SHAREit Contributes in COVID-19 Relief Efforts to Help Feed 500,000 People in India

SHAREit Joins Hands with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to Provide Cooked Meals and Grocery Kits to People Affected by the Ongoing Pandemic in India

SHAREit, in an attempt to help fight the adverse effects of COVID-19 in India and with the intention to provide aid to vulnerable families impacted by the pandemic, has partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation. The global content discovery, consumption and sharing application has committed to donate INR 1 crore as a part of the initiative which would help feed 500,000 people in need.

“The world is going through extremely harsh times at the moment and we at SHAREit believe that it is times like these that demand everybody to join hands to help each other. While the world is trying to find a way out of this pandemic, it is crucial to ensure that the people affected by the crisis are taken care of. Providing meals and groceries to these people is our way of showing that we are all in this together”, said SHAREit spokesperson Hitesh Dhingra.

Expressing his gratitude, Mr. Shridhar Venkat, CEO - Akshaya Patra, said, “We are immensely grateful to SHAREit for their support in these crucial times. Their generous contribution will enable us to serve freshly cooked meals and distribute essential groceries kits to thousands of people from vulnerable communities, affected by the nation-wide lockdown. In these testing times, only collective efforts in the service of those in need will carry us through as a nation.”

SHAREit has also taken steps to increase awareness about the virus by setting up a live updates section on the application. The application updates the consumers about the number of cases discovered both in India and globally as well as the state wise bifurcation of the spread of the virus. The application also offers a helpline number to ensure safety.

SHAREit is available both on Google Play Store and iOS App Store. 

Britannia Launches a WhatsApp Based ‘Store Locator’, Enables Consumers to Shop for its Products Nearby

Britannia Industries Ltd has launched a ‘Store Locator’ service to enable consumers to find their favorite Britannia products in stores nearby. Given the context of the ongoing lockdown, the GPS-based Chatbot publishes a list of stores near the consumer’s current location, which have been recently serviced by the Company.

The technology solution has been built to swiftly respond to the surge in consumer demand and the consumers’ increasing need to find the range of Britannia products at close proximity to where they reside.

Commenting on the quick turnaround of the WhatsApp based Store Locator, Mr. Varun Berry, Managing Director, Britannia Industries, said, “Given the ongoing lockdown, our teams are constantly innovating to ensure high accessibility to our products, across geographies and town classes. The WhatsApp Chatbot is one such timely solution built to help consumers discover our products in their neighborhood.”

Mr. Berry added, “The high degree of familiarity that the Indian consumers have with WhatsApp makes it an ideal platform to reach a wide demographic of consumers.”

The Store Locator has been launched pan India. A consumer can interact with the ‘Store locator’ by sending ‘BRIT’ on Whatsapp to mobile number 4071012222 and following the instructions.

TRA’s Covid Mental Wellbeing Index Shows Mumbai at Lowest; Delhi Citizens Cope Second Best

TRA Research, a consumer insights and brand analytics company, today released a new finding from its recent white-paper, a research survey conducted across 16 cities with 902 urban citizens to delve deeper into the Mental Wellbeing of citizens across urban India.  Guwahati citizens showed the highest mental Wellbeing (84%) in their ability to cope with their current worries of family health and work stability as well as their fears on the country’s health and economic impact. This was followed by Delhi-NCR (78%) which had the second best Mental Wellbeing score. Other cities which displayed a ‘Good’ ability Mental Wellbeing of their citizens include Indore (75%), Coimbatore (73%) and Pune (72%). Mumbai showed the lowest Mental Wellbeing Index at just 28%, showing severe stresses and anxieties among the citizenry, followed by Lucknow at 36%.

N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, explained the concept of Mental Wellbeing and said, “The Mental Wellbeing of citizens in the context of this research is seen as their ability to cope with current worries regarding the pandemic. The ability to cope with worries depends on the individual’s mind-set of course, but also depends on the city’s general acceleration rate in patients, as also the a city’s complex demographics that may impede coping with the pandemic. The rapid spread in Mumbai with the highest number of Covid-19 patients is also reflected in the low Mental Wellbeing of its citizens with regard to coping with the disease.” The Mental Wellbeing Index has been calculated with Coping Index as the numerator and the Worry Index as the denominator, measured as a percentage and the Coping Index was measured on four parameters and the Worry Index on six.

Dr. Jalpa Butta, MD, Consultant Psychiatrist, practicing at Global Hospital and Hinduja Khar, said, “Coping skills are determined by one’s resilience, attitude, belief system and support system. It is reassuring that most of the people in smaller cities are coping better with good Mental Wellbeing. In the larger cities there could be many factors responsible like worry on account of stability of work. When our identity is determined by our career and earning capacities, people can feel at a total loss when that may get impacted. Relationships are also getting fragile in bigger cities, giving poor interpersonal support, which is much needed for a sense of mental wellbeing.”

Chandramouli elaborated further on the difference in cities, “The smaller cities have a relatively higher Mental Wellbeing Index as compared to the larger cities and Guwahati, Jaipur, Indore, Pune, Coimbatore are coping better with the situation, than their counterparts in cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.”

Dr. Bhuta suggested attitudinal alterations to cope. She said, “It is important for all of us to find peace within ourselves, develop a more spiritual and accepting attitude, learn to deal with change and embrace the higher power during difficult times.”

About TRA Research
TRA Research, a Comniscient Group company, is a consumer insights and brand intelligence Company dedicated to understanding and analyzing stakeholder behavior through two globally acclaimed proprietary matrices of Brand Trust and Brand Desire. TRA Research conducts primary research with consumers and stakeholders to assist brands with their business decisions based on Consumer Behavior insights.

TRA Research is consulting brands on transitioning during and after the Covid-19 crisis, to help them be more aligned to consumer and client expectations. TRA Research is the also the publisher of TRA’s Brand Trust Report and of TRA’s Most Desired Brands.

Cloudera Selects Red Hat OpenShift as the Preferred Container Solution for Cloudera Data Platform Private Cloud

Cloudera, (NYSE: CLDR), the enterprise data cloud company, today announced that it has chosen Red Hat OpenShift as the preferred container solution for Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) Private Cloud. With Red Hat OpenShift, CDP Private Cloud will deliver powerful, self-service analytics and enterprise-grade performance with the granular security and governance policies that IT leaders demand.

To keep pace in the digital era, businesses must modernize their data strategy for increased agility, ease of use and efficiency. Together, Red Hat OpenShift and CDP Private Cloud help create an essential hybrid, multi-cloud data architecture, enabling teams to rapidly onboard mission-critical applications and run them anywhere, without disrupting existing ones.

"Red Hat OpenShift's position as the market-leading Kubernetes container platform, combined with its 100% open source nature, make it ideal for CDP Private Cloud," said Arun Murthy, Chief Product Officer, Cloudera. "CDP Private Cloud, supported by Red Hat OpenShift, creates an enterprise data cloud with a powerful hybrid architecture that separates compute and storage for greater agility, ease of use, and more efficient use of private and public cloud infrastructure."

"We're pleased to expand access to the open hybrid cloud by becoming the preferred container solution for the Cloudera Data Platform Private Cloud," said Ashesh Badani, Senior Vice President, Red Hat. "The combination of Red Hat OpenShift and CDP Private Cloud aims to deliver a next-generation data analytics platform for on-premise deployments that can help to transform complex data into clearer and more actionable enterprise insights."

To learn more about CDP Private Cloud and the partnership between Cloudera and IBM, tune in to Red Hat Summit on April 29 at 7pm ET, where Cloudera will join Red Hat CTO Chris Wright as part of the ecosystem keynote presentation.

87% of Business Leaders Prefer Reskilling Over Hiring New in India

upGrad, India’s leading online education company has released a whitepaper in partnership with FICCI (The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce) on the “High-Impact Online Learning at Scale”.

The research-backed White paper has brought to light that, reskilling existing employees is always more economical than hiring new ones. This is something respondents of upGrad’s 2020 industry-leading survey of Learning & Development (L&D) and business leaders are very aware of: 87% respondents opine that reskilling is preferred over hiring anew.

Post COVID19 outbreak, the numbers show that the budgets for online learning for many of the respondents have increased to more than 80% of the total L&D budgets, as per data collected during COVID-19* However, online learning comes with a set of challenges that include low completion rates and indifferent learner engagement.

Online learning at scale can also help organisations navigate Black Swan events such as the current unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, ensuring learning continuity.

The White paper also highlights the sharp and articulated perspective of industry stalwarts like Ms. Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Asst Secretary General, FICCI, who believes that users of online education in India are expected to reach 9.5 million by 2021 from 1.9 million in 2017-18. She also adds, “With a rapid increase of mobile internet users in India, which is expected to reach 85% households by 2024, this can change the education system and enhance the effectiveness of learning & teaching practices.”

The rapid adoption of new and emerging technologies is imperative for business success today. Across verticals, enterprises face barriers to this adoption due to a skills gap in their workforces. Such barriers can be crippling, hampering business growth in present-day hyper-dynamic marketplaces.

“We aim to partner with businesses and governments worldwide to transform their talent in the face of accelerating change,” add Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder & Executive Chairman, upGrad.

The White paper was launched during a webinar held today, and brought senior leadership from AICTE, CBSE, FICCI, and Welspun under one virtual window. Speakers and panelists include Ms Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI, Mr Atul Kulshrestha, Chair, FICCI EdTech Task Force & Founder, Chairman & MD, Extramarks, Ms Poonam Jamwal, Director, Extramarks, Mr Gerald Jaideep, Co-Chair, FICCI EdTech Task Force & CEO, Medvarsity, Ms Shweta Rajpal Kohli, Co-Chair, FICCI EdTech Task Force & Country Director – Gov. Affairs and Public Policy, Salesforce, Ms Nandita Abraham, President, Pearl Academy, Mr Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder & Chairman, upGrad, Mr Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD, upGrad, Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director -Training & Skill Education, CBSE, and Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE. The moderation for the webinar done by Mr Nilanjan Kar, President-Enterprise Business, upGrad.

Blue Dart Express to Deliver Medicines to NRIs Residing Overseas

Blue Dart Express Ltd. South Asia's premier express air and integrated transportation, distribution and logistics company as part of Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) has announced delivery of medicines to NRIs residing overseas. To avail this service, customers need to visit any Blue Dart/DHL counter across India and provide valid medical prescription for sending medicines overseas to their family/ friends through Blue Dart-DHL’s door-to-door express service.

Basis the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs and subsequent orders from State Governments. Blue Dart has been operational through the lockdown, teams are working round-the-clock to ensure priority clearance and delivery of essential commodities. The company is working closely with the Government of India, to ensure door-to-door delivery carrying inter-state and international supplies of essential goods through its strong air and ground express network.

Ketan Kulkarni CMO & Head – Business Development, Blue Dart Express Ltd, said, “At Blue Dart we have transported over thousands of tons of cargo carrying essential supplies since the nation-wide lockdown began and have been extending all possible support to various state government, pharma companies to fight this war against the global COVID-19 pandemic. We are working round the clock to deliver essentials in a time-bound manner and are firmly committed and honoured to be a part of the Government’s ‘Lifeline Udan’ initiative. Our pilots flew our Boeing 757 – 200 across Indian and International cities (Guangzhou, Shanghai and Dhaka) transporting mission critical supply.”

He further added, “Earlier this month, we reduced our Domestic Retail Tariff Prices by 25% for all domestic shipments within India to provide speedy and hassle-free experience. Our focus on safety remains uncompromising, adhering to this we are following social distancing guidelines, practicing all hygiene protocols and also introduced Contact Less Deliveries to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.”

In addition to this, Blue Dart is providing support with daily shipments across India for requisitioned items by State Governments, Municipalities, Hospitals and Research Centres during the lockdown period. Some of these include special food for paralytic children; medicines for senior citizens residing in another town sent by their families; masks for cancer affected children as well as healthcare staff; temperature controlled medicines that need to be maintained at a specific temperature in order to maintain their efficacy among others. 

Blue Dart will continue to offer unwavering support during such critical times to ensure an uninterrupted supply chain across domestic and international markets. We are motivated and eager to contribute to serve the country while keeping health and safety as a paramount.

Blue Dart has listed itself on the dedicated Medical Air Cargo website www.civilaviation.gov.in 

1,50,000 Practitioners from 100 Countries to Virtually Attend the “121st Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Second Guide of Heartfulness”

Over a Century ago, a silent process was put into motion, that has helped and continues to transform humanity today. In the form of Heartfulness Meditation, this ancient yogic form of meditation has reached out to millions across 160 countries and helped them live a more evolved life. Shri Ram Chandra Shahjahanpur, the Founder President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission, the first Heartfulness organisation formalised the meditation practise to be spread by the organisation he founded. Fondly referred to as Babuji he was born on 30th April 1899, in the North Indian town of Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and attained mahasamadhi on 19 April 1983.

To mark Babuji’ s 121st birth anniversary more than 1,50,000 practitioners of Heartfulness across 100 countries will come together virtually to join the celebrations on 29th-30th April & 1st May 2020.  This grand virtual celebration will include a series of 6 group meditation sessions across the 3 days, filling all hearts with love and spiritual charge. Proceedings can be viewed Live at http://youtube.com/c/heartfulness/live from 7am to 6 pm on all 3 days

Year 2020 is the 75th platinum anniversary year of the legal founding of Shriram Chandra Mission (Heartfulness Institute) by Babuji, so this event is of special significance. International Headquarters of Heartfulness was inaugurated recently at Kanha Shantivanam in Hyderabad on Feb 2, 2020 and houses the world’s largest meditation centre with 100,000 capacity.

Commenting on the occasion Mr. Kamlesh Patel (Daaji) the Guide of Heartfulness said, “Babuji spurred the spiritual movement in India with his ability to draw the attention of people across the globe, culture, background and religions to the transformative powers of meditation. He distilled the essence of meditation practices into a simple method suitable for everyone – in other words, he demystified yogic practices for modern humanity. Babuji redefined our understanding of yogic science in the same way that Einstein redefined our understanding of physics. He recorded his discoveries in these ground-breaking books that were written in the 1940s.”

“Babuji’s spiritual legacy is of such a stature that he will be remembered for thousands of years into the future, and his ability to help seekers to evolve spiritually is legendary. We are truly blessed to be able to celebrate his birth by coming together virtually”, Daaji added 

At the time, back in 1945, this method of Raja Yoga was known in just a handful of areas in North India, and Babuji was hardly known outside his circle of associates and followers, but that was to all to change as people came searching for him from all over the world.

From an early age, he displayed a craving for spiritual realization that overshadowed all other interests. He held the position of clerk in the district court of Shahjahanpur for more than thirty years. In June 1922, at the age of twenty-two, he met Lalaji, whom he accepted as his guru. Lalaji also bore the same name of Shri Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh, UP. Lalaji recognized Babuji as the person who had appeared in his dream years before as his successor. In 1972, he took the Heartfulness method of meditation across the length and breadth of India, Europe and America and popularised it in those countries.