A.M. Naik-Founded Nirali Memorial Medical Trust to Set Up First Multispecialty Hospital at Navsari

Nirali Memorial Medical Trust (NMMT), established by Mr. A.M. Naik, Group Chairman of Larsen & Toubro, will set up a Multispecialty Hospital at Navsari in Gujarat. The Multispecialty Hospital will be operated and managed by Apollo Hospitals Group. The agreement to this effect was signed by Mr Naik and Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group.

Named in the memory of Nirali, granddaughter of Naik who passed away due to cancer at the age of two, NMMT was set up by Mr Naik and family to help needy patients without access to quality medical treatment.

NMMT, a public charitable trust founded by Mr. Naik to carry out philanthropic activities in medical care, possesses the land parcel for this multispecialty hospital. NMMT will build the infrastructure, install the medical equipment and appoint the qualified doctors and paramedical staff to run the hospital. Apollo Hospitals Group will offer their medical expertise and facilitate operations and maintenance of the hospital.

On the occasion, Mr. A.M. Naik said, “We owe a lot to the society we live in and are indebted to give it back to people. It is endeavour of Nirali Memorial Medical Trust to provide best-in-class secondary and tertiary medical care facilities to rural and underprivileged social groups. The setting up of Multispecialty Hospital is a momentous step in the direction of extending affordable healthcare to all. We are delighted to have reputed healthcare group Apollo Hospitals joining this mission at Navasari in South Gujarat.”

Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals said: “Since our inception thirty-five years ago, the resolute mission of Apollo Hospitals has been to make an international standard of healthcare accessible to every individual. Since then, every endeavour that we have undertaken has been a focused step towards fulfilling our mission. Apollo Hospitals is honoured to support Mr. Naik’s noble efforts in setting up a multi-specialty hospital in Navasari, which will offer succor to the people in the region by facilitating early detection of disease and timely intervention, thereby saving precious lives.”

NMMT has developed ‘A.M. Naik Healthcare Complex’ located at Sisodra (Ganesh), Navsari, Gujarat. The complex spread over across 8 acres houses an under-construction Cancer Hospital, will have a Multispecialty Hospital and other medical care facilities. The under-construction Nirali Cancer Hospital at the complex will be operated and managed by Tata Trusts. Mr. Naik has been instrumental in getting the best-in-class health facilities in the rural hinterlands of South Gujarat.

NMMT runs the 'Nirali Memorial Radiation Centre' in Surat, Multidisciplinary hospital at Powai and provides modern medical facilities at a hospital in Kharel in South Gujarat. Along with NMMT, Mr. Naik has also founded the Naik Charitable Trust (NCT), which is focused on providing quality education and vocational training to the underprivileged sections of the society.

Mr AM Naik is a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and is also Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation. 

Future Generali India Insurance to Conduct Awareness Camps in 9 Districts of Karnataka

Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII), the general insurance arm of the joint venture between retail game-changers Future Group and global insurer Generali is organizing awareness camps starting from yesterday 3rd June in 9 districts of  Karnataka. FGII has been authorized by the Government of Karnataka to implement “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme” (PMFBY) for Loanee and Non-Loanee farmers. Mr. Brijesh Dikshit, Commissioner Agriculture and B.Y Srinivas, Director Agriculture,  Government of Karnataka flagged off the main event at Bangalore.

PMFBY offers an end-to-end insurance cover by providing financial support to the farmers against losses/damage of crops arising out of unforeseen events during the entire cycle of the crop. Activities like dance acts and street plays will be performed in these villages to promote awareness on PMFBY. The street plays will be based on the importance and the benefits of having cover under PMFBY.

Dr. Shreeraj Deshpande (Principal Officer & CEO (Officiating), Future Generali India Insurance Pvt Ltd.said, “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme (PMFBY) is in line with Government’s ‘Minimum Premium, Maximum Insurance for Farmers’ theme and with these roadshows, our aim is to educate farmers in remote areas about PMFBY,  which will help  them to have some financial stability when there is a loss/damage of the crop.”

9 Van Campaigning  teams will travel from the Department of Agriculture, Bangalore to their respective districts. The vans will spread over various villages across below mentioned 9 allocated districts from June onwards.  . 

1) Belgavi
2) Bagalkot
3) Raichur
4) Yadgir
5) Kalaburgi
6) Bengaluru Urban
7)Tumakuru
8) Ramnagara
9) Chamrajnagar

Airtel Upgrades the Wide Range of Exclusive benefits Under #AirtelThanks

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) and ZEE5, India’s fastest growing OTT platform announced that they have further strengthened their strategic partnership to enable a world-class digital content experience for Airtel mobile customers. 

As part of Airtel’s refreshed #AirtelThanks customer rewards program, all Airtel Platinum customers will now get unlimited complimentary access to ZEE5’s vast content catalogue as part of their plan benefits. All Airtel mobile customers on Infinity Postpaid plans of Rs 499/- and above will be eligible for this exclusive benefit. For more details on Airtel Infinity Postpaid please visit here.

ZEE5 has an extensive digital content library that includes the Video on Demand (VOD) network content along with the recently launched ZEE5 Originals, Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos, Lifestyle shows, Kids shows and Plays. Some of the top shows across languages include Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone; Rangbaaz - starring Saqib Saleem, Ranvir Shorey, Aahana Kumra, Ravi Kishan and Tigmanshu Dhulia; Prateik Babbar, Sonal Chauhan and Jisshu Sengupta starrer Skyfire; Arjun Rampal, Sakshi Tanwar, Neeraj Kabi starrer The Final Call; Anjali Patil, Sachin Khedekar, Vikram Gokhale’s Hutatma (Marathi), Auto Shankar (Tamil), Amala Akkineni in High Priestess (Telugu) and upcoming shows like Dia Mirza and Mohit Raina starrer Kaafir; a one-of-its-kind football series with a cause - Bombers and blockbuster movies - Uri – The Surgical Strike, Simmba, Kedarnath, Veere Di Wedding, etc.

Airtel Platinum customers simply need to claim free ZEE5 Subscription offer from Airtel Thanks section of My Airtel app thereby download the ZEE5 app to start accessing this premium content.

Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said: “#AirtelThanks has received phenomenal response and we are delighted to bring ZEE5’s exciting content to our Platinum customers as part of the value proposition. We will continue to expand our ecosystem of partners to enable a differentiated experience for our customers.”

Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, ZEE5 India said, “This partnership is in line with our growth strategy as it is a crucial step towards fulfilling our aim to offer new and exciting content. It will strengthen our reach by the potential proliferation of ZEE5 premium content to a wider and new set of audience. We are happy to partner with Airtel, and via similar partnerships we will continue to enhance our offerings with the customer at the center.”

#AirtelThanks is now tiered in its offering – Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each tier opens a whole new set of benefits for Airtel customers. Airtel Platinum customers get VIP service, premium content, e-books, device protection, and exclusive invites and priority access to events and sales.

The benefits are powered by Airtel’s strong partnerships with leading platforms and brands.

#AirtelThanks is powered by a great app experience, which helps users choose, access and navigate through their benefits in a very simple and user-friendly manner. The upgraded Airtel Thanks app uses strong data-science and segmentation algorithms to customize the user experiences, based on user interests and profiles.   

ZEE5 is home to 1 lakh hours of On Demand Content and 70+ live TV channels. With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation and worldwide. ZEE5 also offers ground breaking features like 11 navigational languages, content download option, seamless video playback and Voice Search.

IPRS Recognised as World’s Fastest Growing Copyright Society by CISAC

The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), India’s only registered copyright society for authors (lyricists), music composers and music publishers was declared as the world's fastest growing Copyright Society by Eric Baptiste, Chairperson of the Board of Directors – CISAC at the recently held CISAC General Assembly 2019 in Tokyo.

Held in Tokyo, CISAC’s General Assembly 2019 is the first event held in many years in Asia and is a part of a new era in Japan. The various representatives of global Copyright societies, including IPRS, attended the event. Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo not only graced the event and met CISAC leaders but also underlined the importance of protecting rights of global creators including Japan. The IPRS team comprised of Mr. Rakesh Nigam CEO, Mr. Aashish Rego, Director IPRS and Mr. Ameet Datta, Counsel of IPRS.

Mr. Rakesh Nigam CEO, IPRS said “IPRS revenue/collections have increased by 350%+ over the last year i.e. from INR 45 Cr to approx INR 165+ Cr. This was possible due to the support and guidance of our Chairman Javed Sahab (Javed Akhtar) and members of our Board. The IPRS team has acquitted itself extremely well. Going forward, I am confident IPRS will continue to grow at this rate because it is supported by the law”.

Furthermore, Mr. Javed Akhtar, Chairman of IPRS said “This recognition that, IPRS is the fastest growing Copyright society in the world, is most welcome. I am extremely pleased and thankful for the support CISAC led by Eric Baptiste-Chairman, Gadi Oron- Director General, Sylvain Piat, Benjamin NG- Regional Director, Asia Pacific at CISAC and the Government of India, gave IPRS during the past year towards IPRS restructuring its constitution and operations and its efforts to become a true representative of all stakeholders of Music in india. This is a team achievement with all stakeholders in IPRS pulling together. The IPRS team led by our CEO Rakesh Nigam is to be commended for their outstanding performance this past year. I am confident that IPRS will continue to grow at a fast rate and serve the interests of its members more effectively.”

Devraj Sanyal, MD & CEO, Universal Music Group, EMI Music India tweeted a congratulatory message to IPRS. He said ‘@IPRSmusic @Javedakhtarjadu & 5 others- It’s been a long time coming and so well earned. Congratulations to everyone.”  Additionally, Indian Music Industry (IMI) chairman and Sony Music India and Middle East president Shridhar Subramaniam congratulated the team. He tweeted, “Great job by the Board and Management Team. Congratulations to all at @IPRSmusic.”

4 Ways How Sustainable Technologies Can Help Protect Oceans - IEEE

Given that oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface, there’s no question that they’re a major factor in the sustainability equation. As such, a number of research efforts are underway to both harness their energy (and in turn reduce our carbon footprint), and to clean them up, making them more sustainable for future generations.

Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy
The ocean’s energy-generation potential is tremendous and could help lead us to a more sustainable planet. An overview in Proceedings of the IEEE covers three emerging technologies focused on the ocean: wave energy converters, ocean thermal energy converters and tidal current systems. Wave energy converters are oscillating bodies (like moorings, columns or man-made channels) that use the pressure of ocean waves to harness energy. Ocean thermal uses the temperature differential between the warmer ocean surface and the cold depths to drive a turbine. And tidal current systems are roughly similar to wind turbines, using the kinetic energy of tidal currents to generate power. All three have significant potential.

Making Offshore Wind Power More Efficient
In a new paper published by the IEEE Power & Energy Society, researchers looked into three potential methods of power transmission from offshore windfarms to see which would be most effective. After all, as they note early in the paper, “in the shallow Atlantic waters of the Northeast, proximate to large load centers, offshore wind could provide all the electricity now consumed by all Northeast coastal states three times over.” They compared three transmission scenarios involving alternating current, direct current with voltage-source conversion and a combination of the two. The combination was most efficient: “The lattermost allows large-scale developments of offshore wind power plants and can be technically superior, but only makes sense when analyzed at a scale greater than a single project.” In that sense, advanced planning of offshore wind farms would be essential.

Reducing Emissions from Shipping
When it comes to shipping, traffic isn’t just a concern for delivery trucks. Ocean routes get congested as well, taking longer for ships to get to their destinations, in turn leading to more emissions. In a paper on IEEE Access, researchers from Greece explain how they developed software that can detect which routes are most likely to be congested, those with the biggest impact on shipping times and alternate paths/ports that ships can use. With emissions controls getting more stringent in local waterways around the world, small ships like ferries and cruise ships have started incorporating hybrid power systems that use lithium-ion batteries to store energy. While there’s an appetite to apply hybrid technology to larger shipping vessels, it’s a complicated proposition.

Grappling with Microplastics and Pollution
Finally, microplastic waste is an issue that we’re still trying to understand. Technology has thus far been playing a role in discovering the geographic limits of it, with specific fixes still down the pipeline. Next steps on marine pollution will be a special topic at the upcoming OCEANS conference, which starts June 17th in Marseille, France. OCEANS brings together global marine technologists, engineers, students, government officials, lawyers and advocates, and is presented by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and the Marine Technology Society.

High-Performance AMD Radeon GPUs to Power All-New Mac Pro

AMD has announced that its new AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs will be included in the all-new Mac Pro. Built on industry-leading 7nm process technology, AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs provide groundbreaking levels of graphics performance for computation-intensive tasks, including rendering, 8K video, video effects, and other high-end content creation workloads.

AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs provide exceptional computational performance by harnessing 7nm AMD Radeon Vega family GPUs, ultra-fast High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2), and AMD Infinity Fabric Link GPU interconnect technology that dramatically enhances data-transfer speeds between GPUs. Providing up to 14 TFLOPS of single-precision floating-point (FP32) performance and up to 28 TFLOPS of half-precision floating-point (FP16) performance, AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs are optimized for powering demanding professional applications.

“Today’s high-end professional content creation applications are driving an insatiable need for ever increasing levels of processing power and memory,” said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Radeon Technologies Group at AMD. “Equipped with Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs, the new Mac Pro delivers the computational horsepower and memory bandwidth to power ultra-high screen resolutions and help dramatically accelerate compute and content creation workloads, enabling creative professionals to focus on unleashing their creativity and delivering amazing results.”

“AMD continues to develop amazing graphics technologies to accelerate workflows for professionals who rely on DaVinci Resolve for faster color correction and editing,” said Dan May, president, Blackmagic Design. “Radeon Pro Vega II delivers outstanding performance, especially when DaVinci Resolve is put to work with 8K video footage combined with various filters.”

Key capabilities and features of AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs include:

Leading-edge compute performance – The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPU delivers up to 14 TFLOPS of single-precision FP32 performance and up to 28 TFLOPS of half-precision FP16 performance.
Support for Infinity Fabric Link GPU interconnect technology – With up to 84GB/s per direction low-latency peer-to-peer memory access1, the scalable GPU interconnect technology enables GPU-to-GPU communications up to 5X faster than PCIe® Gen 3 interconnect speeds2.
Ultra-fast HBM2 memory – 32GB of high-speed HBM2 memory delivers 1TB/s memory bandwidth, providing the memory capacity and data transfer speeds required by today’s high-resolution, multi-display setups, 8K video, and other demanding content creation workloads.

Health and Wellness Principal Drivers for Bangaloreans’ Organic Aspirations

Almost 91% of Bangaloreans would adopt an organic lifestyle even if it came at a price premium of up to 15%, according to new research from Godrej Nature’s Basket[1]. The principle motivation for such a shift, according to the survey, is to improve levels of ‘health and wellness’ (for 63% of respondents), and over half (60%) believe that they would feel more physically fit as a result.

However, when it comes to the practicalities of making such a switch, a number of barriers emerged; 45% of respondents said that they were still not certain how to check whether a product was ‘100% organic’, and 51% feel that organic products are very expensive. Less than half – 30% – currently check for organic certifications when buying groceries.

The findings from Nature’s Basket’s inaugural ‘Organic Lifestyle’ survey reflect considerable research confirming Indian consumers’ belief and interest in organic purchases as a way to prioritize their health by consuming fresh produce cultivated without the use of chemicals or additives. According to the India Organic Food Market Report 2018, for instance, the organic market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25% to 2023[2]. People are adhering to a lifestyle that is organic in nature as they witness tangible results, but they still remain unaware of options that will help them validate the authenticity of such products.

According to Avani Davda, Managing Director, Godrej Nature’s Basket, “People are increasingly becoming aware of adhering to a lifestyle that not only promotes their wellbeing but also contributes positively to the planet. The new challenge for consumers is not the availability of organic products but a lack of awareness about whether a product is truly organic and the tools that can assist them in making it a lifestyle rather than a one-time activity,” she said.

“As an industry, it is essential to equip consumers with the information and knowledge to make organic choices, and also address a few of the myths that exist regarding the same.  For instance, more than half of respondents (51%) believe organic choices to be ‘very expensive’, 31% describe organic qualities as nothing more than a ‘marketing gimmick’, while 16% actually believe that organic produce ‘does not taste as good’ as ‘regular’ alternatives!  We are absolutely committed to helping consumers make informed choices and addressing such assumptions,” she added.

Other key data insights from the research include:

·         100% are aware of the availability of organic produce for fruits, vegetables while only 57% of the respondents are aware of the existence of organic hair care products, 40% of organic skin care products and just 29% of organic homecare products
·         95% have already included some organic products as part of their daily diet
·         Almost 42% believe that such a lifestyle would help to sustain a better environment
·         59% of the respondents believe that an organic lifestyle would give them more energy

Avani also elaborated, “As a brand, our objective is to maintain consistency in the quality of our products and services. For our organically inclined customers, we have a wide range of health foods such as low carb food, diabetic food, heart-healthy foods, gluten-free food, immune boosting foods, organic jams, organic juices, organic oils, organic snacks, organic milk, and organic honey. For their easy access to these products, an online portal is available to our customers so that they can browse through a wide range of fruits and vegetables or enter the item name in the search tab for the item of their choice and have it delivered to their doorstep.”