Fix: Remove conflicting global variable redefinitions (#1168)

[desireddymohithreddy0925]

Summary

This PR fixes a bug reported in #1168 where validation data was being lost due to conflicting global variable redefinitions. The global variables VALID_LEVELS, VALID_INTERESTS, and VALID_TIME_AVAILABILITY were fully defined at the top of src/utils/recommender.py, but were mistakenly redefined at the bottom of the file with incomplete lists. This caused valid areas of interest, such as "mobile" and "machine learning/ai", to be dropped during backend validation. I have removed the redundant, incorrect definitions at the bottom of the file to ensure the full valid sets are retained.

Related Issue

Closes #1168

Type of Change

• Bug fix — resolves a broken behaviour
• Feature — adds new functionality
• Data — adds new projects to data/projects.json
• Documentation — updates docs, README, or code comments only
• Style — CSS or visual changes only, no logic change
• Refactor — restructures code without changing behaviour
• Test — adds or updates tests

What Was Changed

File	Change made
src/utils/recommender.py	Removed lines 381-387 which mistakenly redefined and overwrote VALID_LEVELS, VALID_INTERESTS, and VALID_TIME_AVAILABILITY with incomplete lists.

How to Test This PR

1. Clone this branch: git checkout fix/issue-1168-duplicate-globals
2. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
3. Run the app: python app.py
4. Submit the recommendation form with the interest set to "mobile" or "machine learning/ai". The backend should now successfully validate and process the request instead of returning an "Invalid area of interest" error.
5. Run the tests: python tests/test_basic.py (or pytest tests/test_basic.py)

Expected test output:

27 passed, 0 failed out of 27 tests

Test Results

============================= test session starts ==============================
platform darwin -- Python 3.x.x, pytest-x.x.x, pluggy-x.x.x
rootdir: /Users/desireddymohithreddy/GSSOC2026DevPath/DevPathMRD
collected 27 items                                                             

tests/test_basic.py ...........................                          [100%]

============================== 27 passed in 0.12s ==============================

Self-Review Checklist

• I have read CONTRIBUTING.md and followed all guidelines
• My branch name follows the convention: feat/, fix/, docs/, data/, style/, test/
• I have run python tests/test_basic.py and all 27 tests pass
• I have run flake8 . locally and there are no errors
• I have not introduced any print() or console.log() debug statements
• Every new function I wrote has a docstring
• I have not modified files outside the scope of the linked issue
• If I changed the UI, I tested it at 375px (mobile) and 1280px (desktop)
• If I added a project to the dataset, it has all required JSON fields

Notes for Reviewer

None

[vercel]

Someone is attempting to deploy a commit to the komalsony234-1530's projects Team on Vercel.

A member of the Team first needs to authorize it.

[komalharshita]

@desireddymohithreddy0925 kindly resolve the merge conflicts