Hindu group celebrates Trump birthday with cake in New Delhi

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Hours after announcing that two-wheelers will be allowed to ply and that IT/BT companies can resume operations with 33 per cent strength, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday took a u-turn and rolled them back, citing “public opinion” as the reason. 

Earlier in the day, Yediyurappa announced that, after April 20, there will not be any restriction on the movement of two-wheelers in areas that are not COVID-19 containment zones. Yediyurappa also said that a third of IT/BT employees will be allowed to go to the office after April 20. 

“In the backdrop of public opinion and after discussions with senior officials, it has been decided that the prohibition on two-wheelers will continue throughout the lockdown period,” a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said. “And in the IT/BT sector, only essential services will be allowed and the work-from-home policy will continue.” 

According to sources, the u-turn came following opposition from Yediyurappa’s Cabinet colleagues. “If I was in the meeting, I’d not have allowed it,” a minister said. Only Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Revenue Minister R Ashoka were in the meeting Yediyurappa held earlier in the day. The Opposition also stemmed from the fact that there was no need to make decisions on the lockdown when the Cabinet was scheduled to meet on April 20, sources said. 

The incoordination was apparent on Friday when Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, the IT/BT minister, said 50 per cent of employees in the sector will be permitted to work while Yediyurappa said this would depend on the number of cases reported in the coming days. 

Other announcements made by Yediyurappa remain unchanged.

“Places, where COVID-19 cases are reported, will be identified as containment zones. In such containment zones, an incident commander will be appointed and given magisterial power. Teams comprising the police and health department officials will oversee the lockdown,” Yediyurappa said. “Lockdown will be much more stringent in these areas and no one will be allowed to step out. Essential supplies will be delivered home.”

According to Bommai, there were 32 containment zones in Bengaluru and ‘hotspots’ have been identified in eight districts.

With an eye on restarting economic activities, the government will allow construction work and industries. “In urban areas, construction work will be allowed to start wherever construction workers have the facility to stay on site,” Yediyurappa said. “The manufacturing sector in rural areas and industrial units located in the special economic zones (SEZ) and townships in urban areas will be allowed to function,” he said.

Stating that inter-state travel will be prohibited, Yediyurappa said the districts of Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Ramnagara will be considered as one only for the movement of industrial workers.

Asked about liquor sale, Yediyurappa said a decision will be taken after May 3. The government has already prohibited liquor sale till April 20 midnight.

Bangalore , Mar 24: Bizom, India's leading retail intelligence platform, announced free subscription of its retailer app and tele-ordering solutions for consumer businesses in India and other emerging economies. Both solutions enable retailers to send their orders directly to the brand.
In COVID-19 times of social distancing and prophylactic measures, brands are conscious about the safety of their salespersons. Also, retailers don't want travelling salespeople to enter their premises. Consequently, many retail stores are facing stockout situations of fast-moving product categories. Bizom's self-ordering solutions help brands to avoid stockouts of their products.
Bizom trends, which analyses consumption and demand for consumer brands, showed how a near-complete shutdown during the Janta Curfew followed panic buying in early March. The asymmetrical demand and a lack of salespeople for order-taking are driving the industry towards social-distancing-based store-stocking mechanisms.
Bizom provides social-distancing-based store-stocking solutions for consumer businesses. They include the Bizom Retailer App and the Bizom Tele-ordering.
The Bizom Retailer App enables self-ordering for a brand's key retail outlets and can be implemented in under two weeks. The mobile app, a B2B shopping app, is a simple installation for retailers. It lists and groups the brand's products as per its product categories. The app's interface is no different from that of leading e-commerce apps. All the user has to do is select the preferred SKUs and add them to their shopping carts.
The app also allows brands to customize the app to meet the requirements of their continually changing product categories. For instance, if an SKU runs out of stock, the brand can disable the given SKU from the app.
With the Bizom Retailer App, brands can take orders directly from retailers instead of the traditional order-taking approach, which requires high-touch from a salesperson. Some of the key features of the app are, the ability to provide product information directly through retailers including SKUs, competitor comparison and pricing.
It also enables self-ordering from the retailer to maintain the flow of products as per demand, enables scheme rollout information through a notification on the app rather than through salespeople, tracks delivery of goods to the retailer and enables incentive payments to retailers directly rather than through distributor claims.
With Bizom Tele-ordering, as the sales teams go remote, the tele-ordering solution will become useful for brands who want to get salespeople to take orders from retailers, remotely. It ensures continued service to outlets despite not being physically present in the market.
Here, salespeople can discuss product requirements with retailers and enter orders based on specific outlet types (grocery, chemist etc.), outlet class (Class A, Class B etc.) or based on their beat or as per a distributor.
The key features of the Bizom Tele-ordering solution are, its ability to help salespeople collect orders from retailers remotely and enter it for fulfilment into Bizom using a tool, the flexibility offered to salespeople for remote servicing of retailers as per outlet type, beat, distributor area etc., secondary schemes get applied automatically, variable discounts will get applied as applicable at an SKU level.
"At Bizom, we are conscious of our responsibility to help brands run faster during these COVID-19 times. Our solutions of Bizom Retailer App and Bizom Tele-ordering have been built to ensure that brands can leverage this situation of low direct touch with retailers to enable a better way of working, remotely. I am trying to help brands go live in a few days so that they, in turn, can serve consumers better during these testing times," said Lalit Bhise, CEO, Bizom.

New Delhi, Jan 26: On the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, Karnataka state's tableau depicted the philosophy of Basaveshwara and the concept of Anubhava Mantapa (Centre for Experience), which was the socio-religious centre that existed in the present-day Basava Kalyana of Bidar district in Karnataka.

It is regarded as the first religious parliament in the history of mankind.

This 12th-century centre has a special significance in the history of humanity, as it represents composite culture, philosophy, spirituality, equality among other universal human values.

These values were propagated by the saint and social reformer- Basaveshwara and other sharanas- followers of Basava philosophy of the socio-religious movement.

It is significant that representatives of Anubhava Mantapa were nominated based on their spiritual attainment, regardless of caste, class and sect they belonged and thus discarded the differentiation of human beings as higher or lower, on the basis of birth, occupation and gender.

The front part of the tableau has the replica of Basaveshwara preaching his most cherished value - "Work is Worship".

For Republic Day Parade 2020, a total of 56 tableaux proposals (32 from states/UTs and 24 from Ministries/Departments) were received. Out of these, 22 were shortlisted for participation in the Republic Day Parade 2020.