Almost two-decades since it was notified as an industrial area, Vasanthanarasapura—a tiny hamlet in Tumakuru district abutting the Chennai-Mumbai National Highway will get a major facelift and in less than a year the village could be the next big industrial hub of Karnataka.
To develop the Tumakuru node as part of the ambitious Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) scheme, the state government on Friday inked a pact with the Centre. Under the CBIC, the state government has identified Vasanthanarasapura as a primary node. With the help of the Centre, it plans to develop industrial infrastructure favouring setting up of small, medium and large-scale industries besides ensuring residential and commercial development.
According to Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, the area could be a key area accommodating several industries with potential of creating thousands of jobs, benefiting at least five adjoining districts. Already dotted with industries including the mega food park inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, the industrial area was short of infrastructure including food, accommodation, fire safety and security measures.
Lack of infrastructure had forced the workers in the area to adjust with whatever facilities that was available in the nearby villages as they could not afford to live and travel from Tumakuru, located 27 kms from the industrial area. However, the latest decision of the state government making the area as a primary node is likely to turn around the situation on all fronts.
Demanding infrastructural push, Parameshwara said, “If the area be connected with a dedicated electric train or extended Metro services or an elevated corridor linking up with the international airport, there is no doubt it would beckon investors with plenty of opportunities.”
The Tumakuru node will receive an investment of about Rs 50,000 crore creating job opportunities for 2,20,000 people. According to Alkesh Sharma of Government of India, the node will be developed close on the lines of Dholera industrial area in Gujarat and in less than a year, the new facilities will be offered for industries.
A team of engineering students has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify areas prone to waterlogging, and may help metro cities avoid tedious road congestions caused by monsoon showers. The researchers, including Aman Bansal and Apoorva Gupta from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) in New Delhi, combined rainfall, traffic, and location data to predict the severity of water logging in the vulnerable areas. "In a lot of developing countries, including India, the issue of waterlogging is persistent. In 2016, the roads of Gurgaon were flooded leading to severely waterlogged streets, which left thousands of people stranded for several hours. In Mumbai too, such incidents are very common," Rishab Gupta from NSIT.
"The damages caused by such occurrences triggered us to find a practical and feasible solution," said Gupta, one of the lead authors of the study that was presented at the Institute of Electricals and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 15th International Conference on Smart City in Bangkok last year. The study was initially done on Manila, the capital city of Philippines which has similar environmental conditions like cities in India.
"We first marked the areas in Manila already established to be prone to waterlogging, based on data obtained from previously conducted surveys," Gupta said.
The areas susceptible to waterlogging were located with the help of past travel time data (the time taken to travel from one point to the other) sourced from smartphone-based cab service Uber, and elevation data of the area.
The intensity of waterlogging was calculated based on the rainfall data and the day of the week, as traffic on weekends is significantly less than that on weekdays.
"After we ran this data through our trained neural network, we verified the vulnerability of those locations and even came up with more areas defenceless against waterlogging," he said.
The data was fed into an artificial intelligence system that consists of a neural network that can derive patterns in the information fed to it.
The system was trained by the students to reveal a water logging intensity score using an algorithm which could determine the extremity of the problem in the area.
"Our work can be easily modulated for Delhi as the Uber data for Delhi is available now. I can produce the results in 5-10 days," said Gupta.
"This system can be trained to detect patterns on an hourly basis and for the future as well, which is something that even Google can't calculate," Gupta said. Previously researchers used the Internet of Things (IoTs) - a network of small electronic devices installed in different locations to gather data about moisture, traffic, etc. However, the high cost of these devices made the project economically unviable.
Previously researchers used the Internet of Things (IoTs) - a network of small electronic devices installed in different locations to gather data about moisture, traffic, etc. However, the high cost of these devices made the project economically devices installed in different locations to gather data about moisture, traffic, etc. However, the high cost of these devices made the project economically unviable.
"The fact that we could easily access travel time data for free from Uber which is like an open repository of traffic data made things simpler and feasible for us, and gave a practical appeal to the technology," Gupta said.
The system can also be used for pinpointing accident-prone areas and times in a city, for dynamically deciding strategic points for positioning of ambulances, calculating the effect of festivals and holidays on traffic, and can also be employed in urban road planning, he said.
RBS India, the innovation & operation hub of The Royal Bank of Scotland, has set up an industry forum titled ‘Disability Smart’, to mainstream the disability inclusion agenda in organizations. The forum came together to discuss how organizations and persons with disabilities, can work together to create an environment, that engages, enables and empowers persons with disabilities, and establish a truly inclusive culture in companies.
Pankaj Phatarphod, Managing Director & Country Head of Services, RBS India said, “For us at RBS, inclusion is about ensuring everyone can bring the best of themselves to work every day, celebrate differences and find ways to turn them to our advantage. Over the last few years RBS has supported the development of disability friendly products and services and contributed to the development of disability and inclusion learning. This forum provides a unique platform to discuss how more organizations can become disability smart.”
Anuranjita Kumar, Managing Director, Human Resources, International Hubs, Royal Bank of Scotland further added, “Globally, more than a billion people live with a disability and the number is growing each passing day. Data indicates that their potential to contribute effectively at work is often impacted, not by their disability, but by the impediments around them. Being Disability Smart means supporting our colleagues with disabilities with workplace adjustments, so they can do their job to the best of their abilities.”
Andrea daCosta, Director, Programme Management, RBS India and Lead, Diversity & Inclusion – Disability Smart workstream, shared “Disability awareness begins by understanding the human element and market reasons, and it’s critical to thereafter proceed along the inclusion continuum. This progression requires more in-depth knowledge, creative solutions and a change in mindset. This is where leveraging collaboration plays a vital role to deliver tangible outcomes”.
The forum’s participant profile, comprising leaders from GIC’s (Global In-house Captive), experts from the field and persons with disabilities, discussed how organizations can drive accessibility, employability and development of persons with disability, to establish a truly inclusive and enriched environment.
Online training provider Simplilearn announced has its partnership with Lovely Professional University (LPU) to offer certification courses in a variety of high-demand digital technologies to their undergraduate and postgraduate Engineering and Science students as part of LPU’s online internship program.
With a joint focus to make students job-ready with the latest digital skills, the partnership will allow students to access a blend of online self-learning, live instructor-led classes and hands-on practical training. All students of LPU’s online internship program will be required to enroll in their choice of Simplilearn’s digital technology courses. Upon completion of the course, they will receive certifications from Simplilearn and relevant industry bodies.
Designed by industry experts who work in their fields of study, all courses are supported by 24/7 online teaching assistants and include assessments and hands-on capstone projects that will provide the students with the real-world experience that is sought after by employers.
“The next generation of talent needs to be armed with emerging digital skills before they enter the competitive workforce, and we are proud that this partnership with Lovely Professional University to make this possible,” said Simplilearn Founder & CEO, Krishna Kumar. “It's encouraging to see that universities are taking measures to prepare their students for the jobs of the future on their own rather than depending solely on hiring companies to train them.”
LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, “LPU is a university which is closely working with industry. The present collaboration with ‘Simplilearn’ will definitely help our students to be job-ready as per the latest requirements of the industry. Thus, this initiative is to prepare students industry ready from day one of their career start and get absorbed on high pedestals even in the initial stages. I also want to share that LPU is already tied up with Google, SAP, Microsoft and more to work closely with industry so that innovative ideas of production be brought forth.”
In addition to training working professionals and enabling enterprises to build a digital-ready workforce, Simplilearn has partnered with leading universities and colleges in the United States to help students build industry-relevant skills and achieve their career goals in high-demand fields such as Big Data, AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Digital Marketing, Cyber Security and other technologies.
Ravish S, Ratan Khanda and JP Rajakumar emerged on top in the closely contested Castrol Super Mechanic regional semi-final for bike mechanics held in Bangalore. The winning trio will be competing with 21 other champion mechanics representing seven other regional semi-final winners for the coveted title of Castrol Bike Super Mechanic. The three national winners will represent India at the Castrol Asia Pacific Bikes Super Mechanic contest to be held in Thailand in November 2018.
The Bangalore regional semi- final event witnessed keen contest by over 180 qualifying mechanics selected from the one lakh mechanics who had registered to participate from across the country. The regional qualifiers competed in theory and practical rounds, which tested their skills and knowledge about two-wheelers as well as lubricants. The participants also attended a training session on bike repair and maintenance. One of the highlights of this year’s event was the interaction between mechanics who had already participated in last year’s event, sharing their experience and tips with the first time participants.
Commenting on the event, Kedar Apte – Vice President Marketing, Castrol India said, “I would like thank the mechanics for their trust, support and overwhelming response to the Castrol Super Mechanic Contest this year. Compared to last year, we have seen an increase of 50% in the overall participation and this really encourages us to make this a bigger and better event. Through the Castrol Super Mechanic programme, we aim to provide a platform where mechanics can showcase their knowledge and skills and also support them in updating them on the latest trends and technologies emerging for bikes and lubricants.”
Celebrating his win, Ratan Khanda said, “I vowed to win this year after missing out last year & prepared hard this time. I have to thank my seniors & teachers for preparing me for this. I would like to thank my parents in this moment of happiness.”
The All India finals of the Castrol Super Mechanic Contest will be held in Mumbai with the national winners representing India at the Asia & Pacific Castrol Bike Super Mechanic contest.
At the 41st RIL Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai, it was a big day for Jio. RIL revealed the next big plans of Jio after the Jio SIM and JioPhone. The event also marked the company's foray into the broadband market.
The meeting was kicked off by company's chairman Mukesh Ambani who announced the launch of company's first-ever optical-based wireless connection called Jio GigaFiber. For a brief period, the stage was taken over by Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani and Kiran Thomas who talked about the JioPhone and its new capabilities. They also launched a high-end variant of JioPhone dubbed JioPhone 2.
Unlike the previous RIL AGM, this year's event was more about gadget-focussed launches. The company last year had announced new plans along with the JioPhone but this year was about only gadgets and software. No new recharge plans may be because the company in the past few months has already brought number of changes to its tariffs including a new postpaid recharge plan.
At he RIL AGM 41, there were several announcements that surprised us. The company announced its foray into the smart home gadgets and also highlighted the process of turning an ordinary house into a smart home using these gadgets.
Mukesh Ambani also unveiled the company's plan to enter into the country's thriving e-commerce sector to take on Amazon and Flipkart. "As Reliance transitions to become a technology platform company, we see our biggest growth opportunity in creating a hybrid, online-to-offline new commerce platform," said Ambani while addressing the meeting. " We shall create this by integrating and synergising the power of Reliance Retail's physical marketplace with the fabulous strength of Jio's digital infrastructure and services."
The company also announced that it has more than 215 million userbase now in just 22 months of the launch of Jio. There are more than 25 million JioPhone users in India now.
Now before you get all confused with what all was announced at the event and when can you expect to launch in India, here's a neat rundown of everything that Ambani and his team announced at RIL 41 AGM. Take a look:
* Jio GigaFiber broadband service: The star of the show-- Jio GigaFiber--is the company's optical-based broadband service that aims to connect 50 million homes in India. The beta trials for the service is already running in several cities and the registrations will start from August 15. The company said that the area with the highest number of registrations will be preferred first. Jio engineers will come to your doorstep to set up the connection. The connection will include and router and a Jio GigaTV set-top-box. The Jio router will provide ultra-fast wireless connection and offer wall to wall WiFi coverage.
* Jio GigaTV set-top box: Your Jio GigaFiber connection will also include a GigaTV set-top box that will offer more than 600 HD channels, 1000s of movies and songs. The set-top-box will also take voice commands in most of the Indian languages and also offer the multi-party video-conferencing facility.
* JioGigaTV calling: This is one unique feature launched by the company at its 41RIL AGM. With JioGigaTV feature, you can make voice and video calls from TVs connected to Jio GigaFiber and GigaTV set-top box. The feature will also allow you to call from TV to phones or tablets connected to some other network.
* YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp for JioPhone: The company announced new capabilities for JioPhone. Starting August 15, both JioPhone and the new model of JioPhone will support Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube.
* JioPhone 2: The company announced a new model of JioPhone with horizontal screen and QWERTY keypad called JioPhone 2. It supports voice commands in 15 Indian languages and has a dedicated button for the voice assistant. The JioPhone 2 runs on KAI OS. It features a 2.4-inch QVGA display and supports dual-SIM slots (Nano). The phone will retail at Rs 2999 and will be available for buying from August 15.
* Smart home gadgets: Jio also wants to try its hands on smart home gadgets. The company announced a range of products under its umbrella of Smart Home solutions. The company will sell products like audio dongles, video dongles, smart speaker, smart plug, surveillance cameras, video doorbells, smoke sensor, water leak sensor, gas leak sensor, and likewise. These devices can be managed remotely also with the help of Jio SmartHome app.
* E-commerce platform plan: Last but certainly not the least, Ambani also unveiled the company's plan to enter into the commerce platform. The company will do it by collaborating company's offline Reliance Retails stores with Jio's digital infrastructure.
Nasscom along with the Government of Karnataka on Thursday launched the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for data science and artificial Intelligence (CoE – DSAI), in Bengaluru.
Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, IT & BT, Science & Technology K J George, who inaugurated the centre, said the government of Karnataka aims to transform the state economy through innovation.
"It can be possible through technology, productivity, healthy enterprises and better citizen services. Building robust and versatile technology capabilities, the state can spearhead the way to new business opportunities," he said.
Nasscom also signed an MoU with Niti Aayog to collaboratively foster applied research, accelerating adoption and ethics, privacy and security.
The opening of CoE comes at a time when NITI Aayog is coming up with draft policy on AI, realising its disruption across all sectors. Nasscom will facilitate collaboration between NITI Aayog and CoEs and will include NITI Aayog as a knowledge partner.
Nasscom has partnered with Intel and IBM as its founding members and technology advisors for augmenting and accelerating the data science and AI ecosystem in the country.
Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh said Karnataka has led the IT revolution in India and has always been at the forefront of science and technology.
"The Centre is the next logical step required to provide the right fillip to areas of data sciences and AI and give a head start to, not just the state, but India as a destination to develop global product solutions," she said.
She said the vision behind the CoE is to act as a catalyst for developing the emerging technology startup ecosystem of the country.
The Indian film industry has the potential to emerge as a global content exporter for Netflix, a top company executive said.
India churns out more than 1,000 films a year. Netflix thinks content made in India will be a good addition to the streaming service’s varied global offering.
“There are great stories everywhere, but there are really four or five centers of TV and film (globally). Mumbai (Bollywood) is certainly one of them, and it is important for us, because we are going to be actively invested in India,” Erik Barmack, VP for International Originals at Netflix, told Reuters in an interview. The first of its original series in India is “Sacred Games”, based on author Vikram Chandra’s eponymous book, which streams on Netflix this Friday.
Bollywood has rarely moved beyond its comfort zone, content in making films that suit its home audience, but Netflix is hoping that the mix of kitsch and melodrama will appeal to its global audience too.
“The potential is huge. The simple one is just the diaspora, which is if you added up all the users in our global markets outside India, it would be bigger than many European countries. But there is craft and skill in the film market here, and we strongly believe that what is happening in places like Spain, where that content is traveling, will happen in India too,” Barmack said. Netflix has commissioned several more shows in India, including an adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker-winning novel, “The White Tiger”, as well as Prayaag Akbar’s “Leila”.
Subscriber base
In February, CEO Reed Hastings said Netflix’s next 100 million subscribers would come from India, citing rising mobile penetration and falling data costs.
Since launching in 2016, Netflix has been slower in India than rival Amazon, which has already aired much more local content. But Barmack says the company is scaling up faster in India.
American aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing is taking over the commercial jet business of Brazil’s Embraer, valued at $4.75 billion in a move that will allow it to compete more effectively in the medium-range aircraft market.
It follows a similar strategic partnership by arch-rival Airbus with Canada’s Bombardier last October.
Boeing to hold 80%
Under the terms of the deal, Boeing will hold an 80% stake valued at $3.8 billion, the companies said in a release on Thursday, while Embraer will hold the remaining 20%.
The proposed partnership is expected to be accretive to Boeing’s earnings per share beginning in 2020 and to generate estimated annual pre-tax cost synergies of approximately $150 million by the third year.
“By forging this strategic partnership, we will be ideally positioned to generate significant value for both companies’ customers, employees and shareholders - and for Brazil and the United States,” said Dennis Muilenburg Boeing Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Embraer Chief Executive Officer and President Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva added that the tie-up would create a “virtuous cycle” for Brazilian aerospace, increasing sales potential and production and consequently adding value for shareholders and employees.
The statement gave no indication of any payment Boeing was making under the deal.
The statement said that financial and operational details were still being finalised, a process which would continue over several months, after which the deal would be subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, including by the government of Brazil.
In addition, both companies will create another joint venture to promote and develop new markets and applications for defense products and services, especially the KC-390 multi-mission aircraft, based on jointly-identified opportunities, they said.
Close of transaction
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019.
Embraer, the third largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, was founded as a state group in 1969 before being privatised in 1994, although the Brazilian government retained the right to make strategic decisions for the company.
Shares in Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer crashed seven percent on the Sao Paulo stock market on Thursday, following the announcement of an agreement with US giant Boeing.
Agencies
The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), plans to add another 7.5 lakh units manufacturing capacity from three production lines in its Gujarat plant by 2020, taking the total capacity to over 22.5 lakh units a year.
The company, which already has a market share of over 50% in the domestic passenger vehicle segment, is also initiating process to study ways to further expand production capacity beyond 22.5 lakh units per annum after 2020.
The first assembly line of Suzuki-owned Hansalpur (Gujarat) plant has already started rolling out products. It has a production capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum.
The second production line with similar 2.5 lakh production capacity, is expected to be complete by this year-end, MSI Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here.
After that we are planning a third factory. Maybe, it is coming around 2020, he added.
Ayukawa said the company plans to have around 5,000-6,000 workforce at three units.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the passing out of the first batch of Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) at Ganpat Vidyanagar, Mehsana.
MSI already has a production capacity of 15 lakh units per annum across its two plants at Gurugram and Manesar.
"First, we will try 20 lakh total sales, including exports. After that we will target 20 lakh unit sales in the domestic market only," Ayukawa said, elaborating on the 2020 sales plan.
On capacity expansion beyond 2020, he added, "I believe that 22.5 lakh capacity could be enough, but after 2020 and 2021, how are we going to manage our business expansion; that we have to start a study for a long-term plan."
Over 250 students passed out of Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) at Ganpat Vidyanagar, Mehsana, on Wednesday.
The institute is part of Maruti Suzuki’s corporate social responsibility initiatives for skill development.
JIM is a result of the collaboration between India and Japan to create a pool of 30,000 skilled manpower for manufacturing in India.
MSI has invested over Rs 6 crore in setting up and running the JIM.
"Blessed by the Prime Ministers of India and Japan, JIM at Mehsana is a step to equip youngsters in Gujarat with skills that are directly connected with the growing manufacturing industry," Ayukawa said.
Ujjivan Financial Services in partnership with Piramal Swasthya, an initiative under the aegis of Piramal Foundation announced the launch of Mobile Primary Healthcare Programme in Bangalore. The Programme targets the unserved and under-served, and endeavors to make quality primary healthcare services available, accessible and affordable for all.
In India, basic healthcare is a critical challenge for the unserved and underserved populace, due to lack of resources, lack of adequate medical centres and steep costs of treatments. Karnataka has made significant progress in providing healthcare facilities to the residents over the last few decades. However, despite the progress, the State has a long way to go in achieving the desired health goals. Inequity in access to healthcare services, as evidenced by health outcomes in Karnataka, makes it imperative to come up with supportive programmes to provide available, accessible and affordable healthcare to the underprivileged communities.
Commenting on the initiative, Ittira Davis, MD & CEO, Ujjivan Financial Services said, “Ujjivan has always conducted self-sustained social development programmes for the benefit of the community at large, and has believed in its CSR well before it was made mandatory under the Companies Act, 2013. Ujjivan has partnered with Piramal Foundation for executing various CSR Programs in the Healthcare space, and on behalf of Ujjivan and in collaboration with Piramal Swasthya, we endeavor to provide technology enabled health services to the community at large, specifically the unserved and underserved.”
Vishal Phanse, CEO, Piramal Swasthya said, “Piramal Swasthya envisions transforming the primary health ecosystem in India by providing high impact solutions through thought leadership and partnerships. Mobile medical vans have made a positive impact on communities that we serve. This collaborative initiative will focus on providing accessible and affordable primary healthcare services to the unserved and underserved communities. Ujjivan Financial Services has been one of the proactive partners in this regard, and we are optimistic that our partnership will aid in improving the state’s health outcomes.”
With a motto ‘The world needs science and science needs women’, L’Oréal India invites applications from women students who have completed class XII in India for the 16th edition of its ‘For Young Women in Science Scholarship (FYWIS) Programme’. L’Oréal India will award scholarships worth INR 2.5 lakhs each to 50 promising but economically disadvantaged young women to help them complete their graduation in any scientific field from a recognised college/university in India.
Recognizing the importance of women in science, Snehhal Chitneni, Chief- Communications, Sustainability & Public Affairs at L’Oréal India said “L’Oréal strongly believes that science is the source of progress, and the contribution of women is vital. Our For Young Women in Science scholarship aims to provide aid and encouragement to young women who want to pursue an education and a career in science, but lack the means to do so. Entering our 16th year, we hope to reach out to many such deserving candidates in the future.”
Since its inception in 2003, L’Oreal India has given over 300 scholarships to girls across India. This programme forms a stepping stone for these young talented women to follow their dreams and aspirations and make a remarkable progress in their overall development.
The L’Oréal India ‘For Young Women in Science’ Scholarship Programme is an extension of the international L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science partnership. Last year, the Programme received more than 3000 entries from across the country. After a detailed evaluation process, 50 scholarships were awarded to the most deserving candidates
Eligibility criteria: Young women who have passed class XII exams from across India in the current academic year (ended March 2018), with a minimum of 85% in PCM/PCB and not over 19 years of age as on 31/05/2018, are eligible to apply for this scholarship.
This scholarship is open for study in any field of science: medicine, engineering, information technology, pharmacy, biotechnology, and other graduate courses pertaining to science (B.Sc.).
How to apply: Students can apply online at http://www.foryoungwomeninscience.com/ OR download application forms from the website and courier them to L’Oréal India Scholarship Cell, C/O Buddy4Study, Stellar IT Park C-25, No.8,9 & 10 Tower-I, Ground floor, Sector-62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India 201301. Deadline for submitting forms along with the relevant documents 16th July 2018.
Interview locations: Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata
The app features Pre-School Rhymes, Rabindra Sangeet, Fairy Tales, Akbar Birbal stories, Aesop fables, Grand Maa and Grand Paa stories, Panchatantra and many more short and moral stories.
Ultra has thoroughly handpicked the content that entertains, educates and encourages kids to learn. The apps are targeted to children between the age group of 2 to 12 years.
July 2018, Mumbai: All these apps are easy to understand, user-friendly & have a seamless interface. This makes it a one stop platform for the parents to just download these apps so that the kids can learn and watch Pre-School Rhymes, stories and movies with fun and entertainment. To make it more interesting, all the apps are animated which shall interest kids and help them in gaining lot of knowledge. One can listen to the rhymes in Hindi, English, and Bengali Languages while stories are made available in English, Marathi and Bengali Languages. These apps are available on google play store for free. Ultra is also planning to introduce three more kids centric apps in new high-quality original story content in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages by July 2018.
Following are the app links:
Preschool & Nursery Rhymes: http://bit.ly/2AKPUxZ
Nursery Rhymes Top 70 : http://bit.ly/NurseryRhymesTop70
100 Marathi Balgoshti:. http://bit.ly/MarathiBalgoshti
Kids Stories English: http://bit.ly/EnglishKidsStories
Bangla Kids stories & Songs: http://bit.ly/BengaliKidsSongsStories
Rhyme Time: http://bit.ly/RhymeTimeforKids
According to data from Indeed, the world’s no. 1 job site, there has been an increase of 186% in the number of job seekers looking for work opportunities in the robotics sector in India between May 2015 and May 2018. During the same period, job postings in the sector grew by 191%.
Growth of robotics in India
The rising interest among job seekers for jobs in robotics as seen in the past year by far outstrips the growth witnessed by the sector in the previous years, while the number of job postings in the sector, on the other hand, has slowed after the initial boom, during which growth was far more rapid.
It appears that while job seekers are increasingly looking at working in the robotics sector, companies within the sector are slowing down in terms of hiring. Following the initial spurt in growth in 2015, driven by the government’s investment of $13 billion USD in robotics under its Make in India initiative, hiring for robotics profiles has slowed considerably.
Top regions for robotics jobs in India
The data further indicates that Maharashtra is the leading state in India for those seeking job opportunities in the robotics sector. Home to large technology centres like Pune and Mumbai, it comes as no surprise that the region leads the trend. It is followed by Karnataka, which houses India’s Silicon Valley Bengaluru, and Telangana, of which upcoming technology hub Hyderabad is a part, making up the top three regions in India for job opportunities in the robotics sector. According to a previous study by Indeed, the leading cities in India for jobs in the technology space are also predominantly from the states that lead in terms of robotics job openings.
Sectors leading the robotics boom
Surgery is one area where robots are making a breakthrough, with the sector expected to grow at a rate much higher than the global average. India’s surgical robotics market is estimated to grow at a rate (CAGR) of 20% between 2017 and 2025, as compared to the global rate of 12%[1]. Another sector that is seeing increasing reliance on robots is the construction industry, given the thrust of government initiatives such as Make in India and Digital India. With a market of for close to one thousand robots annually, the sector offers huge potential for experimentation.
Commenting on the subject, Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed, said, “Robotics is one of the most exciting sectors emerging in India today. Sectors like construction, manufacturing and healthcare are boosting the demand for robotics talent, and there is enormous scope for the application of the technology across an even wider array of industries. As access to internet connectivity and open source platforms improves, a favourable environment for the sector’s growth and development is being created. Even as people fear that automation will take away jobs, robotics is creating new job opportunities for skilled resources.”
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions secures Lupin Limited, a transnational leader in the pharmaceutical industry, by addressing their security needs across data centers, endpoints, email and networks. Trend Micro was also able to complement the existing security solutions of Lupin Limited through a comprehensive security across their major vectors, advanced shielding from vulnerabilities with virtual patching and safeguarding of networks and endpoints against advanced attacks. By providing out-of-box integration with existing perimeter security solutions, Trend Micro was able to further simplify Lupin’s security operations with a single management dashboard for all capabilities.
Lupin Limited required a high-level security solution to safeguard critical applications in its data centers, while also requiring protection of email on Microsoft Office 365 against advanced attacks a priority. With more than 300 servers running on multiple operating systems, Lupin also required the ability to detect targeted attacks, advanced threats, and ransomware across the network, capturing lateral, inbound and outbound traffic. Finally, Lupin wanted to manage the solution through a single console.
“Lupin was seeking a comprehensive security solution that would equip their servers, network, and email with advanced protection, and that could detect and block security exploits, while also being equipped with cloud capabilities. At Trend Micro, they found the perfect partner who could provide exactly that and more. We deployed our solution in two phases. The first phase involved deployment of Deep Security in a hybrid environment, which brought in robust capabilities for physical, virtual, and cloud servers, in one integrated platform. The second phase involved deployment of Smart Protection Complete and Deep Discovery Inspector. Also, Cloud App Security was used to secure more than 20,000 mailboxes operating on Office 365,” said Nilesh Jain, Vice President – South East Asia and India, Trend Micro.
“Our Deep Security supports legacy operating systems, providing seamless integration for VMware deployments, and integrates with multi-cloud players, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform service. Our solution was seamlessly integrated with Lupin’s VMware deployments,” he further added.
“Trend Micro is a huge plus to our organization. It has increased security by reducing the risk of data breaches. The virtualized environment has streamlined administration, without compromising security or flexibility,” said Mayur Danait, CIO, Lupin Limited.
Trend Micro OfficeScan solution eliminated security gaps across endpoints by constantly learning, adapting, and automatically sharing threat intelligence across Lupin’s environment, and their Connected Threat Defense delivered network sandbox rapid response updates to endpoints when a new threat was detected, enabling faster protection and reducing the spread of malware. Trend Micro Deep Discovery Inspector provided identification against advanced and unknown malware, ransomware, zero-day exploits, command and control (C&C) communications, and evasive attacker activities that are invisible to standard security defense.
Further adding to it, Saurabh Kaushik, CISO, Lupin Limited said, “Trend Micro’s capabilities like virtual patching that shields from vulnerabilities without leading to do emergency patching, and employing cross-generational techniques like machine learning used to detect advanced malware are a big benefit to our organization.”
Trend Micro’s position as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms since 2002, and its rank as the “most effective recommended breach detection system” for two years running by NSS Labs further encouraged Lupin to choose Trend Micro over other solutions.
In a move which highlights its strong growth momentum, Cybage, a leading global technology consulting organisation specialising in outsourced product engineering services, has appointed Walter Mastelinck to its newly-formed Board of Directors. The appointment of a remarkable and experienced business leader such as Walter marks a significant landmark in Cybage’s ongoing success story. In his role at Cybage, Walter will reinforce company’s vision, strategic direction, and achievement of the business goals.
A serial entrepreneur, Walter has built several successful and scalable businesses from the ground up throughout an illustrious career spanning more than 25 years. He founded Transics in 1991 and, his tenure of more than two decades as its CEO has been one of the most prominent entrepreneurial stories. Walter led Transics’s transformation from a local Belgian enterprise to a global leader in fleet management and telematics solutions for the road transport sector. He spearheaded Transics’ IPO on the Eurolist stock exchange in 2007 as well as its eventual sale to WABCO, a global commercial vehicle industry technology supplier, for EUR111.1 million. He led the company till the end of 2016 as its CEO.
Speaking on the appointment, Arun Nathani, Managing Director & CEO – Cybage, said, “Walter has a highly successful track record of building great companies and taking them to market leadership positions. Having such a veteran industry leader with extensive, hands-on expertise in the various aspects of business operations as part of its Board of Directors is an important milestone for Cybage. The rich entrepreneurial experience that Walter brings to the table will help Cybage consolidate its position as a domain-leading organisation, whilst keeping its core culture of entrepreneurship alive.”
Since the end of his tenure at Transics, Walter has guided several high-potential ventures from an early stage, nurturing them into respectable and domain-leading organisations. This has only been made possible by Walter’s unrelenting determination to be deeply and actively involved – as an investor and as a mentor – in all aspects of business operations, especially those initiatives pertaining to technological innovation and business growth. He is currently involved with two medtech start-ups, Molecubes and Epilog, and is also the Co-founder, investor, and Director at WATT Factory, home to the ‘best in class’ accelerator with start-ups brought together from different Smart City domains. He is also currently serving as the Co-owner and CEO of Creaplan, a Belgian market leader for the design and construction of exhibition stands, displays, and interiors.
Walter Mastelinck added, “Incremental disruption through continuous innovation – that is what I feel any organisation, regardless of its size, should always aspire to. On that front, Cybage has an impressive track record. It has grown exponentially over the years and has emerged as a market leader in the hi-tech product engineering and outsourcing domain, and has still kept up with the constantly-changing technological landscape with several innovations of its own. I am also impressed by the vision of the senior leadership at Cybage, and look forward to working with this talented and driven team.”
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will be organising the 14th India Innovation Summit on July 12-13, 2018 with the theme, ‘India.AI - Driving the Future for the World’. The Summit will attempt to strengthen the spirit of India to build an ecosystem that fosters and propels Innovation through New Age Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR) as the foremost pillar of global growth. This year’s Innovation summit will cover topics such as, ‘Myths and Truths of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality’, ‘Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Smart Farming, Healthcare’, ‘Learning, Automobiles (Driverless Vehicles)’ among others.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman India Innovation Summit, Chairman, Axilor Ventures & Co-Founder, Infosys Ltd said that the India Innovation Summit has been an immense source of inspiration and a patron for Innovation, it provides an ideal platform for Indian Industry to study and understand the various flavours of innovation across all verticals of the Industry, it is also a platform to engage and drive the innovation led growth strategies from India for global markets.
According to him India is currently witnessing the commercialization of artificial intelligence and this has two aspects, one is cost and second is access. Ai is a disruptive technology which is going to touch all our lives and every business. He said that an area where a lot of work needs to be done is in policy and regulation, we need to create an environment that is conducive and encourages innovation, but as the same time looks at the challenges and the down side of innovation. Every aspect of disruption will have pros and cons and until we fully understand the implication of technology this will need to be navigated very carefully and in a balanced manner.
Speaking on the Young Innovators Challenge Award, Debarati Sen, Managing Director, 3M India Ltd said that 3M has significantly enhanced the size for the award for the young innovators challenge from 9 lakhs total prize value last year to 15 lakhs this year. 3M is celebrating 5 years of investing in “Youth & Innovation” through the 3M-CII Young Innovators Challenge Awards. As a responsible business and corporate, 3M is committed to building a community of young innovators capable of nation building and leading the future of the world. The 5th season of 3M-CII Young Innovators Challenge Awards seeks to find ideas and new projects from young innovators communities that are ready to build resilience to the social, economic, and physical challenges that India is facing and lead the future of the world. Also, this year the Challenge has added a new section called “Rural Innovations Awards” to ensure support to ideas working for sustainable rural development.
Sandeep Maini, Managing Director, Maini Group, said that this year the Summit will deliberate on Ai and the way it will drive the growth of industries globally. Ai has already set it significance across healthcare, aerospace and defence, FMCG and retail. One of the most talked about advancements is the deployment of Ai and how it’s used in chat bots. Over 47% of consumers are reportedly comfortable buying items from a bot. Ai provides valuable insights and it has opened the arena for better governance. The application of Ai in governance will be a game changer.
While setting the theme for 14th India Innovation Summit, I Vijayakumar, Co-Founder and CTO, Caryon Data Pte said that the theme is very relevant and timely for India, from a national economic and a human capital development perspective as AI, will be one of the advanced tools that would help us grow and emerge as one of the most desired markets for manufacturing and consumers. The Summit will address the need of the nation to build an AI-led ecosystem for fostering innovation to build our youth’s future in a digitally connected world. The session plan at the event covers a broad scope in terms of AI-led business trends, technology-led new business models, key trends in the future of human labor, the emergence of machine-intelligence in operations systems, and the maturity of machine learning methods in representation of human expertise.
To complement and enrich the conference themes, there is an exhibition arena co-located with the conference event to provide experiential understanding of the real-world products of the new human/machine intelligence paradigm. The pavilions cover the diverse sectors of the industry to represent the macro and micro level of the India’s AI landscape and the potential for the global business growth.
The two-day event will be a meeting of the minds from diverse sectors with a unique mix of corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, Govt. representatives, academia and general public makes this a great networking event as well as a learning experience both for the machines and humans.
The leading mobile marketing platform, CleverTap, has announced its entry into the field of psychographic segmentation that sets a new standard for segmenting mobile app users. Psychographic segmentation is an industry-first machine learning capability that sits at the cornerstone of what CleverTap does - help growth marketers deliver on the promise of relationship marketing.
Despite the fact that this in an age of abundant data, mobile users today expect to receive the right information with the right context. Existing mobile marketing tools help divide the audience by demographics, technographics, location, and app behavior. However, user actions are not always telling of what they are truly interested in. Their behaviors and interests change frequently, based on seasons, sporting events and current affairs. Actions can be one off behaviors or occasional purchases.
It is more critical than ever to identify micro-segments of users based on changing needs and pivot marketing efforts to bring timeliness, context and relevance. Of the numerous interactions that users have with a brand, marketers have to identify which ones characterize with their most dominating interests. For example, watching an action movie on one day does not indicate that they are action movie fans. The user’s predominant genre of interest may in fact be comedy and the content recommendations should be representative of these predominant interests.
This becomes even more challenging when the number of users are in hundreds or millions, making it impossible to accomplish contextual messaging at scale. By leveraging the power of machine learning, CleverTap leverages psychographic segmentation capabilities to process millions of data points across an entire user base to determine micro-segments of audiences. By determining a propensity or affinity towards one thing over all others, it helps establish an effective match between products and each user’s dominant interests.
With psychographic segmentation, marketers are able to anticipate user needs and predict what product or message will resonate the most with which micro-segment. They are able to find an accurate and a more intuitive way of understanding how users like to spend time on their app. It allows them to run targeted campaigns and significantly increase the chances of conversion.
Leading marketers are finding success with CleverTap’s psychographic segmentation to help them identify the most intelligent way to engage users along their customer journey. For instance, finding users most likely to purchase limited seats of a movie based on their genre of interest and viewing time preferences. With psychographic segmentation, marketers can now send the best offer to the user most likely to find value in it and ensure that their product inventory finds its most optimal buyers.
“Interest based psychographic segmentation is a significant breakthrough that equips marketers to target much more relevant content to users based on their dominant or significant behavior. In early usage the engagement rates are more than double as compared to engagement with behavior segments. The content and timing is just a whole lot better and users react to it more”, said Sunil Thomas, Chief Executive Officer at CleverTap.
(Authored by Arnab Ghosh, Director, Synergy Property Development Services)
Today we must learn to be fast, fair and slow, all at the same time. Project management professionals across geographies, are not immune from these changes. Traditional construction management methodologies are also being replaced or reinforced with new tools and technology.
In the last decade, there has been a tectonic shift in the way the real estate and construction industry is evolving in India. With the Indian construction market set to be the world’s third-largest construction market by 2021, it is imperative that Indian Construction and Design professionals up their ante in terms of delivering technologically advanced solutions.
The industry has seen sporadic improvements but in essence it largely remains a people-intensive industry as compared to the more developed parts of the world. Companies globally look at anywhere between 1-3% of project costs as the budget for software technologies to create cost and time efficiencies, which is a far cry for India.
While traditional project management models focused exclusively on the delivery of products and services, newer project management models are increasingly focusing on achieving results by interpreting the business strategy, providing effective risk assessment and deriving a solution. By embracing continuous innovation in technology, new age PMC firms are going digital by adopting ‘Cloud-based’ storage services and ‘end-to-end’ project management software solutions. Let’s look at some of the prominent technology tools which new-age PMC firms are using in India today.
Building Information Modelling
BIM is a 3D model-based process for creating and managing project information. The building information model is a digital description of every aspect of the build, and objects in the model can be linked to related information such as quantity, images, specifications or manuals. This technology benefits construction professionals by helping them create better plans, produce faster results, and stay within budget. BIM started slow in India. However with the advent of Smart cities, IoT, VR and AR gaining ground, BIM practise is witnessing a strong revival.
CCTV Monitoring
CCTV installation on-site is one of the best ways to protect a site from undue hazard. They help to track events across the site in more than one place at a time. CCTVs on-site also manage thefts and help to monitor employees at work. Client located offsite are now able to get a real-time view of their sites in the smartphones itself.
Unmanned Airborne Vehicles
Drones or UAVs are extensively used today to monitor the construction work for large and complex sites. They help the Construction management team to have visibility of the workforce operating at heights and keep the site EHS complaint. Analytic software in Drones can help to do thermal mapping and land surveying. It is still not that prevalent in India but will gain ground once the legalities of their usage is formalised.
Project Portfolio Management software
Web based cost effective Project management software is being used extensively to streamline the construction process and increase efficiency. Usually, most of the online software caters to requirements such as maintaining and creating construction schedules, resource allocations, monitoring usage and generating reports.
Cloud-based Document management software
Cloud-based document management system helps to keep all the project related documents in an easily accessible organized manner. It also makes collaborations between teams easier and there are chances of easier recovery of data if it is lost. Most importantly such software has the ability to track deliverables and make the users accountable with well-defined workflows.
Online Conferencing Applications
Considering the fact that large projects have stakeholders located in different geographies, these online conference tools are a boon to PMC firms to bring the team together at an agreed frequency to resolve open issues. Most of this software allows documents to be presented in various formats for quick reference. Virtual meetings are the new reality.
Procurement software
Procurement software contributes to automating the entire tendering process in a project. Such software nowadays is integrated with the Client ERP system and support e-bidding process flows. The workflows are well defined with the necessary checks and balances in place. It helps to maintain transparency and a clear audit trail behind for all orders released against a project.
Web-based Collaboration tools
In any project, collaboration is essential to ensure that all the teams head in the same direction and create an innovative environment. Collaboration tools with real time chats, posting features and group messaging options enable teams to communicate with each other, access information and increase efficiency rapidly.
The flow of real-time information to every team in a project is vital. Amongst the deluge of data, tools which control and analyse the information will become popular. Technology today can create algorithms which help us to take decisions. Every day we are witnessing newer applications and gadgets coming in the market to aid construction professionals. The key is to be aware about the latest advances in technology and adapt them in an innovative and effective manner.
Cheering for England and looking for their soccer team t-shirt? Or expanding your autograph collection and missing that Rajnikanth autographed photo? Is your cricket collection missing the Chris Gayle signed bat? Or is your office desk Avenger collection still short of that Spiderman figurine? Well wait no further! Providing another avenue to shop for collectibles to enthusiasts from across the country, Amazon.in today announced the launch of a dedicated store for Collectibles. The new store comprises of collectibles from two categories - Entertainment and Sports that will provide Amazon.in customers direct access to thousands of collectibles in the form of sports and entertainment memorabilia from selected sellers. The store aims to connect prominent sellers directly with collectible enthusiasts from across the country.
The Collectibles store on Amazon.in is one of the largest online collections of original and limited edition collectibles for purchase directly from sellers and dealers. This new store features easy-to-use discovery tools to help open the collectibles world to customers, provides customers with high quality images and offer detailed information about the collectibles, all in one place! Amazon.in customers can explore collectibles selection from key sellers from across the country. Some of the prominent names include Entertainment Store, Ultra Media, Voxpop, Essence for entertainment and sports collectibles.
Currently, the Collectibles store also has a special football collection displayed as part of the on-going football world cup. Gauging the popularity of the World Cup, the store offers official merchandise such as t-shirts, bobble heads, mini football boots, flags, football, table flag and posters belonging to various teams and football clubs. This is a treat for football enthusiasts as unique and interesting products are made available for purchases and gifting.
Commenting on the launch, Gopal Pillai, Director and GM, Seller Services, Amazon India, said, “At Amazon, selection is one of the key pillars of our strategy. We are committed to ensure that the Amazon.in marketplace offers the widest and the most unique selection to our customers and helps sellers expand their reach and grow at a significant scale. The launch of the Collectibles store is part of our constant endeavor to provide our customers & sellers with a new opportunity to buy & sell products even from a niche category. This store will help sellers reach customers from across the country, along with providing enthusiasts access to collectibles of their interest, especially the football fans right now looking to buy their favorite team’s merchandize. This is definitely a key launch for us and we are excited about the possibilities of this store.”
Amazon.in’s Sports Collectibles store currently has a selection of hats, bats, jerseys, mugs, figurines, fan art, shot glasses, trading cards and autographed selection. The company has on-boarded 9 well known sellers offering ICC official merchandise and rare Olympic autographed selection. Currently, the category offers selection ranging from Manchester United fan art starting from INR 300 to extremely rare Sachin Tendulkar Autograph bats for 65k+.
Furthermore, Amazon.in’s Entertainment Collectibles store currently consists of thousands of apparel, comic books, movies & music, figurines, caps, autograph photographs and old movie posters. The company has on-boarded 6 well known sellers, namely The Entertainment Store which is selling official licensed and limited edition merchandise of Game of Thrones, Avengers etc. The company has also on-boarded Ultra Media House that is listing old movie posters from 70’s super hit films like Toofan and Bijlee. The category offers a selection of collectibles from Captain America posters starting at INR 199 to extremely limited edition Batman Figurines of upwards of INR 40k as well.
Essence offers opportunities to fans to own ICC licensed memorabilia marketed worldwide, such as Sachin Tendulkar’s personally autographed signed bat. Anish Shroff, CEO of Essence said, “Amazon.in’s Collectibles store helps us cater to an untapped sports ecosystem in India and to dramatically expand our audience while simultaneously providing access to affordable, limited-edition collectibles from some of the most significant celebrities.”
Jatin Varma, CEO of Comic Con India said, “Amazon.in’s Collectibles offers opportunities to fans to own licensed merchandise across movies, music and TV-shows. We are looking forward to partner online with Amazon.in’s Collectibles store. This will help us build our online presence and provide a platform to direct traffic to Amazon collectibles to purchase authentic merchandise from our key exhibitors/sellers.”
“I was looking for the Knock out Telstar football all over in Surat, and I finally found the original version of it on Amazon collectibles. Being such a huge fan of football, this belonging is priceless. I am so happy that I could buy it from a trusted platform where I don’t have to worry about it not being genuine,” said Satish Sharma, sports enthusiast, Surat.
