Latest news with #Copra
New Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Coconut oil prices surge 300% in a year amid sharp decline in production
NEW DELHI: Coconut oil prices in India have surged 300% over the past year, prompting the country's top oilseed association to urge the government to allow imports to stabilise the market. Farmers are reporting yield reductions of up to 40% as coconut production has declined over the last two years, while demand has risen sharply. The drop in production has been attributed to severe heat between March and May 2024, along with pest attacks that have affected the health of coconut trees and disrupted supply this year. At the wholesale level, coconut oil prices have crossed Rs. 400 per kilogram, compared to around Rs. 130 per kilogram a year ago. Kerala, a key consumer market, is reportedly showing signs of turning away. The Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), an oilseed extraction traders' body representing the vegetable oil industry and trade in India, said in a statement that the coconut oil sector is currently in turmoil, with prices having tripled in the past 12 months. 'We request the Government to take urgent actions to address this situation by allowing imports of Copra and Coconut Oil Price for Interim Period,' said Sanjeev Asthana, President of SEA, in a letter to the Government of India. The SEA further stated that import concessions should be allowed for an interim period of 6–12 months, with the sole objective of managing the current demand crisis and retaining consumer interest in coconut oil. According to the letter, interim measures would not impact domestic coconut growers. 'This measure is not likely to impact farmers in any way adversely; rather, this will stabilise prices and will be helpful for farmers in the long term,' states the letter. The SEA noted that soaring prices may drive households towards alternative oils such as palm and sunflower. It also warned that adulteration is becoming increasingly prevalent due to rising prices, and trust in coconut oil is beginning to erode. 'The current situation is impacting all the stakeholders in this sector adversely,' said Asthana.
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Can AI ‘think'? In a few years, this won't be a question any more, says one Indian researcher
Swarat Chaudhuri was obsessed with puzzles as a child, he says. Growing up in Kolkata, he spent the afternoons solving every number pyramid and word jumble he could find in local publications. He then graduated to Bengali translations of the American mathematician Martin Gardner's popular-science books on math, logic and puzzles. Chaudhuri dreamed of a world in which he could solve puzzles for a living. That is, more or less, what he now does, as a researcher and professor of computer science at the University of Texas, Austin. One of the puzzles he's working on is particularly crucial. It is the question of whether artificial intelligence can actually expand the scale of human knowledge. Here's how Chaudhuri, 46, is going about it: At his Trishul lab at the university, he has developed an AI program called COPRA (short for In-Context Prover Agent) that works with large language models (in this case, GPT-4), to prove mathematical theorems. That may not sound like much fun, but here's what waits down the line. As the two systems work together, Chaudhuri's eventual aim is for Copra to propose new math problems of its own, and then work to solve them. This would be a crucial step towards determining whether AI can emulate the curiosity-driven explorative nature of the human mind. It would go some way towards answering questions such as: Could AI eventually co-author a scientific paper? In other words: Can an AI program reach beyond what it knows, in order to not just connect dots in new ways (they are already doing this) but to reach out and gather more dots to add to the matrix? (Dots that we may not have factored in at all.) 'This would mean a big leap, from the AI engines we see around us, which deal in available data and perform somewhat repetitive tasks, to a system that uses a lot more logic and can perform 'superhuman' tasks,' he says. *** That 'superhuman' bit is what interests him, because it would mean newer and faster solutions to some of our most pressing problems. Such programs could potentially alter how we view our world, and navigate it. New maths problems would be just the start. Down the line, he believes, these programs could be collaborators working alongside researchers. 'They could be like curious children stepping out to find things on their own and figure out what works and what doesn't,' he says. With the help of such a program, small start-ups and lone tinkerers could take on giant puzzles such as cleaner energy and urban planning. New answers could emerge to questions such as: How do we move large numbers of people from Point A to Point B and back every day? How do we address the issue of solar cells having such a short lifespan? Or, how can we better manage indoor temperature control, amid the climate crisis? *** Chaudhuri has been at this for a while. In 2017, he and his students created Bayou, an early AI-led tool that could build code based only on text prompts. That early win set the stage for his current Copra system of AI agents. Chaudhuri has now been awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, for his body of work and for the projects he is leading on 'open-ended mathematical discovery'. He knew early on, he says, that the path to the world's greatest and gravest puzzles lay through the world of computing. After school, he studied computer science and enrolled at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur. After college, he began studying neural networks — which are types of programs that seek to mimic the dot-connecting capabilities of the human brain, rather than relying on the linear (this-therefore-that) progressions that guide traditional software. At this time, 20 years ago, the idea that a computer could one day sift through options and pick the right one, rather than spit out a ready answer that had been fed to it, was considered outlandish. Today, of course, all LLMs do it. It's how ChatGPT converses; how Midjourney and Sora creates their eerily realistic images and videos. *** Five years from now (if not sooner), Chaudhuri believes it will be as common for AI programs to 'think' in ways that more closely mimic the human brain, and to have superhuman abilities in many areas of human activity. A switch to renewable resources will be vital, to lessen the environmental impact of the server farms and data centres that support such systems, he adds. What's something he believes even this advanced version of AI would struggle to do? Create profound art, Chaudhuri says. For the simple reason that the arts are driven, perhaps more than any other human endeavour, by the artist's lived experience of the world. 'It is unlikely that AI will start writing like Rabindranath Tagore or churning out innovative movie scripts because, to produce something like literature, the constantly shifting inputs from the world and the interaction of the artist with the world are vital,' Chaudhuri says. 'That level of input is a long way away for AI.'
Business Journals
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Three new Bay Area restaurants join Michelin Guide
Following his San Francisco restaurant Copra, chef Srijith "Sri" Gopinathan is back in the Michelin star discussion again with Eylan, opened with business partner Ayesha Thapar in January at The Villa Menlo Park.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Terre Haute cosmetologist given Lifesaving Award by police and fire department
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Wednesday afternoon, a Lifesaving Award was presented to a cosmetologist in Terre Haute. On December 23, 2024, cosmetologist for Shez Amee Salon, Andrea Copra, noticed that one of her clients, Shawnette Stephens, was not breathing. 'I got her down on the ground and started administering CPR and chest compressions until the Terre Haute police and fire departments took over and saved her life,' said Copra. Copra said she is very glad that she had taken CPR classes in the past. 'I have done CPR training before, and I just knew that the longer they are without a pulse and not breathing, the quicker you need to react, so I just reacted,' said Wednesday, Terre Haute Fire and Police presented Copra a Lifesaving Award. She said that she appreciates the recognition for her actions, but all she cares about is that her client and friend is still here. 'I don't feel like I am overwhelmed with the gratitude as much as I am happy,' said Copra. 'I'm happy that she is here and I'm happy that I did it.' Indiana Gov. Braun introduces new property tax bill However, Stephens said that Copra deserves all of the recognition in the world. 'I am happy that she is getting the recognition that she deserves for saving my life as I will be eternally grateful to her for this,' said Stephens. She believes it was a Christmas miracle that she gets to still be with her loving family. 'I believe that God wanted me to stay here a little longer,' said Stephens. 'I've got kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, so I needed to be around here a little bit longer.' Both Copra and Stephens said none of this would have been possible without all of the first responders who were there on this day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
