NewsBytes

The Delhi government will take steps to conserve and promote Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan Memorial at Qila Rai Pithora in Mehrauli so that more people are aware of its historical importance, said Minister Kapil Mishra on Thursday. Art, Culture and Language Minister Mishra, who visited the memorial, said that while a cultural complex was constructed at the site in 2002, little has been done since then to utilise the space or maintain it. Qila Rai Pithora, located near south Delhi's Saket, is believed to be the first city of Delhi built by Rajput King Prithviraj Chauhan in the 12th century. The ruins of Qila Rai Pithora comes under the jurisdiction of ASI. The statue at the site stands as a tribute to the ruler who once controlled much of north-western India.

Singapore will impose increased penalties on vape users and etomidate suppliers while foreigners caught vaping risk having their passes revoked, being deported and banned from re-entering the city-state from September 1. The stricter drive against the menace also includes issuing nicotine test kits to schools across Singapore amid a sharp rise in vaping among students. Foreigners caught with e-vaporisers will have their vapes seized, and they will be fined, and Short Term Visit Pass holders who re-offend will be banned from re-entering Singapore, said the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Home Affairs. There will be some leniency for young vape users and also for foreigners if they are on long-term passes for the first time. However, for the second-time offenders, the foreigners will have to leave the country, said a press release by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs. For a third or subsequent offence, the offender will be prosecuted in court under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act (TCASA) and may be fined up to SGD 2,000, it added.

As the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the US come into effect, close to one-fourth of India's textile exports may be severely impacted in the next six months, with America being the largest export market for the country's apparel industry and exporters grappling with order cancellations, experts said on Thursday. However, the extension of duty-free import of cotton by three more months till December 31 is expected to bring some much-needed relief to the domestic textile industry, as it looks to mitigate the impact of the steep tariffs by re-orienting its export strategy and exploring alternate destinations other than the US, by leveraging India's existing free trade agreements (FTAs). The government on Thursday extended duty-free import of cotton by three more months till December 31 to support textile exporters facing steep 50 per cent tariffs in the US. Earlier, on August 18, the Finance Ministry had allowed duty exemption on cotton imports from August 19 till September 30.

India AI market is on the cusp of hyper-growth phase, seen at $28.8 billion by 2025 but faces severe talent crunch with only one qualified engineer available for every 10 open GenAI roles, a report by TeamLease Digital said on Thursday. As per the report, the most in-demand capabilities are specified prompt engineering, LLM safety and tuning, AI orchestration, agent design, simulation governance, and AI compliance and risk ops are among increasingly sought-after AI skills. The report revealed that Generative AI Engineering and MLOps roles (where ML stands for machine learning) in Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are setting new benchmarks, with senior talent earning Rs 58–60 lakh per annum. Overall, it highlighted how India's digital economy is experiencing a rapid surge in AI, cloud job demand, setting new salary benchmarks and intensifying talent shortages. Cybersecurity and data engineering roles in GCCs are expected to witness steady salary growth moving from Rs 28 to Rs 33.5 LPA and from Rs 23 to Rs 27 LPA, respectively, from FY25 to FY27.