Modi discusses Ukraine situation with Netherlands PM Mark Rutte

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Modi discusses Ukraine situation with Netherlands PM Mark Rutte

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to his Netherlands counterpart Mark Rutte and discussed the ongoing situation in the war-torn country of Ukraine, the Ministry of External Affairs said here on Wednesday.

The two leaders discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine and shared their concerns over the continuing humanitarian situation there. “PM Modi reiterated India’s consistent appeal for cessation of hostilities and a return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy and also welcomed the ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine, and hoped for an early resolution,” the statement read.

Modi informed Rutte about the progress in the evacuation of Indian citizens from conflict areas, and India’s assistance in the form of urgent relief supplies, including medicines for the affected populations.

He also recalled his virtual summit with Prime Minister Rutte in April 2021 and expressed his desire to receive him in India at an early date, it stated.

Since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi has spoken to the presidents of both countries and urged them to go for negotiation for an amicable solution.

A day after Russia began ‘military actions against Ukraine, PM Modi on February 25, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for an immediate cessation of violence against each other, as per the statement.

He also called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and asserted that differences between Russia and NATO can only be resolved through “honest and sincere” dialogue.

The Prime Minister also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and urged him to solve the issue through negotiation.

On March 7, while speaking to the Presidents of the two warring countries, Prime Minister Modi suggested a direct conversation between the two leaders for restoring peace in the region.

“He (Modi)suggested that a direct conversation between President Putin and President Zelenskyy may greatly assist the ongoing peace efforts,” the government statement said

Stunt sequences for Karthi’s ‘Sardar’ being shot in Mysore

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Stunt sequences for Karthi’s ‘Sardar’ being shot in Mysore

The shooting of director P S Mithran’s much-awaited action thriller ‘Sardar’, featuring Karthi in the lead, is now progressing at a brisk pace in Mysore.

Karthi plays two roles in the film and the unit is now busy canning action sequences pertaining to one role.

Says a source close to the unit of the film, “Karthi plays the roles of both the father and the son in the film. Both roles have action sequences. The unit, after having shot major stunt sequences in the Kodaikanal forests, is now shooting an important stunt sequence involving the father character in Mysore.”

“The film’s stunt choreographer Dilip Subburayan has been shooting some major stunt sequences in the forests,” the source adds.

Produced by S Lakshman Kumar for Prince Pictures, the film will feature Raashi Khanna as the female lead and will have actors Yuhi Sethu, Rajisha Vijayan, Murali Sharma, and Munishkanth in important roles.

The much-awaited film has music by G V Prakash Kumar and cinematography by
George C Williams.

Twitter introduces ‘Creator Dashboard’ to manage earnings on platform

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Twitter introduces ‘Creator Dashboard’ to manage earnings on platform

Micro-blogging site Twitter has introduced a new tool for creators called the “Creator Dashboard” to analyze how they make money on the platform.

According to the company, the new tool is designed to help creators analyze how they make money on Twitter and how much they are earning from monetization features.

“Introducing the Creator Dashboard a new way to help you view your earnings & track your Super Follow subscriptions over time, for now, we are testing with some creators on iOS — can’t wait to hear what you think,” the firm said in a statement.

Currently, the feature is available to iOS creators in the US with more than 10,000 followers and is participating in Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows.

The new dashboard can be accessed from the app’s “Monetization” tab.

In addition, Twitter is likely building a tab dedicated to podcasts, as shown in a screenshot posted by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong.

The image shows a microphone icon in the Twitter app’s bottom menu bar, which appears to lead to a page titled “Podcasts”, The Verge reported on Wednesday.

The screenshot does not show any indication of how podcasts could be displayed on the platform or if it will somehow incorporate Spaces, the platform’s audio-only chat rooms.

Right now, live Spaces are stuffed at the top of Twitter feeds, and it would make sense to organize them into a separate tab.

Samsung working on smartphone with sideways folding display

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Samsung working on smartphone with sideways folding display

South Korean tech giant Samsung has patented a new Galaxy smartphone with a sideways folding display.

According to the patent’s drawings, there is a triple-camera setup and LED flash. The design features a hinge on the lower left-hand side, as well as three magnets to keep the display stuck to the back cover, reports Let’s Go Digital.

The smartphone may come with a two-part battery, and the folding display would be made of Samsung’s UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass), the same protective layer that’s used on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3.

Samsung recently patented a new Galaxy smartphone with a futuristic-looking transparent display.

The company filed the patent with the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) and was published last year.

The patent describes the technology that is needed to make a transparent smartphone and can even be used in other electronic gadgets as well, including TVs, monitors, laptops, and gaming consoles.

According to the report, the device seen in the patent has narrow bezels and a large transparent screen, and an OLED panel is apparently used.

Samsung has shipped four times more foldable devices in 2021 than last year, exceeding the three-fold market growth that analysts expected.

According to the company, the consumer enthusiasm for Samsung foldable is exemplified by the success of the Galaxy Z series.

Shruti Haasan is on board for Chiranjeevi’s next film

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Shruti Haasan is on board for Chiranjeevi’s next film

The makers of megastar Chiranjeevi’s upcoming biggie ‘Mega154’ welcomed actress Shruti Haasan on board.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the makers made an official announcement regarding the same.

Welcoming the talented actress on board, the ‘Indra’ actor wrote, “On this Women’s Day, delighted to welcome you onboard @shrutihaasan You bring Woman Power to #Mega154 @MythriOfficial @dirbobby #GKMohan @ThisIsDSP,” tweeted Chiranjeevi.

‘Mega154’ marks the first-time collaboration for both Shruti and Chiranjeevi. Billed to be a mass action drama, ‘Mega154’ is helmed by director Bobby (KS Ravindra).

The much-anticipated movie is produced on a massive scale by Tollywood’s leading production house Mythri Movie Makers. It is reported that the movie is in the initial stages of production and will get on the floors soon.

Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar are producing the film, while GK Mohan is the co-producer.

Devi Sri Prasad who provided several chartbuster albums to Chiranjeevi will compose music, while Arthur A Wilson handles the cinematography.

Niranjan Devaramane is the editor and AS Prakash is the production designer, while Chiranjeevi’s elder daughter Sushmita Konidela is the costume designer.

While the story and dialogue were written by Bobby himself, Kona Venkat and K Chakravarthy Reddy are responsible to write the screenplay.

The writing department also includes Hari Mohana Krishna and Vineeth Potluri.

Twitter launches Dark Web Tor service amid Russian censorship

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Twitter launches Dark Web Tor service amid Russian censorship

Blocked by the Russian government, Twitter has entered the Dark Web and people can now access the platform via a Tor Onion service to bypass the censorship.

Russian users can use the Tor anonymity network to reach Twitter, announced cyber-security researchers.

“This is possibly the most important and long-awaited tweet that I’ve ever composed,” Alec Muffett, the cybersecurity expert, and designer of the Enterprise Onion Toolkit which makes deploying Tor onion services easier tweeted.

“On behalf of Twitter, I am delighted to announce their new Tor Project onion service,” he posted late on Tuesday.

Tor’s anonymity network routes a user’s Internet connection through a selection of different servers, run mostly by volunteers, around the world.

“Making our service more accessible is an ongoing priority for us,” a Twitter spokesperson told Motherboard, pointing to Twitter’s “supported browsers” page, which now includes a link to the Tor onion service.

In March, 12.77 percent of Tor relay users were originally connecting from Russia, according to data by the Tor Project.

Facebook launched its own Tor version in 2014.

Twitter has launched the Tor onion service, optimizing it for the privacy-protecting and censorship-evading network.

UK Foreign Secretary on diplomatic visit to Washington to discuss Ukraine

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UK Foreign Secretary on diplomatic visit to Washington to discuss Ukraine

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will hold talks in the US on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as members of Congress.

“The UK, the US, and our allies have shown remarkable strength and unity in supporting Ukraine and imposing severe sanctions on Russia. We need to maintain that unity and do more to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin fails in Ukraine,” she said in a statement ahead of her trip as reported by the BBC.

“The Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for free democracies.”

The topic of her discussions will “be what more the UK and the US can do to support Ukraine on security, intelligence, and humanitarian issues,” her office said.

India’s Lahiri chases elusive success at The Players Championships

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India’s Lahiri chases elusive success at The Players Championships

Over the years, the Players Championship on the PGA Tour has turned out to be a very difficult outing for India’s Anirban Lahiri.

In five outings in which he played in the last seven years, Lahiri has missed the cut four times in the event with a total prize fund of nearly USD50 million which is considered as the fifth major by most professional golfers.

In 2019, he finished tied-74th while the event was canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now with the 2022 edition set to be played at the TPC Sawgrass course at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, from March 10-13, Lahiri is hoping that his fortunes will turn this week and he will be able to achieve better results than in the previous years.

“The Players Championship is the fifth major at least among the players. Personally, I haven’t had a lot of success. Definitely, I’ve struggled with a few holes, specific holes, which have not fit my shot shape, and I think that’s been the challenge for me here at Sawgrass. There are a few holes that I have to come up with a slightly different game plan, different strategy, which I did the last time and had a little bit of success,” Lahiri told the Indian media in a virtual interaction on Tuesday.

To come up with a better performance this year, Lahiri is hoping to concentrate on his iron play and short game to tackle the TPC Sawgrass course.

“This week I’m just focusing on getting my iron play and my short game sharp again. I think that’s what I need to complete the picture.

“Definitely working my way back into playing better golf and getting into some form. Definitely carrying some confidence off the tees and on the greens, and I’m just trying to translate that into the rest of the game,” said the 34-year-old Pune-born golfer who is currently settled at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Last week, Lahiri had finished tied-72 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando.

A seven-time winner on the Asian Tour and two-time titlist at the European Tour, Lahiri is currently enjoying a full-exemption on the PGA Tour. Life on the PGA Tour has been challenging for Lahiri, a constant fight to survive in the Tour with the full exemption.

Lahiri has struggled during the early part of the year before finally managing to pull things together towards the end.

But for this year, he does not want to wait till the end. He is hoping things will start taking a turn rather earlier.

Asked about his roadmap for the season, Lahiri said the plan was to do his best every week.

“The beauty about what we do (on the PGA Tour) is that you’re one week away from being a PGA TOUR winner. You’re one week away from being at Augusta. You’re one week away from having a two, three-year exemption.

“So really the road map boils down to what can I do to play better? What can I do to change the kind of scores I’m shooting. It’s not like a systematic investment plan where I’m going to five points a week for the next 20 weeks. It’s not like that in golf,” Lahiri said.

Instagram hides followers for private accounts in Russia, Ukraine

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Instagram hides followers for private accounts in Russia, Ukraine

Instagram has begun hiding information about people’s followers, who they’re following, and people who are following each other for private accounts in Russia and Ukraine to reduce the spread of misinformation.

This means that people following private accounts based in Ukraine and Russia will no longer be able to see who those accounts are following, or who follows them.

“We’re also not showing these accounts in other people’s followers or following lists, or in our ‘mutual follows’ feature,” Meta said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The company has notified private accounts in Ukraine and Russia about this change.

Instagram is also highlighting tools like Your Activity and Download Your Information to accounts in Ukraine and Russia.

Last week, Meta started demoting posts containing links to Russian state-controlled media on Facebook.

From Wednesday, Stories that contain a link sticker pointing to a Russian state-controlled media website on Instagram will be placed lower in the Stories tray.

“We’ll also label these Stories to let people know that they lead to Russian state-controlled media websites,” said the company.

Specifically, the company is downranking posts from the Russian state-controlled media in Feed and placing them lower in the Stories tray.

“We’re also showing people a notice before they reshare content from these accounts in their Stories, letting them know that the content comes from Russian state-controlled media,” said Instagram.

“Lastly, we’re not recommending posts from Russian state-controlled media accounts in Explore and Reels, and we’re making these accounts harder to find in Search,” it added.

India records 4,575 new Covid cases, 145 deaths

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India records 4,575 new Covid cases, 145 deaths

India reported 4,575 new Covid-19 cases in a span of 24 hours, a marginal rise from the previous day’s count of 3,993, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday morning.

In the same time span, a total of 145 new Covid-related deaths were reported taking the death toll to 5,15,355.

The active Covid cases have reduced to 46,962, which constitute 0.11 percent of the country’s total positive cases, as per the ministry report.

The recovery of 7,416 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 4,24,13,566. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.69 percent, said the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday.

Also in the same period, a total of 8,97,904 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 77.52 crore cumulative tests.

Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate has further come down to 0.62 percent while the daily positivity rate has marginally risen to 0.51 percent.

With the administration of over 18.69 lakhs Covid vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s inoculation coverage has reached 179.33 crores as of Wednesday morning. This has been achieved through 2,08,48,528 sessions.

More than 15.80 crore balance and unutilized Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered, according to the health ministry as of Wednesday morning.

Apple iPad Air with M1 chipset launched in India

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Apple iPad Air with M1 chipset launched in India

Cupertino-based tech giant Apple has unveiled the new iPad Air with an M1 chip with an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU. The same chip is found on the iPad Pro models launched last year.

The Wi-Fi models of iPad Air are available with a starting price of Rs 54900 and Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at Rs 68900. The new iPad Air, in 64GB and 256GB configurations.

“Whether it’s a college student taking elaborate notes, a content creator working on their latest project, or a gamer playing graphics-intensive titles, users love iPad Air for its amazing performance and versatility in such a portable design,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing said in a statement.

It features a 10.9-inch LED-backlit Liquid Retina display with a 2360×1640 pixels resolution. The display comes with a peak brightness of up to 500 nits and carries P3 wide-color gamut as well as True Tone white balance support.

It gets the M1 chipset that also powers some of Applea¿s powerful laptops and top-end iPad Pro from last year. The M1 chipset features an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine to unlock advanced machine learning (ML) and much more.

The new iPad Air also comes with Touch ID support that is integrated into the power/ standby button.

The device comes with a 12MP Wide rear camera along with an f/1.8 lens that is identical to what was available on the last model.

The camera supports features including Autofocus with Focus Pixels, Panorama (up to 63-megapixel), Smart HDR 3, Photo geotagging, Auto image stabilization, and Burst mode. Further, it has 4K video recording support at 24, 25, 30, and 60fps frame rates.

The new iPad Air also comes with a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera.

Connectivity options on the Apple iPad Air with M1 (2022) include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, USB-C port charging, 5G, and GPS. Additionally, it gets a touch ID integrated into the power button.

UP hospitals to get back pre-pandemic status soon

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UP hospitals to get back pre-pandemic status soon

With Covid cases on the decline in the third wave, the health authorities have decided to restore the non-Covid status of a few hospitals from the second week of March.

Currently, there are at least 13 hospitals that have designated Covid care facilities and are admitting coronavirus patients.

The total bed strength of all these hospitals taken together is nearly 2,000, including intensive care unit/ventilator and high dependency units.

According to the government spokesman, while KGMU, SGPGIMS RMLIMS, and one private hospital and government district hospital will continue to run Covid facility along with non-Covid services, the remaining hospitals will be asked to reserve a section with 3-4 beds each for Covid-19 patients and run non-Covid facilities as usual.

Presently, only 10 Covid patients are admitted at KGMU and a private hospital in Lucknow.

Chief medical officer Dr. Manoj Agrawal said, “The number of hospitals or beds will be reduced as per instructions from the government.

Centre announces three programmes under Women in Science & Engineering

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Centre announces three programmes under Women in Science & Engineering

Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday launched a short film on women empowerment, released a booklet on women in science & engineering (WISE), and announced three important programs for the WISE category.

Announcing the three programs under the WISE-KIRAN scheme to celebrate International Women’s Day, he said the first one, ‘Industrial Research Fellowship for Women’ will provide an opportunity for young women researchers to work in the industry for short and long durations. This programme will be a one-time grant for women scientists.

Similarly, the ‘senior Women Scientists Fellowship’ program is proposed to provide dignity to senior women scientists, in the age group 45-60, who are performing well in research but are not in regular employment due to various circumstances. Under this program, five years project will be given to women scientists along with fellowship and other research grants.

The Minister said that the third program of ‘Overseas Fellowship for Women’ will provide exposure to research scholars and young women scientists to upgrade their skills in various countries. This 3-6 months overseas visit will include a monthly stipend, return airfare, health insurance, contingency, etc.

Singh also released a short film on ‘Women Empowerment Atlas of India: Science & Technology Perspective’, a film on various programs under WISE-KIRAN Scheme, a booklet on aWISE-KIRAN: At a Glance’, success stories of 75 women scientists in Intellectual Property Rights (WOS-C program) and a brief report on a study of ‘Women Technology Parks (WTPs)’ for integrated development of rural women, a release from the ministry said.

Secretary, Science, and Technology, Dr. Srivari Chandrasekhar, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Director-General, Dr. Shekhar Mande also spoke on the occasion, the release added.

Sindhu, Srikanth enter the second round of 2022 German Open

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Sindhu, Srikanth enter the second round of 2022 German Open

Former world champion PV Sindhu and World championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of the German Open 2022 Super 300 badminton tournament after winning their respective opening round matches, here on Tuesday.

Sindhu registered a dominating 21-8, 21-7 win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan to enter the second round. With this win, she extended her head-to-head record against the Thai shuttler to 15-1.

The two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu started the match swinging and raced to an 11-4 lead at the first break. She upped the ante after the restart and sealed the first game convincingly. World No 11 Ongbamrungphan tried to keep the Indian ace in check in the second game but Sindhu was in fine touch and went on to pocket the match in straight games.

The 26-year old Sindhu will next face the winner of the match between unseeded shuttlers Zhang Yiman of China and Beatriz Corrales of Spain. If Sindhu wins her next round, she could run into the current world No 1 and Tokyo Olympic silver-medallist Tai Tzu-Ying in the quarter-finals.

Tai had defeated PV Sindhu in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics and she has a strong 14-5 head-to-head record against the Indian shuttler.

Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth, India’s only seeded badminton player in men’s singles at the German Open, overcame a stiff challenge from world No 39 Brice Leverdez of France in the opening round.

The Indian, ranked world No 11 and seeded eighth at the tournament, defeated his French opponent 21-10, 13-21, 21-7.

However, in the mixed doubles, India’s Sai Pratheek and N Sikki Reddy crashed out after losing to the Thai team of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, the top seeds, 19-21, 8-21.

Later in the day, Saina Nehwal will open her campaign against Clara Azurmendi of Spain.

K’taka Minister rules out privatization of BEML

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K’taka Minister rules out privatization of BEML

Putting an end to rumors over Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) factory, located in Kolar district of Karnataka, Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani on Tuesday denied any move to hand over the factory to private companies. He said BEML is under Centre’s control and nobody should pay heed to rumours.

Replying to JD(S) MLC Govindraju’s question in the Council, Nirani said khata (deed) for 12,500 acres in BEML’s 16,000-acre land was done. “The Centre has agreed to hand over 3,500 acres to the state government for industrial purposes. We have conducted another drone survey and this report will be submitted to the Union Minister. I will hold talks with the Union Mines Minister in Delhi on March 10 and take the next decision”, Nirani said.

“BEML has 1,149 acres of land. Earlier 979 acre was allotted for industrial area development but the land was not utilized which will be taken back to set up industries. The Centre’s economic affairs department has decided against the closure of the factory. The state must adhere to the rules since it comes under the central government,” the Minister said.

Elaborating further, Minister Nirani said that the factory’s additional land will be taken back. “The Centre’s parliamentary committee on economic affairs has decided to withdraw stakes from government-owned factories so it will be withdrawn in a phased manner. The 47 percent stake in BEML will remain, Nirani stated.

Nirani announced that the government has taken steps to promote industries in tier two cities by establishing industrial townships in five divisions across the state.

Replying to JD(S) MLC C.N. Manje Gowda’s query in the Council, Nirani emphasized the ‘Walk to Work’ concept. He said the Government will allow the setting up of satellite towns near factories. And 85 percent of the developed land will be allotted for industries and the rest for townships.

Reiterating the government’s stand on giving priority to Kannadigas in jobs, the Minister warned of action if industries violate rules. “As per a clause in the 2020-25 Industrial Policy, the individual units must provide 100 percent jobs in D group and 70 percent of total jobs to Kannadigas. As per Dr. Sarojini Mahishi’s report, 85 percent of jobs in the state must go to Kannadigas. We will take action if industries violate this,” Nirani warned.

100% women-owned industrial park begins operations in Hyderabad

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100% women-owned industrial park begins operations in Hyderabad

India’s first 100 percent women-owned FLO Industrial Park in Hyderabad began operations on Tuesday, international women’s day.

Promoted by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) in partnership with the Telangana government, the park announced the commencement of operations by 25 women-owned and operated units representing 16 diverse green category industries.

The 50A acre FLO Industrial Park has been established with an investment of Rs 250 crores is the flagship project and the first of its kind at a national level with participation open to chapter members, and the national members of FLO. The park has already garnered tremendous interest from women entrepreneurs to run and operate their business, FLO said.

The industrial park conceptualized in 2013 exclusively for women was formally inaugurated by Telangana’s Industry Minister KT Rama Rao in the presence of FLO national President, Ujjwala Singhania, FLO Hyderabad Chairperson, Uma Chigurupati, FLO National Governing Body Member, Jyotsna Angara, and others.

From the electronic sector to packaging, medical devices, wellness, engineering, and food processing, the park is at its core to demonstrate the power of women in the industry. FLO and its members infused significant investment to build this park, wherein the government provided the roads, electricity, water, sewerage, and sub-station. The park has also created amenities to offer a home environment for women by keeping in mind the necessities of working women entrepreneurs, including designing creches and playschools.

Rama Rao urged the entrepreneurs to think big, start to think about emerging technologies and focus on aerospace, defense, food processing, and forge global partnerships.

He promised another 100 acres for the expansion of FLO women’s industrial park, subject to the park’s focus on novel products. He also offered an additional 10 percent subsidy for women entrepreneurs.

Principal Secretary, IT, Jayesh Ranjan, applauded the unique aspect of the FLO Park as it has a very diversified set of industries from manufacturing to services all in green areas. Creating opportunities across the spectrum is another area the government will be keen to embark upon.

Singhania said the objective of the park is to propagate and encourage sustainable development and growth. She termed it as a significant milestone that will pave the way to create more integrated business townships linked to the Industrial parks and establish such projects at various chapters.

“The dream-to-reality of this project is the result of the support from the government of Telangana. We are happy to announce today the commencement of 25 green projects totally owned by women, with many more in the pipeline, we expect this industrial park to generate 1600+ jobs in the next 2years of operation,” said Chigurupati.

Angara expressed the opinion that India can increase its targeted GDP from 16 percent to a much higher number by enabling women to participate in the growth of the economy. “This is an opportune time, today being International Women’s Day, to convene action and not just a Dialogue on how to promote women’s economic empowerment. It is said that the one way to make sure women participate in the economic growth of the country is by creating a healthy ecosystem for women entrepreneurs. Such Industrial Parks shall give a tremendous boost to the ecosystem.”

Established in 1983, FLO is a division of FICCI with its headquarters in Delhi and chapters in Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Ludhiana, Pune, Guwahati, Kolkata, and Lucknow representing over 5,700 diverse members.

Women’s ODI batters rankings: Lanning climbs to No 2; Mithali, Mandhana slip two places each

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Women’s ODI batters rankings: Lanning climbs to No 2; Mithali, Mandhana slip two places each

Australia skipper Meg Lanning jumped two spots while India captain Mithali Raj and opener Smriti Mandhana slipped two places each in the batting chart of the latest ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings released on Tuesday.

Mithali (718 points), who was dismissed cheaply for nine runs while Mandhana (670 points) hit a fifty (52) in India’s opening women’s ODI World Cup match against Pakistan on Sunday, have slipped to the fourth and 10th spots respectively. On the other hand, pacer Jhulan Goswami (699) was static at fourth in the bowlers’ chart but spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma (310) slipped a spot to the sixth position in all-rounders’ rankings.

Notably, the first five games of the ICC event have caused a lot of movement in the latest update of the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings.

Australia’s Lanning, who was in sublime touch in the game against England, smashing 86 in 110 balls with seven fours and a six, have climbed up two spots in the rankings for batters. Lanning (727) is now just one position and 15 rating points away from the top spot that’s currently occupied by her teammate Alyssa Healy (742).

The Lanning-led Australia beat England by 12 runs in their first game and the Player of the Match, Rachael Haynes, who slammed a brilliant 130 off 131, climbed six spots and broke into the top 10 to occupy the No7 spot in the rankings with 705 points. The other centurion from the game – England’s Nat Sciver rose five spots to No 6.

Hayley Matthews of West Indies made considerable gains across the board in the rankings for batters, bowlers as well as all-rounders. Matthews was the Player of the Match in West Indies’ three-run heist against New Zealand – she scored a brilliant 119 to set a target of 260 for the White Ferns and then accounted for the wickets of the in-form Amelia Kerr and Brooke Halliday.

She broke into the top 5 in the all-rounders’ list, climbing six spots to No 4, and rose a massive 12 spots to No 20 for batters and three spots No.10 for bowlers.

Among the other players that moved up, the rankings were Ayabonga Khaka, whose four-for against Bangladesh in South Africa’s opening game helped her rise a spot to No 6.

Snapchat, Niti Aayog to train 12K Indian teachers in AR

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Snapchat, Niti Aayog to train 12K Indian teachers in AR

Snap, the parent company of popular instant messaging platform Snapchat, on Tuesday, partnered with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog to train over 12,000 teachers in Augmented Reality (AR) in the next two years and drive AR adoption among the youth in the country.

Snap also announced its partnership with the Atal Incubation Centers (AICs) to support the Indian start-up ecosystem with AR advertising boot camps, ad credits, and other opportunities.

“Augmented Reality is the future, given its varied applications in a rapidly digitizing India. We’re excited to utilize Snap Inc’s expertise in Augmented Reality to create a cadre of GenZ students that are skilled in this futuristic technology,” said Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, Director of Atal Innovation Mission.

The Snap Lens Network of creators in India has grown by over 200 percent since September 2020.

“We are excited to help the Atal Tinkering Labs in its mission to create a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India, and help India become an Augmented Reality hub,” said Uthara Ganesh, Public Policy Head, India at Snap.

The company also launched ‘Lensathon’ (AR-making hackathon) that will aim to boost participation of girls and young women over 13 interested in AR.

Snap will host special workshops aimed to introduce young women in India to AR and skills that will be necessary to navigate the digital economy of the future.

The workshops will be hosted by Women Lens Creators, with advanced sessions led by members from the Snap Lens network.

‘Nayika Devi: The Warrior Queen’ poster shows true grit of a woman

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‘Nayika Devi: The Warrior Queen’ poster shows true grit of a woman

The poster of the upcoming Gujarati period film ‘Nayika Devi: The Warrior Queen’ starring Khushi Shah in the titular role was unveiled on Tuesday on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

The film tells the story of India’s first warrior queen from the 12th century, whose bravery and brilliance defeated the invader Muhammad Ghori.

The film, directed by Nitin G, who is also the director of other successful movies like the Marathi film ‘Savarkar’ and Telugu film ‘Ashwamedham’, has been produced by Umesh Sharma and presented under the label of A Tree Entertainment. The music is given by Parth Thakkar and the lyrics are penned down by Chirag Tripathi.

Talking about the movie, the director said, “Directing a historical movie isn’t a cakewalk and everything has to be up at par. We have focused on every detail, and I hope that this movie fetches an abundance of love.”

For Khushi Shah, the character came with a sense of inspiration on a personal front, given the grit exhibited by the warrior queen in the face of adversity, “The character of Nayika Devi has inspired me on an intrinsic level, and I’m very fortunate to portray our country’s first-ever female warrior. The entire journey has been full of experiences and is truly memorable. I hope that our labor of love garners immense support.”

The idea behind the ambitious project was to make the masses aware of the legend of the warrior queen. Producer, Umesh Sharma shared, “Only the idea of making a film based on Nayika Devi who is India’s first-ever warrior queen enthralled me to the core. I wanted people to know about Nayika Devi that pushed me to make this feature film.”

“Since it is a historical film and the audience these days are particularly attentive, the entire team has given their best to illustrate the story more effectively,” the producer signed off.

Flipkart rides on Google Cloud to onboard millions of new shoppers, sellers

TB Team
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Flipkart rides on Google Cloud to onboard millions of new shoppers, sellers

Google Cloud and Flipkart on Tuesday entered into a multi-year strategic partnership to help fast-track Flipkart’s innovation as well as cloud strategy. This partnership will propel Flipkart into its next phase of growth and advance its vision of onboarding India’s next 200 million shoppers and lakhs of sellers, the company claims.

“Our strategic alliance with Google Cloud will enable us to accelerate our digital transformation, power productivity, and advance our innovation agenda. We are excited by Google Cloud’s unique strengths and experience in AI/ML and its proven scalability and security, all of which will be critical in our next phase of growth,” Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product, and Technology Officer, Flipkart said in a statement.

By leveraging Google Cloud’s secure and scalable global infrastructure and advanced networking technologies, Flipkart aims to deliver robust app access and performance even during peak purchase seasons with heightened traffic.

“Flipkart’s growth in India has been powered by its digital-first strategy and forward-thinking approach to cloud technology. As the company continues to scale and grow its eCommerce platform, we will work together to drive technological innovations and help Flipkart drive breakthrough businesses in the future,” Bikram Singh Bedi, Managing Director, Google Cloud India added.

Flipkart will make its data platform more efficient by deploying Google Cloud’s advanced data analytics and machine learning technologies. This will enable the company to unlock rich real-time insights into customer purchasing and shopping behavior and create more personalized recommendations to enrich the customer experience. As a long-time Google Workspace customer, Flipkart will expand its use of the flexible, innovative solution across its rapidly growing workforce to create innovative human-centered employee experiences and deepen connections in this new hybrid work environment.

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