We’ve definitely come a long way now, with the pandemic forcing us to shut down public places, offices, major national organizations and institutions, and most important of all – educational institutions. Initially, the lockdown had left us totally clueless as all the conventional modes of imparting education had come to a screeching halt. It was an emergent and unprecedented situation, and major educators in the world had started looking for ‘smart’ methods to continue the cycle of research and innovation through learning. Soon enough, people came up with novel solutions to lessen the wide gap the pandemic had wrought upon. We were given alternatives to classroom teaching with virtual learning tools.

And that’s how we diversified into the online space. Beginning with conducting online classes and assessment as a temporary fix to keep the string of learning going, we are now highly considering online learning as one of the major methods as the future of education. Online teaching and learning have introduced major changes in our learning pattern and medium, from making use of presentations, simulation and graphic designing to enhance the students’ understanding of concepts to audio-visual interactions, online assessment techniques and advanced technology to aid teaching. The virtual mode of education has opened up new avenues for self-paced learning methods. The major advantage of self-paced learning is one can learn anywhere, anytime and with basic resources (a computer/smartphone, broadband connection and of course, a curious mind!) Plus, the learner can access the teaching tools at a click’s comfort and at a pace which he/she feels comfortable. all this included, one can access forums and discussions to clear doubts and connect with other learners in any corner of the world to brainstorm over ideas and solutions. Today, learning has become dynamic and is paving the way for better ways of optimization and development. Assessment methods have also become hassle-free with virtual tools with online forms, but the major drawback for this is malpractice which takes place off the invigilator’s reach of the screen. Efforts are being taken to bring this under effective control, with the help of softwares and apps which track eyeball movements, check for other malicious apps open on the student’s computer and other possible options. But this hasn’t been controlled so efficiently yet so as to completely believe in the online assessment system, and the search for effective solutions is on the go. Nevertheless, on the brighter side, education hasn’t completely come to a standstill as it would have if technological advancements wouldn’t have come to the rescue. Bigwigs in the online education space who were gaining popularity slowly before the pandemic situation benefitted with an upper hand and are now frontrunners in capturing the virtual education space. These companies, which primarily focused on capturing the attention of the child towards learning concepts in a fun way and helping the slow-paced learner pick up better with interesting teaching methods, have now dived deeper into the arena and shifted to quite a bigger space, as online education became the best viable solution to make up for physical classes. E-communication platforms which were earlier corporate-centric and better suited to long distance communication quickly altered themselves to cater the needs of the booming education sector, with focus on class meetings, presentation options and discussion platforms. All these developments are changing presumed conceptions about online learning and the face of modern education.

Some of the major hurdles to acquire effective and efficient online education currently are conducting practicals online. We do not seem to be well-equipped to go fully online and conduct laboratory and workshop sessions with the available technology and tools. Tech leaders are investing a great amount of time, money and effort to come up with satisfactory solutions to tackle this problem, which makes a big difference in higher technical education.

Virtual education has made a huge impact on our daily lives owing to technology amidst a wildly raging pandemic, and is proving to be a helpful technological aid to continue learning without time, place and barriers. The coming years will witness astounding changes and progress in educational methods.

There are a lot of reasons why 2021 is the best time for branding. We all know how dull has 2020 been for each sector, and also, we have realized from 2020 that nothing is certain.

The various reasons why 2021 is the best time for branding are that there are many people who are looking for work, there are many businesses which have shut down, so that gives us less competition, then a lot of established businesses are eager to partner with us. The market needs innovation. Also, another reason includes the fact that we have a lot of time in hand and that we can strategize on marketing and sales slowly, when everything gets back to normal, one can bring in innovative ways to make their products sell to the customers.

As a lot of businesses and shops have shut down operations or shut down their business itself, there is very less competition from others. So, if we can make innovative products and services which customers will appreciate, we will be able to capture the market very easily. No matter whichever age group or demographics we target our brand and pruducts with, it will be a win-win for us.

Another reason to say why 2021 is a great time for branding is that it has made more fresh talents being made. So, hiring process and hiring fresh talents will be a smoothening process. It will bring about high caliber people and bring in different areas of expertise.

2021 is a great time for branding as we can target our customers and offerings into separate demographics, interests, demands and trends. It is a great year for market penetration provided customer behaviour is studied well and can help in growth and diversification of products, services and the demographics in future when the business starts working smoothly.

There might be another reason of sustainability being a factor why 2021 is the best time for branding. Brands will think about their strategies or let’s say motives or purposes and will start to link it with environmental, social and governance commitments. There will be more interests built towards sustainable development goals and will ensure that they map the brand purpose with best fit goals. Also, there will be simlicity and decisions will be taken based on data. Every few years, businesses think about innovation and marketing, and research into this will be essential to adapt to the changing marketing conditions and the market conditions. Brands and companies will be more reliable on insights in-order to implement any new strategy and more insights will be needed to understand customers and simplify their strategies in-order to grow.

So these are some of the reasons why 2021 will be a great year for branding provided their strategies are apt and focussed. It will ensure more certainty and awareness about what changes happen in the market and what needs to be strategized in-order to excell even in uncertain times. It will make 2021 be a good success despite hard conditions.

https://www.thedrum.com/profile/siegelandgale/news/2021-predictions-on-the-future-of-branding

Almost all the perishable and packaged food items are packed in plastic or similar materials. We find the use of plastic almost everywhere, from crockery to furniture, containers, vehicles, utensils and every other area of domestic or commercial sector. Garbage bins and landfills lie flooded all over with plastic bags, items, damaged plastic waste, etc. The reason – The human race and civilization has developed drastically and with advancing technology, we seem to have incorporated plastic into almost every product today. Life seems inevitable without the indispensable use of plastic, its variants and products. But the flipside of plastic overuse has led to production of over a billion tonnes of disposable and non-biodegradable waste. As a result, we are left with an unending heap of waste with nowhere to properly get rid of, and it eventually ends up as dump waste in landfills, polluting and leaching harmful materials into the components of nature.

How is plastic formed/made?

Plastic is usually classified as synthetic and biobased plastic. While synthetic plastics are sourced from crude oil, natural gas or coal, biobased plastic is sourced from renewable products such as carbohydrates, vegetable and animal fats, etc. As compared to biobased plastic, synthetic plastic is easier and cheaper to produce. Synthetic plastic is made from natural gas, crude oil or coal. The first step in plastic manufacturing is extraction. After this, the refining and fractional distillation process takes place (for crude oil) wherein crude oil is purified and the required components for plastic making are separated out. These materials (like naphtha) are monomeric and are converted to polymer units through polymerization. Polymerization is a process in which monomers like ethylene, propylene, butylene are converted into high molecular weight hydrocarbons, or polymers. After this in compounding, various blends of materials are mixed by melting to make formulations for plastics. On the other hand, bioplastic is made from bioethanol, which is made from the fermentation of natural/biological sources.

The major problem today is handling non-biodegradable plastic waste. These plastics do not decompose to natural and environmentally safe products over time through biological processes. The extensive use of non-biodegradable plastic is due to its durability, versatility and economical cost. Due to this, a large amount of plastic waste is generated, leading to environmental pollution. Thus, plastic is discarded easily and its accumulation in the environment leads to numerous problems. Methods have been devised to dispose it off, but these methods either release toxic by-products into the environment or are costly to treat and recycle. 

The probable solutions to reduce plastic pollution focus either on treatment and regeneration of old plastic waste or choosing alternatives to plastic products or finding technologies to produce decomposable and environment-friendly plastic. Some of the methods to do this is reduce plastic usage and disposal, reuse the material in a better way, recycle the existing waste and refuse or choose other materials over plastic items, rethink on ways and means to take corrective steps towards reducing plastic pollution, repair and make smart use of the existing waste, refurbish old plastic items, remanufacture instead of revamping into wholly new plastic items, repurpose or find better ways of pushing waste to sustainable usage and recover for the spoilage of nature due to the resulting pollution. Government and watch bodies all over the world are creating a lot of awareness about the wretched situation regarding handling of plastic waste and how severely it will revert back on us if we don’t act soon and take control of it, and are taking up initiatives to improve the current scenario. The use of bio-degradable plastics is in circulation nowadays. Bio-degradable plastics are degradable to water, carbon dioxide (or methane) and biomass under specified and controlled conditions. These may not be totally efficient solution systems to non-biodegradable plastics, but they are surely less polluting and more environmentally safe in comparison. A lot of research is building up on solutions to tackle plastic garbage and we surely hope that we might find co-habitable and eco-friendly methods to its use or replacement.

We can hardly keep our hands off those scrumptious fries, kebabs, nuggets, and pakoras, wadas, chips, samosas because they are absolutely irresistible! But these deep-fried delicacies are loaded with too much oil. The result – we end up consuming more fat than required and become prone to obesity. The reason – fats are not assimilated in the body at the rate of other micronutrients like carbohydrates and are not excreted when ingested in excess. They rather get accumulated in the body and add to bad body fat and weight instead of muscle weight. Fats are calorie dense as compared to carbohydrates and proteins, contributing a whopping 9Kcal per gram of fat.

The human blood carries two types of cholesterol: LDL and HDL. Out of these, HDL is the good cholesterol while excessive LDL is bad for our health. LDL deposits in the blood vessels and important organs like heart and eventually blocks arteries, leading to atherosclerosis. Too much consumption of unhealthy fats like saturated and trans fats can raise the bad cholesterol of our body, exposing the risk to heart diseases and stroke.

Saturated fats are obtained from animal sources such as meat and dairy products and plant sources like coconut and palm oil. Artificial trans fats are formed due to partial hydrogenation of unsaturated fats. These are hydrogenated for easy storage, longer shelf life and to prevent rancidity. Trans fats formed naturally by animals and other sources aren’t considered quite harmful, but artificially made ones have serious health consequences. Saturated fats are found in high amount in products like cakes, biscuits and cookies, toffees, fatty meat and animal derives fats. Trans fats are high in products like frozen pizza, shortenings, bakery products like pies and cakes, fried foods like fries and doughnuts. These food items are quite a delicacy, but they are loaded with unhealthy fats which can be detrimental to our health.

Firstly, we can moderate the consumption of this calorie dense macronutrient and secondly, we can choose to eat healthy fats instead. One such fat, ghee is considered as a sattvic food and is recommended by health experts albeit its saturated fat content. Ghee helps in enhancing the good cholesterol content of the body. Ghee made from the milk of grass-fed cows is naturally rich in vitamin A, E and K.  Research shows that ghee is beneficial to reduce chances of ulcers and cancers of the gut. Ghee is rich in butyric acid which is involved in the production of T-cells which help with body immunity. Butyric acid is an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer constituent too. Ghee is essential for balancing hormones related to thyroid dysfunction. It aids in weight loss by lifting up the body’s metabolism. Similarly, rice bran oil and olive oil are healthy oils too. Rice bran oil is rich in vitamin E, oryzanol, plant sterols and is packed with healthy unsaturated heart healthy fats rather than saturated ones. Olive oil, a staple component of the Mediterranean diet, considered as the healthiest, most balanced and nutritious diet in the world is high in monounsaturated fats, the good fats which help in curing ailments of liver, cancer, heart and reduce the oxidative stress in body by scavenging free radicals through antioxidants present in it. Omega-3 and omega-6 fats when consumed in proportionate amounts are also a good source of healthy fats.

Consuming fats is necessary to carry various metabolic functions of the body, but it is our choice which makes the big difference. Healthy fats go a long way in protective and healthy body functions, while unhealthy fats are empty calories and gradually deteriorate our health and body. So, it is upto us to make choices which promote a healthy body and longevity, adding to quality of life. 

This is one from my personal experience. I have completed my Bachelor’s in Business Administration from St.Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore. I have been having a tough time finding internships or jobs from which I can earn something decent. I am glad that I at-least got a platform to express this. Thank you so much Eduindex News and WordPress. I have been interning here and writing articles for gaining internship experience for the past one month. I have applied to a lot of places in Bangalore. The fields where I have applied are Marketing, Content Writing. I have a lot of interest in content writing. I would love to earn money by writing small contents or small blogs.

What I want to express through this article is simple. I just want everyone who is of my age 21, to know, that whatever opportunity you get to intern, I say intern, not whether you earn money or not, but to intern, then grab it like it is a jackpot. It will add up to your experience, it will add up to your struggle which you have been facing finding an internship. I have been very grateful to this platform where I wrote articles, gained internship from Hariyali via Internshala. It is not about earning always, it is all about gaining experience and facing struggles. Today, I do not have any internship or any job, and I am constantly applying to everywhere for earning atleast something. Life is a lot more difficult out there and only now, I realize what my parents had struggled during their time that today, they have succesful businesses. Internships and jobs require a lot of skills which we lack. I also would love to give you one suggestion. There are a lot of free certificate courses on stock markets, digital marketing, from many many websites. Start applying and learning through them. It is a great experience which none of the colleges will ever teach you. It will also add up to the resumes when you make them for applying to new jobs.

Internships have a very important role to play in our life. No matter how big or small an internship is, it will surely give us some experience about what the outer life is, how difficult it is to earn even small amounts. I feel it is a responsibility of every person who is of my age, 21, and who is either finishing their under graduation, to keep searching for good online courses and for good internships where your interests lie. Good online courses add up to your resumes, and so does good internships. It will give you the extra added advantage over others to fetch a good job when you apply for it. If college is able to provide you with good internships, it is one of the best ways to get one, I had applied to various companies from college, but due to low marks, or don’t know which criteria, could not fetch a good job or internship. But, from my own experience, I would like to say to you that no matter how big or small internship or job we get, whether in college or through acquintance or from anywhere we apply, just grab it, do not miss it and grab it to gain experience, it might give you wonders in the future.

Ever since stable human civilizations have emerged and developed, people have been consuming food grains on a daily basis as staple food. The harvest and post-harvest processing methods of these grains have evolved over centuries. People’s eating habits have also transformed drastically through the ages. We have learnt to make use of the required specific parts of grains and discard the unwanted parts. Refining is such a process which has developed with time. In this process, the grains are milled with the help of roller grinders, where the grains are cracked and their endosperm separates from their bran and germ. Endosperm is the starchy carbohydrate part of grain with a tiny amount of vitamins and minerals. We prefer on eating refined grains because they are less fibrous and easier to chew and digest. The most commonly refined flour is wheat. Most of the delicious bakery cereal food products are made from refined wheat flour or maida. As maida does not contain germ and bran, it is devoid of good fiber and nutrients that whole wheat is enriched with. We use refined wheat flour in a variety of our dishes. Delicacies like bread, buns, noodles, cakes, biscuits have refined flour as their major ingredient. As refined grains skip important nutrients, all we consume at the end is starch and carbs. Fortification methods have been used to make up for the lost nutrients, but some elements of natural grain like phytochemicals can neither be economically recovered nor can be added to refined grains.

As opposed to this, whole grains contain three layers, namely bran, germ as well as endosperm. Bran is the fibre-filled outer layer of grain with vitamin B, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals. The innermost germ layer is the nutrient packed core with vitamins B and E, phytochemicals and healthy fats. As whole grains have good fibre content, they take longer time to pass through the intestine and help in longer digestion time. This ensures proper absorption of important micronutrients along with major nutrients in blood. It also keeps the stomach full for a longer time, resulting in a feeling of satiety and avoidance of overeating and consequent weight gain. Bran and fibre are slowly digested in the colon as compared to simple sugars like glucose. Thus the blood sugar level rises gradually and in a controlled manner instead a of sharp, drastic rise.

Research shows that consumption of whole grains is linked to a less likely possibility of death due to inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases as also cancer. Replacement of refined grains with fibrous whole grains with a lower glycemic index is beneficial in the reduction of type-2 diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. The fibre in whole grains makes the stool soft and bulky with better absorption and retention of water, helping in prevention of constipation.

In the beginning, it may seem difficult to switch to whole grain products instead of their refined counterparts, but changing to these products will prove beneficial in the long run. Efforts are also being made to improve the sensory appeal of whole grain products. Fitness freaks and diet conscious people are wilfully changing their unhealthy fooding habits by choosing whole grain substitutes of products like brown bread, multigrain flour, whole wheat noodles and pasta, brown rice, whole grain breakfast cereals. All in all, we can say that a healthy diet paves way for a healthy body and modifying the items on our plate to healthier options heavily weighs in to promote fitness and longevity of a healthy life. 

Our daily diet and food have changed drastically from what our ancestors used to consume. Modern technology and innovation in the kitchen have led to the production of a plethora of dishes and recipes. It has become quite easy to order a flamboyant, sumptuous restaurant meal to treat our food cravings with the click of a button. But as grand and presentable as these dishes are, have we checked for its wholesomeness? Do we realize to see if it is nutritious enough? All that considered, our consumption of sugar and related products and salt has gone way up than their required daily value. Eating packaged foods or restaurant preparations regularly has led to over-consumption of sugar and salt, leading to adverse health effects on our health. No wonder the numbers of people with non-congenital diabetes and high blood pressure issues have been increasing at a high rate in the past few years.

Sugar is an empty calorie food, which means eating sugar gives us no nutritional benefit. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar everyday. Processed and prepared foods as well as sweetened beverage drinks contain high amounts of added sugars and other artificial sweeteners. This carb-intense ingredient when consumed too much invites a large number of ailments and chronic diseases like obesity and heart related diseases.  Manufacturers of packaged foods are required to mandatorily mention the amount of added sugars on their food labels, but poor consumer awareness regarding checking these labels for direct amount of added sugars has led to them putting substitute ingredients, which in the end are equivalents of the same sugar with similar nutritional properties. Sweets and savouries, extruded cereal products, commercial chocolates, nutritional health drink mixes, processed juices, milkshakes and soft drinks are products with high sugar content.

Almost any food is incomplete and bland without the addition of salt. Salt is an important component of food, providing essential nutrients like sodium necessary for maintaining osmotic balance in and out of the cells and functional in nerve impulse conduction. Salt is also important as a fortification vehicle for iodine, iron and other minerals required by our body. But over the years, the consumption of salt has reached far beyond daily consumption values. Recent reports indicate that the consumption of salt is around 9-12 gm daily, about twice the recommended daily value. Due to rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles, people are inclined towards eating highly processed foods containing a large amount of salt, sugar, fat and are calorie dense too. A major reason for this is affordable and hassle-free availability of packaged foods. Consuming too much salt is detrimental to body health, leading to hypertension, heart related ailments and calcium losses from the bone. Too much salt in circulating body fluids can alter (reduce) the water content of the cells, leading to confusion, death or seizures. Pickles, papads, bakery products, chips, pizza, burgers and fries contain excessive amount of salt.

The best way to reduce sugar and salt content in food is by including fruits and vegetables in the diet and cutting out processed food products. This will also help in better intake of potassium which reduces blood pressure, and maintain the ion balance in the body. We can consciously choose foods which keep our daily sugar and salt intake within the daily value limits and lead a healthier life with healthier choices.