MEDIGADDA, June 21: The prestigious and world’s biggest lift irrigation scheme Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project inaugurated by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandra Sekhar Rao on Friday. By switching on the motor in the Medigadda Pump House at Kannepalli Village in the presence of Governor of Andhrapradesh and Telangana ESL Narsimhan and YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Chief Minister Andhra Pradesh the Godavari river water pumped through the delivery cistern. After visiting the forebay, all the dignitaries unveiled the pylon with Veda mantras and Ashirvachanams. The guests inspected the pump house. Mr. PV Krishnareddy, Managing Director, MEIL explained the salient features of the project to chief guests. By seeing the water at delivery cistern there was a huge applause. 

Each pump with an operating capacity of 40 MWs has released 60 Cusecs of water through delivery cistern into the gravitational canal (13.5 Kms). Earlier water traversed from pump (pressure main) through delivery main up to 1.53 Kms. This water through the gravitational canal will reach the upper part of Annaram Barrage. While lifting the water Megha Engineering Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) has surpassed its own record.

Medigadda is the first Pumping Station in a chain of total 20 pumping stations of mega Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP).  It has the distinction as the biggest pump house in the country. For lifting and transporting Godavari water to the upper reaches, MEIL is constructing this unique pump house at Medigadda in Kannepalli village of Mahadevpur Mandal in Jayashankar Bhupalapalli District.  There are 17 pumps in this pump house, each with a capacity of 40 MWs.  And this is the only pump house in the entire country with a rare distinction of having more number of pumps to lift the water. 

On this auspicious occasion Mr. PV Krishna Reddy that, “It is honor to be part in building world’s biggest pump house. The MEIL’s vast experience and expertise in executing the lift irrigation projects helped us to complete this project in a record time of two years.”

For Kaleshwaram Project, lifting of water from Godavari River would start from Medigadda itself. The biggest pump house in the world is constructed at this place for this purpose. As part of Kaleshwaram Project, Package–8 works are taken up at Lakshmipur with 7 units, each unit with a capacity of 139 MWs.  Under Package-6, there are 7 units with a capacity of 124 MWs; in Package -10, there are 4 Units with a capacity of  106 MWs and in Package -11,  4 Units have the capacity of 135 MWs. Among these except Package 6, all other works are being undertaken by MEIL. 

11 Units in Medigadda, 8 in Annaram, 9 in Sundilla and 7 Units in Package 8 are being established for this project.  There are 35 units in total will be completed by MEIL in the first phase; so far, it has completed works related to 26 units. Dry run (testing the motors) has been already successfully completed in these units and efforts are on for wet run (water pumping).

This biggest pump house is constructed in just one and half year time, with unique electromechanical and civil works. Approach canal with a capacity of 9.75 lakhs Cubic Meters, with walls of 51000 Cubic Meters have been completed. Construction of forebay (front area) for this pump house with a capacity of 45.73 Lakhs Cubic Meters is also completed.  MEIL has made it possible to complete all these works within the stipulated deadlines. It could complete a total work of 77.07 lakhs Cubic Meters, including 10.56 lakhs Cubic Meters works of Pressure Main and 10.50 lakhs Cubic Meters for Delivery cistern, in record-breaking time. 

News Source: Digpu

Anmol Bhatia’s popularity on her social media pages has increased rapidly in the past few months. She is one of the most followed and loved fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers. Anmol, a girl from Delhi with lots of dreams in her eyes and amazing talent of fashion, beauty, and trends has gained up to 370k followers on her Instagram page. People admire her work and love how she keeps them updated with trends and beauty tips all the time.

Anmol Bhatia answered what inspired her and interested her in the field of beauty and fashion. In a statement, the gorgeous blogger said, ” always used to adore my mother when she was getting ready and always tried to copy her. And As I grew up that interest grew with me, I used to love watching celebrities walk on the red carpet and the fashion magazines that came to my place.”

When asked what does fashion and beauty mean for her, she answered, “Fashion and beauty for me is confidence and being comfortable in my own skin and flaunting it the way I want. There are no rules when it comes to something like fashion because it is what you want it to be, fashion doesn’t define you, rather you define your own fashion.”

So does one have to keep themselves up-to-date with all the current fashion trends? Anmol shared her view stating, “It is totally up to a person, but it is always super fun to know the latest trends and then give it your own touch, make it your own and style it and carry it the way you want to!”

Staff Selection Commission conducted Constable (GD) in CAPFs, NIA, SSF and Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles Examination, 2018 from 11.02.2019 to 11.03.2019 in the Computer Based Mode. A total number of 30,41,284 candidates appeared in the said examination. The exams were held to fill 54,953 vacant posts.

Staff Selection Commission(SSC) will declare the results of SSC GD Constable exams tentatively on 21st June 2019 

As per the Notice of examination, candidates have been shortlisted for PET/ PST in an approximate ratio of 1:10 (vacancy: candidates). Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates securing less than 33% marks and Unreserved (UR) and Ex-Servicemen (ESM) candidates securing less than 35% marks have not been considered eligible for short-listing to the PET/ PST. 

It was a computer-based examination which had 100 objective questions of 100 marks. The paper had four sections and each section had 25 questions of one marks each.90 minutes were given to the candidates to solve the paper.

Any discrepancy with respect to the candidate’s data/ result may be brought to the Notice of the Commission by 31-07-2019 along with a copy of a printout of the Online Application Form. Any such representation received after 31-07-2019 will not be entertained by the Commission.

How to check results for the exam:

1. Visit the official website at ssc.nic.in.

2. On the homepage, click on ‘SSC GD Constable Result 2019’ link.

3. Enter the registration number and the date of birth printed on the admit card.

4. The result will be displayed on the screen.

5. Take a print out of the result for future use.

Candidates are selected based on Computer Based Test, Physical Efficiency Test, Physical Standard test followed by a medical examination. 

NEW DELHI, June 20:  President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said the people have given a very clear mandate in this election for continuing uninterrupted and at an accelerated pace the journey of development that started in 2014.

In his customary address at the joint sitting of Parliament which marked the constitution of the 17^th Lok Sabha, the President said the people have given even stronger support the second term of the government after assessing the performance during the first tenure.

In his hour-long address, the President touched upon almost all aspects of governance and broadly laid down the government’s vision, programmes and challenges for the next five years. He was flanked by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and newly elected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Among the parliamentarians in the packed Central Hall were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flanked by leader in Rajya Sabha Thawar Chand Gehlot and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi occupied seats on the next bench.  

Recalling that the people had elected in 2014 a government with absolute majority after three decades, the President said the government marched forward without any discrimination with the mantra of “Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas’ , to create a New India

He said the government was dedicated to the goal of  improving the lives of all citizens and providing all basic amenities to the last person standing at the margins of society. 

He said that nearly half of the MPs in this Lok Sabha have been elected for the first time. The election of 78 women MPs which is the highest number in the history of Lok Sabha, presents the picture of a New India, he added.

Setting the tone for the government’s mission, he said: “My Government wants to make the people conscious, capable, well-provided and unfettered to such an extent that that they do not feel the “Burden, Force, or Absence” of the Government in their daily life. Empowering every person in the country is the main goal of my Government..’’

He said the Government is moving forward towards realising their aspirations of building a Strong, Safe, Prosperous and All-inclusive India. This journey is inspired by the basic spirit of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas aur Sabka Vishwas’.

Noting that soon after swearing-in the Government has started working towards building a New India, the President outlined the salient features of the New India where equal opportunities to progress would be made available to every person and where life of every person becomes better with harmony binding the people with each other.

To pave the way for the golden future of New India, he said the Government has resolved to make the rural India will be strong and empowering urban India.

The President said that a decision has been taken to increase the income support to farmers by extending the coverage under ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’, to every farmer in the country and pension scheme for them has also been approved.

For the first time, he said the Government has taken note of the economic security of small shopkeepers. A separate ‘Pension Scheme’ has been approved for small shopkeepers and retail traders and about three crore small shopkeepers in the country will benefit from this scheme, he said.

Turning to the welfare of the soldiers, he said the amount of scholarship under the ‘National Defence Fund’ has been increased for the children of soldiers. For the first time, sons and daughters of the State police personnel have also been included in this scholarship.

Turning his focus to the key issues of climate change and global warming, the President said that water crisis is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century, cautioning that it would aggravate further.

“Over time, the traditional and effective practices of water conservation in our country are disappearing. Houses have come up over ponds and lakes, and the vanishing water sources have accentuated the water crisis for the poor,’’ he said adding that water conservation and management needs to be tackled in all seriousness.

He said the creation of the new ‘Ministry of Jalshakti’ is a decisive step in this direction, which will have far-reaching benefits.

He said that large scale investments have been made to strengthen rural India and in order to enhance agriculture productivity, an investment of Rs. 25 lakh crore will be made in the coming years.

The President said that comprehensive work is underway for the development of 112 ‘Aspirational Districts’ in the country where 1.13 lakh most backward villages were located.

Reiterating the Government’s commitment to make women equal stakeholders in the country’s development, he said in order to secure equal rights for every sister and daughter in the country, eradication of social evils like ‘Triple Talaq’ and ‘Nikah-Halala’ is imperative.

He said India has joined the league of countries with most number of start-ups in the world. To improve the start-up ecosystem, the Government is simplifying the rules and the goal is to establish 50,000 start-ups in the country by 2024.

He said two crore additional seats would be available for the youth in higher educational institutions by 2024.

Touching on economic development, he said India is now on the way to become the world’s 5th largest economy in terms of GDP. To maintain the high growth rate, reform process will continue. “It is our objective to make India a 5-trillion dollar economy by 2024,’’ he said.

The President said the campaign against black money will be taken forward at a faster pace and the ‘Fugitive and Economic Offenders Act’ has proved to be effective in controlling fugitive economic offenders.

“Now we are receiving information in this regard from 146 countries, including Switzerland. Of these, we have concluded agreements with 80 countries for automatic exchange of information. We are now receiving information about all those who have stashed black money abroad,’’ he said.

The President said India is marching forward to assume a leadership role in unravelling and comprehending the mysteries of space. “Our scientists are involved in the preparations for the launch of ‘Chandrayaan-2’, which will be India’s first spacecraft to reach the Moon. We are also making rapid progress towards achieving the goal of sending the first Indian in India’s own ‘Gaganyaan’ by 2022,’’ he said.

Stating that India has acquired a new image and its relations with other countries have become stronger, Mr. Kovind said it is a matter of immense pleasure that in 2022, India will host the G-20 Summit.

Referring to the Government’s “Neighborhood First” policy, he said it was an evidence of India’s approach of according priority to South Asia.

He said the Government accorded top most priority to national security and effective steps are being taken to tackle Terrorism and Naxalism.

“India has amply demonstrated both her intent and capabilities, first through surgical strikes and then through air strikes after the Pulwama attack at terrorist hideouts across the border. In future too, all possible steps will be taken to ensure our security,’’ he said.

Noting that illegal infiltrators pose a major threat to internal security, he said it was leading to social imbalance in many parts of the country, as well as putting a huge pressure on limited livelihood opportunities. He said the government has decided to implement the process of ‘National Register of Citizens’ on priority basis in areas affected by infiltration. Security along the border will be further strengthened to prevent infiltration.

On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the Government is committed to take all necessary steps for the development of the border State.

On the modernisation of the armed forces, he said India is going to receive the delivery of first ‘Rafale’ fighter aircraft and ‘Apache’ helicopters soon.

“The policy of indigenously manufacturing weapons such as modern rifles and cannons, tanks and combat aircrafts is being carried forward successfully. ‘Defence Corridors’ coming up in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu will further strengthen this mission. While fulfilling our security requirements, export of defence equipment is also being encouraged,’’ the President said.

He said that ‘One Nation – Simultaneous Elections’ is the need of the hour, which would facilitate accelerated development. 

While studying in Kota (Rajasthan), I once encountered an incident in a city shopping mall that left a lifelong imprint on my mind. A specially-abled person was trying to get out of an elevator. It was a compartment loaded with around eight-nine persons going towards the ground floor. Carrying a black folding cane in his left hand, the man, probably in his 40s, was set up to get out.  I was standing on the adjacent right-hand side to that man, noticing every detail of how he maneuvers normal routine chores at such ease. As soon as the lift would approach the concourse, a gentleman standing behind offered him a helping hand. The elevator hit the ground, people behind pushed us, the crowd waiting outside tried to forcibly get in even before the lift was not vacated and the guy with the cane fell on the ground. It left the man, who was helping the specially-abled guy, red-faced. He abused the culprits and reprimanded them saying, “Andhe ho kya? (Are you blind?)”. I tried to rescue the guy but he refused another help this time. He stood up and gently told the man who abused with a smile, “Isse achha aap meri madad hi naheen karte (Better if you won’t have helped)”. That moment a visually impaired man while settling his black cane had taught all of us the lesson of sensitivity for life.

A well-known anchor of Aaj Tak channel, Anjana Om Kashyap, visited the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) affected children at Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital at Muzaffarpur, Bihar, on Tuesday, after 17 days and 129 deaths. She assumed that she was on a noble cause for the unheard, marginalized and malnourished children of Bihar but unfortunately it was more of an ‘AES Tourism’. She created ruckus inside the ICU. As she did the piece to camera inside an ‘Intensive Care Unit’ (ICU) of the hospital, journalism took a deep plunge down exposing her fundamentals of journalism and sensitivity.

Stupid Journalism in the race of TRP 

Tied or covered hair of nurses/doctors, no sleepers/shoes/sandals and cacophony are the foremost essentials and protocols followed in an ICU anywhere in this world. Contrary to all these medical ethics and practices, anchor Anjana Om Kashyap entered an ICU equipped with hundreds of AES affected children and reported right in the middle of it. Her untied hair she kept parting sometimes, a giant microphone with tons of emitting radiations and germs, probably wearing a pair of flip-flops or pair of sandals and shouting her lungs out in front of the ailing children, she left no stone unturned to certifying her irresponsible and stupid journalism in the race of TRP. She didn’t care about the hygiene of the ailing children.

Doctors/Sisters cannot be made scapegoat

In an utter bizarre, insensitive and outrageous manner, she placed the microphone right above an ailing child and asked the doctors why they were not attending to the patients. Moreover, defying all humanitarian’s quotient and journalism’s ethics, she obstructed the path of a doctor (Krishna Kumar Das, a Pediatrician at SKMCH), held the stretcher and confronted him. For what? For doing his job? What is the fault of the doctors and nurses? They are working relentlessly without having a proper meal and nap.

The ratio of patients and doctors is 100:1. Are they responsible for this mismanagement? No. The onus lies on the state and hospital machinery to keep a check on the facilities inside a hospital.

Why Not confront Higher Authorities?

What to say! It’s like cursing the commentators and smashing a TV set after India loses a match against Pakistan. It is like threatening a postmaster for delivering a court notice at my home address. Similarly, it is deplorable to confront and reprimand the doctors and nurses at SKMCH. They look overburdened with the quantum of work pressure they are trying to cope up with. Stressed and confused, the doctors kept answering Anjana’s question with great pious and calm. They have no locus standi to answer such questions.  

Anjana made a very smart move as she visited the hospital after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s departure from SKMCH. She didn’t even care to confront the health minister Bihar (Mangal Pandey) and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare (Ashwini K Choubey), either. Dare she could ask questions to Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. She picked up the easiest and innocent target as doctors and nurses. 

Anjana’s brainless reporting has exposed the deteriorating level of TV journalism in this age of TRP and competitiveness. She harassed the doctors and interrupted their practices which are considered felony under Indian Penal Code. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) must ask the channel for an apology and take strict action against the channel and the anchor. She jeopardized the health and lives of hundreds of children fighting for life at SKMCH, Muzaffarpur.

If it journalism then I suggest she must do a crash course in journalism from a good college, but, before that, she desperately needs to sit with some of the senior journalists of Aaj Tak and learn lessons on sensitivity, there are plenty.      

The system automatically writes optimized algorithms to encrypt data in Google Chrome browsers and web applications.

Nearly every time you open up a secure Google Chrome browser, a new MIT-developed cryptographic system is helping better protect your data.

In a paper presented at the recent IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, MIT researchers detail a system that, for the first time, automatically generates optimized cryptography code that’s usually written by hand. Deployed in early 2018, the system is now being widely used by Google and other tech firms.

The paper now demonstrates for other researchers in the field how automated methods can be implemented to prevent human-made errors in generating crypto code, and how key adjustments to components of the system can help achieve higher performance.

To secure online communications, cryptographic protocols run complex mathematical algorithms that do some complex arithmetic on large numbers. Behind the scenes, however, a small group of experts writes and rewrite those algorithms by hand. For each algorithm, they must weigh various mathematical techniques and chip architectures to optimize for performance. When the underlying math or architecture changes, they essentially start over from scratch. Apart from being labor-intensive, this manual process can produce nonoptimal algorithms and often introduces bugs that are later caught and fixed.

Researchers from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) instead designed “Fiat Cryptography,” a system that automatically generates — and simultaneously verifies — optimized cryptographic algorithms for all hardware platforms. In tests, the researchers found their system can generate algorithms that match the performance of the best-handwritten code, but much faster.

The researchers’ automatically generated code has populated Google’s BoringSSL, an open-source cryptographic library. Google Chrome, Android apps, and other programs use BoringSSL to generate the various keys and certificates used to encrypt and decrypt data. According to the researchers, about 90 percent of secure Chrome communications currently run their code.

“Cryptography is implemented by doing arithmetic on large numbers. [Fiat Cryptography] makes it more straightforward to implement the mathematical algorithms … because we automate the construction of the code and provide proofs that the code is correct,” says paper co-author Adam Chlipala, a CSAIL researcher and associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and head of the Programming Languages and Verification group. “It’s basically like taking a process that ran in human brains and understanding it well enough to write code that mimics that process.”

Joining Chlipala on the paper are: first author Andres Erbsen and co-authors Jade Philipoom and Jason Gross, who are all CSAIL graduate students; as well as Robert Sloan MEng ’17.

Splitting the bits

Cryptography protocols use mathematical algorithms to generate public and private keys, which are basically a long string of bits. Algorithms use these keys to provide secure communication channels between a browser and a server. One of the most popular efficient and secure families of cryptographic algorithms is called elliptical curve cryptography (ECC). Basically, it generates keys of various sizes for users by choosing numerical points at random along a numbered curved line on a graph.

Most chips can’t store such large numbers in one place, so they briefly split them into smaller digits that are stored on units called registers. But the number of registers and the amount of storage they provide varies from one chip to another. “You have to split the bits across a bunch of different places, but it turns out that how you split the bits has different performance consequences,” Chlipala says.

Traditionally, experts writing ECC algorithms manually implement those bit-splitting decisions in their code. In their work, the MIT researchers leveraged those human decisions to automatically generate a library of optimized ECC algorithms for any hardware.

Their researchers first explored existing implementations of handwritten ECC algorithms, in the C programming and assembly languages, and transferred those techniques into their code library. This generates a list of best-performing algorithms for each architecture. Then, it uses a compiler — a program that converts programming languages into code computers understand — that has been proven correct with a proofing tool, called Coq. Basically, all code produced by that compiler will always be mathematically verified. It then simulates each algorithm and selects the best-performing one for each chip architecture.

Next, the researchers are working on ways to make their compiler run even faster in searching for optimized algorithms.

Optimized compiling

There’s one additional innovation that ensures the system quickly selects the best bit-splitting implementations. The researchers equipped their Coq-based compiler with an optimization technique, called “partial evaluation,” which basically precomputes certain variables to speed things up during computation.

In the researchers’ system, it precomputes all the bit-splitting methods. When matching them to a given chip architecture, it immediately discards all algorithms that just won’t work for that architecture. This dramatically reduces the time it takes to search for the library. After the system zeroes in on the optimal algorithm, it finalizes the code compiling.

From that, the researchers then amassed a library of the best ways to split ECC algorithms for a variety of chip architectures. It’s now implemented in BoringSSL, so users are mostly drawing from the researchers’ code. The library can be automatically updated similarly for new architectures and new types of math.

“We’ve essentially written a library that, once and for all, is correct for every way you can possibly split numbers,” Chlipala says. “You can automatically explore the space of possible representations of the large numbers, compile each representation to measure the performance, and take whichever one runs fastest for a given scenario.”

Libra, a simple global currency that people can use for their everyday needs, built on the Libra Blockchain. The evolution of the Libra Blockchain will be overseen by the Libra Association, an independent not-for-profit headquartered in Geneva. The association will be responsible for facilitating the operation of the Libra Blockchain and managing the reserve that backs the currency. The Libra Association will consist of geographically distributed and diverse businesses, nonprofit and multilateral organizations, and academic institutions. 

The problem which are being addressed… 

• 1.7 billion people – 31% of the global adult population – remain unbanked, meaning they do not have access to an account at a financial institution or to mobile money. – World Bank, 2017 Global Findex report

• Approximately 8.4 million U.S. households, made up of 14.1 million adults and 6.4 million children, were unbanked in 2017. – FDIC, 2015 National Survey on Unbanked and Underbanked Households 

• Women are disproportionately excluded from financial systems, with nearly 1 billion left out of the formal financial system. Additionally, there is a persistent 9% gender gap in financial inclusion in developing economies. – Gates Foundation 

By increasing access to financial services… 

• $3.7 trillion (or 6%) of GDP could be added to the economies of developing countries by 2025 through the widespread adoption and use of digital financial services. – McKinsey Global Institute, 2016 Digital Finance For All

• Including unbanked adults in the formal financial system could generate $110 billion in global economies. – Accenture Banking Inclusion report 

And harnessing increased adoption of mobile broadband and the Internet… 

• Mobile phones and the internet offer strong opportunities for increased access: globally, 1 billion financially excluded adults own a mobile phone and about 480 million have internet access. – World Bank 2017 Findex report 

• There has been a significant increase in the use of mobile phones and the internet to conduct financial transactions. Between 2014 and 2017, this has contributed to a rise in the share of bank account owners sending or receiving payments digitally, from 67% to 76% globally and from 57% to 70% in the developing world. – The Global Findex Database 2017 

To enable people to send money to anyone, from anywhere for a low fee… 

• A total of $613 billion was sent globally across borders in 2017, with $466 billion going to low- and middle income countries. – World Bank Migration and Development Brief 

• On average, the cost to send $200 across borders is 7.1%. This fee is generally higher in developing nations; for instance the cost is 9.4% in Sub-Saharan Africa. – KNOMAD 2018 Migration and Development Brief 

• $25 billion is lost by migrants every year through remittance fees. – UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 

And empowering businesses around the world. 

• Access to finance is a key constraint to SME growth. Without access to capital, many SMEs languish and stagnate. SMEs are less likely to be able to obtain bank loans than large firms; instead, they rely on internal funds, or cash from friends and family, to launch and initially run their enterprises. – World Bank SME Finance 

• Approximately 70% of all micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets lack access to credit. – World Bank SME Finance

New report on inequalities in access to water, sanitation and hygiene also reveals more than half of the world does not have access to safe sanitation services.

Billions of people around the world are continuing to suffer from poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene, according to a new report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed* drinking water services, 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 3 billion lack basic** hand washing facilities.

The Joint Monitoring Programme report, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2000-2017: Special focus on inequalities  finds that, while significant progress has been made toward achieving universal access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene, there are huge gaps in the quality of services provided.

“Mere access is not enough. If the water isn’t clean, isn’t safe to drink or is far away, and if toilet access is unsafe or limited, then we’re not delivering for the world’s children,” said Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, UNICEF. “Children and their families in poor and rural communities are most at risk of being left behind. Governments must invest in their communities if we are going to bridge these economic and geographic divides and deliver this essential human right.”

The report reveals that 1.8 billion people have gained access to basic drinking water services since 2000, but there are vast inequalities in the accessibility, availability and quality of these services. It is estimated that 1 in 10 people (785 million) still lack basic services, including the 144 million who drink untreated surface water. The data shows that 8 in 10 people living in rural areas lacked access to these services and in one in four countries with estimates for different wealth groups, coverage of basic services among the richest was at least twice as high as among the poorest.

“Countries must double their efforts on sanitation or we will not reach universal access by 2030,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. “If countries fail to step up efforts on sanitation, safe water and hygiene, we will continue to live with diseases that should have been long ago consigned to the history books: diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and neglected tropical diseases including trachoma, intestinal worms and schistosomiasis. Investing in water, sanitation and hygiene is cost-effective and good for society in so many ways. It is an essential foundation for good health.”  

The report also says that 2.1 billion people have gained access to basic sanitation services since 2000 but in many parts of the world the wastes produced are not safely managed. It also reveals that 2 billion people still lack basic sanitation, among whom 7 out of 10 live in rural areas and one third live in the Least Developed Countries.

Since 2000, the proportion of the population practicing open defecation has been halved, from 21 per cent to 9 per cent, and 23 countries have achieved near elimination, meaning less than 1 per cent of the population is practicing open defecation. Yet, 673 million people still practice open defecation, and they are increasingly concentrated in ‘high burden’ countries***.  Worse, in 39 countries, the number of people practicing open defecation actually increased, the majority of which are in sub-Saharan Africa where many countries have experienced strong population growth over this period.

Finally, the report highlights new data showing 3 billion people lack basic hand washing facilities with soap and water at home in 2017. It also shows that nearly three quarters of the population of the Least Developed Countries did not have basic hand washing facilities. Every year, 297 000 children under 5 years die due to diarrhea linked to inadequate WASH. Poor sanitation and contaminated water are also linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid.

“Closing inequality gaps in the accessibility, quality and availability of water, sanitation and hygiene should be at the heart of government funding and planning strategies. To relent on investment plans for universal coverage is to undermine decades worth of progress at the expense of coming generations,” said Kelly Ann Naylor.   

Safely managed drinking water and sanitation services: Drinking water from sources located on premises, free from contamination and available when needed, and using hygienic toilets from which wastes are treated and disposed of safely.

Basic services: Having a protected drinking water source that takes less than thirty minutes to collect water from, using an improved toilet or latrine that does not have to be shared with other households, and having hand washing facilities with soap and water in the home.

High burden countries: More than 5 per cent of the population practiced open defecation in 2017 include: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan Philippines, Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen.

Marketing is something no business that wants to establish its brand presence can escape. Given the prevalence of the internet today, digital will soon become the mainstay of digital marketing budgets and data will be in the driver’s seat. 

This is where new businesses can benefit by being the first to arrive. When it comes to digital marketing, Adrian Morrison is a name that you have most likely come across in the list of ‘those who made it big’. The young and successful entrepreneur has established himself as an expert and is now helping others achieve entrepreneurial success. Meanwhile, Adrian’s business relies on online marketing strategies that are sharpened by gleaning and utilizing digital data. That is a strategy he teaches other entrepreneurs as well as one of the definite pathways to success.

“Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed,” says Adrian. These aren’t just words he utters but he even lives by them. Over the years, not only has he been able to rise up the ranks to become a successful entrepreneur himself, generating eight-figure sales, but has even enabled businesses to reach eight-figure income targets. Now, Adrian is involved in training other entrepreneurs to benefit from the wealth of opportunities that digital provides while also being financially stable.

Adrian’s philosophy is to be adaptive to the ongoing changes in the digital world. “When you come across a new outlet, you have to step up your game and master it before anyone else does,” he says. Data utilization is something that marketers world over are still coming to terms with and it leaves a lot of opportunities for upcoming entrepreneurs to become experts. Whether that involves understanding Facebook ads or affiliate marketing, data can help entrepreneurs streamline businesses and this is what Adrian is teaching others through his own experiences.

The successful author also has a set of online courses and books to guide people on the right path towards ensuring profitable businesses. The eCom Success Academy course is Adrian’s way of showing people how to scale up their business using data. With its focus on using e-commerce as a business model, he educates people on how to study and apply statistics that you get from running Facebook ads and other digital metrics.

Succeeding in an e-commerce venture is no easy task. Adrian’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to keep aside personal opinions and rely on researched data and facts. Businesses can benefit from aligning consumers’ interest in products with the right advertising strategy for higher conversion of sales. When you depend on data to drive your goal, your rate of success has the potential to keep rising exponentially.

However, he advocates a fair use of user data. With privacy concerns on the rise, Adrian also advises caution in picking the data that can be monetized. Even e-commerce companies need to provide elements such as secured data storage and safety in order to build consumer trust. “While you should use data for marketing, you can’t invade people’s privacy for your profit. Don’t trade consumer trust for data,” he says.

What you can learn from Adrian is to effectively convert data points into usable statistics that will ensure customer satisfaction.

If you’re on social media, especially Instagram, you are most likely (even definitely) following at least one influencer. Even though it sounds easy and glamorous, being an influencer is nothing less than a dedicated full-time job. It requires hard work, patience, commitment and passion for creating your trustworthy persona. True to that statement, American Indian fashion blogger and influencer Alisha Taneja has given her blood, sweat and tears to this cause.

“I put 100% into everything that I do or else I don’t do it,” says the petite and curvy fashionista. Since blogging is not just her business now but was first her hobby, she doesn’t restrict her work to particular hours of the day and ends up working in the wee hours of the night as well. If you’re genuinely dedicated to a cause, that’s the kind of thing you’re likely to do effortlessly.

Although she blogs about fashion almost all the time, her aim is more than just influencing people’s fashion choices. “I want to do something that I love but also help people and I feel blogging achieves that,” she says. So you will find her talk about important issues like ethnic diversity in fashion, overcoming bullying and women empowerment.

It is this purpose that has made her one of the most successful influencers. Her blogging is about bringing petite and colored girls into mainstream brand choices. With a genuine wish to enable women to accept their uniqueness, Alisha has found a place in the hearts of many. She has 657,000 Instagram followers who swear by her mantra of acceptance. Returning the love to her supporters, Alisha indulges them with giveaways and partnerships with other bloggers to add value to peoples’ lives.

“People want to see engaging content, they want to see real people, and they want you to be genuine,” she says. Some of the brands she has partnered with include Boohoo, Hotel Tonight, Forever 21, Sachin and Babi, NYFW, Coordinates Collections, Simon Malls and Jurlique. Since Alisha ensures that she works with brands that reflect her own values, her followers trust her word. For brands, that is the best outcome of influencer marketing where such a value-driven partnership drives sales.

People might get the wrong impression that blogging is a piece of cake. But that is far from the truth. It wasn’t as if she ended up being a social media star overnight. She took a gamble in quitting a stable career to go for what she believed in. Not everyone with a smartphone can become an influencer. At times, the number of rejections you go through can be disappointing and demotivating. You can’t just post a picture today and expect to break the internet by tomorrow morning. “I think the number one mistake is to expect results fast. It takes time to grow and appreciate every little win. Don’t be in a rush,” advises Alisha.

From biology to political science to blogging, Alisha has come a long way in pursuing her dream and passion. Not only is she doing what she believes in but is also working to make a positive difference in people’s lives. From humble beginnings, Alisha has shown that hard work, passion and dedication go a long way in establishing yourself as an impactful influencer.