Rajani Rao
4:55 PM (16 minutes ago)
to me
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bishnupriya Bhattacharya <bpriya@cadence.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 2:03 PM
Subject: FW: Asoka visit
To: raorajani@gmail.com <raorajani@gmail.com>
From: Sujoy Bhattacharjee <sujoy.b1@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2018 1:35 PM
To: Bishnupriya Bhattacharya <bpriya@cadence.com>
Subject: Re: Ashoka visit
EXTERNAL MAIL
http://pages.ashoka.edu.in/Campus-visits
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\19-11-2018 17-13-15.txt
CIRCULAR NO. - NPSINR/2018-19/PARENT/SRS - 101
Dear Parent
The capacity to learn is a gift, but the willingness to learn is a choice. While we reach the next and final milestone of Rhapsody for the year, we strive to imbibe yet another important value in the students, the importance of being a lifelong learner.
In the words of Albert Einstein -
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but a lifelong effort to acquire it.”
During Rhapsody Week 4, students of Classes 9 to 12 will engage in a report writing activity to express 5 take-aways of life long learning experiences based on events/projects/activities that they engaged in at school or outside of it. These experiences will then be shared amongst their peer group during library class.
We look forward to your support in discussing these learning experiences at home too.
Regards
Admin
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\19-11-2018 17-14-54.txt
AI-enabled edtech startup Genius Corner has raised Rs 2 crore in its angel funding round from Ranbir Singh, Mahesh Mohta and Lakshmikantan Sundereswaran. Other investors Dipak Varshney and Puneet Garg also participated in the round.
The Noida-based startup will deploy the angel fund towards geographical expansion and ramp up its machine learning programs. Besides, it will create value in the market with some new features.
Launched in 2014 by Vishal Khatter, Dheeraj Khatter, and Samrat Chauhan, Genius Corner provides personalised learning solutions to students with the help of web technology with Artificial Intelligence.
The startup is currently working with leading schools and institutions across India such as SRS International School, G.D Goenka, Springdales School, and Montfort. It claims to have helped more than 50,000 students across the country through its personalised learning programs.
For schools, the startup has as tablet-based personalised learning lab set up specifically for the purpose of assessments, adaptive practice, and remedial sessions.
With some basic tools, it can also turn a school computer lab into the centre for personalised learning and has same arrangements for home-based learning as well.
So far 2018 has been a prolific year for edtech startups as more 20 startups received funding during the period. In September, Byju’s had raised around $100 million over $2 billion valuation. The largest funded edtech startup may attain a $3.5 billion valuation in the coming months.
In July, Unacademy had raised $21 million Series C round led by Sequoia Capital, Nexus Ventures, SAIF Partners. Besides, a slew of startups in this segment recorded small funding rounds.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 06-44-16.txt
AM-PM Roundup
Gold Prices See Some Chart Consolidation
Jim Wyckoff Jim Wyckoff
Monday November 19, 2018 08:26
Kitco NewsShare this article:
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are slightly lower in quieter early U.S. trading Monday. Some backing and filling on the daily chart is seen following recent good gains. December gold futures were last down $0.90 an ounce at $1,222.10. December Comex silver was last up $0.003 at $14.385 an ounce.
Global stock markets were mixed in subdued, pre-holiday trading overnight. U.S. stock indexes are slightly lower in early U.S. trading.
It could be a quieter trading week as the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday falls on Thursday. U.S. markets close early Wednesday, with Friday the “Black Friday” sale affair that finds many traders and investors out for the day, shopping for Christmas gift deals.
There are no major news developments early this week to stoke the markets. Reports the CIA has named the Saudi Crown Prince as the one who ordered the killing of the Saudi journalist last month are not moving the markets. Most believe the U.S. has too much at stake with the Saudis as their Middle East ally and U.S. arms purchaser to make a big deal over the matter.
The key outside markets today find the U.S. dollar index trading slightly lower but still not far below this month’s 1.5-year high. Meantime, Nymex crude oil futures prices are slightly higher on a corrective bounce after hitting an 11-month low of $54.75 last week.
U.S. economic data due for release Monday is light and includes quarterly retail e-commerce sales and the NAHB housing market index
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 07-00-23.txt
We live in a world where anxiety and depression haves become more prevalent than ever. Suicide rates have been steadily increasing across the United States. These are just a few reasons why the importance of mental health has been thrust into the forefront.
Back in June, the suicides of high-profile celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain brought further attention to the topic. Cisco chief executive Chuck Robbins recognized that there was a stigma around publicly addressing mental health, but he wanted to do something to help employees. So, he took advantage of the national conversation to take action.
According to CNBC, Robbins was attending a conference in Orlando called Cisco Live when he sent a company-wide email--to Cisco's almost 75,000 employees. The subject line: "Making Mental Health a Priority."
"In light of recent tragedies, I wanted to step away from Cisco Live for a moment to talk about the importance of mental health," wrote Robbins. "Unfortunately, we all know friends, family, and co-workers battling mental health conditions, or maybe you're going through your own struggles."
(You can read Robbins' full email at the end of this article.)
Robbins went on to encourage employees to "talk openly and extend compassion." He asked them to "have each other's backs." And, most importantly, he assured them that professional support was being made available.
But it's what happened next that was truly inspiring:
More than 100 employees wrote back--many detailing their own personal battles.
"I didn't understand the magnitude of the problem," Robbins told CNBC in an interview. "The volume of responses we got back led us to be more active."
Companies can learn a lot from Robbins's email and his leadership team's subsequent actions--which are remarkable real-world examples of emotional intelligence.
Here are three major takeaways:
1. Start the conversation.
It's important to remember that employees are more than "human resources." They're real people, with real problems and feelings. But while many of your people may need to broach the subject of mental health, it can be incredibly difficult to do so.
That's why it's so important for company leaders and managers to take initiative to begin the conversation.
"I had never received an email like that before or heard anyone talk about mental health anywhere I've worked," said one employee who was impressed by Robbins's email. "It was a relief that someone was making it OK. He swung open a door."
2. Take action.
Of course, you can preach mental health all you want; it won't mean anything unless you back up your words with actions. That's why it's important that Robbins's email was only one piece of the puzzle.
Robbins promised that the company would get more active in responding to the mental health needs of employees, but how active?
CNBC reports that Cisco now offers the following benefits:
24-hour access to counseling for employees and family members
On-site treatment and health centers
Depression and anxiety screening
Emergency paid time off (completely separate from vacation time)
By investing resources and funds into these initiatives, Robbins and his team have proved that their commitment to mental health is more than mere lip service.
3. Follow through.
We read a lot nowadays about companies striving to build a culture they can be proud of, one where integrity and "doing the right thing" become basic norms that are interwoven into the fabric of an organization.
Well, this is how you do it.
It's not through a single email, or through a single action. But, by identifying a need, promising to fill that need, and then delivering upon that promise, you begin to build a culture that treats people like people.
A culture that teaches us that a struggling person is not strange. Or weak. Or broken. Or flawed.
Just human.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 07-01-02.txt
History paints a different picture of this part of the city. In 1673, Dr. John Fryer, the surgeon to the East India Company, had spent some time in Madras. He thought of north Madras as a “a spacious suburb of the town proper... strewn with shady gardens of the English merchants who liked to spend their leisure hours in them.” Later, in 1747, The European Magazine published from London reports that the “streets are wide and many of them well planted with trees, so that having the sea on one side, and a river on the other, it may be said that few cities stand so pleasantly...”. Three Centuries later, north Chennai has become the grimy and forsaken backyard of a teeming metropolis.
Movies set in north Chernnai, over the years, have created a cult out of this urban sprawl by painting the neighbourhood red with violence. It is not clear since when it began to be associated with the sordid. After all, saint Ramalinga Vallalar lived here in the 19th Century, preaching about caste-less society and non-violence as the central creed of humanity. Such lofty ideals notwithstanding, there were always street skirmishes. As a student, I have been witness to dramatic events many a time. Late at night, all of a sudden the street lights and power would be switched off as shops hurried pulled their shutters down. Much like in the movies, I would then hear sounds, engulfed in pitch darkness, of bottles whizzing and crashing amid a barrage of expletives. When the lights came back on again, the only evidence of the untoward incident would be broken glass and the occasional puddle of blood. Curiously enough, someone would immediately clean up the mess. Unlike in the movies, firearms were rarely used and gunbattles unheard of.
Historicity competes with chaos and crowdedness for the honour of being north Chennai’s most salient feature. Not many are aware that the Royapuram railway station, built in 1856 and found today in the heart of north Chennai, is the oldest surviving station in the subcontinent that is still in use. The museum at Fort St. George recounts how many of the administrative practices of the Indian government (especially routine paperwork) had its origins within the precincts of this fort. Several times have I walked past the crowded Robinson Park where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, one of the major political parties of Tamil Nadu, was born in 1949.
The language of this place is another marker. The Tamil spoken in these parts is often considered coarse and irreverent. I used to travel by bus to my school near Parrys Corner. The bus conductor would often say “Front-la move pannunga, sir!”, and few realise that what appears to be a Tamil sentence actually is three-fourths English. This vernacular has evolved by generously borrowing words from other settlers who spoke Telugu, English, Urdu, and Hindi. Clearly, it is more cosmopolitan than we are given to believe. This syncreticism is most noticeable in the gaana song, which took birth here and entered popular film music.
Three Centuries ago, north Madras was the capital of a trading company that slowly took over the rest of India. Today, in the movies, it wears the mien of urban degeneration. For the majority of the audiences acquainted with north Chennai only as the film industry depicts it, one might be disappointed to discover it otherwise. In reality, as in many other parts of India, people here are fighting an unresponsive system whilst aspiring for upward mobility and a better life. Many, including myself, have benefited from its free healthcare and book banks for students. This is the main story of the real ‘vada Chennai’. Everything else is a sub-plot.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 15-20-12.txt
The long-awaited Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) in Bengaluru finally took a step forward after the release of Rs 4,500 crores was approved to pay farmers in compensation for land acquisition, in a cabinet meeting on Monday, according to reports.
The PRR is a 65-kilometer road project with a width of 100 meters that will connect Tumkuru Road and Hosur Road via Old Madras Road and Ballari Road.
Following the cabinet meeting, Minister of Rural Development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Krishna Byre Gowda spoke to the media and said, “The cost of building the road can be recovered through a toll, but the cost of land acquisition is too high, which is why the project was stalled. We tried novel ways, like town planning and land pooling, but nothing worked. It is inevitable for the PRR to be built so that government will bear the entire cost of land acquisition.” He also added the project which will span across 1,810 acres of land.
Krishna Byre Gowda further added that once the PRR project was complete, a significant amount of the traffic entering the city would be cut down.
The PRR will be planned out by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which is planning to take different approaches to decrease costs pertaining to the land acquisition.
Earlier in 2005, the government had issued notices to landowners regarding the acquisition of land for the project. While the total estimate of the project is estimated to be around 17,000 crore rupees, 4,500 crore rupees has been allocated for land acquisition alone, reports say.
Further, it has been reported that the BDA has put out tenders seeking advice regarding the project and would begin the same shortly. The government also plans to approach the Japan International Cooperation Agency to seek a loan as well as bounce the idea of a ‘public-private partnership.’
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 15-22-00.txt
The Bride Diet plan for weight loss
Basically, the Bride Diet is a short-term plan that meets your daily caloric needs with clean foods such as fibre-rich fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean meat or protein choices, some healthy fat, etc. This is not a fad diet or a quick fix plan that dramatically restricts your calorie intake or requires you to get creative with complicated recipes or unfamiliar ingredients. The plan is all about meeting your calorie goals with healthier food choices to support your weight loss.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind while on the Brie Diet plan.
As stated above, keep it simple by choosing what is healthy and most convenient - there are a variety of delicious quick cook foods in the produce section of your grocery store.
Increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables that are loaded with essential nutrients and fibre, which helps you burn calories and lose weight fast.
Avoid processed and junk food.
Eliminate or limit refined carbohydrates and sugar. Read - Malaika Arora’s diet and workout plan: Here's the actress' secret to a flat belly, super hot and toned body
Swap those sugary drinks for water - drinking enough water throughout the day will keep you well-hydrated, boost metabolism and aid weight loss.
Eliminate or reduce alcohol that can make you forget about your clean eating plan and overindulge. Moreover, alcohol itself is pretty high in calories.
Eat your breakfast everyday to maintain your metabolism and help you make healthier food choices throughout the day.
Keep a healthy snack on hand to help you satisfy your cravings and prevent you from overeating.
Eat frequent, small meals.
Make fitness a priority by staying active everyday. The Bride Diet along with increased physical activity can help you achieve your weight loss goals. Physical activity is any bodily movement that uses energy and can include a brisk walk, a short jog, climbing the stairs, or a home strength training workout.
Following these simple tips will not only help you lose weight and look your best for your special event but will also benefit your skin, nails and hair. Making simple changes in your lifestyle and sticking to them will help you slim down, improve your overall health.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 15-24-05.txt
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is one the most widely used messaging platform across the globe with billions of users exchanging messages on a daily basis. Right from casual conversations, to sharing photos and videos with other family, friends and groups, WhatsApp has become a go-to messaging medium. Even professions use the platform for sharing documents.
The introduction of blue ticks feature has been a good addition as it lets you know whether or not the recipient has read the text. And while you may talk to a lot of people on a daily basis, have you ever been curious to find out whom do you talk with the most and share a lot of media with? Well, there is a hidden trick that not many people know about. It will reveal who your closest friend is.
Watch: OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple Hands-On
How to find out whom you’re talking to the most in 4 steps
Step One
To begin with, open WhatsApp and tap on the Three Dots on the top right corner.
Turn any selfie or photo taken on your smartphone into a WhatsApp sticker
Also Read
Turn any selfie or photo taken on your smartphone into a WhatsApp sticker
Step Two
Tap on Settings and then tap on Data and storage usage.
Step Three
Next tap on Storage Usage which will show the list of groups and WhatsApp users you’re talking to the most.
Step Four
Tap on a particular group or user, which will further reveal the number of texts, stickers, photos, videos, and other content you’ve exchanged.
WhatsApp stickers: Now you can use your images and selfies to create custom stickers
Also Read
WhatsApp stickers: Now you can use your images and selfies to create custom stickers
The ranking of users and groups is according to the data consumed by the chats, which will also allow you to keep a tab on your data usage.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 15-25-47.txt
Over the years, we’ve seen the Google Assistant evolve from a Pixel-only gimmick to a major player in the virtual assistant market. It is now available on all most Android devices, Google Home speakers and a plethora of third-party IoT gadgets. Ever since its release alongside the original Pixel two years ago, the Google Assistant has gained support for seventeen languages. More language support was announced, and today, it’s beginning to roll out. Here are all the new languages coming soon to the Google Assistant:
Arabic (Egypt, Saudi Arabia)
Bengali
English (India, Indonesia, Ireland, Philippines, Thailand)
German (Austria)
Gujarati
Kannada
Malayalam
Marathi
Polish
Spanish (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru)
Tamil
Telugu
Turkish
Urdu
Google is yet to make a formal announcement, the latest beta version of the Google App that rolled out over the weekend had a few clues. An XDA Developer user managed to identify the additional languages that will be supported soon. We don’t have a timeline for when these languages will be supported. Earlier this year, Google announced that the Assistant would be available in over 30 languages. Considering that the year is almost about to end, we can expect a formal announcement from Google soon. At this point, it isn’t possible to test any of the new languages yet as Google is yet to flip the switch that’ll make them work.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 15-51-06.txt
Now, a machine that can finish your sentence
From Hospitals To Banks, Tech Could Reshape Many Industries
Cade Metz
In August, researchers from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a lab based in Seattle, unveiled an English test for computers. It examined whether machines could complete sentences like this one: On stage, a woman takes a seat at the piano. She
a) sits on a bench as her sister plays with the doll.
b) smiles with someone as the music plays.
c) is in the crowd, watching the dancers.
d) nervously sets her fingers on the keys.
For you, that would be an easy question. But for a computer, it was pretty hard. While humans answered more than 88% of the test questions correctly, the lab’s AI systems hovered around 60%. Among experts — those who know just how difficult it is to build systems that understand natural language — that was an impressive number.
Then, two months later, a team of Google researchers unveiled a system called BERT. Its improved technology answered those questions just as well as humans did — and it was not even designed to take the test. BERT’s arrival punctuated a significant development in AI. Over the past several months, researchers have shown that computer systems can learn the vagaries of language in general ways and then apply what they have learned to a variety of specific tasks.
Built in quick succession by several independent research labs, including Google and the Allen Institute, the systems could improve technology as diverse as digital assistants like Alexa and Google Home as well as software that automatically analyses documents inside law firms, hospitals, banks and other businesses.
It may even lead to technology that can — finally — carry on a decent conversation.
These new language systems learn by analysing millions of sentences written by humans. A system built by OpenAI, a lab based in San Francisco, analysed thousands of self-published books, including romance novels, science fiction and more. Google’s BERT analysed these same books plus the entire Wikipedia. Each system learned a particular skill by analysing all that text. OpenAI’s technology learned to guess the next word in a sentence. BERT learned to guess missing words anywhere in a sentence. But in mastering these specific tasks, they also learned about how language is pieced together.
This kind of technology is “a step toward a lot of still-faraway goals in AI, like technologies that can summarise and synthesise big, messy collections of information to help people make important decisions”, said Sam Bowman, a professor at New York University who specialises in natural language research. NYT NEWS SERVICE
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 15-58-48.txt
Metro gives Hosur Road new realty life
Avik.Das1@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru:
Some of south Bengaluru’s residential areas are seeing renewed interest because of better infrastructure, while some areas in the north have started gaining prominence due to their proximity to the airport.
Areas such as Yelahanka-Kogilu in the north, and Sarjapur Road, Hosur Road (towards Electronic City) and Kanakapura Road are being touted as emerging areas due to relatively attractive property prices and a wide range of housing options.
Hosur Road, comprising Begur, Kudlu Gate, Singasandra and Electronic City, is drawing attention because of the upcoming Metro rail line, which will improve connectivity to the central business district (CBD).
Major players like Prestige, SNN Builders, Raheja and Salarpuria Sattva are already active in this area. Property consultant Anarock said in a recent report that there are a number of properties here in the less than Rs 40 lakh segment, and also in the mid segment (Rs 40-80 lakh). “Most of the affordable properties are located in Electronic City Phase 2,” the report said.
“Since Electronic City has always been a commercial area and with a lot of new developments, buyers see value for money. Commuting used to be a problem, but with the Elevated Expressway and the upcoming Metro, things will change,” said Farook Mahmood, CMD of property consultancy and brokerage firm Silverline Group.
Sarjapur Road, which has long been a prominent residential area due to the presence of IT parks, is seeing increased construction activity in the area called Kodathi, where Wipro’s new 50-acre campus is coming up. The area is about 4km from the existing Wipro campus. About 30,000 Wiproites are expected to be working from the new campus once it is ready.
Most new units on Kanakapura Rd
Anarock said the area is also attractive in terms of price, at Rs 4,600 per sqft. The BBMP is expanding the 5-km stretch from Iblur junction to Carmelaram junction near the new campus to a 6-lane road.
“An advantage of this new area is that it is under BBMP, and on one side it is open to the Outer Ring Road (ORR),” Sobha MD JC Sharma said. The company is setting up a new project there, in Hadosiddapura. Prestige and Godrej are also setting up housing communities there. Sources said these realtors own huge land parcels in that zone.
Another area that is fast coming up is Yelahanka-Thanisandra-Kogilu area in the north, beyond Hebbal. While Thanisandra is becoming a major area due to its proximity to the Manyata Tech Park, Kogilu, which is near Jakkur and Yelahanka, is close to the airport and not far from Manyata.
The average price for a new launch here is between Rs 3,800 and Rs 4,800 for a mid-sized builder.
“The airport is just 30 minutes from there. And it takes the same time to reach Manyata Tech Park. With hospitals, international schools and a possible mall coming up, the area is getting a facelift,” said Suhail Rehman, MD of CoEvolve Estates, a company that’s establishing a large project there. Phoenix Mills is said to be setting up a 1 million sqft mall in the area.
Kanakapura Road is also an upcoming residential area. Anarock found it had one of the highest number of supplies of new units, at 2,800, from 2017 to the first half of 2018, with average per sqft price of Rs 4,800. “Enhanced connectivity to major areas via Metro is boosting the realty demand on Kanakapura Road. The advent of IT/ITeS parks in and around the area is also a major reason for high supply of units,” it said.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 16-00-25.txt
TN bizman held for ₹61cr GST evasion
Chennai:
A commodities trader and dealer from Sowcarpet in north Chennai was arrested on Monday for evading ₹61 crore in GST by opening multiple ‘fake’ registrations. Tax authorities said businessman Danaram used fake bills to show expenditure and availed input tax credit, which is illegal.
“During a search, a racket of fraudulent companies involved in trading of fake tax invoices for availing input tax credit by dealers of various commodities was unearthed,” said GST principal commissioner (Chennai North) M Sreedhar Reddy. The fake bills and invoices were being used to trade in gold jewellery, steel, plastics, fabric and timber among other things, said tax authorities. TNN
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 16-01-17.txt
As #MeToo hits, startups wake up to workplace behaviour
Founders and investors are working together to deal with sexual harassment and boss-subordinate relationships. Startups are also beginning to learn what they should disclose to investors and public
Rachel.Chitra@timesgroup.com
There are some things that are still not clear about the Binny Bansal episode. But the discussions around it have raised several issues. About sexual harassment, about relationships with subordinates, about making timely disclosures on complaints and boss-subordinate relationships.
In the startup world, these are not issues that companies often prioritise. Either because they are growing too fast and a lot of mindshare is being used to sustain that, or because they are still very small and are desperately trying to find their first customers or funders.
Often, the affected people do not complain immediately. Uber India, Google India and Swiggy reported zero cases of sexual harassment in recent financial years, and Flipkart, Paytm and Ola not more than a dozen cases in a year, as per regulatory filings.
But things are changing and the Bansal episode – and prior to that the scandal involving investor Mahesh Murthy – is accelerating the change. “We are getting lots of requests from companies to help them understand the requirement of full disclosures. Companies are conducting sessions on workplace behaviour for everybody, from the top to the most junior level,” says Supratim Chakraborty, associate partner in law firm Khaitan & Co.
Startups say that since the Murthy scandal, the investor community has become proactive in ensuring their startups have an ethics policy and anti-sexual harassment policy. They hold general workshops for employees to ensure they are a culture fit.
Founders and VC partners are taken through media preps, to ensure that they are tactful and not sleazy when asking, say, women journalists their phone number or for coffee.
“We consistently engage with the startups we invest in – and apart from sexual harassment which is a current topic, the other don’t is bribery – where we insist on zero tolerance,” says Sanjay Swamy, managing partner in seed stage investor Prime Venture Partners.
Nestaway founder Amarendra Sahu is among those who knew he had to take these issues into account when his fledgling startup (founded in 2015) grew from a dozen workers to 300 by 2016. “When it comes to POSH (prevention of sexual harassment) or the need for committees, my knowledge was limited. But we wanted to be a gender neutral, warm and welcoming place. So in the beginning of our journey itself we hired really senior people from MNCs for HR roles. I was fine with recruiting juniors and freshers to sales and other divisions, but for HR, I knew we needed senior hands,” says Sahu, who currently employs 1,700 people, including transgenders.
At digital media company Culture Machine, founded in 2013, when a complaint of sexual harassment was raised in its early years, a committee looked into it immediately and voted in the woman’s favour. “We fired the guy the same day,” recollects founder Sameer Pitalwalla. He says when he worked earlier at media houses, he had seen how they could drag their feet when it came to action against senior men. “And I know brilliant and talented women who’ve left because of it. That’s why we took speedy action. Actions speak louder than words. And remember we were a startup then, this guy was senior, and we knew his going would hurt the company. But we did it,” Pitalwalla says.
In boss-subordinate relationships, the expectation primarily is of disclosure. “We can’t stop people from liking each other. Even in the case of a consensual relationship, we ask people to inform if it’s between a manager and a subordinate. We don’t want a situation to arise where other team members feel someone might have an unfair advantage. Companies should reassign roles to ensure they don’t directly report to each other – it’s an industry best practice,” says Swamy.
He notes that in small companies where one cannot be reassigned to a different role, he has seen cases where one person has had to leave the company.
At grocery delivery chain Ninjacart, which employs 850 workers, there’s a clear rule that a person cannot date his/her immediate reportee. “So when people fall in love or date, we just change the reporting structure or their team,” says co-founder Thirukumaran Nagarajan.
A startup founder, who did not want to be named, said that in the initial days of their venture, when they were a team of 15, the founders themselves would drop off women coworkers in their cars. “I always had a nagging fear back then, told my men, for the love of God, don’t hit on anyone. Even genuine affection and liking for a person can be misconstrued as misuse of position, given the inherent power imbalance between founders and employees. Or it can seriously intimidate someone, make a girl feel insecure professionally when she turns him down,” he recalls. Now, with a team of 250, the company has a third-party taxi provider to drop women.
Sometimes, it’s not fellow employees, but customers or vendors who can make a worker uncomfortable or harass them, says Saroja Yeramilli, founder of jewellery chain Melorra, which employs a number of saleswomen. “Just because we are in the service industry doesn’t mean we need to be subservient. We have a policy that our saleswomen don’t share their real names or mobile numbers with male customers,” says Yeramilli, a former executive with Titan and Dell.
The company has an induction programme that teaches women to be confident and assertive, besides being efficient. “We also encourage people to tell us about relationships at the workplace, even if consensual. Something could start off on a consensual note, but then get abusive. And this is irrespective of gender,” says Yeramilli.
c:\users\admin\desktop\---paste\20-11-2018 16-02-16.txt
These founders are using AI to make radiology reports smarter
Most hospitals prescribe scores of expensive diagnostic and imaging tests for patients before treatment begins, and it’s in this that three Pune-based entrepreneurs saw an opportunity. Radiologist Dr Amit Kharat, AI technology expert Aniruddha Pant and serial entrepreneur Ajit Patil started DeepTek last year to use artificial intelligence for advanced decision-making for radiologists. They aim to improve the quality as well as interpretation of results while speeding up results and cutting costs. In October, DeepTek raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Japanese IT service provider NTT Data.Co-founder and CEO Dr Amit Kharat tells Satyanarayan Iyer how artificial intelligence can cut healthcare costs and improve efficiency. Edited excerpts from an interview
Recently NTT took a 15% stake in your company. How will it help your business?
NTT Data has global access and a deep interest in healthcare. It provides professional services ranging from consulting and system development to business IT outsourcing across the world. This partnership can benefit DeepTek in various ways. NTT Data has the thirdlargest commercial medical imaging database in the North American market, with an archive of several billion images, and it hosts the data of 1,100 clinical imaging sites. With the strategic investment from NTT, we get to leverage their market reach across major continents.
How does your technology improve the reading of images? Can you quantify it?
The reading depends on various factors such as data availability, and the type, source and quality of data. Our goal is to create algorithms that will make diagnosis for a radiologist quick, easy and accurate. The aim is to provide a sophisticated AI-enabled decision support tool, which can run standalone or on top of existing information systems. Hospitals and diagnostic centres can use this technology to simplify workflow and for quality assurance thereby improving turnaround. The artificial intelligence tool will be the second eye for the radiologist, helping to streamline workflow, quality control and interpretation. This can help make the job less stressful and faster at all levels.
What are the key aspects that radiologists miss and that your technology can help detect?
Our algorithms will identify potential regions for pathology, using advanced tools and techniques. Some of these techniques allow us to generate accurate heat maps. Our patentpending search tools use deep learning techniques. Whether the recommendation is correct or not will be decided by radiologists and their feedback will be used to improve the algorithms. Overall, this will enhance the confidence of diagnosis and avoid potential misses.
How are you deploying AI to speed up decision-making? Will it work on low-resolution machines found in district hospitals?
The aim is to improve efficiency by 30%. Yes, we are taking care of resolution and other differences that may be present in data from various sources. We are evolving models to work on heterogeneous sources of data.
How many diagnostic centres in India and abroad use this tech?
We are currently serving a few imaging centres and hospitals in India, APAC and Africa. Radiology has always been at the forefront of adopting technology to enhance its reach and presence. Now that radiology is paperless and filmless, adoption of artificial intelligence is the next revolution in radiology. Medical imaging is increasing at a remarkable rate. This results in high workloads and stress for radiologists. Higher dependency on imaging is increasing the cost of healthcare. Artificial intelligence can bring sweeping changes in radiology.
How has your company grown in terms of revenue and people? What are your plans?
We started last year as three cofounders and have grown to a team of 35, comprising technologists, radiologists and experts in AI, healthcare and imaging. We have a revenue run rate of half a million dollars annually. We are profitable and we have a sharp strategy with focus on radiography, CT and MRI. We are developing various modules for chest and musculoskeletal imaging and neurology. Our goal is penetration of the global market, which has an acute shortage of clinical imaging experts, by enabling radiologists, diagnostic centres and hospitals with our AI-assisted decision support systems.