In India, one in four adults has high blood pressure. Among them, only half have been diagnosed and only ten percent have their blood pressure under control. As a result, a large number of people develop heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure while in their productive years of life. 

To deal with the problem, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in collaboration with World Health Organization and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has decided to expand its India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) across the country. 

Launched in November 2017, the initiative has enrolled more than three lakh patients with high blood pressure in government health facilities in 25 selected districts in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, and Maharashtra. It will now be expanded to cover 100 districts across all states. The expansion is expected to accelerate the implementation of quality hypertension treatment for over 15 crore population over the next four years.

The key features of the Initiative include treatment protocols that simplify quality patient care in primary care facilities; provision of adequate supply of quality medicines and blood pressure monitors; comprehensive training for healthcare workers at all levels on latest practices in hypertension treatment; and team-based care for counseling and follow up of the patients.

It also seeks to create patient-centered services to improve patient support; reduce reliance on bigger hospitals far away from the patient’s home and increase in the utilization of “Health and wellness centers” and primary health centers; and provide for regular monitoring of health facilities and prompt feedback to program managers to bridge gaps if any in a timely manner.

Dr.Balram Bhargava, ICMR Director General said, “approximately 20 crore adults in India have hypertension. Everyone above the age of 30 years should get BP measured once a year and adopt a healthy lifestyle very early in life. Prevention and treatment of hypertension is far safer for patients than expensive interventions like bypass surgery and dialysis”. 

Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India, said, “Hypertension is a silent killer.  Treatment of hypertension is simple, effective, easily available and needs to be continued lifelong. The World Health Organization has prioritized Universal Health Coverage, and the India Hypertension Control Initiative serves as an excellent example of a free program that improves the health of the Indian people,” 

Wetlands are an integral part of the fragile ecosystem in the North Western Himalaya. The state of Jammu and Kashmir has several wetlands but those located close to urban areas are showing signs of deterioration due to land use change, a new study has revealed.  

One such is Narkara, a semi-urban wetland located on the outskirts of Srinagar, which has shrunk a great deal in the past half a century. The area under agriculture has decreased by 78% – from 22.63 square kilometers in 1965 to 5 square kilometers in 2016. The decrease in agriculture area is mainly due to a rise in built up area which has gone up by 28 times in the past five decades.

The analysis of land cover data from 2016 shows that the catchment of Narkara wetland is now predominantly an urban setting with built-up areas covering 37.12% of the total catchment area. The pace of urbanization has been more pronounced after 1980, according to the study done by researchers from the University of Kashmir.

 The researchers used very high resolution satellite data (3 meter) to assess the changes occurring in the wetland over different time periods. The observations were then validated through ‘ground truth’ surveys. They also analyzed impact of land use change on health of the wetland by estimating soil loss in its catchment using a method called Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation in GIS. The analysis showed decline in soil erosion in the catchment area from 106 tonnes in 1965 to 62 tonnes in 2016. This reduction is attributed to barren lands and agriculture being taken over by built-up area.

“The reckless urbanization both within Narkara and its catchment not only affects the hydrology and ecology of this important semi-urban wetland but also increases vulnerability of people to flooding in this part of Himalaya because wetlands act as natural sponges and flood protection system,” pointed out Dr Irfan Rashid, Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Kashmir, while speaking to India Science Wire.

The gradual squeezing of wetlands is affecting their buffering capacity to withhold flood waters and storm water runoff. This was seen during the 2014 floods when residential areas in the outskirts of Srinagar, which used to be traditional floodplains, were inundated for more than three weeks.

“Wetland areas across Kashmir have been reported to be shrinking primarily due to unplanned land system changes affecting the buffering capacity of these ecologically and socioeconomically important systems to withhold flood waters. It is amply clear from land use analysis that expansion of built-up areas has resulted into shrinkage of agriculture fields. The lack of a comprehensive wetland conservation policy has turned wetland areas into concrete jungle mainly due to encroachments,” Rashid said.   

The catchment of Narkara is predominantly a semi-urban setting with settlements, agricultural fields and table lands locally called karewas which are barren denuded landscapes. The wetland is a breeding ground for water fowl species that migrate from Russia and Central Asia during winters.

The study was done by Sheikh Aneaus and Irfan Rashid (Geoinformatics Program, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir). The study results have been published in Arabian Journal of Geosciences. (India Science Wire)

L-Incubator IIM Lucknow organised a training program on “Corporate Venturing: Oxymoronic Strategy” at IIM Lucknow Noida Campus. The first edition of the program series, “Corporate Venturing: Innovation Development Program” was conducted in February 2018. As a pioneer in the subject the organisation has earlier conducted the first edition of the program. The list of participants consisted of senior officials from both government and private organisations including HPCL, NFL, KRIBHCO, IOCL, NSIC, NBCC and Deloitte. 

Corporates Venturing is a practice in which corporates make direct investments in innovative startups. This gives corporates access to innovative technology and thus, a competitive advantage for the future. Startups, on the other hand, seek an opportunity for a strategic financial alliance which also boosts their viability and sustainability. L-Incubator’s program was designed to introduce participants to the oxymoronic strategy needed in this setup. The key characteristics of corporates and startups vary, and hence, a strategy to resolve possible conflicts is essential. 

L-Incubator IIM Lucknow has also been helping Public Sector Units (PSUs) in rolling out their respective startup programs as a mentor institution. They have in the past signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with organisations like National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). As a mentor institute, L-Incubator helps them in the entire process including selection of startup, policy design, due diligence, valuation, investment, and incubation and acceleration support. L-Incubator has earlier been successfully able to get its incubated startups to support from these PSUs. To name a few, HPCL has invested in L-Incubator’s incubatees Constems, Simulanis, Target Plus and ONGC invested in Logic Ladder. 

To further the process of passing on this learning, L-Incubator hosted the “Corporate Venturing: Oxymoronic Strategy” training program.   

The program was held over a period of three days. The first day had two sessions, the first one was conducted by Sanjay Kumar, Chief General Manager (CGM) HPCL. He briefed the participants about HPCL’s startup initiative. The second session was hosted by Raunaque Mustafa, Vice-President, L-Incubator on Startups & Investment Ecosystem. On the second day of the event Prof M.Akbar, a retired professor of Strategic Management at IIM Lucknow and ex-Managing Director L-Incubator, started the session on Conflict Management between Corporates and Startups. In the second half of the day advocate and Managing Partner, India Juris, Sameer Rastogi joined the program and briefed the participants on “legal aspects of Company & MCA with respect to startups and IPR”. On the concluding day, Suresh Dhaka, Manager (Investments) L-Incubator delivered a session on “Financial modelling & cash flow projections, and valuation of startups.” In the latter half of the day Raunaque Mustafa delivered another session on creating term sheets for startups. He then concluded the program with a vote of thanks and certificate distribution. 

The program has been appreciated largely by all its partners and participants and the organisation is now preparing to launch the third edition of the program with a new aspect of corporate venturing to educate and to create a national footprint in the Indian startup ecosystem. 

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology at Hyderabad have developed a simple and innovative method to synthesize a catalyst that can convert chemicals derived from biomass into biofuel precursors. Their catalyst showed better efficiency and selectivity than commercial catalysts to produce the desired C15 oxygenated hydrocarbon, a precursor to diesel and jet fuel.

This outcome is important for India, especially for States such as Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telengana — the largest producers of corn in the country. They produce a large amount of corncob waste, much of which waste is currently burnt as its potential to be converted to valuable fuels is not harnessed owing to lack of awareness, expertise and technology. 

This research on cheap and efficient catalyst can enable this conversion, which would trigger the cascade of additional earning opportunity for the corn-farmer, provision of a sustainable energy source and reduction of carbon footprint in the automobile/aviation sector. 

The research was led by Dr. Atul Suresh Deshpande, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, and Prof. Sunil Kumar Maity, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, along with their Research students, D. Damodar, K. Alekhya and Dr. V. Mohan. 

Their paper detailing the synthesis procedure and the catalytic efficiency of the material produced has been recently published in the reputed peer-reviewed journal, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.

The global aviation sector, which will account for 3.5 percent of CO2 emissions and 15 percent of global oil demand by 2030, has resolved to achieve a 50 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2050.  The use of biofuels – fuels that are derived from biological sources – instead of fossil fuels, is considered the most practical solution towards achieving this goal.

Biofuels are typically derived from plants waste such as corn cobs, in many steps. For example, biofuels can be produced by the reaction between two chemicals, furfural and 2-methylfuran, both of which are derived from corncob.  This reaction requires special enablers, or catalysts, such as activated carbon. These highly active carbon catalysts often require heat treatment of the precursors to temperatures more than 1000 degrees celsius. 

The need for such high energy not only increases the cost of the catalyst but also negates the attempts to carbon-neutrality in developing the biofuel. The IIT Hyderabad team has developed a novel process that can produce carbon catalysts at room temperatures using simple materials – sugar, sulfuric acid and salt.

Explaining his research, Dr. Atul Suresh Deshpande said, Â“The dehydration of sugar by concentrated sulfuric acid is high-school chemistry. This reaction is highly exothermic, that means, intense heat is released during the reaction spontaneously, which helps in turning sugar into carbon without external heating. But this process is not well controlled and the resultant carbon does not have uniform micro-structure and catalytic prowess.”

Dr. Sunil Kumar Maity added, Â“Due to the low cost of precursors with practically zero energy input and simplicity of reaction, this process of producing carbons nanoplates can be easily adapted for large-scale commercial production.”

In order to control the microstructure of carbon during the exothermic dehydration of sugar, the researchers added common salt. Salt helps in controlled dehydration of sugar, which leads to the formation of carbon nanoplates –plate like structures that are a hundred thousand times smaller than the human hair. Not only is this nanostructure important because of the large surface area, but the surface is also covered by sulfonate groups that makes it an active catalyst.

The researchers did not stop with the speculation, they proved the catalytic power of their carbon nanoplates in the reaction between furfural and 2-methylfuran. Their catalyst showed better efficiency and selectivity than commercial catalysts to produce the desired C15 oxygenated hydrocarbon, a precursor to diesel and jet fuel.

The researchers at IIT Hyderabad believe that this novel approach can be further modified to obtain not just carbon nanoplates but also other types of nanostructured carbon materials that are useful in other commercial applications.

Being a social media influencer may come off as exciting and easy, but there’s a lot of work that goes behind each post. Yogita Gupta, a 19-year-old, Commerce student from Mumbai has 4.59 lakh followers on Instagram. In comparison to other influencers, she has only 183 posts but still has a greater number of engagements. 

Yogita Gupta an Indian beauty, fashion, and lifestyle influencer who is well renowned for her Fashion and Lifestyle subjects has taken over the Internet with her sensational ideas and content generating immediate individual attention.

Yogita’s social media page is considered to be one of the fastest-growing blog, reaching the mass, making her a well-renowned name in the blogging world also her Fashion and Lifestyle subjects is a treat for the blogger having the same forte.

Explaining the work behind each post that goes up, Yogita says that every week she dedicates one day to go to different locations, where she shoots multiple pictures. “I carry four to five outfits with me and get numerous pictures clicked so that I can upload one or two pictures every day”, Yogita says. Given that it is a creative platform, she also uploads pictures embellished with colorful visual designs to break the monotony of similarity.

Yogita has also been an inspiration for millions of bloggers as the diva has always motivated her fan fam to achieve their dreams also providing a satisfactory eye-catchy content that one cannot resist looking at.

“I did not plan to become an influencer. But I started gaining a lot of popularity in my friends’ circle and beyond because of my unique photo editing skills,” she explains. As her popularity and followers began to grow, local brands started approaching her. Yogita decided to discontinue her studies to focus on being a social media influencer.

Ashish Yadav from Udaipur Rajasthan at the age of 17 started his inventory by investing  1 Million creating a site named  ‘Trybhi’.

Ashish designed a website where mobile accessories from all across the world would be available at a reasonable price.

Generating business in e-commerce Ashish at such a young age happened to grow strong and firm in his field.

Consider e-commerce 1.0. Existing e-commerce platforms are better suited to sell structured and branded products (mostly electronics like mobile phones, televisions, and air-conditioners). They mainly appeal to relatively sophisticated shoppers, for whom convenience and selection are important. Their English-first approach and user interfaces are constraints for the NHB segment. 

Moreover, the format does not enable an important mechanism for building trust, such as information on what others are doing on the platform. For sellers too, e-commerce is designed to cater to larger, organized players, whereas most sellers in India, even online, are small. Overall, online shopping is at present more about price discovery than product discovery. E-commerce has made important strides, but its penetration is still low in India.

Today Ashish Yadav at the age of 17 has a vast range of accessories and a number of buyers online with tremendous growing business and revenue generation.

At the age of 28, Sudendu Shah is the CEO of Pride Globaltech Services Pvt. Ltd. and the Managing Director (M.D.) of Al Shibel Social Media Marketing Services L.L.C (Dubai). He is also the M.D of Pride Group L.L.C (USA)

Sudendu has set an eminent benchmark by receiving an award for ‘Times Men of the year 2018’ as ‘The Youngest Entrepreneur’. He started with a clean slate, single-handedly took up the responsibility of his own business and made it into a huge success without any guidance or support from the industry. It is because of his constant conviction and dedication that he has turned a vision into reality.

Sudendu Shah grew up in a middle-class family from Solapur. He initially migrated to Pune city to pursue his education. He started exhibiting his entrepreneurial skills from the age of 11, which was just the beginning. He helped his father in the catering business and had set foot in the industry by then.

Back in the days, Sudendu was one of the finest football players in college and he had an unflinching zest of leading, empathising and motivating others. Considering his abilities and qualities, Sudendu was able to establish his coaching academy called “Pride Coaching Academy.” Soon after he opened 4 more branches of this academy in just 2 years and then there was no looking back.

Sudende, a fresh face with his managerial skills, stepped into the field of “Event Management” and initialled his own company named ‘Pride Globaltech’. This was a major breakthrough along his way.  

Sudendu believes that when one follows their passion, there are no sacrifices; one only has to make compromises for the good. He took efforts to reach his goals and at a young age.

He has maintained his idealistic personality on social media as he shares about his projects and other business activities in which he actively participates.

Pride Globaltech Services is one of the top leading multinational business ventures that now has over 2,500 clients across 85 countries in the world. Sudendu’s creativity and innovation have made a strong headway towards progress. His path to success is truly an inspiring one!

Making memories by traveling around the globe is today’s young generation first choice, and they love to go for World Tour visit beautiful places around the world and obtain a lifetime memory.

We have seen a fantastic trend from the past decade or so lots of entrepreneurs, stars from different fields travel around the world, try an adventure in their life, and they love to take most beautiful and stunning pictures and post it on their social media accounts.

One more is going to add in this list of a young entrepreneur who is aiming to go for a world tour, and he is Narendra Desai from Gujarat. A place where every new day a new dreamer is born.

According to sources, Narendra Desai is planning for a world tour as he wants to take a break from his jam-packed schedule of work. Great to see young entrepreneurs like Narendra Desai balanced their life and avoid getting overworked, surely everyone in life needs break time to time to remain fresh and active in life.

If you see traveling is also suitable for development and it plays an important role. From learning how to communicate in different ways of experiencing new cultures, the entire process of traveling is believed to have profound effects on more than just your personal life. So it will be a good learning experience for Narendra Desai and his family.

What places he will select for his tour will be interesting, we feel it will be full of fantastic cars, jets and other luxurious things with swimming, driving with supercars, visiting top places around the places. It will be an excellent time for Narendra for sure it will be memories of a lifetime, and it will give them a fresh and energetic mind too as he will return back home after holidays.

NXTLVL attained name and fame in the year 2017 with the assistance of American-Brazilian visionary known as Jared Dasilva. Numerous individuals opine that passion takes you to the apex and similarly his enthusiasm towards the technical world is considered as valuable for different associations. Additionally, he accepts that each individual must know how to use mobile applications and to get it going; he is putting a great deal of diligent work for his firm.

When Jared visited Miami; he was having an idea of opening NXTLVL TECH in South Florida, Miami with his earned aptitudes and by being energetic he achieved his objective. With diligent efforts, he has made 36 applications for the application store in less than16 months and in the wake of achieving triumph in the starting time, the market of Southern Florida was the next target. He once had a thought of making his association like Amazon and this gave him the motivation of moving to Silicon Valley where he went into the technical world and left everything just to concentrate on his target. His devotion drove him to make more than 60 applications on the application store. In some way, the market of Silicon Valley was a colossal achievement for him and NXTLVL TECH.

Aside from this, having value and praise in urban parts of America, NXTLVL is prepared to hit the Indian market as Jared is ready to set up business workplaces in metropolitans like Mumbai and Delhi. He holds a view that India includes small and big ventures and it will be an amazing opportunity for the firm. NXTLVL will help various specialists from different organizations without thinking about money as the main intention. Also, these urban districts hold an enormous degree of business zones and researchers insist that by doing this the economy will rise. Additionally, it is predicted that this idea will surely influence the present associations.

For this millennial generation, age is truly no bar in order to break the stereotypes and carve out a unique niche for themselves.

Over the past decade, the start-up ecosystem in India has brimmed with young minds with the country having entrepreneurs at a median age of around 30 years. For this millennial generation, age is truly no bar in order to break the stereotypes and carve out a unique niche for themselves. One such of a small town mind caught our attention, who has been talk of the town on social media lately. A young entrepreneur named Chintan Padmani broke the odds and has made it big in the digital marketing space. Chintan started his journey to the top with literally no connection and empty pockets. Currently, he is one of the most famous names in the digital marketing field in the country, that too at the young age of 20.

Having left his hometown Ahmedabad at a very young age to pursue his career in the digital marketing field, Subhani from the beginning had expertise in content creation and a better understanding of the marketing landscape which helped him in achieving big.

Currently, he is a popular name in the digital marketing industry, all thanks to his amazing work at one of the firms based out of Mumbai.

Soon after kicking off his professional career in Mumbai, Chintan took up the job to work for an ad campaign of Ahmedabad tourism. After proving his worth in the market, Chintan went ahead to designed the promotional campaign for several super hits song like Tera Ghanta and Dilbar Dilbar.

Now, Chintan Padmani is started his own company called Cyberstrek Technologies making him one of the most successful youngest entrepreneurs in India that too at the age of 20. With the way his career is growing, he will be a force to reckon with in coming years.

Inspiring entrepreneurs like Chintan Padmani are indeed changing the game for their generation and taking Indian start-up and digital ecosystem to the next level, altogether. These new age young entrepreneurs, every now and then, proved themselves with their out of box thinking, leadership skills and distinctive execution styles.