The recent statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) - - on #PassportSevaDivas, no less! - - clarifying that an Indian passport is primarily a "travel document and not conclusive proof of citizenship" has triggered a predictable wave of public bewilderment and political sparring.
While the government defends this as a long-standing legal position rooted in Section 20 of the Passports Act of 1967 (which technically allows the state to issue passports to non-citizens under rare, public-interest circumstances) this is a distinction without a difference, meaningless to the average citizen.
For decades, the passport has been considered the gold standard of identity. We navigate the gruelling bureaucratic maze of police verifications and document checks required to obtain one, precisely because the state demands concrete proof of citizenship before granting it. To turn around and declare that the very document born from this rigorous vetting does not actually prove citizenship creates an absurd legal paradox. If a passport does not establish domestic citizenship, then what does?
The Supreme Court has already ruled that the Aadhaar card is merely a proof of identity and residence, not citizenship. This leaves millions of Indians in a bizarre administrative limbo where they possess world-class biometric and state-issued documents, yet none are legally deemed "conclusive" proof of their nationality within their own borders.
To end this fatuous controversy once and for all, a common-sense legislative overhaul is urgently required. The government should formally amend the legal framework to make both the passport and the Aadhaar card valid, conclusive proofs of Indian citizenship unless they are explicitly cancelled or withdrawn by the state.
Implementing this requires solving a critical administrative hurdle: because Aadhaar is currently issued based on 182 days of local residence rather than nationality, it is held by citizens and non-citizen residents alike. The solution is straightforward. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) should introduce a visually distinct Aadhaar card (featuring, say, a visible diagonal red stripe across the front), specifically designated for non-citizens living in India.
By clearly demarcating the two categories, the state can safely mandate that carrying either a standard citizen's Aadhaar or a valid passport is compulsory and sufficient proof of citizenship for all Indian nationals at all times. This dual-document policy would immediately streamline domestic verification, eliminate arbitrary bureaucratic challenges during electoral revisions, and provide every Indian with absolute, unquestionable legal certainty regarding their identity. End of story!
@adityad131 I don’t care about the politics of it, but BJP is going to be hurt by it. This I am saying as an admirer of the current government. All the pundits are only seeing it from a political lens. For a common man all the BS in news doesn’t matter. All they will hear is that there is no document that makes you a citizen. In most rural India, there are no birth certificates issued at birth. Birth certificates are created only when it’s required by going to local authorities . A passport is the most authentic document that exists. When you say none of the documents prove your citizenship, then elections are a farce and governments are not legitimate. Most passport holders comes from middle class, the very people Modi is trying to court in the recent days. After 12 years , BJP has convinced more people to be nationalists. But then they say there is no document that proves you are a citizen. All these pundits are seeing only from limited political lens. Remember most passport holders will not be aware of the politics.
We’re introducing the Cursor SDK so you can build agents with the same runtime, harness, and models that power Cursor.
Run agents from CI/CD pipelines, create automations for end-to-end workflows, or embed agents directly inside your products.
Introducing Vibe Coding XR, a new rapid prototyping workflow that empowers Gemini Canvas w/ the XR Blocks framework to turn user prompts into interactive, physics-aware WebXR applications, allowing creators to quickly test intelligent spatial experiences →https://t.co/suwxBMoMvD
Today, we’re evolving @StitchbyGoogle from @GoogleLabs into an AI design canvas transforms natural language prompts into production-ready front-end code.
Some highlights from what’s new:
1. A complete redesign of the Stitch UI, which can now ingest multimodal references (text prompts, images, or code) as creative seeds for your design ideas
2. A brand new, context-aware design agent that can share feedback on builds, generate PRDs, and ask questions to better understand your vision. You can even talk to the agent if you prefer a verbal sounding board
3. A new agent-friendly markdown file, DESIGN.md, which you can use to export or import your design rules to or from other design and coding tools
Whether you’ve been designing for decades or you’re whiteboarding your first software idea, Stitch can help you turn concepts into prototypes in minutes rather than days ➡️ https://t.co/efI6cbjAhm
Just blows my 🤯 that in the last few weeks @Airbound_Aero has delivered 700+ samples for @NarayanaHealth, one of India's largest hospital networks. ETA down from 1.5hrs to <4mins. Zero crashes. Revolutionary. The asymptote to 1M+ deliveries has started.
WebMCP is available for early preview → https://t.co/bZMcANfg37
WebMCP aims to provide a standard way for exposing structured tools, ensuring AI agents can perform actions on your side with increased speed, reliability, and precision.
We’ve raised $30B in funding at a $380B post-money valuation.
This investment will help us deepen our research, continue to innovate in products, and ensure we have the resources to power our infrastructure expansion as we make Claude available everywhere our customers are.
We’ve developed the FACTS Benchmark Suite with @GoogleResearch. 📊
It’s the industry’s first comprehensive test evaluating LLM factuality across four dimensions: internal model knowledge, web search, grounding, and multimodal inputs.
The 14th century scholar-philosopher Ibn Khaldun had an interesting observation that civilisations go through four generation cycles. With the "liberal global order" clearly going through a reset, it would be interesting to apply his framework to our times:
1st generation: They disrupt the old system and introduce a new set of values/ideas/social dynamics. This generation faces struggles against the old establishment and competing groups. If they succeed, they create a core internally coherent group built through their revolutionary struggle. This core starts to rebuild society along its value system.
2nd generation: This generation witnessed or even participated the struggles of the previous generation. They still carry some of the revolutionary spirit and enjoy internal cohesion. However, after the turmoil, they focus on stability. Therefore, this generation establishes institutions and a coherent social contract for the wider society. They build infrastructure, economic systems and so on.
3rd generation: This generation benefits from the hard work of the previous two generations and witnesses the peak of the cycle, but also sees the initial signs of a deterioration. This is the generation that enjoys economic prosperity, builds the grand iconic buildings and makes important cultural contributions. However, they do not pay attention to the institutions and internal social cohesion that made all this possible.
4th generation: This generation takes the economic, social and cutural achievements of the previous three generations for granted. It is cynical and justifies its own laziness. Internal cohesion of the society breaks down, petty rivalries emerge, and the society goes into decline.
Ibn Khaldun argues that a society that survives the cynical fourth generation, then repeats the above cycle. Wonder how this would apply to today's world ? Are different countries in different points in the cycle?
World's first autonomous delivery of a car!
This Tesla drove itself from Gigafactory Texas to its new owner's home ~30min away — crossing parking lots, highways & the city to reach its new owner
Amazing to see the generality & dexterity of Gemini Robotics in a model small enough to run directly on a robot. Incredible speed & performance even in areas with low connectivity. Excited to continue this momentum to make robots more helpful & useful to people
Can I get a $1 every time Cursor says this? "I am so sorry. You are absolutely right, and I apologize for the repeated errors. It's clear that my previous attempts to fix the problem were flawed and have only caused more issues. I understand your frustration, and I will correct this properly now." #CursorAI #vibecoding @cursor_ai
On this Father's Day, I honor my father, who left us last year. His wisdom continues to guide me, especially his lessons on equanimity from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 15: "Yaṁ hi na vyathayantyete puruṣhaṁ puruṣharṣhabha, samaduḥkhasukhaṁ dhīraṁ so ’mrutatvāya kalpate" — "O best among men, the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress, and is steady in both, is eligible for liberation."
Your teachings on staying balanced in life’s highs and lows remain my strength. Miss you always, Dad. #FathersDay #BhagavadGita
UPDATE: This video was from last Saturday - robot speed was 4.05 seconds/package
Yesterday, I saw it running at 3.54 seconds/package
That’s a 13% speed-up in just 6 days 🤯