16, Oct 2026
Jindal Steel Wins Global Steelie Award for Excellence in Workplace Safety
New Delhi, Oct 16: Jindal Steel has earned international recognition for its innovative workplace safety initiative, Dakshata Engineering Safety, winning the 2026 Steelie Award for Excellence in People presented by the World Steel Association.
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The award recognises the company’s efforts to strengthen workforce capabilities by connecting safety knowledge with practical skills required on the factory floor. Jindal Steel was selected ahead of other finalists, including Tata Steel, InfraBuild, China Baowu and USIMINAS.
The Dakshata initiative moves beyond conventional safety training by assessing employees on the specific knowledge, emergency response capabilities and practical skills needed for their respective roles. Based on individual assessment results, the programme identifies gaps and provides targeted training before reassessing workers’ proficiency. These assessments also help management improve workforce deployment and supervision.
The initiative has assessed more than 27,100 executive and non-executive employees across six facilities. During the initial assessment of 11,639 non-executive employees, the average knowledge score stood at 0.81, compared with 0.71 for practical application.
To address the gap, 69 certified trainers delivered 372 health and safety training modules, achieving a 96 per cent completion rate. The company also recorded 16,539 formal assessments for incoming personnel.
Jindal Steel has further strengthened workplace protection through digital risk analytics, engineered hazard reduction, access controls and artificial intelligence-based monitoring at its Raipur Machinery Division.
During the 2025–26 financial year, the facility recorded 17,752 safety observations and mechanised or eliminated 379 high-risk tasks. These measures helped reduce emergency response time by 15 per cent to 5.25 minutes, while the facility reported a lost-time injury frequency rate of zero.
The global recognition highlights the growing importance of data-driven safety management, role-specific training and practical risk prevention in the steel industry, where protecting frontline workers remains a critical operational priority.
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- By Neel Achary
16, Oct 2026
World Food Day: Rising Food Adulteration Concerns Put Odisha’s Safety Checks Under Scrutiny
Bhubaneswar, Oct 16: As the world observes World Food Day, concerns over food adulteration in Odisha are once again drawing attention to the safety of everyday food products, from milk, chhena and paneer to fruits, vegetables and popular street foods.
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Repeated raids by food safety officials in Bhubaneswar and other parts of the state have resulted in the seizure of suspected adulterated products. However, questions remain over how effectively enforcement measures are tackling the problem at its source and whether inspections are sufficiently regular across the food supply chain.
The issue has assumed particular significance following several operations targeting suspected fake dairy products and the use of chemicals for fruit ripening.
6,238 Food Samples Collected in Five Years
According to data cited by the Food Safety Department, officials collected 6,238 food samples during inspections at hotels, sweet shops, restaurants and other establishments in Bhubaneswar over the past five years.
Cases were reportedly registered against 460 people in connection with alleged food adulteration, while fines totalling Rs 5.40 lakh were collected.
Although these figures indicate enforcement action, concerns persist over whether the existing measures are sufficient to deter violations and prevent unsafe products from reaching consumers.
The challenge, observers say, extends beyond conducting raids and imposing penalties to identifying the sources of adulteration and ensuring compliance at every stage, from production and transportation to retail sale.
Suspected Adulteration of Chhena and Paneer Raises Concerns
The repeated seizure of suspected adulterated chhena and paneer has put dairy products under particular scrutiny in the state capital.
Milk is sold through tankers at several locations in Bhubaneswar, with vendors claiming that their supplies come from dairy farms and nearby villages. The milk is subsequently used to prepare products such as chhena and paneer for sale.
However, questions have been raised about the regular testing of milk supplied through these channels and the quality of the dairy products made from it.
The recent enforcement drives have renewed calls for closer monitoring of dairy supply chains, including checks on the origins of raw materials and the conditions under which products are manufactured and stored.
Chemical Fruit Ripening Comes Under Scanner
Food safety concerns are not confined to dairy products. The use of chemicals and artificial colours to improve the appearance or preserve the freshness of fruits, vegetables, fish and dried fish has also attracted attention.
Last month, food safety officials raided more than 30 banana warehouses in Bhubaneswar’s Bapuji Nagar, Ashok Nagar and Budha Nagar areas. During the operation, officials seized ethephon used for fruit ripening and destroyed more than one quintal of bananas.
The operation highlighted the need for continued monitoring of fruit storage facilities and markets to prevent the improper use of ripening agents.
Regular inspections are also considered important at roadside food stalls and other eateries, particularly during the festive season, when demand for prepared foods and fresh produce tends to rise.
Street Food Hygiene Also a Concern
Popular street foods such as gupchup, momos, chaat and chowmein are widely consumed across Bhubaneswar. Their popularity has also brought attention to questions surrounding hygiene, food handling and the quality of ingredients used by vendors.
Consumers’ safety depends not only on the quality of raw materials but also on proper storage, clean preparation areas and hygienic handling practices.
Regular checks at markets, restaurants and roadside stalls are therefore important to identify potential violations before they pose risks to the public.
Doctor Calls for Greater Food Safety Awareness
Dr Sudam Sarangi, an oncologist at SUM Hospital, stressed the importance of public awareness about food safety. He cautioned against consuming food containing harmful chemicals and artificial colours and advised people to pay attention to the quality of products they purchase.
He also recommended eating fresh fruits and undergoing regular health check-ups.
Health experts generally emphasise that consumers should buy food from reliable sources, wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly and avoid products that appear suspicious. However, identifying adulteration is not always possible through appearance alone, making effective testing and enforcement essential.
Officials Continue Raids Against Adulteration
Food Safety Officer Satyajit Patel said officials were regularly conducting raids at shops selling chhena and paneer. He added that fines were being imposed and traders were being warned against violations.
According to the report, 18 special drives have been conducted across Odisha to curb adulteration in chhena and paneer.
While the department has continued its enforcement efforts, a major challenge remains ensuring that inspections are sustained and that action extends beyond retail outlets to the manufacturing and distribution networks supplying the products.
Stronger Monitoring Needed to Protect Consumers
The concerns emerging on World Food Day underline the importance of a comprehensive approach to food safety in Odisha. Regular inspections, laboratory testing, effective penalties and closer monitoring of production and distribution channels are crucial to preventing adulterated food from entering the market.
For consumers, the issue is immediate and personal: whether the food purchased from shops, markets and roadside stalls is safe to eat.
As enforcement agencies continue their drives, sustained monitoring and greater transparency will be essential to strengthen public confidence and ensure that food safety standards are upheld across the state.
16, Oct 2026
Alice Collaborates with Inflection AI and AI21 to Demonstrate NVIDIA Nemotron Open Models Can Be Trained for Frontier Safety
NEW YORK, NY, Oct. 16— Alice announced the results of two collaborations focused on aligning NVIDIA Nemotron models to company-specific safety and security policies. The results demonstrate how real-world threat data can be used to train open-source models for frontier safety performance.
Open-source models give organizations greater control over AI behavior, allowing them to train policies into the underlying model rather than setting instructions as system prompts. To successfully train models on their policies, companies need adversarial data and expertise. Two projects demonstrate how NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art open-source model can be aligned for safer human interactions, and more secure enterprise agents.
“Powerful AI is being democratized. It’s now available to companies everywhere, and they want to use it safely and predictably,” said Noam Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Alice. “These results show that with the right real-world adversarial data and training, we can teach open source models how to handle the threats and abuse they will actually face, across very different safety challenges, while keeping them as powerful. That’s the bar now: frontier-grade safety that any organization running advanced AI can actually put into practice.”
Training safety for how people actually use AI
Inflection AI is building personal AI that empowers people and shifts interactions from transactional to relational. Allowing more natural interactions with conversational AI also increases risks which most benchmarks can’t catch. In the process of building the next generation of personal intelligence, Inflection AI fine-tuned NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B, and turned to Alice to develop red-teaming datasets aimed at reducing sycophancy and preventing the model from reinforcing unhealthy attachment over long conversations. Fine-tuning on that data raised Pi’s alignment score by 30% while keeping unnecessary refusals to just 1.6%.
Alice created more than 20 realistic personas and used them in multi-turn red-team exercises where those risks could develop over time. The personas included vulnerable but benign users as well as adversarial users deliberately attempting to manipulate the model, drawing on Alice’s real-world knowledge of harmful and adversarial behavior.
“As AI innovation accelerates, safety has to advance rapidly as well. It’s no longer enough to ask whether a model can identify and refuse a harmful prompt,” said Sean White, CEO of Inflection AI. “We also need to understand how AI behaves across hundreds of interactions, whether it challenges rather than simply agrees, if it supports human agency rather than dependency, and ultimately if it leaves people more capable. This work with Alice and NVIDIA demonstrates that we can train those principles into powerful open models without sacrificing what makes them useful. That’s fundamental to the kind of human-centered Personal Intelligence we’re building with Pi.”
Security without sacrificing capability
Alice also worked with AI21, which has trained language models since 2021 and now offers lab-as-a service for specialized intelligence. The work with them focused on a very different problem: protecting enterprise agents against indirect prompt injection. As agents gain access to company systems, data and tools, attackers can attempt to manipulate them through information the agent encounters while doing its work. Training against those attacks therefore cannot focus only on whether the model refuses a malicious instruction. A secure agent also needs to recognize the attack while continuing to complete the legitimate task.
Alice’s reinforcement-learning environments were built to train and measure both. AI21 used them to post-train the recently released NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Super VL open model, increasing the model’s resilience to indirect prompt injection by 41 points, competing with GPT-6.1 Sol.
The result shows that security and capability are not necessarily competing objectives. With the right training, models can become significantly more resilient to adversarial manipulation while maintaining task performance.
“For most companies, the next phase of AI adoption goes beyond frontier models, to open models they own, shape and control,” said Ori Goshen, Co-founder and CEO of AI21. “Owning a model means owning how it fails, not only what it can do. We post-trained NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Super-VL on attack traces Alice sees in the wild, so it holds up against the attacks that actually reach enterprises while keeping the behavior it was built for.”
“NVIDIA Nemotron provides the open weights, recipes and tooling for organizations to post-train on their own data and optimize accuracy and performance for their specific workloads,” said Joey Conway, senior director Nemotron and Software, NVIDIA. “Alice’s work with Inflection AI and AI21 shows how post-training Nemotron on real-world adversarial data delivers powerful safety and security — exactly the kind of innovation open models are meant to unlock.”
Taken together, these collaborations demonstrate how real-world adversarial intelligence, safety datasets, expert red teaming and reinforcement-learning environments can turn open models into systems trained for the risks they will actually face. The broader opportunity is clear: powerful, customizable AI that companies can own and deploy with frontier-level safety built in.
16, Oct 2026
Oritain Launches Supplier Intelligence Report, Revealing a New Era of Supply Chain Collaboration
SINGAPORE, Oct 16 – Oritain, global leaders in forensic origin verification, announced the release of its Supplier Intelligence Report, a dedicated supplier deep dive building on findings from the inaugural 2026 Global Supply Chain Intelligence Report.
Drawing on Oritain’s supplier intelligence* across key global manufacturing hubs, the report offers a unique view into how suppliers are responding to growing regulatory scrutiny, customer expectations and sourcing pressures. The findings challenge a common industry assumption: suppliers are not resisting transparency. Instead, they are actively investing in traceability, seeking stronger collaboration and looking for credible ways to demonstrate trust.
The report suggests the industry is entering a new phase of supply chain integrity. While traceability has become increasingly established, the next challenge is ensuring supply chain claims can be supported by independent evidence. As brands, retailers and manufacturers face greater scrutiny from regulators, investors and consumers alike, the ability to substantiate provenance and sourcing claims is becoming a critical business capability.
The research draws on supplier insights from key manufacturing markets, complementing findings from the 2026 Global Supply Chain Intelligence Report, which examined sourcing risk, enforcement trends and consumer trust across global supply chains, by shining a light on the evolving priorities, challenges and opportunities facing suppliers themselves.
From Traceability to Trust: The Rise of Verified Supply Chain Ecosystems
The Supplier Intelligence Report highlights a significant shift in supplier attitudes towards transparency and verification.
Nearly 80% of suppliers surveyed already operate some form of traceability solution, while 75% are open to adopting new traceability technologies. More significantly, 77% expressed interest in participating in origin verification initiatives, highlighting growing recognition that transparency alone is no longer enough to build trust in today’s supply chain environment.
“The findings tell a different story than many people expect,” said Gemma Lynch, Chief Customer Officer at Oritain.
“Suppliers are not pushing back against transparency. They are actively looking for ways to participate in a more trusted supply chain ecosystem. The challenge is no longer willingness to engage. The challenge is ensuring claims can be substantiated with credible evidence when questions arise.”
Key Insights from Oritain’s Supplier Intelligence Report
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Collaboration is Emerging as a Competitive Advantage: 77% of suppliers surveyed expressed interest in collaborating on origin verification initiatives, signalling growing momentum towards shared responsibility across supply chains.
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Transparency is Becoming a Business Imperative: More than 85% of suppliers describe supply chain transparency as important or very important to their business, reinforcing that transparency is now a core commercial consideration rather than a niche sustainability issue.
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Traceability Adoption Has Accelerated: Nearly 80% of suppliers already use traceability solutions, while 75% remain open to adopting new technologies, demonstrating continued investment across the sector.
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Customer and Consumer Expectations Are Driving Change: 81% of suppliers identified consumer demand as a key driver of transparency efforts, while retailer and customer requirements continue to shape investment decisions.
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Leadership Engagement is Growing: 73% per cent of suppliers involve executive leadership in traceability and transparency decisions, suggesting these issues are increasingly viewed as strategic priorities.
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Verification is the Next Frontier: As traceability becomes increasingly common, suppliers are seeking more credible ways to validate sourcing claims and differentiate themselves in competitive markets.
Building the Future Through Connected Networks
The report arrives shortly after Oritain announced significant enhancements to its Membership program, creating a stronger framework for collaboration between brands, suppliers and manufacturers.
Combining forensic origin verification, supply chain intelligence and a growing network of verified participants, Oritain Membership is designed to help organisations move beyond isolated compliance towards a more connected ecosystem built on trust, transparency and evidence.
“The future of supply chain integrity will not be built by organisations operating in isolation,” said Lynch.
“It will be built through networks of buyers and suppliers working from a shared foundation of trusted data, independent verification and actionable intelligence. As expectations continue to rise, organisations need more than visibility into their supply chains. They need confidence in the information they are using to make decisions. Our role is to provide the science, intelligence and verification that help make that possible.”
* The research surveyed 122 senior decision-makers, primarily at director level or above, across 10 markets (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Türkiye, Vietnam, Singapore, Bangladesh and Pakistan), with 80% of respondents having more than four years of industry experience.
16, Oct 2026
Travelers will let AI hunt for hotel deals, but not plan the trip, Mews survey of 3,250 travelers finds
New York, NY | Oct 16: Travelers will let AI watch hotel rates (63%) and translate on the spot (56%) but far fewer want it planning their itinerary (44%) or personalizing the room (41%). That’s according to a new survey of 3,250 travelers from Mews, the operating system for hospitality, and it comes down to one question: is the task a chore or a choice?
A price alert or a translation doesn’t need anyone to know a guest personally. It just needs to be accurate and fast. An itinerary or a room setup is personal by definition, and 57% of travelers say they would rather stay in control of their trip than hand over those decisions to AI acting on their behalf. That’s where hoteliers come in.
Guests trust the data they share, not the data gathered about them
Travelers are far more comfortable with AI drawing on what they’ve knowingly shared with a hotel, such as stated preferences (61%) and past stay history (56%), than on what’s collected about them, such as online behavior (43%) or external and social data (34%). Guests aren’t turning away from personalization. They care where it comes from, and it lands best when it’s built on what they chose to share rather than what’s been assumed.
Comfort with shared data is strongest in the US, where 63% are happy for AI to draw on their past stay history. Spain is the market most swayed by data transparency: 72% would be more willing to use AI-enabled services if they had transparency and control over their data.
The pattern holds across markets
In every country surveyed, travelers are less willing to use AI once it’s running a moment of the stay than when it’s helping them plan ahead. UK travelers show the functional mindset most clearly: they’re the least likely to rate personalization during a stay as important (30% vs. 40% on average).
Italy and Spain are the most enthusiastic markets. Italian travelers are the most likely to expect check-in with no front desk at all (58% vs. 42% on average) and the most optimistic about AI’s role five years from now (51% vs. 39% on average, the only market significantly above it). Overall, Spain has the most positive attitude to AI (58%), and the two countries are the only ones significantly more positive than the rest of the sample.
“Guests have told us where AI helps, and where it doesn’t,” said Josef Starýchfojtů, CPTO of Mews. “Having clever technology is great, but firstly, we should know whether guests want a task done for them or want to be part of it. Get that wrong and even good AI feels intrusive. We’re building for human hospitality: technology handles the mundane, repetitive admin, and hotel teams have more time for their guests.”
What this means for hoteliers
Let AI take on the admin, such as price tracking, translation, and instant communication, so your team has more time for the moments their guests will remember. Deliver personal touches based on what guests have told you directly and be selective about where automation goes. The hotels getting the most value from AI aren’t the ones with the most automation. They’re the ones that know which moments to keep human.
This survey took place in July 2026 and covered 3,250 travelers across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.
16, Oct 2026
PM Modi to Visit Canada on December 11 to Push Trade Deal and Strategic Cooperation
New Delhi, Oct 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to undertake a two-day official visit to Canada from December 11, with trade negotiations, energy cooperation, technology and regional security expected to feature prominently on the agenda.
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The proposed visit follows a recent telephone conversation between Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, during which both leaders reportedly expressed their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties and advancing cooperation across key sectors.
The visit is expected to provide fresh momentum to efforts to rebuild and deepen relations between the two countries, with a focus on achieving tangible outcomes in economic and strategic engagement.
Trade Deal in Focus
The proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is expected to be a key priority during the discussions. Canadian authorities have reiterated their commitment to advancing negotiations, while both sides are looking to expand bilateral commerce and create new opportunities for businesses.
The two countries are seeking to strengthen trade ties, with negotiators aiming to double bilateral trade before 2030. Cooperation in agriculture and energy is also expected to remain central to the broader economic agenda.
Beyond trade, discussions are likely to cover technology partnerships and developments in the Indo-Pacific region, where both countries have an interest in promoting stability and strengthening economic links.
Diplomatic Engagement Gains Momentum
Preparations for the December visit are already underway, with senior officials and business representatives engaging with their Indian counterparts in New Delhi.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand recently met Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during her visit to the Indian capital. The discussions focused on reviewing progress in bilateral relations and identifying areas where cooperation could be expanded.
Anand also highlighted the importance of the longstanding relationship between India and Canada, pointing to the people-to-people connections built through families, students and entrepreneurs over several generations.
The diplomatic engagement is expected to help establish the groundwork for the two prime ministers’ upcoming meeting.
Major Canadian Trade Mission Visits India
Alongside diplomatic preparations, Canadian Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu is leading a trade delegation of around 300 business representatives on a visit to India.
The Team Canada Trade Mission aims to identify commercial opportunities, encourage business partnerships and strengthen links between companies in both countries.
The scale of the delegation reflects the importance being attached to private-sector engagement as India and Canada seek to expand economic cooperation. Business discussions are expected to complement government-level negotiations ahead of the December summit.
Ukraine and Regional Security Also on the Agenda
The two leaders have also discussed wider international issues, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the need for greater global stability.
According to the account of their recent conversation, Carney acknowledged Modi’s diplomatic efforts to support a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Modi, meanwhile, indicated that India and Canada were working together towards a more stable international environment.
The December visit is expected to offer both sides an opportunity to advance discussions on trade, energy, technology and security while reinforcing diplomatic engagement.
With high-level meetings and business consultations already taking place, the visit could mark an important step in efforts to translate renewed political dialogue into concrete economic and strategic outcomes.
16, Oct 2026
Odisha to Launch Door-to-Door Voter Survey on October 26 Ahead of 2027 Local Elections
Bhubaneswar, Oct 16: The Odisha State Election Commission will launch a statewide door-to-door voter survey from October 26 to November 7 to identify and rectify discrepancies in electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming panchayat and urban local body (ULB) elections, which are likely to be held in 2027.
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The exercise aims to ensure that all eligible voters are included in the electoral rolls and that the names of ineligible voters are removed.
Field Teams to Verify Voter Details
State Election Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi said teams comprising Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and other field personnel would visit households across the state to verify voter information.
Eligible voters whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls will be able to apply for their re-inclusion. Similarly, citizens will have the opportunity to file objections against the inclusion of ineligible voters.
The verification drive is intended to improve the accuracy of voter lists before the state conducts its next round of rural and urban local elections.
Pilot Survey Reveals Gaps in Electoral Rolls
A pilot survey conducted by the Commission highlighted discrepancies in the existing electoral rolls. According to the findings, 7.61 per cent of ineligible voters were still listed, while 4.87 per cent of eligible voters were missing from the rolls.
The statewide survey will seek to address these gaps and ensure that the electoral rolls accurately reflect the eligible electorate.
Major Expansion of Rural Polling Booths Proposed
The Commission has also proposed a significant increase in the number of polling booths in rural areas. The total number is expected to rise from approximately 39,000 to 91,000 to facilitate the electoral process.
Voting in rural elections will be conducted using ballot papers, while electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used for urban local body elections.
Final Electoral Roll Targeted for February 10, 2027
As per the proposed schedule, the draft electoral roll is expected to be published in January 2027. The Commission aims to publish the final electoral roll by February 10, 2027.
The door-to-door verification campaign is a key preparatory step for the anticipated 2027 panchayat and urban local body elections, with the Commission focusing on improving the accuracy and reliability of voter lists across Odisha.
16, Oct 2026
Odisha Extends Antyodaya Gruha Yojana Till 2029, Approves 2.91 Lakh Additional Houses
Bhubaneswar, Oct 16: In a major push towards providing permanent housing to economically weaker and vulnerable families, the Odisha government has approved the construction of an additional 2,91,666 houses under the Antyodaya Gruha Yojana and extended the scheme’s implementation period by two years, till 2029.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced the decision on Thursday, stating that the move would help more eligible families secure permanent homes and accelerate the state’s goal of ensuring housing for all.
The extension, which moves the scheme’s deadline from 2027 to 2029, is expected to expand the programme’s reach and provide housing assistance to more families in need.
₹7,550 Crore Outlay to Remain Unchanged
Despite the addition of nearly 2.92 lakh houses, the total financial outlay for the Antyodaya Gruha Yojana will remain unchanged at ₹7,550 crore.
As part of the revised financial plan, the state government has decided to divert ₹3,500 crore from the housing repair component towards the construction of new houses.
The reallocation is intended to support the expanded construction target within the existing budgetary provision.
Focus on Families Left Out of Other Housing Schemes
The Antyodaya Gruha Yojana primarily targets poor and vulnerable households that need permanent housing but have not qualified for assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
The state government had initially set a target of providing houses to five lakh families under the scheme. With the approval of an additional 2,91,666 houses and the extension of the implementation period, the programme is expected to cover more eligible beneficiaries.
The initiative forms part of the state’s broader efforts to address housing shortages among disadvantaged households and improve their living conditions.
Higher Incentives for Timely House Construction
Alongside the expansion of the scheme, the government has revised the financial incentives available to beneficiaries who complete their houses within the stipulated timeframe.
Under the revised structure, beneficiaries completing construction within five months will receive an incentive of ₹35,000, compared with the earlier incentive of ₹20,000 for completion within four months.
Similarly, those completing their houses within seven months will now be eligible for an incentive of ₹20,000, up from the earlier ₹10,000 offered for completion within six months.
The revised incentives are intended to encourage faster construction while providing beneficiaries with a more flexible completion period.
Push Towards Housing for All
The expansion of the Antyodaya Gruha Yojana marks a significant step in Odisha’s efforts to improve access to permanent housing for economically disadvantaged families.
With the extended deadline, additional housing approvals and revised beneficiary incentives, the state government aims to accelerate construction and bring more vulnerable households under the scheme.
The success of the expanded programme will depend on the timely implementation of approved projects and the effective delivery of assistance to eligible beneficiaries across Odisha.
16, Oct 2026
Sunlife unveils new global brand
New logo, Sunlife name and Making life brighter tagline reflect the evolution of the global organization and its commitment to Clients
- New logo modernizes Sunlife’s sun globe design, creating a more distinctive look for an increasingly digital world.
- Sunlife as one word, reflects the broader role the company plays in Clients’ lives today while maintaining its connection to a trusted name.
- New global tagline, Making life brighter, captures Sunlife’s commitment to helping Clients move forward with confidence.
HONG KONG, Oct. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sun Life Financial Inc. (“Sunlife”) today unveiled a refreshed global brand, marking a new chapter for the company and reflecting the growing breadth and integration of its business worldwide.
Sunlife has evolved well beyond its traditional roots in life insurance, expanding its global reach and capabilities across asset management, health, wealth and insurance. Asia has been an important part of that growth story, with Sunlife Asia now serving more than 30 million Clients across eight markets and contributing 18% of Sunlife’s group underlying net income in 2025, up from 15% two years earlier.
The refreshed brand brings the company’s identity in line with that transformation through a modernized version of its logo, simplified and optimized for a digital world, alongside a new global tagline, Making life brighter. The company is also bringing its global brand name together as Sunlife, one word. Together, the changes create a more modern, distinctive and consistent expression of Sunlife around the world.
“This is about much more than changing how Sunlife looks. It’s about building a brand aligned to our Purpose and ambition for the next chapter of our company,” said Kevin Strain, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sunlife. “By bringing the strength of Sunlife together under one clear global identity, we create deeper relationships, serve more of our Clients’ needs and unlock new opportunities for growth. That is the opportunity behind this evolution and the future we are building toward.”
At the heart of the new brand is Making life brighter, a simple expression of the impact Sunlife strives to have every day. It means helping make important decisions clearer, challenges more manageable and opportunities feel more within reach. It also connects directly to Sunlife’s Purpose: helping Clients build lifetime financial security and lead healthier lives. Through trusted advice, solutions and support, Sunlife aims to be an active and trusted partner helping Clients navigate the moments and decisions that shape their lives, or their businesses.
“Sunlife has been part of Asia for more than 130 years, longer than any other global life insurer, and we’re proud of the history and connection people have with our brand,” said David Broom, Chief Client and Distribution Officer, Sunlife Asia. “Our refreshed Sunlife brand reflects the business we’ve built in Asia today – one that’s more connected, more digital and better positioned to support Clients through every stage of their financial journey.”
The refreshed Sunlife brand reflects the evolving needs and expectations of Clients. New global research from Sunlife highlights a growing expectation among consumers for more integrated support. In Asia, nearly two-thirds (62%) say managing their health can affect their financial situation, while the same proportion (62%) say their financial situation has an impact on their health. The survey also highlights strong demand for a more integrated approach, with nearly three-quarters (72%) wanting support that considers their health, finances and protection needs together rather than separately. That demand is significantly higher in Asia than in North America, where fewer than half (47%) say they want integrated support, and is also above the global average of 65%.
“Across Asia, people are living longer, building more wealth and managing increasingly interconnected financial needs,” said David Broom. “As those needs become more complex, Clients are looking for simpler, more connected ways to manage them. By bringing together our expertise across insurance, wealth and financial advice, we provide the connected support to help Clients navigate those decisions with greater confidence and build a stronger financial future.”
While Sunlife’s brand is evolving, its commitment to delivering on its Purpose remains unchanged. The refreshed brand will bring that commitment to life through a more modern and consistent Sunlife experience around the world. It will roll out in phases across global markets, businesses, and Client experiences, beginning with high-impact digital and Client-facing channels. During the transition, audiences may see both the previous and refreshed Sunlife branding across different touchpoints.
Learn more about Sunlife’s refreshed brand, including its new logo, tagline and brand story, at sunlife.com/ourbrand
About Sunlife
Sunlife is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sunlife has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2026, Sunlife had total assets under management of $1.70 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.
About Sunlife global research
Sunlife’s global research surveyed more than 8,800 adults across Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Conducted online by Earnscliffe on behalf of Sunlife in September 2026, the study examined how people are navigating their health and financial lives and the support they need to prepare for the future. Approximately 1,000 respondents were surveyed in each market, with results weighted to reflect national population profiles by age, gender and region.
Note to editors: All figures in Canadian dollars.
16, Oct 2026
Odisha to Develop Lightning Safety Roadmap for 2027–2030, Focus on Early Warning Systems
Bhubaneswar, Oct 16: The Odisha government will formulate a comprehensive lightning safety roadmap for 2027–2030, with a strong emphasis on accurate forecasting, timely early warnings, public awareness and rapid emergency response to reduce lightning-related deaths and damage across the state.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari announced the initiative on Thursday while inaugurating a two-day National Workshop on Lightning Safety organised by the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) in Bhubaneswar.
The proposed roadmap aims to strengthen the state’s preparedness for lightning-related disasters through improved technology, coordinated response mechanisms and greater community participation.
Technology to Strengthen Lightning Forecasting
Addressing the workshop, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra highlighted the importance of adopting advanced technologies to improve lightning detection and forecasting.
He emphasised the potential use of satellite data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance the accuracy of lightning predictions and provide more timely warnings to vulnerable communities.
Improved forecasting capabilities are expected to help authorities identify potential risks earlier and communicate alerts more effectively, enabling people to take precautionary measures before lightning strikes occur.
Focus on Vulnerable Communities
OSDMA Managing Director Rajesh Prabhakar Patil stressed the need to strengthen early warning systems and ensure that safety information reaches people at risk.
Farmers, outdoor workers and students were identified among the vulnerable groups requiring greater protection, particularly during thunderstorms and severe weather events.
The initiative is expected to place greater emphasis on public awareness, community-level preparedness and the dissemination of lightning safety messages to help prevent avoidable casualties.
National Workshop to Shape Action Plan
The workshop, being held on October 15 and 16, will bring together scientists, researchers, meteorological experts and disaster management officials from leading national institutions.
Participants will deliberate on strategies to improve lightning preparedness, develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) and establish a coordinated framework for prevention, warning dissemination and emergency response.
The discussions will contribute to the preparation of an action plan titled “Lightning-Safe Odisha: Action Plan 2027 and Roadmap 2027–2030.”
Towards a Lightning-Safer Odisha
Lightning remains a significant natural hazard, making timely warnings, public education and effective emergency response essential components of disaster risk reduction.
Through the proposed roadmap, the Odisha government aims to strengthen its institutional preparedness and improve protection for communities exposed to lightning risks.
The initiative is expected to provide a structured framework for integrating scientific advances with practical safety measures, with the broader objective of reducing fatalities, limiting damage and building a more disaster-resilient Odisha.
