AI Hubs Ignite 'North-South' Debate: Sridhar Vembu Responds To Mohandas Pai

In a series of sharp tweets aimed at Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Pai challenged the central government's commitment to South India

Vembu stressed that the selection process was free from governmental influence, ensuring a fair evaluation based solely on the quality of the proposals submitted

Source : X

Former Infosys CFO TV Mohandas Pai voiced concerns about the perceived neglect of Bengaluru, often regarded as India's technology capital, in the government's tech initiatives. His comments on social media sparked a strong response from Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu, a key decision-maker in one of those initiatives.

In a series of sharp tweets aimed at Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Pai challenged the central government's commitment to South India, describing the NDA's treatment of the region as "stepmotherly." He accompanied his remarks with a report on the new centres of AI excellence in India.

The institutes involved include IIT Kanpur, which focuses on sustainable cities; IIT-Ropar, which specialises in agriculture; and a collaborative effort between IIT-Delhi and AIIMS Delhi, which centres on healthcare.

"Nothing in Bengaluru? Why are you and Ashwini Vaishnaw ignoring the South in IT, ignoring Bengaluru? Are we not part of Bharat too?" Pai wrote. He added that Bengaluru people are apparently "very angry and upset" about being "repeatedly ignored" in the South.

Reverting to the same, Vembu wrote, "The responsibility for this decision on the AI Centres of Excellence should be with us in the committee and personally with me as Co-chair. I beg people to not inject North-South politics into this.” 

Can you release your scoring and comments to the public Pl? Why this secrecy? It is surprising that instititions like @iitmadras and @iiscbangalore who stand out for the work in this area did not come on top. This is about Hi tech, futuristic, institutional capacity, eco system… https://t.co/yL3vxyNPeS

Dr Manish Gupta, who works in Google DeepMind from Bengaluru, is a fellow member of the Apex Committee on AI CoE.

He is originally from the North, now living and working in Bengaluru.

I once again beg people to avoid injecting North-South politics in this 🙏 https://t.co/xSgJigcAOT

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) October 17, 2024

— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) October 17, 2024

He stressed that the selection process was free from governmental influence, ensuring a fair evaluation based solely on the quality of the proposals submitted.

“It is surprising that institutions like IIT Madras and IISc Bangalore who stand out for the work in this area did not come on top. This is about Hi tech, futuristic, institutional capacity, eco system around institutions which matter for the output,” Pai wrote in another Tweet. 

In his latest tweet, Pai asked Vembu about the members of the consortium from sustainable cities and asked for the grading system to be made public. 

In his latest tweet, Vembu quote-tweeted a colleague who supported his views. "Dr Manish Gupta, who works in Google DeepMind from Bengaluru, is a fellow member of the Apex Committee on AI CoE. He is originally from the North, now living and working in Bengaluru. I once again beg people to avoid injecting North-South politics in this," Vembu wrote.