As we find ourselves in the middle of a pandemic, it is now more important than ever to support your favourite small brands and business through this difficult time.

Hi, guys welcome back to Glamworldface.com. Today we will discuss about certain tips of how you can support small brands.

Whether it is your go-to-restaurant, favourite jewelry brand or regular weekend gym class, here is how you can do your bit to show some love and support. Have a happy reading.

1. Order delivery from independent restaurant brands : One way you can support your favourite local restaurant brand is by opting for delivery if you still can. As we are being encouraged to stay indoors and self –isolate, there is never been a better excuse to order a take way. This is how you can support them by ordering a delivery.
2. Gift from independent brands : In this uncertain time, small acts of kindness can go long way. You might find yourself isolating alone or apart from your friends and family. A great way to support your favourite brands and let your loved ones know you are thinking of them, is to treat them to a gift from independent brand.
3. Stock up on gift cards for your regular treatments : We all prefer to go to our favourite brands for treatment, whether it is hair styling or salon. Supporting these brands during this is vital. Stock up on gift cards from your go to beauty treatments at your favourite salons brands to help them keep afloat.
4. Subscribe to virtual studios : As we all are staying in for the foreseeable future, it is important to keep exercising. While we cannot get to our favourite yoga class just yet, that does not mean you cannot support the studio in the meantime. Read up your much loved classes and whether they are offering virtual ones that you can purchase online.
5. Buy local produce : Instead of heading to a big supermarket chain, keep things local , buy shopping at an independent green grocer. Choosing your spending money at local brands or business will help them to run during hard times.
6. Consider donations or investing : Another way to support small brands is donating directly to their business or investing in them. If money is little tight, do all you can by supporting them in other ways , such as spreading the word on social media or leaving praising reviews. .
7. Support local artists: Both artists and musicians make a living from gigs or exhibitions, which in times like these is impossible. So local artists , brands and creative that you love , need your help more than ever. Show your support by purchasing merchandise or bye their work.

The threat to small brands is really scary. In order to survive as a small brand, we are encouraging people to continue to make small purchases from any small independent brands, that needs sales to survive the pandemic.

So these are the certain ways how you can support small brands during this uncertain time.  Go ahead and support them , and also encourage them. This will also help the small brands to reduce the risk.

For more topics, stay tuned with us. Today till this much only, goodbye. Have a nice day guys.

Whenever , we wind up wearing jeans a t-shirt, we often visit different sites for some new ideas how to wear them to make it look attractive.

With a few flicks of the magical wand with addition of some cute accessories or an unexpected style twist your outfit can go from boring to cool in no time.

Keep scrolling down and read on for fresh and exciting ways to breathe life with these amazing ways.

1. Add a Heel/Blazer : Today in the land of denim, we are going by our favourite pair of sneakers in favour of a heel/blazer. Style this way, add a pinstripe blazer and a flared jeans paired with a graphic t-shirt to give it that cool effortlessness inherent in the way.
2. Opt for an All White Look: There is something cool and amazing wearing an all- white outfit. Opt for a high-waist fit and a cropped white t-shirt in a light, breezy fabric to ensure that it looks flattering and add a pop of colour with a head scarf and or a belt and you are ready to rock and jazz up your jeans and a t-shirt combination.
3. Go to Town On Accessories: Scrunchies are the cutest and easiest way to add personality to an outfit with a denim jeans and plain t-shirt. They won’t damage your hair but they give a separate charming look to your combo. Add a beaded bag, a pair of gold hoops, and a red lip colour  and then sit back and reveal in the joy that is living your very best life.
4. Folded Jeans and simple T-shirt: Do only one fold instead of making two three folds and wear a simple cool t-shirt and go out on the streets and simply see the magic and find your joy.
5. Pair with a Patterned Coat: a long, plaid coat instantly updates a basic weekend outfit of skinny blue jeans and a white t-shirt, making it a street style worthy. Or play up with playful patterned coat such as one in floral print or polka dots.
6. A Tweed Jacket: It is an easy to dress up t-shirt and jeans to look pulled together. You will be comfortable and all day, in this go-to outfit of high- waist jeans, a white t-shirt and a short , Chanel –inspired jacket in nubby tweed.

Though it is mentioned three, but we tried our best to bring total six simple and awesome ways to jazz up your jeans with t-shirt combo. Try these amazing tricks to pair your jeans along with your t-shirt and be street style ready always.

Hope you have enjoyed this article. For more exciting topics and updates, do not forget to stay connected to us. We will back soon with more and new amazing topics for you all.

Today’s digital economy promises to lead an unprecedented convergence of people, business and things that transforms existing business models and creates a new business opportunities. Organizations need their business processes and applications to adapt to changing customer demands and changing market conditions. It is therefore the best to take the best possible advantage of Digital Revolution. This age is probably termed as Digital Age.

Business have no other choice but to re-think  their business models and try to think and innovate to offer the right product and service at the right time and at the right place.

Definition of Digital Strategy

To proceed and succeed with this digital transformation and fight a tough competition, business needs to identify the starting position and plan a proper path or goal towards the right path. Each and every business should define a digital strategy that aliens with the business strategy.

Gone are the days when technology played an alien role without much of the business involvement.  Since the internet became the part of our day-to-day life, the fine-line between technology and business have disappeared. Digital transformation has only made this integration much intertwined.

Digital strategy must also include the middle office and back office functions of the business. These both are very important to meet the customer expectations.

Definition of KPIs to Alien Digital Strategy with business Strategy

Business must define its KPIs so that it become the success of the digital transformation can be far more better and can be measured in the best way. These KPIs should be aligned with the KPIs of the business.

A business must have two kinds of digital business KPIs- one that describes the optimization of current business model and the another one must measure transformative growth.  Unless the business organizations stay updated with the current technology and business solutions, they cannot meet the success in digital transformation and the defined KPIs. Business should update and re-engineer the under-performing applications and systems in order to manage the digital transformation.

Re-create an organizational model and embed a Digital Culture

Business need to focus on the nature of the disruption along with who the disruptors are. The future of business survival increases demands radical changes in business practices and procedures.

Digital transformation is re-defining the business.  Organisations must reinvent to serve the digital customers on the run. Actually strong and successful digital transformations require a good quality of leadership , alignment between IT and business units and a culture that really celebrates the risk taking and rapid action.

Teams need to be equipped with right skill sets and entrepreneurial mind-sets. Digital culture should not be compromised or diluted.

Build New Analytics

Analytics has matured to become a become a business practice necessary to sustain competitive advantage. Change is mandatory to carry out the changes in customers demands.

Days are really gone the business launch products and expected customers to accept the product.  Analytics help better insight to take right step towards the digital transformation and it helps to build more personalised connection or relation with customers. While building analytics, business must concentrate on the following:

• Descriptive analytics: It depicts the current situation where business rightly stands now.
• Predictive analytics:  It is used to predict the customer behaviour in the future.
• Prescriptive analytics: It actually suggests ways of growing business and profits and future fore-sight of course action.

Analytics helps business to have strong and unique competitive advantage, grow the sales and retain customers, meet customers demand and expectations with proper offerings and gain strategic insights and fore-sights.

So in order to be successful and keep up with this constant movement, organisations need to create a  solid foundation that allows them to capitalize on changes and the new opportunities these changes create.

Digital transformation for the accommodation for the business is the new normal in this digital age. It helps to reach a mass customers at a time and get a view of insights of its customers.

This pandemic COVID-19 has caused heavy financial crisis around the world which left many small business owners at a peak point of struggling. Small business suffered a lot negative results and issues due to this pandemic crisis.

As the small business is suffering a lot, it is very important to come back to recovery state when the global and Indian economy becomes stable. Rebuilding your small business after post COVID-19 is very much essential to get back on the track once again.

Here are certain steps that you should need to take for the future growth –post COVID-19. Scroll this article down to know the steps. Have a happy reading ahead.

1. Take another second look: Your business plans have really worked in the pre-COVID era but the same thing is not going to work post-COVID era. As we all be stepping into the new normal, your business plans needs to get changed according to the ‘new normal’ situation. You may look at the digital expansion and can promote online shopping for the customers. Give priority to the customers’ demands during this pandemic crisis. Help them to feel that you all are here at any time. Organize free webinar on the products and make the customers aware of it. But you must know remember your SWOT analysis- strength, weakness, opportunities and threats to your business and its plans. Make sure that your business is goal-oriented and that too is realistic considering the current circumstances.
2. See the fact that will you be needing funds to recover or not:  You may be needing some working capital to start your business after the post COVID era. Financing your small business after the post COVID-era  is tough but not impossible. There are certain programmes like Pay check  Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan and many can help you out with the funding. But the issue is funding is very limited. There are other sources of small business funding like- business lines of credit, business credit cards, merchant cash advances, inventory financing, equipment financing and many more.
3. Recreate your budget for new spending: First of all you have to recreate your budget plans because the new normal life is not going to become so easy as you may have to spend money rather making money.  Clear your new budget plans because you have to look how to make best possible revenue coming in your business. Your goal should be eliminating the monetary gap and use your operating cash flow budget or statement to take the advantage of it.
4. Try to develop a time line for your rebuilding: You will needing many things that you might try to re-build after the post COVID era. Do not try to do things at one time as it will create confusion and it may not look realistic in nature. To avoid this issue, create a time line to give priority to your most important actions. When you are taking an individual step towards the recovery of your small business, you are on the track of progress and success.  In the initial stage of COVID-19 recovery, you can check the weekly charts to see and check what is working and what is not. But later you can shift this weekly checking to monthly checking of your business finance which things become stable.

Though it is given three, we have tried our best to bring the four steps of how your small business can recover in the post COVID-19 era. Trying these steps will help your business to recover to some extent when the economy becomes stable and we step out to be a ‘new normal’.

Always remember, the more outside the box you think you can do to fight and prepare a worst case business scenario, the better it is.

Capital is the foundation base of any business. It is the assurance of the sustainability and stability of a Company .Capital is divided into two categories one is the Working capital and the other is the Fixed capital , now both of the capitals has their own significance in the functioning of a company, before we come to a conclusion and designate one of them as more important let us try to understand that what actually they mean and what is their role.

Working capital is the capital which is not permanent in the company. It’s regularly coming and going. Like the raw materials, the raw materials are brought in a factory production is done then the products are transported to wholesellers or warehouses and then again the new raw materials are brought in the industry. The raw materials are not permanent in the factory or industry that is why it is known as working capital. The petty cash is also comes under working capital first cash is used in paying bills buying commodities and then new cash comes in through sales.

Fixed capital is the capital which is permanent and remains in the factory or Industry or any business for a longer period of time. Like machines, vehicles Computers etc. They are bought either to boost production or sales and are used for much longer time in the company. They are the assets for a company and they also play a vital role in smooth functioning of business activities.

The National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune in association with the Regional Outreach Bureau Maharashtra and Goa, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, virtually hosted a curtain raiser for the 48-Day Webathon which is to begin from tomorrow, Oct 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. 

Under the Webathon, 48 webinars on the theme “Mahatma Gandhi- The Healer”, will be streamed live on National Institute of Naturopathy’s Facebook page https://facebook.com/punenin from 11AM to 12 noon for 48 days every day. 

The webinars are intended to propagate the relevance of Gandhiji’s thoughts on Health and Nutrition in the 21st century among people of all walks of life.

Dr. K. Satyalaxmi, Director, National Institute of Naturopathy(NIN), Pune in her welcome address said, “The 48-day Webathon will be introducing 48 eminent personalities in the field of Gandhian Philosophy and Naturpoathy from all over the world who will be sharing the knowledge and expertise in the form of anecdotes, interactive sessions, presentations in these webinars.” 

Gandhi Kathas, Gandhi Bahjans and rare footage of Gandhiji will also be shared. This will not only educate the public but will also sensitize Naturopathy fraternity with regard to Gandhi’s views on self-health reliance, public health and naturopathy’.

Prof. R K Mutatkar spoke about Gandhi’s contribution to health care and also mentioned that National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune which is a mother institution of Nature cure stands as the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. He mentioned about the significance of food which is also a medicine. 

Speaking about Gandhiji’s efforts in eradicating leprosy pollution and caste pollution, Prof. R K Mutatkar mentioned that, “Gandhiji included leprosy in his constructive programmes extending his concept of truth and non-violence to clear off leprosy.”

Joint Secretary, M/o Ayush, P N Ranjit Kumar, spoke about the relevance of the Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts, policies and solution today when the world is fighting the Pandemic. 

He said “Bapu’s solutions are all rooted in basic elements of life and these solutions are in the vicinity. All we have to do is look around, with an alert mind and a determination to adopt and implement.” 

“This Pandemic has made people conscious of one’s own health, reminding our responsibility towards our own health which is exactly what Gandhiji had insisted in his books on health”, he added.

DG, Western Region, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Manish Desai, spoke about Mahatma’s lesser known passions which was about  the study of food and nutrition.  Shri Desai cited how Gandhiji had introduced the concept of Aatma Nirbharata and sustainable living to the world years before.

“Long time ago Mahatma Gandhi Ji propagated the concept of food security. He emphasised the need to lessen hunger and malnourishment among people and advocated self-sufficiency at village level. He believed in making villages self-sufficient to consume locally available food to achieve food and nutrient security for health – the concept of Aatma Nirbharata. He even taught everyone around him the meaning of true sustainable living long before the word became fashionable in current days,” he said.

Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually attended Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (Department of Higher Education) as Chief Guest today. Union Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre also attended the event through video conferencing as Guest of Honor.

The Commission has done important work in the creation and development of Scientific and Technical Terminology for Hindi and other Indian languages ​​in its proud journey of 60 years, the Education Minister said. Inaugurating the program, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, congratulated the terminology commission family on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He said that the development of vocabulary in Hindi and other Indian languages ​​by the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology for more than 9 lakh English words in various subjects including Science, Engineering and Technology, Agriculture and Medical Sciences, during its proud journey of six decades is highly commendable. The eighth fundamental duty enshrined in Part 4 of our Constitution instructs us to “develop humanism and the spirit of learning and reform from a scientific perspective.” For the scientific approach and the process of learning, it is necessary to have knowledge in your language and to develop your language scientifically and appropriately.
 

On this occasion, the Education Minister expressed that both National Education Policy and Terminology Commission should contribute together, so that we can also become self-sufficient in the expression of language and knowledge for the creation of self-reliant India. We need to work with utmost vigilance towards the creation, dissemination of terminology in various streams like knowledge, science and technology, and its easy access and use to the general public. With the implementation of the National Education Policy, the work of the Terminology Commission becomes even more important in this direction.
Expressing the statement of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, the Minister quote Mahatma Gandhi – “If our faith has risen from our languages, it is a sign that we have no faith in ourselves”. We are fully committed to the empowerment of all Indian languages, from the new education policy to the work of the Commission.
Guest of Honor at this function Shri Sanjay Dhotre, the Minister of State for Education also appreciated the work done by the Commission and congratulated everyone on the Diamond Jubilee, as well as the great definition created by the Commission in the fields of science, mechanics, agriculture, engineering and technology.

Shri Dhotre further said that, the Commission is performing its duties in the true sense and this can be inferred from the glossaries created by the Commission. The achievements of the Commission showed that the Commission is constantly moving in right direction. This is an important change in the field of education, it is very important to explain the importance and role of Indian languages ​​in the medium of education and to work in accordance with it. With the creation of vocabulary and university level books of scientific technical subjects, the commission’s responsibility also becomes more explicit.

On the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, Shri Pokhriyal launched various initiatives of the commission which include the logo of the Diamond Jubilee of the Commission, the official website of the Commission, the publication website, the mobile app, the Hindi Science You Tube official channel, the e-Souvenir and the Comprehensive Glossaries in 20 volumes.
 

Chairman of the Commission Prof. Avanish Kumar said that the Commission has continuously developed the Commission from its various schemes for the last six decades and from its various vocabulary repositories, the vocabulary of Hindi and Indian languages ​​is available to the education world in many subjects. Also, by making all the publications of the Commission available as an e-book on the publication website of the Commission, it has increased the reach of people to the people. It was also informed that more and more technology needs to be used in the work of the Commission, whose efforts are being made, all the publications of the Commission have been made available through online medium. This area requires more attention. With the development of terminology, there seems to be a need to acquire skills through technology in the translation of scientific and technical books.

 
On this occasion the distinguished Guest of the program Professor Sachchidanand Joshi and Professor Yogendra Nath Sharma, ‘Arun’ have also extended their good wishes and appreciated the work done by this terminology commission. Padmashri Dr. Shyam Singh Shashi, who has presided over the program, also congratulated and thanked everyone at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Commission and also extended best wishes for the two-day webinar on Indian Languages, National Education Policy and Self Reliant India.

To develop the terminology for Indian languages, the President of India ordered the formation of a permanent commission on 27 April 1960, based on the recommendation of a committee pursuant to clause (4) of Article 344 of the Constitution of India. Under the provisions, the Scientific and Technical Terminology Commission was established by the Government of India on October 1, 1961. The Scientific and Technical Terminology Commission develops and uses, distributes and promotes standard terminology.

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The arrival of Kharif Marketing Season 2020-21 has just begun and the Government continues to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops at MSP from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes as done in previous seasons.

The procurement of Paddy during KMS 2020-21 has started from 26^th September, 2020 in Haryana and Punjab. Upto 30.09.2020, the Paddy Procurement of 13,412 MT in Haryana and 91,005 MT in Punjab totaling 1,04,417 MT having MSP value of Rs.197 crore at MSP of Rs 1888 per quintal has been done from 8059 farmers of Haryana and Punjab.

Further, based on the proposal from the States, approval has been accorded for procurement of 14.09 LMT of Pulse and Oilseeds for Kharif Marketing Season 2020 for the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Haryana and 1.23 LMT of Copra (the perennial crop) for the State of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala . For other States/UTs approval will also be accorded on receipt of proposals for procurement of Pulses, Oilseeds and Copra under Price Support Scheme (PSS) so that procurement of FAQ grade of these crops can be made at notified MSP for the year 2020-21 directly from the registered farmers, if the market rate goes below MSP during the notified harvesting period in the respective States/UTs by the Central Nodal Agencies through State nominated procuring agencies.

Upto 29.09.2020, the Government through its Nodal Agencies has procured 46.35 MT of Moong having MSP value of Rs.33 lakhs benefitting 48 farmers in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, 5089 MT of copra having MSP value of Rs. 52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu against the sanctioned quantity of 1.23 LMT for the Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The procurement of Cotton for the season 2020-21 commences from today and Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is starting purchase of FAQ grade Cotton from today onwards.

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Kerala’s first and nation’s twentieth mega food park in Palakkad district of Kerala was virtually inaugurated today by the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan. Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Rameshwar Teli was also present on the occasion. This project will give impetus to the development of food processing sector.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Tomar said that Mega Food Park will prove to be a milestone in the development of the food processing sector in Kerala. It will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 Crore in 25-30 food processing units in the park and would eventually lead to a turnover of about Rs. 450-500 Crore annually. The Park will also provide direct and indirect employment to 5,000 persons and benefit about 25,000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas.  Shri Tomar said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Government of India is constantly striving to make the country a flexible food economy and the world’s food factory. The government has made food processing a major-thrust area of ​​“Atma Nirbhar Bharat”. Twenty mega food parks in the country have been opened in collaboration with the Centre, seventeen other projects have also been approved, including a park in the Alleppey district of Kerala has been approved.

Shri Tomar said that we are proud of the farmers of our country and, due to their hard work, the country has sufficient stock of food grains, the needs of the countrymen are being fulfilled, food grains are surplus.  He added that the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is continuously working to fill the gaps in the agriculture sector. Agri Infra Fund of one lakh crore rupees has been announced, while Kisan Rail has been started as per the budget announcement.

Shri Tomar said that there is more potential in the export of value-added goods, which will not only earn foreign exchange but will also create employment opportunities in the domestic market. Government of India is working on rejuvenation of the agricultural sector. Agreeing on the recommendations of the Finance Commission, the government has also increased the state funds. Central sector scheme PM Kisan Sampada Yojana is benefiting farmers a lot. Further, as part of the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” campaign, the Centre has launched a new scheme – PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME).

Kerala Chief Minister Shri Vijayan said that this MFP will play an important role in providing assistance and relief to the farmers of Kerala. With this, the conditions of farmers will improve with the involvement of agricultural entrepreneurs. Expressing satisfaction over its establishment in the said time-frame, he said that this is one of the important schemes of Kerala, along with the Petro Park, Kochi-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, Defense Park, and other projects. All these have become a better medium to project Kerala in front of investors. Shri Vijayan said that Kerala entrepreneurs will take advantage of the assistance being received from the Centre and the food park is expected to give a big boost to the food processing industry.

Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Teli said that the facilities created in the park will not only reduce wastage of agricultural produce but will also ensure value addition. With this, farmers will get better prices of their agriproducts and their income will also increase. He added that this will provide processing opportunities to farmers, self-help groups, and micro-entrepreneurs and create more employment opportunities in the surrounding areas.

Industries Minister of Kerala, Mr. E.P. Jayarajan, and Water Resources Minister Shri K.K. Krishnan Kutty also addressed the occasion. Smt. Pushpa Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, and Dr. K. Elengovan, Principal Secretary (Industry), Kerala, briefed about the project. Sh. Santosh Koshi Thomas, Managing Director, Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra), expressed his gratitude. Regional public representatives, project officials, farmers, and other related officials of food park were also present on the occasion.

The KINFRA Mega Food Park has been set up in 79.42 acres of land at a project cost of Rs. 102.13 crore. The facilities created by the Implementing Agency at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park include Multi-product Cold Storage-5000MT, Drywarehouse-12000 MT, Pack House (Sorting Grading, Packing) 10MT/Hr, Ripening Chambers- 120MT, Condiment processing with mechanical drying facility-15MT/day, Food Testing Laboratory besides state of art enabling infrastructure. The Park has a common administrative building for office and other uses by the entrepreneurs and 04 Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) at Ernakulam (Mazhavanur), Thrissur (Koratty), Malappuram (Kakkanchery) and Wayanad (Kalpetta) districts with Packhouse facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms in the catchment area to benefit farmers. This Mega Food Park will benefit the people of Palakkad-District as well as nearby Districts of Malappuram & Thrissur of Kerala and nearby district of Coimbatore of Tamil Nadu.

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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and NITI Aayog are organizing a Global Virtual Summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI), RAISE 2020- ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020,’ from October 5-9, 2020. The Summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the august presence ofMinister of Electronics & IT, Communications and Law &Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, eminent global AI expert Professor Raj Reddy, Turing awardee, Padma Bhushan awardee, and former Co-Chair of the US President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee, Mr. MukeshAmbani, MD and Chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd and Mr. Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM, among other dignitaries.

Professor Raj Reddy will hold a session about developing voice-enabled AI that removes linguistic barriers on October 6, the second day of the summit. Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, and Brad Smith, President & Legal Head, Microsoft Global will also participate in sessions.

Mr. Pai will share his views about developments in data and AI-powered financial services in India, which have been key to driving financial inclusion. Mr. Smith will shed light upon the regulatory framework for developing responsible AI that is trustworthy and non-discriminatory.

RAISE 2020 will have a dedicated session on building inclusive AI that empowers one billion plus Indians. This session will have Jenny Lay Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer of Microsoft sharing her views. Ms. Flurrie has vast experience of research and is an expert at formulating IT strategy. Anita Bhatia, Assistant Secretary General, Deputy Executive Director, UN Women shall also deliver a keynote in this session, which will have an all-women panel and is being curated by UN Women.

On the afternoon of October 6, there will be a fireside chat between Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, and Mr. Noshir Kaka, Senior Partner at Mckinsey, who will talk about the need to integrate AI while building public digital platforms. Mr. Kaka is the Managing Director of McKinsey’s India offices and the founder of its global Outsourcing and Offshoring Practice.

This will be followed by a session on Education and Awareness for Responsible AI by Ms. Urvashi Aneja, Founding Director, Tandem Research, and Rahul Sharma President, Amazon Internet Services Pvt. Ltd, Public Sector, India & South Asia.

A session on Unlocking Maps for Societal Impact will then be headlined by Dr. LaliteshKatragadda, Founder, Indihood and Mr. Rohan Verma, CEO and Executive Director, MapmyIndia.

So far, more than 15,000 stakeholders from across academia, the research industry and government representatives from across the world have registered to participate in RAISE 2020.

Home to the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, elite science and technology institutions like the IITs, robust and ubiquitous digital infrastructure, and millions of newly-minted STEM graduates every year, India is well-positioned to become a global leader in the development of artificial intelligence.

Industry analysts predict that AI could add up to USD 957 billion to India’s economy by 2035.  In the spirit of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi plans to leverage AI for inclusive development, representing the country’s ‘AI for All’ strategy. Directed by the Prime Minister’s vision, India will soon stand out in the international community not just as a leader in the Artificial Intelligence field, but also as a model to show the world how to responsibly direct AI for social empowerment.

From agriculture to fin-tech and healthcare to infrastructure, artificial intelligence can be a truly transformative force. India is uniquely positioned to become the AI laboratory of the world and contribute to inclusive development and growth through empowerment. The RAISE 2020 Summit (http://raise2020.indiaai.gov.in/)will serve as a platform for discussion and consensus building to help create a data-rich environment, which is a stepping stone to eventually transform lives globally.

It will facilitate an exchange of ideas to create mass awareness about the need to ethically develop and practice AI.

About RAISE 2020:

RAISE 2020 is a firstofits-kind, global meeting of minds on Artificial Intelligence to drive India’s vision and roadmap for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment through responsible AI. Organized by Government of India along with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and NITI Aayog,the event will witness robust participation from global industry leaders, key opinion makers, Government representatives and academia.

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Air Marshal RJ Duckworth took over as Air Officer in charge Personnel at Air Headquarters Vayu Bhawan, Indian Air Force on 01 Oct 20. He was commissioned into Fighter Stream of the IAF on 29 May 1983 as a Fighter Pilot. In a distinguished career spanning nearly 38 years, the Air Officer has flown wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft in the inventory of IAF. He has a flying experience of more than 3000 hours including operational flying on MiG-21 and MiG-29 fighter aircraft. 

During his illustrious career in the IAF, the Air Officer has held numerous important appointments. He was Commanding Officer of a frontline fighter squadron and has also commanded a premier Fighter Base. As an Air Vice Marshal, he held the coveted appointments of Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Technical Intelligence) at Headquarter Integrated Defence Services, Air Officer Commanding Advance Headquarter Central Air Command, Air Defence Commander, Southern Air Command. As an Air Marshal, he held the appointments of Senior Air Staff Officer, Central Air Command. Prior to his present appointment, he was Senior Air Staff Officer, Western Air Command. The Air Marshal is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College. 

In recognition of his distinguished service, the Air Marshal was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal in 2008.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit on 2nd October at 6:30 PM, via video conferencing.

The VAIBHAV Summit is a global virtual summit of overseas and resident Indian Researchers and Academicians, and is being organized from 2nd October to 31st October 2020. The aim of the summit is to bring Indian origin luminaries in academic institutes and R&D organizations across the world and resident counterparts on a single platform to debate upon collaboration mechanisms to strengthen academic and S&T base in India for global development.

The inauguration will be followed by online deliberation sessions. The initiative involves multiple levels of interactions among overseas experts and Indian counterparts over a month-long series of webinars, video conferences etc. More than 3000 overseas Indian origin academicians and scientists from 55 countries and more than 10,000 resident academicians and scientists are taking part in the summit. About 200 academic institutes and S&T departments, led by Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, are organizing the summit running through the month of October.

Over 1500 panelists from 40 countries, 200 leading Indian R&D and academic institutions will virtually deliberate in 18 different areas and 80 topics in more than 200 deliberation sessions.  Concluding session is planned on 31st October 2020, on the occasion of Sardar Patel Jayanti.

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The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has bowed to Mahatma Gandhi on his Jayanti.

“We bow to beloved Bapu on Gandhi Jayanti. 

There is much to learn from his life and noble thoughts.

May Bapu’s ideals keep guiding us in creating a prosperous and compassionate India”, the Prime Minister said.

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Bringing an end to all speculations, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday (September 30, 2020) issued new guidelines for opening up of more activities in areas outside the COVID-19 containment zones and said that the States and UTs can reopen schools, colleges and education institutions after October 15. The Centre also issued various guidelines for the reopening of schools and other educational institutions.

“For re-opening of schools and coaching institutions, State/ UT Governments have been given the flexibility to take a decision after 15th October 2020, in a graded manner. The decision shall be taken in consultation with the respective school/ institution management, based on their assessment of the situation,” stated the MHA.

They also said that the decision shall be taken with considering the following conditions:

1. Online/ distance learning shall continue to be the preferred mode of teaching and shall be encouraged.

2. Where schools are conducting online classes, and some students prefer to attend online classes rather than physically attend school, they may be permitted to do so.

3. Students may attend schools/ institutions only with the written consent of parents.

4. Attendance must not be enforced and must depend entirely on parental consent.

5. States /UTs will prepare their own SOP regarding health and safety precautions for reopening of schools/ institutions based on the SOP to be issued by Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education, Government of India, keeping local requirements in view.

6. Schools, which are allowed to open, will have to mandatorily follow the SOP to be issued by Education Departments of States/ UTs.

7. Department of Higher Education (DHE), Ministry of Education may take a decision on the timing of the opening of Colleges/ Higher Education Institutions, in consultation with Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), based on the assessment of the situation. Online/ distance learning shall continue to be the preferred mode of teaching and shall be encouraged.

However, Higher Education Institutions only for research scholars (PhD) and post-graduate students in science and technology stream requiring laboratory/ experimental works will be permitted to open from October 15, 2020, as under:

1. For Centrally Funded Higher Education Institutions, the Head of Institution will satisfy herself/ himself that there is a genuine requirement of research scholars (PhD) and post-graduate students in science and technology stream for laboratory/experimental works.

2. For all other Higher Education Institutions e.g. State Universities, Private Universities etc., they may open only for research scholars (PhD) and postgraduate students in science and technology stream requiring laboratory/experimental works as per decision to be taken by the respective State/UT Governments.
Earlier, the Government of India had allowed partial resumption of activities in schools for students of classes 9th to 12th on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers from September 21.