iWorld
Juhi Parmar makes her OTT debut in Yeh Meri Family season two
Mumbai: Amazon miniTV – Amazon’s free video streaming service is bringing back the new season of the widely popular family drama Yeh Meri Family. Set in the 90s, the first season garnered immense appreciation for its fresh, nostalgic, and sweet storyline that takes you down to the golden era. Taking the storyline ahead, the new season with a fresh ensemble featuring Juhi Parmar, Rajesh Kumar, Hetal Gada, and Angaad, the series is set to go live on the service starting 19 May 2023.
Making her OTT debut with this season of Yeh Meri Family, Juhi Parmar is ready to entertain her fans with her portrayal of a woman balancing her life as a mother and wife in a middle-class family during the 90s. A schoolteacher, a homemaker, and a mother – Neerja Awasthi, played by Juhi Parmar in this series is a jack of all trades. Like every TV serial from the 90s, Neerja has her own chemistry going on with her mother-in-law which is extremely endearing in its own way. With her own battles at home, Neerja tries very hard to help the kids in her class who are not very fond of her because she doesn’t grade them well to what they believe. She is quintessentially the anchor of the family, who loves her near ones to the bits and plays a sensible, sharp and the perfect homemaker.
On being asked about her character, Juhi said, “Neerja is a very relatable character for many Indian women. I am glad that my OTT debut is with the new season of Yeh Meri Family which is a slice of life lighthearted show. The premise of the show is extremely endearing and I am sure the viewers will relate to it as well. It’s the kind of content I would love to watch myself, a family show with emotions, laughter and entertainment. A lot of nostalgia will kick in as even while shooting it we were all taken back to the golden era of the 90s. I am sure people will simply fall in love with the Avasthi family. For me Yeh Meri Family is extra special because it’s the kind of content that reaches the heart. I am excited to see my audience’s reaction to see me in a completely new avatar.”
The new season of Yeh Meri Family is scheduled to release exclusively on Amazon miniTV, for free within the Amazon shopping app and on Fire TV on 19 May, 2023.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
