On This Earth Day, Godrej Group Launches A Book To Create Awareness About Safeguarding The Environment

* The Last Cloud, Ray, Drop, Mangrove and Bee’

On World Earth Day, this year, the Godrej Group has released a book called ‘The Last Cloud, Ray, Drop, Mangrove and Bee’ for children to urge them, other individuals and business heads to invest their resources in safeguarding the environment and protecting valuable species from extinction. Using this digital book as a platform, the group, sends an urgent message about preserving the environment for tomorrow.

Through the character ‘Maahi’ the book carries the message of inculcating environment awareness and its need for protection to every individual, through children’s tales. The book showcases the imperative of involving younger generations in the effort while reaching out to more people to help save our environment.

The key intent of the book is to foster concern for the environment by depicting how critical it is to establish good habits such as reducing, re-using and recycling at a young age since children tend to respond better to environmental issues.

Commenting on the book, Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Group, said, “The Godrej Group has historically been at the forefront of environmental conservation and each and every organization under our umbrella is determined to making every effort towards a cleaner, greener and better world. We have always considered a sustainable work ethos as our responsibility to our nation and our planet. To safeguard the environment for the generations yet to come, we aim to promote personal responsibility through this book ‘The Last Cloud, Ray, Drop, Mangrove and Bee’. We hope to instil  a sense of passion in every reader to invest themselves into preventing environmental degradation and nurture conservation”.

We will be launching the book in three parts, thereby, celebrating Earth Day for a whole week.

Anu Joseph, Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia, said, “Every Earth Day, we’ve been asking adults the world over to think about the children of the future. This time though, we thought, ‘let’s redirect to the little ones.’ After all, the future of the planet is intertwined with theirs. And when the little ones know better about Earth’s history, they’ll grow up and change the global warming story. And our videobook, The Last Cloud, Drop, Mangrove, and Bee, gives that loving nudge through little Maahi and her friends as they spread planet positivity and change the world to be #EarthfullyYours.”

AICGIM Collaborates With Maker’s Asylum For Circular Economy Challenge Supported By EU REI

Atal Incubation Centre Goa Institute of Management (AIC-GIM) has partnered with Maker's Asylum, a space in Goa that allows collaborative ideation, has partnered on a unique Circular Economy Challenge.  

An initiative by European Union Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU REI) India, the challenge will focus on creating a platform wherein participants will be able to pitch ideas, current projects and concepts based on a circular economy whose goal is to tackle global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. 

In our current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them and eventually throw them away as waste – the process is linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste being produced in the first place. Open to participants aged 18 and above, the Make for Goa challenge will revolve around ideas that focus on any one of the 5 challenge statements - discarded fishing nets, alternatives to single use plastics, textile waste, circular design and sustainable construction. 

Speaking about the collaboration, Snehal Galvanker, Operations Manager, AICGIM, said, “We at AICGIM are building and enabling an ecosystem for startups in the climate and environment sector. With various initiatives like Hub-CE@ Goa which is a dedicated centre for collaboration and entrepreneurship for startups in the climate and environment sector, ESG Startup Week, Climathon Panaji, the SUP Challenge are among other initiatives. We are happy to collaborate with Maker’s Asylum Goa for this unique Make for Goa Challenge and provide support to participants by offering them access to markets, finance, experts, and mentors.” 

Ideas presented can be chosen for a potential pilot opportunity with EU REI and a full scholarship seat at the SDG School 2022 - a 2 weeks long experiential bootcamp to accelerate the idea with partners such EU, UNESCO, UNDP & UN Habitat. 

The final pitches will be held on 23rd April, 2022 at Makers Asylum, Moira Goa. 

Atal Pension Yojjana Total Enrollments Crossed 4 Crore In FY 2021-22

The total enrollments under APY Scheme have crossed 4.01 crore as on March 2022 out of which more than 99 lakh APY accounts were opened during FY 2021-22. The scheme had seen this tremendous success due to the active participation of all categories of Banks. Around 71% of the enrolments done by Public-sector banks, 19% by Regional Rural Banks, 6% by Private Sector Banks, 3% by Payment and Small Finance Banks. 

State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Central Bank of India achieved annualtarget in the Public-sector Bank category. 

While Vidarbha Konkan Bank, Tripura Gramin Bank, Jharkhand Rajya Gramin Bank , Paschim Banga Gramin Bank, Baroda UP Bank, Uttarbanga Ksheriya Gramin Bank ,Aryavart Bank, Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank, Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank, Maharashtra Gramin Bank, Odisha Gramya Bank, Madhya Pradesh Gramin Bank, Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank, Chaitanya Godavari Grameena Bank, TelanganaGrameena Bank, Andhra Pradesh GrameenaVikas Bank, Baroda Rajasthan KshetriyaGramin Bank, RajasthanMarudhara Gramin Bank, Dakshin Bihar Gramin Bank, Prathama UP Gramin Bank, Punjab GraminBank, Puduvai BharthiarGrama Bank, AndhraPragathi Grameena Bank, Manipur Rural Bank and Uttarakhand GraminBank achieved annual targets in the  Regional Rural Bank category. 

Also, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, AU Small Finance Bank,Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, The Kalupur Commercial Co-Operative Bank, The Sabarkantha District Central Co-Operative Bank and Rajkot Nagarik Sahakari Bank achievedannual target in other bank categories. 

Apart from the Banks, 9 State Level Banker’s Committees Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West-Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odishaand Tripura achieved annualtargets under APY. 

Out of the totalenrolments under APY as on 31st March2022, nearly 80% subscribers have opted for Rs 1000 pension plan and 13% for Rs 5000 pension plan. Out of the total APY subscribers 44 % are female subscribers while 56% are male subscribers. Further, out of thetotal APY subscribers, 45% are aged between 18 and 25 years. 

On Independence Day 2021 speech our Hon’blePrime-minister emphasized on the saturation of Government’s social security schemesincluding Atal PensionYojana to each and every entitled person.PFRDA, in line with the Government’s saturation mission has undertaken to conduct outreachprograms in co-ordination with all SLBCs and RRBs across the country. In the FY 2021-22, 13 such physicaloutreach programs were conducted and the remainingprograms will be conducted in the current Financial Year. 

PFRDA has strategized to target Jan-dhan accounts holders, promote digital mode of enrolment to target young population, involving other Central ministries, State Governments and agencies like NRLM/ SRLM for APY outreach programsthrough webinars and townhall meetings. 

Atal Pension Yojana is the guaranteed pension scheme of Government of India administered by PFRDA. The scheme allows any Citizen of India between the age group of 18-40 years to join through the bank or post office branches where one has the savingsbank account. Under the scheme,a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000to Rs.5000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending upon his contribution.   The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber after the demise of subscriber and on demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the pension wealthas accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber wouldbe returned back to the nominee. 

PFRDA is committed to take total enrolments under APY to greater heightsand contribute towardsmaking India a pensioned society. 

Dharmendra Pradhan Launches Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela Organized Across 700+ Locations In One Day

* Over the next one year, MSDE will endeavor to engage 10 lakh youngsters

* Apprenticeship mela to be held every month, says Shri Dharmendra Pradhan

* Stipend payment to apprentices to be done online

* Academic credit will be awarded to apprentices which can be used for future pathways

* Apprenticeship model should also be taken as an important feedback mechanism from the industry to make the ecosystem more demand driven and impactful , says Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Giving a boost to Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Skill India Mission, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Union Minister of Education, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship, today digitally inaugurated the launch of the National Apprenticeship Mela across 700+ location in the country.

Over 4000 organisations from more than 30 industries, including power, retail, telecommunications, IT/ITeS, electronics, automotive, and others, participated in the event. Individuals having a 5th–12th grade pass certificate, a skill training certificate, an ITI Diploma, or a graduate degree were eligible to participate in the PM Apprenticeship Mela. The main objective of this programme was to encourage the hiring of approximately One lakh apprentices and to assist employers in identifying and developing their potential through training and practical skillsets.

In addition, the young and aspiring workforce was given a choice of 500+ trades, including welder, electrician, housekeeper, beautician, mechanic, and others. They were given on-the-spot apprenticeship offers with monthly stipends as per the government standards.

Following, they will get monthly stipend as per the Government standards for developing new skills, an opportunity to earn while they learn. The candidates will get certificates, recognized by National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), increasing the chances of their employability after the training.

Speaking at the launch of the National Apprenticeship Mela, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, said, “I am happy that more than 4,000 organisations across 700 locations in the country are participating in this mela to provide gainful employment opportunities to our youth. It is satisfying to see job providers from manufacturing, electronics, services, power, IT/ITES, railways, retail and several other emerging areas line-up for the Apprenticeship Mela.

After 34 years we have a New Education Policy in Place which is a roadmap for India’s transformation in this AmritKaal. Academic credit will be awarded to apprentices which can be used for future pathways. We have to make apprenticeship a participatory movement to skill, re-skill and up-skill young India, boost per capita economic productivity and drive national missions.”

“Going forward the PM National Apprenticeship Mela will be a monthly affair. A digital dashboard will be set-up to further streamline the apprenticeship process and connect our youth with relevant opportunities in the 21st century. Our endeavor will be to ensure that more than 10 lakh trainees engage with corporates as apprentices and capitalize on this opportunity to earn while they learn and find their gateway into the industry,” he further added.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, said, "Post covid our focus is to increase our employable skills and thus the employability. As our Hon’ble Prime Minister has stated, skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling should be taken as a continuous ladder of opportunity. Apprenticeship is one of the most sustainable models and the concept is central to create an enabling partnership between govt, skill delivery ecosystem and employment ecosystem. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has brought in comprehensive reforms to the Apprenticeship Act and the Apprentices Rules in 2014 & 2015 and now it should be taken as a dynamic evolving platform to connect the skilling ecosystem to both who are getting skilled and those seeking skilled talent. The Apprenticeship model should also be taken as an important feedback mechanism from the industry to make the ecosystem more demand driven and impactful.  PM National Apprenticeship Melas will serve as a strong platform to connect industry with youth.”

Establishments participating in the PM National Apprenticeship Melas get an opportunity to meet the potential apprentices at a common platform and select the candidates on-the-spot. In addition, even small-scale industries with minimum four working members can also hire apprentices at the event. A credit bank concept is will also be soon introduced which will have depositary of various credits accumulated by learners that they can use for future academic pathways.

During the interaction, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan was particularly impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of a young trainee from Bhubaneswar. Undergoing apprenticeship in the Baker & Confectioner trade at Govt. ITI Bhubaneswar, she plans to start her own bakery. He encouraged all stakeholders to broaden their imagination to further expand the scope and scale of apprenticeship. Industry-linkages based upon the opportunities present in local economies will go a long way in massively increasing apprenticeship opportunities for the youth.

The PM Apprenticeship Mela has been a great opportunity for the participating establishments, as they were able to meet potential apprentices on a single platform and choose applicants based on their requirements. In addition, small-scale industries with a minimum of four employees were also able to hire apprentices at the mela.

ASDC And Hero MotoCorp Expand Partnership With Project Jeevika

Sharing the vision of an ‘employment ready’ young India, the Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC) and Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, have joined hands for “Project Jeevika”, to train two-wheeler market technicians across the country on BS-VI Technology.

As a part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform “Hero WeCare”, Hero MotoCorp has trained more than 6000 technicians through TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) ecosystem. The stakeholders are working towards promoting livelihood and upskilling of technicians to empower them from the financial backward situation with free training and development programs in the automobile service domain to make their jobs aspirational.

Utilising the content provided by Hero MotoCorp, ASDC will deliver a variety of learning modules and certifications in skilling. Through this project, ASDC will also enhance its capacity and capabilities for the education of these technicians to make them industry relevant.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Vinod Agarwal, President of ASDC said, “We are extremely happy to partner with Hero MotoCorp for this wonderful initiative “Jeevika”. The partnership is aimed at imparting quality skills training to market technicians and get them updated on new technologies that they will need to deal with while servicing customers. The project has the potential to make a transformational impact especially in the lives of these technicians. We look forward to continue this initiative to impact a growing number of market technicians.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr Bharatendu Kabi, Head – Corporate Communication and Corporate Social Responsibiity (CSR), Hero MotoCorp said, “In keeping with its unwavering commitment to the betterment of society, Hero MotoCorp aims to upskill the two-wheeler technicians of the country with the latest BS-VI technology. The Project Jeevika - in association with ASDC - will enable these technicians to develop relevant skills required for the latest technology and make them self-reliant, thereby empowering them to lead a brighter future.” 

Both ASDC and Hero MotoCorp will focus on bridging the supply gap of skilled workers in the automotive industry and help them in the fulfilment of manpower requirements across the country. The program will further enable all the roadside technicians to develop relevant skills on futuristic vehicles too and become self-reliant, thereby, empowering these technicians for a brighter future and at the same time fulfilling the broader vision of Skill India.

About ASDC:

ASDC, is the first sector Skill Council of India, promoted by the Automobile industry, through Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) along with the Government of India represented by Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). ASDC envisions making India self –sufficient in availability of skilled personnel for sustaining growth & increasing competitiveness of the automobile industry. ASDC has over 240 training partners, 800 certified assessors, 14 expert groups with 295 industry experts and over 2000 training centres.

Your Meetings Aren’t Working: New Verizon Study Says Focus On Meeting Less To Accomplish More

* Breaking the bad meetings habit: how Verizon Business is laser-focused on meeting less to accomplish more.

Companies rethinking their operations, their working models, and almost every aspect of their business due to the pandemic is not something new. What is noteworthy is seeing how businesses are leveraging lessons learned to innovate and improve their operations to meet customer and employee demands. In a new white paper published this week with Boston Consulting Group, Verizon Business CEO, Tami Erwin, and Verizon Business Chief Revenue Officer, Sampath Sowmyanarayan, break down how something as simple as altering the way meetings are conducted can greatly impact productivity, while providing insight, tips, and best practices from an extensive in-house experiment.

“Every leader today needs to reimagine the path forward for their business in a hybrid world. Verizon Business and BCG partnered to share concrete learnings that enable greater flexibility, connection, and collaboration,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “Because at the heart of it all, we know it takes the right technology infrastructure, security, and solutions, along with the right training and resources, to ensure businesses effectively navigate new ways of working.”

For organizations, the quick shift to a remote or distributed working model was an initial shock to the system, but now can be viewed as an opportunity to shape how employees adopt and adapt to new collaboration tools and processes. To make a meaningful impact, it’s not wholesale changes that win the day, it’s simple actions that make the biggest difference, such as:

* Adopt simple, impactful practices to improve meetings:

* Schedule 25- or 50-minute meetings with a 5–10-minute lagged start time

* Clearly state the meeting’s purpose and agenda on the meeting invitation

* Reassess the need for regular recurring meetings

* Identify and challenge the need for meetings that can be replaced by asynchronous modes of work, i.e., email, chat, shared documents, or offline review

For one month, Verizon Business analyzed the meeting habits of a team of roughly 150 employees, where they tracked the success of various changes to meetings. The experimental practices were devised in collaboration with the team, recognizing the importance of designing new ways from within and not simply imposing them from the outside. Throughout the month, daily and weekly surveys were sent to participants for continuous feedback, enabling the real-time evolution of processes and practices. The results were overwhelmingly positive, demonstrating the impact small changes can drive:

90 percent of participants said that the new ways of managing meetings helped improve overall meeting effectiveness

83 percent said they feel more comfortable working through asynchronous modes, such as email, collaboration tools, and shared documents

78 percent said they feel like they are wasting less time sitting in meetings where their live participation isn’t required

The 4-step process to identifying, implementing, and supporting simple actions to change how work gets done.

Walk the talk: Secure support from a respected leader from the start.

Design from within: Understand pain points and arrive at best practices from within the teams that you are targeting for change. Make it their idea.

Make it easy: Create and re-create supporting tools to drive implementation and measure success. Ensure you have the right technology and solution infrastructure in place to accomplish effective hybrid communications plans.

Iterate as you go: Create regular and frequent feedback cycles to support the continued adaptation of new meeting modes and supporting tools.

The next step is to scale. As noted in Step 3, making the process simple and easy to recreate sets the stage for broad expansion across the organization. The experiment conducted by Verizon can be implemented by any business. Additionally, Verizon Business has the solutions, expertise, and network technology to help businesses forge their own unique path toward transformation. From reworking their cybersecurity architecture or implementing the solutions to harness the power of 5G to simply adjusting their approach to meetings, Verizon has businesses covered.

The pandemic may have forced the hand of many business decision-makers to forever alter their operations, but in turn, it has opened the doors to take advantage of new ways of working. Making small adjustments such as changing bad meeting habits can help employees meet less and accomplish more.

In A First-Of-Its-Kind Partnership, Binance’s Blockchain Technology To Power IIT Delhi Fest, Rendezvous

Binance, the global blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange, today announced the first-ever digitisation of attendee experience with the help of Blockchain Technology at IIT Delhi’s annual college fest, Rendezvous, scheduled from April 24 to 26, 2022.

Through this association, Binance aims to educate and spread awareness about the various use cases of blockchain, such as those being showcased during the fest ranging from NFT tickets, NFT certificates, fan tokens, POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol), among others. Moreover, in another first, the fest will witness NFT Tickets for all attendees during the Concert Nights. NFT Ticketing is being done at this unprecedented scale for the first time in India. As the title sponsor of Rendezvous, Binance will also launch their ‘Crypto for all’ educational webinar which will happen on May 1st as part of the fest. Through this webinar Binance plans to spread investor awareness for crypto and blockchain and issue completion certificates over blockchain by Binance NFT to all successful participants.

Binance is supporting a few crypto and blockchain related competitions at the fest, such as Cryptocon (a crypto trading competition) and an NFTart competition, to offer the students an opportunity to gain exposure to the emerging technologies.

Leon Foong, Head of APAC at Binance, said: “We are excited to partner with IIT Delhi for Rendezvous, where the most talented tech students from all over the country are brought together. We are happy to leverage Binance’s infrastructure and platform to inspire and educate the attendees of Rendezvous in web3, blockchain and crypto. Binance has always been dedicated towards educating and empowering the student community and aims to prepare the students of IIT Delhi, the event participants and the rest of the country to be ready for a future of financial freedom that is powered by blockchain technology. In line with the “crypto for all” theme, we strive to make the blockchain space more inclusive and accessible to all and give back to the communities that help create events like Rendezvous. We are looking forward to the innovative ideas that will emerge during the festival and the new economic opportunities that will arise from events like this.”

Speaking on the occasion, Khushpreet Singh-BRCA IIT Delhi Overall Coordinator said, “Blockchain is an emerging technology with a large scope for innovation in India. We are delighted about the partnership with a global leader like Binance as this will allow our students to not only learn about the new revolutionary technology but also see some of its applications in action. The digitisation of the event will definitely infuse a new level of excitement to the attendee experience, while also imparting knowledge about this most interesting technology that enables us to be future-ready. The Rendezvous organising team is moving forward with a strong conviction and is determined to give every stakeholder a great experience."

"The entire campus is really excited with the concept of NFT tickets for the Pronites, which is the main attraction during the 3-day cultural fest. It is amazing how Binance is helping the long standing issue of registration using blockchain and NFTs, especially at this scale " said Aman Lohia -Rendezvous Overall Coordinator

Binance has constantly been active in engaging with students and college communities. It recently partnered with Inter Institutional Inclusive Innovation Centre (i4c) to initiate the ‘Blockchain for Good’ Ideathon for students across India colleges with a focus on solving problems through the use of blockchain technology. Binance Campus BUIDLers Program is another initiative by Binance which offers a platform to students across India, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to explore new opportunities, accelerate crypto literacy and develop the tools required to become a leader, innovator and BUIDLer for a decentralized future.

About Binance

Binance is the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial and tech product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange by volume. Trusted by millions worldwide, the Binance platform is dedicated to increasing the freedom of money for users, and features an unmatched portfolio of crypto products and offerings, including: trading and finance, education, data and research, social good, investment and incubation, decentralization and infrastructure solutions, and more. For more information, visit: https://www.binance.com/en-in

About IIT Delhi

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India. Since its inception, over 48000 have graduated from IIT Delhi in various disciplines including Engineering, Physical Sciences, Management and Humanities & Social Sciences. For more information, visit: https://home.iitd.ac.in/