Gati Shakti Vision To Boost India’s Telecom Infrastructure: COAI

COAI, the representative body for the Indian telecommunications industry, congratulated Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the launch of the ambitious project Gati Shakti, a multi-modal connectivity plan which is aimed to expedite the infrastructural project implementation, thereby accelerating economic growth. With its reliance on digitalization and communication, Gati Shakti will provide a big boost to India’s telecom infrastructure.

On the roadmap to build a digitally connected country, this initiative will provide the required impetus which will enhance the seamless flow of information among various industries which are working together on major multi-reach projects. The PM Gati Shakti Master Plan will also provide accurate information and guidance, which is important for the completion of projects within a stipulated time frame, make policymaking effective, and eliminate any possibility of government expenditure.

The project is aligned with the telecom reforms, which act as catalysts for the growth of the Indian economy and play a critical role in ensuring that India’s telecom infrastructure remains robust and provides the much-needed connectivity. The digitized platform of Gati Shakti is sought to bring 16 ministries including telecom together with a vision to build and plan for all infrastructural connectivity projects till 2025.

“COAI is happy to note that the Government is going to use data from 16 different ministries and put this on the digital platform made by BISAG-N. Digitisation and digital technologies enabled by resilient wireline and wireless broadband connectivity will be a cornerstone for the work to be done under the ambitious Gati Shakti - National Master Plan for Multi Modal Connectivity, the objective of which is coordinated and integrated planning and execution of national infrastructure projects,” said Lt. Gen. Dr. SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI.

The project will bring about conceptual change as directed by the Prime Minister of India himself where he mentions that the ministries will no longer be working in silos and integrate the planning and designing of projects with a holistic vision. This will enhance the ease of doing business for many and bring about economic growth, faster planning, and execution of projects. The National Master Plan will thereby enhance India’s global competitiveness through building next-generation infrastructure and seamless movement of information and resources. Today, as the country creates pathways for 5G and the following digital revolution, it is important to understand that seamless connectivity is the roadmap to our vision of ‘Digital India.’

AWS Young Builders Challenge Announced For School Students Across Indian Market

Initiative focused on inspiring young minds with computer science, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, with support from the Ministry of Education – Innovation Cell, Atal Innovation Mission – Niti Aayog, CBSE and Code.org

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the AWS Young Builders Challenge, an initiative focused on providing school students in India an opportunity to understand and explore computer science, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). With cloud computing being a foundation for digital transformation and innovation, and AI poised to disrupt industries around the world, it is important for the upcoming generation to be familiar with these technologies from an early age.

The AWS Young Builders Challenge is an initiative to enable school students in India to develop an early understanding and adoption of cloud computing and AI, inspire design and computational thinking, and help the rising generation develop a scientific calibre at a young age. This initiative is being organized with support from the Ministry of Education – Innovation Cell (Govt. of India), Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) – Niti Aayog, and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). It is also supported by Code.org for learning content and project building tools.

The AWS Young Builders Challenge invites schools to help their students build innovative and creative projects on the theme, ‘How can artificial intelligence (AI) change the future of India?’. Students need to submit their ideas focused on one of the sub-themes – education, healthcare, agriculture, transportation, and others. The challenge is open for participation to all schools across India; students studying in classes 6 to 12 are eligible to participate. Once a school is registered on the event website, they will receive learning resources from AWS, AIM and Code.org on the topics of cloud computing and AI, to be shared with participating students. Students need to complete the learning module and then proceed to build their projects. Schools will evaluate the student entries based on parameters as per the AWS Young Builders Challenge, and submit their top two projects for further assessment. An external jury will evaluate entries in the national round and entries from the top 10 schools across India will be presented in a live virtual showcase ceremony on 15th November, 2021.

The top 10 schools will win a virtual artificial intelligence/ machine learning (AI/ ML) lab sponsored by AWS for one year, trophies, Amazon vouchers, and a direct entry to the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) juniors track, to be conducted Ministry of Education – Innovation Cell (Government of India) in mid-2022. Additional awards will be presented to the top 100 schools, top 3 schools with maximum submissions, and to the top 3 entries voted as public favourites. All students with eligible entries will receive participation certificates

The AWS Young Builders Challenge begins on October 18th, 2021, and entries will be accepted until November 5th, 2021. The showcase ceremony will be held on November 15th, 2021.

Click here to register right away for the AWS Young Builders Challenge!: https://www.awsybc2021.in/RegisterNow.aspx

Sehwag Hits 100,000 Followers On Koo Within 15 Days Of Joining The Platform

* Koo App Crosses 15 Million Downloads During The Cricket Season!

Cricketing legend Virender Sehwag has crossed 1 lakh followers on Koo App - in a mere 15 days of joining the multi-language micro-blogging platform. Sehwag’s humorous, witty retorts and quirky comments on his handle @VirenderSehwag, have garnered much traction on the made-in-India platform, which empowers Indians to express themselves in their native language. 

As an open platform for self-expression in Indian languages, Koo has recently witnessed the entry of renowned cricketers and commentators during the cricket season, and a surge in the number of downloads. Users and celebrities, including cricketers, are actively leveraging the platform’s multi-language features to Koo in native languages, thus reaching out to a larger audience. This momentum has accelerated downloads, with Koo now registering over 1.5 crore (15 million) users in a span of 20 months since the platform’s launch in March 2020. Of the 15 million users, about 5 million users joined the platform in the last two months. 

Riding on the momentum and love for cricket, and the on-going T20 World Cup series, the platform is expected to see further adoption from across the Country.  Koo has created engaging campaigns and contests for users and content creators for the T20 World Cup 2021 to provide an immersive and hyperlocal experience across languages. Besides Sehwag, leading cricket stars like Venkatesh Prasad, Nikhil Chopra, Syed Saba Karim, Piyush Chawla, Hanuma Vihari, Joginder Sharma, Praveen Kumar,  VRV Singh, Amol Muzumdar, Vinod Kambli, Wasim Jaffer, Aakash Chopra, Deep Dasgupta have joined Koo App and now enjoy huge followings as they Koo actively to connect with fans.

Said a Koo spokesperson, “We are elated that a legend like Virender Sehwag has crossed the 100,000 milestone in such a short span of time. Koo is increasingly becoming the platform-of-choice for conversations in native languages across multiple topics. Cricket is an emotion for us Indians and conversations around matches are bound to stimulate engagement on social media. Through our platform, users now have the opportunity to engage with their favourite players and commentators in a language of their choice. We are confident that Koo will be the go-to micro-blogging platform for users to indulge in during the World Cup and beyond.”

Embed Koo Link: <iframe src="https://embed.kooapp.com/embedKoo?kooId=5df8f4ed-8e9e-45f8-aa97-07de0d29deec" class="kooFrame"></iframe><script src="https://embed.kooapp.com/iframe2.js"></script>

Microsoft AI Innovate Empowers Startups In India To Accelerate With AI

In its efforts to support the startup ecosystem in the country, Microsoft has launched a program for nurturing and scaling startups that are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). Microsoft AI Innovate is a 10-week initiative that will support startups in India leveraging AI technologies, helping them scale operations, drive innovation, and build industry expertise. Both B2B and B2C startups from diverse industries including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail, and e-commerce are invited to participate in the quarterly cohorts of this immersive program. Supported by TiE Mumbai, the launch cohort will kickstart in November 2021.

With the third largest ecosystem for startups in the world, India holds opportunities for emerging businesses to accelerate innovation across industries. Through this exclusive program, Microsoft will focus on providing tech and business opportunities to startups for improving their solutions, transforming their organizations and building responsibly to make AI accessible to everyone. The program will also enable startups to reach out to newer customers and geographies with Microsoft’s sales and partner networks. The selected startups in each of the cohorts will have access to industry deep-dive sessions and AI masterclasses by industry experts, mentoring by unicorn founders, skilling and certification opportunities, among other benefits.

“Microsoft’s vision is to help every startup across industries turn meaningful innovation into actionable results. Microsoft AI Innovate will create an engaging platform to empower startups with opportunities to build, scale and transform with agility. We are committed to ensuring that every startup gets expert guidance and best-in-class tech resources for strengthening their approach to the responsible use of AI,” said Sangeeta Bavi, Director, Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India.

Catering to both technical and business audiences, the program will bring together leading-edge tech knowhow, global GTM partnerships as well as engineering and research experts from Microsoft. It offers a range of benefits to startups across different tiers:

All startups: Qualified Seed to Series B startups will be provided with technical enablement benefits including Azure benefits (in addition to free cloud credits), product engineering support, unlimited 24x7 technical support amongst many other benefits. They will also receive support with business and sales acceleration needs such as marketplace onboarding.

Co-sell startups: Startups with enterprise-ready solutions will be provided opportunities to build their solutions alongside a dedicated team of professionals. They will get go-to-market support as well as co-selling benefits with Microsoft’s sales team and partner ecosystem. The startups will also get access to top partner and customer events to strengthen their networking reach.

Co-build startups: Enterprise-ready startups will be supported to envision their solutions with industry experts, future proofing their technology with dedicated professionals as well as enhancing production with expert partners.

Microsoft AI Innovate aims to bring together startups, corporates, industry bodies, governments, and venture capital firms, and create a shared platform for learning and innovation. To find out more about the program, please visit aka.ms/MSAIInnovate.

About Microsoft India

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 16,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organizations.

Future Generali India Insurance Announces "Ex-Gratia Of INR 10 lakh To The Kin Of Deceased Off-Roll Associates"

In yet another step towards protecting its employees from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII) has decided to pay ex-gratia of INR 10 lakh to the next kin of the deceased off-roll associates. This is in addition to the initiative it had taken earlier  

this year to facilitate and bear the cost of vaccination for all its employees and their families.  

Anup Rau, MD & CEO, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII), said, "The virus has had a widespread impact on communities across the world and altered the way we work and live.  It put a pause on our daily lives and compelled us to adopt social distancing and remote working practices. However, considering that insurance is an essential service, our people, both on-roll and off-roll, took on the responsibility of ensuring that service delivery continued as usual. We are proud of their conduct and have proactively taken steps to protect their health and safety as an organization. The measures taken have ranged from facilitating vaccination for employees and their families to providing the necessary financial and emotional support. Our recent resolution to pay ex-gratia of INR 10 lakh to the next kin of deceased off-roll associates is in line with our efforts to keep the health, safety, and well-being of our people at the forefront."  

Sunil Wariar, Chief People Officer, Future Generali India Insurance, said, "We are a 'people first' organization and have always focused on preserving the health and well-being of our employees. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we proactively extended support to our employees through various initiatives and policies. While in 2020, we introduced several engagements and mental wellness initiatives for our employees, more recently, we have taken on the responsibility of facilitating the vaccination of all our employees and their families. The support that we have extended towards our employees is in line with our philosophy of putting our people first."  

In March 2020, FGII had created a relief fund to extend financial support to the tune of Rs. 50,000 to any of its business-active agents and their families in case they tested positive for COVID-19. The company has also taken multiple initiatives towards employee wellness and engagement during the lockdown period, including counselling for employees and their families to help them cope with anxiety, stress, or other mental health challenges brought about by the pandemic. 

Schneider Electric Reaffirms Commitment To Create Sustainable & Smart Grids Of The Future

* Accelerating the ‘New Electric World’ for an AatmaNirbhar Bharat

In its endeavour to accelerate the ‘New World of energy’, Schneider Electric, global leader in digital transformation of energy automation and management has stressed on the need to reinvent electrical transmission and distribution ecosystem by leveraging digitisation. In a strategy talk on ‘Grids of the Future’ during the Innovation summit 2021, the company said that smart, sustainable and digital power is the new standard for the next-generation network and uninterrupted, quality power supply is a pre-requisite for an ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’.

Speaking during the event, Mr. Sanjay Sudhakaran, Vice president Power Systems Schneider Electric India said, ‘In order to keep up with the energy demand, it has become inevitable to reinvent the electrical transmission and distribution model for an affordable and reliable supply of electricity. This has sparked the need to embed digitalisation in the entire energy ecosystem comprising smart grids, intelligent substations and smart meters. Further, the integration of smart grid technologies, sustainable energy resources, and low-carbon emissions in power systems is an important route for sustainable development of the nation. At Schneider Electric, we aim to deliver solutions to make our future sustainable, efficient, and resilient.’

India is making consistent efforts and strides in renewable energy, providing access to energy and mitigating climate change. Given that India’s power sector is at the cusp of critical transformation, transmission and distribution needs to be more agile, reliable and efficient. Hence it is important to leverage smart technologies in order to intelligently respond and adapt to changes in the grid, thereby making them key to sustainable transformation. Further, smart grid technology enables effective management and distribution of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydrogen.

While India has achieved universal access to electricity, strengthening power distribution in the in the supply chain will help DISCOMs reduce losses. Smart meters play a significant role overall evolution of the power sector and enhancing consumer experience. They help the DISCOMs sharply cut their losses, by investing digital technologies to significantly improve operational and financial efficiencies.

Highlighting the importance of smart meters, Mr. Amit Kumar, Vice President & Head, MPS, L&T Electrical & Automation, said, “Data-driven decision making will be the key to handling future energy needs and smart meters herein are critical to achieving this goal. Smart metering offers facilities that include elimination of manual meter reading, tamper and features comprising the failure alerts, remote connect-disconnect and prepaid metering, which enable improved efficiencies for utilities as well as better consumer satisfaction through faster response and higher transparency. They also have a critical role to play in grid stability as power generation from renewable sources picks up momentum.”

‘Grids of the Future’ need intelligent network made up of intelligent substations. Digital transformation empowers the electrical substation engineer to be smarter, operate better and drive sustainable efficiency and make the most of the latest available technologies.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. 

Automotive Opens The 4th Mahindra Service Workshop In Bangalore

* This will be the 100th Touch Point in South India for M&M by Automotive Manufacturer’s Pvt. Ltd.

Automotive Manufacturer’s Pvt. Ltd. (AMPL), today inaugurated a state-of-the-art, 34-bays, fully integrated workshop. It is strategically located at Nagawara in Bangalore for ease of access to Mahindra Customers in Northern Bangalore. Spread across 58,000 square feet, the workshop is capable of handling service and bodyshop requirements and can cater to 2000 plus customers every month with a highly trained manpower by M&M. It is built with an investment of Rs. 5 Crore and is designed in alignment with the Mahindra guidelines. With this workshop, AMPL’s Mahindra network will reach 100 touch points across four states.

Speaking at the inauguration, Veejay Nakra, CEO, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd. said, “My heartiest congratulations to AMPL for the opening of this state-of-the-art workshop. It will further our commitment to delight our customers and enhance their ownership experience. With the inauguration of this state of art workshop, we have further strengthened our service network Southern India to 260 service touch points, reinstating our customer centricity.”

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Rajiv Sanghvi, Executive Director, Automotive Group said “We are delighted to further strengthen our partnership with Mahindra in Bangalore and further expand our footprint in Karnataka. We are pleased to announce 0ur 100th Touch Point for Mahindra and would take this opportunity to thank all our customers for their continued support in our journey. With the industry leading best practices and processes of Mahindra coupled with our understanding of the customer preferences we endeavor to provide Best in Class customer experience."

Automotive Manufacturer’s Pvt. Ltd. is one of the largest automobile retailers in the country and amongst the largest and oldest authorized dealers of Mahindra. AMPL’s presence is spread over four states which include Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.