Rajasthan Global Agri-Tech Meet from November 9-11 at Jaipur

By Manu Sharma

The state government along with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will jointly organize 'Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet' (GRAM). The event will be held from November 9 to 11, in Jaipur.

"The primary objective of GRAM is to ensure economic empowerment of farmers through accelerated yet sustainable growth in agriculture and to double the farmers' income by 2022. Over 40,000 farmers will attend GRAM.

Apart from farmers, the global event will also showcase best practices and best of technologies suited to the agro-climatic conditions of Rajasthan.

It will also be an important platform for investors, manufacturers, academicians and researchers," said Agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini.

The principal secretary Agriculture, Darbari said that pan-Indian road shows will be held to promote the event. Countries like Israel, Netherlands, Canada and Australia have been invited to partner the event. Large contingents of business delegations are expected to participate in the meeting.Jaipur: The state government today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for organizing the 'Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet'(GRAM). The international event will be held from November 9 to 11, at the Jaipur.

"The primary objective of GRAM is to ensure economic empowerment of the farmers through accelerated yet sustainable growth in agriculture and to double farmer's income by 2022. Over 40,000 farmers will attend the GRAM. In addition to farmers, the global event will showcase global best practices and best of technologies suited to the agro-climatic conditions of Rajasthan. It will also be an important platform for investors, manufacturers, academicians and researchers,"said Prabhu Lal Saini minister Agriculture.

The principal secretary Agriculture, Darbari said that road shows will be held pan-India to promote the event. Israel, Netherlands, Canada and Australia have been invited to partner the event. Large contingents in terms of business delegations are expected to participate in the Meet.

India’s Tourism Estimates 561 M Domestic Tourist Visits in 2016: Hangal

With this year’s edition of ‘IITM’ in Bangalore, Sphere Travelmedia and Exhibitions completes seventeen years of providing the travel industry and discerning buyers from the travel – trade and corporate sector an opportunity to do business. With organizations and tourism boards from over 20 Indian states, ‘India International Travel Mart’ will showcase a variety of destinations from different spheres such as pilgrimages, adventures, culture and heritage, beaches, hills and many more.

The event will have over 400 participants from over 10 countries and over 20 Indian states. The participants include Travel agents & Tour Operators, DMC, Hotels & Resorts, National Tourist Organizations, Cruises, Airlines, Online Travel Portals etc.

Some of the International participants who are participating this year include Tourism Authority of Thailand and delegation, Sri Lanka Tourism and delegation, Tourism Malaysia, New Zealand, representation from Maldives, Dubai, Nepal and many more

Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Hakhu, Director, Sphere TravelMedia said, “India in spite of the present business environment is fast emerging as one of the most interesting and productive countries for the travel trade industry both for leisure and business travel. A combination of factors is responsible for the growth and demand of travel trends from India. The visitor profile is on a B2B and B2C format like and will have over 15,000 buyers over three days”.

Tourism Studies and Trends indicate that the year 2016 – 17 will see more than 20 million Indian tourists embanking on overseas travel and with the advent of low cost international airfares, holiday packages that are available on monthly instalments payable over a period of time, International Travel is no longer a luxury.

Highlights:

·        Karnataka is the Host State for IITM Bangalore

·         This year Sri Lanka and Thailand are the Partner Countries

·        Malaysia, Dubai and New Zealand are the Feature Countries for the event. Other countries participating include Maldives, Sharjah, UK, Nepal and others.

·        International delegations from Thailand, Sri Lanka and Dubai.

·        Some of the States and Union Territories being represented include Gujarat, Maharashtra,  Goa,  Daman and Diu, Madhya Pradesh,  Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Odisha, West Bengal, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Lakshadweep Islands, etc

·        More than 200 hotels and resorts are participating from all over India, making it one of the most diverse range of hospitality products in the country on display.

·        Diverse Tourism segments on display such as Pilgrimage Travel, Adventure, Cultural pursuits, shopping tours, MICE etc.

·        Sri Lanka Tourism to launch special Ramayana Circuits in Sri Lanka targeting the Indian market.

·        Special discounts on spot bookings for over 1000 holiday destinations.

The 'India International Travel Mart' provides an ideal 'marketing opportunity' and 'excellent backdrop' to enhance the participant's 'brand-equity' in the eyes of the discerning end consumer and the travel-trade.

Boost for Domestic Tourism:

The event showcases virtually travel and hospitality products from every part of the country, making it one of the biggest congregation of travel-trade in the country. The event provides unmatched networking opportunities to interact with Travel-trade and corporate buyers alike.

Rohit Hangal, Director, Sphere Travelmedia added “domestic travel as the “backbone” of India’s tourism portfolio and with an estimated 561 million domestic tourist visits, this segment is probably the only second to China in terms of sheer size. With the rapid economic development taking place in the country and availability of greater disposable income combined with affordable holiday packages, tourism in India is increasing steadily and acts as a catalyst for the furthering the economic growth in view of its wide ranging linkage effects and multiple impacts. The participants from the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and many more destinations will be seen aggressively marketing their products will be there with their travel and tourism stakeholders”.

Now Cloud-Centric Enterprise Solutions from Google India

Search engine giant Google on Thursday showcased its smart, modern and secure offerings here that will enable customers take advantage of the emerging digital technologies.

Google's enterprise offerings comprise the full array of IT needs from communication and productivity with apps to application hosting, data analysis and infrastructure with cloud platform and workplace devices with chrome and android hardware.

Senior leaders from e-retailer Flipkart, Hero MotoCorp, market research form PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Mahindra's startup arm SmartShift were present at the event who spoke about the adoption of Google's enterprise offerings that are enabling their teams to be more connected, collaborative and competitive.

For enterprises, Google is providing a seamless experience from desktop to mobile — accommodating the current needs of a digital, collaborative, connected and integrated workforce while continuing to build for future shifts, the company said in a statement.

Further, Google is making heavy investments in growth areas, particularly Google Cloud Platform, its cloud infrastructure offering that benefits from deep networking and machine learning expertise to provide businesses with powerful application hosting, data analysis and computing resources.

Google India hosted over 2,000 business leaders and also arranged livestreaming sessions at the event.

Agencies

All-New 2016 Indian Scout Sixty Indian Motorcycle Unveiled in Bengaluru

Polaris India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Polaris Industries Inc., the world leader in Off-Road and All-Terrain Vehicles, today launched the versatile all-new 2016 Indian Scout Sixty in Bengaluru at its dealership, Exquisite Moto LLP. The all-new 2016 Indian Scout Sixty is the latest addition to the Indian Scout line-up ,sharing  many elements of the award-winning Indian Scout with a price point that brings legendary Indian Motorcycle craftsmanship and world renowned Indian Scout performance within the reach of every rider.

True to the craftsmanship, reliability and legendary agility of the Indian Scout, the all-new Indian Scout Sixty shares the identical chassis, suspension, brakes and core engine — all mated with a new 60 cubic inch engine. The silky smooth, easy-to- shift 5-speed transmission coupled with the   78 horsepower engine produces a whopping peak torque of 88.8NM @ 5800 RPM.

The bike was unveiled by Pankaj Dubey, Managing Director, Polaris India Pvt. Ltd along with Anil Shankar, President and CEO, Exquisite Moto LLP. in a glittering ceremony. On this occasion, C. Ritwik and Gokul Gopinath received the keys of the Indian Scout from Pankaj Dubey and Anil Shankar.

Speaking on the occasion, Pankaj Dubey, Managing Director, Polaris India Pvt. Ltd said, “Bengaluru is decidedly the face of modern India. As the hub of India’s booming IT industry, the city has a strong economy, a robust consumption pattern and a great market for Automobiles too. We are glad to introduce the all-new 2016 Indian® Scout® Sixty in Bangalore. Expertly balanced and lightweight the bike has won the hearts of bike enthusiasts around the globe. I am confident that the introduction of the all-new 2016 Indian® Scout® Sixty in Bengaluru market will help us grow in terms of volumes in the fast-growing luxury commuter category.”

“The biking landscape of Bengaluru has undergone a sea change over the years with more and more IT professionals going for internationally reputed brands and not only IT professionals but also business heads from traditional, non IT based and service industry professionals are all being part of the Biking revolution and that is happening in Bengaluru and surrounding areas. The all-new 2016 Indian Scout Sixty which is a stunning new addition to the Indian Scout range with its astonishing features will surely catch the fancy of the biking enthusiasts of the city.  At Exquisite Moto LLP, we are committed to provide global standards of after-sales and service support to add to the overall experience of owning this latest midsize addition from Indian Motorcycle”said, Anil Shankar, President and CEO, Exquisite Moto LLP.

A seat height of 25.3 inches allows for sure-footed comfort at stops, and the low center of gravity ensures agile cornering, precise balance and overall rider confidence and control. A series of accessories including seats, handlebars and foot peg re-locators allow the motorcycle to be tailored to fit each rider, while additional accessories such as saddlebags, laced front and rear wheels and quick-release windscreens give owners virtually unlimited freedom to customize their rides.

The all-new Indian Scout Sixty will be available in three classic Indian Motorcycle colors viz. Thunder Black, Indian Motorcycle Red and Pearl White color with an expected price tag of Rs.12.21 Lakhs   (Ex-Showroom Bengaluru ).

Wide Scope for Innovation for Students & Developers at MS’s Machine Learning & Data Sciences Conference

Microsoft India has announced the winners of the 24 hour hackathon held as part of the first Machine Learning and Data Sciences (MLnDS) Conference. Team Builders won the grand prize, while Eavesdroppers and NHacks emerged as the first and second runners up respectively by creating applications to address challenges in the field of agriculture, call center management and human behavior. The hackathon invited students and early-stage developers to work in teams to build intelligent, working applications with the help of Microsoft Cognitive Services, Microsoft Bot Framework and Microsoft R Services.

The top three teams won cash prizes worth Rs. 50,000, Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 30,000 for developing solutions fulfilling parameters on design, innovation, foreseeable impact and marketability.  In addition to the cash awards, the student participants from the winning teams will also be offered interviews for internships and full time positions at Microsoft India (RnD) Pvt. Ltd.

Speaking on the occasion, Anil Bhansali, Managing Director, Microsoft India (RnD) Pvt. Ltd. said, “Microsoft has the vision, strategy and talent to democratize data and machine learning and use it to realize our mission to empower every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more. The hackathon was designed to spark curiosity among diverse talent to develop applications using our services and demonstrate the versatility and potential of using the platform. It has also shown us how Microsoft’s APIs could help scale ideas with global relevance in a very short time.”

The winning teams showcased their innovative thinking, technical skills and creative solutions to address everyday challenges. Team Builders created a cognitive model to help farmers to identify what to grow based on soil, weather and other parameters while Team Eavesdroppers created a dashboard for call center management which analyzes audio files and derives actionable insights for employee assessment and training related questions. TeamNHacks, developed a cognitive system that detects if individuals are suffering from depression by conducting a sentiment analysis basis the tweets of the individual extracted from Twitter. According to the sentiments extracted, notification is sent to the guardian or doctor of the individual.

Over 800 participants from across India expressed interest in participating in the hackathon of whom 80 participants were shortlisted. At the event, 18 teams from all over the country comprising students and developers battled it out in the intense hackathon to create applications. 15 senior machine learning and technology experts from Microsoft who have built intelligent services using Microsoft tools mentored the teams throughout the competition. A range of ideas including how to tackle college bullying, accessibility for the hearing impaired and a travel app were judged by a jury comprising Microsoft and industry experts.

The hackathon marked the closure  two-day conference was aimed at exploring the tremendous possibilities with Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Open Source technologies to enable a rich set of platforms, intelligent apps, services and experiences to accelerate economic growth, empower people and drive real impact. Nearly 600 attendees, including data scientists, students, developers, government elites, start-ups, cricketers and Microsoft experts, gathered to learn and share new insights and showcase powerful solutions that are driving digital transformation for organizations and communities in India and worldwide.

Online Market for Professional Courses Expected to Grow Over 22.05% by 2016-2020

Technopak and Simplilearn, a leading global Ed-tech company, have jointly published a report titled, “Technopak and Simplilearn Whitepaper on the Digital Learning Market in India”. Covering the most significant trends expected to impact the digital learning landscape in India. The report highlights that the online professional education market globally is expected to exceed US$9bn by 2020, growing at compound annual growth (CAGR) of 14% from 2016 – 2020.

Rapidly Growing Ed-Tech Sector - Online Certification Training

With the growing demand for skilled talent in the IT industry today, the report highlights that working professionals are increasingly looking to enhance their employability by up-skilling with online certification training in emerging technologies like Big Data, Cloud Computing and Salesforce, Project Management, Mobile App Development and Digital Marketing.  Technological advancements in the IT industry has raised awareness about certification training, which is reinvigorating the Indian online professional education space. 

Emerging Learning Trends – Gamification, Augmented and Virtual Reality

The report also indicates emerging trends, and forecasts the gamification of learning and simulation as well as the implementation of augmented and virtual reality in education. It states that the global market size of simulation-driven learning is ~US$4.4bn. With a share of 0.25%, the simulation based learning market in India is estimated to be worth US $13mn in FY’16, and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 100% in the next 4-5 years.

“Skilling is one of India’s most critical needs today. However, given the pace of development, there’s a growing realization that skilling needs to be seen from the perspective of lifelong learning. Digital-Learning and online certifications open up a gamut of options for students looking to enter both traditional and non-traditional fields. It also makes learning more interactive, personalized and self-paced. Students get access to world class content, faculty, pedagogy and certification – anytime, anywhere and at a much affordable cost”, says Aurobindo Saxena, Vice President at Technopak Advisors. According to Technopak’s analysis, India’s digital learning market is currently estimated at US$2bn, growing at a CAGR of 30% and is expected to reach US$5.7bn by 2020. There’s a huge demand emerging from working professionals as well to reskill themselves. This rapid demand is supported by the increasing requirement of skills such as data analysis, project management and digital marketing.

Krishna Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Simplilearn said, “The whitepaper summarizes the different growth drivers of the Indian digital learning market, along with the opportunities and challenges they bring for the online education service providers. Keeping in mind the current skill-gap and the advances in Ed-tech, it’s indeed exciting to see how online certifications have opened up a gamut of opportunities for students and professionals in a world where technologies are changing every few years.”

Technopak education analysts also highlighted the various factors that are contributing to the growth of the digital-learning market in India:

·         Increasing integration of world economies

·         Rise in Internet penetration in India

·         Reduction in prices leading to rise in ownership of mobile devices

·         Rising aspiration for world class education backed by willingness to pay for it

·         Government focus and support

Internet and digital penetration

India currently has 462 million internet users with a penetration of 35%. This growth is driven by the adoption of mobile internet, with 65% of internet traffic originating from mobile devices. With programs such as the Digital India Initiative, digital literacy and penetration is projected to increase significantly in the next few years.

MOOC enrollment

India has the second largest MOOC user base after the US and its rapid expansion means that an increasing number of courses have a majority of people from India. Being affordable and accessible, MOOCs are helping address the quantity and quality education gaps in India by supporting traditional classrooms.

Government Support

The government of India’s Digital India initiative is a flagship programme that envisions to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Around 20+ new initiatives have been launched to widen the scope of the Digital India Programme to include projects in the areas of digital infrastructure, digital empowerment, on-demand government services and promotion of industry with the aims of universal digital literacy and universally accessible digital resources.

The report further outlines that while there are positive trends regarding the adoption of Digital Learning in India, lack of content in regional languages and poor internet connectivity in smaller towns and semi-urban areas poses the key impediment towards widespread adoption of this technology-driven learning. 

Global Information Security Spending Will Grow 7.9 Percent to Reach $81.6 Billion in 2016

Worldwide spending on information security products and services will reach $81.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 7.9 percent over 2015, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc. Consulting and IT outsourcing are currently the largest categories of spending on information security. Until the end of 2020, the highest growth is expected to come from security testing, IT outsourcing and data loss prevention (DLP).

Preventive security will continue to show strong growth, as many security practitioners continue to have a buying preference for preventive measures. However, solutions such assecurity information and event management (SIEM) and secure web gateways (SWGs) are evolving to support detection-and-response approaches. Gartner expects the SWG market will maintain its growth of 5 to 10 percent through 2020 as organizations focus on detection and response.

"Organizations are increasingly focusing on detection and response, because taking a preventive approach has not been successful in blocking malicious attacks," said Elizabeth Kim, senior research analyst at Gartner. "We strongly advise businesses to balance their spending to include both."

Ms. Kim said that security spending will become increasingly service-driven as organizations continue to face staffing and talent shortages. Managed detection and response (MDR) is emerging, with demand coming from organizations struggling to deploy, manage and use an effective combination of expertise and tools to detect threats, and then bring their environment back to a known good state. This is particularly true for targeted advanced threats and insider threats. With more MDR providers emerging targeting the midmarket, Gartner foresees these services being an additional driver for security spending for both large and smaller organizations.

According to Gartner, spending in security markets such as consumer security software, secure email gateways (SEGs) and endpoint protection platforms (EPPs) continues to show constrained growth due to commoditization.

Other assumptions in the information security market behind Gartner's latest forecast include:

The average selling price for firewalls is expected to increase by at least 2 or 3 percent year over year until the end of 2018.

This is driven by the market benefiting from higher demand for high-end equipment among cloud providers and other service providers, due to larger bandwidth needs and an increasing number of devices. While vendor competition continues to put pressure on pricing, enterprises, service providers and web-scale organizations are moving toward deploying bigger and more expensive firewalls. As a result, the deployment of large firewalls by cloud service providers will remain an important source of revenue growth for vendors.

By 2018, 90 percent of organizations will implement at least one form of integrated DLP, up from 50 percent today.

Organizations have been deploying DLP to address regulatory compliance, intellectual property (IP) protection and data visibility and monitoring. Newer solutions that include user entity and behavior analytics, image analysis, machine learning, and data-matching techniques are being used to augment existing solutions.

Public cloud adoption will impact firewall spending by less than 10 percent until the end of 2019 but will have an impact after that.

While software as a service (SaaS) adoption is growing, the effect on firewall spending will be limited for the next three years. SaaS is the first choice for only 16 percent of CIOs surveyed by Gartner in 2015. Transitions also take time, during which vendors of cloud access security brokers (CASBs) will not only continue to evolve to cover more than just SaaS, but also perform similar roles for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS). In addition, firewall vendors will also have to deal with one of their main challenges for the next few years: decrypting Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) at scale.

Half of midsize and large organizations will add bigger, more advanced inspection-oriented features to their network firewalls by 2019.

Bandwidth has been increasing, requiring larger-scale, higher-performing and more expensive firewalls. In addition, organizations are looking to firewalls to consolidate other features, such as web filtering and intrusion prevention capabilities. Some are enhancing their firewalls with new content inspection features, such as malware sand boxing.