Latest news with #SushilKumar
India Gazette
a day ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
Uttarakhand panchayat elections to be held in two phases from July 24
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], June 28 (ANI): The State Election Commission in Uttarakhand on Saturday issued a notification regarding the conduct of panchayat elections in 12 districts of the state, except Haridwar. The notification signed by Sushil Kumar, Uttarakhand State Election Commissioner, comes after the Nainital High Court on Friday permitted the continuation of the panchayat election process, lifting its earlier stay order issued on June 23. According to the notification, the three-tier panchayat elections will be held in two phases in the state. Voting under the first phase will take place on July 24, and voting under the second phase will take place on July 28. The counting of votes will be done on July 31. The dates for filing nomination papers for the panchayat elections are set from July 2 to July 5. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be carried out from July 7 to July 9. The dates for withdrawing nominations are set from July 10 to July 11. 'Therefore, exercising the powers conferred in Article 243-K of the 'Constitution of India', I, Sushil Kumar, State Election Commissioner, Uttarakhand, hereby direct that the elections of members of all the Gram Panchayats, Pradhans of Gram Panchayats, members of Area Panchayats and members of District Panchayats of 12 (twelve) districts of Uttarakhand State (except District Haridwar) will be conducted...' the notification read. On Friday, after hearing the reservation roster and other documents presented by the government in the Nainital High Court, the division bench of Chief Justice G. Narendra and Justice Alok Mehra agreed to proceed with the process of panchayat elections. It must be noted that after the announcement of panchayat elections on June 21, on June 23, the High Court gave a big blow by staying the elections and seeking answers from the government on many points, including reservation. However, an important hearing was held in the Uttarakhand High Court on Friday regarding the much-awaited three-tier panchayat elections in Uttarakhand. While hearing the petitions filed by the petitioners, the court has given interim relief to the state government and allowed it to conduct the panchayat elections. During the hearing, the advocates on behalf of the state government informed the court that full preparations have been made for the panchayat elections and the legal process has been followed. At the same time, the petitioners raised some technical and constitutional issues. After hearing the arguments of both parties, the court refused to stay the elections for the time being and clarified that the election process can move forward. (ANI)
Techday NZ
4 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Harness launches AI Test Automation for faster DevOps testing
Harness has announced the general availability of its AI Test Automation product, aiming to address the challenges of software testing in fast-paced DevOps environments. According to Harness, the AI Test Automation solution has been developed in response to the increasing strain placed on QA and DevOps teams as organisations speed up feature delivery via AI-generated code. These accelerated product cycles have heightened the demand for faster, more resilient testing approaches, with many organisations still largely reliant on manual processes. Testing bottlenecks The company cited industry statistics showing that although significant investment is made in software QA, around 70 to 80% of organisations continue to use manual testing methods. These approaches, Harness noted, have become key obstacles in automated delivery pipelines, introducing both delays and additional risk by failing to keep pace with changes to software and infrastructure. AI Test Automation incorporates automated, self-healing testing designed to adapt to real-time changes in user interfaces, workflows, and environmental variables. Automated tests are maintained without manual intervention, replacing what the company terms "outdated" test frameworks with a more adaptive approach. Intent-based testing The solution allows users to create tests in natural language with no need for code scripting, using what Harness describes as intent-based test creation. QA and development personnel can type test descriptions, such as "Did the login succeed?", while the AI system generates, validates, and maintains the necessary test cases. Visual testing features and adaptive selectors are advertised as cutting test creation time by up to 90% and reducing test flakiness by up to 70%. Sushil Kumar, Head of Business, AI Test Automation at Harness, said: Traditional testing methods struggled to keep up, it is too manual, fragile, and slow. So we've reimagined testing with AI. Intent-based testing brings greater intelligence and adaptability to automation, and it seamlessly integrates into your delivery pipeline. The platform includes live test authoring, visual testing, and automated assertion generation. Tests may be maintained automatically when UI or workflow changes occur, using AI-generated selectors and Smart Selector technology. Automatic translation of environment variables is designed to enable stable tests to run across different environments without reconfiguration. Efficiency and integration Harness AI Test Automation operates within the company's existing CI/CD pipelines to promote a shift-left testing strategy. The product supports parallel test execution and data-driven workflows at scale, while maintaining security requirements such as SOC 2 Type 2 compliance. For advanced scenarios, users can still leverage custom JavaScript or Puppeteer scripts, combining no-code capabilities with traditional flexibility. The system's automated approach is intended to help organisations optimise their resources. Several customers reported notable benefits in time savings and test coverage. For example, Wasimil, a hotel booking and management platform, reported halving its test maintenance time and doubling its automation coverage. Customer feedback Rohan Gupta, Principal Product Manager at Harness, described the internal usage of the solution: With AI Test Automation, I just literally wrote out and wireframed all the test cases, and in a matter of 15–20 minutes, I was able to knock out one test. Using the templating functionality, we were able to come up from a suite of 0 to 55 tests in the span of 2 and a half weeks. Amrita Majumder, Lead QA Engineer at Siemens Healthineers, shared a similar experience: We could just see in the browser exactly where it went wrong and directly edit that step. That was really fast and quick. Tom, CTO at Wasimil, commented on the impact on product development focus: With AI Test Automation, we could ship features, not just bug fixes. We don't wanna spend 30 to 40% of our engineering resources on fixing bugs because we can't be proud to ship bug fixes to our customers. Right? And they expect features, not bug fixes. Industry positioning Harness states that the AI Test Automation product achieves a fully automated software delivery platform within a single environment, supporting automated build, test, and deployment workflows. The company highlights reported outcomes including faster test creation, reduced maintenance, accelerated release cycles, and improved developer experience in enterprise software environments.
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
1st FASTag barrier in high Himalayan region opens
A FASTag barrier has been made operational near the Badrinath Dham at a staggering altitude of 10,279 feet — a first in a high Himalayan region. The new system allows for digital payment of ecotourism fees for all passenger vehicles. District Magistrate Sandeep Tewari virtually inaugurated the barrier. Highlighting the need for the barrier, he expressed, 'A manual collection (of fees) meant long queues of vehicles, causing inconvenience to the pilgrims.' He had long advocated for its installation in the area in line with the NHIDCL guidelines to streamline pilgrim movement. State's charm captivates foreign dignitaries A delegation of ambassadors and high commissioners from eight nations that arrived in Bhararisain, Uttarakhand's summer capital, on International Yoga Day were left spellbound by the region's pristine natural beauty, lush green valleys and clean environment. And why wouldn't they be? Upon their arrival at the Assembly complex, the dignitaries were greeted with a vibrant display of the hill state's rich folk culture — a Chholiya dance performance. Mesmerised by the scenic vistas and traditional welcome, the guests waxed poetic about Gairsain, describing the unique blend of culture and natural splendour as 'rich in every aspect'. Election proceedings for panchayat polls put off Uttarakhand State Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar has indefinitely postponed all election proceedings, including nominations for the proposed three-tier panchayat elections. The decision follows an order of the Uttarakhand High Court issued on Monday. In the case of 'Ganesh Dutt Kandpal vs the State of Uttarakhand', the court ruled that 'due to the promulgation of reservation rules for panchayat elections not being notified, reservation determination and the entire proceedings related to it are postponed till further orders'. The nominations were originally scheduled to be held from Wednesday to Saturday. Narendra sethi Our correspondent in Uttarakhand narendrasethi@
India Gazette
6 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
Uttarakhand High Court stays Panchayat Elections over reservation disputes
Nainital (Uttarakhand) [India], June 23 (ANI): The Chief Justice's Bench of the Nainital High Court has stayed the Panchayat elections in the state of Uttarakhand. Two days ago, the State Election Commission announced that it would conduct Panchayat elections in two phases. The Uttarakhand High Court has stayed the notification of Panchayat elections in the state. Reservation-related matters from many places in the state were challenged in the High Court. During the last hearing, the Chief Justice's Bench of the High Court had directed the state government to submit its reply in the matter, on which a detailed reply was submitted by the state government today on reservation and other matters. After hearing about it, the High Court stayed the Panchayat elections. This comes after Uttarakhand State Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar on Saturday had announced that the Panchayat elections 2025 will be held in two phases across 12 districts, except Haridwar. He also said that the first phase of the 2025 Panchayat elections in Uttarakhand will be held on July 10, followed by the second phase on July 15. Speaking to ANI, Sushil Kumar said, 'In Uttarakhand, with the exception of the Haridwar district, a notification has been issued for the three-tier Panchayat elections 2025 across 12 districts. The counting of votes will occur on 19 July 2025, and the results will be announced thereafter.' Nominations will be accepted from June 25 to 28, and the Model Code of Conduct is now in effect across the state. 'The schedule is as follows: District Officers will release their notification on 23 June, and the nomination process will take place from 25 June to 28 June. Elections will occur in two phases. The first voting phase will be held on the 10th of July, and the second phase will be held on the 15th of July. Thus, the Model Code of Conduct will be effective in the state,' Kumar said. (ANI)
India Today
7 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Court puts Uttarakhand local polls on hold over lack of clarity in reservation
The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday put an interim stay on the upcoming Panchayati Raj elections in the state, citing ambiguity over reservation its order, the court observed that the state government had failed to present a clear stance on the issue of reservation in panchayat bodies. The court noted that due to this lack of clarity, it was compelled to put a hold on the election court order came a day after the Uttarakhand State Election Commission notified the schedule for three-tier panchayat elections. State Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar had announced that polling across 12 districts would be held on July 10, with counting scheduled for July nomination process was set to begin on June 25, with the last date for filing papers being June 28. Scrutiny of nominations was to take place between June 29 and July 1, while election symbols were to be allotted on July the notification issued, the Model Code of Conduct had also come into force and was to remain in effect until the results were declared.
