Archives March 2023

Bangalore, 1 March 2023: Asia’s largest Integrated Learning Skilling & Workforce development company upGrad today announced Dan Rosensweig, a longtime Silicon Valley Executive joining its Board of Directors. He comes on board as an Independent Non-Executive Director and joins the current senior representatives from Singapore-based investor Temasek and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

As President and CEO of Chegg (NYSE: CHGG) since 2010, Dan Rosensweig has transformed the company into the leading, student-first connected learning platform. Dan also serves on the Board of Adobe and is a senior advisor to TPG Growth Ventures & Kleiner Perkins.

“I am excited to be joining upGrad’s Board of Directors as there has never been a better time to provide accessible and flexible higher education and skills training to learners around the world. By working in partnership with key universities and major technology enterprises, particularly in India, upGrad can help transform the workplace of tomorrow,” said Dan Rosensweig, President, and CEO of Chegg.

Adding to the development, Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder & Chairperson of upGrad commented, “The US and India along with Asia are the two largest markets for Skilling & Learning Development and Dan brings with him a powerful global overview of this sector which in turn, shall continue to cement our corporate governance as we march ahead in our mission of disrupting the future of jobs and careers of tomorrow.”

1st, March 2023, Mumbai: EaseMyAI raised Rs 1.8 Cr in a Seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). Started with an aim to develop innovative products with AI adoption, EaseMyAI emphasizes on creating simple, user-friendly products with drag & drop options to empower businesses to customize their solutions. This approach can help make AI more accessible to businesses of all sizes and sectors.

EaseMyAI has developed a product specializing in the automation of operations and processes, which is scalable and easy to deploy. The Company has filed a patent for an AI-based operating system. This will help businesses streamline their operations and improve their efficiency through automation, reducing costs, increasing productivity, and enhancing the quality of their services.

Madhukar Bhardwaj, VP, BD & Investments Inflection Point Ventures, says, “Majority of the companies, be it small or large, use CCTV or physical staff to do manual monitoring of safety, compliance and operations which is prone to error, cost ineffective and not scalable. EaseMyAI is tapping into this segment and is at the forefront of tech adoption using its computer vision and AI solutions across sectors thus accelerating rapid AI adoption. Their solutions and the platform is highly scalable and empowers companies with much smaller operations or even large ones with legacy systems to be next-gen tech ready thereby helping them grow faster.”

EaseMyAI provides this Robotic Process Automation (RPA) using computer vision and AI to automate repetitive tasks and reduce dependency on manpower. In Robotic process automation, AI has the decision-making power, making the platform effectively manage operations and compliance.

Gagan Randhawa, CEO, EaseMyAI, says, “Our vision is to create a family of tools so that enterprise customers can quickly & easily go for process automation. We are working on a smart centralized platform that helps customers to automate and monitor all processes online. If you want to get something done, first do it on your own and create an example for the team. IPV is more like a partner in growth where they not only helped us with funding but helped us in planning market strategy and connecting to potential business owners and made our journey relatively easier.”

Al in the computer vision market is estimated to grow from $15.9 billion to $51.3 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 26.3%. The growing need for quality inspection and automation, increasing demand for computer vision systems in non-traditional and emerging applications, and rising need for ASICs are the key factors driving the growth of the market.

EaseMyAI has catered to over 30 clients with some marquee names like Hitachi, Ericsson, Mundra Port, ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Treasure Inc. (a Japanese entity). Raising funds for growth, they are planning to further expand catering clients in Sri Lanka, UAE, Japan, and Singapore directly and the rest of the world through partners.

Cairo, Egypt. 1st March 2023: Since the start of the pandemic, there have been immense changes in how employees interact with IT tools and teams. Across the board, enterprises are seeing more collaboration between non-IT employees and IT personnel, and this collaboration can be, at least in part, attributed to IT decentralization and democratization. In the increasingly digital-first, hybrid work environment, we have five predictions that are likely to come to fruition.

1. Enterprise-IT will evolve into enterprise-wide IT

We will continue to see the decentralization of IT personnel. Not only will most enterprises have a centralized IT group to handle requirements like systems deployment, cybersecurity, compliance, and threat detection, but these enterprises will also have IT personnel throughout the organizational chart, addressing specialized business-driven needs as they arise. As technological expertise continues to permeate throughout enterprises, non-IT employees and IT-adjacent service delivery teams will use low/no-code platforms to build and deploy simple applications. According to a recent ManageEngine study – IT at Work: 2022 & Beyond, 42% of global IT decision-makers believe that each department will have its own IT team in the next five years.

2. The tool vs. platform debate will be laid to rest

Enterprises of varying sizes and maturity have made different choices, especially in regard to the management of their technology infrastructure. Some opted to go with a specialized tool for every problem; others invested in a platform that could expand to solve problems as they arose. The platform option is far more efficient. Having a tool for every problem doesn’t help enterprises keep pace with changing demands. More and more enterprises will opt for the holistic, scalable platform approach to managing their technology infrastructure.

3. We will see unified service delivery designed for remote-first employees

Organizations will consolidate enterprise services on a unified service management platform, facilitating remote-first employees with a productive workspace—wherever these employees choose to work. In addition to IT knowledge resources commonly accessed from a single enterprise self-service portal, employees will increasingly be able to access and request services; for example, they’ll be able to onboard remote employees, confirm corporate bookings, and submit travel expenses.

4. AI models will continue to evolve

In 2023, we will see AI models with better precision, being built with a limited amount of training data. Techniques like few-shot learning and transfer learning will see increased adoption, and the gap between natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV) will continue to blur. As an example, we’re already seeing applications that allow us to search through a recording for a particular topic; then, by conversing with a chatbot, we’re brought to the relevant timestamps.

AI regulation is also on the horizon. Like we saw with data privacy legislation (GDPR), this regulation will come from the European Union. Set to become law in 2023, the E.U.’s AI Act could start being enforced as early as 2024.

5. Finding and reskilling technology talent will continue to be a challenge

The rapid evolution of technology and the changing business landscape has put pressure on businesses to find and retain talent; the question of whether enterprises should find fresh talent or reskill existing employees is one that enterprises will have to make.

In the wake of the Great Resignation, some companies assumed it would be easy to find new talent, but that really hasn’t been the case, especially in regard to software-engineering workers. Factors like diversity and inclusion will continue to influence hiring decisions, and at ManageEngine, we personally believe that continuing to train, educate, and foster the careers of existing employees is the best course of action. That said, enterprises will have to choose for themselves how best to proceed.

KOLKATA, March 1: The key to the success of businesses in Bengal lies in cultivating a never-say-die attitude and depending on the entrepreneur’s grit and determination to overcome obstacles even as the administration endeavours to hand-hold investors to the best of its ability, entrepreneurs, young and old, established and fledgling, agreed in a panel discussion titled BRANDS OF BENGAL, organised by TV9 Bangla on February 25, 2023.

The exercise was a part of TV9 Bangla’s endeavour to facilitate and stimulate brainstorming on issues that confront the state. In the past, TV9 Bangla has held a unique telethon on Bangaliana, or what constitutes Bengaliness and a trade fair to create a platform to bring together marketers and consumers across diverse product categories.

As many as 20 entrepreneurs from the state were felicitated for their business journeys and contribution to society.

Sujit Bose, minister in charge of department of fire and emergency services, who attended the event, congratulated TV9 Bangla for arranging discussions on topics that could inspire a few minds to embark on the path of entrepreneurship eschewing traditional job-seeking tendency. On this occasion, he also unveiled the Coffee Table Book on “Brands of Bengal” by TV9 Bangla.

Divided into four panels, the participants enthusiastically and animatedly discussed topics that were inextricably linked with the investment climate of the state. These were “Banglai byabshar sahajpath (Ease of Doing Business in Bengal)”, “Banglai Start-up: somosshya o sombhabona (Start-ups in Bengal: Problems and Prospects)”, “Banglar Shilpa: Kaal, Aaj, Kaal (Business of Bengal: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow)” and “Banglar shilpe medhar akal? (Bengal’s Industry Heading For Talent Drought?)”.

“On the parameter of ease of doing business, I feel Bengal has everything, but it lacks in the essential skill of projecting itself. Promoting the product and the brand in the market is the need of the hour. Bengal is rich in intellect, has a pool of talent in academics, culture and sports. Perhaps we are too harsh in criticising ourselves,” said Shankha Ghosh, Group CEO, Techno India Group.

“A good number of start-ups have started operating in Bengal in the past few years. More than 3,000 start-ups were registered to take the state to the fifth position in India. In the year 2020, during Covid, more than 30,000 companies were registered. Had there been lack of confidence among the local youths, so many initiatives wouldn’t have been launched,” argued Abhinav Gupta, Founder & MD, KGA Home Appliances.

Arun Kumar Dasgupta, principal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan mentioned how they regularly inspire their students to come up with business ideas and how several of them have already been accepted for seed funding.

Manoj Khosla, Founder & MD, Khosla Electronics said, “The government should come forward for facilitating entrepreneurs so that manufacturing can flourish. The ecosystem, thus, will generate business and increasing ease of business will help the investor take it forward. Bengal was initially an agrarian state, but now with IT, software, and designers coming on board, the mentality is changing. The society has to build skilled workers to help industry.”

“Small and ancillary industries should support each other to help scale up. The workers would also benefit from such an ecosystem. Bengal has cheap labour and raw material is easily available. Ease of business is growing in the state providing a fillip to expansion of business,” said Pradip Kumar Shaw, MD, Lancet Pharmaceuticals.

Dr Sujoy Ranjan Deb, director, Kolkata Heart Lung Centre & Research Institute remarked, “There is a demand for trained doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. Bengal was number one in the past, but recently a lot of people have migrated to the Southern states for treatment and medical facilities. Trained workforce can bring back the health business in our state. The post-Covid era provides us opportunity to set up heart, lungs, kidney centres and wellness clinics for which there is demand in Bengal.”

Echoing Dr Deb, the honorary secretary of Saroj Gupta, Cancer Centre and Research Institute Anjan Gupta agreed that meeting the demand of skilled employees and super-specialty medical practitioners has become a need of the hour to prevent movement of people to other states for treatment.

“To push the young generation towards business as a career goal, the family has to play a vital role,” asserted Rana Deb, founder and chairman, Modern Institute of Engineering & Technology. “The government should assist with cooperation, promotion and encouragement so that more startups can blossom in the state,” he added.

Himadri Shekhar Patra, MD, Baffeto, who launched a food delivery app a year and half ago in the state vouched that with a little grit and clarity of vision, one can even rise from a humble background to successfully nurture a business. He gave his own example to highlight that he would shortly employ about 2,000 youths to spread his business in a few districts of Bengal.

“TV9 Bangla Brands of Bengal rides the authenticity, accountability and trust that TV9 Bangla enjoys. We are honouring those who have achieved and are striving for excellence in their respective fields,” said Amritanshu Bhattacharya, managing editor, TV9 Bangla.

The institutions/entrepreneurs whose contribution to society were recognised includes the awardees and categories in the following:

Modern Institute of Engineering Technology (MIET) – Brand Excellence in Education (Engineering)

Lancet Pharmaceuticals- Brand Excellence in Pharmaceuticals

Baffeto – Brand Excellence in Food Delivery App

Dr Prakash Mallick – Brand Excellence in Homeopathy

SRMB – Brand Excellence in Infrastructure

JBG Hexa – Brand Excellence in Real Estate Ancillary

Khosla Electronics – Brand Excellence in Multi-Brand Electronics Retail Chain

KGA Home Appliances – Brand Excellence in Home Appliances and Televisions

Panjabi Museum and Sareer Hut – Brand Excellence in Ethnic Wear

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan – Brand Excellence in Education

JIS Group – Brand Excellence in Education Conglomerate

Adi Mohini Mohan Kanjilal – Brand Excellence in Sarees and Contemporary Fashion

Sister Nivedita University (SNU) – Brand Excellence in Private University

Indian Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) – Brand Excellence in Hospitality Management

Dr Sohini Sastri – Brand Excellence in Life Coaching and Motivation

Saburi Plywoods – Brand Excellence in Product Innovation

Kolkata Heart Lung Centre & Research Institute (KHLC) – Brand Excellence in Hospital (Cardiac and Pulmonology)

Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute – Brand Excellence in Cancer Treatment in Eastern India

Sasta Arogya – Brand Excellence in Pharmacy

Rumpa Jewellery – Brand Excellence in Gold Plated Jewellery

Watch TV9 Bangla Brands of Bengal on 5th March from 4 pm onwards.

New Delhi, 1 March 2023: In its endeavour of driving change and making a positive impact in the local communities, McDonald’s India – North and East is planning to hire 50% of its workforce by 2025 i.e 1500 people through non-government organizations. For this, McDonald’s India – North and East has launched the community campaign ‘McDonald’s For Youth’ – that aims to meaningfully contribute towards India’s growth story by providing gainful employment prospects to the local communities, especially the less-privileged. So far, the brand has hired more than 500 young people over the last year, partnering with several reputed not-for-profit organizations such as Magic Bus, Tech Mahindra foundation, Quess Corp Foundation, and Tarraqi, amongst others.

For most people hired through the ‘McDonald’s For Youth’ initiative, it being their first job, is an important milestone in their walk of life. Besides being their first source of income, these young minds benefit from the McDonald’s global training curriculum through which they acquire right skills and knowledge desired to succeed in their career path. This includes skills such as food safety and hygiene practices, safe food handling, customer service, communication, teamwork etc. McDonald’s has a proud legacy of shaping hospitality professionals by imbibing the right attitude, empathy, and passion in people with its robust training programs.

Talking about the initiative, Rajeev Ranjan, Managing Director, McDonald’s India – North and East, said, “‘McDonalds for Youth’ is a campaign through which we aim to offer gainful employment for the youth, especially youth from the under-privileged communities who have limited education and employment opportunities. We aim to hire 50% of our entry level workforce under this initiative, invest in their overall growth and development through our world class high-quality training and learning programs. This initiative is much more than filling open positions – it is about being a part of the local communities, and is an attempt to make them a part of us. We invite more organizations to join us in our endeavour to dismantle the barriers to equal opportunities, dismantle barriers to economic growth and empower the youth to excel in their work and life.”

McDonald’s India- North and East aims to create a ripple effect by leading positive change extending far beyond the walls of the restaurants and serving brighter futures. This visionary effort endeavours to address one of the most pressing issues facing our world today: providing equal opportunities and a better future for all. By collaborating with NGOs and leading the way in creating opportunities for underprivileged individuals, McDonald’s India -North and East hopes to be a catalyst for change while helping to shape a brighter future for India.

Visakhapatnam 1st March 2023: The Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach and The Bheemili Resort managed by Accor hotel recently appointed Sai Kumar P as their Talent & Culture Manager. Sai Kumar brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge, having worked in the hospitality industry for over 6 years. Sai Kumar will be responsible for overseeing the overall functions of human resources at the Novotel Visakhapatnam, Varun Beach, and The Bheemili Resort. He will work closely with the cluster general manager and the team to ensure that the hotel attracts and retains the best talent, creates a positive and engaging workplace culture, and provides exceptional guest experiences.

Throughout his career, Sai Kumar has demonstrated a passion for the core business, an ability to understand business goals and recommend new processes to drive achievement, and superb communication skills, including effective listening and writing. He has a powerful mindset and purposeful heart, and has received numerous awards and honors for his exceptional work, including the IHC Best Hospitality Professional Award and the Going Above & Beyond – Resilient Talent & Culture Manager Award given by Accor in the year 2022.

On this appointment, Ravi Rai, Cluster General Manager of Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach, Novotel Vijayawada, and The Bheemili Resort managed by Accor, commented, “We are pleased to have Sai Kumar as our new Talent & Culture Manager, and I am glad that with his extensive experience in the industry will make him an exceptional addition to our leadership team. I have no doubt that he will bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to our organization and help us continue to attract and retain top talent.”

Sai Kumar is a talented HR professional with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Human Resource Management & Sales and Marketing from Visvesvaraya Technological University. He is a passionate and motivated leader who connects and collaborates easily with people, and has consistently exhibited high levels of discretion, integrity, and confidentiality in every path of his career.

Mumbai, 1st March 2023: With the significant uptick in demand for skilled professionals in the country, Scaler, one of India’s fastest-growing tech upskilling startups, recently launched ‘Scaler Topics’, a gamified free learn-to-code platform that can provide quality technical content for anyone interested in software-related subjects. Since its pilot launch five months ago, Scaler Topics currently witnesses a monthly average of 20 lakh users interacting with video courses from Scaler’s top instructors from top tech companies like Google, Facebook, etc., and reading articles written by tech veterans. The platform continues to show over 50% month-over-month growth.

The ‘Scaler Topics’ platform provides streamlined technical content across all fields related to tech, data science, and machine learning for individuals passionate about learning and building a career in many in-demand domains with assisted videos from mentors, even with no prior knowledge in their chosen field. In addition to the video courses, the platform provides a wide range of free material to software enthusiasts through interactive challenges, events, contests, and detailed article threads by industry experts. With gamification inherently built into the user experience, Scaler intends to provide an interactive platform of convenience for learners. Industry veterans with an in-depth understanding of the skills required for budding software professionals conduct regular masterclass sessions on various topics, including C++, Java, SQL, Data Science, Machine Learning and Python. The platform garners over 90 million monthly search impressions, seeing over 100,000 daily users. It hosts over 4500 articles created by industry experts, 25+ video courses from top Scaler Instructors who have been industry veterans, and 3000+ interactive challenges to learn and compete. Over 150,000 users have signed up for free courses on the Scaler Topics platform.

Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, InterviewBit & Scaler, said, There is a daunting challenge to democratise tech education in the country. Over 2 million jobs in AI, cybersecurity and blockchains are expected to remain unfilled in 2023. Due to the inaccessibility of quality content, particularly coding skills in demand in the tech industry, it is essential to provide a comprehensive learning platform that is understandable even for a Class 10 student from any part of the country. It was our thought process behind developing Scaler Topics. Offering well-researched live sessions, ideated and conducted by industry experts having worked at top tech companies for free, is the first step in this direction. With this program, we want to broaden our horizon by making quality technical content available to any tech aspirants in any part of the country to receive the required support during their learning journey. Scaler Topics allows us to demonstrate key pillars of Scaler’s teaching philosophy: Structured curriculum, from people who have been there done that, high quality, comprehensiveness.”

Scaler had also recently launched a mobile app on Google Play Store called ‘Learn Programming-Scaler’, a one-stop solution for a tech professional’s learning and upskilling needs, allowing learners to experience Scaler’s quality teaching, watch courses, read articles from the comfort of their mobile device as well. Scaler Topics content and other genres, including access to various upcoming regional events, provide an immersive learning experience by allowing users to learn on the go in their preferred medium. The company has also introduced Scaler coins, which can be earned by reading articles, solving coding challenges and multiple choice questions on topics that interest them. These coins can be redeemed for Scaler merchandise like t-shirts, mugs, diaries, top tech books, and scholarships for its Scaler Academy and Scaler Data Science & Machine Learning (DSML) courses.

Scaler has witnessed significant growth and progress in the last year, with the startup continuing to maintain a consistent month-over-month growth of 15 per cent. The edtech player achieved a $710 million valuation with a $55 million Series B funding, which helped Scaler focus on multiple key business areas. During the year, the startup forayed into the US market, launched first-of-its-kind co-living campuses, strengthened its leadership team, and launched a master’s program.

Bengaluru, 1st March 2023 Sattva Group, one of India’s leading Property Development, Management, and Consulting organizations, today announced the launch of its much-awaited residential project, Sattva Bliss. Strategically located close to Budigere Cross, just off Old Madras Road in the bustling city of Bengaluru, the beautiful homes offer dwellers a blissful experience. As Bengaluru is poised for further growth, which this part of the city has already started experiencing, Budigere Cross has all the prerequisites to become a much sought after residential and commercial destination in the near future.

The project consisting of 1, 2, and 3 BHK apartments will be set on 3.3 acres of land, built on three magnificent towers, offering breathtaking views of the greenery and much more. Additionally, the community has beautiful landscaping, top-notch amenities, and great connectivity. It aims to become the setting for your ideal life, with a calm atmosphere. Sattva Bliss provides everything a family needs to maintain their upscale lifestyle, while remaining in harmony with nature, in order to meet the rise in demand among nature lovers and desire for a low-density lifestyle.

Commenting on the announcement, Ms. Karishmah Siingh, VP – Sales, CRM & Marketing, Sattva Group said, “We want Sattva Bliss to be the ideal option for aspirational property buyers and investors, while also satisfying the demand of active homeseekers. We firmly believe that the location is one of the prominent USPs of the project for it has the potential to become a hub for all-round development, resulting in a high ROI, should one invest in residential assets and earn through rentals.”

These well-packaged units come with unmatched quality and a sustainable outlook, to ensure that the project meets customers’ evolving needs and our collective responsibility towards nature. With meticulous planning and well-thought-out infrastructure, Sattva Bliss offers unique green features including jogging tracks, outdoor gym and a kid’s play area. Making it all the more lucrative are multiple rejuvenation amenities such as Half Basketball Court, Cricket Practice Pitch, Skating Rink, Multipurpose Court, Swimming Pool etc. These amenities aim to provide an indulgent and carefree lifestyle for the residents and at the same time provide families with the ideal mix of living in nature with urban amenities.

New Delhi, 1st March 2023: Indian air quality tech experts ActiveBuildings and leading indoor environment consultancy and engineering firm PureLiving, officially announced a collaboration to provide clean and healthy indoor air solutions to offices and homes across South East Asia. The collaboration widens the resource pool in terms of data points, research and technology, and aims to protect more people from breathing polluted indoor air.

South Asia is home to 37 of the 40 most polluted cities in the world as per the World Air Quality Report. Over 60% of the population lives in areas where the PM2.5 levels exceed the WHO standards, increasing the risk of chronic respiratory disorders. With technology like automated air filtration and ventilation management systems that can retro-fit into existing buildings, large indoor spaces can remain free from PM 2.5, virus transmissions, odours, chemicals and elevated CO2 in the breathable air.

After the recent pandemic, the need for clean and disease-free indoor air has become a priority, particularly with the return of the work-from-office module. Abhinav Gupta, CEO of ActiveBuildings points out, “Most workspaces in India were not built keeping in mind air-borne diseases and indoor air pollution. Our data highlights that most office spaces face high CO2 and most homes have high particulate pollution. ActiveBuildings has mostly focused on air testing and offering recommendations for the space. With this collaboration we can offer end to end solutions pan Asia, from air monitoring to ventilation and filtration that can be installed on the existing systems.”

Louie Cheng, President of PureLiving, says, “Our focus has always been health, sustainability and smart buildings. We have seen great results with products like VentMate and PureQi in China and hope to bring the same impact to the Indian market for clean air. This collaboration with ActiveBuildings, opens new possibilities for both companies to continue pioneering approaches to creating healthier indoor environments.”

Indoor air quality can be over five times worse than outside air. Tobacco-smoke, incense-burning, dust, printer inks, air fresheners, deodorants, scented candles, varnishes, paints as well as human metabolism, all add to pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, VOCs, Ozone and CO2 in the indoor environment. Breathing such pollutants can cause eye inflammation, throat irritation, allergies in the short run, and lung infections, cardio-vascular diseases and cancer over longer periods of time.

New Delhi, 1st March 2023 It was an action-packed Day 3 of Arth – A Culture Fest at New Delhi’s Sunder Nursery where prominent experts from political spheres came together for a discussion on India’s vision for 2024.

In one of the most dynamic sessions of the day titled ‘Road to 2024’, a group of intellectuals comprising Raghav Chadha, Rasheed Kidwai, Shazia Ilmi, Smita Prakash, and Preeti Dahiya (moderator) came together to the India’s election roadmap to 2024. From voicing their support for the Bharatiya Janata Party which works with a proper script and agenda to achieve their goals, to stating facts about the government’s contribution towards the people in terms of water connection to electricity, LPG gas to Jandhan accounts, the representatives asserted their objective for 2024 which includes more infrastructural development.

One of the most awaited panels of the day was ‘Bharat Ki Kahaani Kalakaron Ki Zubani’ where one of India’s most veteran and celebrated actor Manoj Bajpayee was in conversation with Neelesh Mishra. Talking about his movie Joram, Manoj Bajpayee said, “It is a moment of immense pride for me that ‘Joram, was highly celebrated at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. All the five shows held there were houseful, which was attended even by their local audience. Joram is a story of a common tribal man who moves to Mumbai and is compelled to run back to the jungle to safeguard his and his daughter’s life whilst searching for the person who is making their life miserable.”

Sharing his thoughts on the evolution of new-age platforms he added, “The OTT platforms, the audience, and their love is what made me Manoj Bajpayee. It is because of them the films with such exceptional and unique topics are being celebrated. Their ingenious thought process and the ability to accept change is why I am here. I believe we as artists must respect the taste and choice of the audience and this is why I always prefer to stay with them and try to know more about what my viewers want.”

The crowds were truly awestruck listening to Manoj Bajpayee. They cheered on along with him when recited the famous lines from the election campaign scene of his Gangs of Wasseypur movie.

Things got heated up in the final session of the day titled ‘One Country, One Law: Time for A Uniform Civil Code’ where a host of intellectuals debated about the country’s law and order policies with respect to the UCC.

The session featured Anand Ranganathan, J Sai Deepak, Lokesh Jindal, Saira Shah Halim, Shehzad Poonawalla, Taslim Ahmed Rehmani, Vishnu Shekhar Jain and Abhinav Prakash (moderator). From opinions about how the UCC should be discussed with stakeholders of different communities to having no blueprint of the code to follow through its implementation, the session was exceptionally lively and a treat for the live audiences.

The day and the festival culminated with the audience serenading to musical Rajasthani folk numbers by multitalented folk artist Kutle Khan and his team.

Disclaimer Note: All quotes have been excerpted from the panel discussions held at Arth – A Culture Fest on 26 February 2023 in New Delhi.

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