Bengaluru: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu on Thursday broke his silence over the controversy that erupted over the launch of three AI Centres of Excellence by the central government on Tuesday.
Taking to X, Vembu, who was co-chairman of the apex committee on the AI centres, appealed to people to desist from creating a North-South divide following Mohandas Pai's post criticising the central government for allegedly "ignoring" Bengaluru in a major AI initiative.
Know The Controversy
The former Infosys CFO, Pai, slammed the government over the alleged exclusion of Bengaluru, the IT capital of India, from the AI Centre Excellence.
He questioned Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on X in response to a news post about the launch of the three centres.
Pai's reaction triggered a row after Pradhan inaugurated AI centres at IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Ropar, and a joint centre at IIT-Delhi and AIIMS, without including Bengaluru.
"Are we not part of Bharat too? Bengaluru voted for NDA, but all we get is stepmotherly treatment," he wrote.
Minister @dpradhanbjp nothing in Bengaluru, the technology capital of India? Why are you and @AshwiniVaishnaw ignoring the South in IT, ignoring Bengaluru? Are we not part of Bharat too? Bengaluru voted for NDA but all we get is step motherly treatment. Citizens here are very… https://t.co/31dQ9V3Ois
— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) October 16, 2024
Vembu Issues Clarification
Vembu, who was heading the selection panel as co-chairman for the AI facilities, posted a detailed clarification of Pai’s criticisms. He claimed that the decision to open AI centres was taken based on a foolproof process rather than regional bias.
"The committee itself had plenty of us from the South...Most of us came from the private sector, and the government did not tell us who we should select," he wrote.
Vembu stated that the selection was done after minutely examining the projects and the quality.
I want to respond to this because I was the Co-chair of the apex committee that decided the 3 AI Centres of Excellence.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) October 17, 2024
The committee itself had plenty of us from the South (probably the majority). Most of us came from the private sector and the Government did not tell us who we… https://t.co/yaqHdQUtie
“IISc Bengaluru, IIT Chennai, NIT Calicut, IIT Hyderabad, and IIT Mumbai all presented very strong proposals, but the ones we selected stood out in the end. The committee was unanimous in this decision. We stand by our judgement,” he says.
Vembu also urged the public not to indulge in the politics of the North-South divide.
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