Monthly Archives: February 2022

By ending self-isolation, Boris Johnson is gambling with all our lives – The Independent

Posted: February 21, 2022 at 5:43 pm

Contemplating the worrying news that the Queen has got Covid, and the even more worrying news that she and many other vulnerable people are to have their last community protections against Covid abolished on Thursday, I remembered something Dominic Cummings once said about the prime ministers attitude towards his sovereign lady, and everyone else of a certain age.

In his BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg last year, Cummings told her about how Johnson displayed a cavalier attitude (if thats the apt expression) towards the Queens wellbeing.

Looking back at the early stages of the pandemic, pre-vaccine and with much uncertainty about this asymptomatic disease, Cummings described how he had to almost physically restrain Johnson from going to see the Queen for his weekly audience. It was a moment when, as he might put it now, he was casting caution to the winds.

On 18 March 2020, the prime minister declared to his startled aide: Im going to see the Queen... Thats what I do every Wednesday. Sod this. Im going to go and see her. Cummings pleaded with him, presumably also preparing his own defence in any future regicide case: Theres people in this office who are isolating. You might have coronavirus. I might have coronavirus. You cant go and see the Queen. What if you go and see her and give the Queen coronavirus? You obviously cant go."

He told Kuenssberg: I just said, if you... give her coronavirus and she dies, what are you gonna do, you cant do that, you cant risk that, thats completely insane. And he said, he basically just hadnt thought it through, he said, yeah, holy s***, I cant go.

Johnsons current expressions of sympathy towards her majesty have to be placed in that context. After Cummings spoke out, Downing Street issued a routinely worthless denial that the conversation ever took place, but it chimes with what we know about Johnson.

We know he initially thought (as admittedly, many of us did) that the coronavirus was just another scare story like bird flu, which youd only catch if you managed to snog a duck. We know that he didnt buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. We know he thought the disease mostly killed the economically inactive over-80s, so wasnt worth closing the economy down for. (Memo: Queen Elizabeth II was 93 at the beginning of the pandemic). We know he said words to the effect that he would rather let the bodies pile high than shut the economy down again, before he was forced to do so.

Judge them not by their words, but by their deeds. We also know that he and his team in Downing It Street didnt even take their own Covid laws seriously, because if Johnson and the Cool Gang thought they really might die of the disease, they wouldnt have behaved in the way they did. The defining experience Johnson had during the pandemic wasnt getting Covid and almost dying from it but that he actually survived it. He seems to regard Covid as just another inconvenient but inevitable fact of life, like a messy divorce, a hangover or being investigated by the Metropolitan Police. You can survive them all.

Its staggering to think that the prime minister might well have blithely given the Queen a fatal dose of the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic. But thats the kind of bloke I believe he is: selfish, impetuous, reckless. Thank goodness for Cummings, you have to say. After he left, there were even fewer restraints on Johnson.

In any case, Johnson hadnt, as he admitted to Cummings, thought it through. I doubt hes thought through getting rid of the Covid restrictions early. He announced the abolition in Prime Ministers Questions as a distraction technique no word from Sage whod not even discussed it.

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Common sense, that great Tory virtue, tells us that Omicron can still kill, and increasing social contact at work will increase infections, illness and hospitalisations, and indeed, more lives will be lost. It will mean we may not discover new more dangerous variants quickly enough. It will leave the pressure on the NHS. It will increase the risk of the virus circulating and mutating. All of those disastrous consequences may not befall us until the autumn, by which time he can blame the new vaccine-resistant variant on foreigners.

The shrewd calculation Johnson has made is political, not scientific or epidemiological. It will buy him enough popularity in his own party to save his leadership. The snide remark he made in his interview with Sophie Raworth lets get back to work was slipped in to appease the Tory papers who think working from home (ie what the Queen is doing) is actually skiving. He is giving his critics what they want, not what is good for the nations health.

His gamble may pay off for some months, until the summer and the Jubilee celebrations take everyones minds off that awful pandemic and the silly rows about cake and parties. But living with Covid shouldnt mean pretending it doesnt exist. It will be endemic, not a pandemic, but that doesnt mean its just like the flu. Its potentially more deadly. It is not "mild" and it hasnt disappeared, so living with it cant mean resetting to 2019.

It should mean minimising its continuing impact with modest, relatively low-cost measures that prevent localised outbreaks in workplaces and the like (such as Windsor Castle) masks, self-isolation, free testing and constant large-scale surveillance of the virus evolving DNA.

We need to keep pressing down on Covid, to save lives and indeed save the economy from another lockdown. Ending the remaining Covid community protections will make full lockdowns more likely in future. Or we can let Johnson gamble with other peoples lives.

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African American Studies Department hosts first colloquium of the year – Yale Daily News

Posted: at 5:43 pm

The department kicked off its Endeavors Colloquium with a panel called Black Activism Amidst Community Violence.

Dante Motley 12:12 am, Feb 18, 2022

Staff Reporter

Pranav Senthilvel, Contributing Photographer

The African American Studies Department held a panel discussion on Thursday titled Black Activism Amidst Community Violence, as the first event of the departments Endeavors Colloquium.

The panel was facilitated by professor of psychology and African American studies Philip Atiba Goff. It featured University of California, Berkeley African American studies professor Nikki Jones, pastor Michael McBride, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University Patrick Sharkey and presidential visiting assistant professor Brandon Terry. Their conversation focused on violence in recent times, including the Black Lives Matter movement and intra-community crime. Goff said that the conversation was framed around what activists and organizers can do in this moment to help minimize community violence.

The past two years have seen the largest single set of protests in human history by all accounts, Goff said at the event. They were around racial injustice in our public safety and policing systems in the United States, but they went global. Those protests and the organizing and activism that was in response to them has not stopped, and yet at the same time the lever, the pendulum of momentum have shifted in those two years.

Goff went on to speak about how, in reality, the changes resulting from those massive protests were much smaller in the national narrative. He added that the increased violence following various protests delegitimized the resulting changes for some people.

Goff emphasized that the murder spike is real, before questioning the true nature of that spike, then centering the conversation around Black liberation.

Im joining you at a moment that is really a reflective moment for me and thinking about what weve learned from the uprising of summer 2020 that especially in the context of policing over the course of my career and seeing for the first time intertwining uprisings against systemic racism and police violence, Jones said.

Jones discussed how the difference in police treatment towards Black Lives Matter protestors and those at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot revealed a significant disparity in the way that the police interact with various protestors.

McBride spoke about introducing new language to frame the conversation and asked how those who are advocating for change can create new language together to truly represent what they mean without having the conversation co-opted.

Something about our department colloquium is it is department-wide, Jacqueline Goldsby, chair of the Department of African American studies, said at the beginning of the event. Other departments tend to organize by subfields. But we bring everyone together because in African American studies when we approach questions and issues and plan-making we want to pursue it interdisciplinarily, bringing the disciplines together.

Goldsby said this year the series would focus on breakthrough ideas, breakthrough models, breakthrough provocations that are coming from the social sciences.

This event saw panelists testing new ideas and pushing each others thoughts in an effort to discuss rather than just project.

Its a space for incubating in fostering new ideas, new art, new scholarship, new ways to be engaged in community work, Goldsby said. And so, were really excited to be thinking at the end of whats happening in our respective disciplines but together to move the new ideas. To push the endeavors out, hence the title of our series.

On March 31, the department will be hosting a panel on the anthropology of abolition, facilitated by Aimee Cox.

Dante Motley covers Black communities at Yale and in New Haven. He is also an Associate Editor for the YDN Magazine and works on "The Yalie" podcast. He is a sophomore in Grace Hopper majoring in anthropology.

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What Is The Most Futuristic Car On Sale Today? – CarScoops

Posted: February 19, 2022 at 10:05 pm

Humans love looking towards the future and while many had predicted that we would all be piloting flying cars by now, there are still plenty of futuristic cars on the market right now. But which is the most futuristic of them all?

Of course, the term futuristic can refer to something using cutting-edge technology or perhaps featuring a bold, never-before-seen design and in an age of electrification, were starting to see car manufacturers push the boundaries of both technology and design. Whatever you consider to be futuristic, we want to hear from you below.

First Drive: The 2022 Kia EV6 Is The New EV Benchmark

While thinking about some of the most futuristic cars currently on sale (not including concept cars), one car that immediately jumps to mind is the Hyundai Ioniq 5. It is underpinned by the automakers E-GMP platform and features an 800-volt architecture, which is the most up-to-date system being used by EVs. Then theres the exterior design which has some retro-design influences but manages to look more like a spaceship than it does a typical automobile. The Ioniq 5s siblings, the Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60, are also very futuristic.

Another car that jumps to mind when thinking about the most futuristic vehicles on sale is the Lucid Air. It goes one step further than the Ioniq 5 by using a 900-volt architecture and also pushes the boundaries with both its unconventional exterior and interior designs.

A number of other high-performance EVs jump to mind when thinking about the most futuristic cars on sale. These include the likes of the Lotus Evija, Pininfarina Battista, and Rimac Nevera. At the other end of the spectrum is the Hyundai Staria which doesnt have the most advanced powertrain but certainly has a futuristic exterior design.

There are also a host of very futuristic cars coming out of China, none more so than the Human Horizons HiPhi X, and all-electric crossover/SUV and MPV-mix thats all-electric and available with a 96 kWh battery pack. Not only is the overall shape of the HiPhi X very intriguing but it also pushes the boundaries with complex front and rear lighting arrays. The interior is also very futuristic, thanks in part to the use of a complex digital instrument cluster, a portrait-oriented infotainment screen, and a large display directly in front of the front passenger.

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Bill Gates Says Yet Another Pandemic Is Coming – Futurism

Posted: at 10:05 pm

Image by Getty / Futurism

Its not even March yet and 2022 is already exhausting. Another pandemic on the way when the one were in isnt yet over? it sounds terrifying, but mega billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said we should be getting ready for just that. Gates spoke at Germanys annual Munich Security Conference on Friday and told reporters risk of severe disease from Covid-19 have dramatically reduced, but that a future pandemic is a near certainty.

Well have another pandemic, Gates told CNBCin a video of the conference. It will be a different pathogen next time.

Gates, through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, worked with the U.K.s Wellcome Trust and donated $300 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The goal is to deliver vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, but Gates says its too also late to reach the World Health Organizations goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the global population by mid-2022. Were coming close though, because 61.9 percent has received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to CNBC.

Gates said in the future, we need to prepare much more quickly for pandemics and roll out new vaccines in six months instead of setting goals over a two-year period.

The cost of being ready for the next pandemic is not that large. Its not like climate change, Gates told CNBC. If were rational, yes, the next time well catch it early.

While it sounds scary to think about a new pandemic, the course of human history backs up Gates claims. Diseases come and go, like the flu pandemic of 1918, and they adapt variants over time. It may seem a little strange that a computer company co-founder and certified nerd is the one pushing for healthcare around the world, but Gates has always been a complicated figure. In addition to very recent, public divorce with Melinda Gates that involved allegations of infidelity, Gates also has ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and has been the subject of an untold number of COVID conspiracy theories.

He mentioned some of those conspiracies in a blog post promoting his upcoming book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.

In the book, I lay out the specific steps we can take to not only stop future pandemics but, in the process, provide better health care for everyone around the world, Gates wrote in the post. I outline what its been like to become the subject of conspiracy theories.

Its kinda concerning that the worlds pandemic preparedness is falling to a less-than-perfect billionaire tech founder, but hey, somebodys got to do it. The current US administration doesnt seem to be in the business of preventing the next pandemic it cant even get everyone to take the vaccines currently available so we guess Gates interventions are better than nothing.

More on future illness: Scientists Warn That Terrorists Could Release a Horrifying New Virus

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Elon Musk Reveals Dogecoin Will Be Accepted at Tesla’s New Futuristic Diner, Drive-in Theater Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News

Posted: at 10:05 pm

Elon Musk has revealed that Teslas upcoming futuristic diner and drive-in theater, planned for the Hollywood area, will accept the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin. The electric car company currently accepts DOGE for some merchandise on its website.

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk tweeted about future dogecoin payment acceptance Friday in reply to a tweet by developer Ryan Zohoury, who said a new Tesla supercharger station in Santa Monica, California, is almost full 10 minutes after it opened.

The Tesla boss tweeted, And futuristic diner / drive-in theater planned for Hollywood area. He added in a follow-up tweet:

And, of course, you can pay in Doge.

At press time, the Tesla CEO has not clarified what exactly customers can pay for with the meme cryptocurrency. Some people assume that Tesla supercharger stations will accept dogecoin while others interpreted Musks tweet as applicable to only the upcoming diner and drive-in theater in the Hollywood area.

Nonetheless, Dogecoins supporters welcome Musks plan to further the adoption of the meme cryptocurrency.

The price of dogecoin, however, is fairly unaffected by this news. At the time of Musks tweet, DOGE was trading at $0.1417 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. While the price did subsequently rise slightly to $0.1450, it fell to $0.1411 at the time of writing.

In January, Tesla began accepting dogecoin for some merchandise. Musk then tried to get McDonalds to accept DOGE by offering to eat a Happy Meal on television. However, the famous fast-food chain replied, only if Tesla accepts grimacecoin.

Musk, a longtime dogecoin supporter, is sometimes known in the crypto community as the Dogefather. The Tesla boss believes that DOGE is the peoples crypto and previously revealed that many people he talked to at Tesla and Spacex owned dogecoin. He said that dogecoin is the best crypto for transactions while bitcoin is more suitable as a store of value.

What do you think about Tesla expanding its dogecoin adoption? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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MIT Researcher: Don’t Ignore the Possibility That AI Is Becoming Conscious – Futurism

Posted: at 10:05 pm

Amid a maelstrom set off by a prominent AI researcher saying that some AI may already be achieving limited consciousness, one MIT AI researcher is saying the concept might not be so far-fetched.

Our story starts with Ilya Sutskever, head scientist at the Elon Musk cofounded research group OpenAI. On February 9, Sutskever tweetedthat it may be that todays large neural networks are slightly conscious.

In response, many others in the AI research space decried the OpenAI scientists claim, suggesting that it was harming machine learnings reputation and amounted to little more than a sales pitch for OpenAIs work.

That backlash has now generated its own clapback from MIT computer scientist Tamay Besiroglu, whos now bucking the trend by coming to Sutskevers defense.

Seeing so many prominent [machine learning] folks ridiculing this idea is disappointing, Besiroglu tweeted. It makes me less hopeful in the fields ability to seriously take on some of the profound, weird and important questions that theyll undoubtedly be faced with over the next few decades.

I dont actually think we can draw a clear line between models that are not conscious vs maybe slightly conscious,' he said in a followup message. Im also not sure any of these models are conscious.

That said, I do think the question could be a meaningful one that shouldnt just be neglected, he added.

While fears of conscious computers go as far back as the infamous Maschinenmensch in 1927s Metropolis,researchers have repeatedly punted on the concept, saying that it was too far in the future to worry about just yet and that in any case, misuses of less advanced AI are already widespread.

That stance explains much of the pushback to Sutskevers claim, which represented one of the first times acredible AI researcher hinted that their creation may have gained some consciousness of its own.

OpenAI which Sutskever cofounded alongside Musk and the groups current CEO Sam Altman has in recent years gained notoriety for making GPT-3, a sophisticated text generating algorithm thats caused controversy after users exploited it in some pretty grotesque ways.

AI has advanced so rapidly in recent years that many humans, whose advanced intelligence capabilities evolved many tens of thousands of years ago, seem to be struggling with the dizzying concept of conscious computers.

If nothing else, this iteration of the conscious AI debate could well be pushing the boundaries of what constitutes consciousness and may, ultimately, play a role in how we come to define it.

Updated with comment from Besiroglu and to remove a facetious tweet.

More on the debate:Researchers Furious Over Claim That AI Is Already Conscious

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PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Flying Cars – CBS Pittsburgh

Posted: at 10:05 pm

That's A Wrap: Feb. 18, 2022That's a wrap for this week on PTL!

PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Ford CaresPTL's Mikey Hood talks with Joseph Thurby, the chairman of the Neighborhood Ford Store, about all of their Ford Cares initiatives.

PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Child Safety Seat InstallationPTL's Mikey Hood learns the proper way to install a child safety seat into a vehicle from Pennsylvania State Trooper Melinda Bondarenka.

Mikey's Car Maintenance Tips: Check Your WipersMikey's Car Maintenance Tips from the Pittsburgh Auto Show.

PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Bronco SimulatorPTL's Celina Pompeani tries out the Bronco Simulator at the Pittsburgh Auto Show.

PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Flying CarsPTL's Daisy Jade talks with Sheryl Connelly, a Ford Corporate Futurist, about what's coming next in the auto industry.

Mikey's Car Maintenance Tips: Check Tire PSIMikey's Car Maintenance Tips from the Pittsburgh Auto Show.

Mikey's Car Maintenance Tips: Check Your TreadsMikey's Car Maintenance Tips from the Pittsburgh Auto Show.

PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Women In TechnologyPTL's Mikey Hood meets Gracie Reinsel, a local young woman who is breaking down stereotypes as a vehicle technician at Crivelli Ford.

Mikey's Car Maintenance Tips: Dashboard LightsMikey's Car Maintenance Tips from the Pittsburgh Auto Show.

PTL At The Pittsburgh Auto Show: Ford LightningPTL's Celina Pompeani and Daisy Jade get a closer look at the all-new Ford Lightning.

Mikey's Car Maintenance Tips: Check Your LightsMikey's Car Maintenance Tips from the Pittsburgh Auto Show.

Pittsburgh Today Live: Feb. 18, 2022 (Pt. 2)Pittsburgh Today Live's Heather Abraham and David Highfield catch up on all the latest happenings and preview what's coming up on the show.

Pittsburgh Today Live: Feb. 18, 2022 (Pt. 1)Pittsburgh Today Live's Heather Abraham and David Highfield catch up on all the latest happenings and preview what's coming up on the show.

Something Good: Way To Go, Upper St. Clair Students!The STEM team from Upper St. Clair is being recognized as part of the REACH Challenge!

Black History Month: Freedom House Ambulance ServiceBlack History Month: A closer look at the historic Freedom House Ambulance Service!

The Benefits Of HypnotherapyPTL's Daisy Jade visits the office of Amy Lynn Walsh, a certified hypnotherapist, to find out the benefits of treatment.

Kidsburgh: Looking Ahead To Summer FunKidsburgh Ambassador Yu-Ling Behr is looking ahead to summertime and kid-friendly fun!

PTL Weekend Guide: Feb. 17, 2022Pittsburgh Magazine's Sean Collier has a look at some of the events going on around town this weekend!

XGolf Offers Fantasy Golfing ExperiencePTL's Celina Pompeani heads to the XGolf facility in Wexford. It's a place where you can hit the links even in the wintertime.

Pittsburgh Today Live Chat: Feb. 17, 2022Pittsburgh Today Live's Heather Abraham and David Highfield catch up on all the latest happenings and preview what's coming up on the show.

Black History Month: Pittsburgh Courier And 'Double V'Black History Month: The history of the Pittsburgh Courier's Double V campaign.

Something Good: Zamboni DriverA local young woman has become the first female Zamboni driver ever at the RMU Island Sports Complex!

Eye On Health: Health Care Fraud, Waste And AbusePTL's Celina Pompeani is talking with representatives from Highmark Health about protecting yourself from health care fraud, waste and abuse.

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Scientists Warn That New AI-Generated Faces Are Seen as More Trustworthy Than Real Ones – Futurism

Posted: at 10:05 pm

This could be a problem.Canny Valley

As if the possibility that AI might already be conscious wasnt creepy enough, researchers have announced that AI-generated faces have become so sophisticated that many people think theyre more trustworthy than actual humans.

A pair of researchers discovered that a neural network dubbed StyleGAN2 is capable of creating faces indistinguishable from the real thing, according to a press release from Lancaster University. In fact, in a jarring twist, participants seemed to find AI-generated faces more trustworthy than the faces of actual people.

Our evaluation of the photo realism of AI-synthesized faces indicates that synthesis engines have passed through the uncanny valley and are capable of creating faces that are indistinguishable and more trustworthy than real faces, the researchers, who will be publishing a paper of their findings in the journal PNAS, said in the release.

As part of the study, the team asked participants to rate the faces on a scale of one to seven for trustworthiness, with one being least trustworthy. On average, the synthetic faces were perceived as seven percent more trustworthy than normal ones.

Of course, theres a whole host of grim implications behind the teams findings, including the fact that it could open the door for even more sophisticated deepfaked images and videos that are indistinguishable from reality.More worrisome, though, is the specter that it might cast doubt on real photos and videos.

Perhaps most pernicious is the consequence that in a digital world in which any image or video can be faked, the authenticity of any inconvenient or unwelcome recording can be called into question, the researchers said.

READ MORE: AI Generated Faces Are More Trustworthy Than Real Faces Say Researchers Who Warn of Deep Fakes [Lancaster University]

More on deepfakes: NSFW: Gaze Upon the Horrid Melting Flesh of Neural Network Porn

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Mahindra teases futuristic electric SUVs: Reveal in July this year – CarToq.com

Posted: at 10:05 pm

With electric vehicles gaining popularity in the market, Mahindra is now preparing to launch a range of electric vehicles in the market. The manufacturer recently released a teaser video for their upcoming electric SUV line up. The teaser video showcases three electric models that are part of Mahindras Born Electric Vision. The Mahindra electric SUV range will be revealed to the world in July 2022. Mahindra was one of the first Indian manufacturer to ever have an electric car in the passenger segment but, currently the manufacturer has nothing to offer. With popularity for models like Nexon EV and MG ZS EV rising, Mahindra has decided to enter the space once again.

The video has been shared by Mahindra Born Electric on their official YouTube channel. The video shows three electric SUV models in it. These electric SUVs are special as these are the first models to be designed at Mahindra Advanced Design Europe (MADE) studio in the UK. The teaser video shows a glimpse of what we can expect from the upcoming Mahindra electric SUVs.

Also read: Mahindra XUV700s first accident shows its build quality

All three models are differentiated using the LED DRLs. All the three SUVs have LED DRLs that are different from each other. Looking at the teaser video it looks like Mahindra will be offering three bold looking electric SUVs. One of the SUVs is likely to be the electric version of Mahindra XUV300 as it was recently spotted testing under heavy camouflage. The SUVs are likely to get a sharp and imposing looking design. All the three SUVs have a C-shaped LED DRL at the front and a C-shaped LED tail lamps at the rear. The SUV on the extreme left looks the smallest of the three and the SUV next to it is slightly bigger in size, and is expected to be the electric version of the Mahindra XUV700. It looks like the SUV on the extreme right is the biggest, and is likely to be the Mahindra e-XUV900 a coupe styled version of the XUV700.

Some models have a connecting LED bar between them while some dont. The SUVs are expected to have an all-new design which is not similar to anything that we have seen from Mahindra so far. Mahindra has plans to invest around Rs 3,000 crore for the electric vehicle plan. Mahindra will be converting 4 IC engine SUVs from its current portfolio to electric and other than that, Mahindra will also be developing 4 all-new electric SUVs in the future. Currently not much information is available regarding the three models that will be unveiled in July.

It is quite possible that the smallest SUV teased in the video is the Mahindra XUV300 EV. The Mahindra XUV300 EV will rival with the likes of Tata Nexon EV which is currently the best seller in its segment. Currently there are no details available about the XUV300 EV or XUV400 as some people are calling it. Mahindra is expected to offer a 40 kWh battery pack which will generate approximately 130 Bhp. The SUV is expected to offer a driving range of approximately 300 kms or more. Like other products in Mahindra portfolio, the manufacturer is likely to offer the electric SUVs at a competitive price.

Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500

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Federalism And The Idea Of Regionalism – Outlook India

Posted: at 10:04 pm

Thehealth of Indian democracy is well-nigh stitched to the health of the democratisation of the Indian State. And, the democratisation, in turn, is stitched to the expansion of the federalisation processes of the Indian State. With striking prescience, the Indian Constitution makers agreed upon a sui generis federal architecture of power-sharing and instituted a federal framework for the electoral response to the overarching centralised representative democracy. State elections, as a form of response, are nevertheless assertions for accommodation and legitimation of the principles of federalism as enshrined in the Constitution. State elections affirm the Indian multilevel federalism.

Idea of Regionalism

Federalism, in essence, is the sharing of policy and governance power between different governments as units, mainly the Centre and the states, to enable shared-rule and self-rule of the units. This political framework facilitates togetherness and happiness by accommodating the regional, ethnic, religious, linguistic, national, and economic diversity in achieving harmony. The urge for federalism, both as a normative and a descriptive category, was felt during British rule, basically to sustain imperialism over the vast expanse of Indias size and diversity. The Government of India Act (1935) laid down the idea of dual polity and devolution, but in practice, owing to a better communication system, the British governance established a powerful centralised authority system. And the Indians, experiencing from the British government, contemplated that free India must have federalism but with a great deal of unitary control.

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At the time of independence, with the British centralised governance in hindsight, India confronted several challenges, such as communal frenzy leading to Partition, the transfer of power, post-Partition administrative tasks, particularly settling the refugees, a burgeoning food crisis and socio-economic development. An overarching presence of a centralised Congress party in the Constituent Assembly opted for centralised planning, coupled with a tight federation to tackle these challenges. India, unlike many model-federations in the world, became quasi-federal instead.

The federal process, since Independence, is roller-coastering around the demands of states autonomy and the actual participatory, legislative and policy pitches to the dynamics of everyday political life. Till the mid-1960s, Nehru had institutionalised the core principles of federalism, that is of consultation, accommodation and consensus, with the chief ministers by writing letters to them on a monthly basis and also by cooptation of regional leaders into the national power structures. For Nehru it was easy to coordinate the Centre-state relations, as a large number of states were ruled by the Congress. However, the dismissal of the Communist government in Kerala (1959), on some tenuous ground, by the Centre was the first major setback to the federal principles. The fourth general elections (1967) reduced the Congress party to a simple majority at the national level and by then almost one-half of the states were ruled by non-Congress-opposition parties or coalitions. Centre-state relations moved on from the practice of accommodation to the practice of cohabitationstrong Congress-Centre cohabiting with the opposition at the state level. During the Emergency period (1975-7), Indias federal polity for all practical purposes became unitary, and the federal relations shifted from cohabitation to that of confrontation and resistance. The Emergency deeply scarred Indias aspirations of emerging as a reckoning federal-democracy. However, in the late 1980s, with the rise and assertion of regional parties at the national level, such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Bihar and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, the tendency to move towards the principle of accommodation and making alliances was quite visible. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayeethe then president of BJPhad to remark that his party needed to strategically slide to the middle of the political spectrum in order to recruit and forge alliances with potential coalition partners.

The dismissal of the Communist government in Kerala in 1959, on some tenuous ground, by the Centre was the first major setback to the federal principles.

Regional parties, typically in the form of state-based parties, operated as agencies and mechanisms to negotiate and organise power, both at the central and state levels, and emerged on Indias democratic infrastructure as multi-state parties largely based on regional-ethnic style. Few parties, for instance the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, represented the features of an electoralist party, focusing on the distinct social constituencies along with its ethnic tropes. Coalition politics, since the 1990s, gave way to regional parties and therefore multi-party coalitions, and marked the deepening of the federalisation and democratisation processes, not only on the ideological vision but on the spatial trajectory too. The political process, from the 1990s onwards, marked the internalisation of federal norms and the state leaders of state-based parties carved out a new federal space of mutual power negotiations between the nation and the region. BJP, in the bargaining process, adroitly manipulated the peripheral federal cleavages and supported the carving out of new states from the belligerent regions of the existing states. The puzzle that Indias federal system is gets further complicated when regional parties, championing special and exclusive interests, coalesce with national parties and simultaneously with the other regional parties, and their leaders, striking a posture as a national leader, try to contextualise the regional party within the category of nation-state.

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State Polls

The state elections are in full sway. It is affirming the idea of festival of democracy and also equally affirming the idea of federalism. The five-state election cycle (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur), but particularly UP, is likely to point the political direction for the national elections due in 2024. Both the national and regional parties are in the fray, but despite the strong regional sentiments to what Christophe Jaffrelot, the political scientist, calls ethnonationalist mobilisation, the political mobilisation is purely top-down where national political elites have stirred the caste-communal rabble to nab the votes of alienated individuals and groups. To understand state elections within the context of federalism, it is imperative to note the electoral narratives forged around the principal cleavages and also the alliance-building strategies within and outside of the regional parties.

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The strong and autonomous state governments, to the possible extent that federalism permits, can offset the antinomies that Indian federalism is in the habit of reproducing, such as the misuse of extraordinary powers of Parliament. The recent farm laws and the invocation of the Disaster Management Act during the pandemic, for instance, explain how federalism can be infringed or transgressed. State governments need to understand the political interlocking of power relations embedded in the so-called cooperative federalism. In federalism it is important to share the federal powersprecisely for shared-rule and self-rulebut it is all the more important to use those powers for achieving constitutional goals and morality and also for holding out together the beautiful Indian diversity.

(This appeared in the print edition as "The Indian Diversity")

(Views expressed are personal)

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Tanvir Aeijaz teaches public policy at DU and is Director (hony) at the Centre for Multilevel Federalism, New Delhi

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Federalism And The Idea Of Regionalism - Outlook India

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