TALC Launches EQ-Based Mentoring Initiative “New Age Schooling” for the First Time in India

Key Points

* A first-of-its-kind initiative aims to impart academic curriculum along with the knowledge of Indian traditions and values of emotional sensitivity and stability

* A pioneering initiative for the academically inclined children

* A school which values emotional and intellectual safety of the child where parents are an integral part of the school

Child sensitised, well-trained, strong and intelligent teaching team with graduation and post-graduation from psychology and humanitarian science

* Takes new age schooling to unparalleled heights with its child sensitivity module

TALC (The Alternative Learning Community), India’s pioneering Child Centric initiative from an Indian entity founded by Latha Gangadharan, today announced the launch of country’s first-ever “EQ-based Mentoring Initiative – New Age Schooling”, a child centric & child sensitized education centre in Bengaluru. This unique program caters to children with both regular and special needs in the age group 4 to 18 years. Their “B-M-I” model (“Body- Mind-Intellect”) helps the child grow into a smart and happy individual with strong EQ & intellect. 

The admission of the child is based on the both the parent and the child’s abilities – the parents’ conviction and acceptance of their child’s uniqueness and desrie to be respected and understood and thereby mentored in a way that suits the child. 

At TALC, we respect and value human sentiments; we firmly believe that social and emotional involvement/engagement plays a vital role in the child’s overall development and learning. Comprising a team of experts in the area of child sensitivity, supplemented with strong research findings and a never-stop spirit, they’ve found the root of the problem to be emotional detachment from the process the child engages in, thereby negatively affecting his learning and academic progress. This is where our Child Centric education comes in, as the focus is ultimately on what matters the most – the child.

Identifying the gap in today’s education, TALC brings a new and innovative manner of delivering the NCERT curriculum and caters to the need of their children by developing their self-esteem, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. We Indians have found international success and are global leaders because of the high EQ and intellect inculcated from the early stages. Moreover, our tagline – “I am who I am! “ – reflects the very purpose of this initiative, that is to be emotionally available to each and every child and ensure they are personally understood, mentored and guided to evolve as a powerful individual with a diverse skillset. This includes certification from two boards – NIOS & IGCSE, for which they would appear for their certification exams as private candidates. TALC steps in to facilitate the child to be fully prepared for the exams with the required ground work and conceptual clarity at the highest level. 

Children with emotional difficulties tend to face challenges in learning. It is therefore TALC’s BMI model addresses this very issue. A first-of-its kind, TALC with its highly sensitized group of mentors and teachers, all from the field of humanities and psychology face only one challenge – their students never want the day to end!

Talking about the launch, Ms. Latha Gangadharan, Founder, TALC, said, “We are excited to officially launch this brand-new initiative which has been developed based on the current needs to create meaningful education that integrates not only the child and teacher but also parents and other experts who are deeply committed towards the child’s progress”.

She added, “Keeping the current situation in mind, we have taken an alternative step and introduced ‘Personalised Online Classes’ in order to provide need-based solutions to our children. Despite any obstacle that comes our way, we focus on the mission of delivering personalized, child-centric education to our students”

We understand the range of concerns that parents are facing in this pandemic situation and do not wish for the continuity of their child’s education and progress to be one of them, solidifying the mission in their hearts of delivering resourceful, quality and personalized education to their children. 

The regular classes are scheduled to commence in August 2020 and application and prospectus would be available in the TALC Administration Office until June 30th 2020. Admissions close by July 25, 2020.

Manipal Hospitals Bangalore Overcomes Hurdles, Unite to Perform a One-Of-A-Kind Kidney Transplantation

In a heartwarming case, amidst the nationwide lockdown, 43- year old patient suffering from kidney failure due to familial kidney disease was successfully treated by a team of passionate doctors at Manipal Hospitals Bangalore. The patient had multiple complications and was in urgent need of kidney transplant and required blood for the surgery.

Since the surgery was organized at short notice and collecting blood would take time, doctors at Manipal Hospitals came forward to donate blood in order to ensure seamless surgery without any hurdles and hence Dr Ravi Jangamani, Dr Vishwanath and Dr Saurabh Kishte came together for this noble cause. Nephrologist Dr Ravi Jangamani along with a multi-disciplinary team consisting of Urologists Dr Deepak Dubey, Dr. Shivashankar R and Dr. Somanna, CTVS surgeon Dr. Devananda NS and team along with anaesthesiologist Dr. Navneetan were involved in this complex kidney transplantation.

The patient, a resident of Kolkata was suffering from a familial kidney disease called Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), leading to kidney failure. His condition worsened during the lockdown. He had huge kidneys due to ADPKD and there was no space for the kidney transplantation.

“This was one of the most technically challenging kidney transplants one can imagine. Coupled with this challenge, was the anxiety related to the Covid 19 infection around us.  The patient had diseased blood vessels and the only option was to use a synthetic graft. The technique used, was one of the firsts of its kind in scientific literature. The operation and post-operative management was possible due to a determined and tireless effort between multiple teams of doctors”, says Dr Deepak Dubey, HOD & Consultant – Urology, Robotic Surgery and Renal Transplantation, Manipal Hospitals Old Airport Road.

He also had bad blood vessels with 90% narrowing of lower Aorta leading to poor blood supply in the lower part of the body making it difficult for kidney transplantation. With all these, his condition was deteriorating with severe anemia and poorly functioning heart, needing four times week dialysis. This caused a huge financial burden on the patient as well during the lockdown period.

Dr Devananda N S, HOD & Consultant - Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery, Heart and Lung Transplant Surgery said, “This patient had unique challenges. He had low blood flow to both his legs and at the same time needed a kidney transplant. Doing one without the other would have made treatment incomplete. With our innovation and team work, we could give him the best treatment he deserved. Quality medical care is all about this”.

Dr. H. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman Manipal Hospitals said, “This was a challenging task indeed as on one side we have doctors battling the corona crisis and on the other side, we have doctors who have displayed compassion, kindness and humanity as the doctors went beyond their call of duty to save the patient. This noble gesture by the team of doctors is especially commendable considering the pandemic, we are really proud of our doctors for their humble gesture. The kidney transplant was an extremely complex surgery and therefore was performed in two stage, in the first stage, his huge polycystic Kidneys were removed to create space for the transplant kidney. In the second stage, his bad blood vessels were corrected and kidney transplantation was done simultaneously”

Dr Ravi Jangamani, Consultant Nephrologist at the Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road said, “This is an extremely critical condition. The only solution left was removal affected kidneys to make space and correct the blood vessels and then perform the Kidney transplantation.  However, the surgery was complex and risky. We are on a nationwide lockdown battling a contagious coronavirus pandemic and hence needed to go beyond our capabilities to help and treat the patient. Along with medical challenges due to the complex nature of the disease, we also were facing logistic challenges. The lockdown leads to a shortage of blood donors and unavailability of blood in blood banks. Even though the patient’s blood group was O+, a common blood group, it was difficult to source it and perform this complex surgery.

He further added, we used the state of art synthetic graft (blood channel) to bypass the damaged aorta and restored the blood supply to lower part of the body. We used the same technique to establish a successful blood supply to the transplant kidney also. In this covid pandemic, all the precautions were taken to prevent the infection in the pre- operative, intra-operative and post-operative care by maintaining a covid free corridor. The surgery was performed successfully and was the first of its kind kidney transplantation done at Manipal Hospitals and currently the patient is stable.

Ragini, Anupama and Anushree Visit Bounce, Bodycraft, and YLG Salons as Part of Godrej Professional Suraksha Salon Program

While salons are now open in Bengaluru, citizens are seeking assurance for safety and hygiene measures at salons. This could impact footfalls for salon industry, which is already burdened with over two months of no business. To support the salon industry during these testing times and address concerns of the people, actress Ragini Dwivedi, Anupama Gowda, and Anushree visited Bengaluru’s Bounce, Bodycraft and YLG salon chains respectively. This visit was organised by Godrej Professional as part of Suraksha Salon program, aiming to support salons with safety and well-being of customers and staff along with facilitating smooth post-lockdown operations. The three actresses themselves got a haircut at Bounce, Bodycraft and YLG salons and were impressed with the safety measures adopted.

Commenting on the support for the salon industry and her visit to Bounce salon, actress Ragini Dwivedi, said, “While people do want to visit salons, they have certain inhibitions involved as salons are high on tactile communication. I wanted to understand how the salons are implementing these measures on-ground and I was thrilled with the results. Right from my entry into the salon to the end of my appointment, salon ensured hygiene protocols are not compromised. I will urge people to visit salons without any fear and support the industry when it is needed the most.”

While allowing salons to open, Karnataka’s Department of Health & Family Welfare issued standard operating procedure which salons have to strictly abide. To boost public confidence, it is important to showcase how salons have opened up with proper safety measures in place. Ragini, Anupama and Anushree experienced hygiene measures at salons first-hand through this visit organised under Godrej Professional Suraksha Salon program. Known for its hair care, colour and styling products used by salons, Godrej Professional Suraksha Salon is helping salons in Bengaluru and many other cities get back to business and providing necessary guidance, resources and updates to salon owners.

Sharing her perspective on why she chose to visit the salon, Anupama Gowda, said, “Salon chains suffered deeply with no business for more than two months. With the lockdown being lifted, there are valid safety concerns amongst people who plan to re-visit salons. Thus, I decided to personally visited salon chains and experience safety measures instituted on-ground. I was happy to see that safety is a major priority for salons and people can be rest assured of it.”

“Although the salon chains had been severely impacted owing to the lockdown, I was really happy to see hygiene for both customers and staff becoming a topmost priority for salons now. After more than two months of lockdown, it was great to have my hair taken care of by professionals. It will be a win-win experience for salons and customers when both follow safety guidelines and adhere to the new norms mandated”, added, TV star and actress Anushree.

Godrej Professional Suraksha Salon is a nation-wide program including Bengaluru, aiming to support the salon industry as it moves to the new normal. Under the program, Godrej Professional has donated 15,000 litres of sanitizers and 10,000 re-usable masks for the well-being of the stylists. In addition, it is continuing to support salons with sanitizer & disposable kits for salon safety in a non-profit manner. The brand has curated ‘Suraksha Guidelines’, a comprehensive module on safety and hygiene, co-created with an expert with more than 25 years of experience in healthcare and hospitality sanitization. To address concerns about re-starting salon operations and avail sanitisation products on priority, a Salon Suraksha helpline is also setup under the program. This program is open for the entire fraternity and will support more than 10000 salons.

Jio to Offer One Year of Amazon Prime Membership at No Additional Cost to its JioFiber Customers

Amazon has announced its collaboration with Jio, India’s largest and fastest growing digital service company, to provide JioFiber subscribers access to premium content on Amazon Prime Video app on its set-top box. In addition, Jio will offer one year of Prime membership worth INR 999 a year to JioFiber customers on Gold and above broadband plans, at no extra cost.  Through this deal, JioFiber customers can now seamlessly access the Amazon Prime Video app on their TV and enjoy Amazon’s latest and exclusive blockbuster Hollywood, Bollywood and Indian regional movies, top TV shows, stand-up comedies, kids programs, including critically acclaimed Indian and global Amazon Originals.

JioFiber customers, on Gold plans and above, can activate their Annual Amazon Prime Membership by signing in using their Amazon account or create a new Amazon account through their Jio Set-top box and by logging into MyJio app or Jio.com.  Customers who are not eligible can simply recharge with JioFiber Gold and above plan to avail the offer. Existing Amazon Prime Members can directly sign-in to the Amazon Prime Video app on their Jio Set-top-box and start watching Prime Video’s wide selection of content including critically acclaimed Indian Amazon Originals like Paatal Lok, Four More Shots Please! The Family Man, Mirzapur and much-loved global Originals like Jack Ryan, Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Boys amongst many others.

“We are delighted to work with Jio to make Amazon Prime membership available to Jio Fiber customers” said Gaurav Gandhi, Director and Country General Manager, Amazon Prime Video India. “With the annual Prime membership consumers will have access to the full bouquet of Prime benefits - unlimited streaming of the latest and exclusive video content, free and fast shipping, access to exclusive deals, ad-free music on Amazon Music, unlimited reading through Prime Reading and mobile gaming content with Prime Gaming.  At Amazon, we constantly strive to offer customers, the best-in-class entertainment. With this launch, we will further extend the reach and access of Amazon Prime Video in India, giving more customers the experience of watching our broad selection of popular Amazon Originals, blockbuster movies, Indian as well as international shows, on their TV sets.”

“Our partnership with Amazon Prime Video opens up a new world of entertainment for JioFiber customers. Jio continues to provide an enriched experience to its customers and this tie-up enable JioFiber users avail one year of Amazon Prime membership at no extra cost” Anshuman Thakur, Head of Strategy, Jio,  said in a statement.

About Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video has the largest selection of latest & exclusive movies including Gulabo Sitabo, Thappad, Shubh Mangal Zyaada Savdhaan, Bharat, Dabangg 3, Good Newwz, Mardaani 2, Bhoot, Indian language titles including AB Aani CD, Hit (The First Case), Maharshi, Dharala Prabhu, Darbar, Madha, Sufna, Maya Bazaar 2016, Trance, Shylock, Love Mocktail, Luv Ni Love Storys, Saaho, Pattas, Professor Shanku O El Dorado, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, Dia, Choricha Maamla, Jallikattu, Kumbalangi Nights, Dear Comrade, Virus, Cheel Zadap, Chal Mera Putt, Triple Seat  and TV shows, stand-up comedy, biggest Indian and Hollywood films, US TV series, most popular Indian & international kids’ shows, and critically acclaimed Amazon Originals including Paatal Lok, Four More Shots Please! – Season 1 and 2, The Forgotten Army – Azaadi Ke Liye, The Family Man, Made In Heaven, Mirzapur, Comicstaan, Inside Edge Season 1 and 2, global Originals like Upload, Hunters, The Boys, Good Omens, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, all available, ad-free, with a world-class customer experience. The service includes titles available in Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Bengali.

To watch the newest releases in Hollywood & Bollywood, the latest US TV shows, kids’ favorite toons and Amazon Originals, please visit www.PrimeVideo.com or download the Amazon Prime Video app today and sign-up for an Amazon Prime membership only at ₹999 annually or ₹129 monthly.

About Jio

Jio Platforms Limited (“Jio”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has built a world-class all-IP data strong future proof network with latest 4G LTE technology (through its wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited). It is the only network conceived and born as a Mobile Video Network from the ground up and supporting Voice over LTE technology. It is future ready and can be easily upgraded to support even more data, as technologies advance on to 5G, 6G and beyond.

Jio will bring transformational changes in the Indian digital services space to enable the vision of Digital India for 1.3 billion Indians and propel India into global leadership in the digital economy. It has created an eco-system comprising of network, devices, applications and content, platforms, service experience and affordable tariffs for everyone to live the Jio Digital Life. As part of its customer offers, Jio has revolutionised the Indian telecom landscape by making voice calls for Jio customers absolutely free, across India, to any network, and always. Jio makes India the highest quality, most affordable data market in the world so that every Indian can do Datagiri.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Announces Special Financing, Buy Backs and Other Offers for June 2020

Apart from announcing ‘Special Service Schemes’ for servicing a Toyota vehicle earlier this week, TKM today shared details of finance schemes available for new car purchase for the month of June 2020.

As a special offer, all Toyota BS6 models feature finance deals that come with deferred EMI payment for upto 90 days on all purchase made this month. Additionally, the company has also announced assured buybacks on Yaris and Glanza models.

TKM has also closely worked with its finance partners to offer payment relief plans to aspiring customers. All models now come with a zero down payment option. In addition, buyers can also avail EMI scheme which is as low as Rs. 899 per lac for first 6 months, across Toyota models.  

Speaking on the unique set of offerings, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Services, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “Our finance schemes are in-line with TKM’s endeavor to offer innovative solutions that match the evolving expectations of our customers. As the pressures of uncertainty continue, we want to ease and encourage all car buyers to fulfill the entire family's transportation needs. We hope the finance schemes enable customers to realise their dreams with Toyota’s promise of an assured peace of mind.”

New Virtual Pet Game My Talking Tom Friends Is Now Available Worldwide

Outfit7 Limited announced the launch of its new virtual pet game My Talking Tom Friends, now available to download worldwide on iOS and Android. The eagerly awaited new game from the award-winning Talking Tom and Friends franchise brings a never-before-seen approach to the genre, uniting all six iconic characters in a play-as-you-want sandbox experience. Fans around the world couldn't wait to play the revolutionary new game, with 13 million pre-registering before the launch – a record-breaking achievement for the company.

“With My Talking Tom Friends, our goal was to take the popular virtual pet genre and reinvent it. We wanted to go far out and deliver something that sweeps people off their feet,” said Xinyu Qian, CEO of Outfit7.

“For the first time ever, we created an environment where our fans can play with not one, but multiple characters at the same time – in whatever ways they choose! This offers a practically limitless array of possibilities, providing a unique playing experience for each and every user. We are all very excited to see what will become of it in the hands of our fans.”

With Talking Becca – the newest addition to the franchise – joining Talking Tom, Talking Angela, Talking Hank, Talking Ben, and Talking Ginger, players can now tend to the needs and wishes of all six characters at once, and help them live their fascinating lives.

The friends are dynamic, moving around the open, scrollable house, looking for ways to have fun. Players can engage with them and take part in fun activities like cooking, painting, gardening, and socializing. There’s also a suite of brand new, action-packed mini-games to discover. Impressive interactive options allow fans to explore and customize the vivid, beautifully-designed virtual world at will.

For the chance to create your own unique stories of friendship and fun, download My Talking Tom Friends for free from Google Play and App Store.

CarDekho Reports 99% Surge in Traffic for Pre-Owned Cars Post Lockdown in Indian Market

Pre-Owned Cars 

* 99% of used car traffic recovered whereas 77 % of new car traffic recovered

* Traffic from Orange and Green Zones for new cars recovered 84 %

* Highest recovery rate of products between INR 1-5 lakh in new cars segment

* INR 2-5 lakh segment in pre-owned cars fully recovered post-lockdown

CarDekho, the leading full-stack auto company has reported 99% recovery in customer traffic for used car segment after the lockdown whereas 77% customers are back to search for new cars. A study conducted by the company shows that with the lifting of the lockdown, there is a  major shift in customers preferences across the segments, with hatchback and low-budget being the most sought-after cars across segments.

The traffic from Orange and Green Zones for new cars PAN India has recovered 84 % where as from red zones it has recovered 58% ; It signifies the customer sentiments improving strongly in Green and Orange zone with Red Zone fast catching up as customer search for their desired car has now resumed.

As per the report, the recovery rate of cars in the INR 1-5 lakh segment is the highest. Among SUVs, INR 5-15 lakh segment has the highest share, whereas sedans in the INR 15-20 lakh range are the most searched cars. MUVs within the price range of INR 10 lakh has been most sought during this period; the premium segment share has low volume (10%) and a very low recovery rate (50%). Further, Maruti and Tata cars are most searched by consumers, with Maruti having 23% share in new car traffic and Honda the highest share in the mid-segment cars with 7% share in traffic. The rest have 4-5% each.

The study was conducted between 17th Feb – 17th March, termed as the pre-lockdown period; the mid-lockdown period between mid-March till mid- April; and post-lockdown between 12th May to 28th May. It was also seen that the traffic from the Orange zone for used cars was the highest, with most coming from Karnataka. In the Red Zone, traffic from Maharashtra region for pre-owned cars was the highest.

Says Mr Amit Jain, Co-founder and CEO CarDekho, “Pre, mid and post-lockdown periods have impacted car traffic across the segments. New car and used car business have seen transformations in the consumer journey. The pandemic outbreak has changed people preferences and we believe they will opt for personal mobility solutions rather than shared mobility. We are now seeing a very fast recovery of consumer traffic on CarDekho with preferences for budget-friendly options. The used cars traffic has recovered by 99% and new car traffic by 77% showing that the market is now getting ready for actual business. We are hopeful that the sales recovery will also be fast with the lifting of the lockdown.” 

About CarDekho:

CarDekho Group, headquartered in Jaipur, was founded in 2008 and has footprints in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The group currently operates various leading Indian auto portals such as CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com, BikeDekho.com, InsuranceDekho.com, PowerDrift.com and more. It recently launched an online insurance portal (www.insurancedekho.com) offering services in motor and health insurance and its CarDekho Gaadi stores serve as the one-stop destination for selling pre-owned cars. The group also pioneered specialized portals such as TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com. In 11 years, the company has seen a phenomenal uptake and is now recognized in India as the largest automotive video content player with 2 million+ YouTube subscribers, the largest consumer-facing digital destination with 41 million monthly unique visitors, and the largest auto social media platform. In 2016, the company expanded its presence in Indonesia under the brand name OTO, which has become the number one auto site in the country. It recently acquired the Philippines operations of Carmudi thereby expanding its operations to two Southeast Asian countries. CarDekho has raised funding from marquee investors including Sequoia India, Hillhouse Capital, Ping An, Sunley House, CapitalG (formerly known as Google Capital), HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Times Internet, Trifecta, Ratan Tata, Times Internet Limited, Kreatif Media Karya and Dentsu.

Madhya Pradesh Re-Opens its Tourist Destinations. Focus on Domestic Tourism in India

Madhya Pradesh re-opens its State Tourism Development Corporation Hotels, Resorts and many private Hotels at tourist destinations for tourists and Hoteliers, Promoting Domestic Tourism allowing in tourists from within the Country. Madhya Pradesh Forest department has also issued a circular regarding re-opening of National Parks from 15th June 2020. National Park’s Buffer Zone will remain open during monsoon season.

Speaking on the same, Ms. Sonia Meena, IAS, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board said: “Madhya Pradesh being into Inbound Tourism promotion is very strong with its domestic tourism products, wildlife is one of them. Opening up tourist attractions would also give a sense of “returning to normalcy”. We see great potential after re-opening our destinations like wildlife, heritage, pilgrimage, leisure, and adventure tourism opportunities”.

Following the Health protection, safety and hygiene guidelines. We have sanitized and fumigated our premises. We are ensuring all hygiene and social-distancing norms and SOP issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.

The first segment of the travellers we are looking to attract, are people from within and neighbouring states coming to visit our tourist destinations. Madhya Pradesh is surrounded by 5 states and it is very easy to travel by car from neighbouring states to our State, we also have a very good road network which connects major tourist destinations in the state. To begin with, people will start taking small / weekend tours with 3 / 4 Days itinerary and for them, our state could be the choicest tourism destination having several interesting tourism attractions.

Madhya Pradesh offers an assortment of attractions to everyone who loves to travel. It is the state with the forest area cover of approx. 77,700 sq.kms (Approx ¼ of the total land area) filled with Sal Trees & Bamboos. It has numerous wildlife hotspots with 11 National parks & 24 Wildlife sanctuaries such as Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary and Chambal Ghadiyal Sanctuary. The UNESCO World Heritage sites at Khajuraho, Bhimbetka & Sanchi are the iconic sites in the state. Madhya Pradesh has re-gained the tag of being “The Tiger State of the Country” by having maximum Tiger count (526) in the state. The roar of Tigers has increased in the dense and beautiful forests of Madhya Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh is not only home to two Jyotirlingas Mahakaleshwar and Omkareshwar. Burhanpur, Bhopal, Gwalior and Mandu are some of the beautiful architectural sites, whereas lndrasagar, Gandhi sagar, Tawa and Bargi are the spellbinding water bodies. Cultural events like Khajuraho Dance Festival, Mandu Festival, Orchha Cultural Festival, Tansen Festival are some of the annual tourism promotional festivals to attract tourists from all walks of life.

Next Education Witnessed Increase in Demand for its Next Learning Platform to continue Virtual Learning

Due to the pandemic, the times have been challenging for schools. With disruptions and indefinite lockdown, it is imperative for schools to reimage and reinvent their teaching-learning approach and pedagogy. Considering this situation Next Education India Pvt. Ltd., the pioneer in the K-12 education sector, is enabling schools to redefine their teaching-learning approach through its 'Next Learning Platform', an integrated platform to facilitate remote learning, academic and administrative operations without any hindrance. 2000+ schools across India have adopted the solution to ensure continuous academic and administrative operations. 

In the wake of recent lockdown, Next Education has also added a Live lecture feature to the Next Learning Platform, thereby making it a one-stop solution for schools to go online. Through its comprehensive offerings, schools can seamlessly transform their pedagogy from offline to the online learning system.

Not only this, but the platform also helps teachers to optimise their strategies to enhance the online learning experience of students with its award-winning digital content, online assignments, personalised assessments and immediate feedback and evaluation. A noteworthy advantage of this platform is that it creates a school-like learning environment at home and empowers teachers to control and monitor academic operations within the comfort of their home.

To enable schools to with its admin functions, the platform offers NextERP for managing school operations and communications with ease. 

Speaking on widespread adoption of Next Learning Platform by schools across the country, Mr. Beas Dev Ralhan, CEO and Co-Founder, Next Education said, “Though the crisis is devastating, it is making schools technologically advanced. No doubt, this transition from offline to the online education system is challenging for many schools, but with Next Learning Platform it can be achieved seamlessly in no time. Our integrated platform has been adopted by 2000+ schools to run their virtual school. Various tools like NextERP, NextLMS, Live Lecture, and more in the Next Learning Platform focus on expanding academic operations and learning beyond the traditional pedagogy according to the unique needs of the school. ” Mr. Ralhan further added, “The overwhelming adoption of Next Learning Platform and positive response byschools across the country is an indication that it is imperative for schools to switch to e-learning tools to make learning more productive and engaging even at home. With the ease of implementation and user-friendly interface, Next Learning Platform makes quality education accessible without any impediments.”

Ms Meghna Singh, Director of Sheoran International School, Noida says, “The Live Lecture feature of Next Learning Platform has helped us in conducting online classes seamlessly. Approximately 150 students are attending the lectures by 20+ teachers everyday. The tool is very interactive with the curriculum being inbuilt therein. The entire methodology helps teachers to make conceptual understanding faster.”

Management team Mr Nagendra Mali and Ms. Sowmya Mali of Karnataka Public School, Haveri adds, “The Live Lecture feature is very helpful during this lockdown as it connects teachers and students in real-time. It helps us in running our school virtually. Next Learning Platform is an interactive platform where parents also share their feedback with teachers.”

Dr.Yuvraj Singh from The Imperial School, Ganganagar further adds, “We feel that the Next Learning Platform is a great step towards keeping the education ongoing for students. We appreciate that with the Live Lecture feature, we could run schools virtually in this situation too. We have been using these lectures everyday to conduct classes for all grades. Live Lecture will help us in reducing the workload by 50%.” 

Therefore, Next Learning Platform ensures the safety of students as well as educators amid the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby ensuring a seamless transition from offline to online academic operations. 

About Next Education

A complete K–12 education solutions provider, Next Education is transforming education with innovative and engaging technology-based solutions trusted by 240,000+ teachers and impacting the lives of over 12,000,000 students across 12,000+ schools in India. Since 2007, Next Education’s educational solutions and services have been well received nationally and globally and cover the syllabuses of CBSE, ICSE, Army and all state boards in more than seven Indian languages.

Perpule Expands its Operations in SouthEast Asia & Launches its E Commerce Enablement Platform

Following the massive rise in demand of ecommerce enablement solutions globally, Perpule a leading retail tech startup from India expanding its footprint to the Southeast Asian market with its ecommerce enablement product Perpule E-Commerce+. Through this expansion, the company is targeting modern retailers - spanning across categories like fashion, grocery, electronics, food & others - operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore & Philippines.

The retail market in Southeast Asia is over $700 billion but is yet to adopt modern technologies and become heavy on ecommerce. COVID-19 has further exacerbated the situation by disrupting the businesses of several offline retailers who are now facing a slowdown in sales and operations. Perpule E-Commerce+ strives to address these challenges by driving ecommerce readiness and thereby helping the retailer community restart their operations afresh in the post-COVID world. The company aims to secure around 20% of the ecommerce market share and help offline retailers switch to an online model in minimum time.

Perpule Ecommerce+ is truly built with a next gen approach to facilitate ecommerce smoothly from offline stores and has all the necessary integration with leading payment gateways, logistics players, ERP, POS, Loyalty etc. to make ecommerce enablement much easier for retailers. Perpule’s homegrown Progressive Web Apps (PWA) technology is a game-changer in ecommerce for retailers. It offers users a superior browsing experience even on poor internet connections and works completely offline thereby improving conversion rates by over 40%.

Commenting on the expansion, Abhinav Pathak, CEO & Cofounder, Perpule said, “While the entire world stands disrupted by the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, the retailer community has been impacted the most. At Perpule, we aim to equip retailers with an advanced, new-age online platform and provide them with a major fillip to effectively and profitably run their businesses, even during a crisis like this. We are delighted to foray into the Southeast Asian market and will endeavor to serve customers in the best possible manner through our tech-driven platform.”

About Perpule:

The founders- Abhinav Pathak (CEO), Saketh BSV and Yogesh Ghaturle started Perpule with the aim of providing better customer experiences in offline retail stores. With this in mind, they built India's first self-checkout solution and then scaled that into an end to end billing platform called UltraPOS which has been implemented by popular retail brands such as Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop, Starbucks, HyperCity, Vishal MegaMart, etc. UltraPOS, a platform-independent, form factor independent POS billing system that can enable anytime, anywhere billing. It is a cloud-based SaaS product that eliminates the need for bulky servers and computers in the store. This leads to more display space at the stores, thus increasing sales per square foot.

About Perpule E-Commerce :

Perpule E-Commerce+ is a product launched by Perpule, one of India's leading omnichannel commerce companies, to enter the South East Asia Market. Perpule E-Commerce+ is Secure, Scalable, Fully Managed and Customizable Enterprise E-Commerce Platform for retailers, online brands and anyone else who wants to set up their online stores. Perpule E-Commerce+ makes offline retailers future-ready and helps them go online and leverage the power of E-Commerce. It comes packaged with a multi-channel solution and can help manage all the complex retail workflows. Perpule Ecommerce+ makes use of PWA technology which gives a superior browsing experience even on poor internet connections and works completely offline. Perpule E-Commerce+ has 40% better conversion rates as compared to other ecommerce platforms.

COVID-19 Impact Worsens, Talent Demand Dropped in Essential Sectors in May 2020

Highlights 

* Most high volume sectors noted a dip in talent demand in April 2020 v/s May 2020 comparison 

* Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals, BPO and BFSI registered the sharpest fall in M-o-M talent demand

* Among cities, Bengaluru saw the steepest dip in talent demand

* Marketing & Advertising, Front Office/Administration, Quality/Process Control job profiles registered the biggest setback in talent demand in May 2020

 

As the COVID-19 crisis deepens, talent demand at Indian Inc. dropped even in the essential services sectors as Healthcare and BFSI. India Inc. registered 8% drop in talent demand in May 2020 M-o-M analysis, triggered predominately by the extension of the nationwide lockdown from May 17 till May 31, 2020. Most high volume sectors noted a dip with the sharpest fall in the Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals, BPO, BFSI and Automobiles sectors, stated the finding of TimesJobs RecruiteX May 2020 edition. 

TimesJobs RecruiteX is a monthly recruitment index that records the demand and supply of talent at India Inc.

Commenting on the findings of RecruiteX May 2020, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “The COVID-19 lockdown has caused an irreplaceable damage to the Indian economy. From March 2020 to May 2020, the talent demand has slipped continuously for three months now. However, I am hopeful that things will get better from here. Job seekers should use this time to learn new skills to be better equipped for the future. Recruiters should also use this time to evaluate their hiring strategies to attract the right candidates.”

Here are the major findings of the RecruiteX May 2020 edition:

Industry-wise: The Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals sector – which noted a marginal jump of 2% in talent demand in April 2020 – shed most talent demand in May 2020. The BPO and BFSI sectors – which together employ a big share of India’s corporate workforce – too registered a drop in talent demand despite most companies operating remotely.

Sectors with notable loss in talent demand:

Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals: (-14%)

BPO: (-13%)

BFSI: (-11%)

Functional areas: Almost all functional areas recorded no growth in talent demand. The Marketing & Advertising job profile registered the sharpest dip in M-o-M talent demand.

Functional areas with notable loss in talent demand:  

Marketing & Advertising: (-30%)

Front Office/Administration: (-20%)

Quality/Process Control: (-17%)

Location-wise: Among the metro cities, Bengaluru shed most talent demand in May 2020. Chennai - which recorded a mere 1% growth in talent demand in April 2020 – saw no growth, no loss in talent demand in May 2020. All other cities saw no improvement in talent demand.  

Cities with notable loss in talent demand:  

Bengaluru: (-14%)

Mumbai: (-9%)

Hyderabad: (-6%)

Experience-wise:  The talent demand for professionals with 10-20 years of work experience noted steepest dip of 16% in May 2020. All other experience categories also noted a dip in talent demand. 

Work experience with notable loss in talent demand:  

10-20 years: (-16%)

5-10 years: (-15%)

Over 20+ years of work experience: (-6%)

About RecruiteX:

RecruiteX is the recruitment index for India. It is an analysis identifying the hiring activity and trends in India Inc. Based on tactful extraction and examination of jobs posted and applied for in a month at TimesJobs, it details ‘recruitment’ as a process backed by hiring sentiments of a recruiter and aspirations of the job seekers alike.

Huami Launches Amazfit T-Rex on Amazon & in.amazfit.com/ at INR 9999 in India

Smartwatch

* Amazfit T-Rex, the military certified outdoor smartwatch for sports and fitness enthusiasts with 20-day battery life and 20 Hrs GPS

* Soon will be available in the offline market across India via leading stores like Croma, Reliance Digital & Poorvika Mobiles

Huami Corporation, a biometric and activity data-driven company with significant expertise in smart wearable technology and the number 1 smartwatch brand in the watch segment, has officially launched Amazfit T-Rex smartwatch in India. Starting today, customers can purchase Amazfit T-REX online on Amazon & in.amazfit.com/. Amazfit T-REX will be available offline via leading stores like Croma, Reliance Digital & Poorvika Mobiles across the country by next week. Huami has partnered with PR Innovations, a leading technology importer, to market and distribute Amazfit T-Rex in India.

Amazfit T-Rex the rugged smart wearable designed for outdoor enthusiasts. The smartwatch has passed 12 regulation of military standard (MIL-STD-810) quality test to resist the harsh environment which can operate under unpredictable weather conditions, rain, hail or shine. Another distinct feature the T-Rex is built to withstand extreme temperatures as well as damp, salt and any challenging outdoor conditions, surviving for two hours under rapid temperature change from -40 to 70℃.

The smartwatch is packed with 14 sports modes, tracking user performance in everything from indoor and outdoor running to cycling to skiing and more. The smartwatch features a 1.3-inch AMOLED screen with (360x360 pixels) capable of displaying 16.7 million colours with superb clarity. It features 20hrs GPS, GLONASS, a BioTracker™ PPG optical heart rate sensor, an advanced activity tracker and a sleep monitoring sensor, all providing detailed data to enable you to best reach your fitness goals. Amazfit T-Rex delivers an impressive 20-day battery life.

The Amazfit T-Rex features 14 sport mode has 5ATM water-resistant design also allows you to advance your activities underwater, keeping track of your performance in open water swimming or triathlons. Built-in fast 28nm Sony GPS chip, so your GPS can continuously work for 20 hours. Activity Tracking with distance, active hours, calories and steps. Sweat-absorbent and comfortable silicone strap, Outer bezel made of special ink-filling technology, inner sweat-wicking design makes it breathable and keep it dry and not sticky. Bluetooth Music Control directly from your watch while exercising. A selection of 30 watch faces full of personality to choose from.

BioTracker PPG optical sensor provides high-precision 24h heart rate with heart rate interval values + abnormal heart rate warning. Sleep monitoring to understand better your sleeping pattern. Sedentary reminders when you’ve been inactive for too long. Smart Notifications for Incoming calls, text messages, apps, calendars, custom events. Easily find your Smartphone with the Find my phone function. Weather forecast (5 to 7 Days) + temperature warnings.

*Test conditions:

20 days: Heart rate is always on, sleep monitoring on, GPS is turned on 13 minutes a day, 150 messages are pushed, the wrist is illuminated 30 times, and 5 minutes of other operations. 

66 days: Turn off the phone's Bluetooth connection, heart rate and other functions, and lift the wrist to see the screen 100 times a day. 

20hours:  Turn on GPS recording motion track, turn on heart rate monitoring 

Note: Tests conducted in-lab, results may vary according to usage, settings, and many other factors.

A Perfect Gift Guide for Tech-Savvy Indian Dads from pTron

You can always go the extra mile and make your dad’s life simpler and convenient.  Why not surprise him with something that makes his ‘in and post work from home life’ much easier? TWS earbuds make the ideal headset and a welcome shift from the traditional wired earphones to the hassle-free wireless era. Many factors come into play when shopping for the best headphones. From design and comfort to the sound quality, pTron looks to deliver the best in every aspect for every possible use of its products.

Time to transform your DAD to a Gadget man!!

pTron Bassbuds Pro- INR 1499

1. In-ear True Wireless Stereo earbuds (TWS) featuring Smart Touch Control & Bass

2. On-the earbuds multi-function buttons allow calls & music control for a hands-free experience

3. Type-C port ensures fast charging

4. Bluetooth 5.0, 10m range; 1.5 Hours Charging Time; 100 Hours Standby Time

5. Supports Voice Assistant; Universal Earbuds.

pTron Bassbuds Tango- INR 1599

1. On-the earbuds multi-function buttons allow calls & music control for a hands-free experience

2. Bluetooth 5.0; 3 Hours of Music & Talk-time; Playtime up to 30 Hours: 1.2 Hours Charging Time;

3. LCD Display Charging Case; 120 Hours of Standby-time

4. 10m Wireless range; Voice Assistant Support

 

QuEST Global Enhances its Lung Nodule Detection Solution Using Microsoft Azure Software

QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, announced today that it has enhanced its Lung Nodule Detection solution using Microsoft Azure. With the help of this solution, powered by Azure IoT Central and Azure Machine Learning (ML), the company aims to help medical imaging device manufacturers improve the cancer nodule detection accuracy from CT scans, as compared to conventional image processing methods. Once deployed, this computer-aided diagnosis application can be used for screening and will help doctors analyze CT scan images more quickly and accurately.

QuEST used Azure Machine Learning to train the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and the trained model was packaged in containers and deployed on IoT Edge device using IoT Central. The solution has a detection accuracy of 93 percent and sensitivity of 89 percent, with a real-time performance of 20 images per second. With the help of Microsoft technology, the entire product development lifecycle and deployment of QuEST’s solution has been made more secure and efficient. The company has also used Azure Machine Learning to create customized models and IoT Central to deploy the solution on to Azure IoT Edge in containerized form for online and offline usage.

Commenting on the Lung Nodule Detection solution and the collaboration with Microsoft, Krish Kupathil, Head – Digital Innovation and Hi-Tech, QuEST Global said, “The healthcare industry is on the brink of a new wave of digital transformation, powered by breakthroughs in IoT, ML, AI and cloud platforms. We are delighted to work with Microsoft to develop our Lung Nodule Detection solution on Azure IoT and Machine Learning. This brings together our imaging, analytics and computation and machine learning expertise across the entire digital transformation ecosystem, besides enabling us to leverage Microsoft’s advanced technologies and expertise in spearheading large digital implementations. This collaboration will help us in defining myriad scenarios to enable IoT use cases leveraging on our multi-domain expertise.”

Bert Van Hoof, Partner Group Program Manager for Azure IoT, Microsoft Corp., said, “According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in the world. QuEST used Microsoft Azure IoT Central and Azure Machine Learning to build an innovative solution to detect cancer nodules from CT scans with high performance, accuracy and sensitivity. Azure IoT Central provides the IoT application infrastructure that allowed QuEST to quickly build a globally available, secure, and scalable IoT solution that can be easily customized and updated. We value our ongoing collaboration with QuEST and its ability to blend deep cross industry domain expertise with the power of Azure IoT Central to build elegant solutions that tackle complex problems with great expediency.”

As a trusted thinking partner, QuEST has been working with the world’s most recognized companies in the healthcare industry for the last two decades. The company is committed to enable its customers to Create The Frontier by enhancing healthcare experience to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. With its expertise in new age technologies like Deep Learning, AI, IoT and ML, the company has been developing comprehensive engineering solutions by using Azure IoT, AI, and ML technologies that help OEMs and tier-one suppliers seamlessly take the next step in their digital transformation journey and make products safer and more reliable.

About QuEST Global

For more than 20 years, QuEST Global has aimed to be a trusted global product engineering and lifecycle services partner to many of the world’s most recognized companies in the Aero Engines, Hi-Tech, Aerospace & Defense, Transportation (Auto and Rail), Power and Industrial, Oil & Gas and Medical Devices industries. With a global presence in 15 countries, 68 global centers and 12,300+ personnel, QuEST Global believes that it is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner world. QuEST Global’s deep domain knowledge and digital expertise aim to help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient.

Trend Micro Named a Global Cybersecurity Channel “Champion” by Canalys

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced it has been placed in the Champions quadrant of the Canalys Global Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix, in recognition of major investments and improvements in the channel over the past year.

Canalys recognized Trend Micro’s significant investments in its channel program over the last year, particularly highlighting its partner portal improvements that include significant investments in deal registration, sales kits, promotions and training. The enhancement of the company’s Managed Service Provider (MSP) program with a central licensing management platform; and the offering of SOCaaS to automate cross-customer and cross-product threat analysis received particular praise from Canalys. The closer alignment AWS’s CPPO program was also highlighted as major step.

“Trend Micro has always been 100% committed to the channel and we’re delighted to be named a ‘champion’ by Canalys,” said Louise McEvoy, vice president of U.S. channel, Trend Micro. “It is recognition of the hard work our teams around the globe have put in over the past year, and there’s even more to come in 2020 as we continue to refresh our partner program, launch new platforms and services and pursue new growth opportunities.”

The latest Canalys matrix sees Trend Micro move up from a “growers” to “champions” position in 2020, with its highest-rated benchmark metrics in product availability and supply (79.3%) and ease of doing business (75.4%). Usefulness of portal and tools (72.6%) provided by Trend Micro was also ranked highly by partners.

For 2020, Trend Micro will refresh its partner program with an adjusted discount structure to drive deeper engagement with enterprise partners, and plans to launch new Customer Success Services to provide business insight and assessment for partners to deliver to customers and prospects.

Over the coming months, Trend Micro is also committed to recruiting and growing hundreds of MSPs by providing support services and increased profitability, and generating more leads with partners via solution campaigns, promotions, incentives, and its demand generation self-services platform.

Smartphone Users Crossed 500 Million in India During 2019 : Report

Over 50 crore Indians are now using smartphones, a 15 per cent increase from 2018 primarily due to brands like Xiaomi and Realme which continue to bring new users to the ecosystem, a new report* said recently. According to market research firm techARC, India had 502.2 million smartphone users as of December 2019, which means over 77 per cent of Indians are now accessing wireless broadband through smartphones. Samsung with 34 per cent led the smartphone installed base in the calendar year 2019, followed by Xiaomi at 20 per cent, Vivo at 11 per cent and OPPO at 9 per cent, respectively.

"After a slow migration rate from feature phones to smartphones for a couple of years, it's good to see that the market has started to expand again," Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC said in a statement*. Although the market does have options in the entry segment (sub-Rs 5,000) for smartphones, users prefer to start their smartphone journey with the basic segment (Rs 5,001 to Rs 10,000). Realme, Vivo and OnePlus led smartphone brands in terms of percentage net addition to the user base in 2019. Realme increased its user base by 49 per cent, Vivo 44 per cent and OnePlus by 41 per cent. Other major brands including Samsung, Xiaomi and OPPO added 9 per cent, 25 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively to their user base in 2019.

"Factors like availability of good-quality affordable smartphones, expansion of online as well as offline channels, expansion of 4G/LTE networks by the operators are among the key reasons driving the smartphone user growth," said Kawoosa. However, it's going to be challenging hereon as the market is saturating in terms of addressable market, he added. The next goal for smartphone brands should be to ramp up services where they could consistently generate revenue from the existing customers. At present, smartphone brands are able to generate $0.5-$1.5 a month from users depending on what all the services they offer, including advertising.

"Even if a brand is able to generate $1 revenue per user per month, with a base of 50 million users to be there for an average of 3 years, this means a revenue potential of $1.8 billion from services alone," the findings showed. The other strategy is to offer accessories and other connected electronic devices like smart TVs and smart speakers. Vivo, OPPO and Realme will be the three main gainers for 2020 in terms of additions to the net user base, forecast the techINSIGHT report. "Realme could enter in top five brands by installed user base displacing Lenovo MBG (Lenovo + Motorola) brands. Xiaomi will continue to exhibit growth in user base while Samsung could start showing off decline in its user base or grow with a low percentile," the report added.

* Agencies

Telangana Blockchain District’s Accelerator Program Shortlists 30 Startups For Its First Cohort

T-Block Accelerator, the inaugural accelerator program under the aegis of the Telangana Blockchain District today announced the 30 shortlisted startup cohort that will proceed to an intensive Start-up Training Program. The accelerator also announced the onboarding of global blockchain players Tezos India, R3 Corda, and SettleMint as platform partners and CV Labs, a Swiss-based incubator as the Hub Partner. With the support and expertise of these industry leaders in the blockchain realm, T-block will provide selected Indian startups from the first cohort with technical support to build their solutions on their platform, GTM (Go-To-Market) support, technology implementation support, and grants on a case-on-case basis.

The T-Block Accelerator organized by the Telangana Government and Tech Mahindra and run by IBC Media, an innovation management company saw registrations from over 160 blockchain-based startups from across India. Of these 160 registered startups,  30 selected startups in the first cohort will undergo a three-week-long training period including one-on-one sessions with a panel of mentors,  workshops, presentations, discussions, and assignments designed to impart the practical knowledge required to build relevant blockchain products with real-world applications. After further filtration, the selected start-ups will have an opportunity to pitch innovative ideas and get mentored by experts from the government of Telangana, Tech Mahindra, C-DAC, and IIIT Hyderabad. 

Jayesh Ranjan (Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana) said “As one of the first states in India to focus on leveraging emerging technologies for increased efficiency of the overall functioning of the government, the Telangana government has always looked to nurture new startups and businesses in emerging technology in India. The 30 selected startups that proceed to the acceleration phase of the T-Block Accelerator have shown immense potential to solve real-life problems faced across verticals. Our new partnerships with global platform protocols strengthen our commitment to support these startups through their entrepreneurial journey and we look forward to their growth through the course of this accelerator program.”

Rama Devi Lanka (Director, Emerging Technologies & Officer on Special Duty, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana) added, “We have seen some very interesting startups register for the T-Block Accelerator and are looking forward to engaging and interacting closely with the selected 30 startups. Armed with all the support from the Telangana Blockchain District and the mentorship from our multiple global partners, we look forward to multiple disruptive solutions from these selected startups that will lead the nation to a path of progress and innovation.”

Nicolai Reinbold, Ecosystem and Incubation Manager at CV Labs added, “After being a part of the journey of building Zug in Switzerland as the Global Crypto Valley, we at CV Labs, are excited to be a part of this initiative aimed to further the vision of the Telangana government of becoming blockchain capital of India. Powering startups around blockchain products is a natural progression for our efforts in India and T-block is the perfect platform to do so. We see huge potential in the selected startups and their solutions are a validation of the technological prowess of India. We are very happy to join forces with the first government-led accelerator program to build the blockchain ecosystem in India.”

Om Malviya , President, Tezos India Foundation, is excited to be a part of the T-block accelerator to empower the startups with Tezos’ Blockchain support. “T-block accelerator program is an incredible platform to identify new startups with the potential to elevate the blockchain ecosystem in India and I am happy to see Tezos India foundation becoming a major partner for the same. It will be exciting to see how startups take full advantage of the features that Tezos provides, and how it will benefit their business.” said Om Malviya “We, at Tezos India Foundation, will be there at every step to provide any help, support or resources necessary.”

Shahzad Fatmi, CEO SettleMint India, mentioned that they are very proud to partner with T-Block.  He added, “SettleMint will bring its global experience and best practices to help the start-ups create robust applications and business plans for their company. We believe start-ups should focus on solving business challenges and taking their solutions faster to market.  T-Block's selected start-ups will have full support from SettleMint to achieve this goal.”

Following an earlier announcement, the Telangana Blockchain district has brought some of the major blockchain leaders as partners for this accelerator including Matic Networks, Harmony protocol, æternity, R3 Corda, Tezos India, and SettleMint as Platform partners along with CV Labs as the Hub Partner.  Launched in February 2020, the T-Block Accelerator has completed its deal flow and selected start-ups will undergo a three-week boot camp, followed by the acceleration phase.

Dr. Fixit’s Initiative to Support Contractors During Critical Pre-Monsoon Waterproofing of Buildings

Summary

* Pre-monsoon repairs, often critical, needed by 6-8 % of  buildings/ structures

* To benefit 5000 + contractors, Dr. Fixit’s initiative will include safety certification training as per MHA, WHO guidelines along with training on advanced waterproofing techniques and mechanisation

* It will be rolled out in 10 cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kolkata, Nagpur

As the lockdown enforced to combat the COVID-19 pandemic eases, monsoon is set to enter the country. While it will bring general relief, the ensuing rains could well worsen the leakage issues faced by consumers in their houses and cause damage to structures. This will impact the large numbers of people living in buildings and homes that need serious preventive waterproofing before the rains arrive this year. It is expected that 6-8 % of buildings and structures may need critical pre-monsoon repairs. The waterproofing contractors play a crucial role in ensuring the structural integrity of buildings and depend upon the pre-monsoon work for a big part of their earnings.

However, consumers have heightened health & safety concerns this year and may be wary of workers entering their homes. It is necessary to address these consumer’s concerns as it may lead to reduced repair & waterproofing work impacting incomes for waterproofing community.

Keeping this in mind, Dr. Fixit, the construction and waterproofing expert from the house of Pidilite Industries Ltd, has rolled out multiple initiatives which will benefit thousands of hardworking waterproofing contractors. This will not only help them to safeguard their livelihoods but will also benefit those consumers who urgently need waterproofing.

The program has been rolled out across 10 cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kolkata and Nagpur, and addresses two objectives.

Contractor/User safety training: The first is to train and certify contractors on all safety aspects they and their workers need to adopt to prevent contracting and spreading of COVID-19 while conducting site operations. Dr Fixit has launched a full-fledged training & certification program for contractors on how they can ensure their own safety and that of their workers, and consumers at the site of their work. The program imparts training and information about all precautions as per the guidelines of MHA and WHO. At the end the course, participants take a detailed exam, with successful participants being duly certified. 

The certification training, conducted over video conferencing, has been helping contractors allay fears of potential customers and prospect for fresh work with them to undertake waterproofing jobs.  Moreover, Dr Fixit has complemented the entire extensive training with an audio visual guiding users on how to handle site work during the Corona pandemic.

For effective job completion: The second objective is provide technical training to contractors /users on advanced waterproofing techniques so that they can be equipped to complete all jobs faster, with fewer workers, and as per stringent quality standards.

To this end, the Dr Fixit teams have been providing technical training on advanced waterproofing techniques, including the use of mechanized tools and devices that would help them speedily complete and deliver their jobs to the best quality. Dr Fixit has partnered with multiple companies that manufactures these mechanization equipments and has been training its users on these machines.

For the mental peace of their hardworking and safety-trained contractors and their teams, Dr Fixit has stepped up to also provide them with free COVID insurance cover.

Huami Amazfit’s Dual OS Sports Watch Stratos 3 Coming Soon on Flipkart & in.amazfit.com/

Online Sales Shortly

* Powered with a dual chip & dual operating system, 14 days battery life,

* Integrated Sony GNSS chips support four different global positioning systems: GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU and GALILEO, 4-Satellite / 3-Modes GPS

* 2GB Storage for songs

Huami Corporation, a biometric and activity data-driven company with significant expertise in smart wearable technology and #1 Smartwatch brand in India (as per IDC latest data), is soon going to launch Amazfit Stratos 3 smartwatch in India. It will be available on Flipkart and Amazfit India official store in.amazfit.com

Stratos 3, which is equipped with FIRSTBEAT professional-level sports analysis algorithm, is targeting athletes, sport & fitness enthusiasts to improve their training habits and get the motivation they need to push their limits.

A smartwatch packed with 80 different sports modes, heart rate monitoring and FIRSTBEAT professional-level sports. It is equipped with 35-70-hour continuous GPS tracker, 1.34” (320x320 pixels) full round transflective display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, anti-fingerprint coating. The device has built-in activity profiles like Ultra-Endurance Mode, VO2Max, Exercise Effect (TE), Exercise Load (TD), and Recovery Time Data. It offers a battery life of 14days and water resistance 50-meters depth and internal music storage.

Stratos 3 sports modes list includes Curling, Snowboarding, Ski, Downhill ski, Outdoor skating, Indoor skating, Cross country ski, Fencing, Karate, Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Martial arts, Kickboxing, Hunting, Fishing, Sailing, Skateboard, Paddleboarding, Roller skating, Rock climbing, Archery, Free training, Equestrianism, Mountain biking, BMX, Cricket, Baseball, Bowling, Squash, Rugby, Basketball, Softball, Gateball, Volleyball, Table tennis, Hockey, Handball, Badminton, HIIT, Core training, Mixed aerobic, Strength Training, Stretch, Floor climbing machine, Pilates, Flexibility, Stair stepper, Step training, Gymnastics, Yoga, Ballet, Belly dance, Square dance, Street Dance, Ballroom dance, and Zumba.

Acer India Unveils Nitro 5, its First 10th Gen Intel Core Gaming Laptop

Highlights:

* The latest Nitro 5 offering comes with up to 10th Gen Intel Core i7 H-Series mobile processors to enable immersive gaming experiences

* This is paired with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics for incredibly fast performance and comes with fast refresh rates at up to 144Hz and low latency of just 3ms

* Latest Nitro 5 is available in 15.6” &17.3” FHD IPS Displays, Narrow-bezel design, with 80% screen-to-body ratio

* Nitro 5 comes with CoolBoost technology with dual-fan system & four exhaust ports

* Powered by the latest gigabit Ethernet technology, the Killer E2600 delivers incredible online experiences – low latency gaming, smooth HD streaming video, and interrupt-free voice and video chats

* The new Nitro 5 gaming laptop offers battery life up to 10 hours

Further strengthening their gaming portfolio in India, Acer India, today unveiled its first-ever 10th Gen Intel Core processor powered Nitro 5 gaming laptop. The latest Nitro 5 comes with up to 10th Gen Intel Core i7 H-Series mobile processors to enable immersive gaming experiences with amazing responsiveness and consistent in-game performance. The laptops are equipped with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics, a new display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and a low-latency response time of only 3ms.

Inheriting the advanced spirit of its predecessors, Acer always has gone the extra mile to ensure that gaming machines offer the right design and power for the best gaming experience. With the new Nitro 5 gaming laptop, gamers now have more features packed in sleek designs to elevate their gaming experience. Acer’s Nitro 5 laptop allows users to enjoy their favorite games in exceptional detail with a Full HD IPS display in either a 17.3-inch narrow bezel display or 15.6-inch with an impressive 80 percent screen-to-body ratio. It combines dual M.2 Supporting PCIe SSD Support in RAID 0 technology, and up to 32 GB using two soDIMM modules for superior gaming performance at a value. It effortlessly streams gameplay with Intel® Wi-Fi 6 with 2x2 MU-MIMO Technology. Users can also connect supporting gadgets with an array of ports such as HDMI 2.0, USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2, and more.

Speaking on this occasion, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO & Consumer Business Head, Acer India said, “In order to stay ahead with the increasing demand for gaming PC’s in India, Acer is excited to introduce our first 10th Gen Intel Core gaming laptop designed for both core and casual Indian gaming enthusiasts. The new range is built with an emphasis on strong performance, responsiveness, and intelligent design. We are confident to continuing to offer the best experience with innovation and outstanding features for gaming fanatics.”

Roshni Das, Director – Marketing, Intel India said, “Performance and mobility are both top of mind for gamers today and Intel is committed to delivering the best PC gaming experiences on laptops. Our 10th Gen Intel® Core™ H-series mobile platform is optimized for enthusiasts, pushing the frequency envelope and delivering amazing game play in mobile form factors. The Nitro 5 is Acer’s first 10th Gen Intel Core powered gaming laptop in the Indian market, offering high-performance, immersive gaming experiences with the flexibility to game from anywhere.”

Designed for Supremacy

Acer’s latest Nitro 5 laptop allows users to enjoy their favorite games in exceptional detail with a Full HD IPS display in either a 17.3-inch narrow bezel display or 15.6-inch with an impressive 80 percent screen-to-body ratio. The Nitro 5 combines a 10th Gen Intel Core H-series mobile processor and the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX/RTX graphics for amazing responsiveness and consistent in-game performance. Nitro 5 allows gamers to configure their laptops for maximum speed and massive storage with two slots for M.2 PCIe SSDs and up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM.

Prioritize Gameplay with Killer Ethernet and Super Connectivity

Nitro 5 adopt Killer Ethernet E2600 to prioritize gameplay and effortlessly stream Intel Wi-Fi 6 with 2x2 MU-MIMO technology. The Ethernet controller automatically detects game, video and chat streams to deliver prioritized bandwidth for virtually lag-free user experience. It also plug all peripherals into the full range of ports, including HDMI 2.0 and the newest USB 3.2 standard with Gen 2 support.

Cool under fire

Nitro 5 features twin fans, Acer CoolBoost™ technology, and quad exhaust port design. CoolBoost increases fan speed by 10% and CPU/GPU cooling by 9% compared to auto mode. Users can monitor and manage the Nitro 5 with NitroSense, accessible with one touch of the NitroSense hotkey, covering temperatures, fan speeds, and more.

The Key to Victory

The latest Nitro 5 offers you to spice things up with the 4-zone RGB keyboard and the dedicated NitroSense Key. WASD and arrow keys are also highlighted for quick location while the key response is immediate with a 1.6mm travel distance.

Immersive Audio for Gaming

Better audio delivers a competitive edge as well as a more immersive experience through dual speakers. With DTS:X Ultra, sounds are clear and can be delivered in a 3D spatial soundscape, allowing you to hear where your opponents are coming from with pinpoint precision.

Pricing and Availability:

Nitro 5 is available at a starting price from Rs 72990 on Acer E-store (https://store.acer.com/en-in/) and authorized e-commerce and retail outlets.

Vedanta Felicitates 22 NGOs and Partners Awarded for Contribution Towards COVID Relief Efforts

Vedanta Cares, a unique digital initiative was launched and the first e-townhall with partners was hosted by Chairman Anil Agrawal recently to acknowledge & encourage the COVID warriors, who collaborated with the company in combating COVID 19 through community initiatives across 7 locations. Vedanta instituted a special Chairman’s Award to honour its partners, where Mr. Agarwal personally acknowledged each partner company and NGO which contributed significantly to Vedanta’s efforts in reaching out to beneficiaries like daily-wage earners and migrant workers who were worst affected by the pandemic. In this acknowledgment session, participants from partner companies and NGOs were awarded. Mr. Nand Kishore Bhatt, Chief Security officer, Vedanta, Value Added Business at Goa and Dr. Krishnamurthy, Resident Medical Officer at Vedanta- Iron Ore Karnataka Business were felicitated for their selfless and relentless efforts to combat unprecedented situation due to COVID-19 at Goa and Karnataka respectively.

Addressing the participants, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said “We have been fighting this crisis together with the nation. By going all out in serving the communities we have reiterated Vedanta’s philosophy of giving back. Our team has left no stone unturned in supporting the communities, working round-the-clock. I am grateful for the support and would like to acknowledge our partners, NGOs and each member of the Vedanta team, who battled this crisis as a family. We will continue working with the communities and the government administration which I am sure will inspire others in serving our communities, and I am hopeful that together we can survive this situation.

NGOs who were felicitated for their extensive contributions are Akshaya Patra Foundation,  DNR Foundation, Manjari Foundation, Barmer Jana Sewa Swanthan, and Social Revival Group of Urban and Rural Tribal (SROUT) and YODA.

Vedanta’s partner companies which were also awarded for their contributions are Tann Singh Chouhan & Company, Barmer, Schlumberger, Rajendra Mechanical Private Limited, Chennai Radha Engineering Works, M/s ISS Facility Services, M/s Western Carriers , M/s STEAG , M/s Wellspring Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Lemon tree Hospitality Services, M/s Dinesh Kumar, NVJK, Drishti Foundation, Unilift Cargo Systems Pvt Ltd, Operational Energy Group India Pvt Ltd, Shrinath Travel Agency , Teknomin Construction Limited TCL.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Nand Kishore Bhatt, Chief Security Officer at Vedanta, Value Added Business said" I am honored and equally pleased to receive this award from Our Chairman. It gives me immense pride to be a part of Vedanta Family who consistently work for the betterment of communities around, with a broader vision of nation building and giving back to society"

Dr. Krishnamurthy, Resident Medical Officer at Vedanta Iron Ore Karnataka Business said" I am very happy to be recognized by our Chairman, who is the inspiration for me. At Vedanta holistic community development and culture of care, being the top priorities, all my colleagues at Vedanta try to contribute towards community welfare all the time through all possible means."

Speaking on the occasion, Sundeep Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, The Akshaya Patra Foundation said “Akshaya Patra is privileged to be associated and recognized by our esteemed partners such as Vedanta. Our efforts and outcomes on the ground wouldn’t have been possible without critical and timely support from Vedanta. We believe in collaborative impact and hope that we sustain our efforts to minimize the impact of COVID outbreak on marginalized communities. “

Manjari Foundation, which runs Hindustan Zinc Limited’s flagship CSR initiative Sakhi Project which mobilizes rural women into self-help groups (SHGs) had actively participated in COVID relief efforts by HZL.  Speaking on the partnership, Sanjay Sharma, Executive-Director, Manjari Foundation said “Under HZL’s leadership, Sakhi SHG women have risen as strong community leaders. With the objective of ensuring “No One Sleeps Hungry” in our project villages, Sakhi federations, a woman-led institution came up with a food bank initiative. Sakhi members collected 10,000 kilograms of food grains in a short span of time, aiding the community to fight the pandemic. We acknowledge the timely and quick support of HZL for helping the community during troubled times”

Speaking on partnering with Vedanta for COVID relief efforts, Abhishek Kumar, General Secretary DNR Foundation said “I am truly honored to receive the Chairman’s Award for COVID-19. It is an incredible honour to be acknowledged for the work done for the communities in these distressing times. DNR Foundation feels humbled, but at the same time incredibly proud too. We will always try to achieve the vision of Hon. Chairman Sri Anil Agarwalji for the welfare of the community. Thanks to the Vedanta Team for giving us the opportunity to serve the daily wagers during this COVID crisis at Patna and Mumbai.”

Discon Masih, Director SROUT, who partnered with BALCO on its COVID relief efforts said “It is a matter of great honour to get recognition for the awareness and relief work done by SROUT during COVID -19. SROUT has always been a close partner of BALCO and we are thankful for the opportunities given to us. Hoping for more such collaborations in the future.”

Barmer Jan Sewa Sansthan, which partnered with Cairn in its efforts to aid communities in combating COVID was also felicitated. Speaking on the occasion Ramesh Mangal, Managing Trustee, BJSS said “I would like to express our deep gratitude for awarding us the prestigious Chairman’s Award and personally making the time to appreciate our hard work and sincere efforts undertaken during this critical situation of COVID-19 pandemic in Barmer district. We assure you that with your vision, constant support and able guidance from Cairn Oil & Gas team, we will keep on making a transformational and sustainable impact among local communities and generate shared value as well as goodwill for the company.”

YODA, the Maharashtra based animal welfare organization, which partnered with Vedanta in a unique initiative to feed stray animals during the lockdown was also acknowledged for its immense contribution. Speaking on the initiative, Pooja Sakpal, Co-Founder, YODA said “We are grateful to Vedanta for helping both people and animals in need during these times of crisis. Lots of blessings to the entire organization. We were able to feed 16,000 hungry animals each day, all thanks to this project and opportunity”

Vedanta had contributed Rs 201 crores to PM CARES Fund, State funds, and providing relief measures across the country. To support the Government’s efforts, Vedanta employees had contributed one day’s salary to the PM CARES Fund. Under its flagship “Meal-for-all” program Vedanta has so far provided more than 13 lakh meals to less privileged communities across the country. Vedanta has also taken up the initiative to feed more than 50,000 stray animals every day. Under this initiative, Vedanta has so far provided more than 12.70 lakh feedings to stray animals in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Pune.

In Vedanta’s effort to enhance preventive healthcare, 7 lakh masks and 1 lakh soaps & sanitizers were manufactured and distributed across India. 23 PPE machines were imported in collaboration with the Ministry of Textiles, enabling the production of 40,000+ PPEs per week. A dedicated 24x7 helpline had been set up for employees and families for medical advice, in collaboration with Apollo Hospital.