डॉ. उदय बोधनकर भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारिणीवर केंद्रीय  मार्गदर्शक नियुक्त

 भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारिणीची घोषणा आज करण्यात आली. यात प्रदेश समन्वयक, सहसंयोजक, विभागीय संयोजक, सहसंयोजक व मार्गदर्शक मंडळ यांची घोषणा करण्यात आली.

 यामध्ये नागपूरचे *प्रसिद्ध बालरोग तज्ञ डॉ. उदय बोधनकर  यांची महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारणी मध्ये मार्गदर्शक म्हणून नियुक्ती करण्यात आली. ही नियुक्ती भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी प्रदेश संयोजक डॉ. अजित गोपछडे व आमदार गिरीश महाजन यांनी केली.

डॉ. उदय बोधनकर हे नागपुरात एक जग विख्यात बालरोग तज्ञ म्हणून  प्रसिद्ध नाव आहे.  अत्यंत कमी वयात भारतीय बालरोग तज्ञांची संस्था चे प्रेसिडेंट  होण्याचा मान त्यांना मिळाला.  अनेक वर्षापासून सामाजिक कार्यात आपला सहभाग देत आलेत. त्याचप्रमाणे अंतरराष्ट्रीय संस्था कॉमहेड चे एक्झिक्युटिव्ह  डायरेक्टर म्हणून काम बघतात. त्यांच्या या सामाजिक सेवा कार्याची दखल घेत त्यांची प्रदेश कार्यकारणी वर नियुक्ती करण्यात आली.

 या कार्यकारणीचे मार्गदर्शक म्हणून डॉ. उदय बोधनकर याच्या सोबत खा. डॉ विकास महात्मे, खा  डॉ. प्रीतम ताई मुंढे, खा. हिना गावित, खा. डॉ सुभाष भामरे, खा. डॉ. भारती पवार, खा. डॉ भागवत कराड आहेत.

डॉ. बोधनकारांनी आपल्या नियुक्ती बद्दल केंद्रीय मंत्री व नागपुर चे खासदार मा. श्री. नितीन जीं गडकरी, महाराष्ट्र राज्य चे माजी मुख्यमंत्री  मा. श्री.  देवेंद्र जीं  फडणवीस, भाजपा प्रदेश अध्यक्ष मा. श्री. चंद्रकांत दादा पाटील  व  विदर्भ संघटन मंत्री डॉ. उपेंद्र कोठेकर* यांचे विषेश आभार मानले.

Dr. Uday Bodhankar : https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Uday-Bodhankar 

Dr. Chinmay Soman (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Chinmay-Soman )

and Dr. Girish Chowdhary 

Friends sicne 5 th grade, they went their separate ways for higher education - getting PhDs in nano-biotechnology and aerospace engineering respectively. In 2010 they got back in touch - picking up their friendship - and started looking for opportunities to work together on a high-impact  opportunities to collaborate on and the 'Earthsense' was born: https://www.earthsense.co/

EarthSense - a Marathi-founded Startup Creating Robots for Farmers Around the World

With climate change, population growth, and environmental degradation, farming is under increasing stress. In 2016, Chinmay Soman and Girish Chowdhary founded EarthSense with a mission of  improving the livelihood of farmers around the world through advanced robotics and AI solutions. Chinmay and Girish have been friends since 5th grade - when they met in Jnana Prabodhini in Pune.

Since the beginning, EarthSense has worked with farmers and agricultural scientists from around the world. Based on a thorough understanding of pain points across agriculture, the EarthSense team has created their unique robotics and AI platform with multi-million dollar funding from the US government and support from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Since 2018, EarthSense has been selling their first product - the “TerraSentia” robot and associated machine-learning algorithms. The TerraSentia platform is helping major seed and agrochemicals companies and agricultural scientists around the world create better varieties of crops including maize, soybean, cotton, wheat, and more. EarthSense is now also testing their next generation robots with farmers. These next-generation robots will help farmers manage herbicide resistant superweeds, reduce fertilizer use, and improve soil quality.

The cutting edge work at EarthSense has been recognized in multiple ways, including a feature article in the New York Times, as well as $1.3 Million in research grants from the US government. In 2019, EarthSense also raised a $1 Million venture funding. EarthSense is currently working with investors around the world to raise a $4 Million funding round.

To learn more and work with EarthSense, please contact hello@earthsense.co 

INVITATION

To register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/120809433267

Webinar on Design Thinking by Madhav Dabke a practicing design thinker and a management consultant helping global clients to deliver transformation technology programs.

Saturday 19 September  2020, at 7.00 AM California Time, 3.00 PM London, 7.30 PM India.

He is a banker turned technology consultant and has wide experience across geographies. He has helped clients in developing innovation led strategies with human centric approach over system driven thinking.

In this webinar, he will introduce:

• Concept of Innovation
• Concept of Human Centric Approach
• Introduce Design Thinking
• Process of Innovation using Design Thinking Techniques
• Examples of successful Design Thinking Designs
• How GMG Innovation Academy’s Design Thinking Mentors can help Innovators

Please fill up and submit the Google form to have better connect with the speaker:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Y55cmLgUd4dgYcguSdiD_JrzduNRP6gkVlLeLgp2Gng/edit

To know more about Innovation Academy:-

https://www.garjemarathi.com/innovation_academy.html  

Dr.Anuradha Chougule (Sandhya Deodhar) and Shri. Datta Nadkarni co-wrote this article.

Dr Anuradha Chougule,  Professor and Scientist – Molecular Diagnostic and Translational Medicine, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai

Datta Nadkarni, member of Garje Marathi Global, global strategy consultant, explain why a wider adoption of liquid biopsy techniques in India could detect cancer much earlier, reduce burden on the limited cancer hospitals while saving a lot of lives – all at much lower patient costs

Early detection is the holy grail of cancer management. In clinical oncology, the current clinical practice for diagnosis and treatment decisions are based on methods like tissue biopsy, imaging techniques (CT, MRI, or PET Scans), and cytology. The information gained from these approaches is static in time, coarse grained, because they provide little detail at the molecular/genomic level about the underlying cancer. During a particular tissue biopsy the surgeon may or may not capture the precise tumour cells in the tissue sections captured for histopathology / morpohology, which then determines the next steps for treatment. Further these surgical tissues biopsies cannot be iterative given the patient’s frailty, tolerance for invasive procedures, costs etc. The presence of interpatient tumor heterogeneity complicates treatment decisions.  However, tissue biopsy remains the gold standard in diagnosing the various histolopathology types and subtypes of solid tumours.

One of the biggest advantages of liquid biopsy (LB) is the ability to detect the cancer biomarkers in blood and malignant body fluids earlier than conventional methods like tissue biopsy. Current research literature in precision medicine suggests that liquid biopsy is indicated for advanced and metastatic solid-tumour cancers, before first-line therapy, or as the cancer progresses. However, it is not indicated for hematologic malignancies and early stage cancers (stages I or II). This emerging new technology has revolutionised the genomic profiling and led to precision medicine like Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor therapy (TKI).

The existence of liquid biopsy (cfDNA) was first demonstrated in 1948 by Mandel and Metais.  During the programmed cell death (apoptosis) and necrosis, the dead cells are engulfed by macrophages and other scavenger cells (phagocytosis).  However when macrophage phagocytosis is exhausted, there is increased nucleosome (shed DNA fragments) amounts released into the bloodstream. These “shed DNA” fragments are the circulating-free DNA (cfDNA).

Similarly, during tumour necrosis, shedding of nucleosomes by malignant tumours result in release of circulating-tumour DNA (ctDNA) along with cfDNA. This ctDNA causes changes in the genomic sequence (genetic mutations) within the patient’s normal genes. The circulation of ctDNA via the lymph and blood circulation spreads the disease to other organs – and is termed “metastasis”.

The genomic profiling of plasma-shed ctDNA is an emerging multimodal diagnostic tool for the therapeutic approach in clinical oncology. Their presence can be analysed by using plasma, urine, saliva and other malignant body fluids cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), pleural effusion, pericardial and ascitic fluids, which are close to the tumour.

Dr S D Banavali, director, academics, Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) said,“We at Tata Memorial Hospital pioneered liquid biopsy testing in India particularly in Lung cancer.  Because of the site and size of the tumour in lung cancer, “tissue is the issue”, and hence detection of driver oncogenic mutations in liquid biopsy becomes more advantageous over tissue biopsy”.

Dr Kumar Prabhash, head, medical oncology, TMH states,“In one of our published data, a high concordance (96.96 per cent) between tissue biopsy and ctDNA for oncogenic driver mutations was observed, showing a false negative rate of only around 3 percent which is acceptable.   The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of the assay were 91.1 per cent, 100 per cent 100 per cent, 95.6 per cent, and 97 per cent, respectively.”

With the advent of high throughput technology and with several notable studies in cancer, testing of liquid biopsy (plasma ctDNA) is becoming more popular to identify somatic driver actionable mutations, and predictive and prognostic biomarkers in various cancer tumours in the oncology clinic.   Further, LB can also be effectively used to monitor the efficacy of TKI (Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor) treatments and evaluation of resistance mechanisms in the human body.  The biomarkers other than plasma ctDNA liquid biopsy include circulating cell-free tumour DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumour cells (CTCs), exosomes, tumour-derived RNA, and tumour-educated platelets. The analyses of these biomarkers are still being researched, and has not yet been approved for routine testing.

Dr G S Bhattacharyya, medical oncologist (Kolkata) and member of ESMO Global Policy and WHO  Steering Committee states, “Genomic or liquid biopsy tests hold great potential to improve patient outcomes by selecting targeted treatment and monitoring response and forms an important armamentarium for personalised and precision medicine . These tests can be used to guide initial therapy, identify relevant clinical trials, and help us understand and tailor therapy based on mechanisms of resistance, they can also be used for cancer screening and early detection.”

For tissue biopsy a larger team of CT Scan, intervention radiologist, on site pathologist, technician to make blocks, pathologist, molecular pathologist or molecular biologist is essential whereas for LB the essential team is just a phlebotomist, molecular pathologist or biologist. In tissue only 18 percent of patients get their complete tissue genotyping, however this number can greatly improve by performing a liquid biopsy. A cross-sectional observation study regarding patients and their physician’s willingness to wait for driver mutation report on the tissue biopsy is just 35 percent. In lung cancer there are several procedural complications of CT guided biopsy, of pneumothorax, pneumothorax with a need for intervention, pulmonary haemorrhage, haemoptysis with spontaneous haemostasis and haemothorax, and hence LB ( partial invasive procedure)  testing, predominantly overcomes all these complications.

In terms of time management the reporting of genomic profiling is much faster than tissue biopsy (seven days versus 15 days) and since liquid biopsy bypasses all the surgical procedures, it is highly cost effective.

In normal subjects, the concentration of plasma cfDNA ranges from less than 10 ng/ml to more than 100 ng/ml. The half-life of cfDNA is between 16 mins to 2.5 hours. In cancer patients, ctDNA represents a small proportion of total cfDNA, varying from less than 0.1 per cent to over 10 per cent according to the tumour burden, cancer stage, cellular turnover, and response to therapy. For the accurate analysis of downstream pathways of genomics, an algorithm of plasma separation and extraction of ctDNA has to be implemented meticulously. In case of in-house sample analyses, the sample can be drawn in routine K2 EDTA vacutainer, whereas, the sample which is transported to a reference Laboratory, has to be collected in special vacutainers (Streak, PAX gene etc..) having larger stability of 48 hours, to prevent the plasma from degrading. Once the sample reaches the laboratory it is very important to separate out the plasma within two hours and stored at -80 C till the cfDNA is extracted. There are several commercial DNA-extraction KITS based on different principles like column based, magnetic bead based and silicon based etc.  For genomic profiling the samples are processed on NGS (next generation sequencing) platform. It is an unmet need for the samples to be sent out only to a certified (NABL /CAP) Laboratory, who can then provide a final report outlining the detected genomic alterations.

Significance of liquid biopsy testing

The highly dynamic clonal evolution of the tumour over time warrants longitudinal surveillance of the molecular landscape of the tumour. This cannot be efficiently achieved with tissue biopsy samples alone, and requires an alternative approach. Due to the rapid turnover rate of tumours, tumour materials such as nucleic acids, vesicles, and viable cells are constantly released into the circulation. Liquid biopsy can be used to frequently assess the dynamic molecular landscape of tumour with the least cost or discomfort to the patient.

Challenges of liquid biopsy

Liquid biopsy plasma ctDNA has approximately 86 per cent chance of positive detection across all solid tumour types. It is a promising biomarker in advanced/metastasis cancer disease. However a negative liquid biopsy test result may not indicate an absence of tumour oncogene. So here a tissue biopsy analysis is recommended. LB can also be challenging in early stages of cancer because of low ctDNA levels in the body fluids. The presence of mutations in plasma does not establish that these mutations are originating from a particular cancer and does not establish its histologic type and subtype. ctDNA reflects the genome of dying tumour cells and not the existing tumour cells or resistant population, and hence cannot provide the exact origin of the mutation.

The registry of new patients of various cancer types in Tata Memorial Hospital alone is approximately 75,000 / year. The World Cancer Report said that according to the estimated cancer burden in India in 2018, there are about 1.16 million new cancer cases, 784,800 cancer deaths, and 2.26 million 5-year prevalent cases in India’s population of 1.35 billion. Projections suggest that this figure will increase to 1.70 million by 2035. Approximately 87 per cent of these patients seek medical attention in advanced stages of disease. This contributes to India’s very high mortality-incidence ratio of 0.68 which is substantially higher than that of high-income countries. In addition to late-stage presentation, other factors that likely contribute to poor cancer outcomes in India include limited health system infrastructure, a scarcity of oncologists, and patients’ inability to afford cancer treatment.

Cancers of oral cavity and lungs account for over 25 per cent of cancer deaths in males and cancer of breast and oral cavity account for 25 per cent cancers in females. As seen in the diagram, the top five cancers in men and women account for 47.2 per cent of all cancers; the mortality rate of these cancers can be significantly reduced or prevented, if screened, diagnosed and treated at an early stage. In this era of personalised medicine, there is a huge unmet need for early diagnosis and early treatment protocols, particularly in solid tumours. The crude cancer incidence rate was highest in Kerala and Mizoram, followed by Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Assam.

A wider adoption of liquid biopsy techniques in India could detect cancer much earlier, reduce burden on the limited cancer hospitals while saving a lot of lives – all at much lower patient costs.

So to conclude, LB is similar to tissue biopsy, less invasive and safer for patients, less tedious to perform, requires less manpower than tissue biopsy, and last but not least it is cost effective and can be performed at any remote place in India and can save millions of lives of cancer patients.

Prominent Indian oncologists at the “user-end” attest to the efficacy of LB

Says Dr Hemant Malhotra, president, Carcinogenesis Foundation – India, and professor and head, dept. of medical oncology, Sri Ram Cancer Center, MGMC Hospital, Jaipur,“I have no doubt in my mind that, with the advancement of technology and techniques, and the ever increasing need for tissue, this modality is going to become more and more important in the near future”.

“In oncology, liquid biopsy helps us make the right decision for treatment of patients in many ways. When tissue biopsy is not possible or fails; when the biopsy needs to be done at frequent intervals; when additional mutations driving disease progression need to be identified; when targeted treatment is commenced, changed or stopped; when patient develops unusual features that do not match the natural history of the cancer. I cannot think I can do justice to many of my cancer patients without the benefit of proper use of liquid biopsy,”says Dr Purvish Parikh, group oncology director, academics and academic professor of medical oncology, Shalby Cancer & Research Institutes, India.

“Liquid biopsies are essentially using blood, serum or other body secretions including but not limited to urine, saliva, sputum. Sampling blood seems very attractive as this helps us to overcome the tumour heterogeneity – a shortcoming of limited tumour biopsy. It can also be done serially at various time points to study the tumour progression, response to therapy and to look at genetic changes that could help us to tailor treatment,” states Dr K Govind Babu, consultant medical oncologist, St Johns Medical College and Hospital, HCG Hospitals, Bangalore.

 Published with permission from Dr. Anuradha Chougule and Datta Nadkarni

Credit : https://www.expresshealthcare.in/news/why-liquid-biopsy-is-a-paradigm-shift-in-clinical-oncology/424472/

Manoj Kulkarni Passion of study at the age of 50 !

Dr. Manoj Prabhakar Kulkarni, PhD

Doctorate in Business Administration: Supply Chain Management

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

We at Garje Marathi Global, are happy to inform that Manoj Prabhakar Kulkarni, the member of the Strategic Committee of Garje Marathi has recently been awarded a Doctorate in Business Administration for his research in Supply Chain Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  His specific research aais strategic sourcing in automotive component industry in China and its implications on supply chain performance.   As he presented his thesis, one of the external examiners mentioned that his research constitutes an important contribution to the empirical literature on strategic sourcing in automotive supply chain management.

He is currently the head of the corporate supply chain at Johnson Electric, a Hong Kong-based multinational company, the leading manufacturers of micro motors.

He is an expert in supply chain management and has over thirty years of experience in establishing supply chains in the engineering industry globally as well as locally. Over the last thirty years he has held various positions in various Indian, American, European and Asian companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Ford Motors, Emerson Electric, Rosemount Measurement, Johnson Electric.

He has visited more than 800 engineering companies around the world and conducted detailed audits of several companies. As a result, he has experience working in different business cultures in different countries.

Over the past few years, he has focused on the Asia-Pacific region. He has been living in China for the last ten years to study this rapidly evolving geographical area. Initially he worked for a Chinese company in Shanghai for a few years and later moved to Hong Kong. With his extensive experience in working for Asian managements, he has an in-depth knowledge of Asian business culture and systems, which is relevant to the area of his study.

Manoj was known as a high achieving student from primary school as he was  awarded the National Merit Scholarship in Class X and XII Board Examinations. He holds a degree in Production Engineering from KJ Somaiya College and a degree in Management Science from SP Jain Management Institute.

Even though he is a science student, he has been interested in Marathi language and social work since his early. He established a Marathi Mandal at Dahisar, Mumbai twenty years ago. While living in Shanghai, he was the President of the Shanghai Marathi Mandal. There he was successful  in showcasing local Marathi talent by conceptualising programmes that included theatre performances, singing, dancing and much more.

Currently he has been the President of Hong Kong Maharashtra Mandal for the last 4 years. Last year, he has formed a group of Maharashtra Mandals in the eastern part of Asia - "Purva Bandh"

He has written some books for children and also edited the books of Shri. RatnakarMatkari, Shri. Dilip Prabhavalkar, Shri. ShirishKanekar.

Manoj was raised in the Marathi middle class environment of Mumbai and educated in Marathi medium school in Goregaon.

He says, “the study of doctorate at the age of 50 was a journey of making a dream into reality; the journey from an engineer to doctor, the journey from industrial world to academia with the help of God’s grâce, my parent’s blessings, my passion and support from everyone that met me throughout the journey. The real challenge was, to manage all at a time - the job in multinational company, the presidentshipof Maharashtra Mandal and study for doctoral thesis.”

Sep 14, 2020

Sanika Kulkarni is a final year Literature and Communication student at the University of Hong Kong. She is currently interning at a Hong Kong based tech and entrepreneurship magazine called Jumpstart. Jumpstart is a media company dedicated to "making innovation matter". More than just a media company, they provide resources, support, and education to startup founders, industry leaders, and creative game-changers.

Recently, she has written an article discussing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the art industry. This article provides great insight in understanding the impact on non-traditional industries such as the arts. This is an industry that has shown growth, innovation and adaptability during a global health crisis like this to continue to produce and distribute content. She mentions how the lockdown has urged people to turn to art for comfort as the viewership for platforms such as Netflix has significantly increased.  

Drive-in concerts, and cinemas, zoom theaters and virtual exhibitions have become the new ways of artistic expression. At the end of the article, she raises some questions such as, the advantages of the changes seen by this industry and if this pandemic has changed the way we consume art forever. 

You can access the article through this link on Jumpstart Magazine's website: 

https://www.jumpstartmag.com/the-post-pandemic-face-of-the-arts-industry/

Aditi Potnis, Qatar, Member of Model United Nations

Albert Einstein once said, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’ The relevance of this particular quote in the contemporary world is exemplary.

The youth of our world can come up with the best possible solutions and solve the issues that our world is currently facing in political, social as well as economic scenarios because their way of thinking is different. The best way to increase our exposure to these global issues is through Model United Nations.

MUN is a platform where students assume the roles of nations and work towards solving a global issue in a committee room along with several other aspiring delegates. I have been a part of the MUN community for 4 years and I have gained a plethora of knowledge and confidence through it. I have attended over 10 in person conferences as a delegate, I am the standing director of the MUN club at my school and I have also held positions on the secretariat board in 2 MUNs. Furthermore, I was also chosen to represent my school GCIMUN which is an international yearly conference held in New York. Currently I am also a part of the secretariat for an MUN conference that is gathering funds which it will further donate to a local charity which aids the education of kids who cannot afford it. We are working towards making the most out of the quarantine situation by providing a conference opportunity to aspiring candidates as well as doing charitable work. The MUN community not only yields confident, diplomatic candidates who would strive to make a difference in the real world, but it also provides a sense of importance and gratitude towards the world. The world isn’t short of problems, but it is short of people willing to put these problems on their top priority. MUN helps me make my contribution to fixing these issues. This platform has built up my character to unfathomable heights and has made my persona congenial.

Aditi Potnis , Qatar

Volunteering during tremors of Covid 19 pandemic

In addition to the series of accomplishments made by Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS), in first week of August, MWPS surpassed another milestone when about 175 stranded migrants travelled back home to Chennai from Bahrain. MWPS was instrumental in chartering Gulf Air flight for the first time in their endeavor.

Theimpact of thePandemic isin job loss across the globe, Gulf countries are no exceptions. Under “Covid-19 relief drive” MWPS volunteers are providing assistance including, basic ration kits,medication etc.tothe unskilled migrantworkerswho have no job, no pay. Untilnow, 12000kits have been distributed andarebeing continued. MWPS is also financing the air tickets for repatriation of these stranded migrants of all Nationalities.

Personally, in my career of community service in Bahrain for over 10 years as well as in profession of teaching Physics more than 30 years, I am able to give back to the society, though my contribution is very little in spreading the pollens of humanity.

Neelaja Shrotre is a member of steering committee of Garje Marathi Global-Bahrain Chapter and has shared her achievements in the field of community service to those who were adversely affected by Covid-19 pandemic in Bahrain. Neelaja has been providing active support and overseeing this humanitarian work in her capacity as a General Secretary of MWPS, Bahrain based NGO. She is keenly interested in increasing awareness among unskilled work force aboutoccupational safety, health and hygiene while advocating their legal responsibilities and rights as a contribution towards sustainable development of a society in the country of residence.

’चांगल्या संकल्पनांमधून घडतात प्रभावी बदल’

’विविध क्षेत्रांमध्ये आणि लोकांच्या आयुष्यावर आपला प्रभाव पडेल अशा प्रकारचे संकल्पनाधारित काम करण्यावर मी कायमच भर दिला आहे. अशा कामाला प्राथमिकता दिली आणि त्यातून ओघाने आर्थिक लाभ होत राहिले. साधारणत: पाश्चिमात्य संकल्पना उद्योग क्षेत्रांमध्ये वापरल्या जातात. मात्र, आरोग्य सेवांच्या अर्थसाहाय्याबाबत भारतात होणारे काम हे इतरांसाठीही उदाहरण आहे असे मला वाटते,’ अमेरिकेत सॅन डिएगो येथे राहणाररे व्यवस्थापन तज्ज्ञ अश्विन अभ्यंकर सांगतात.

अश्विन अभ्यंकर यांचे शालेय शिक्षण हडस हायस्कूल येथे तर इंजीनिअरिंगचे शिक्षण यशवंतराव चव्हाण कॉलेज ऑफ इंजिनीअरिंग येथे झाले. काही काळ नोकरी करून त्यांनी युनिव्हर्सिटी ऑफ लॉस एंजेलिस येथून एमबीए पूर्ण केले. या शिक्षणादरम्यान आणि पुढील काळात त्यांनी मानवी स्वभावाचा अभ्यास, वर्तनात सकारात्मक बदल घडवून आणणे या बाबत अभ्यास आणि काम सुरू केले. कॉर्पोरेट कंपन्यांबरोबर काम करताना व्यक्ती आणि कंपनी अशा दोघांनाही लाभ होईल अशा संकल्पनांवर ते काम करतात. अमेरिकेतील सुमारे दोन दशकांच्या कारकीर्दीत घरकर्ज, अर्थपुरवठा, आरोग्यसेवा, उत्पादन अशा विविध क्षेत्रात  सकारात्मक संकल्पना राबविण्यात त्यांना यश आले आहे. अश्विन हे प्रख्यात व्यवस्थापन तज्ज्ञ डॉ. सी.के.प्रहलाद यांचे जावईदेखील आहेत. डॉ. प्रहलाद आणि पत्नी दीपा प्रहलाद यांच्या साथीने त्यांनी या विषयावरील पहिल्या पेटंटचेही लिखाण केले होते.

नागपुरातील उद्योजकतेला उत्तेजन

या व्यावसायिक कामांबरोबरच अभ्यंकर हे उद्योजकतेला प्रोत्साहन देणार्‍या विविध उपक्रमांमध्येही सहभागी आहेत. वायसीसीईसारख्या संस्थांच्या माध्यमातून इंजिनीअरिंग आणि इतर क्षेत्रातील उद्योजकतेला विविध मदत करण्याचे काम ते करतात. टीआयईच्या नागपूर शाखेचे ते संस्थापक सदस्य आहेत. भारतातील स्टार्टअप्ससाठी काम करणार्‍या आयहबसारख्या उपक्रमांशी ते जोडले आहेत तसेच विविध स्टार्टअप कार्यक्रमांमध्ये ते वक्ते म्हणूनही सहभागी होत असतात. प्रोव्हिजनल पेटंट्स तसेच विविध औद्योगिक संकल्पनांवर ते पत्नी दीपा यांच्यासह सातत्याने लिखाण करीत असतात. विविध कंपन्यांच्या सल्लागार मंडळांवरही ते कार्यरत आहेत. अर्थसेवा क्षेत्रात त्यांनी केलेल्या कामाबद्दल त्यांना एमव्हीपी पुरस्काराने सन्मानित करण्यात आले असून प्रतिष्ठित फॉर्च्युन मासिकातही त्यांच्या कामावरील लिखाण प्रसिद्ध झाले आहे. कॅलिफोर्नियातील थाउजंड ओक्स या शहराच्या शहर गुंतवणूक आढावा समितीवरही नियुक्ती करण्यात आली होती. अश्विन अभ्यंकर हे पत्नी दीपा यांच्यासह ग्रामीण आणि शहरी भारतातील घरांची छते या क्षेत्रातही काम करतात.

जंगल व्यवस्थापन संकल्पनांवर काम

या व्यावसायिक कामाबरोबरच अश्विन यांना जंगलांची विशेष आवड असून भारतात दरवर्षी होणार्‍या भेटीदरम्यान नागपूरभोवतालच्या जंगलांमध्ये पर्यटनाला जात असतात. मानव-वन्यजीव संघर्ष कमी करणे, जमिनीखालील पाण्याची पातळी वाढविणे, जंगलांवर अवलंबून असलेल्यांसाठी रोजगारनिर्मिती इत्यादी क्षेत्रातही ते काम करतात. याशिवाय, टेनिस हा त्यांचा आवडता खेळ असून आपल्या मुलाबरोबर ते विविध स्पर्धांमध्येही सहभाही होत असतात.

Credit:- mandar.moroney@timesgroup.com Tweet: @MandarMoroneyMT, Maharashtra Times, Nagpur. 

Published with permission from Ashwin Abhyankar

GMG New Zealand chapter has been formally launched after completing the formalities on 24th August 2020.

The journey of chapter formation has been quite interesting.

Anand Ganu was in touch with several individuals across New Zealand and was keen on getting the local chapters started. New Zealand is famous for a saying that generally there is only 2 degrees of separation between any 2 people. And it turned out to be true as the people Anand had contacted knew each other very well. This led to a mutual trust and exchange of notes on how to get this done.

Given the geography of NZ the founding trustees quickly agreed on a few points while forming the chapters

• A single pan NZ entity to be formed to cater to entire NZ

• Individual cities will work as a local branch of the national chapter.

• Auckland (Prashant Belwalkar), Wellington (Prachee Gokhale) and Christchurch (Sudhir Joshi,

Shirish Paranjape) were decided to be the foundation cities with named Trustees.

• Prashant raised his hand with the support of the team to look at forming the constitution and register the entity

• This work was completed in a month’s time and despite the setback of Covid 19 formally completed the constitution documentation in March 2020.

• It was decided that given the nature of work being carried out by GMG NZ the best option would be to set it up as a Charitable Trust to give it more credibility and sustainability.

• We applied for the registration of the entity with the Charities Commission in April after ensuring that the purpose and intent is clearly confirming to the requirements for a Charitable status.

• Normally a 12 week period is required to complete the formalities. However the Commission was also under pressure due to Covid restrictions and came back with questions on intent and purpose and their relationship with commercial outcomes.

• Extreme care was taken to refer to the founding organisations principles and 4 guiding principles and their relation to Charitable purpose. This was accepted by the Commission as we were explicit of ending the involvement at the commercialization state of help.

• GMG NZ was there to help mentor Maharashtrians and give them wings to expand beyond NZ shores.

The journey took 8 weeks more than our anticipated timeline but the lessons we learnt were valuable.

Some of them are:

• Working under a single entity where possible reduces conflict and gives a nationwide cohesive identity.

• Where possible and able to gain a Charitable trust status as it brings more credibility and easier for receiving grants and funding if required.

• Working with local Marathi cultural institutions as well as student bodies will be of great help.

We are looking forward to formalize our activities and help others to go through the registration process so as to reduce the time required.

Prachee Gokhale, Prashant Belwalkar, Shirish Paranjape and Sudhir Joshi 

Honorary member of Garje Marathi Global, Advisory committee, Shri. Narendra Kale  https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Narendra-Kale, says, “We are doing our part in Digital India Movement".

September 11, 2020: Siemens India has integrated its systems with the Air Cargo Community System (ACS) framework at Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) called as GMAX, developed by Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale), to facilitate seamless time-critical functioning.

Siemens aims to have real-time visibility of their shipment movement with standard milestone tracking capabilities along with other useful information from the ACS. Under this framework, Siemens can get real-time updates on cargo movement within their air cargo import ecosystem. Moreover, verification and validation of documents make the framework more viable for the importing community.

“Siemens India, being one of the largest importers through air cargo in India, focuses on automating and digitalizing business processes. All their operations are integrated with the SLAs of their global headquarters. Several of their operations on the air cargo imports side continued to be semi-automated, with data dependency on external stakeholders,” said the release.

Dr Pramod Sant, VP- head of import, export and customs, Siemens India, said, “Time criticality is an essential factor for Siemens. With ACS integration we made the right move to give our organization and stakeholders the immediate value needed during these uncertain times. When we thought about IT solutions for air cargo, Kale was our first choice. Their proven track record of delivering cutting edge technologies for fortune 500 companies globally stands as a testimony to their capabilities. We strongly believe Kale’s ACS will help us meet our long-term strategic business initiatives.

MIAL’s ACS-GMAX
In a bid to foster better communication and effective dissemination of information to trade partners, MIAL introduced ACS-GMAX. The platform is widely used by trade to facilitate business and have real-time shipment visibility. It is one of the most successful and innovative cargo communities in the world with over 2500 stakeholders companies using it on a daily basis. Some of the benefits realized by trade are; faster movement of trucks at the cargo complex, reduced data entry and paper handling. GMAX has also become a shining example for airports not only in India but also worldwide.

Manoj Singh, senior vice president – head of cargo, MIAL said, “Technology plays a very crucial role in ensuring seamless processes at MIAL Air Cargo, and was the primary motivation behind the launch of GMAX in 2013. With the latest upgrade of the portal, we are providing our stakeholders with a single digital point of access to ensure data accuracy and provide real-time cargo status and updates amongst other benefits. The ease of integration of the portal with Siemens speaks volumes about the relevance and future scope of GMAX (ACS from Kale) towards air cargo operations. It also enables us to further extend this service to import consignees, regulators and global airports initially to start with CEIV certified partner airports in a phased manner.”

Amar More, CEO, Kale Logistics Solutions said, “We are delighted to have the likes of Siemens, which is one of the most reputed multinational companies in the world connecting directly and benefiting from the ACS system in Mumbai. Logistics is all about speed, visibility and connecting different stakeholders for efficiency. This is probably another global first for the Mumbai air cargo community wherein the exporter/importer has connected directly with the ACS. We are proud to be part of this initiative and are committed to digitally transform the airport cargo community globally.”

Source and credit: https://www.itln.in/siemens-integrates-directly-with-mials-air-cargo-community-system-aviation

Webinar on Internet of Things, By Dr. Sanjay Bhandari.

12 September 2020, at 7.00 AM California Time

To Register : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/119769408525

First webinar in the series of weekly webinars on 10 Technology Tracks and 10 Business Tracks. This series is precursor of GMG Innovation Academy Start-up Incubation and Acceleration program 2021

Dr. Sanjay Bhandari interfaces with multiple organizations in USA as well as in India for mentoring.

His Ph.D. (IIT Mumbai in 93) was on Artificial Neural Network, ANN/CNN/Deep learning which remains to be a hot topic even now. For last 10 years, he is involved in sensors, edge networks for IoT

Synopsis of webinar by Sanjay Bhandari

Internet of Things (IoT) is forecasted to bring a tectonic shift in the worldwide technology market in the coming decade.

In this webinar, we will discuss:

• What is Internet of Things (IoT)
• What are the underlying technologies enabling IoT
• Why is every industry trying to jump into the bandwagon of IoT
• What are the opportunities for innovators, organizations, employees and society as a whole to benefit from IoT

GMG Innovation Academy’s management committee has announced GMG Innovation Academy Start-up Incubation and Acceleration program 2021

Members of GMG Innovation Academy’s management committee Avinash Padhye, Sameer Padhye, Sanjay Bhandari, Shrikant Nistane, and Vijay Talele are going to be facilitators and moderators of the program.

The program will be preceded by a series of weekly webinars on 10 Technology Tracks and 10 Business Tracks. Webinars will be hosted by Educators, Professionals and Industry Experts from the Team Garje Marathi Global.

Conceptualized on the most auspicious day of चैत्र शुद्ध १, गुढी पाडवा (25 March 2020) and was launched on 16th August 2020 by Hon’ble Devendra ji Fadnavis.

Garje Marathi Global Inc. is a registered corporation in the state of California and has applied for ‘Non- Profit’ status. 

GMG Innovation Academy is a Non-commercial activity aimed to assist, guide and mentor start-ups by Marathi promoters

https://www.garjemarathi.com/innovation_academy.html