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Global leaders of Indian media have emerged from IIMC: Prof. Dwivedi

New Delhi, Feb 28: “The students of IIMC are today playing a leadership role in the field of media and mass communication. With their talent, the students of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication have brought laurels to the institute from all over the world”, said DG IIMC, Prof. (Dr.) Sanjay Dwivedi while addressing the alumni during IIMC Alumni Meet 2023.

Prof. Dwivedi, while lauding the IIMC alumni association ‘IIMCAA’, stated that running an association continuously is a challenging task. The dedication and hard work put in by the members of the IIMCAA is noteworthy. He stated that this alumni association has worked tirelessly for the benefit and respect of its fellow students, with no selfish motives. According to the Director General of IIMC, the way in which ‘IIMCAA’ has maintained the continuity of its activities and continues to upgrade itself is commendable.

Alumni of the institute and veterans of mass communication working in various institutes across the country took part in the annual program ‘Connections 2023’ of the IIMCAA. During the program, 23 alumni were recognized for their outstanding work in the media with the IFFCO IIMCAA Awards 2023. On this occasion, Senior Educationist Prof. Gita Bamezai, Media Entrepreneur Anita Kaul Basu, Senior journalist Prakash Patra, Assam State Information Commissioner Samudra Gupta Kashyap, and Senior Indian Information Service officer Anurag Vajpeyi were honored with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.

Renowned Odia writer Dr. Gayatribala Panda was given the ‘Alumni of the Year award, while Sushil Singh, Amit Katoch, Pankaj Chandra Goswami, and Pee Lee Ete were given the Public Service Award. Utkarsh Singh, the journalist of The Quint, was given the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award. Apart from this, Rohit Vishwakarma of NDTV has been awarded ‘Agriculture Reporter of the year’, Andrew Amsan of Indian Express for Print Media, Nibir Deka for Times Now (TV Journalism), Bijin Samuel of Malayalam Manorama for Indian Language Journalism (Print Media), Sandhya Manikandan for Indian Language Journalism (Print Media) (Television), Jyoti Jangra for Producer of the Year, Mohit Pasricha for Advertising and AR Hemant for excellent work in the field of Public Relations.

The ‘Jury Special Mention’ award was also given this year by ‘IIMCAA’. Harshita Rathore and Jyoti Yadav were given the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award. Apart from this, Agriculture Journalism to Harikishan Sharma, Print Media to N. Sundaresha Subramaniam and Shambhu Nath, TV Journalism to Abhishek Yadav, Indian Language Journalism to Rajshree Sahu (Print Media), Jyotismita Nayak to Indian Language Journalism (Television) and Surabhi Singh and Shubham Tiwari was awarded the Producer of the Year award.

Odisha Chapter was awarded ‘Connecting Chapter of the Year’, ‘Connecting Group of the Year’ to the 1993-94 batch, and ‘Connecting Alumni of the Year’ to Brij Kishore. Apart from this, the students of the Golden Jubilee Alumni Batch of the year 1972-73 and the Silver Jubilee Alumni Batch of the year 1997-98 were also felicitated.

IIMCAA, President Kalyan Ranjan, General Secretary Sadhna Arya, Senior IAS Officer and Editor of ‘Connections’ magazine Rajendra Kataria, National Meet Convenor and C-Voter Foundation Founder Yashwant Deshmukh, State Meet Convenor Gayatri Srivastava, International Meet Convenor Anwar Ashraf, IIMCA Awards Convenor and India Today Managing Editor Sunil Menon, Award Coordinator Simrat Gulati, IIMCA Care Fund Chairman Nitin Pradhan, and Scholarship Committee Chairman Anshu Gupta along with other alumni from different parts of the country were present in the event. The program was moderated by Ritesh Verma, Editor (New Initiative) of ‘Live Hindustan’.

Yulu & Bajaj Auto launch their new & revolutionary electric 2-wheeler platform purpose-built for urban mobility needs

 28 February 2023, New Delhi: Yulu, India’s largest shared electric mobility player, and Bajaj Auto, the world’s most valuable two-wheeler and three-wheeler company, today launched Miracle GR & DeX GR. These new generation vehicles are developed on a purpose-built platform for electric 2-wheelers that is engineered for Indian consumers, climate, and road conditions. With their unique form-factor, ergonomic design & tech-powered utility, the Miracle GR and DeX GR are set to offer a superlative experience to customers along with higher operational efficiency, thus dramatically improving Yulu’s overall financial metrics.

 Globally a first-of-its-kind, this partnership between a mobility tech company & a leading 2-wheeler OEM is built on the common vision to transform mobility through smart, shared, sustainable, and safe electric vehicles. Powered by Yulu’s revolutionary AI-led technology stack and exclusively manufactured by Bajaj Auto, the Miracle GR & DeX GR are made in India, for the world, and are being rolled out by Chetak Technology Ltd (a 100% owned subsidiary of Bajaj Auto).

“Together with Bajaj Auto, we are setting a new benchmark in urban mobility by ensuring affordable access to the best-in-class ride, while taking pioneering steps towards green commuting”, said Amit Gupta – Co-founder & CEO, of Yulu. “Mobility needs & customer expectations are rapidly changing & traditional ownership models are being disrupted. As a leader in shared mobility, we understand the criticality of curating purpose-built vehicles and robust energy infrastructure to create long-term value. Our partnership with Bajaj Auto was born out of this common vision and this launch will further solidify our position as a market leader in the shared mobility space while reinforcing our commitment to sustainably solve the problems of traffic congestion and air pollution for a daily commute and last-mile deliveries.”

S Ravikumar, Chief Business Development Officer, Bajaj Auto Limited said, “Going electric is a key strategic priority at Bajaj, and Yulu is an integral part of this strategy. Yulu’s deep expertise in EV technology and market knowledge coupled with Bajaj Auto’s strong, world-class R&D & manufacturing capabilities, is a powerful force that is shaping India’s future of mobility. These next-generation made-for-India vehicles with their intelligence, strong engineering underpinnings and sophisticated design aesthetics are a milestone not just for us, but for the entire electric mobility category.”

Having doubled its fleet in the last 3 months, Yulu is poised to put 100K vehicles on the road across major cities in India and is targeting more than 10x growth in revenues by the end of the year. Manufacturing from world-class automotive manufacturer Bajaj, Yulu also expects significant cost reductions and meaningful improvements in operating metrics and overall financials, owing to locally sourced parts and assembly, superior production quality and optimize economies of scale.

Yulu’s fleet operates on swappable batteries and is powered by Yuma Energy. There are currently around 100 Yuma stations across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi, which the company plans to scale to 500 by 2024.

PRMIA Bangalore Chapter holds webinar to make workforce future-ready

Bangalore, 28 February 2023: PRMIA Bangalore Chapter brought together industry stalwarts, banking experts, and thought leaders to its interesting webinar on – Enterprise Resilience through Future Ready Workforce. The event was actively participated and drew about 100 participants. Setting the tone of this event, Mr. Pradeep Kumar, the renowned banker and Chairman of Karnataka Bank, emphasized how the Workforce is the most valuable intangible asset of an enterprise.

COVID taught us to develop the next generation of workers into a resilient, future-ready workforce, constantly expand capacity to innovate and thrive, rather than just survive. In today’s highly competitive environments, Risk Education gives that required competitive edge to both working professionals and the enterprises. A future ready workforce can optimize organizational progress towards an unseen future. The most challenging task before us today is workforce transformation to support business transformation.

Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Chairman, Karnataka Bank “The organizations worldwide are facing what the World Economic Forum (WEF) calls, a re-skilling emergency. More than a billion people will need to be re-skilled by 2030.”

 Mr. Justin McCarthy, CEO, of PRMIA, has highlighted the strategies and sound global practices to strengthen operational resilience. A panel of experts from Banking and IT industries delved deep into various dimensions of skilling and re-skilling the workforce for staying relevant and resilient.

The illustrious panel included Mr. Alok Kumar Dwivedi, DGM & CDO, State Bank of India, LHO, Bangalore; Mr. Piyush Kabra, Head of Risk and Crisis Management for LTIMindtree, Mr. Raghuram H S, Chief Risk Officer, Karnataka Bank Ltd and Mr. Rajesh Varahan, Business Development (FSI), AWS Professional Service. Mr. Hariharan V, former Dy General Manager, State Bank of India, efficiently moderated the webinar. Mr.Ramesh Kanamarlapudi, Regional Director, Bengaluru, PRMIA, India welcomed the gathering. He highlighted how PRMIA India with six chapters and 100 plus volunteers is playing a transformative role in capacity building in risk management. PRMIA’s competency-focused credentials are highly respected globally and have been recognized by the government of India as well as leading corporate. Dr. Nirakar Pradhan, CEO, PRMIA India offered vote of thanks. Mr. Ashok Kumar B R, Director, Board of Karnataka Bank, also graced the webinar.

Hyderabad based founders of Future CIO Club to offer leadership skills training to Indian techies to fast track careers

Hyderabad, India, February 28th, 2023: Hyderabad-based founders of Future CIO Club (www.futurecioclub.com), have announced the launch of new leadership skills training programs for young and experienced techies based in India, who aspire to fast-track their professional careers. This training program is designed to empower passionate professionals with the strategies and tools necessary to improve their confidence, technology, management, leadership skills, and business acumen to climb the corporate ladder.

Aimed at aiding interested individuals, the Future CIO Club also offers certain free courses which will help techies learn the leadership language and to showcase their readiness for the promotion they deserve. Program modules will help learn nuances of the trade and to sound smart and strategic with the right or pointed questions for any business transformation projects. A variety of programs are on offer for free too which will help future leaders become great data management and data analytical professionals.

Commenting on the program, Mr. Raj P. Varada, Co-founder, of Future CIO Club said, “While Indian technology practitioners play a prominent role as leaders across various top-notch IT companies in the United States of America and around the World, there are millions of techies who struggle to remain in the industry due to lack of required skill set. Even if Indian techies are good as project executors, there are few in leadership roles in multi-national IT giants. And the Future CIO Club aims at bridging this gap and enable promising Indian techies to acquire the necessary skills to dominate the technology leadership spectrum.”

“Abilities to work collaboratively across teams while coordinating technology operations, digital transformations, client support, change management strategies, etc., will be put to test when an individual grows in career. And acquiring these much-needed skills is a must for those who want to scale greater heights in their careers; and various free and paid programs offered by the Future CIO Club help aspiring techies emerge stronger on these fronts,” added Mr. Srikanth Lingidi, Co-founder, Future CIO Club.

The Future CIO Club is run by leaders with a combined industry leadership experience of 100+ years. Individuals associated with the Future CIO Club had in the past worked as CIOs, CTOs, Vice Presidents (Technology), and even as C-suite advisors to various IT giants in the United States of America. Passed out of top schools like MIT Sloan, Ross Business, Duke, and IIT, these leaders are certified in many industry-proven and well-recognized programs. These leaders have not just enabled 1000+ professionals to reach director or higher profiles, the have also played a socially responsible role to promote technology education among the under-represented sections of society.

FutureCIOClub is dedicated to offering CIO mentoring to eager IT professionals and executives with the introduction of its imaginative program. The freshly launched program provides signature courses that are packed with comprehensive details on important subjects such as Ultimate IT Leadership, Digital Transformation Unpacked to Mastery, Strategy Language for IT Leaders, Agile Frameworks for Enterprise Agility, and more.

EaseMyTrip enters an advertisement agreement with Capri Global Holdings Private Limited for five years of Women’s Premier League

Mumbai, February 28, 2023: With just a week left for the much-awaited maiden edition of the Women’s Premier League, EaseMyTrip, one of India’s largest online travel tech platforms, announced that it entered an advertisement agreement with Capri Global Holdings Private Limited, the franchise owner of the team, UP Warriorz. The agreement lasts for five years, beginning from the tournament’s first season.

The T20 cricket tournament organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is being looked at as a game-changer for women athletes. The WPL will not only create conversations around the women’s game, but it will also become a pathway for talent. Women cricketers taking center stage will be the cynosure of all eyes. This will inspire younger players to come through the ranks and share the field with the who’s who of the sport, furnishing a healthy grassroots system that keeps producing special performers on the world stage. EaseMyTrip will benefit from millions of views by this association.

Speaking on the development, Nishant Pitti, CEO & Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip, said, “At EaseMyTrip, we consistently display an innovative and maverick mindset. From being the only company in the industry to provide the benefit of no convenience fee charged to all our customers to now being a commercial partner in the pathbreaking endeavor for women’s cricket, EaseMyTrip is becoming a pillar for progress. At the heart of this association is our unwavering support for the WPL and its inaugural season. We are extremely delighted to be commercially engaged in the first edition of a tournament that will become women’s cricket’s biggest brand in the coming years. We are also looking to leverage the brand visibility that has tremendous potential, as millions of fans will be glued to their television sets watching the celebration of talent that the WPL is.”

“Capri Global Holding Private Limited and the UP Warriorz welcome EaseMyTrip into the family in what promises to be an exciting long-term partnership in a revolutionary journey in women’s cricket in India. The unfaltering support from EaseMyTrip will not only pave the way for greater brand visibility but also lay out the red carpet to celebrate and honour the immense talent in women’s cricket,” said Rajesh Sharma, Managing Director, Capri Global Holdings Private Limited.

The initial season of the league will broadcast in India on the Sports18 TV channel and the Jio Cinema app.

Multi-cloud infrastructures and the new wave of security challenges

To quote the 500 BCE pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, “change is the only constant,” and when it comes to today’s ever-transforming world – especially this decade, which is witnessing the introduction of new terms into the lexicon, from Web 3.0 and NFT (Non-Fungible Token) to Crypto and Blockchain. Cloud computing, which is just a few years younger than the internet, is also adopting new advances, namely multi-cloud technology. However, as infamously, the residents of Troy learned the hard way no wall is impenetrable during the trojan war. The same goes for any technology today. While multi-cloud offers an array of advantages, empowering organizations to drive maximum growth, it also poses some serious concerns and comes with its own challenges.

Multi-Cloud Infrastructure uses cloud services from a combination of hyper scalers, which can be as simple as using software-as-a-service (SaaS) from different hyperscalers. A multi-cloud can have two or more public clouds, two or more private clouds, or a combination of public and private clouds to distribute its services. Cloud computing can provide resources that are cost-effective, efficient, and reliable. Reduced costs, rapid implementation, flexibility, and dynamic scalability are all advantages for a multi-cloud user. Cloud computing lowers capital and operational expenditure for Software and hardware by providing services and resources that may be accessed on demand in a self-service environment, scalable, and paid for as consumed. Despite these advantages, cloud computing has not been as widely used as anticipated because of worries about security and other challenges.

Security and privacy issues are the biggest deterrents to cloud adoption. A cloud provider offers several services, including storage, in addition to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). Concerns about providing user data to companies that offer these services exist inside some businesses.

Many obstacles push an organization from converting to the cloud; the most significant security challenges are as follows:

Managing multiple configurations in a multi-cloud environment is always a challenge. It requires thorough checking, driving automated configuration and end-to-end security monitoring to proactively check and fix the issues.

Managing Permissions and Access controls in a multi-cloud environment is always challenging to ensure we create, configure, and manage the security policies across the hyperscaler environments. Managing the consistent replication of security policies and managing them needs centralized management and control of all the multi-cloud environments to consistently secure and access policies across the board.

Managing patch management to handle consistent threats and vulnerabilities in multi-scaler environments is always a major security challenge. Any missing configuration patch can lead to higher security vulnerabilities to handle.

Lack of Redundancy: In case of a cyber-attack or mishap in the cloud, a typical step is activating the secondary data site since the primary data site is under siege. In this case, the synchronous and asynchronous backup of the data is not possible, and all the information is stored in the local storage. This unavailability of data synchronization can potentially infect the whole system.

3rd Party Dependency: Multi-Cloud service users are not in control of their data backup, as the service provider executes multi-cloud backup. Consumers of multi-cloud need to ensure their trust in the 3rd party service provider for that. Hence it becomes essential for multi-cloud users to consider the track record of the multi-cloud service provider to ensure data backup responsibility.

High latency in failure detection: The length of time that is required to detect a failure will have a substantial effect on the length of time that the system is inoperable. Immediate detection and reporting of failures are essential. However, where multiple backup sites are involved, immediately distinguishing between disruption of service and a network failure may prove difficult.

Ultimately, using a multi-cloud strategy may take advantage of the best features each cloud offers. But there are specific difficulties and things to think about with this approach. Because of this, you must assess and determine the best security management and monitoring tools, which can help manage the patches, access controls, policies configurations and proactive alerts. The security of production workloads is the hour’s need, irrespective of the multi-cloud platform you adopt.

Shyam Steel ropes in Vijay Devarakonda as its Brand Ambassador

New Delhi, February 2023: Shyam Steel, one of the leading producers and manufacturers of primary TMT bars, has announced today that it has roped in leading Indian actor Vijay Devarakonda as its brand ambassador. The group also announced its major plans to expand and revamp its retail operations across the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana markets followed by other states in South India. Vijay Devarakonda is the newest member to be added to the pantheon of famous endorsers for Shyam Steel. The Andhra and Telangana markets have huge growth potential for the steel sector, and Shyam Steel will aim to be one of the leaders in the primary TMT bar segment across the region.

Commenting on the association with Vijay Devarakonda, Mr. Lalit Beriwala, Director, Shyam Steel Industries Limited said, “We are delighted to associate with Vijay Devarakonda. Vijay’s persona resonates with our brand vision and this association with him will not only help us in building a presence in the southern market but also increase our brand penetration and awareness across the country due to his pan-India fan following. We are confident that his onboarding as an ambassador will help us to collaborate and engage better with our target consumers in the national markets.”

On associating with Shyam Steel, Vijay Devarakonda said “I am happy to join hands with Shyam Steel whose brand vision resonates with me. I am super excited to start our journey and be part of exciting new campaigns for the brand. I look forward to a long and fulfilling partnership through this association”.

The Southern India market has witnessed steady economic growth in all the core sectors of the economy. Focus of the State Governments on infrastructural development, construction of urban and rural housing, roads, bridges, and creation of more irrigation facilities will contribute towards the growth of the steel business in the region. Incidentally, Telangana is one of the fastest-growing states in India posing an average annual growth rate of 13.90% over the last five years. The growth rate in Andhra Pradesh is also 13.14% with per capita income increased to Rs.1,22,376 and GSDP standing at 3.64%. All these factors are the main driving reason for Shyam Steel to expand its business in the region.

Shyam Steel plans to onboard more than 500 dealer distributor networks in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana markets in the next 5 years’ time. The Group’s business activity will also drive the immense potential for employment generation which will increase as per the growth of the business in the region. The Group is very bullish on its growth potential and will be effectively looking to enter in all districts and be a part of every household assisting them to build their dream home. The brand will soon launch a 360-degree campaign highlighting the association with Vijay Devarakonda