Akshaya Patra Foundation, UN World Food Programme To Collaborate On Improving And Leveraging India’s School Meal Programme Effective

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in India will partner on enhancing the effectiveness of the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) scheme (earlier Mid-Day Meal Scheme).

An agreement was signed between Mr. Bishow Parajuli, Representative and Country Director for WFP in India and Shri Chanchalapthi Dasa, Vice-Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation today in New Delhi.

“The partnership is a strategic force multiplier bringing deep work and experience together. Since inception in 1961, school meals have been part of WFP’s mission. WFP has six decades of experience supporting school feeding and a trajectory of working with more than 100 countries to set up sustainable national school feeding programmes,” said Mr. Parajuli.

“India is strategically important for School Meals Coalition that was launched last year with WFP as a coordinating body, as it implements the largest school feeding programme in the world, providing a nutrition safety-net to school children.  India’s excellent track record of school feeding programmes and various associated initiatives can be of interest to other countries,” he added. 

“The country has taken strides in achieving food security. The school feeding program in India has ensured food security for children. With this partnership, we aim to complement WFP’s global network of running large-scale feeding programs across the world with our expertise in addressing hunger at the grassroots level,” Said Shri Chanchalapthi Dasa, Vice-Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

“We are further looking forward to cross-learning exercise between countries in the region and the global South on the school meals programme to ensure a world where children need not toil before they eat; where children need not earn before they learn,” Mr. Dasa added.

Considering their collective experience and expertise in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, this longer-term partnership aims to bridge operational and execution gaps in food safety and hygiene projects, capacities of the cooks-cum-helpers, as well as the nutritional quality of the meals provided.

From knowledge sharing between the two organisations to jointly conducting workshops to showcase the implementation of PM-POSHAN in India, the proposed areas of partnership are likely to include dialogues with the Government to bring forth more policy and strategy-related elements that will enhance the quality of the school meal programme.

The WFP and Akshaya Patra will form a Steering Committee comprising representatives from both organisations, which will meet quarterly to plan, discuss and review various aspects of this collaboration. Both organisations will bring in financial resources as required to support the implementation of the activities.

About United Nations-World Food Programme

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children can access the nutritious food they need.

It aims to enhance nutrition in women and children and boost human capital through school feeding programmes. Since the establishment of WFP in 1961, school meals have been part of WFP’s mission (UN 1961). In India, WFP works on the PM POSHAN scheme at both the national and state level.

WFP’s work and constant advocacy on fortified rice has led to its introduction in PM POSHAN as announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In conflict situations, the WFP brings relief to exhausted populations and uses food assistance to build pathways to peace and stability – for which it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.

About The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Government and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.

In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and the inestimable support of many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools to becoming the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,039 schools [as of March 2020] across 13 states and one union territory in India.

Cryptowire Launches India's First Global Index Of Crytocurrencies – IC15

* 15 comprises Top 15 global cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization and liquidity

* As on 01 Jan 2022, IC15 Open value: 71,463.30 Points

With a view to empowering knowledge on crypto and blockchain ecosystem, CryptoWire, the global crypto super app which is a Special Business Unit (SBU) of TickerPlant, today announced the launch of India’s first index of cryptocurrencies — IC15.

The IC15 is a rule-based broad market index by market capitalization, which tracks and measures the performance of Top 15 widely traded liquid cryptocurrencies listed on leading crypto exchanges of the world.

Over the past years, cryptocurrencies have emerged as an asset class in themselves, gaining wider acceptance and drawing people’s interests. An index that captures over 80 percent of market movement is, thus, a fundamental market tracking and assessing tool to base decisions on and enhance transparency.

CryptoWire's Index Governance Committee comprising domain experts, industry practitioners and academicians, will maintain, monitor and administer the index while rebalancing it every quarter. The Base Value of the index is set at 10,000 and the Base Date is April 1, 2018.

IC15 has been designed with the objective of:

•        Insights of crypto mining.

•        Being the true benchmark and a mirror of the underlying crypto market – a barometer of the industry in a sense, with a diversified representation of overall market sentiments.

•        Presenting an easy solution to follow for having a diversified portfolio.

•        Acting as a performance benchmark for fund managers.

•        Facilitating accurate replication of the index and be the preferred index for creation of index linked products like index funds, ETFs, etc.

•        Uniquely positioning the index for efficient derivatives trading in the cryptocurrency trading marketplace.

“With the launch of India’s first index of crypto IC15, we intend to complete the knowledge circle for the entire crypto and blockchain ecosystem. This will not only push the ‘learn before earn’ initiative but also serve the industry with yet another powerful intervention. At CryptoWire, our approach is to facilitate market development and mitigate risk to a great degree by presenting all possible tools to evaluate possibilities and make decisions. We want all participants to utilize, to the fullest, this research-oriented, technology-powered opportunity that we present to them for tracking the market. CryptoWire is positioned to emerge as the partner of industry to spread knowledge, research and information and help participants take informed decisions. IC15 is another step towards this goal,” said Mr. Jigish Sonagara, MD & CEO, CryptoWire.

DIY Encourages The Power Of Good Screen Time For Kids

DIY.org, a transmedia company in the learning space for kids, is a strong believer in the power of good screen time. What started as an online learning community has now expanded its content portfolio to launch DIY TV, an S-VOD platform exclusively for kids.  

Content consumption patterns have altered, in keeping with the circumstances emerging from the pandemic. And so, a hard truth hits most parents - there is no avoiding screen time for kids. While many would prefer to engage on social media platforms and use OTT platforms, it calls into question the safety of kids in this high-exposure digital space. 

For parents, and for the team at DIY, it’s not about providing just about any content for consumption alone, but working to curate content that inspires action, exploration, and learning, which can be re-shared within a safe community of like-minded and like-aged users. And this is where DIY comes in. 

The DIY vision is to introduce the next generation to specially curated, age-appropriate, global content designed to inspire learning and exploration through active consumption of content.

The content offered on DIY TV, as part of the opening slate, is a mix of Live-Action and Animation in the fiction and non-fiction spaces. DIY TV brings a twist to content viewing, where kids can try exciting challenges, related to the content after they watch the shows on the platform. In sharing their learnings from the shows and challenge attempts with fellow DIYers, kids can enhance their viewing experience in a community setting. 

Unlike any other EdTech startup, DIY is all about making learning social for kids, focusing on those between the ages of 7 and 13 years. DIY has strong product-led growth, propelled by the content landscape, which allows the company to scale exponentially, as a global tech business built out of India, which is rare for a consumer-led subscription business outside of the B2B space. 

“Bringing DIY TV within the product that’s geared towards EdTech is a big bold bet we are making as a company, both from a learning perspective and as a business model. We are constantly understanding more about how kids interact with content and technology, and since our acquisition of DIY earlier this year, we have been able to grow 7x in just the last six-to-eight months, finding a product-market fit with a change in model”, says Bhavik Rathod, Co-founder, and CEO of DIY.org 

In fact, the changing understanding of how kids consume content today is what powers DIY to explore new content arenas, like DIY TV. 

Tripti Ahuja, Co-founder, and COO at DIY.org said, “There’s no hiding from the fact that kids now consume content across different formats, and our endeavor at DIY is to explore the Why’s of it all, and we hope to give kids access to the content they can take inspiration from, and tie it back to the See-Do-Share model that has been so successful on the platform for so many years. In a year alone, DIY has been able to grow globally, capture a wider audience, and has increased its content offering, with the introduction of DIY TV - all within a safe digital environment that kids can access and enjoy, and learn from.”

DIY’s content has inspired over 700,000 kids and families from over 160+ countries to discover new skills and explore new areas of project-based learning. And with the introduction of DIY TV, and the potential to scale, there’s much to explore in the way DIY can impact the way kids consume content online, in a safe community environment. 

The DIY app is available across all devices. It can be downloaded from the Play Store or the iOS App Store, or used on the Web at - https://diy.org.

Synapse Design, A QuEST Global Company, Joins TSMC Design Center Alliance (DCA)

Synapse Design, a QuEST Global company, today announced the company has joined the Design Center Alliance (DCA) program of TSMC Open Innovation Platform® (OIP). The TSMC DCA program focuses on chip-implementation services and system-level design solutions to help lower design barriers for customers adopting TSMC technology.

Synapse Design has built a reputation by delivering proven, leading-edge services and solutions addressing complex System-on-Chip (SoC) and mixed-signal Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) from architecture specifications to tape-out. The company is the design services provider of choice to most of the world’s top Fabless, Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) and Integrated Device Manufacturing (IDM) companies who choose the Synapse proven end-to-end hardware and software design solutions targeting Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Center, IoT, automotive/autonomous, multimedia, mobile, networking, and communications & storage technologies.

Commenting on the development, Satish Bagalkotkar, President, CEO and Co-Founder, Synapse Design said, “Our collaboration with TSMC through its DCA program will increase our customers’ confidence level, knowing that they will receive best-in-class, end-to-end hardware/software semiconductor design services from Synapse Design working in unison with TSMC’s advanced process technologies. Together with TSMC, we will cross barriers in providing more efficient semiconductor designs.”

“We’re very pleased with the addition of Synapse Design to our Design Center Alliance to address the growing market needs for design services on TSMC’s industry-leading technologies,” said Suk Lee, Vice President of the Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. “The joint effort combining Synapse Design’s experience in design services with TSMC’s technologies will enable our mutual customers to achieve next-generation design success and quickly launch their differentiated products to market.”

Synapse Design, a QuEST Global company, has design centers in the US, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam and employs more than 1,000 engineers. The company has worked with TSMC closely and completed 150+ designs on TSMC’s process technologies over the past five years, including 20+ designs on TSMC’s latest N7, N6, and N5 processes. The company offers high performance as well as low-power, SoC and mixed-signal ASIC design services from architecture specifications to tape out, including system-level software and embedded firmware development. With Synapse becoming part of the QuEST family, it is helping the company offer end-to-end hardware-enabled software solutions across various industries, including semiconductor, automotive, consumer electronics, networking, and storage systems. These solutions help fast growth industries accelerate their efforts towards digital transformation.

About Synapse Design, a QuEST Global company 

Synapse Design www.synapse-da.com is an industry leader in semiconductor design services specializing in highly complex SoCs and embedded software. The company’s client list is comprised of 95% of the top ten IDM/ODM and Fabless companies around the world. Synapse Design’s products and services support companies creating high-end products in AI, machine learning, mobile, IoT, storage, networking, multimedia, 5G and others. Through its people, technologies and services, the company delivers engineering excellence and a flexible business model enabling next generation products for its customers. Founded in 2003, Synapse Design is headquartered in the Silicon Valley with design centers throughout the world. It was recently acquired by QuEST Global, to enhance its capability in providing comprehensive design and consulting services and software development for the semiconductor industry.

36th Annual Convention Of Indian Association Of Tour Operators (IATO) Was Organized At Gandhinagar

* Tour operators from all over India had discussion on the Theme: ‘Brand India: The Road to Recovery’

The 36th Annual Conventon Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) was held at Hotel The Leela, Gandhinagar. Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendra Patel inaugurated the convention. Tourism Secretary to the Government of India Shri Arvind Singh, Tourism Secretary of Gujarat Shri Hareet Shukla and other dignitaries were present at the inaugural function.

Tour operators from across India came to Gujarat to attend this 36th Convention of IATO. They had discussions on the theme of ‘Brand India: The Road to Recovery’ during the 3 days convention.

* Various business sessions were held during the 3 day convention, on various subjects including Brand India - The Road to Recovery for Revival of Business, Hotels in the New Normal, Connectivity: New Frontiers, SEIS: New Policy under FTP 2021-2026,  Responsible Tourism, Automation and Digital Marketing, Preparedness under New Normal etc.

* Climate change is the biggest challenge faced by the world today. We are in a time when protecting the environment is our top priority. Considering this, we are moving forward on the path of sustainable development to advance the development journey of the country and Gujarat while protecting the environment. So, it is necessary to promote sustainable tourism as well. The Government of Gujarat had earlier this year announced a new tourism policy to develop Gujarat as a clean tourist destination by promoting sustainable tourism. The subject of sustainable tourism was also discussed among the tour operators during this 3 day convention.

* In this 3 day convention, state presentations on the tourism of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu-Kashmir, Kerala and other states of India were also presented. Officials of Tourism Department of Gujarat gave a presentation on Gujarat Tourism, which provided detailed information about various diverse tourist destinations like coastal areas, forests, deserts and hilly areas of Gujarat. Tour operators from Uttarakhand gave presentations on various tourist places of Uttarakhand. A presentation was made on the scenic hill stations and snow-capped Himalayan sites of Jammu and Kashmir. Tour operators from Kerala gave presentations on scenic tourist destinations of Kerala. Various other state tourism presentations were also presented during the 3 day convention.

IATO President and officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India gave a presentation on 'Dekho Apna Desh' at the convention.

 * The purpose of this convention was to discuss the measures to revitalize the tourism sector after the Covid-19 pandemic. This program will definitely help in boosting the tourism sector of Gujarat and India. The business sessions held at the event gave rise to many new ideas for the development of the country's tourism sector as well as for the creation of Brand India. The conference provided a platform for B2B marketing to the tour operators in India. The tour operators discussed various topics with each other, which also gave them information about the tourism industry of other states. After that, tour operators from other parts of the country visited various tourist destinations in Gujarat.

* Officials from the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, officials from various state tourism departments, tour operators from across the country and other dignitaries attended this 3 day annual convention of IATO.

Tata Motors Registered Total Sales Of 1,99,633 Units In Q3 FY22; Grows By 26% Over Q3 FY21

Tata Motors Limited today announced its sales in the domestic & international market, for Q3 FY22, which stood at 1,99,633 vehicles, compared to 1,58,218 units during Q3 FY21. 

Domestic Sales Performance:

Commercial Vehicles:

Mr. Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors Ltd. said, “Tata Motors’ Commercial Vehicle domestic sale in Q3 FY22 at 90,529 units was ~15% higher than the previous quarter (Q2 FY22) and 10% higher than the same quarter last year (Q3 FY21). The retail was ahead of whole sale by 15% in December’21, enabling inventory alignment. The SCV and ILCV segments continued to benefit from the growth in e-commerce and the increasing need for last-mile delivery. Construction and infrastructure spending by central and state Governments plus rising activity in sectors such as mining, petroleum-oil-lubricants and allied industries facilitated the demand for M&HCVs. The International business too continued its recovery momentum and grew by ~10% over the previous quarter (Q2 FY22) and 33% over the same quarter last year (Q3 FY21). Going forward, we expect the situation to remain fluid as the semiconductor shortage continues, instances of Covid begin to rise and underlying demand continues to remain under pressure. We are keeping a close watch on the evolving situation and sharpening our agile, multi-pronged approach to fulfil customer orders”

Total MHCVs sale in Q3 FY22 including MHCV Truck, Buses and International Business stood at 26,329 units compared to 21,476 units in Q3 FY21.

Passenger Vehicles:

Mr. Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors Ltd. said, “Tata Motors PV business growth journey continued and set several new milestones during the quarter despite witnessing a shortfall in production due to the ongoing semi-conductor crisis. Decade high quarterly and monthly sales- 99,002 units in Q3 FY22 (growth of 44% vs Q3 FY21) and 35,299 units in Dec’21 (growth of 50% vs Dec’20) were recorded. In addition, the company also posted calendar year sale of 3,31,178 units (CY21), highest ever since the inception of the PV Business. The overwhelming market response to Tata Punch launched in Oct’21 is further boosting demand for the company’s “New Forever” range of cars and SUVs. Records were also created on the EV front as EV sales witnessed a new peak of 5,592 units in Q3 FY22 (growth of 345% vs Q3 FY21). Consequently, EV penetration touched 5.6% of PV Sales during the quarter versus 1.8% in the same period last financial year. EV sales also touched 10,000 units in 9MFY22 and crossed 2,000 monthly sales landmark for the first time in Dec’21 (2,255 units). The ever-increasing demand for Nexon EV and Tigor EV as well as progressive revival of the EV fleet segment were instrumental in driving this steep growth. Going forward, semi-conductor supplies will remain the key source of uncertainty. Additionally, the impact of the new strain of Covid needs to be closely tracked. We will continue to work on business agility plan and take proactive actions to mitigate these risks.” 

Queen Of Sarees Kankatala Introduces The First-Ever Fusion Lehenga Collection!

Legacy brand Kankatala Sarees, known as the Queen of Sarees handpicks Fusion Lehengas Edition for the first time in 78 years. The edition features one-of-a-kind Lehenga Choli and Dupatta sets where each unique outfit embodies handloom fabrics from various handloom clusters of India including Paithani, Kanchipuram, Bandhani, and more.

The edition is an artistic expression of Indian weavers where the diversity of India's rich culture is celebrated harmoniously. The amalgamation of three unique handloom techniques from three different states blends into a wearable wonder to form an uncommon phenomenon.

A rare sighting where flavors from many states come together to form one outfit is a story in itself and a must-have for a handloom connoisseurs trousseau. The brand has been working with 50 major weaving clusters of India including Paithani from Maharashtra, Patan Patola from Gujarat, Chikankari from Lucknow, and Kanchipuram from Tamil Nadu, and their weavers, too, are associated with them for 3 generations.

The Collection comprises twenty-five lehengas where some capture the elements of Bandhani work blended with Banarasi, some feature age-old Patan Patola motif adorned with Chikankari dupatta, some accentuate Kanchipuram body with Paithani motifs on dupatta. All these Fusion lehengas are woven in real gold zari and range from 1.5 Lakhs to 6 Lakhs. These one-of-the-kind lehengas are not just a piece of fabric, they are a promise by weaver artisans that they have kept preserving their ancestor's meticulous weaving techniques.

Kankatala is one of the oldest saree brands in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and has represented the age-old weaving techniques for more than 78 years. The brand has spent 3 generations representing authentic handlooms in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. Their journey started in 1942, in the lanes of Vizag where the founder, Shri Appalaraju Kankatala sold handloom sarees on a bicycle. From the modest lanes of Vizag to the Capital of India,

the 78 years’ journey has been marvelous. For three generations, they have been representing Indian Handlooms to the Indian diaspora. The brand has always been known for pioneering trends in its market and has been growing steadily.

These statement lehengas are ideal for the Brides as well as Queens of Kankatala for this wedding season. The lehengas represent the modern Indian women of today who herself brings with her various facets and likes to express her rich cultural heritage with Indian handlooms.

The collection is displayed for our Queens of Kankatala in various cities Exclusively on the following dates:

|Bengaluru | 6th - 7th January 2022 |

 Also available online at: www.kankatala.com