Stand-up comedy in the United States got its start from the stump-speech monologues of minstrel shows in the early 19th century. It also has roots in various traditions of popular entertainment of the late 19th century, including vaudeville, English music hall, burlesque or early variety shows, humorist monologues by personalities such as Mark Twain, and circus clown antics. Fast-forwarding to the 21st Century, the definition of stand up comedy has evolved. It now involves slapstick humor, lewd innuendos, puns. The industrialization has ensured this paradigm shift. People look at stand up as a medium to escape the daily fatigue life brings them. 

Out of all the success stories this art has promised, the story of Ari Mannis is that of overcoming stereotypes and making a living out of this traditional yet modern art. 

Mannis attended New Mexico Military Institute for High School in Roswell, New Mexico and graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz where he studied film and digital media. 

After graduating college, Mannis moved to Los Angeles, California, where he began his stand-up career. In 2017 he appeared on MTV Greatest Party Stories Ever and has performed in festivals such as Kaaboo Music and Comedy Festival, as well at The Laughing Skull Comedy Festival. Mannis’ comedy has been featured in online forums such as College Humor, FunnyOrDie, and Nerdist] He currently does a monthly comedy show in the living room of his apartment which has been featured on Airbnb, Yelp, Forbes, LA Weekly, and Comedy Vortex. 

Being an individual performing a set of jokes in front of an audience is the last thing a digital media graduate aspires to be. Yet, Mannis took on the Herculean task of creating a name for himself. 

What makes the journey more special is the fact that Mannis shifted to LA- the Mecca of stand up comedy. With favorites like Gabriel Iglesias, Louis Ck, Russell Peters performing at clubs across every block, creating a name isn’t easy. The bar has been set very high in the city. Yet, that didn’t stop Ari. 

He went on to win the 2018 KAABOO discovery tour. Mannis even started his comedy news and podcast network called, StandUpTalk in which his podcast “Unlicensed Therapy,” can be found. “Unlicensed Therapy,” has been featured on SoundCloud and iTunes where he has gained over 500,000 subscribers. 

Ari can be seen touring all over either by himself or opening for comedians such as Theo Von, Amir K, Fahim Anwar, and Pauly Shore. He has performed in many Comedy Festivals including The Laughing Skull Comedy Festival, Beast Village, Golden Spike, Burbank, LA Scripted Comedy Festival, Big Pine, Ventura Harbo & The Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival. 

With an average of around 20k views on every Youtube video, Ari is making it big on social media too. His story proves that innuendos and puns can pave a path to success too. 

B-town has changed a lot from the past decade now we see lots of beast machines(cars) in movies, exotic locations and role of Handsome Businessman with stunning looks and style. Now, do you feel these things are imagined by directors by themselves well answer is NO, then where do they get the inspiration from? Well, these directors get inspired by Business Moguls like Rohit Reddy, who is an ideal example of how a business person should be in real life. Movie makers copy the style of Businessman like Rohit Reddy in their movies.

Rohit Reddy, a famous name of Hyderabad, is known for many things in his real-life starting from his Business, then his Dressing Style and muscular Physique to top cars and everything.

Rohit Reddy look superb whether he is repping a suit or going smart-casual at work – proof that you no longer need to wear a tie to be the most stylish man in the office.  Owner of Signature Developers is currently India’s style icon in the list of Businessman. Whatever he does becomes and trend in Hyderabad. If we keep the award for best-looking Businessman, most stylish man, most well-dressed Businessman, Fittest businessman than all these awards will definitely go to Rohit Reddy.

It is rightly said clothes make the man and who don’t wear it right cannot influence society. For Rohit style comes naturally to him. He is a fashionista and loves to try new things. According to Rohit, only cars and Villas cannot impress everyone. It would be best if you had excellent dressing sense too.

Rohit tries many different clothes according to days and schedules. Don’t get surprised by his look he is not an actor of B-town nor a fashion-related person; he is creating his own style. 

This young Real Estate Mogul is creating lots of Buzz in the market with his stunning pictures on the social media platform. Looking at his looks and style, surely he would have got many offers to join movies.

You rarely see CEO in jeans and T-shirt because for that you need to have that Physique. He has better Physique and styling than Tom Cruise you might find us bias, but for proof go to his Insta pictures you will agree with us. 

NDTV’s Ravish Kumar is the new recipient for the prestigious 61st Ramon Magsaysay Award, 2019 for ‘harnessing journalism to give voice to voiceless’. A widely acclaimed and celebrated TV journalist in India, Ravish is known for his popular news show ‘Ravish Ki Report’ and ‘Prime Time with Ravish Kumar’ on NDTV India. Informally known as ‘Nobel of Asia’, the premier award is named after Ramon Magsaysay, the third President of Republic of Philippines. Other than Ravish, Angkhana Neelapaijit from Thailand, Myanmar-based journalist Ko Swe Win, Kim Jong-Ki from South Korea and Raymundo Pujante Cayabyab from the Philippines were also bestowed with the same honor.

The award citation quotes, “In a media environment threatened by an interventionist state, toxic with jingoist partisans, trolls and purveyors of ‘fake news,’ and where the competition for market ratings has put the premium on ‘media personalities,’ ‘tabloidisation,’ and audience-pandering sensationalism, Ravish has been most vocal in insisting that the professional values of sober, balanced, fact-based reporting be upheld in practice.”

This laurel for an Indian has come at a time when India’s freedom of press index has dropped two places to 140th globally, while many journalists are being targeted by the authorities sitting in power. Sometimes, the perpetrators are corrupt powerful muscleman in a smaller city, a sand mafia, liquor mafia, police, politicians or the government of the day. Citing the physical violence against the journalists in India, the International watchdog for freedom of press, Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, RSF) highlights the plight of journalists working in Non-English media outlets in rural areas.

Violence/Intimidation against journalists

On 28th July, Pradeep Mandal, a Bihar-based local reporter of a Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle. Speculations were rife that he was attacked in connection of a news story he wrote about two traffickers indulged in unlawful activities of liquor trafficking. (It is to be noted that liquor in Bihar was banned by the Nitish Kumar’s government after implementing the Directive Principles of State Policy.) The assailants were later identified and Madhubani police issued a warrant against them, but no arrest could be made so far. In March 2018, two Dainik Bhaskar journalists, Naveen Nishchal and Vijay Singh were mowed down by an SUV in Bhojpur district over an investigative report against a village leader. 

Rajen Deka, a reporter for Dainik Asom, one of Assam’s leading dailies, was ambushed and attacked with sharp weapons while returning home in Nalbari district on the evening of 25th April. The assailants were allegedly linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. He survived with injuries to the head, chest and arm.

Two more journalists were intimidated and attacked after this incident. News18 TV reporter Upasana Barua Goswami was the intimidated by four miscreants in a restaurant in Tinsukia district, in Assam. Her assailants were later arrested. 

Rajiv Borah, a journalist who owns E-media and works for the regional TV channel DY365, was also attacked and beaten by five miscreants in Jorhat (Assam), a city 180 km southwest of Tinsukia. Only one assailant was arrested in this case.

It is evident that North-Eastern India has become one of the most unsafe places for local journalists. It is to be noted that in the year 2017, two Tripura-based journalists, Sudip Datta, and Santanu Bhowmik were killed.  

Revathi Pogadadanda, a program host with Mojo TV was arrested by Hyderabad police at her home on the morning of 12th July. She captured her arrest in a series of tweets: “Cops at my doorstep! They want to arrest me without a warrant. They tell me am creating a law and order problem!”

The police arrested her after a complaint raised by one of the participants in a discussion program about a court order allowing women entry in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The guest accused Revathi of insulting him when she defended women’s rights.

The Silver Linings

The new Ramon Magsaysay awardee journalist is known for his fearless views against the establishment. After the cold-blooded murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, he spoke vociferously at an event organized at Press Club of India and condemned the killing of the journalist. Now when he is honored with such a prestigious award, many hapless rural journalists would be now hoping to see the silver lining in the clouds.

The award citation says, “His moral courage in standing up for truth, integrity, and independence; and his principled belief that it is in giving full and respectful voice to the voiceless, in speaking truth bravely yet soberly to power, that journalism fulfills its noblest aims to advance democracy.”

Since Ravish Kumar is admired and idolized by many journalists, especially tier-2 cities’ Hindi journalists, there will be a sense of hope among them that they can also get recognized for their work one day. If not recognized, then this occasion might compel the government of the day to ensure a safe and protective environment for the stringers filing a report in the remotest area of Bihar, Assam, Tripura or Hyderabad.

(Opinion Expressed by the author is personal.)

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!