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Delhi continued to battle with air pollution for the 10th consecutive day post-Diwali as a dense layer of smog blanketed parts of the national capital on Sunday. Several parts of the national capital recorded very poor air quality levels on Sunday morning as per the data issued by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR-India). Today morning, Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 351, Bawana 383, CRRI Mathura Road 323, Dwarka Sector 8 at 341, IGI Airport at 326, ITO 328, Lodhi Road 319, Mundka at 358, Najafgarh at 341, New Moti Bagh at 394, Okhla phase-2 at 339, RK Puram at 368, and Wazirpur at 366, as per SAFAR-India data. As of 5 pm on November 10, Delhi's AQI stood at 334, with Anand Vihar at 353, Dilshad Garden at 262, and Jahangirpuri at 377. For tomorrow, AQI in adjoining cities of Noida and Gurugram is forecasted to be at 208.92 and 77.51, respectively. Multiple visuals from Delhi's Kartavya Path showed the area surrounding India Gate engulfed by a layer of smog. The AQI in the area was recorded at 357 as of 7 am. High-rise buildings were also covered in smog in the Kalindi Kunj and surrounding locality, as the AQI was recorded as 323 in the area. An AQI is considered "poor" between '200 and 300', "very poor" at '301 and 400', "severe" at '401-450," and 450 and above is "severe plus." As the air pollution levels in the national capital reach "very poor," doctors say that even people with no history of respiratory diseases are suffering from breathing issues. Dr. Nikhil Modi, Senior Consultant for Respiratory Critical Care at Apollo Hospital, told ANI that apart from the regular patients, those who haven't had any respiratory issues in the past are showing up with symptoms such as runny noses, sneezing, coughing, and having increasing difficulties breathing. As it is, respiratory illnesses in the national capital are estimated to have shot up by around 15-20%. The Apollo doctor further suggested that the government close the schools for children as they remain vulnerable. Whenever the pollution levels have gone beyond a certain limit, the government has opted to close the schools, Dr. Modi said. "For the last few years, we have been seeing that the government has taken action. Whenever this pollution level has gone beyond a certain limit, they have opted to close the schools. This is important because children are from a vulnerable group. As adults, we are masked and can protect ourselves better, but children usually are not that effectively taking these measures. Secondly, their lungs are still in developing stages, so they are bound to have more harm due to this pollution," the doctor told ANI. Siddharth Singhal, Head of Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com, notes that while most standard health plans in India cover pollution-related ailments, it is always advised to also go for an OPD plan along with a health insurance plan to cover consultations, medications, and diagnostic tests that may be required frequently due to pollution. "Pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and some other parts of India have shot up post Diwali. Effects of this are very evident in the form of sore throats and breathing problems, among others. This can also result in respiratory ailments and chronic conditions like asthma, bronchitis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), pneumonia, and severe cases of respiratory or bronchial obstruction. Health insurance becomes critical to cover such expenses. Most policies typically cover emergency hospitalization for respiratory issues like asthma or COPD exacerbations requiring ICU or critical care," he adds.

Layer of smog covers Delhi as air quality remains 'very poor'. Here's why you need an insurance cover for this

Donald <keyword id="19906203" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Trump" source="keywords">Trump</keyword> and <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword> have apparently become great friends over recent months. Musk poured millions of dollars into Trump's successful election campaign and has been a vocal and visible supporter of the president-elect. In return, he's been given a new job, in joint charge of the new <keyword id="23593857" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Department-of-Government-Efficiency" source="keywords">Department of Government Efficiency</keyword> (Doge), where he will be tasked with streamlining government operations and reducing bureaucracy. This "department"—actually an advisory group—will aim to cut unnecessary spending and make the general functioning of the US government more efficient. The idea is that within a federal budget of over US$6 trillion, there are opportunities to make some big savings. Musk's appointment—like many things he's involved with—has sparked controversy. The richest man in the world has already said he wants to cut spending by US$2 trillion (£1.6 trillion) and mentioned setting up a "leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars.". Some are concerned about the impact he could have on public services. Others fear he will use his position to promote his own business interests. On the positive side, Musk has a very impressive CV when it comes to big organisations. He has created (or co-created) multi-billion-dollar businesses, including Paypal, <keyword id="19895433" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tesla" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Tesla" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Tesla">Tesla</keyword>, and <keyword id="19905255" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SpaceX" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SpaceX" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SpaceX">SpaceX</keyword>. He has founded startups involved in AI (xAI), tunnelling (the Boring Company), and medicine (<keyword id="19985233" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neuralink" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Neuralink" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Neuralink">Neuralink</keyword>). And research suggests that much of Musk's success comes down to a relentless focus on efficiency. He has also been praised for the depth of his analytical thinking and innovative problem solving. Tesla's factory in California went from being the least productive car manufacturing plant in the US when it was owned by General Motors to the most productive under Musk's ownership. SpaceX has vastly reduced costs in the space cargo business. So he has form. And Musk is not the first American business leader to offer private sector expertise to the world of politics. Back in the 1960s, Robert McNamara, former president of the Ford Motor Company, served as secretary of defence under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. McNamara brought significant innovations to <keyword id="22668770" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="government-efficiency" source="keywords">government efficiency</keyword> that drew on his corporate experience. He championed cost-benefit analysis and a data-driven approach to decision-making and was keen on reducing bureaucracy and promoting accountability in complex governmental processes. To achieve this, McNamara recruited a team of experts from the worlds of academia and business. Known as the "Whizz Kids," they brought new perspectives to the White House. In the UK now, the Labour government's minister of state for investment is Poppy Gustafsson, a former venture capitalist and tech founder. Its minister for prisons is James Timpson, former CEO of the Timpson Group, a family firm renowned for hiring ex-offenders. These people—and there are many other examples around the world—were brought into the political sphere because of the knowledge and vision they have demonstrated in the private sector. The hope is their talent and leadership will improve policy and practice. <h2>Data-driven reform</h2>The same must be hoped for Musk: that with his co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy—a biotech entrepreneur and former Republican leadership candidate—he will bring expertise in cost-cutting and innovative strategies. This will probably include comprehensive audits and data-driven approaches to reform. Critics refer to prior examples of Musk's approach, such as the mass layoffs and aggressive cost-cutting measures at Twitter (now X), with concerns that there could be similarly drastic reductions in the federal workforce and public services. But big job cuts were happening across the tech sector at that time. They came in the wake of reduced revenues and a need to reduce bloated workforces and ineffective functions—not unlike the challenges faced by the US government. Nevertheless, while proponents see Musk as an experienced leader capable of streamlining bureaucracy, sceptics fear the advent of harmful austerity measures that risk disruption to essential public programs. Concerns have also been raised about potential conflicts of interest, as Musk's business empire benefits from government contracts. However, since Doge will operate as an advisory body, concerns over him gaining advantage through any self-dealing seem overblown. Besides, two of Musk's companies (SpaceX and Tesla) have been awarded US$15.4 billion (£12.3bn) in federal contracts in the last decade. Perhaps then, success precedes influence rather than the reverse? Doge will also be governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which maintains legal and ethical guardrails. And Congress will have the final say over any decisions. Fears of the worst possible outcome to Musk's appointment are a natural human response in the face of uncertainty. It is part of the reason that negative headlines get more clicks than positive ones. It is also true that Musk has aligned himself with a politician who divides opinion like few others. By leveraging his billions of dollars and 200 million followers on X to help Trump to victory, he made it clear which side he was on. And in a highly polarised US political landscape, the anguish about his governmental role may be little more than a knee-jerk reaction from the millions of people whose side he did not choose.

Love him or loathe him, Elon Musk is a champion of efficiency and could save the US government a fortune

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A notable portion of Silicon Valley's electorate has steadily shifted toward Donald Trump.</li><li>While the region remains solidly Democrat, the GOP candidate made gains in this election.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-immigration-policy-ai-tech-worker-shortage-2024-11">Silicon Valley</a>, long considered a progressive stronghold, has begun to shift toward <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/big-tech-winners-losers-trump-election-win-according-to-market-2024-11">Donald Trump</a>, according to new voting data analyzed by Business Insider.Across the three <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-new-york-london-tech-where-to-live-2024-8">San Francisco</a> Bay Area counties that constitute the epicenter of America's tech industry, there was a marked bump in support for Donald Trump in the latest presidential election, and a corresponding decrease in support for Kamala Harris and the Democrats, provisional voter data shows.California can take weeks to tally all its ballots, so the final totals won't be known for some time. But with more than 76% of the votes counted in San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties as of Tuesday, a trend is emerging.Among the voting citizens of Santa Clara county, home of Apple, Google, and Nvidia, 28.2% cast their ballot for Donald Trump this year. That's up from four years ago, and notably higher than in 2016.Meanwhile, 68.1% voted for Harris. That was down from 72.6% who backed Joe Biden four years ago, and 73.1% who voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016, according to data compiled by the California Secretary of State.In San Mateo county, where Facebook parent company Meta is headquartered, the vote shifted from 77.9%-20.2% Republican-Democrat to 73.6%-23.5% this cycle.And San Francisco county's vote for Trump went from 9.3% in 2016 to 15.3% this year.These numbers show that Trump and Republicans are still a long way off from gaining any real majorities in Silicon Valley. However, even this relatively small shift suggests that the region, and the tech industry, is becoming less firmly Democrat — and comes as some tech leaders grow more pragmatic about politics.Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously publicly supported Democratic candidates, but didn't this year. Venture capital power players Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz said they were supporting Trump this summer, though Horowitz also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/read-ben-horowitzs-email-a16z-saying-plans-donate-kamala-harris-2024-10">provided funding</a> for the Harris campaign.While Elon Musk is based in Texas these days, many of his companies, including Tesla, are still very active in Silicon Valley. He sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into helping reelect Trump this year, is undoubtedly the president-elect's most high-profile supporter in tech.Incoming Vice President JD Vance <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-venture-capitalist-colleagues-2024-7">once worked in venture capital</a> and is seen as a protégé of PayPal cofounder and investor Peter Thiel, one of tech's most influential conservative voices.Some of this comes down to self-interest. Trump, with Musk in support, has promised to cut regulations, which could help <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-could-help-deregulate-tech-amid-a-trump-victory-2024-11">Silicon Valley startups grow more quickly</a>."The most exciting thing of all will be putting Elon in charge of government efficiency," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-could-help-deregulate-tech-amid-a-trump-victory-2024-11">said Ben Narasin, a VC based in Atherton</a>, in San Mateo county. "He's going to take a chainsaw through calcified butter, and it's going to be awesome to attack the bloat and overreach that we've had in the government."The trend toward Trump in the Silicon Valley electorate mirrors statewide and national trends. Nationwide, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/vote-tracker/2024/electoral-college">the Democrats fell from 51.3% to 48.1%</a>, while the GOP rose from 46.9% to 50.2%.In California, Democrat voteshare dropped from 63.5% in 2020 to 58.9%, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president">as of the data available on Tuesday</a>.

Silicon Valley's swing toward Trump is real. Here's the data to prove it.

<keyword id="19999652" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Retail-inflation" source="keywords">Retail inflation</keyword> eased to a one-year low of 4.75 per cent in May as prices of some <keyword id="20231354" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kitchen-items" source="keywords">kitchen items</keyword> declined marginally, according to <keyword id="19936747" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="government-data" source="keywords">government data</keyword> released on Wednesday. The <keyword id="19999655" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Consumer-Price-Index" source="keywords">Consumer Price Index</keyword> (<keyword id="6355865" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CPI" source="Orion">CPI</keyword>) based retail <keyword id="22195" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="inflation" source="Orion">inflation</keyword> was 4.83 per cent in April 2024 and 4.31 per cent in May 2023 (previous low). Inflation in the food basket was 8.69 per cent in May, marginally down from 8.70 per cent in April, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Headline inflation has seen sequential moderation since February 2024, albeit in a narrow range from 5.1 per cent in February to 4.8 per cent in April 2024. The government has tasked the Reserve Bank to ensure the <keyword id="598729" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cpi-inflation" source="Orion">CPI inflation</keyword> remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side. Earlier this month, the RBI projected the CPI inflation for 2024-25 at 4.5 per cent, with Q1 at 4.9 per cent, Q2 at 3.8 per cent, Q3 at 4.6 per cent, and Q4 at 4.5 per cent. The central bank mainly factors in the retail inflation while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy.

Retail inflation eases marginally to 1-year low of 4.75% in May: Govt data

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The American Bankers Association is urging federal action on online financial fraud.</li><li>Banks are facing increased liability for scams, with $10 billion in losses reported last year.</li></ul>Remember the Spider-Man meme where <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-posts-spiderman-meme-first-tweet-in-a-decade-2023-7">he points at himself</a>? Banks and the federal government are in a similar situation, pointing to each other to solve the problem of online financial scams.For its part, the government wants banks to take on more responsibility, and more consistently refund their customers who fall victim to online scams. Banks, on the other hand, want the government to do more to prevent those scams in the first place.The problem is real. Almost 1 in 3 Americans have been the victim of a scam in the past year, with an average loss of $1,600 a person, according to a study from IPX, a financial analysis firm.According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported more than $10 billion in losses last year from online scams. The agency's data also showed that consumers using payment apps reported <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-bill-zelle-fraud-payment-app-waters-blumenthal-warren-2024-8">losing $210 million</a>.It's also a major headache for the banks.American Bankers Association CEO Rob Nichols called for the federal government to create a national scam prevention strategy last week. Nichols also said that Congress should "create and fund" an Office of Scam and Fraud Prevention while speaking to bankers at the association's annual convention in October."The scale of fraud taking place every day is a massive burden for our country and for the millions of hardworking women and men whose lives are affected by it," Nichols said at the convention, according to Forbes. "It will take a united effort — with support from both inside and outside the banking industry — to win this fight."The government, meanwhile, has repeatedly called on financial institutions to improve compensation for victims who lose money to scams.In August, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched an investigation into JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, all part owners of Zelle.The investigation came after a Senate investigations committee found that reimbursements from the three banks for disputed transactions on the app fell from 62% in 2019 to 38% in 2023.Also in August, three Democratic senators introduced a bill that would update the 1978 Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require financial institutions to share more of the burden when consumers are victimized by fraud.Nichols said at the convention, however, that fighting back against fraud will require "a whole-of-government approach … that starts at the very top." He also said that the government should create "financial crimes intelligence centers." One already exists in Texas, which he said has been a "force multiplier for law enforcement" there.Nichols also called on the FTC to create a database of reported spam text messages available for "all legitimate businesses to access." Nichols said this kind of database would help banks monitor how scams are evolving and "educate their customers" more effectively."

Banks and the federal government point fingers as Americans lose billions to online scams

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as traders took inflation data and the outlook for rates.</li><li>Inflation rose 0.2% for the month and 2.6% on a yearly basis, in-line with expectations.</li></ul>The latest inflation data dented some of the momentum of the post-election stock rally, with traders focusing on the latest consumer price index reading at its implications for rate cuts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up slightly, while the S&amp;P 500 ended the day nearly flat. Bond yields were little changed, with the 10-year Treasury yield up one basis point to 4.449%. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-october-cpi-consumer-price-index-federal-reserve-interest-rates-2024-11">Inflation was slightly higher</a> year-over-year in October compared to the prior month, but was on par with economists' expectations. Consumer prices rose 0.2% for the month and 2.6% on an annual basis, higher than last month's 2.4% increase.Investors solidified bets on another rate cut at the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting. Markets see an 82% chance that the central bank will trim interest rates another quarter-point next month, up from 59% on Tuesday, according to the CME FedWatch tool.Traders are less certain about another rate cut in January. The odds of another 25 basis point cut at the Fed's January meeting have dropped to 29%, down from 69% a month ago."Inflation data mostly support another rate cut at the Fed's December decision," Bill Adams, the chief economist at Comerica Bank, said in a note. "The Fed will wait until they have more clarity about the timing and scope of policy changes from the next President and Congress before reacting to them.""The Fed wants to avoid the mistakes of the past by prematurely easing and risking a second wave of inflation, so we'd expect the FOMC to take this risk seriously," Jason Pride, the chief of investment strategy &amp; research at Glenmede, said in a note. "This doesn't take a rate cut off the table for December, but it's certainly not a slam dunk."The rally fueled by Trump's election began to stumble, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edging slightly into the red.Crypto markets, though, continued to get a boost after Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, was appointed as co-head of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/dogecoin-price-elon-musk-doge-department-trump-crypto-president-election-2024-11?_gl=1*j5rjww*_ga*OTI1ODIwOTQ2LjE3MTYzOTg2NjU.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTczMTUyNDI1NS41NTYuMS4xNzMxNTI0MjY2LjQ5LjAuMA..">Department of Government Efficiency</a>, or "DOGE." <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/doge-usd">Dogecoin</a> spiked another 15% on the news, while <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">bitcoin</a> rose as much as 6% before paring its gains, surpassing the $90,000 threshold for the first time ever before dipping back below to about $88,000 later in the day. Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Wednesday:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">S&amp;P 500</a>: 5,985.38, up 0.02%</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>: 43,958.19, up 0.11% (+47.21 points)</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Nasdaq composite</a>: 19,230.74, down 0.26%</li></ul>Here's what else is going on:<ul><li>Here's what people are betting in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/kalshi-polymarket-prediction-markets-jake-paul-mike-tyson-bitcoin-trump-2024-11?_gl=1*4l4ww*_ga*OTI1ODIwOTQ2LjE3MTYzOTg2NjU.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTczMTUxNTY1NS41NTUuMS4xNzMxNTE4NTU0LjU2LjAuMA..">prediction markets</a> now that the election is over.</li><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/nvidia-stock-price-outlook-upside-blackwell-rubin-apple-iphone-moment-2024-11">Nvidia is approaching its iPhone moment</a> with its Blackwell chip, and the stock could soar another 25%, an analyst said. </li><li>Trump could push <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-us-debt-levels-government-borrowing-treasury-blackrock-rick-rieder-2024-11">US debt to levels</a> that can't be ignored within his first year in office, according to BlackRock's Rick Rieder.</li></ul>In commodities, bonds, and crypto:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price">West Texas Intermediate</a> crude oil dipped 0.09% to $68.08 a barrel. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price">Brent crude</a>, the international benchmark, was lower by 0.46% to $71.95 a barrel.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price">Gold</a> slipped 0.87% to $2,575.98 an ounce.</li><li>The 10-year Treasury yield was up one basis point to 4.449%</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">Bitcoin</a> slipped to $88,615.</li></ul>

Stock market today: Indexes trade mixed as investors assess rate outlook after new inflation data

In a bid to support meritorious and deserving Indian students to pursue their higher education without having to worry about funds, the government today announced the <keyword id="23831216" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="PM-Vidyalaxmi-scheme" source="keywords">PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme</keyword>. Here's all you need to know about it: The scheme will cover students who secure admission to one of the top 860 higher educational institutions in the country. In effect, this is set to benefit over 22 lakh students annually. You can apply for this loan via a soon-to-be launched consolidated PM-Vidyalaxmi portal. The loan application will be entirely digital and will not require collateral or assets to be pledged in place of a loan or even a guarantor. For loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh, the government will provide a 75% credit guarantee. If your family's annual income is up to Rs 8 lakh, you are eligible for receiving loans up to Rs 10 lakh at an interest rate of up to 3% lower rates. This support will be offered to around 1 lakh students every year, and those who opt for technical or professional courses from government-run institutions will be given preference for the same. The government has already set aside Rs 3,600 crore for the same, to be utilized between 2024 and 2031, benefiting 7 lakh students in this period. All eligible students whose family's annual income falls below the Rs 4.5 lakh threshold will receive a full subsidy on interest payable. As for which higher education institutions (HEIs) will qualify, it will depend on recent NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) rankings. This will include: <ul><li>All centrally governed institutions</li><li>Public and private institutions that have made it to NIRF's top 100 rankings in the overall, category, and domain-specific categories</li><li>All state government HEIs that are ranked between 101 and 200 in <keyword id="22759868" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NIRF-rankings" source="keywords">NIRF rankings</keyword> will also be eligible.</li></ul> <h2>Rising cost of education</h2> Data from NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) highlights that the average expenditure on education in India has doubled in the last decade. Per the All India Survey on Higher Education 2020-21, the tuition fees for engineering courses in most private institutions have already risen by 50% over the past 10 years. Education inflation currently stands high, at about 11–12%. The demand for educational loans is also inching up steadily. Per RBI data, as of September 20, 2024, the total quantum of outstanding education loans stood at Rs 62,389 crore, up 2.8% from Rs 60,715 crore in September 2023. India's largest lender, the State Bank of India, leads the education loan bandwagon, with disbursals worth Rs 10,860 crore in FY24.

Lack of funds stopping you from pursuing higher education? The government can come to rescue

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.</li><li>The aim of the department is to cut government spending.</li></ul>President-elect Donald Trump has chosen <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-department-government-efficiency-doge-2024-11">his picks to help cut government spending</a>. Areas like transportation and education could face heightened scrutiny.On Tuesday, Trump selected Tesla CEO <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-tesla-spacex-x-department-government-efficiency-jobs-2024-11">Elon Musk</a> and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, or <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/dogecoin-price-market-value-ford-crypto-boom-trump-elon-musk-2024-11">DOGE </a>— an acronym that matches a dog-themed meme that Musk has frequently referenced.The department does not currently exist as a government agency, so Musk and Ramaswamy's role would likely entail offering advice to Trump on areas to cut spending, which Congress would then need to approve.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/#spending-categories">Data</a> from the Treasury Department shows that the government spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024, resulting in a deficit. The highest amounts of spending came from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, and the Treasury Department.Social Security accounted for $1.46 trillion of the spending, health accounted for $912 billion, and Medicare made up $874 billion of the government spending over the past year.Trump said in the announcement that the office would "provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management &amp; Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."Every year, Congress has to approve discretionary spending through the annual appropriations process. That includes areas like the $305 billion spent on education and other social services and the $137 billion spent on transportation.Social Security and Medicare are forms of mandatory spending that do not require annual congressional approval and would require legislation to change.Musk said during a Trump rally prior to the election that he would identify at least $2 trillion in spending cuts, which would amount to nearly a third of total government spending, including the mandatory retirement security programs.Trump said that Musk and Ramaswamy's work will be concluded "no later than July 4, 2026." While it's unclear what the government efficiency department will advise, Trump has previously <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-forgiveness-under-trump-biden-debt-relief-efforts-stalled-2024-11">suggested</a> shutting down government agencies, like the Education Department, to reduce inefficiency. Ramaswamy has echoed that sentiment, voicing support for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/candidate-vivek-ramaswamy-wants-shut-down-fbi-replace-it-2023-4">shutting down a range of agencies</a>, including the IRS and the FBI.Trump alone could not close a federal agency — doing so would require congressional approval.Karoline Leavitt, a Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, said in a statement to Business Insider: "The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver." She did not elaborate on the areas the government efficiency commission would prioritize for spending cuts.Musk also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1856520760656797801">wrote</a> on X on Tuesday that all of the department's actions will be posted online "for maximum transparency" and that "anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!"

Elon Musk is looking to cut government waste. Here's what the US spends money on right now.

Market watchdog SEBI has come out with a consultation paper in a bid to ease the functioning of <keyword id="22476006" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="ESG-Rating-Providers" source="keywords">ESG Rating Providers</keyword> (ERPs), pushing for the development of a <keyword id="23760035" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="subscriber-pays-model" source="keywords">subscriber-pays model</keyword>. As of July 2024, nine ERPs are registered with SEBI to operate in the country. These include <keyword id="23760037" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CRISIL-ESG-Ratings" source="keywords">CRISIL ESG Ratings</keyword> &amp; Analytics, ESG Risk Assessments and Ratings, GlobeTrend Climate Impact Institutional Investor Advisory Services, <keyword id="23760038" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NSE-Sustainability-Ratings" source="keywords">NSE Sustainability Ratings</keyword> and Analytics, PGS Impact, Pragati Development Consulting, CARE ESG Ratings, and SES ESG Research. Per the paper's proposal, ERPs won't be required to disclose ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings to the bourses, provided they confirm that there is no non-public information that could potentially affect the rating. Another proposal was the simultaneous sharing of the ESG rating reports both to the rated companies and to the subscribers who pay to access these reports. ERPs should ensure that rated entities, their group companies, or associates cannot subscribe to their own ESG ratings, SEBI said in its consultation paper. Some of the other suggestions put forth by SEBI include: 1. Companies will have a specific timeframe to respond to the ESG report, and any such comments should be included in the report as an addendum. 2. In case the ERP does not agree with the remarks issued by the rated company, they can add their comments to the report as well. 3. ERPs can rate unlisted issuers or other products, provided they meet specific guidelines from relevant regulators. SEBI is receiving public comment on these proposals until November 15, 2024. <h2>Steady returns </h2>Of the 11 ESG mutual fund schemes available to Indian mutual fund investors, the Quant ESG Equity fund has generated the highest returns of about 45.44% over one year, data from ValueResearch showed. Simply put, had you invested Rs 10,000 every month in this fund for three years, you would have accumulated a corpus of Rs 5,47,525. Over three years, the returns on this fund come to around 26%. This was followed by the ICICI Pru ESG Exclusionary Strategy fund, which yielded 44.73% returns over the same period. However, over ultra-short terms, i.e., 1-3 months, ESG funds have largely delivered negative returns, underscoring their suitability only as a long-term investment avenue. Only the SBI ESG Exclusionary Strategy Direct Fund and Quantum ESG Best In Class Strategy Direct Fund have been around for 5 years, during which they have generated returns of about 16.67% and 18.7%, respectively. <keyword id="23760036" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ESG-mutual-funds" source="keywords">ESG mutual funds</keyword> typically select and invest in companies that are ESG-compliant, i.e., who weave in environmental conversation, social welfare, and robust <keyword id="20392393" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="corporate-governance" source="keywords">corporate governance</keyword> practices into their working philosophy and work ethos, while simultaneously generating decent financial returns for stakeholders as well.

SEBI mulls measures to facilitate ease of doing business for ESG Rating Providers (ERPs)

<ul class="summary-list"><li>As the chief AI and innovation officer of <keyword id="20663742" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anaconda" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Anaconda" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Anaconda">Anaconda</keyword>, Peter Wang helps the programming-language distributor improve <keyword id="20110666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-solutions" source="keywords">AI solutions</keyword>.</li><li>This includes supporting on-prem IT and running AI models locally to boost security and efficiency.</li></ul>Peter Wang is the chief AI and innovation officer of <a href="https://www.anaconda.com/about-us" target="_blank">Anaconda</a>, a company he cofounded in 2012 with the goal of democratizing business-data analytics by making <keyword id="23150763" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Python-tools" source="keywords">Python tools</keyword> easier to use. With Python established as a leading language for <keyword id="21065919" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-workloads" source="keywords">AI workloads</keyword>, Anaconda is broadening its focus to <keyword id="19897745" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="data-science" source="keywords">data science</keyword> and artificial intelligence, with the goal of becoming a common software layer for high-performance AI. Anaconda has introduced tools to help companies and people get started with AI <keyword id="19897804" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="large-language-models" source="keywords">large language models</keyword>. One such tool is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.anaconda.com/products/ai-navigator">AI Navigator</a>, a desktop app that can run AI models locally on Windows and Mac, with Linux support coming soon. The company has 300 full-time employees and 40 million users worldwide. Business Insider spoke with Wang to learn more about how AI workloads are prompting companies to think about bringing more of their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/artificial-intelligence-data-privacy-on-premises-information-technology-solutions-2024-8">IT infrastructure on-premises</a> — and the hardware and software challenges that come with making such a move. The following has been edited for clarity and length. Can you talk about on-premises infrastructure and what that term means to you in 2024? On-premises initially meant servers within the company's physical location. Now it's more about the governance of infrastructure, including data, networking, and servers. Who manages it? Who gets to say, "No, absolutely, you can't do that," or, "Yes, you can do that?" At Anaconda, we see customers across the spectrum. Some have what we call air-gapped systems, not connected to the internet at all. These might be a box in a building somewhere, oftentimes guarded by people with machine guns, where you go in with a flash drive. That's the hardcore level of secure on-prem. On the other end, we see businesses that use a lot of cloud resources. But even they need stricter boundaries. They work with cloud providers to set up virtual private clouds or to provision resources with specific governance rules and policies. Why are companies interested in on-premises solutions for AI and large language models? We see a lot of interest from companies wanting control over their own destiny. They want to fine-tune models on their own data, connect them to internal databases for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retrieval-augmented-generation-making-ai-language-models-better-2024-5">retrieval-augmented generation</a>, and use agent-based models. If a company can only consume AI as a cloud end point, you have to tie all your internal systems to that cloud AI service, which is difficult. And many of these cloud AI companies, while they are well capitalized, are still relatively new as enterprise-software players. There are a lot of concerns about data leakage and compliance. Running locally gives more control and reduces the risk of accidental data exposure. You don't have to worry about a junior IT person at a cloud startup accidentally misconfiguring something and causing a data breach. The risks of a data breach are clear, but many companies seem concerned about any external use of their data for AI. Why is that? People have said that data is oil. If your data is oil, LLMs are like the internal-combustion engine, meaning they provide a much more interesting way to use that oil. Companies want to use their sensitive "crown jewel" data with LLMs to gain insights and improve predictive analytics. These use cases are central to their business, so they're protective of this data. They don't trust putting it on external systems where it could leak valuable information like customer insights or product preferences. When people think of "on-prem," they tend to focus on hardware. But much of what you are describing seems like software. Can you explain that in more detail? The hardware for AI work is often similar across setups. It's typically high-end <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-gpu-chips-ai-branding-popularity-2024-6">Nvidia GPUs</a>, though not always the latest or most expensive versions. On top of that hardware stack, the software needed to run an LLM isn't exotic if you know what you're doing. But there's a big asterisk here. The challenges often come from internal IT policies, organizational competencies, and the dynamic nature of AI workloads. For example, if your organization is familiar with Docker or Kubernetes, great. But if you're a Java shop used to deploying with Maven, or a Ruby shop unfamiliar with Python, that creates hurdles. When these companies want to start an internal LLM, that's where they can use help. AI workloads require varying amounts of computing power at different times. When you're training, you might need a lot of GPUs, fewer, or different kinds — or <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-a-cpu">even just CPUs</a>. This dynamic set of hardware requirements, sometimes very bursty in terms of when and how long you need it, creates an orchestration challenge. That becomes a software challenge, and then an organizational one. Are you saying the challenge is optimizing software for efficient and dynamic use of hardware? I actually think it's more of a broad competency challenge for a company. In traditional software development, the IT group talks to the software-development group. The developers specify their needs for memory, bandwidth, storage, and IT provisions for them. But data scientists and machine-learning teams have dynamic needs. They require newer, more advanced hardware, and the software they run is Python with many dependencies, like specific GPU-driver versions. The challenges organizations face in on-premises AI relate to the dynamic nature of server and machine orchestration and the open-source-software ecosystem they're tapping into. This is especially true for compliance and security requirements. Speaking of open source, what are your thoughts on open versus closed LLMs? I've tried to stay out of the fray on social media, but my take is that current LLMs, especially the frontier models, have a lot of overlap in capabilities. Some are better than others in certain aspects, but at their core, once you throw enough data at them, these models start to become similar to each other. Making open models like Meta's Llama freely available is a game changer. The original Llama release was significant, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-meta-llama-ai-model-praise-open-source-musk-2024-7">the latest Llama 3.1 model</a>, with 400 billion parameters, is a massive step forward. It will increase interest in running models on-premises, especially for fine-tuning on sensitive data. But while these models are often called open, they're not open in the traditional open-source sense. You can use them freely, but you can't rebuild them from scratch or modify them at will. The training data, scripts, and hyperparameters are often not disclosed. It's a complex issue that involves considerations of safety and licensing. The data used for training is a particularly big issue that no one really talks about. How should a company looking to implement on-premises AI get started? Anaconda has an <keyword id="23150764" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-Navigator" source="keywords">AI Navigator</keyword> tool that is a great way to get started. It's a simple graphical interface where you can download appropriate models for your computer. We're currently running this in beta, and we're eager to get feedback from users. Our tool connects to our curated model repository. We've quantized models to make them smaller and more efficient for different machines, which is important because downloading models from public repositories can pose security risks. For example, we've seen attacks where someone uploads a fine-tuned code-generation model that hallucinates nonexistent Python packages. It generates code that tries to import or install these fake packages, and then the attacker creates malicious versions of these packages in the real world. When users try to run the generated code, they install these malicious packages. Our tool helps users get past many initial hurdles in setting up and running AI models locally. It accelerates the process of getting the software running correctly for a given machine, making it easier and safer for businesses to start exploring on-premises AI solutions. Correction: August 28, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated Peter Wang's title. He's the chief AI and innovation officer of Anaconda, not the CEO. He was the CEO from October 2019 to January 2024.

You Searched For "government data" and got 10 results

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Lack of funds stopping you from pursuing higher education? The government can come to rescue

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