परमात्मा को जानने वाला इन्सान कभी नहीं मरता

By 121 News

Chandigarh 30^th March:- जो इन्सान मानुष जन्म में वर्तमान सत्गुरू की शरण में जाकर परमात्मा की जानकारी हासिल करके इससे प्रीत करता है उसका मानुष जन्म का उद्देश्य पूर्ण हो जाता है फिर वह कभी नहीं मरता और सदा अमर रहता लेकिन इसके विपरीत जो परमात्मा की जानकारी से वंचित रह जाते हैं इससे प्रीत नहीं करते उस इन्सान को धार्मिक ग्रन्थों में जीते जी भी मुर्दा कहा गया है, ये उद्गार आज यहां सैक्टर 30-ऐ में स्थित सन्त निरंकारी सत्संग भवन में हरिमोहन सिंह कोहली जी के श्रद्धांजलि समारोह में देहली से आए सन्त निरंकारी मण्डल के महासचिव वी डी नागपाल ने सैकड़ों की संख्या में उपस्थित श्रोताओं को सम्बोधित करते हुए व्यक्त किए ।

वी डी नागपाल ने आगे कहा कि मानुष योनि को बाकी अन्य सभी 84 लाख योनियों में से इसलिए महान माना गया है क्योंकि केवल इसी योनि में ही इन्सान अपने मालिक की पहचान कर सकता है अन्य किसी योनि में नहीं । इन्सान तन से बलवान होने, भौतिक पदार्थ या धन-दौलत इकट्ठा कर लेने, शैक्षणिक उपलब्धियां हासिल कर लेने से महान नहीं होता बल्कि सन्तों वाला जीवन जीने से महान होता है और ऐसा जीवन परमात्मा की जानकारी प्राप्त करने के बाद ही आरम्भ होता है, जैसा कि धार्मिक ग्रन्थ और इतिहास इस बात के गवाह भी हैं ।इससे पूर्व कार्यकारी समिति के सदस्य श्रीमति जोगिन्द्र जोगी, सेवादल के केन्द्रीय अधिकारी एच एस कोहली, ओ पी निरंकारी, शुभ करण, ज़ोनल इन्चाज डा0 बी एस चीमा व अमरजीत सिंह तथा मोहिन्द्र सिंह संयोजक चण्डीगढ़ ब्रान्च आदि ने भी अपने भाव व्यक्त किए ।

 

 

Michelin Brings High-Performance Bicycle Tyres to India

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Chandigarh 30^th March:- Michelin, the world's tyre technology leader, today announced its entry into the high-performance bicycle tyre market in India with the premium Road Range, Mountain Bike Range and City Trekking Range.

Pradeep G Thampy, Commercial Director, Two Wheels, Michelin Asia, Africa and Middle East, said that the premium bicycle market has witnessed significant growth in recent times. With rising consciousness about health benefits, cycling as a leisure and adventure activity will spur further growth in this market. Industry analysts estimate this segment to grow between 25-30% annually. He added that our bicycle tyre ranges are unrivalled in performance, thanks to continuous innovations as they are engineered to meet demands of the most exacting cyclists. The newly launched range has something for every kind of cycling enthusiast the pro, the daily user and the adventure seeker.

 

Mobile Wallet Service 'Spice Mudra' Records Transactions Worth Rs.600 Crore

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Chandigarh 30^th March:- Spice Mudra, a prepaid payment wallet developed by Spice Digital - subsidiary of Spice Connect, witnessed transactions worth Rs.600 Crores in only 6 months, since its launch in October, 2015. Spice Mudra has extended its presence in 16 states from existing 8, with retail partners increased from 4,000 to 10,000.

The remittance service had earlier registered Rs.200 crores in 100 days. The wallet service with a strong focus on domestic remittances and enterprise payments has recorded transactions worth Rs.400 crores in the last 90 days.

Spice Digital has launched NPCI approved 'Spice Mudra Retailers App' for retail partners, to help ease of doing business without the need of computer, 24x7. Many retailers were unable to transact after closing the shop and on weekends, Mobile app is coming handy and allowing them to carry on business even when not at shop. The Company has seen significant traction already with 10% of the total daily transactions though its retailer's app.

On reaching this milestone, Saket Agarwal, Global CEO, Spice Digital said that we initially aimed to cross ₹600 crore by June, 2016 but having completed transaction worth ₹600 crore in mere 190 days stands testimony to excellent response from the market for our mobile wallet Spice Mudra. Spice Digital aim to expand network to reach over 20,000 retail partners by Sep 2016. Spice Digital is committed to serving the underserved rural population in the country and we are confident that through our wide merchant network, we can provide remarkable solutions to customers and contribute towards the digital economy vision of the Government of India.

Spice Digital Limited is rolling out innovative loyalty program for Spice Mudra customers. Under the same, they also plan to cover all KYC customers for Rs.1 Lac accidental death & disability insurance cover for every month of usage. The rollout would happen from first week of April 2016. The unique policy shall cover unforeseen accidental death and disability from the next calendar month of usage. The policy will be activated through mobile registration process, similar to the registration of transferring money remittances. It has chosen to provide this cover basis an internal study which has showcased that the Accidental Risk cover is one of the most ignored but often needful insurance component for this segment.

 

Sound and Light Show Timings Changed

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Chandigarh 30^th March:- The Sound and Light Show timings at the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10-C, Chandigarh will be from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM with effect from 1^st April 2016.

SRL Diagnostics at An Aggressive Growth Spree and Ties Up with 3 State Governments

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Chandigarh 30^th March:- SRL Diagnostics, India's largest diagnostic chain announces an aggressive expansion plan with an investment of more than Rs. 300 crores in next five years. It has forayed into PPP with three state governments as part of expansion, i.e. Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh to establish the labs in the state run government hospitals. With an annual growth of 16% in the first half (Apr-Sep'15),SRL is expecting a turnover of more than Rs. 900 crores in the FY 2015-16.Five years down the line SRL to become Rs. 2000 crore company, with plans to enhance its presence in African continent which is on their roadmap.

In the domestic market, SRL has entered into PPP with HP Government since 2013 to provide global quality diagnostics services to the people across the state in their Government hospitals. The partnership was very successful as on an average daily accession in Himachal Pradesh government hospital had increased by 41% in comparison to last few years. In HP, SRL now operates via 24 labs and on the similar lines, SRL also partnered with the Jharkhand government whereby SRL established its labs within the Government Hospitals in 12 districts in the current fiscal year.

Taking a leap forward, it has recently entered into a partnership with the Uttar Pradesh government to establish collection centres in 22 Districts to provide over 150 specialized tests. The reason is attributed to the increased awareness in quality diagnosis and advanced specialized tests that can be undertaken in SRL accredited labs.

Commenting on the investment and expansion plans,  Sanjeev Vashishta, CEO, SRL Limited, said that the infrastructure development in Indian diagnostic sector is limited and government has realized the need for PPP model to provide affordable and accessible diagnostics to the masses and to fill this existing vacuum. We, at SRL are aligned with the Government's objective to initiate right diagnosis and therefore right treatment. We are also looking forward to extend our relationship with other state governments to ensure accurate and quality diagnosis is available to maximum number of people in the country. With plethora of unaccredited labs in these cities, we believe such initiatives will also help raise the benchmark in diagnostic services in tier II and III cities.

He further added that the Healthcare sector is growing at a tremendous pace in our country. Only 20% of healthcare happens in public sector, giving scope of about 80% to the private sector. Given the opportunity, we are expanding our business model and aiming to open 30-40 labs every year.

 

Vaisakhi List Releases Folk Song ‘Jatt Mele Aa Gya'

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Chandigarh 29^th March:-  Vaisakhi List is the upcoming film in the Punjabi film Industry releasing on 22^nd April, 2016 worldwide. This entertaining film released its trailer lately and now has launched its first track.

This film is presented by Amolak Singh Gakhal and produced by Palwinder Singh Gakhal, Gurvinder Singh Gakhal and Iqbal Singh Gakhal(GAKHAL BROS. ENT.) and is  the direction of the renowned Director Smeep Kang. The lead role is being played by the very famous and versatile actor Jimmy Sheirgill and also is the debut entry of Sunil Grover in Pollywood. The star cast also includes Shruti Sodhi, Binnu Dhillon, Nisha Bano, Jaswinder Bhalla, Rana Ranbir and Karamjit Anmol.

Where the viewers have enjoyed the trailer largely, so are the expectations from this freshly released folk song 'Jatt Mele Aa Gya.' Labeled by Gakhal Brothers, music is directed by Jaidev Kumar and the song is sung Ranjit Bawa.

The audience will have a different experience watching this film as unlike other movies the audience would witness prisoners not trying to run from the jail yet getting back into the jail. This humorous and entertaining journey is what differentiates the film from the rest.

 

 

TEN SPORTS Network Unveils a New Identity and Positioning for its Sports Channels

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Chandigarh 29^th March:-  TEN SPORTS Network today announced a new identity for its bouquet of sports channels with 'Never Stop' as the network positioning, taking forward the bold, young, dynamic, dauntless outlook for the Network. The network will also be re-branding its existing bouquet of channels as TEN 1, TEN 2, TEN 3 and TEN 1HD respectively. The new logos and positioning will be officially unveiled on air on Friday, 1st April 2016.

Commenting on the re-branding of the channel bouquet, Rajesh Sethi, Global CEO, TEN SPORTS Network, said that as a sports network, we have been continuously providing high quality sports programming from across the world, for our viewers. Over the years, we have been enhancing our sports offerings, starting with the launch of TEN SPORTS in 2002, followed by the launch of a 24X7 cricket channel, TEN CRICKETS in August 2010, the only dedicated golf channel in this part of the world, TEN GOLF, in March 2012 and then a premium HD channel, TEN HD, in April 2012. In August 2015, TEN SPORTS embarked on a new journey with the launch of a consolidated network rebranding - the TEN SPORTS Network, as well as the launch of TEN GOLF HD to offer the best of golf in HD. Our rebranding effort signals the start of a new era, a contemporary and energized approach to how the network views its sport sphere, with maximum excitement and engagement for its viewers.

Elaborating further on the new channel identity, Rajesh Sethi said that as we bring across a variety of sports and sportainment for our viewers from across the world, at times it becomes a hurdle to allocate content to a particular sports-specific channel. In order to break free from sports-specific channels, we are taking the numeric route. We strive to bring international-quality sports to our viewers and we want them to watch sports as it is consumed internationally with numeric-based channels. It is our endeavour to 'Never Stop' delivering sporting action to our fans.

TEN SPORTS Network's logo as well as the individual channel logos, have been designed keeping in mind the elements of action and dynamism, as well as immediacy and the spirit to achieve. These powerful thoughts behind the logos point to the Italic nature of the fonts used. The flame has been an intrinsic part of TEN SPORTS' identity since inception and it has consciously been retained to maintain a connection with viewers, even while it is now surrounded by the new and dynamic network and individual channel fonts.

 

Blood Donation Camp Held at GGSCW

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Chandigarh 29^th March:-  A blood donation camp was held at Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector- 26, Chandigarh by the NSS wing in association with the Red Ribbon Club of the college, EHSAAS on 29^TH March, 2016 at 10:30 AM.

An enthusiastic bunch of volunteers accompanied with doctors from Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32, Chandigarh organized, conducted and overlooked the ongoing process of the camp. With the motto, "You don't have to be a doctor to save a life", students, teachers, staff and visitors all came together to lend their hand for this cause.

The Principal, Dr. Charanjeet Kaur Sohi and the teachers of the college motivated the students and blood donors with their inspiring words of wisdom and they also comforted the young blood donors with their lingering presence and comforting voices.

In the camp there was a turnout of an astounding 120 number of donors one of which was Satish, an employee of the college and also a regular blood donor who donated blood for the 15^th time in a row. A total of 66 units were collected and which that the camp was considered a success and a helping hand towards the noble cause.

 

GGSCW Organizes Capacity Building Workshop on “Effective Web Search Strategy”

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Chandigarh 29^th March:-  A RUSA sponsored Capacity Building Workshop on "Effective Web Search Strategy" was organized by College Library, Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector-26, Chandigarh in collaboration with the College Research Cell, on 29^th March, 2016 for post-graduate students. Dr. Neeraj Kumar Singh, Assistant Librarian, Panjab University, Chandigarh conducted the workshop and demonstrated numerous effective strategies of web search in academics and research. The students and the faculty whole-heartedly participated in the workshop and found it very informative.

Bharat Bank Announces Tie Up with Chillr

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Chandigarh 29^th March:-  Bharat Bank, a tech-savvy co-operative Bank, today announced its tie-up with mobile payment app Chillr. This association will allow the bank's customers to instantly transfer money to any contact on their phonebook. Chillr, a first-of-its kind application, is directly linked to the customer's bank account wherein the user can transfer money to any person in India, once he or she downloads the app and registers. The app is easy to use and is available on Android, Windows and iOS operating systems.

C R Mulky, MD & CEO of Bharat Bank commented that in view of the sweeping changesin the banking industry and customer preferences, we continue to pay special attention to offer easy and secure tech-enabled banking solutions. We are glad to partner with Chillr in achieving this goal.

Sony Joy, Founder and CEO, Chillr stated on the development that India's internet usage is growing exponentially, with almost 22% of adults having access to World Wide Web. The need for digital banking thus has not been more pronounce and we expect this user base to grow. We are pleased to have Bharat Bank as one of our bank partners in our endeavour to create digital economy.

Apart from sending and receiving money, Bharat Bank's customers can enjoy a host of other features like special discounts with specific merchants, recharging prepaid mobiles, DTH and data cards, splitting of bills between friends and colleagues as well as a quick means of checking one's account balance.

Chillr is an offshoot of the Kochi based technology firm called MobME and a beta launch was introduced in February, 2015.

The receiver instantly gets the money in his bank account when the sender chooses the recipient from his Chillr contacts enters the amount and the secret M-pin (provided by the bank) and presses PAY. Chillr does away with the hassle of prior filling up of a prepaid wallet or saving of passwords.

Chillr is also an important tool for financial inclusion in rural markets, allowing migrant workers to remit money to family back home in a secure manner. Chillr aims to tie up with 30,000 merchants and on-board 15 leading banks by end of March 2016.

Chillr was the only financial/banking app to be listed in Apple's "App Store Best of 2015" on the iOS platform in India. Apple's editorial team hand-picked Chillr  from amongst 1.5 million apps that finds presence in the App Store.

 

Role of Clinical Pharmacologists in Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Held at PGI

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- The annual national workshop on clinical pharmacology being held at PGI entered the second day of a week long program. The entire day was dedicated to raising awareness about problem of antibiotic misuse and measures of combating the menace. It was conducted as a symposium titled, "role of clinical pharmacologist in antimicrobial stewardship". This symposium was sponsored by National Academy of Medical Sciences. The event was kicked off by Dr Pallab Ray, PGI who introduced the delegates to the evolutionary concepts behind emergence of drug resistance. This was followed by enlightening talk by Dr. Nusrat Shafiq, Convener, Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, PGI. She spoke about the role of the clinical pharmacologists in promoting rational use of antimicrobials. Dr. Navneet Sharma, Professor of medicine, PGI highlighted the role of clinicians and stressed upon the need of inter- departmental collaboration for the success of antibiotic stewardship program.  Professor Samir Malhotra from department of Pharmacology emphasised in his talk the need for conducting prospective audits and feedbacks based on them for improving management of infections. Dr Vikas Gautam, Additional Professor from microbiology department delivered talk on how to develop research projects that can aid in improving the antimicrobial use practices at hospitals. This was followed by lecture from Dr Arshiya Zaheer, head medical affairs, Pfizer who discussed her experience, perspective and role of pharmaceutical industry in combating antimicrobial resistance. 

Post lunch session was started by Dr. Ankur Gupta, from MSD who discussed how to optimise the dose regimes for antimicrobials. This was followed by session on using tools for evidence based medicine for judicious use of antimicrobials, wherein Dr Shyam Balaji, enlightened the delegates on how to integrate the principles of evidence based medicine to clinical practice by describing on how to solve clinician queries. The session was brought to end with exhaustive interactive hands on practical exercises taken up by the residents and faculty of the department. Practical exercises included the process of mining the correct literature to come to arrive at evidence based conclusion for using antimicrobials for optimally manage cases of infections .

 

Financial Assistance Worth Rs. 25 Lac 30 Thousand 369 Provided to 4584 Registered Constriction Workers:Lakhmeer Singh

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- Punjab Building & Other Construction Workers welfare board formed by Punjab Govt. has provided financial assistance worth Rs. 25 lacs 30 thousand 369 to 4584 registered constriction workers in Sub division Mohali and financial assistance amounting to Rs. 16 lacs 11 thousands will also be provided to more 232 registered construction workers. This was stated by SDM Lakhmeer Singh while presiding over a meeting of sub division level committee formed or the welfare of registered construction workers. Herein 232 applications were also approved after mutual consents.

Lakhmeer Singh said that during this meeting approval for providing 68 thousand rupees as LTC to 34 applicants at the rate of Rs. 2000/- per applicant, Rs. 2 lacs 48 thousand under Shagun scheme to 8 applicants at the rate of Rs. 31 thousand per applicant, Rs. 1 lacs 29 thousand under Scholarship scheme to 189 beneficiaries at the rate of Rs. 2800 to 5800 per beneficiary & Rs. 5 thousand for one case under Delivery scheme was got sanctioned. SDM said that Govt. of Punjab has formed the Punjab Building & other construction workers welfare board for the welfare of construction workers. He further said that any construction worker mason/ kiln worker/ labour/ plumber/ carpenter/ welder/ electrician/sewer man/Marble tile fixer/ Painter/ POP worker/ Road Worker etc. could become the beneficiary under Punjab Building & Other construction workers board. For this a worker should have age between 18 to 60 years and he should have work experience of 90 days in his respective field. MGNAREGA workers could also become beneficiary for the same. He said that to become the beneficiary a worker has to pay only Rs. 25/- as a onetime fee and for further continuation Rs. 10/- per month is to be paid by him. He said that Board provides ex-gratia grant of Rs. 2 lacs to the registered beneficiary, in case of sudden death / complete disability. Board has also started Scholarship scheme for students of 1^st standard onward and Rs. 31 thousand are being provided under Shagun Scheme for the marriage of girl child.

 He said that medical assistance worth Rs. 1 lac is being provided to the dependents and beneficiaries for the treatment of chronic disease. SDM said that Assistant Works Commissioner SAS Nagar has been directed to generate awareness about these welfare schemes at grass route level and to organise special camps for explaining in detail about these welfare schemes. During this Assistant Works Commissioner Mona Puri, Works Inspector Jaspreet Singh & Harjinder Singh and other officers were present.

 

Central Treasury Will Remain open on 31st March,2016

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- The Central Treasury, Chandigarh will remain open up till 12:00 (Midnight) on 31^st March,2016 or till the payments of all the bills, claims and cheques is cleared on 31^st March,2016 whichever is later, to make the payments of all the claims of financial transactions valid for 2015-2016, so that no budgetary allocation is lapsed during the current financial year.

Meeting on National Electoral Roll Purification Held

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- Deputy Commissioner- cum- Additional Chief Electoral Officer, UT, Chandigarh Ajit Balaji Joshi  has convened a meeting today in his office with the assistant electoral registration officers in connection with the Election Commission of India's recently declared National Electoral Roll Purification (NERP), 2016 programme. Mrs. Kriti Garg, SDM south, Bhupesh Chaudhary, SDM East Prince Dhawan, SDM central, Master BLOs, BLOs, and representatives of political parties were present during the meeting.

The meeting was held to discuss the main objective of improving the health of the Electoral Rolls and to rationalize the Polling Stations boundaries and location. An online system will be setup, which will be providing all the details of polling station, information about the voters. Report for the same is being asked to submit. 

 Door-to-door surveys will be conducted to include enrolment of all eligible citizens. Corrections will be made and any card with multiple entries, dead, shifted & absent voters and other data errors will be deleted from the electoral roll.  BLOs will be provided proper training for it and Master BLOs are asked to verify the details provided by the BLOs.

Ajit Balaji Joshi, said that the administration requires full cooperation from all political parties to finalise the electoral rolls and not a single voter should be left out from the list. He further announced that the wardbandis would be released in April. 

 

Samsung Electronics Launches 3 New Variants of Stylish Gear S2 Smart Watch

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- Samsung Electronics today announced the launch of 3 new variants of the stylish Gear S2 smartwatch with a whole new set of applications & dial faces for the Indian consumers. The new variants of the Gear S2 wearable will be available across all Samsung retail channels at a price of INR 24,300 for the Gear S2 White and INR 34,900 for the Gear S2 Classic Gold and Platinum variants. In continuation of its leadership in the wearables category, Samsung introduced two new elegant editions of the Gear S2 Classic, one encased in 18K Rose Gold and another in Platinum, offering users diverse options to express and match their style. The third new variant is the Gear S2 White, where a sporty white elastomer strap is matched to the stylish silver dial. Along with the new Gear S2 variants and unique watch faces, Samsung is also offering an enhanced choice of apps such as cab services from Uber, G'Nightsleep tracking app, reminder specialist MyNotesin Gear and an all-new YouTube browsing app Xenozuto its customers. Gear S2 will also feature a host of new games, enabling the intuitive rotating bezel as a natural game controller. 

Manu Sharma, Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India Electronics, said that Gear S2 is a sleek and smart wearable that enable users to augment and personalise their mobile experience and lifestyle. The introduction of these new variants with additional apps and watch faces will further add to the style and convenience quotient. Samsung Gear S2 is a true testimony to our commitment to provide breakthrough technology to make lives of our consumers richer.

HDFC Bank Launches Missed Call Mobile Recharge

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- HDFC Bank Ltd., today announced the launch of Missed Call Mobile Recharge, a simple yet revolutionary way to top up your prepaid mobile number. HDFC Bank customers can now recharge their mobile by giving a missed call, without the need to visit a shop, log onto a website or open an app. Further, customers can also add his family or friends to avail of the missed call mobile recharge service. 

Nitin Chugh, Country Head, Digital Banking, HDFC Bank said that "Missed call mobile recharge further simplifies the process of recharging pre-paid numbers. Even if a customer is on the road or based in a remote location, all he has to do is give a missed call to re-charge his phone. Further, this service gives the customer the option of adding family members, friends or dependents. We believe this is a unique service in the pre-paid market, which accounts for a large chunk of mobile phone users in India. He added that  This service allows the Bank to tap into an estimated 900 million pre-paid mobile customers which includes approximately 84 % smartphone users and 92% feature phone users. There are over 1 billion mobile subscribers in India. To use this facility one doesn't need a data plan, making it particularly useful in smaller towns and rural areas, where internet connectivity is low. To activate the service, customers can send an SMS from the mobile number registered with the Bank to 7308080808. A default recharge amount of Rs 50 is set, but the customer can also set his favourite recharge amount, ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 250. The next time when the customer needs a recharge, he can give a missed call on 7308080808 and the fixed amount is credited to his mobile number. The amount gets debited from the customer's HDFC Bank account. Once activated, the service can be used on any phone across any telecom operator. Further, HDFC Bank customers can also add family members and friends for this service and authorize them to recharge their mobile through Missed call by debiting customer's own account. 

The initiative is part of the bank's strategic focus on customer convenience, access and delight, using technology as an enabler. In line with this, post the launch of 'Go Digital'campaign in 2014, with the 'Bank aapki mutthi mein' offering, HDFC Bank has launched a host of new and very successful digital banking products. These include 30 minute paperless auto loan using Biometric technology, 10 seconds personal loan on netbanking, PayZapp, Chillr, and the recently introduced instant loans at ATM. This is in addition to HDFC Bank's powerful Netbanking portal and official mobile banking app, which allows customers to perform over 205 and 85 different types of transactions, respectively.

 

Microsoft Showcases a Range of Products and Services in Chandigarh:To Popularize Hindi Language Computing

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Chandigarh 29^th March:- In its commitment to make computing in Hindi and other local languages more accessible for users, Microsoft today showcased an array of technology innovations across its products and service portfolio. At an event in Chandigarh, Microsoft showcased the integration of Hindi and Punjabi on Office 365, Sway, Skype IM translator, Bing and Windows Phone that is available at no extra cost for consumers. The products and services portfolio showcased today has made Hindi and Punjabi Language computing more intuitive and discoverable for users, enabling them to be more productive.

In this information-driven world, for millions of people, linguistic divide continues to be a barrier for the effective use of technology. India being one of the world's largest digital economies has a high level of linguistic diversity with 22 major languages, written in 13 different scripts, with over 720 dialects. The proliferation of the affordable devices and increasing mobile internet penetration is opening up newer opportunities to support local languages through technology, especially for those who still remain untouched by the digital revolution. The number of local- language Internet users in India is growing at 47% year-on-year and has touched 127 million in June 2015¹. The numbers clearly highlight an opportunity for both, the Central government and Chandigarh authorities that are on a mission of digital inclusion.

Microsoft has been dedicated to this cause for over 15 years and is the pioneer in providing native Unicode support for Hindi since the year 2000. The company also showcased key innovations that have helped create economic opportunities, build IT skills, enhance education outcomes, and sustain our local language and culture.

Speaking on the occasion, Alok Lall, Director, Office Marketing said that in our commitment to empower users to achieve more, we are delighted to announce a suite of Hindi and Punjabi compatible products and services that users can use at no extra cost. We continue to enhance capabilities, making it easy for users across geographies to use our products and services without facing the language barrier.

He further said that we have been a partner to India's developing technology landscape for the last 25 years and continue to invest in the same. With Project Bhasha, we are accelerating Hindi language computing in India wherein, Microsoft is primarily focusing its efforts in three key areas: Product localization, Government collaboration, Academia & Developer Integration through a common platform www.bhashaindia.com. We further fortified these efforts by launching cloud services from India data centers, making Hindi language computing on the local cloud a reality.

 

CII Brings Thai Shopping Extravaganza To Tricity:Five-day Thai Trade Show Begins from March 30

By 121 News

Chandigarh 29^th March:- Following overwhelming response from Tricity residents during last three editions of the Thailand Trade Show, Confederation of Indian Industry is organising the fourth edition of 'THAILAND TRADE SHOW 2016' from March 30 to April 3, 2016. The show is being organised by CII and the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), Ministry of Commerce, Government of Thailand, at Himachal Bhawan, Sector 28, chandigarh.

Addressing a press conference at the CII Northern Region headquarters in this regard, Tharadol Thongruang, Minister Counsellor (Commercial), Royal Thai Embassy, said that Thailand has been a part of CII Chandigarh Fair since 2005 and the partnership has flourished since. There is vast scope of improvement in the volume of trade between India and Thailand and Thailand Trade Show is a step in exploring the same. He added that during the forthcoming visit of the Prime Minister of Thailand to India several MoUs will be signed, including Free trade Agreement (FTA). With the completion of Asian Highway road link to between the two countries via Myanmar, the volume of bilateral trade is also likely to increase manifold as businesses will not have to depend on ports as trade will be conducted through trucks as well. An agreement in this regard will also be signed soon between the governments of the two nations.

Tharadol Thongruang further added that "Make in India policy of Prime Minister of India is very popular with the business community of Thailand and will encourage more companies from Thailand to invest in India. We see a lot of business potential in Northern India. The reason for choosing Chandigarh is that we think Chandigarh is the Gateway to North India and is the smartest city. North India also has the most vibrant and thriving business community.  

Addressing mediparsons, Dr Dinesh Dua, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council and CEO and Director, Nectar Lifesciences Ltd, said that in the current scenario of emerging global economic situation, where Asia Pacific region is acquiring increasingly important significance with its fast economic growth, intra-regional cooperation has gained further importance and needs to be looked upon with newer perspectives. The fast growing Indian market remains attractive for Thai investors, given the vast opportunities available in infrastructure sector, tourism and retail industries. Dinesh Dua said that india continues to remain an interesting market for export of goods from Thailand. Currently, Thai goods have benefited from tax reduction under ASEAN-India FTA in Goods, which came into effect from 01 January, 2010 and resulted to the flow of more goods into Indian market.

India's Look East policy from 1993 and Thailand's Look West policy since 1996 set the stage for a substantive consolidation of bilateral relations. The past few years since 2001 have witnessed growing warmth, increasing economic and commercial links, exchange of high-level visits on both sides, and the signing of a large number of Agreements leading to a further intensification of relations.

He added that Thailand and India are cooperating in various multilateral fora like India's dialogue partnership with ASEAN, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the East Asia Summit, the sub-regional grouping BIMSTEC involving Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, and trilateral transport linkages with Thailand, Myanmar and India. India is a member of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) initiated by Thailand in 2002 and of the Mekong–Ganga Cooperation (MGC), a group of six countries. The leadership of the two countries has been making consistent efforts over the last one decade to build a strong strategic partnership.

Anurag Aggarwal, Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration will inaugurate the Trade show. HE Chalit Manityakul, Ambassador, Royal Thai Embassy, Tharadol Thongruang, Minister Counsellor (Commercial), Royal Thai Embassy,  Dinesh Dua, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council and CEO & Director, Nectar Life Sciences Ltd, Rohit Grover, Vice Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council and Director (Commercial), JREW Engineering Ltd and Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Northern Region, will be the key dignitaries present at the inauguration ceremony.

As many as 30 companies from Thailand will display exclusive products such as artificial flowers, artificial jewellery, health & beauty care products, wellness and spa products, fashion accessories, food and beverage, garments, handbags, footwear, home décor and household products on display at the trade show.