Amazon India teams up with government to boost handloom sales; directly engages with weavers
Amazon India today forged a partnership with Development Commissioner Handloom of the Union Ministry of Textiles under which it will educate, train and enable cooperatives and weavers to directly sell their products on the online portal The partnership allows Amazon India to engage with weavers in Kota in Rajasthan, Nadia in West Bengal, Bargarh in Odisha, and Bijoynagar in Assam. The products will carry government certifications ‘India Handloom Brand’ and ‘Handloom Mark’, ensuring availability of quality products to shoppers across the globe, Amazon India said. The company has already deployed teams in the four states and conducted workshops in Kota and Bargarh, introducing weavers to online selling and Amazon.in’s seller services that will help them kickstart their online business, it said. Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner (Handlooms), said “Authentic handloom products have always found resonance with shoppers. Our partnership with Amazon India will allow weavers to satiate this demand by making their products available in all corners of India. Weavers will also get the right value for their offerings through this direct sales channel.” Gopal Pillai, Director & GM, Seller Services, Amazon India, said all products listed by weavers will be available through the ‘Crafted in India’ store on Amazon.in that was launched recently, which aims to bring the rich Indian heritage of handicraft and handlooms to Indian consumers’ doorsteps. John Sullivan Womens Jersey
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways19-May, 2016 18:19 IST Shri Nitin Gadkari Calls for Joint Efforts of Centre & Delhi Government for Rectification of Road Accident Black Spots : Calls for a Dedicated Road Safety Cell in Delhi PWD
Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has called for a dedicated Road Safety Cell in Delhi PWD, that would focus upon incorporating engineering features to enhance safety on roads, especially at identified black spots . This comes in context of a report prepared by the India Chapter of International Road Federation in which they have proposed certain simple engineering and traffic management improvements at moderate investments at ten major black spots in Delhi. These black spots include Sarai Kale Khan, Mori Gate, Nigam Bodh Ghat, Mukhandpur Chowk, Dr Bhabha Marg Crossing, Punjabi Bagh Chowk, ISBT Kashmiri Gate, Mahipalpur Flyover, Shani Mandir and Shahdara flyover. These spots have together recorded 245 accidents last year, in which 203 persons were injured while 84 lost their lives. In its report IRF has suggested features like footpaths, traffic islands, channelization of traffic, signalization and provision of road signs & pavement markings to make these spots safer for traffic. In a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Shri Gadkari has urged him to get the report of IRF examined and send relevant proposals to the Road Transport & highways Ministry for financing. He has further mentioned that the Ministry will soon launch a national initiative to remove black spots and proposals from Delhi can be accommodated therein. It may be reiterated that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is committed to reducing fatalities due to road accidents to 50 percent by 2020 and has taken many steps to improve safety on Indian roads. As part of the efforts, 789 black spots have been identified across the country which recorded repeated accidents/fatalities and steps are being taken to rectify engineering defects at such spots at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore. Road safety has been made an integral part of road designing, and state governments have been asked to have dedicated Road Safety Cells in their respective Public Works Departments. Ereck Flowers Womens Jersey
Myntra app faces tech glitch, spams users with notifications
Fashion e-retailer Myntra on Thursday suffered major technical glitches as it started spamming its app users with notifications of products being dispatched and delivered without users ordering them. Myntra app users took to Twitter to complain of incessant notification being sent on their phones. Messages like these flooded Twitter: Many confused and worried users called up customer care, where an automated voice acknowledged it was a technical problem. Myntra also put out a Tweet accepting the problem: However, there seems to have been some harm done as many users uninstalled the app after being bombarded by notifications. It is not clear what caused the problem. Myntra recently announced it is withdrawing from its mobile-only strategy and will relaunch a desktop version of its website next month in an attempt to bring back lost customers and drive growth. The move comes a year after Myntra shut its desktop site and become an app-only store, triggering a debate among online players on whether this strategy will work or backfire. Myntra, which is owned by Flipkart, faces tough completion from the likes of Amazon, Jabong and Snapdeal. Aaron Dell Authentic Jersey
Samsung keeping track of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s India moves, daily reports being sent to Seoul
Guess who else is following Tim Cook’s passage through India closely? Samsung Electronics, according to several people aware of the matter. With India emerging as the next big battlefield between the arch rivals, the South Korean company has been taking careful note of the Apple CEO’s itinerary to ga sense of the plans that the maker of iPhones and iPads may have, apart from any alliances that Cook is looking to forge. Daily reports are being sent to South Korea on where he’s going and whom he’s meeting along with commentary on the strategy that Apple may be looking to follow in order to maximise business. Samsung has formed a team comprising executives across functions to track Apple. The handheld products (HHP) business, which comprises mobile phones and tablets, has been entrusted with helming the exercise. “Updates are being sent on Cook’s moves, both through email and WhatsApp,” said one of the people cited above. “Samsung headquarters is extremely keen to know as much detail (as possible) since this is one of the longest visits which Cook is doing in any country recently and is tapping all possible sources for information.” “We strongly deny this. This is groundless and absolutely incorrect,” said the Samsung Southwest Asia spokesperson in response to emails from ET. Cook who landed in India on Tuesday night has had a hectic schedule in Mumbai and Hyderabad before flying off to Kanpur on Thursday to watch an Indian Premier League cricket match between the Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders. The visit is likely to last all this week and a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled for Saturday in New Delhi. He met top Reliance Industries executives on Wednesday and has agreed to forge partnerships with Reliance Jio Infocomm and Reliance Retail for devices and implementing an enterprise solution developed by Apple and IBM, ET reported on Thursday. Samsung is also looking to forge a partnership with Reliance for selling its handsets through Jio’s network and launching its mobile payment service Samsung Pay, sources said. Others Cook met included Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry, ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood and TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran. The global corporate rivalry between Apple and Samsung is among the most intense in recent times, with both firms regularly suing each other over patents and other matters, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on legal bills each year. The two have been fighting for supremacy in the premium smartphone segment in India, but the stakes are becoming higher considering that the country is set to overtake the US to become the second-largest smartphone market. Matt Carpenter Authentic Jersey
‘Absence of enough maintenance reserve puts lenders at risks’
Absence of adequate major maintenance reserve ( MMR ) for road projects based on build, operate and transfer ( BOT) model has exposed lenders to default risks , Icra today said in its latest study on the Indian road sector. According to Icra, concerted efforts to address execution bottlenecks have yielded positive results, as reflected in the 39 per cent increase in the pace of national highway execution at 5.39 km per day during April 2015-February 2016. “Icra’s assessment of major maintenance costs across several national highway projects reveals that the median cost per lane km was Rs 1.8 million. If lenders do not enforce creation of MMR immediately on commissioning of projects and instead allow tail periods to shrink through loan top-ups at the time of the first major maintenance, they could be exposed to default risks,” it said in a statement. Major maintenance (MM) is the largest expense item during the operations phase of a BOT road project, with each cycle involving expenditure of about 12 per cent of initial construction cost, it said. As per Icra estimates, the total estimated expenditure towards major maintenance during the project life could be as high as 60 per cent of the initial construction cost as a BOT project goes through 3-5 MM cycles depending on the length of the concession period. The study on 15 NH road projects, commissioned between 2005 and 2009, suggests that MMR was not created in 60 per cent of the operational BOT projects whereas it was not adequate to fund the MM cost in the remaining 40 per cent. Although the common loan agreements stipulate the creation of an MMR, lenders have not been proactive in enforcing the same, thereby allowing temporary surpluses, if any, to leak out of SPVs, it said, adding that adherence to MMR creation is higher in the case of debt raised in the form of bonds or NCDs. Rohit Inamdar, Senior Vice-President, Icra, said, “In the absence of adequate MMR, road SPVs are either dependent on sponsors for funds infusion or have to fall back on its tail period to raise additional debt. Therefore, the credit profile of most operational BOT projects are crucially linked to sponsors’ ability and willingness to fund MM cost and the sufficiency of tail period.” Inamdar, added that while high growth in commercial traffic boosts toll collections, it also increases major maintenance frequency and pushes up costs due to higher and faster wear and tear. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) plans to increase both awards and execution in the current fiscal by 2.5 times, from those of the 2015-16 levels. For NHAI, the targets are more steep with target execution of 8,000 km (21.92 km/day) and awards of 15,000 km. The target for 2016-17 is almost four times higher than what was achieved during 2015-16. Jermaine Gresham Jersey
Need to discuss with airlines on capping airfares: DGCA
Amid concerns over steep fluctuations in airfares, aviation regulator Directorate General Civil Aviation ( DGCA ) today said discussions need to be held with airlines before any decision on fixing upper cap on ticket prices. “If a capping of airfares is required, then we will have to have discussions with them airlines,” DGCA Director General M Sathiyavathy said here. To a query on whether capping airfare is a practical option in the context of free market principles, she said, “Let’s see. We need to have discussions.” The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would start making public from this month the highest fare bucket or class rates levied by domestic airlines. When asked if the regulator has noticed significant fluctuations in air ticket prices, she said, “If the average rise has been less than 1.5 per cent or a maximum of 2 per cent in high fare bucket for the month of April. We will be monitoring it every month.” The DGCA is expected to release tomorrow the air traffic data for the month of April along with high fare bucket details. Responding to concerns expressed by Parliamentarians over surge in airfares during the recent Jat agitation and natural calamities, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju earlier this month told the Lok Sabha that he would discuss the issue with stakeholders. To a query on proposed discussions with airlines in this regard, the DGCA chief said the minister has to fix the date and that “the matter is being looked into”. According to Sathiyavathy, airlines have come forward and offered extra flights during crisis times such as at the time of Chennai floods . Whether it was floods at Chennai and Srinagar, Jat agitation or earthquake in Nepal, on all the four occasions the DGCA interacted with the airlines, she said. During those times, the airlines “readily came forward and offered extra flights, some of them free of cost and as far as Chennai floods were concerned, in flights from Chennai to Hyderabad and Bengaluru,airlines pegged fares at Rs 2,500 per ticket,” she noted. Sathiyavathy also said that if there is a need to have a restriction on the upper limit of airfares during crisis periods, “we need to examine that, which is what the Minister has said”. On the issue of airlines hiking ticket cancellation charges recently, she said the DGCA is looking into the matter. “We have been trying to compare with international trends and like that.Analysis of cancellation charges will take more time,” she said. John Tavares Authentic Jersey
‘Agencies plan airspace management cells at major airports’
Civil and military agencies are seeking to set up airspace management cells at major airports to ensure optimal utilisation of airspace. Rear Admiral Philipose George Pynumootil , NM, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air), today said in order to achieve real-time coordination for effective use of airspace, integration of sensors and systems is important. “A technical sub-committee has been formed to study the existing equipment and to explore the feasibility of integrating the same with Airports Authority of India (AAI) systems,” he said here. He said efforts are being made to form these cells at major airports which would “enable real-time airspace management in a dynamic environment which is the way ahead for the future”. With good growth expected in commercial air traffic, the Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) concept is being followed for optimum utilisation of airspace. Under FUA, for military operations, utilisation of non-military airspace by creation of temporary segregated or reserved areas is permitted. Noting that there are many challenges to ensure successful civil-military air operations in the available airspace, Pynumootil said there has been coordination efforts which have bolstered the “synergy of civil military cooperation in aircraft operations”. The Indian Navy operates three joint user airports at Goa , Visakhapatnam and Port Blair . Alfred Blue Womens Jersey
DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy says India avoiding catastrophe because of secure practices
On the day when an EgyptAir plane carrying 66 people crashed over the Mediterranean Sea, DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy said all players in India were following safety measures which has prevented any major catastrophe in its airspace. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief said the aviation regulator was also playing its role, while referring to the EgyptAir plane mishap. “I am glad and thankful to God that at least in India we have not had any major catastrophe, basically because of the safety measures put in place, adopted and followed by all the players including defence forces, civil airlines, non-scheduled operators and lastly the regulator which has played its role” said Sathiyavathy. An EgyptAir flight headed from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board crashed in the Mediterranean Sea today after it vanished from radar screens in Egyptian airspace. However, Sathiyavathy, the Director General at DGCA, emphasised the need for optimal utilisation of airspace citing the fast speed of growth in aviation sector. She was speaking at the Civil-Military Cooperation Conference, organised by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). “Airspace is a finite national asset and while we have a lot of cooperation, we need to increase it. We need to engage more and ensure that we are making optimal use of the finite asset so that aviation in India can grow” Deion Jones Jersey
Jaipur to be first Light House City of South Asia
Jaipur would be the first smart connected community Lighthouse City in South Asia. With the announcement, which came on Wednesday, Jaipur has joined the league of Cisco Lighthouse cities globally such as Hamburg (Germany), Barcelona (Spain) and Adelaide (Australia). Cisco Lighthouse City status credential is assigned to a list of selected cities all over the world. The Lighthouse City engagement would be enabled through a joint working group which would focus on deploying next generation technologies to impact citizens and society. Cisco is collaborating with the city of Jaipur on a number of key initiatives aimed at advancing Jaipur’s vision of becoming a global model and standard for sustainable urban development. The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has chosen to develop smart city infrastructures that would improve the efficiency and quality of services for its 3.5 million residents and over 40 million tourists who visit the city every year. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje said that this is the first step towards realising the vision of digital Rajasthan. She claimed Jaipur had been chosen because of rapid transformation and modernisations that the city authorities had undertaken over the last couple of years. “Citizen centric solutions, which are ahead of its times, were implemented in the last two years,” she said. The announcement would enable Jaipur to gain access to Cisco’s huge global network and channel program capabilities. The city would also benefit from the economic and social transformation which is set to occur with the initiation of next phase of the Digital India program in the country. Keeping in view the huge competition between cities for talent, business, investment and tourism, a growing role for technology is being envisaged to enable the development of communities that champion social, environmental and economic sustainability. A smart connected community is designed with technology at the center to improve the efficient management of city operators and the development and delivery of new services to citizens. In addition Cisco in collaboration with technology leaders such as Qualcomm technologies, General Electrical and 3M India Limited announced the launch of innovation center at Jaipur. The innovation center would be housed and operated by Genpact and help accelerate co-innovation of Internet of Everything (IOE) based solution. The innovation center would be hosted by JDA and team up with startups, developers, government agencies and academic communities who as the same goal of bringing innovative ideas to life and jointly accelerating development of IoE solution of global skill. Robert Woods Jersey
Smart City: Government to announce names of 14 more cities soon
The government is all set to announce 14 more cities to be included in the first set of cities to receive funds under the smart cities mission, taking the total number to 34. “We will announce the next set of cities in one or two days and these will be included in the first set of cities that will receive the first tranche of funding,” urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu said at a CII event in New Delhi on Thursday. Under the mission, the government plans to develop 100 cities as smart cities with advanced infrastructure and facilities. It had earlier shortlisted 98 cities. Naidu said the 20 cities that had already been announced may require an investment of $8 billion whereas once all 100 cities were selected the cities may require $40 billion. Ryan Carpenter Jersey