Category Archives: Business & Economy

GI spotlight on saddleries of Kanpur, Kannauj perfumes

Business & Economy, Records, All, World Opinion

Kanpur :

Among the most famous small industries from this part of UP are Kanpur saddleries and Kannauj perfumes. To its fame, Kanpur is the only centre in the country, and even in Asia, producing harnesses and saddlery products. Saddlery goods are made in only a few countries like the US, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Australia, Argentina and Taiwan.

Harness and saddlery goods or ‘Horse riding and driving equipments’ have been manufactured under the small industries umbrella in Kanpur since more than 100 years, obtaining a Geographical Indication (GI) tag only in 2014.

“It was initially started in the 19th century by the British India Corporation (BIC) in the ‘Harness Factory’ presently known as the ‘Ordnance Equipment Factory’ at Kanpur, to cater to the needs of the British Army and Police,” said Taj Alam, Convener Harness and Saddlery Panel, Council for Leather Exports, and who had been regularly participating in SPOGA, one of the important and oldest International Trade Fair for Equestrian Sports, in Germany. Similarly, Kannauj, traditionally referred to as the Grasse of the East or Perfume capital of the World, has been a thriving centre for natural fragrances. In a major boost for the famous perfume industry of Kannauj, which obtained GI tag in 2014, the state government is working to set up an international perfume museum and park at Kannauj.

The project would provide a world-class platform to the ‘attar’ (perfume) manufacturers to showcase their age-old skills and to upgrade their skills according to the changing times. Once the project is completed it would rejuvenate Kannauj’s old glory of Kannauj as a fragrance hub, besides boosting the export of locally made perfumes.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Faiz Rahman Siddiqui / August 30th, 2016

The Fairfield by Marriott opens in Lucknow

Business & Economy, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Global hospitality major Marriott International today opened The Fairfield by Marriott, Lucknow, the second property of the company in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

Marriott is already operating ‘Renaissance Lucknow’ in the city, which opened in September, the firm said in a release.

The Fairfield by Marriott offers the largest room inventory in the city with 222 rooms.

“We are excited to bring the Fairfield By Marriott brand to North India, we believe the market is ideal for a brand like Fairfield which sets the standards of delivering a great hotel experience at an affordable price point.

“With the opening of this hotel we continue to strengthen our relationship in Lucknow. This hotel will help us gain a formidable presence in the market, along with providing a strategic advantage of having a multi-brand presence in the city,” said Marriott Market Vice-President (South Asia) Neeraj Govil.

The Fairfield by Marriott brand is a front-runner in the moderate tier segment catering to a target guest looking for a comfortable stay and ‘international’ service at great value.

Considered a growth engine for the company’s expansion in Asia with 13 hotels signed in India and additional properties signed in Nepal and Indonesia, Fairfield By Marriott represents an opportunity for Marriott International to move into new locations and markets.

Marriott International is a global lodging company based in Maryland, US, with more than 4,400 properties in 87 countries and territories.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National / Press Trust of India, Mumbai / July 05th, 2016

​Bijnor 1st dist in UP to upload land records online

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Records, All

Bijnor:

The district has become the first in the state where the entire land revenue record has gone online. District magistrate B Chandrakala inaugurated the facility on Monday. According to officials, the facility will not only facilitate the procurement of land records online but will also go a long way in reducing corruption in public offices.

The facility will make purchase and sale of land more transparent and accountable in the district has begun on Monday. Now, farmers of the district can get khasra and khatauni (record) of their land easily. This record will be verified online through digital signature in just a few minutes.

There are five tehsils, including Bijnor, Chandpur, Nagina, Dhampur and Najibabad, in the district, and about three lakhs farmers who are land holders.

Inaugurating the facility, district magistrate B Chandrakala said, “Earlier, farmers had to face many problems to get land records and get them verified by authorities concerned. Besides, it took months to transfer land to the farmer’s name who bought land from other farmers. There was always the possibility of being cheated by the land seller as in the meantime the seller sometimes took bank loan by mortgaging the sold land thereby creating problems for the buyer. This would often lead to a dispute between the buyer and the seller. But after digitizing all land records and putting them online, the sold land will be transferred to the name of buyer immediately. Farmers can not only get their land records but also can verify their such records online by using digital signature of respective authorities. Now, it would be easier to take loan from banks as verification of the land record can be done immediately.”

And if anyone gets the record of a particular plot of land, the real owner will receive an SMS on his mobile phone. Respective departments are collecting mobile numbers and Aadhaar cards from all land holders for this purpose.
“The district has become the first in the state where the entire land revenue record has gone online. Farmers can take their land records from any public service centre or download the same using any computer. The facility has begun in the district on Monday,” said the district magistrate.

Bhartiya Kisan Union district president said, “It is a great effort to make purchase and sale of land more transparent. In addition to this, farmers can get their land record easily and verify it online by using digital signature of officials.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Meerut / by Harveer Dabas, TNN / June 27th, 2016

Young UP bureaucrats scripting change, garnering goodwill

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders

Lucknow : (IANS)

A young ‘collector saheb’ sipping piping hot coffee and munching ‘laiyya-chana’ at a chaupal with wide-eyed villagers, a young woman IAS official cradling infants at an Aanganwadi centre, a district magistrate riding pillion on a motorbike to check open defecation at a Varanasi village.

Dispelling the myth that bureaucrats are only meant for office comforts, a band of young officials in Uttar Pradesh is scripting a new chapter wherein not only are the people being benefited but the state’s tainted bureaucracy is also getting a long due makeover.

Perahaps taking a leaf out of the ‘chai-pe-charcha’ campaign that Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to the hilt for political success in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Gonda district magistrate Ashutosh Niranjan has kicked off a ‘coffee with collector’ wherein he randomly selects a village panchayat, drives in with his officials for a cup of coffee and problems of the village are discussed and settled then and there!

The first edition of the event was held recently in the Paraspur development block at the panchayat of Mijhaura where, over steaming cups of coffee, village head Vipin Kumar Singh, the lekhpal (revenue official) and the panchayat secretary deliberated upon a host of issues ranging from roads to potable water to power supply.

It was also decided that the gram pradhans would very soon host a similar meeting over lunch with the lekhpal, panchayat secretary, beat constable and other grassroot-level workers. “The idea is to strengthen the panchayat system and setttle many issues like land disputes at the grassroot level,” Niranjan told IANS.

Varanasi district magistrate Vijay Karan Anand is setting a similar example wherein many-a-time he hitches a motorbike ride to reach far-flung locations to “catch up with reality”. Only recently, he rode pillion at 5 in the morning to physically check issues like cleanliness, the power situation and sewerage.

He found the situation in neighbourhoods like Dayanagar Malin Basti and Sigra “pathetic” and was quick to order immediate course correction. He has also been visiting villages very early in the morning to dissuade people from open defecation.

“It is amazing to see such officials; it is a reassuring feeling,” said Vivek Singh, who works with a telecom company in Varanasi.

Moradabad district magistrate Zuhair Bin Sageer has done some exemplary developmental work in the villages. Not only did he step out of the confines of his air-conditioned office but was also instrumental in creating a mobile application for monitoring work in what are designated Lohia villages, where affordable housing is being developed for the poor.

Kinjal Singh, the district magistrate of Faizabad, is still remembered for her good work during her previous stint in Lakhimpur Kheri, wherein she not only got special sheds made as dining areas for school children for their mid-day meals but also initiated a process to assimilate the marginalized Tharu tribe into the mainstream.

Pilibhit district magistrate Masoom Ali Asgar has almost cleared the high-profile political constituency of encroachments. He is also credited with beautifying the tiger reserve here.

Suhaas LY, the district magistrate of Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, has scriped a unique method of beautifying the city, its roundabouts and major roads. Through the PPP model, the young bureaucrat has ensured beautification and lighting up of all the city’s major intersections.

Lucknow district magistrate Raj Shekhar is also creating waves. From ensuring restaurants are freed of child labour to clearing a whopping 1,000 acres of encroached government land, Shekhar is also known for his modest style and easy accessibility.

“We all have been assigned a job by the government and we are just doing it to the best of our abilities,” Shekhar told IANS.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
–IANS
md/vm/tb

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / IANS / May 31st, 2016

Lucknow industrialist Manish Goel re-elected as National President of Indian Industries Association

Business & Economy, Leaders

Lucknow (KNN) ;

The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of Indian Industries Association (IIA), an apex body for MSMEs in India, has unanimously elected Manish Goel as its National President for the year 2016-17. Goel has been elected as the President for the second consecutive year in a row.

Lucknow industrialist Manish Goel re-elected as National President of Indian Industries Association
Lucknow industrialist Manish Goel re-elected as National President of Indian Industries Association

Sanjay Kaul, Election Officer & Former President of IIA conducted the election meeting of the 21 CEC members and declared the election results.

Born in March 1965 in Kanpur, Goel is an entrepreneur who is successfully running his venture in the name of Lucknow Surfant Pvt. Ltd (Chemical Industry) and Lucknow Printers and Publishers at Lucknow, U.P.

Apart from running his enterprises successfully, Goel is actively involved in upliftment of MSMEs at national as well as state levels.

He has held several important positions in IIA starting from the Chairman & Divisional Chairman of Lucknow and then Secretary, Vice –President, General Secretary & Senior Vice President at IIA Head Office before taking up as its President.

Goel is a member of National Board of MSMEs operating under Ministry of MSME apart from several National and State level bodies related to MSMEs.

At international level, Goel is the Vice Chairman of Asia Brand Ceremony being held in Beijing, China in September, 2016.

On Election as President, IIA, in his first address Goel highlighted his priorities and said that he will work tirelessly for the promotion and development of MSMEs, expanding IIA Chapters to other States.

He vowed to continue the legacy of all IIA Past Presidents in bringing the name and fame to IIA and serve its members to their satisfaction. (KNN Bureau)

source: http://www.knnindia.co.in / KNN – Knowledge & News Network / Home> MSME> Small / May 31st, 2016

Azamgarh Tulsi farmers get international exposure

Agriculture, Business & Economy, World Opinion

Lucknow :

Tulsi farmers of village Haripur in Azamgarh on Friday hosted a gathering of international guests when 12 international distributors of Organic India dropped into their village. The international delegation experienced, first hand, village life and the experience of organic farming.

Following a presentation on the company’s humble beginnings by chief operating officer, Balram Singh – of three farmers who started farming on three acres of land – Singh talked about how the company now works with 300 marginal farmers across 400 acres of land, in Azamgarh, and with more than 2000 farmers across over 10, 000 acres of certified organic land.

With guests from France, New Zealand, Norway, Dubai, Czech Republic, Australia, Bulgaria and Singapore the meeting, some said, provided an opportunity for those working on the ‘front line’ of sales and those growing tulsi and other herbs to understand the importance of each other’s roles.

This also gave our international distributors firsthand experience that their efforts make a big difference to the lives of small and marginalised farmers in rural areas,” said Balram Singh, COO, Organic India.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Swati Mathur, TNN / May 27th, 2016

Budding entrepreneurs get green stage at CIMAP

Business & Economy

Lucknow:

Technology, Business and Incubation Center (TBIC) at Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) will be the first incubation center for herbal products amongst the 38 CSIR laboratories in the country.

“It will be the first incubation center for manufacturing of herbal products, which will provide hand-holding facility to new entrepreneurs, who want to start new business without running the risk of investing in machinery, infrastructure and technology,” said director CIMAP Anil Kumar Tripathi.

He added that an entrepreneur will be given marketing rights and no licence fee for CIMAP herbal products technology would be charged. “They will have the right to decide the MRP of the product.”

New entrepreneurs will have the option to select from CIMAP herbal products or they can come up with a new idea to develop herbal products, he said. After testing market potential of the product, if entrepreneurs want to go for production in bulk, then they have to purchase the technology of the institute as limited quantity can be manufactured at the center, he added.

“Besides generating employment under ‘start up India Programme’, it will help popularize CIMAP products by increasing their penetration in the market,” said senior scientist and in charge of TBIC, Dinesh Kumar.

Two production units and three laboratories, including microbial, analytical and quality assurance, have been set up at the center. The institute is framing the guidelines and the facility will shortly be made available.

Kumar said the first production unit will be used in manufacturing liquid and semi-liquid products. Semi-liquid products like herbal face washes and shampoo and liquid products like hair and pain relief oil will be manufactured in production unit I.

Production unit I has special machines installed for manufacturing products like liquid mixer, automatic liquid filling and automatic cap sealing.

The second production unit would manufacture herbal creams, balms and gels. A multi-mix plant has been installed at the unit for making creams and gels along with tube filling, sealing and coding unit for product’s packaging, he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / April 26th, 2016

From NIFT to village panchayat, Priyanka Yadav knits with ease

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Lucknow :

For Priyanka Yadav, the 7th National Panchayati Raj Day celebrations held at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan would certainly be a special one, as the 24-year-old village pradhan from Etawah’s Sarsai Nawar (village panchayat) and a pass out of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru was felicitated by the State Election Commission.

Priayanka who seeks inspiration from Chhavi Rajawat, the woman sarpanch from Rajasthan’s Soda village (60 kilometres from Jaipur), says, “I first came to know about Chhavi Rajawat from my elder sister, who reposed faith in me that I have the attributes of leading a village.” She further stated that initially, she was apprehensive of stepping into politics, but after persuasion from her father (Jairaj Singh alias Pappu Yadav), who is also the kshetra panchayat chairman from Takha.

Elaborating her plan of action to empower the villagers, Priyanka, who is currently pursuing master in fashion business from NIFT, said, “I obtained knowledge in knitwear designing from NIFT-Bengaluru, while studying there from 2010 to 2014, and I want to empower the people of village by giving them the latest innovations in knitting techniques and designing, so that they can prosper, while staying in the village itself.” She further stated that gradually, women could start their own business and support their families.

When asked whether she would move ahead electorally, Priyanka said that if the women voters of my village start showing signs of self-reliance and self-confidence, “then I will move on, else, I would continue to work at the village panchayat level.”

Smriti Singh (23), who has done post-graduation in management (HR), and won the polls from Ratsarkala in Ballia wanted to have a word with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, and said, “I wanted CM sir to make the entire village like me.” Singh who was attached to KGMU for two-and-half years as a research associate said that she did not want to join the politics, but it was only after her siblings convinced her that she eventually decided to contest the panchayat polls.

Similarly, a couple of other elected village pradhans also wanted to use the opportunity to narrate their woes to the chief minister, but could not do so, as CM did not turn up in the event. Woman entrepreneur Pooja Kumari, who won from Majra Jatpatiyaali in Kasganj district was so overwhelmed by the award that she was unable to speak out of excitement.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / Arunav Sinha / TNN / April 25th, 2016

Conquering male bastion: City girls man petrol pump

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Allahabad:

Fairer sex in Sangam city are now taking up jobs in areas once considered a man’s domain. Defying standard gender stereotypes, for the first time in Allahabad, a petrol pump boasts of as many as three girls working as attendants.

The girls, Meghna Srivastava (B.Com), Poonam Kumari (class X ) and Sarita Tyagi (BA), believe it’s only hard work that counts.

Working at a city-based petrol pump, they say they’ve never had second thoughts about their choice of profession. Working the 10 am-5 pm shift, Meghna also looks after the account work.

“I have been working here for past year and a half and I’ve never faced any gender discrimination,” she said.

On being asked whether they have ever been teased or stalked, the girls say they’ve always conducted themselves with dignity and have never faced any such problems. The number of women customers has also increased, they said.

Poonam and Sarita, who started working here two months ago say they have their family support which makes work a lot easy.

Manager of the petrol pump, Prakash Chandra, says, “Lucknow was the first city where a petrol pump had girls as attendants. But the exercise could not go on for long. Later, another petrol pump in Allahabad also tried but failed.”

However, he says, people have appreciated their effort to promote women.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / April 25th, 2016

B’khand home to water conservation marvels

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Nature, Records, All

Lucknow:

Acute drinking water crisis adversely affecting common life across the country has prompted scientists to formulate principles on surface water management and activists to push ‘save water’ campaigns. Historians in UP, on the other hand, offer lessons on water conservation from parched Bundelkhand.

“Bundelkhand has had a strong tradition of water conservation. Water bodies in Mahoba are a classic example,” said Navratna Kumar Pathak, chief of Archaeological Survey of India’s Lucknow circle.”Based on the principle of rainwater harvesting, these water bodies were built by the Chandela kings about 800 years ago in public interest,” Pathak added.

“The success of the simple effort can be guaged from the fact that one of the five main ponds, the Madan Sagar, supplies drinking water to entire population of Mahoba even today,” Pathak said. Some of these bodies are spread across several kilometres and have a huge catchment area to trap every drop of water in its range. Pathak said that to spread awareness on rainwater harvesting, ASI held several events along a pond named Kirat Sagar on the occasion of World Heritage Day on April 18.

Chief patron, Indian Journal of Archaeology, Vijay Kumar said, “Water Sructures in Ajaigarh, Kalinjar Fort, Jhansi” were a perennial source of inspiration for water conservation. Prof Vinod Kumar Singh, archaeologist at Centre for Advance Studies, department of history, Aligarh Muslim University, who has brought out more than 50 publications on water conservation in Bundelkhand, said the ponds amaze researchers in hydrology and history.

“Locals find the ponds miraculous but there is simple science behind the secret. The biggest reason for their perennial character are the extensive topographical studies done before selection of spot for the pond,” he said.

Citing an example, he said, “The natural flow of water is driven towards a depression from where it is stored.”

He added that the Chandela kings promoted conservation and harvesting by associating it with religion. “Temples were constructed to prevent people from misusing the place,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / Shailvee Sharda / TNN / April 19th, 2016