August 23, 2021: India’s leading institution in design, fashion and media, Pearl Academy, today announced the launch of PearlxStudio that will offer fast-track creative courses to learners of all age groups. PearlxStudio will offer 40courses in Media, Fashion and Performing Arts such as ‘fashion design-womenswear’, ‘styling for interior’, ‘personal styling and image consultancy’, ‘fashion and celebrity make-up’, ‘performing arts’, ‘digital film making’, ‘professional photography’, ‘social media influencer’, ‘advertising & graphics’, ‘professional events & experience management’. Delivered in hybrid- online/offline mode, an individual can pursue a course for 3 months and get a certification or can combine four courses of 12 months duration along with capstone project (industry internship) to receive a diploma.

These fast-track courses are designed to take individuals from learning the basics to advanced level in just three months. Pearl XStudio has collaborated with industry leaders to teach these courses as per the requirements of the professional world.

Speaking on the launch of PearlxStudio, Aditi Srivastava, President, Pearl Academy said,“With PearlXStudio, we are expanding Pearl Academy’s rich legacy of preparing creative professionals for tomorrow. There is no dearth of talent and ambition in this country across all age groups and with the right education support these individuals can live their dreams and feel empowered. With so many industry leaders collaborating with PearlXStudio to co-create, co-deliver and co-certify these courses, it’s a testimony that there is a massive requirement for talented and skilled creative workforce and our endeavor is to bridge that demand-supply gap”.

The launch of PearlxStudio witnessed a panel discussion on “Making lucrative creative careers accessible to all” by some of industry’s eminent names including acclaimed directorAshutoshGowarikar, producer and director Ketan Desai and fashion designer Anju Modi. They were joined bySharadMehra, CEO – Asia Pacific, Global University Systems, Aditi Srivastava, President, Pearl Academy, ViveckVaswani, Dean- School of Contemporary Media and Antonio Maurizio Grioli, Dean of School of Fashion. They deliberated on the importance of professional education in creative fields, future of skill-based work opportunities and which among talent and qualification is more important.

With admissions open round the year to ensure flexibility, PearlxStudioofficially starts its first batch in October 2021. Besides getting access to international faculty, professional experts and industry experience, the ‘capstone’ is a unique feature of PearlXStudio courses. Through ‘capstone’ the enrolled individuals will be mentored by an industry legend for completing a 2-week industry project. They will receive a special ‘capstone certification’ from the mentor along with the PearlXStudio diploma.

PearlxStudio aims to enable individuals to follow their passion and help them unleash their creativity and drive their potential in the right direction.

India, 2021:IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited (IndiaFirst Life) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) further strengthened their association by announcing growth plansforMaharashtra & Goa. As a testament to the robust relationship, the partners have reaffirmed their commitment of achieving a healthy growth rate of 20%in FY22 across the western region.

A combined team strength of over 5100 employees has helped IndiaFirst Life and Bank of Baroda to improve their customer outreach in the western region. There has been a significant business growth in regions like Nagpur, Pune, Jalgaon, Kolhapur,Solapur, and Panaji. In spite of being one of the most affected regionsin the pandemic, Maharashtra showed a 7% APE growth in FY21 and a 70% growth in Q1-FY22. The partnership emphasizes in keeping the business buoyant.

Sunanda Roy, Country Head, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited for Bank of Barodasaid, “In line with our #CustomerFirst ideology, we continue to deliver through our domain expertise, customer knowledge, and product innovations. Weendeavor to service the last mile customers not only across Maharashtra and Goa but across the country, toward making “Insurance for All” a reality. The two states accounted for approx. 8% of our overall business in FY21, and we plan to increase this share to 15% in FY22. Fuelled by Bancassurance and our multi-channel distribution capabilities, we have been growing at an average CAGR of 32% in retail new business APE over the last five years.”

Manish Kaura, General Manager, Pune Zone said, “IndiaFirst Life is one of our strongest partners that continues to contribute to the overall business growth of the bank. Through our extensive customer reach coupled with IndiaFirst Life’s efficiently serviced products, we continue to focus on the development of innovative solutions to serve customer’s varied financial needs and further strengthen our position in Maharashtra& Goa. Together, we look forward to expanding our leadership position among customers in thesekey markets.”

IndiaFirst Life and Bank of Baroda continue to maintain operational synergies to ensure best practices tosupport and prepare ourcustomers for certainties in life. In the western region, IndiaFirst Life along with Bank of Baroda has a network strength of over 530 branch offices spread across 37 districts.

IndiaFirst Life is today present in over 98% of pin-codes across the country.Having launched its operations on November 16, 2009, the company has successfully differentiated itself through simple, easy-to-understand products that are well-priced and efficiently serviced.

The date, 5th August has a very special significance for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. On this date, exactly two years ago, the Parliament of India abrogated Articles 370 and 35(A) of the Indian Constitution thereby making all the provisions of the constitution applicable to the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. With the historic move of abrogating the temporary provisions of articles 370 and 35(A), the present Indian Government brought the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh into the mainstream and opened new vistas for economic and cultural prosperity for the region.

The political dispensation which ruled the country till now dithered to abolish the provisions of the two articles which kept the people of these regions devoid of not only the benefits of the constitutional rights enshrined in the Indian constitution and but also the various developmental programs initiated by the central government to uplift the economic status of the people. This had a reverse effect on their prosperity and wellbeing.

Abolition of these articles have brought enthusiasm in the hitherto overlooked sections of the society like the Dogras, Valmikis, refugees from western Pakistan, gorkhas, Kashmiri Pandits, etc. They were treated as less deserving and would only find jobs at lower rungs of the systems. They have now been bestowed equal status and shall enjoy the fruits of their labour as per their talents and hard work. The people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will now enjoy all the constitutional privileges and enjoy true democracy as envisaged by our founding fathers.

The other benefits that have unfolded are the devolution of grants to the grass root institutions and proper use of these grants. Arbitrariness is junked and transparency is the new norm. The use of the Right to Information act shall empower the people to demand the proper utilization of funds and effective deployment of schemes and check corruption. This will definitely lead to urban and rural empowerment. Tourism, education, medical, hospitality shall witness growth to extent that will attract industrialists from across India to invest in these sectors. The landowners willing to part with their land for developmental projects in these sectors will see better unlocking of the fair rates of land. The unleashing of the above sustainable projects will bring financial independence for the people of the regions. New avenues for upliftment will also be available to the people of SC and ST communities as provided in the constitution. Abrogation of these articles helped Kashmiri women to enjoy equal rights as that of men, by bringing in transparency

The abrogation of articles 370 and 35(A) has now unchained various provisions of the constitution and has opened up all opportunities for the two new Union territories . It has led to the perfect amalgamation of various efforts of the central and the local government for realizing the aspirations of the people of these regions. On the completion of one year since the historic move, we are sure that the fruits of righteousness and democracy will unfold and bring unbridled happiness and prosperity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Panjim:: 15 July 2021 :::  In what can be termed as a giant leap of the Railway Station Re/development Program, India gets its first redeveloped railway station with the dedication of the redeveloped Gandhinagar Capital Railway Station situated in the state of Gujarat to the nation.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” by Neil Armstrong is apt for the station redevelopment as well considering that with the inauguration of Gandhinagar Railway Station, the entire station landscape in the country has been impacted positively. As Santiago Calatrava has said “A station is something which can generate a city”, Redevelopment of Gandhinagar Capital railway station will acts as a city booster and create investment cycle, job opportunities and in general uplift the economy of Gandhinagar, which is the capital of the state of Gujarat.

This is a unique project taken up in partnership with Govt of Gujarat and Ministry of Railways through IRSDC (Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation) forming a joint venture company named GARUD (Gandhinagar Railway and Urban Development Corporation).

This redeveloped station has a 318 rooms five star convention hotel constructed on top of tracks. This is first of its kind project in India and will pave the way for similar development in land stressed cities like Mumbai and Bangalore. Gandhinagar already has an existing world class convention and exhibition centre – “Mahatma Mandir”, which has been clubbed with the hotel and the railway station so that these facilities work in synergy with each other. This hotel will ease the logistics for the convention center and help better utilisation of the same and vice versa. More events at the convention center will lead to more opportunities for the hotel industry, catering and tourism. Helipad exhibition grounds and DandiKuteer, a museum dedicated to the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi are in the near vicinity and are expected to get a boost from the new developments. GARUD and IRSDC also plan to add more facilities in the Redeveloped station as well as surrounding areas to further boost the local area and make it a destination for people from all walks of life.

Two new trains, one weekly superfast to Varanasi and one daily MEMU to Varetha are being introduced WEF 16/7/21. Ministry of Railways has ambitious plans for the area, and as the Gandhinagar area gets a boost in economic activities because of these initiatives of redevelopment of the station, more train services may be introduced.

The redeveloped station follows the principles of seven C’s which are the basic principles followed in planning of redeveloped railway stations by IRSDC.

In order to segregate the passengers, a concourse is planned for departing passengers, and two subways for arriving passengers. The station is future ready, and the concourse will be used for departing passengers when the passenger numbers increase at the station. However, in the near future, it is planned to open retail, food and entertainment outlets in this area to serve the demands of the passengers as well as the local population. Market players such as Big Bazaar and Shopper’s Stop have also shown interest in opening their mini outlets making it convenient for the passengers and local population to shop at the station. The redeveloped station will function like a “city centre rail mall” where travel will be one of the several functions that it will serve.

The station offers an accessible environment for the divyangjan and has lifts and ramps at all locations. Other facilities like tactile flooring are also provided. The station is equipped with modern facilities like ample waiting spaces, through columnless roof to provide protection against sun/rain etc, air conditioned multipurpose waiting hall, baby feeding room, improved signages and modern toilets, interfaith prayer room for the common man. Other amenities like the art gallery, theme facade lighting, etc will provide additional attractions which will not only enhance passenger satisfaction but will also prove to be a matter of pride for all as this station can boast of many firsts in the country. Without the concourse, the redeveloped station has been designed to handle 1,500 passengers in peak hour. With the concourse, the capacity will go up to 2,200 passengers in the peak hour.

The station aims to conserve the natural built environment, through use of sustainable materials like Portland Pozzolana Cement, fly ash bricks etc. and reducing the water, electricity requirements through energy efficient designs, rain water harvesting and recycling of water.