Category: Business & Economy

From media to medicine to Apple Health V-P: Sumbul Desai’s Indian roots is common strand

If the rebel within her had prevailed, Dr Sumbul Desai would have been a journalist or a media honcho. But after many pivots in her career, the Sweden-born with Indian roots is now one of the most influential women in global tech — as Apple’s VP-Health.

“You’d never think that all of those stops you are going to make are going to help you with your ultimate role. All that learning ends up putting you exactly where you should be,” Desai told The Indian Express on video call from California.

Desai joined Apple five years ago to strengthen the Cupertino-based tech giant’s foray into personal health technologies. Before that, she was Vice Chair of Strategy and Innovation in the Department of Medicine at Stanford Medicine as well as Associate Chief Medical Officer at Stanford Healthcare.

And yet, those early stints with the Walt Disney Company and ABC News still stand out in her impressive resume. “My parents wanted me to be either a doctor or an engineer,” says Desai. Echoing millions of Indians across the world, her parents, who moved from India to Sweden and then the US, were no different when it came to their children, she points out.

India hands 44,000 MT of urea to crisis-hit Sri Lanka

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay met Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to inform him about the arrival of the shipment

India on Sunday handed more than 44,000 metric tonnes of urea under a credit line extended to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka, as part of New Delhi’s ongoing efforts to support the island nation’s farmers and help bolster bilateral cooperation for food security, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said.

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay met Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to inform him about the arrival of more than 44,000 metric tonnes of urea.

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New York gallery showcases the work of Kerala artist Tom Vattakuzhy

Tom Vattakuzhy’s solo show ‘Song of the Dusk’ on at a gallery in New York captures the loneliness and uncertainty of the pandemic times

A gradual sense of disquiet begins to build as you gaze into artist Tom Vattakuzy’s stunning painting,‘Song of the Dusk’. A burial is underway — a mound of soil occupies the centre of the frame with a wreath laid beneath it. The church looms behind, its imposing white walls contrasting the tangerine tones of a setting sun. People, wearing masks pulled down to their chins, stand around in sepulchral silence. 

The 2020 oil-on-canvas work pits the staggering beauty of life against the transience of it. It captures the fear, the uncertainty and the festering sadness of pandemic deaths. Though he does not usually paint a series on a preset theme, he is moved by situations and experiences that he encounters. Tom’s works often carry untold emotional resonances of such experiences. This particular work could have originated from a sense of personal loss, says Tom, who lost his father around the time, though not to COVID-19. 

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AT&T inaugurates India Development Centre in Chennai

Company building a dedicated digital operations centre

The U.S.-based telecommunications giant AT&T has opened its new development centre in Chennai. The new facility was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology T. Mano Thangaraj with Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital Officer, AT&T.

The new centre at the RMZ Millenia Campus Phase 2 on MGR Salai has capacity to accommodate around 300 employees and will focus on building digital capabilities. “We recognise the talent and potential in Chennai and are excited about offering an environment where teams can work on features that have a direct impact on AT&T customers and employees,” Mr. Bala Subramanian said in a statement. 

“In addition, we are building a dedicated digital operations centre (DoC) that will act as a beachhead for our customer-centric operations transformation,” he added.

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PM Modi inaugurates Deoghar airport, unveils ₹16,800-crore projects in Jharkhand

He also flagged off the Deoghar-Kolkata IndiGo flight from the new airport

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 657-acre Deoghar airport, constructed at a cost of ₹401 crore.

He also flagged off the Deoghar-Kolkata IndiGo flight from the new airport.

The airport has a 2,500-metre-long runway, which can handle the landing and takeoff of Airbus A320 planes.

Mr. Modi had laid the foundation stone of the Deoghar airport on May 25, 2018, as a key step towards providing direct connectivity to Baba Baidyanath Dham, which is an important religious destination for devotees from all over the country.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, on the occasion, said the airport will be linked to Ranchi, Patna and Delhi in the days to come.

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Santosh Shukla as CEO of British Organization World Book of Records

He will also carry out business activities of iudex International Quality Certification and focus on business expansion in Asian countries.New Delhi Senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Shri Santosh Shukla has become the new Chief Executive Officer CEO of the British Organization World Book of Records.

 At the helm of Shri Shukla, the organization has made its reached 25 countries in the world with a strong global network. Shri Shukla hails from deep-rooted Indian culture and heritage and is of Indian origin.

Being a Cyber law expert and an author of technical books, he is also Director-General of the South Asian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SACCI), President and CEO of International Quality Certification, President of Alma World, and holds the post of Chief Editor of Alma Today, Alma Times, WBR News and other leading organizations.

devidiscourse.com

GE Healthcare launches its first ‘5G Innovation Lab’ in India 

GE Healthcare on Thursday announced the launch of its 5G Innovation Lab in India, the first for the company across the globe.

With the advantage of massive bandwidth, high data speeds, low latency and highly reliable connectivity, 5G has the potential to disrupt the patient care continuum, transforming diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis, the company noted.

“The 5G Innovation Lab is designed to position GE Healthcare at the forefront of these groundbreaking advances in patient care, including potentially bringing cutting-edge technology to rural and suburban regions,” a company statement said.

Situated at the John F.Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) Bengaluru, GE Healthcare’s largest R&D centre outside of the USA, the lab will serve as a testbed to develop future-ready products and solutions, turning a new corner in innovation, it said.

5G in Healthcare was valued at an estimated USD 215 million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 3,667 million by 2026.

“India is an important market for us globally and it is indeed the right time to venture into 5G, which will open a realm of exciting opportunities, driving the next wave of growth in Healthcare,” said Jan Makela, President & CEO, Imaging at GE Healthcare.

The GE Healthcare 5G Innovation Lab will serve as a conduit for the interplay of exponential technologies like AI/ML, IoT, Big Data, Edge Computing and Cybersecurity, the statement added.

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World’s largest cricket jersey was made within nine days

The world’s largest cricket jersey (66 m x 42 m), which got Guinness record recognition in the IPL final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, was prepared within nine days by Mumbai’s Flag Company.

The idea was conceptualized by the IPL owners.

“Well, something like this needs all hands-on deck. There wasn’t any one person at the flag company who wasn’t involved and didn’t contribute to this project. A 55-member team worked on this massive opportunity”, Dalvir Singh Nagi, the company CEO, speaking exclusively, said.

The time frame given was 15 days but the company was able to finish the product within 9 days.

“Printing (logos of all ten teams) and piecing the parts together required a lot of trials and errors and massive effort. The semi-finished printed fabric was shipped to the location for assembling and the piece was stitched and brought together to shape and live at the venue. It was overwhelming and exciting all at once!”, Nagi added.

deccanchronicle

Know Your City: How a middle class man with an uncanny vision built Pune’s Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum

With more than 20,000 artefacts of regular use, this Pune museum stands testimony to Dinkar Gangadhar Kelkar’s passion for recording history.

On January 14, 1981, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi paid a visit to the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Shukrawar Peth — and was surprised by what she saw. “For many years, I have been talking of the necessity of collecting and preserving articles which have been of everyday use in households all over India but are now becoming rare and unavailable. What fine workmanship and attractive designs they have…I was delighted to find that long before and without knowing of my idea, Dr Kelkar had, on his own, put my idea into practice. He and his wife have made an excellent collection,” she wrote in a letter dated April 5, 1981.

Dinkar Gangadhar Kelkar, popularly known as Kakasaheb Kelkar, had single-handedly built a museum containing artefacts of regular use that represent the exquisite history of craftsmanship of the country. Among the collection are an elaborate hair dryer from 18th century Thanjavur, a mirror made of jade, an array of sindoor, kumkum and jewellery boxes and a brass foot-scrubber or vajri set with bells that once aided the shringar (makeup) of women.

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India gifts 75 ambulances, 17 school buses to Nepal

India on Sunday gifted 75 ambulances and 17 school buses to Nepal as part of its ongoing efforts to build on the “robust and longstanding” partnership between the two countries and help the Himalayan nation bolster its infrastructure in healthcare and education sectors.

India’s newly-appointed Ambassador Naveen Srivastava handed over the keys of the vehicles in the presence of Devendra Paudel, Nepal’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The gifting of 75 ambulances also marks 75 years of India’s Independence, the Indian Embassy here said.

“The gifting of ambulances and school buses is part of the very robust and strong development partnership between the two countries,” Srivastava said.

This initiative has been one of the long-standing traditions of the Indian government under the Nepal-India Development Partnership Programme to bolster efforts of the Nepal government to strengthen its infrastructure in health and education, he added.

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