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.

More Take Workouts Indoors as Garmin Tracks a 40% Increase in Overall Indoor Activity Count in India Since Jan 2020

With the current pandemic situation resulting in activity restrictions, staying healthy and fit has become a challenge. These sudden changes have brought about drastic lifestyle transformations, making it difficult to get into a routine. More than ever, it is critical for us to exercise regularly to boost our immunity.

With gyms, fitness centers and clubs closed, meditation and exercising at home have become the newfound routine for fitness enthusiasts across the nation. According to Garmin Connect data, from January to March 2020, the activity count for outdoor activities had an overall drop of 15.5 percent, with activity count for golf, hiking trail running and running decreasing by 87.6 percent, 34.9 percent, 29.2 percent and 18.8 percent respectively. In comparison, indoor activities such as floor climbing, yoga, Pilates and indoor cardio workouts showed an overall increase of 38.5 percent in the same period.

With travel and activity restrictions implemented from March 2020, overall outdoor activity count from January’20 till 21 April’ 2020 dropped by 71.2 percent while indoor activity count increased by 40.2 percent in the same period.

In light of the lifestyle changes, it is crucial to keep a consistent check on one’s physiological data to actively monitor physical health and wellbeing.

World Health Organization’s “Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) when COVID-19 disease is suspected” Interim Guidance[i] spotlights the importance of health monitoring data; one of the clinical syndromes is severe pneumonia where the patient may experience fever or suspected respiratory infection, plus respiratory rate of more than 30 breaths/min; severe respiratory distress; or SpO2 of less than 93 percent on room air.

Garmin smartwatches enable users to track their physiological data[ii], providing daily insights to their health status. Garmin India has identified five key health indicators to enable Garmin users to track and manage their health profile. Users should refer to data from their Garmin smartwatch with the five health indicators to identify any changes rather than depending solely on own assumptions to determine their own health status.

Garmin’s Five Health Indicators

* Heart Rate: The heart is the pilot of all body activities. The health status can be effectively monitored by analyzing your heart rates. It is generally believed that when the body temperature rises abnormally, the heart rate will increase; likewise, when the body temperature drops, the heart rate and strength of heart contractions will decrease accordingly. Those with a higher resting heart rate can indicate a higher risk of getting cardiovascular diseases. By doing regular exercises, the body’s sympathetic nervous activity decreases, which will lower the resting heart rate, improving the heart function and resulting in a more flexible neuromodulation.

* Respiratory Rate: Respiratory rate plays a critical role. The normal respiratory rate of a healthy adult is 12 – 20 breaths per minute (brpm). A low respiratory rate is a general indication of good health. Even while exercising, the respiratory rate of those with better physical fitness levels tend to be lower. There are many breathing techniques that can help you to manage your stress levels, relax and improve your concentration and sleep quality. Indulging in breathing exercises daily will help reduce the anxiety and stress and keep the health on track.

* Blood Oxygen Saturation: Blood oxygen saturation is closely related to lung health. Blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) refers to the concentration of oxygen in human blood, which is the key index to measure health. The ideal Spo2 level should be between 95 – 100 percent. A figure lower than 90 percent is considered too low, however, the figure may vary with individual physical differences. For instance, some people may feel discomfort at high altitudes because of the decrease in Spo2 levels. Monitoring how your body responds and changes with different blood oxygen saturation levels in different states can help you understand your own body better.

* Sleep Monitoring: Your immunity is the first line of defense against viruses. Quality sleep is the key to maintaining healthy body functions. When people go to sleep, they experience several cycles of rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement. The non-rapid eye movement stage can be further divided into deep and light sleep. During the deep-sleep stage, the body will begin to repair, build bones, grow muscles and enhance the immune system. In normal circumstances, a healthy adult will get approximately 15-25 percent of deep sleep each night. However, this figure varies amongst individuals. Garmin’s sleep monitoring function records the level of blood oxygen saturation and the number of times you toss and turn throughout the night so you can closely monitor your sleep quality.

* Stress Monitoring: The tenser a situation is, the more we will need to stabilize our physical and mental states. When we are caught up in highly stressful situations over long periods of time, our physical and mental health can get affected from coping with the stress and these responses could be destructive to our health over time. Garmin’s stress detection function uses Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to estimate the body’s stress levels. Training, physical activities, sleeping conditions, mental state and other daily activities will affect your stress levels. Garmin’s stress monitoring function measures stress levels from 0 to 100; 0-25 suggests a low stress level, 26-50 suggests a moderate stress level and 51-75 and 76-100 indicates high and extremely high stress levels respectively. This function will enable you to monitor your daily stress levels.

About Garmin’s physiological data monitoring

Garmin’s physiological data monitoring, along with exercise analysis and suggestions help users check their health status and training results. The Garmin Connect APP offers users access to multiple training plans and various training exercises that can be done at home. Key physiological data are then recorded during workouts to allow efficient health monitoring.

For more information on the five health indicators, please visit garmin.co.in/event/2020/immunity/.

Samhita Alliances Aim to Benefit 1 Million Lives Impacted by the COVID-19 Crisis in India

Highlights

* Announces partnership with leading corporates including Mahindra Logistics, Uber, IDFC FIRST Bank, Brihati Foundation (by Claris), Crompton Greaves, Blowhorn to raise funds

* The first tranche of direct benefit transfers has already benefitted over 93,000 people

Samhita Social Ventures, a leading social sector consulting firm, aims to impact the lives of over 1 million people affected by the COVID-19 crisis. It has set up two coalitions - India Workers Alliance and India Protectors Alliance - which bring together companies from various industries in India with effective partners in the social sector to help vulnerable sections of the society. Between the two alliances, Samhita hopes to benefit over 1 million people. The firm works with various stakeholders such as companies, donor organizations, government agencies and social organizations and builds long term partnerships between them to achieve maximized social impact.

The India Workers Alliance aims to help gig economy professionals, construction labourers, truck drivers, daily wage earners and other blue collar workers while the India Protectors Alliance works with the people who are at the front lines of the fight against the virus including healthcare workers, policemen and sanitation workers. Samhita has partnered with leading corporates including Mahindra Logistics, Uber, IDFC FIRST Bank, Crompton Greaves, Brihati Foundation (by Claris) and Blowhorn to mobilize resources that will aid those who are most affected.

The Samhita Model of combating COVID-19 is strongly focused on ensuring efficiency of the funds that is being deployed and therefore adopts evidence-backed solutions. These solutions have also been recommended by experts such as Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in their respective interviews and media interactions. Further, the solutions have been curated in consultation with advisors such as Dr. Nachiket Mor of the Banyan Academy of Leadership and the former Country Director of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Samhita has, over the last 10 years, mobilized over INR 500 crores from companies across the geographical landscape of India.

Priya Naik, Founder and CEO, Samhita Social Ventures said “At Samhita, we believe in solving wicked problems through the power of collaboration. We have adopted the same approach in addressing the current COVID-19 situation – forge partnerships across samaj-sarkar-bazaar to help those most impacted by the pandemic. We understand that the pandemic has also gravely impacted companies and stressed their cash and fund flows. But now is the time to pool all available resources and help those who form the backbone of your industry, your ecosystem and your economy. It is time to not just help your own workforce but also support those who work across your value chain. Be a part of a bigger coalition – whether existing alliances or a new one that you choose to champion in your industry.”

The India Workers Alliance will undertake direct benefit transfers to blue collar workers who have been most affected by the crisis. Further, it will help facilitate access to eligible government schemes and affordable insurance or security products so that the workers and their families are secured from the effects of this pandemic situation. This Alliance will work in partnership with Super Money and Haqdarshak to ensure that the benefits reach the targeted people and there is rigorous monitoring and reporting of the benefits derived from the solutions.

The first tranche of direct benefit transfers has already been made and over 93,000 people have benefitted.

The India Protectors’ Alliance aims to support some of the people who are fighting on the frontline of the war against COVID-19 – healthcare practitioners and sanitation workers. This Alliance will provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), training and capacity building to the healthcare personnel and aim to provide access to innovative financial and insurance products.

What some of their partners have to say –

"We are pleased to partner with a leading social enterprise such as Samhita in aiding our effort to help driver partners in these challenging times. Samhita is helping us disburse the grants from Uber Care Driver Fund to the accounts of driver partners effectively, and supporting us in helping driver partners meet their immediate and essential family needs." - Pavan Vaish, Head of Central Operations, Uber India and South Asia

“With over 30% of commercial vehicles stranded on roads across the country, drivers need urgent support. Truck drivers and their families are in immediate need of cash for food and other basic facilities. We have launched several programs to support the driver community along with our business partners. Through this initiative with Samhita Social Ventures, we aim to help these drivers and their families, until the situation in the country is restored.” - Mr. Rampraveen Swaminathan, MD & CEO, Mahindra Logistics Limited

ABOUT SAMHITA SOCIAL VENTURES

Samhita Social Ventures is a social sector consulting firm which collaborates with various stakeholders to develop and deliver impactful, sustainable and scalable solutions. Along with their non-profit initiative Collective Good Foundation, they have strategized and executed impactful social interventions for companies across sectors and across the geographical landscape of India.

Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak, Bengaluru’s Residential Prices Grow by 2.9% YoY, Reveals Magicbricks Propindex

Key Points

* Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Bellary Road and Electronic city among top 4 micro markets
* Strong demand for smaller size 1 & 2BHK and ready-to-move in apartments
* Under-construction segment witnesses price increase over Ready-to-Move

At the outset of the COVID-19, Bengaluru’s residential prices witnessed a YOY increase of 2.9% in the first quarter of 2020, fuelled by development in infrastructure and existence of numerous IT and ITES establishments, revealed the latest edition of Magicbricks’ PropIndex (Q1, 2020).

While the global outbreak of COVID0-19 and the ensuing lockdown did impact India’s real estate, Bengaluru witnessed a 4.7% rise in demand for residential real estate during the Jan-Feb-March period of 2020. As an end user driven market, Bengaluru's residential segment has continued to beat the overall market trends by witnessing steady demand and price increase.

In both the Under Construction (UC) and Ready-to-Move (RM) property categories, positive demand patterns were observed with 1.8% and 0. 8% increase in prices, respectively.  The under-construction segment surprisingly witnessed more increase in prices for almost all brackets, in comparison to ready to move properties, showing trust on builders. The city reported a noticeable increase in demand for the luxury budget segment by 1.9% during the first quarter of 2020. Nevertheless, most demand now lies in the segment of the property less than Rs.5000/sqft.

While Bengaluru has traditionally grown on the back of strong commercial development, the city is expected to grow with government's attempt to promote industrial ventures in the outskirts, by making amendments in Article 109 of the Land Reform Act, 1961.  Additionally, reduction of stamp duty from 5% to 2% for new homes costing less than Rs.20 lakhs is expected to have a positive impact on demand in the city's outskirts.

Commenting on the PropIndex, Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks, said, “The Government is taking stringent measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, but the long-term impact on property market is uncertain, and yet to be assessed. But it seems that the consumer interest has not tapered off. There is a pent-up demand for ready-to-move in properties as our data suggests that the 80% of searches are happening in this segment and the rest for under-construction.”

Owing to the employment opportunities, affordability and airport connectivity, Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Bellary Road and Electronic City continue to be the top-4 micro markets in the city. Posh localities such as Indira Nagar and Malleshwaram experienced a dip in consumer preferences that fall in the segment higher than Rs.7,000/sqft.

According to Magicbricks’ PropIndex, the residential sector was primarily being driven by three critical factors:

* Residential market was positively impacted by the robust commercial real estate growth in the city
* The construction of Phase II and Phase III metro stations has increased the development of plots in the peripheral localities of Bengaluru
* Upcoming Peripheral Ring Road connecting Tumkur Road and Hosur Road through Kempegowda International Airport and Old Madras Road to support residential development in the surrounding localities

However, it will be interesting to see how these factors play out as the market recovers from the outbreak of COVID-19 and the ensuing national lockdown.

As things return to normalcy, Magicbricks Research foresees the next two years to be crucial for the residential segment, as most of the stuck projects are likely to get completed with the help of the Rs.250 billion bailout fund. At the same time, completion of major metro lines should ease connectivity between peripheral and commercial areas, opening the next phase of growth. At last, it’s imperative for the sector to withstand these testing times and come out more robust and well prepared, once the COVID-19 situation gets better.