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Ratan Tata backs Goodfellows, India’s first startup for senior citizen companionship

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Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons and a prominent supporter of startups, recently announced an undisclosed investment in a start-up that offers senior citizens companionship as a service. The newest investment by Tata has been disclosed in Shantanu Naidu’s start-up firm Goodfellows. Naidu has been employed by Tata since 2018. He is a graduate of Cornell University’s Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management and a general manager in Tata’s office. Ratan Tata and Shantanu both adore dogs and stray animals, and Shantanu founded a company called Motopaws to cater to them. Naidu estimates that 50 million elderly people live alone and without someone with whom to share their life. Naidu refers to the 84-year-old industrialist as his boss, mentor, and friend. Startup Goodfellows hires young people with emotional intelligence and sensitivity to serve as senior citizen companions. In order to make their days easier, they assist them with any task. Presently, 20 senior citizens in Mumbai are being assisted by Goodfellows companions. They intend to provide services in Bengaluru, Chennai, and Pune. The senior citizens must be visited three times per week, and companions are expected to stay with them for about four hours each time. After a one-month trial period, the company charges Rs 5000 as the base subscription fee for a month.

Ratan Tata backs Goodfellows, India’s first startup for senior citizen companionship Read More »

Education minister appeals to the citizens to participate in the survey for National Curriculum Framework

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Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Education Minister, urged people to take the survey for the national curriculum framework today on Twitter. According to the minister’s tweet, “A dynamic National Curriculum Framework in line with the NEP 2020 will play a major role in achieving the goal of Viksit Bharat.” Development of a vibrant, dynamic, inclusive, and futuristic National Curriculum Framework is essential, he continued, in order to blend cultural rootedness with a global vision, free education from the legacy of colonialism, and offer our future generations a stronger sense of pride. To broaden the scope of consultations surrounding the ongoing revision of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), on which new school textbooks will be developed, the Ministry of Education launched an online public survey in July 2022. Visit the website ncfsurvey.ncert.gov.in if you’re interested in sharing your thoughts on the NCF revision. The NCF is a thorough framework that offers suggestions for the things that have to be covered in the classroom. Ten multiple-choice questions (MCQs) covering subjects such “best ways to ensure that learning in classrooms is made more enjoyable” and “primary issues regarding curriculum content in textbooks that a new curriculum framework must address” must be answered by survey respondents. A brief write-up on how to “make school education more relevant, effective, and meaningful for learners” can also be submitted as part of the survey by participants.

Education minister appeals to the citizens to participate in the survey for National Curriculum Framework Read More »

Omicron-specific vaccine being developed by SII could be released by the end of the year: Report

Leave a Comment / / Health & Wellness Community

An Omicron-specific vaccination is apparently being developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII), according to an NDTV report. The vaccine is being developed in collaboration with Novavax, according to SII Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla, who spoke to NDTV. Poonawalla added that the vaccine would only protect against the Omicron sub-variant BA5. Poonawalla says that SII may introduce the vaccine in India within the next six months. “Think this vaccine is important as a booster. Trials of Novavax are in progress in Australia currently. By November-December should be in a position to approach the US drug regulator,” Poonawalla was quoted as saying by NDTV.  The COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca is made by SII, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, and is sold under the brand name Covishield. A new Covid vaccine that targets the Omicron variant was approved earlier today by the UK, making it the first country to do so. The bivalent vaccine from Moderna, which targets both the original Covid strain and the Omicron variant, has received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), according to the Daily Mirror. The “next generation” coronavirus booster shot has been approved for use in adults and may only need to be given once a year. The Moderna vaccine, also known as mRNA-1273.214, is an updated version that is currently used for first, second, and booster doses. This dose will be the first one to be authorised in the UK that specifically targets two strains of the virus.

Omicron-specific vaccine being developed by SII could be released by the end of the year: Report Read More »

IRDAI organizes a hackathon and invites innovative tech solutions for the insurance sector

Leave a Comment / / Governance Community

To safeguard policyholder interests, the insurance industry’s regulatory body, IRDAI, has issued an invitation to companies to provide technologically advanced new solutions for automated death claim settlement, reducing miss-selling, and other components of the insurance ecosystem. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is accepting applications for Bima Manthan 2022, its first hackathon, with the topic “Innovation in Insurance.” The regulator stated in a statement that the hackathon “invites participants to explore and develop ideas that have the potential to make insurance available to every individual in a seamless and quick way with the use of technology and protecting the interests of the policyholders. In order to stop the miss-selling of insurance products, IRDAI has looked for creative ideas and tech-based solutions for automating death claim settlement. The regulator is also seeking technologically enabled solutions to identify uninsured motor vehicles, assure the issuing of necessary motor third party insurance, and technology-based distribution of insurance products, including microinsurance in “difficult terrains and less penetrable areas.” Another area chosen for Bima Manthan 2022 is the use of technology to reduce or prevent fraud in motor insurance. Participants in Bima Manthan 2022 will get the chance to showcase their creative solutions in front of a distinguished jury and compete for enticing rewards, according to IRDAI. In addition, Bima Manthan offers the winner the chance to work with an insurer (or insurers) on the winning project/platform, demo-day in front of insurers/intermediaries and other stakeholders, or direct entry into the IRDAI Regulatory Sandbox regime. The regulator said that registration for the hackathon begins on Tuesday.

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Govt. is currently seeking to merge accreditation and ranking bodies after proposing the merger of JEE Main, NEET with CUET

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Putting puzzle

The union government is now keen on combining the accreditation (NAAC) and ranking (NBA) bodies after making a strong argument for the merger of national level engineering and medical entrances with the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG). The National Board of Accreditation, or NBA, is entrusted with accrediting only institutions of technical education, whereas the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, or NAAC, is the only government agency authorised to accredit universities and colleges. NBA is also responsible for publishing the NIRF, an annual ranking of higher education institutions. A committee headed by Bhushan Patwardhan, chairman of the executive committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), has been established by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to begin the process of developing a single accreditation and ranking system, one of the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP). The move is significant since it follows the recent announcement by UGC chairman Jagadesh Kumar regarding merging the NEET, JEE Main with CUET-UG exams. The government is also planning to combine AICTE and UGC into the Higher Education Commission of India, or HECI, a single, all-encompassing higher education regulator. The National Accreditation Council (NAC) is a meta-accrediting body that should be established, according to the NEP 2020. Presently higher education institutions are accredited and ranked by a variety of organisations and systems that function independently of one another. Technical programmes are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), whilst non-technical or general programmes are accredited by the NAAC. According to a source, the National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranks all higher education institutions in India. The source also stated that the NEP envisions the formation of the National Advisory Council (NAC), a body that will ensure the coordinated operation of these bodies and align them with NEP goals. The committee is led by Patwardhan, a former vice-chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and includes Dr. Surender Prasad, the former director of IIT Delhi, Indranil Manna, the vice chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi, K. N. Ganesh, professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati, B. J. Rao the vice chancellor of the Central University of Hyderabad, and Dr. Manju Singh (joint secretary, UGC). Singh will serve as the committee’s coordinator. The six-member committee will study the NIRF ranking system, NBA’s process for accreditation, and NAAC’s methodology for accreditation. Along with developing a framework to align the three to create the proposed NAC, it will suggest a suitable mechanism to enable communication between the bodies. According to the NEP, “accreditation of institutions will be based primarily on basic norms, public self-disclosure, good governance, and outcomes, and it will be carried out by an independent ecosystem of accrediting institutions supervised and overseen by NAC.”

Govt. is currently seeking to merge accreditation and ranking bodies after proposing the merger of JEE Main, NEET with CUET Read More »

‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, starring Aamir Khan, earns Rs 10 crore on Day 1; Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Raksha Bandhan’ manages Rs 8 crore on opening

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Article on MEA

Laal Singh Chaddha, starring Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, debuted on Thursday (August 11) to mixed reviews after two weeks of controversy and boycott demands. The film’s producers, Aamir Khan Productions, had their eyes on the extended Independence Day weekend and hoped to make a fortune, but early ticket sales revealed a different pattern. Surprisingly few people saw the movie in theatres. Bollywood Hungama reports that as of Wednesday morning, the highly anticipated movie had only sold about 30,000 tickets at national chains like PVR and Cinepolis in Tier-1 cities. On its first day, the film was able to sell about 57,000 tickets throughout India. Despite having a great star cast, “Laal Singh Chaddha” made Rs 10.60 crore on its first day, according to film trade analyst Rohit Jaiswal. According to the BoxOfficeIndia report, the Raksha Bandhan festivities provided the movie a joyous boost in the late afternoon, which led to a double-digit figure. According to the report, the movie performs best in Delhi and Punjab. The movie struggled to get any traction at the box office in the Hindi circuits, though. According to Sumit Kadel, another film trade analyst, “Laal Singh Chaddha” would have grossed at least Rs 20 crore on Day 1 if it hadn’t become mired in the boycott controversy. After his box office flop “Thugs of Hindostan” in 2018, Khan made a comeback with the movie “Laal Singh Chaddha,” four years later. Along with Aamir Khan, the film also stars Naga Chaitanya, Mona Singh, and Kareena Kapoor Khan. The Telugu actor makes his Bollywood debut with this movie. In the meantime, the Thursday box office competition between “Laal Singh Chaddha” and “Raksha Bandhan,” starring Akshay Kumar, got off to a poor start. According to the film critic Jaiswal, “Raksha Bandhan” made Rs 8 crore on Day 1. Numerous theatrical Bollywood movies since the pandemic, including the “83” directed by Kabir Khan, “Bachchhan Paandey,” “Shamshera,” “Jayeshbhai Jordaar,” and “Samrat Prithviraj,” among others, have performed miserably at the box office. On the other side, this year’s major blockbusters in India have been Southern releases like “RRR,” “KGF: Chapter 2,” and “Vikram.” It would be interesting to watch if these new Bollywood films receive any reprieve from the long weekend.

‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, starring Aamir Khan, earns Rs 10 crore on Day 1; Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Raksha Bandhan’ manages Rs 8 crore on opening Read More »

Microsoft fires 200 employees from its R&D projects and gives them 60 days to find other jobs

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Microsoft reportedly fired 200 more employees soon after firing 1800 employees as part of a restructuring effort. This time, it has requested that members of its R&D team look for alternative positions inside the Company within two months or else be prepared to take a severance. This particular situation has an effect on even contract employees. This comes as a bit of a surprise as Microsoft announced plans to add more personnel soon at the same time it laid off the initial batch of 1800 employees. About 1% of the employees in consulting, customer, and partner solutions lost their jobs in the previous round. This time, the impacted staff members are from the company’s Modern Life Experiences (MLX) business, which was established roughly four years ago to concentrate on customer retention, reports Business Inside. In July, the software behemoth already reduced employment, citing a need for restructuring. According to recent reports, the software company is attempting to reduce expenses and costs. Employees have been instructed to cut back on spending on official gatherings, business travel, and outside training. According to media reports, managers have reportedly started paying for the food and beverages at team meetings out of their own pockets rather than billing the company for them. Companies seem to be halting or stopping recruiting and turning to layoffs due to a fear of a recession.

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Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Raina, Vice Chancellor, M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, tells how they transformed during pandemic

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“One of the important and significant features of Ramaiah University is that we are truly multidisciplinary and if we look at in the context of the new education policy, I think it fulfils most of the objectives that are laid down there,” says Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Raina, Vice Chancellor, M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm – Higher Education and Edtech Conclave & Awards 2022’ #HEETbengaluru If I use the three words, physical then digital and phygital what weightage would you like to give and why? So, frankly it is 30 30 30 because both are interdependent on each other as on date but I know that in the days ahead it is going to be more towards the digital era. The dream of our honourable prime minister is to make India digital and that Digital Drive I think there is going to be more and more people aligning towards the digital learning tools. I see there is a hope for the nation, hope for the next generation and when we look at the aspiration of the people I think they want to go more in the digital mode but we cannot compromise on the face-to-face learning tools as well. Any case study or keynotes which you want to share about how Ramaiah University transformed which could be helpful or useful for others who will be listening? Yeah, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences as we all know has been there for the last six decades catering to the needs of Education. One of the important and significant features of Ramaiah University is that we are truly multidisciplinary and if we look at in the context of the new education policy I think it fulfils most of the objectives that are laid down there. Pandemic was certainly a breakthrough in shifting our thought process from the face-to-face learning online. I think with lot many specializations that we offer nearly 75 specializations in medical in Health Sciences in engineering and Technology, social science it was not an easy path for us to adopt anyone so the Blended was the solution. So, what we did in the first place we used all our ERP tool systems to reach the larger diversity of the students and thereafter we give opportunity to students to come to the lab and work on the experiments wherever they had certain doubts I think I would say that during the pandemic Ramaiah University was in the Forefront of providing all possible tools and the services for the stakeholders and students. I would like to understand how does such kind of forums where we have a connect of government academia and industry helps overall the education community or a society at large? It is the need of the hour Mr Anand because you know people have aspirations from the government and government used to serve the society. This embedding system government the private players academics the corporates there has to be a wonderful tie up and the way you are creating this synergy is really wonderful fantastic indeed. I’m happy and glad to share with you that today we are proudly celebrating our first anniversary, any message would you like to share for ArdorComm Media? My compliments to you, this year have been I’m sure great learning for you but I know that you know you have to go a long way in making people satisfied with the process and the procedures that you adopt. The beginning is wonderful I compliment you and I through you appealed all people follow the practices what this great company is going to have for the society for the students of this country. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours, let us grow together.

Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Raina, Vice Chancellor, M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, tells how they transformed during pandemic Read More »

Dr. Kiran Kumar Ravulakollu, Dean, Woxsen University emphasizes on internationalization of education

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“One of our university’s prime pillar is internationalization where we used to have a lot of faculty from many universities across the globe to deliver lectures to our students,” says Dr. Kiran Kumar Ravulakollu, Dean, Woxsen University in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm – Higher Education and Edtech Conclave & Awards 2022’ #HEETbengaluru Will you like to share some experience of today’s summit? Definitely, thank you very much for having me and it was a wonderful conclave you have here, usually the conclaves like this only have either educators or tech companies over there but you have a mixed match of both of them it is a very good platform for people like me, will be looking forward in the future to participate many of these kinds of things. How has your institute evolved during this last two and a half years of struggle for existence? Over the last two years has been concerned we are primarily the organization that has turned into university in 2020 May itself which is the pandemic time and though we are aspiring ourselves to a bigger goal but that particular point of pandemic hit did not stop us. We did take the particular challenge we put all the efforts towards the technology. We embrace the technology to a greater extent we provide the support of all possible educational standards and requirements to our students. One of our university’s prime pillar is internationalization where we used to have a lot of faculty from many universities across the globe to deliver lectures to our students and in the pandemic time embracing the technology has highly helped us and that’s where we are able to deliver the quality and requirement to our students and that’s I think in this particular platform also that legacy we are not stopping we are still continuing the same legacy and we see that this kind of platforms will enrich to bring us towards a greater extent where the technologies and educators can come together and do many such great things. Any message would you like to give to the institutions who are from a digital divide area maybe a two tier, three tier or a smaller town, how do they upgrade or enhance themselves in this digital era? That’s an interesting question, never fear that technology is costly, it is never costly it is how we perceive it. The way we should be able to see is technology is nowadays the modern tool for education. Education and knowledge as its own it has its value and procession at the same time technology is only the tool that will be able to empower it to a greater extent. Then modern educators are new upcoming universities, colleges and all the people especially the operations who are embracing the multi-disciplinary culture they should be able to see the technology as a mere tool then the objective the bigger opportunity to what we’re looking for will definitely be achieved. I would also like to share that today we are celebrating the first anniversary of ArdorComm Media, and this last one year has been very exciting very struggling and very experiencing, any message would you like to give for ArdorComm Media Group? It was a wonderful initiative that has been taken first of all and at the same time I was happy that through the pandemic you have able to successfully complete one year of all these particular hurdles and the way I see it the gathering the size the amount of energies that have been left over here is clearly visible that your vision has been much better and stronger. Though as a single university, Woxsen University from Hyderabad, we are smaller but we wish a good amount of success and a lot amount of participation in the future and when your next event is happened in Hyderabad I would like to be prima facie of this particular event.  

Dr. Kiran Kumar Ravulakollu, Dean, Woxsen University emphasizes on internationalization of education Read More »

Gujarat University launches a course on innovation and design thinking for students

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A course on innovation, entrepreneurship, and design thinking for schoolchildren was introduced by Gujarat University’s chief minister, Bhupendra Patel, on Wednesday. Under the direction of the Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC) and UNICEF, the Vikram Sarabhai National Children Innovation Centre (VSCIC) developed the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC). The CM interacted with startups and honoured young innovators who were actively involved in the VSCIC as well as the finalists of herSTART, the GUSEC platform for promoting women-focused startups. According to a statement made by the CM that was included in an official release sent out by the GUSEC, “Everything comes down to the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, a vision that startups are boosting by generating jobs and encouraging innovation.”  With the support of UNICEF, GUSEC established the Vikram Sarabhai National Children Innovation Center as a national resource centre.

Gujarat University launches a course on innovation and design thinking for students Read More »