Wednesday, 26th August ’20

The Morning Tea- PR

Good morning, welcome to TMT Wednesday. A nerve wrenching incident occurred in US again yesterday as Jacob Blake, a 29-year old black man was shot 8 times in the back by the police and this was captured in a video. The US is certainly not the safest place anymore with BLM movement at its peak and still complete recklessness. US, an economic powerhouse, is an epitome of development, and countries like India are following footsteps. But, an important lesson learned here is that development and progress shouldn’t come at the cost of freedom and equality. 

Here are a few words from the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi to start our day,

If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it in the beginning.

MIND MONK

Developing your Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills form an integral part of your professional toolbox. From collaborating on a project with a colleague to liaising with an important external stakeholder, you need the confidence, empathy & communication skills to make the most of every interaction. 

So, here we give you some tools to help polish your interpersonal skills

  1. Cultivate a positive outlook- look for the positive in the situation and try to build on that.
  2. Control your emotions – always express yourself in a calm, patient manner
  3. Acknowledge others’ expertise – let your co-workers know you appreciate their expertise. Ask for their help on projects and give credit where credit is due.
  4. Practice active listening – You can do this by maintaining eye contact with the speaker, nodding your head, and repeating what he or she says in your own words. The speaker will feel respected and you’re likely to be able to recall the conversation more easily afterwards.
  5. Maintain your relationships – Connect with college friends and former colleagues on social media or through email; try to set up face-to-face meetings now and then.

Remember, strong interpersonal skills will help you gain allies and simultaneously demonstrate to your supervisor that you’re capable of bringing out the best in others.

MARKETS

Markets: The Indian equity benchmarks almost ended up flat on Tuesday amidst mixed cues in the Asian markets owing to the release of US home sales data and Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell’s speech. While index heavyweights are seeing a pause, banking space is helping the index to inch higher. US stocks also didn’t show much action despite a US-China trade deal cues primarily due to a drop in Apple’s shares.

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

  • Flipkart said that it would transition its entire fleet to EVs by 2030 committing to the nonprofit EV100. The move comes as the homegrown e-tailer thinks it could play a significant role in fast-tracking the adoption of EVs in the country. Amazon too pledged adding 10000 EVs to its fleet last year.
  • ICICI Bank has begun using satellite images of farmland to help assess farmers’ credit-worthiness, a move the bank says is helping cut travel costs and make faster lending decisions. This will impact a farm loan which accounts to a third of ICICI’s rural loan portfolio of around $7 Billion.
  • Ant Group, Alibaba’s fintech arm and China’s dominant mobile payments firm, filed for a dual listing in Hong Kong and on Shanghai’s STAR Market on Tuesday and could raise as much as $30 billion in what would be the world’s largest IPO. This would help boost Hong Kong’s status as an international IPO market. 

 WHAT ELSE IS COOKING

  • IAF launches app to provide career-related information for IAF job aspirants: Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria launched a mobile application ‘MY IAF’ at IAF Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan) to provide career-related information to aspirants as a part of Digital India initiative. The application has been developed in association with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). It is available in Google Play store for Android phones, is linked to IAF social media platforms and games and also provides glimpses into the history and stories of valour in the IAF.
  • To counter India’s military might, China launches advanced warship for Pakistan: In a bid to counter India’s military might in the region, China has launched the first of four “most advanced” warships it is building for its close ally Pakistan. A launch ceremony for the Type-054A/P frigate was conducted by the Chinese state-owned Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai on Sunday. The Pakistan Navy said the vessels are state-of-the-art frigates equipped with modern surface, subsurface and anti-air weapons and sensors.
  • Airport privatization row between Centre, Kerala govt escalates: The Union government’s decision to hand over Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to Adani Enterprises Ltd, which won operating rights in an auction, has reached a political flashpoint between the state and the Centre. The assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against the 50-year contract to the private developer, a move the Centre termed “regressive and far removed from public opinion”. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to PM Narendra Modi on Thursday requesting him to reconsider the decision to hand over the airport to the private player as the state has enough experience to manage airports efficiently.

BUSINESS LOUNGE

Kimirica- Luxury toiletries made simple

Sometimes successful business stories start from a garage or a small workshop and over the time they become companies to corporate behemoths with sprawling offices! When brothers Rajat Jain and Mohit Jain, launched “Kimirica” in 2013, they were working out of a small, 100sqft room. The duo also had bad debts and faced a huge cash crunch. But suddenly while brainstorming, they remembered staying at a hotel. The miniature amenity bottles being used there stuck in their minds, and then they were immediately inspired to get into this game.

Examining the market, they learned that more than 70% of amenity products and toiletries for international hotel brands were imported. They were convinced by their idea that they could manufacture these products locally and sell them to hotels. After gauging this demand, they started making liquids such as shampoos, lotions, shower gels, conditioners, soaps, and accessories such as loofahs, dental and shaving kits, massage oils, bath salts, etc. But the major challenges were yet to visit them.

After they launched in 2013, they were struggling to make ends meet in their tiny, single-room workspace after facing a cash crunch and being denied a Rs 10 lakh loan by a leading bank. So they mortgaged their house and old office and started taking several loans from banks. The company had just 7 employees during these initial stages. While Mohit was personally meeting clients for networking and marketing, Rajat focused on researching, formulating, and developing products. After a lot of persistence from the entrepreneurs, the Marriott Group in India finally gave them a break. The multinational diversified hospitality company signed Kimirica as its supplier for toiletries and ancillary products in India. Since then, Kimirica has never looked back. It grew to 400 employees working in a 70,000 sq ft room.

Their conviction and determination helped Kimirica overcome insurmountable odds and become India’s largest manufacturer of luxury hotel toiletries and guest room amenities. Kimirica Hunter is now worth Rs 300 crore, and serves a large number of international hotel chains such as Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Jumeirah, Hyatt, etc.

 TMT VARSITY

Cryptography(#3 of 3)

The main principles of a cryptosystem (Kerckhoff’s Principle)

  1. The cryptosystem should be unbreakable.
  2. Falling of cryptosystem into the hands of an untruder should not lead to any system compromise
  3. The key should be easily communicable and changeable
  4. The encryption apparatus should be portable
  5. Finally, the system should be easy to use.

Types of attacks on cryptosystem

  1. Passive attack: Here the attacker obtains unauthorized access to the system to steal information but does not manipulate any information or disrupt the communication channel.
  2. Active attack: Here the attacker manipulates the information and can change, block access, or delete the information at hand. 

Traditional ciphers: Compared to the modern advancements in the cryptographic systems, traditional ciphers systems were based on symmetric key encryption. Some of the popular ciphers are:

  1. Ceaser ciphers
  2. Substitution cipher
  3. Playfair cipher
  4. Vigenere cipher
  5. One time pad

We guarantee that should you delve further into these ciphers, you’ll run across multiple interesting puzzles and brain dazzling quizzes.

Written by Kumar Sourav Mohanty, Akansh Bhatt, and Shashank Dobhal

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