Four workers of the Congress’ youth wing were arrested after they held a protest at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The group was heard shouting slogans such as “PM is compromised” and holding placards.

A police officer said that 10 persons had been detained. The Delhi Police added that checks were underway to determine whether the protesters had entered the venue using passes or a QR code.

The Indian Youth Congress said that its workers had raised their voices against the allegedly “compromised prime minister” who had “traded the country’s honour”. The Bharatiya Janata Party termed the protest a “national shame”. Read on.

India joined Pax Silica, a United States-led group to coordinate supply chains for semiconductors, artificial intelligence and critical minerals. The signing took place on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor described India’s entry into Pax Silica as “strategic and essential”. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s minister for electronics and information technology, said that joining Pax Silica was “very important for the semiconductor supply chain, semiconductor manufacturing and chip design, for establishing the entire semiconductor ecosystem” in India.

Pax Silica has 11 other members including Australia, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The European Union participates in the group as a non-signatory member. Read on.

The Supreme Court ordered the appointment of judicial officers to help complete the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in West Bengal. This came amid a tussle between the state government and the Election Commission.

Hearing petitions challenging the conduct of the exercise in the state, the bench said there was an “unfortunate blame game of allegations and counter-allegations” between the state government and the Election Commission. It added that this “shows trust deficit between two constitutional functionaries”.

The court said the voter roll revision process was “stuck” and that most persons issued notices had submitted documents to support their claims for inclusion in the voter list. It requested the Calcutta High Court to allow serving and retired judicial officers to assist with the revision exercise. Read on.

Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal said that the interim trade agreement between India and the United States is likely to be signed in March and operationalised in April. New Delhi and Washington agreed on a framework for the deal on February 2.

Under the agreement, US tariffs on Indian goods will be reduced to 18% from a combined rate of 50%. The earlier rate included a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August for India’s purchase of Russian oil.

A three-day meeting between officials from New Delhi and Washington to finalise the legal text of the agreement will begin in the US on February 23. Read on.

A United Nations report detailed torture, sexual abuse, food deprivation and other human rights abuses suffered by persons trafficked from several countries into cybercrime operations in Southeast Asia and beyond. It termed the crisis a “wicked problem”.

The report said that estimates of the scam workforce point to the involvement of at least 3 lakh persons from 66 countries. It called for urgent attention to the need for a human rights solution centred on the protection of survivors and focused on prevention.

The report came weeks after the Indian government told Parliament on February 5 that nearly 7,000 Indian citizens had been rescued from cybercrime centres in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos between 2022 and 2025. Read on.

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