Hyderabad / February 18, 2023: As part of the activities of the Civil 20 (C20) engagement group in India chaired by Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, the Working Group on Sustainable and Resilient Communities organized a workshop in Delhi on “The Role of Technology Cooperation, Finance and Adoption Strategies for Addressing Net Zero Emissions Management”. The Working Group is focused on civil society’s role in addressing climate, environment, and net-zero targets.

As representatives of the people’s voices, C20 has resolved to push governments, industries, and G20 and G7 countries to uphold their commitments in technology development/transfer, financing the transition to net zero emissions, creating policies, and policy implementation environments. This includes the nations that signed the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 Parties in 2015.

More than 400 participants from 27 countries attended the hybrid workshop jointly organized by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Vasudha Foundation, and Climate Action Network South Asia. They hailed from community service organizations, think tanks, industry, academia, World Bank, CII, German Embassy, and other G20 Groups such as Business20, Foundations20, Urban20, and Think20. The deliberations focused on three areas: technology cooperation, sustainable finance for climate resilience and justice, and challenges in the on-the-ground adoption of solutions.

Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), Chair, C20, and the Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, Sri. V. Muraleedharan, jointly inaugurated the virtual event.

In her address, Amma cautioned that we had walked too far, too fast in polluting Mother Earth, causing too much destruction, and threatening the very survival of humanity. Blinded by narrow selfish, short-term goals, we have forgotten that the entire world is divine, she said. Amma stressed the importance of simple yet holistic initiatives like planting trees and carpooling to reduce our footprint on polluting nature.

Sri. V Muraleedharan highlighted the need to unite communities to make India’s G20 presidency a People20 presidency. He pointed to the interconnectedness of all life forms. The G20 motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam signifying ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ shares the value of oneness, he said. He urged Civil20 to facilitate knowledge sharing and best practices in accelerating the world to a low-carbon economy, justice, and equitable finance. He also asked to promote Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi’s call for LiFE—Lifestyle For Environment—a community-led introspection and adaptation of each of our lifestyles for sustainable development.

Dr. Maneesha Sudheer, SRC Working Group Coordinator and Provost, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Sri Srinivas Krishnaswami, CEO, Vasudha Foundation, and Mr. Sanjay Vashist, Director, Climate Action Network South Asia, also addressed the inaugural event.

Said Dr. Maneesha Sudheer, the Working Group Coordinator of Sustainable & Resilient Communities and Provost of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham: “What gives an edge to India’s G20 presidentship is the deep commitment to Indian values that are universal. Climate issues, environmental issues, and net zero targets are all interlinked. We cannot bring change without working together and building resilient communities.”

Sri Srinivas Krishnaswami, CEO of Vasudha Foundation, said, “For a country to achieve its net zero targets, everyone has to play their role. Civil society’s role in this journey is crucial. They can play at multiple levels, from creating knowledge and awareness on issues to developing compelling stories on the need for compassion for nature and the environment to providing technical support to various agencies to achieve net zero.”

Said Dr. Sasangan Ramanathan, Dean, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham: “Implementing the climate action agreements requires global awareness and willingness to re-invent lifestyles. G7 and G20 countries can lead by example, allow access to technology and equitable financing, and build on success stories across continents. Any new technology should look at a circular economy and avoid creating new problems for future generations. Net zero targets in Paris Agreement need to be complemented through a global agreement on energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables.”

The working group promised to promote community-led, women-led, participatory development of decentralized, contextual solutions financed through innovative public and private means. It emphasized the need to think above the growth versus emissions paradigm, accelerating inclusive growth in LDCs and developing economies while adopting sustainable solutions.

The event ended with inputs from the C20 Troika – 2022 (Indonesia) Mr. Ah Maftuchan, 2023 (India) Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri, and 2024 (Brazil) Ms. Alessandra Nilo. Amb.

Vijay Nambiar was the Chief Guest for the valedictory ceremony. Prof. Vinod Menon, C20 Principal Coordinator, SRC Working Group Coordinator, and also the Founder of the National Disaster Management Authority, also gave his insights.

The Civil 20 engagement group will develop documents recommending policy interventions to India’s G20 presidency through the contributions from this event and many such events over the next six months.

India, 18th Feb’23: PVR Cinemas, the largest cinema exhibition company in India brings a lineup of acclaimed & Oscar-nominated English films as we countdown to the most elite award ceremony of the year, the 95th Academy Awards. Every year the Academy Awards celebrate films for their outstanding achievement, honoring the best and brightest, across various categories every year.

Scheduled from February 17th – 23rd, the first phase of the PVR Oscar Film Festival will offer a unique opportunity for cinema lovers to enjoy their favorite Oscar-awarded movies come alive on the big screen. To add to the fervor, PVR is also introducing an ‘Oscars Festival Pass’ for patrons to enjoy all these movies at an unbelievable price of INR 699. The pass can be purchased from the PVR Website or PVR Mobile App.

The festival will screen 10 Oscar-nominated films across 30 cinemas in 18 cities namely Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Indore, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Jaipur, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Rourkela.

The 10 films that would be screened as part of the multi-city film festival include Everything Everywhere All At once, Elvis, The Fablemans, Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Whale, The Batman, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Mrs. Harris go to Paris. These films represent some of the finest achievements in filmmaking. From gripping dramas to heart-warming tales, there’s something for everyone.

Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR Limited, said, “Every year it has been the constant endeavor of PVR Cinemas to bring Indian audiences closer to globally acclaimed movies from the Academy Award nominees. Keeping up with our promise, we are delighted to announce a week of celebration for movie patrons in India. As we look forward to another successful edition, the intent is to showcase the best cinema from across the world across different genres to entertain our discerning audiences and match the thrill and excitement of Oscars.’’

For further information, please visit the PVR Website, www.pvrcinemas.com, or download the PVR Mobile App.

Details on the screening #OSCARSATPVR

Duration: 1 week (17th Feb – 23rd Feb 2023)
Cities & Cinemas: 30 cinemas across 18 cities
Show Timings: 7:00 – 9:00 PM

February 18, 2023, Mumbai: PLANET (Personalised Lending & Assisted NETworks) application by L&T Financial Services (LTFS), a retail-focused non-banking financial company, has achieved the milestone of 2 million downloads. The exponential growth in the number of downloads is attributed to deeper penetration of loan products in rural India through digitization and expansion of loan products in urban India.

The PLANET app, which is one of the highest-rated finance apps on Google Play Store and Apple App Store with a score of 4.5 and 4.3 respectively, has generated close to Rs. 1,500 crore business, collections of over Rs. 130 crore and has serviced more than 21 lakh customers as on January 31, 2023.

More than 2 lakh rural customers of L&T Financial Services have downloaded this application to access the various benefits like the convenience of checking loan details, and ease of access to loan-related documents along with specialized services like timely credit scores and daily mandi prices. In fact, the app also offers Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) reminders and is available in 10 regional languages, besides English and Hindi.

Speaking on the milestone, Mr. Dinanath Dubhashi, Managing Director & CEO, L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. said, “Connecting rural India to the digital ecosystem has been one of the key pillars of the government, and I am happy to share that our initiatives in this direction are also gaining momentum. Our strong rural customer base along with our robust digital and data analytics-based platform today enables us to reach out to the last-mile rural customer and introduce, educate, and establish the advantages of technology in making lives simpler. Out of the total downloads of our customer-facing application – PLANET app – more than 10% of the downloads are from rural India. We are proud to have serviced more than 60,000 requests of our rural customers till now. It is interesting to note from our data that rural customers understand the importance of a good credit score as we saw close to 20,000 rural customers check their credit score judiciously on the app. The utility and timely features including mandi prices and calendar reminders for EMI payments are being keenly used by our farm and micro loan customers.”

As a part of the expansion of services to urban customers, PLANET app is constantly evolving to offer exciting features. These include Insta Loans for consumer loans and two-wheeler finance customers

with end-to-end digital journeys. Insta Loans for two-wheeler finance customers is an intuitive autonomous 5-step journey for two-wheeler finance customers. The entire journey from zeroing in on the two-wheeler model, to the knowing exact dealership to visit for delivery can be done through the app. This feature is available for both existing and new LTFS customers.

PLANET app can be downloaded by scanning the QR codes below:

18th February 2023: A free, online programme to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds pursue academic careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is now open for registration to students in India for the first time.

Following the news that three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be established in Indian institutions, the We Speak Science STEM programme includes lectures from Ajit Jaokar, the Artificial Intelligence Course Director at the University of Oxford, Professor Vladimir Pletser, who trained as an astronaut with NASA, David Mackay, a pilot with Virgin Galactic, and We Speak Science founder, Dr Detina Zalli.

Not-for-profit organisation We Speak Science has launched the programme in partnership with insendi, a Study Group company. Registration is now open to 300 students and the programme will officially commence on 27 February.

Students will learn the fundamentals of data science, cell biology and space biology gaining practical knowledge to solve authentic, real-case difficulties the world faces in the 21st century.

The three-week course, which includes discussion forums, e-learning and live classes, will be delivered through digital learning platform, insendi, giving students access to the learning material at any time and from any location.

We Speak Science is open to all but aims to empower young people from low socio-economic backgrounds through STEM education*. 10,000 students have benefited from We Speak Science courses in other countries, 50% of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

To qualify, students should demonstrate an interest in STEM and can enrol here.

Dr Detina Zalli, co-founder and president of We Speak Science, comments:

“It has been inspiring to see thousands of students who we’ve already worked with grow and achieve excellence.

“I understand how hard it is to access quality education having personal experience of escaping civil war in Albania. We Speak Science will continue to provide educational services to those in need, on a global basis for the first time, thanks to our new partnership with insendi.”

Previous We Speak Science student Albin Shaqiri, 23, says: “Having been born into a Kosovar family seeking refuge from a terrible conflict in our homeland only a few months after it concluded, I found my opportunities and privileges very limited growing up. We didn’t know anyone, nor did we have any connections that could give us some advantage. The nearby schools were poorly run, which left me with a sense of self-doubt, while family illness compounded the issue.

“Despite my hard work, I had all but given up hope for a medical career, but with a last spark of determination enrolled at the Queen Mary University of London to study Biomedical Sciences. Although passionate professors made my time there easier, I still needed to learn how to study effectively. Days before my final exam, my mother also passed away, which affected my preparation and performance even more.

“Soon afterwards, I discovered We Speak Science and Dr Detina Zalli reignited my passion for medicine. She assisted with every assignment I struggled with and helped me prepare for medical school, including UCAT and GAMSAT. Today I’m a full-time medical student at the St George’s University of London, which is a true testament to We Speak Science and Dr Zalli’s passion for disadvantaged students.”

We Speak Science is a non-profit organisation founded in 2014. It aims to inspire students to pursue a career in STEM, particularly young people from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2022, We Speak Science partnered with digital learning platform inside, a Study Group company, to achieve a better world through education by reaching more students.

James Connor, Managing Director, insendi, comments: “Our mission is to create the best online and blended experiences for our partners and their learners. We’re launching this digital programme to support more budding scientists into an academic future in STEM.”

Ian Crichton, CEO, Study Group adds: “Very simply, global education is one of the most powerful tools we have to unlock solutions for today’s biggest global challenges and needs to touch as many people as possible. With the launch of this programme, young people from around the world can connect, study STEM and be given the support and inspiration to have a positive impact in the world.”

Pune, 18.02.2023: Orchids The International School recently conducted a ‘Yoga for Drivers’ program at its Tathawade branch in Pune. Considering driving is one of the most difficult activities that require physical as well as mental agility. After driving through heavy traffic and handling boisterous young children, the drivers are hardly in a frame of mind to exercise or go for gym activities.

Studies on the work and health of bus drivers indicate that they are at an increased risk of physical and mental occupational ill health. Therefore, the school took this initiative to bring awareness on maintaining good health, especially through Yoga, and how it will benefit their overall well-being. Yoga sessions can help drivers to prevent injuries by improving their flexibility, balance, and posture. This reduces the risk of back pain, neck pain, and other driving-related physical ailments.

The 3 hours long session was conducted by Aarti Karve, a Yoga practitioner who taught a series of powerful Yogic practices, including Yoga Namaskar (Yoga for Well-being), Nadi Shuddhi (Yoga for Peace), Neck Practices (Yoga for Success), Simha Kriya (Yoga for Respiratory Health), and Shambhavi Mudra (Yoga for Inner Exploration).

The program witnessed the participation of around 50 school drivers from different Pune branches of the school. The program received positive feedback from all the drivers present.

Speaking on the program, Nikhil Agrawal, Head of the Center of Excellence said, “At Orchids, we promote and educate about healthy living habits not just to our students but also to support staff. We understand that the job of the school bus driver comes with immense responsibility and requires the utmost patience. Driving safely by following all the safety rules, watching out for rogue drivers, sitting for long hours, breathing polluted air during traffic and driving for long hours, and controlling their emotions leave them mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day. Thus, we felt stress relieving programs for drivers are required. Exercise and yoga will help reduce stress and lead to healthier lives. Given the positive feedback we got through this program, we are also looking forward to conducting such programs in the future. Their enthusiasm and eagerness were visible as they felt good to be looked after and cared for, making them more cheerful and stress-free while on duty.”

Periodic motivation classes rewarding drivers for their good deeds can help improve the morale of the drivers.

Lenovo Delivers Solid Results as Diversified Growth Engines and Operational Excellence Drive Profitability

“With total revenue of over US$ 400 million across all Lenovo portfolios in India in Q3 FY22/23, we continue to see strong momentum for our services and solutions business in India. We are committed to investing in capability building to deliver for our customers beyond end-point devices and achieve our service-led transformation objectives with a broad suite of pocket-to-cloud offerings. We have taken concrete steps on the ESG front, which help our customers reduce their carbon footprint (CO2 Offset services) and e-waste management (Asset Recovery Services). With the help of new IT solutions, we are on our journey to becoming an end-to-end technology partner that enables intelligent transformation for our customers.” – Shailendra Katyal, Managing Director, Lenovo India

18th February 2023, Mumbai: Clever Harvey, the platform that helps students bridge the gap between academics and the 21st-century workplace, today announced the launch of its much-awaited new JuniorMBA Consulting program with India’s largest hospitality company, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL). Clever Harvey’s collaboration with IHCL is to design a 15-hour sustainability strategy consulting program for students so that teenagers can understand not only how to run and grow a business, like a COO, but also how to scale them sustainably.

Among the key features of the JuniorMBA Consulting program is its time-efficient nature. There are a total of 15 sessions of one hour each that will be delivered from Monday to Friday for three weeks to the students. The sessions will be held on Zoom and the program offers students flexibility in choosing their batch timings. The program also provides a preview of what a career in Consulting can look like. The JuniorMBA Consulting is open to students aged 13 – 18.

“Most students in high school face the challenge of deciding what they want to do without knowing what happens in the real world. The JuniorMBA programs fix this gap by giving students ‘behind-the-scenes’ exposure to the industry. We are glad to collaborate with IHCL in giving students the opportunity to work on real-world projects that will give them clarity on their future career paths and build critical skills for the future. Students will delve into actual decisions made by the management of the Taj Lake Palace (Udaipur), understand how various processes and systems are optimized, and will come up with suggestions on how to better align the hotel’s operations to IHCL’s goal of sustainability.”, said Sriram Subramanian, CEO, Clever Harvey.

The curriculum of the program has been designed in close collaboration with IHCL. The topics covered in the program include both theoretical concepts and practical knowledge. Students will start off by understanding the basics of how businesses operate and grow like a COO. They will develop further into concepts like Supply Chain, Operational bottlenecks, Quality-cost trade-offs, and Standardization for growth and quality control.

Commenting on this collaboration, Gaurav Pokhariyal, Executive Vice President – Human Resources, at IHCL, said “As an industry leader, IHCL is committed to nurturing the talent pool for the future. Pursuing sustainable and responsible business practices is the way forward. This collaboration will offer exposure to real-time business problems outside of the classroom and will provide students an opportunity to gain expertise on driving positive change in the long term for both businesses and communities. We are delighted to partner with Clever Harvey.”

The cost of the JuniorMBA Consulting program with IHCL is Rs 10,000 and the package includes 15 live sessions, conceptual knowledge, practical training, an original project by each student, and a certificate from Clever Harvey and IHCL.

Hoshiarpur, February 18th, 2022 – IDP Education, the global leader in international education services, deepened its reach in Northern India by inaugurating its office in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, taking the total to 8 offices in the state. This expansion also takes IDP India’s presence to 71 offices spanning 62 cities, leading the path of the maximum number of physical presence across India in the international education industry.

The new office brings IDP one step closer to its mission to enable world-class study-abroad counseling services in the closest vicinity of students. Committed to providing end-to-end international education services, IDP will assist students of Hoshiarpur to study in sought-after destinations like Australia, UK, and Canada.

On this occasion, Piyush Kumar, Regional Director, South Asia, IDP Education, said, “It is our aim that every study abroad aspirant in the nation get the best international education counseling services. The inauguration of our new office in Hoshiarpur is the deliverance of this commitment in the region. As the global leader in this space, we are fully geared to provide world-class assistance to every student of Hoshiarpur and help them build their career in their desired direction.”

According to the recent data submitted by the Ministry of Education in the Parliament, there has been a 68% increase in Indian students going abroad for Higher Education in 2022. The number of Indian students going for overseas education increased from 444,553 in 2021 to 750,365 in 2022. This trend is likely to continue in the future as well.

IDP remains the country’s largest international education services organization with its rampant growth and extension in physical offices.

Students and their parents can visit the new office at the following address:

IDP Education India Pvt. Ltd., Shop no. 584 – Upper Ground floor, adjoining Hotel Presidency, near Passport Office, Hoshiarpur- 146001

Mumbai, February 18th, 2023: Greenply Industries Limited, one of India’s largest interior infrastructure brands with over 30 years of experience in manufacturing a comprehensive range of plywood, block boards, decorative veneers, flush doors, and other allied products, has yet again taken a leadership role by releasing its first Sustainability Report. The report has been developed referring to the guidance under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, highlighting the brand’s sustainability journey through its initiative ‘ESG360’. This is the first sustainability report released by any brand in the Indian wood panel industry, marking a dynamic change in this sector.

As a part of its ESG journey, Greenply will be strengthening its systems and processes in order to generate data and track progress against key performance indicators based on the material topics. Going forward, Greenply will be reporting across the six capitals as per the Value Reporting Foundation which includes manufacturing capital, natural capital, social capital, intellectual capital, financial capital, and human capital. The six capitals model will provide the company with a balanced approach that will not only improve its investment decision-making processes but also integrate Sustainable Development as a behavior and an aspirational set of goals for the brand.

Speaking on the report launch, Mr. Manoj Tulsian, Joint Managing Director & CEO, of Greenply Industries Ltd said, “Sustainability has been embedded in our roots over the years. We take this philosophy ahead as part of our core strategy as we embark on a formal journey with ESG initiative while we grow responsibly. With ‘ESG360’, Greenply has already started cultivating a business strategy that confers due respect to people and the planet. We are very optimistic that this sustainability report is a foundation stone for all our endeavors towards transforming into a progressively sustainable and resilient organization in the years to come.”

Led by a sustainability-oriented approach, Greenply has been undertaking extensive plantation activities over the past several decades leading to responsible procurement of raw materials. Besides environmental protection, the plantation activity helps maintain the financial viability of the ecosystem as it generates employment for the local inhabitants too. Greenply has also attained the FSC® – FM (Forest Management) Certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) for its sustainable plantation unit located in Tizit, Nagaland, and is the first company to have successfully achieved this certification in the interior infrastructure segment in India. To date, Greenply has planted around 19.5 million saplings covering an area nearly of 24,500 acres of plantation.

Greenply strives to be a net zero-waste company. The Company consumes all the waste products as fuel in the boilers, for example wood chips formed during the plywood manufacturing process are used for energy generation. Even the wastewater from the production is channeled into the reservoirs that provide water for sprinklers, helping to replenish the ground water table. Greenply has been undertaking activities to reduce emissions and move towards renewable energy generation. Rooftop Solar panels are installed at all the manufacturing facilities for the generation of green energy. Additionally, electric vehicles and EV forklifts are deployed for inhouse transportation needs. The company is the first one in the wood & panel industry to introduce a range of Zero Emission (E-0) products keeping in mind the health interest of its consumers by reducing formaldehyde emission to negligible or equal to zero, thus safeguarding the indoor air quality.

Hyderabad: After a morale-boosting 1-0 win over the Mariners, Manolo Marquez’s Hyderabad FC are back in action when they welcome Jamshedpur FC to the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Gachibowli, in a 5:30 pm kick-off on Saturday, February 18.

HFC, who play their third game in eight days, have booked their place in the semi-finals. The visitors are out of the race to the playoffs but both teams will want to end the season on a high and will fight for all three points from this game.

Aidy Boothroyd’s side put in strong performances against ATK Mohun Bagan, Mumbai City, and NorthEast United in the last three games and look a side that could be tough to beat.

The addition of Rafael Crivellaro and the form of Ritwik Das, Boris Thangjam, Pronay Halder, Jay Thomas, Daniel Chukwu, and TP Rehnesh have turned Jamshedpur into a dangerous side in recent games.

“Jamshedpur has been playing really well in recent games. I think they have now found the right balance in the team and have good players with great quality which makes them a tough side,” said Manolo.

“They are showing the level they have now. They have found their style and system and with this team, they could have been fighting for the playoffs. So, I am sure this will be a difficult game for my side,” he added.

Hyderabad FC put on a solid display to beat ATK Mohun Bagan in the last game and will hope for a similar outing in what will be the last league game at the Maidaan this season.

Bartholomew Ogbeche scored the winner that night, moving to eight goals for the season. Borja Herrera, Javi Siverio, Joel Chianese, Mohammad Yasir and Halicharan Narzary have been effective in attack while Chinglensana Konsham, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Nikhil Poojary, Akash Mishra, Odei Onaindia and Gurmeet Singh have done their job to help Hyderabad stand as the best defensive side the league this season.

However, with a place in the semi-final booked, Manolo Marquez might ring in the changes ahead of this clash.

“We might play a few players tomorrow who are not usually in the lineup. But they have been training really well and deserve to play,” said Manolo.

“We want to win tomorrow, and we cannot relax yet. I am sure our players are hungry and will be ready for this tough game,” the Spaniard added.

Hyderabad will want to build some momentum going into the playoffs and end their league phase at home on a high.

Like in the reverse fixture that was decided by just a goal, Jamshedpur FC could prove to be a difficult test, and this promises to be an iconic Indian Super League clash, in Hyderabad.

The game kicks off at 5:30 pm IST on Saturday, and will be telecasted live on the Star Sports Network with live streaming on Disney+ Hotstar and JioTV.