plans are beneficial for users who want unlimited data and free calling without spending more money, and also want to keep their secondary SIM active. Let's know about such best Jio prepaid recharge plans, which are priced at less than Rs 300. Jio Cheapest 28 Days Plans: Rs 198 Plan This plan is beneficial for those users whose data usage is pretty high. The Rs 198 plan offers 2GB data per day with a validity of 14 days. It means the user will get a total of 28GB of high-speed data for 14 days. Users will also get unlimited calling and 100 daily SMS which they can send to any number. Access to Jio TV, Cinema and Cloud apps is also available for free. Jio Cheapest 28-Day Plans: Rs 199 Plan In Rs 199 plan, users will get a validity of 18 days and 1.5 GB of high-speed data daily. It means the user will get a total of 27 GB of high-speed data for 18 days. The plan also offers unlimited calling and 100 SMS daily. Not only that, but the facility of Jio TV, Cinema, and Cloud is also provided with this plan. Jio Cheapest 28-Day Plans: Rs 209 Plan The Rs 209 plan offers 1GB of high-speed data daily for 22 days, totalling 22GB. It also includes unlimited calling to all networks and 100 SMS per day. Users also get access to Jio TV, Jio Cinema, and Jio Cloud with this plan. Jio Cheapest 28-Day Plans: Rs 239 Plan This plan offers 1.5 GB of data per day with unlimited calling on all networks. Users will also get 100 free SMS daily. The plan's validity is 22 days. The Rs 239 plan is for those users who need a little more data. Jio Cheapest 28-Day Plans: Rs 249 Plan The users will get 1 GB of high-speed data for 28 days with unlimited voice calling. Like other plans, users will also get 100 SMS daily with Rs 249 plan. This plan is best for those users whose data requirements is less. Jio Cheapest 28-Day Plans: Rs 299 Plan This 28-day plan provides 1.5GB of data each day, which means a total of 42GB high-speed data for 28 days. Similar to other plans, Rs 299 plan also includes unlimited calling, 100 SMS daily, and access to all Jio applications.
