Earlier this week, Unacademy sacked a teacher, Karan Sangwan, days after his video went viral on social media Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Maharashtra Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi condemned Unacademy’s stance on the issue The challenge of handling controversies sparked by employees’ political opinion remains unsolved for global startups and corporates as well A recent incident at Unacademy, where the edtech giant sacked a teacher for voicing a political opinion during an online class, has again raised the question of employees’ rights to openly discuss political issues at the workplace. It’s also brought up some debate about whether Indian startups are ready for politics at the workplace even as they enter the mainstream ahead of the 2024 General Elections. Earlier this week, Unacademy sacked judicial services tutor Karan Sangwan, days after his video went viral on social media. During his class, Sangwan is seen urging students to vote for educated candidates, which brought up talk about political bias. In response to the video, Unacademy cofounder Roman Saini said, “We are an education platform that is deeply committed to imparting quality education. To do this we have in place a strict Code of Conduct for all our educators with the intention of ensuring that our learners have access to unbiased knowledge.” Sangwan was dismissed for seemingly being in breach of the Code of Conduct, the cofounder said. He added that the classroom is not “a place to share personal opinions and views as they can wrongly influence them.” The decision, however, sparked a controversy as many questioned whether Unacademy could take such a step for a teacher who simply urged students to vote for educated candidates. Many X (formerly Twitter) users called for boycotting Unacademy, with ‘UninstallUnacademy’ trending on the site. Even Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi condemned Unacademy’s stance on the issue. Startups In Political Crossfire Indian startups have been seen historically fostering an open culture but it seems they are not certain yet how to deal with heated controversies about political and social issues. We have seen similar cases in the case of Zomato and other companies in the recent past. Back in 2021, foodtech Zomato landed in a controversy after one of its employees told a customer, during a grievance redressal conversation, that everyone should know Hindi as it is the national language. The exchange triggered a controversy and many condemned the company for imposing the language on customers. As an immediate reaction, Zomato issued a public apology and informed the customer that it “terminated the agent for their negligence towards our diverse culture”. However, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal later informed that the employee in question was being reinstated and added that call centre agents are “not experts on languages and regional sentiments”. While many lauded Goyal for supporting the employee in crisis, many raised questions about the startup’s guidelines on sensitive issues. In today’s digital age, social media has become a major communication channel for startups and their customers. Hence, it has become more important for them to have a clear strategy to deal with controversies but defending employee rights as well. Was Unacademy Right To Sack Karan Sangwan? The freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens under the constitution of India under article 19 (1) (A). The exercise of this right is subservient to “reasonable restrictions” being imposed under article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. While rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 deals with the involvement of a government employee in politics and elections, there is no definitive rule for private sector employees in this regard. However, private entities can put clauses in employee agreements to restrain employees from making sensitive political comments. According to a legal expert, not willing to be named, the termination of Unacademy teacher is illegal as he did not mention any political party, politician or any individual in his comment which was mostly generic. However, as of yet, there’s no sign of any legal action being taken against the company. Besides India, this issue remains unsolved for global startups and corporates as well. For example, Google updated its employee guidelines in 2021 to caution against unnecessary political debate and improper disclosure of company information which sparked controversies as well. Other companies such as Basecamp and Coinbase also tried to ban political discussions at work which resulted in a loss of number of employees. Given that Indian startups have become part of the mainstream consciousness and public debates, startups will definitely need to be more agile when it comes to navigating such challenges in the future. Technology has become a battleground for political stakes as we have seen in the past couple of election cycles, and with the 2024 General Elections on the horizon, startups are increasingly likely to see themselves being dragged into political debates.

PM Modi said India is willing to share its experiences in the domain of digital public goods with the world, especially the Global South Speaking at G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting, Modi called for a consensus on ‘G20 High-Level Principles’ for building a secure, trusted, and resilient digital economy Earlier this week, India inked an MoU with Trinidad and Tobago to share the India Stack and cooperate in the area of ‘digital transformation’ Touting India Stack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (August 19) said that the country’s digital public infrastructure could be scaled worldwide to tackle global challenges.  “India’s digital public infrastructure offers scalable, secure and inclusive solutions for global challenges,” said Modi in his virtual address during the G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru.  Modi also said that India is an ‘ideal testing lab’ for solutions that can be replicated globally anywhere in the world. Citing his rationale, he said that products that succeed in India could be emulated globally.  The PM  also said that the country is willing to share its experiences in the domain of digital public goods, adding that India Stack has been envisaged to ensure ‘no one is left behind, especially those from the Global South’.  Mentioning state-backed and AI-powered language translation platform Bhashini, the PM said that its new offering will support digital inclusion in all diverse languages of India. Citing the potential global nature of security threats in the future, Modi also called on the delegates to build a consensus on ‘G20 High-Level Principles’ for building a secure, trusted, and resilient digital economy.  Speaking at the same event, Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also called for global collaborative efforts to combat digital security threats. He underlined three key areas – digital public infrastructure, digital economy security and digital skilling –  identified by India to foster democratisation of technology.  India Stack refers to a host of open application programming interfaces (APIs) and digital public goods infrastructure developed by the Indian government to promote interoperability, build payments networks and streamline data-driven services. India Stack in the umbrella term that includes a host of projects from UPI to the account aggregator network. India has been pitching to countries globally for the deployment of India Stack. Earlier this week, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trinidad and Tobago to share the India Stack and cooperate in the area of ‘digital transformation.’  Apart from that, India has signed similar pacts with countries such as Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and Antigua & Barbuda. Meanwhile, nations such as Mauritius and Saudi Arabia are also mulling deploying the India Stack. Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet also approved the expansion of the Digital India initiative with an additional outlay of INR 14,903 Cr.

Without giving any timeline or additional details, Navi said it was super excited for the upcoming launch of Navi UPI With this, Navi has joined a growing list of startups from CRED to Zomato that have recently launched their own UPI offerings The announcement of the new launch came a month after the IPO-bound startup Navi laid off 200 employees Sachin Bansal-led fintech startup Navi Technologies on Saturday (August 19) said it is foraying into the digital payments space with the launch of Navi UPI. “At Navi, we’ve been working hard on something new and are super excited to announce the upcoming launch of “Navi UPI” – our leap into the payments domain! We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with NPCI to help realise its mission to reach every single Indian and thankful to their team for guiding us through this process,” the IPO-bound startup said in a post on LinkedIn. However, it did not offer any further details on the gamut of services that will be offered by the platform. With this, Navi joins a growing list of consumer-facing internet startups from CRED to Zomato that have recently launched their own Unified Payments Interface (UPI) offerings. The new UPI product is likely a part of Navi’s strategy to augment its operations and create alternate streams of revenue.  The fintech startup could be eyeing government subsidies for digital payment enablers which could further add to its topline. It could also be looking to create an in-house system that would spare the need for routing payment transactions through third-party players and keep merchant data within the confines of the startup.  The development comes at a time when the digital payments ecosystem in the country has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years, with monthly UPI transactions nearing the 1,000 Cr mark. As per the data of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed 996 Cr transactions worth INR 15.34 Lakh Cr in July 2023, growing month-on-month (MoM) and year-on-year (YoY).  Founded in 2018 by Bansal and Ankit Agarwal, Bengaluru-based Navi Technologies is a fintech startup that operates in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and offers a gamut of services from insurance to micro-finance.  The company recently sold its subsidiary Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd for INR 1,479 Cr to Ananya Birla-led Svatantra Microfin.  Just a month ago, Navi fired about 200 employees. There is also no clarity on its proposed INR 3,350 Cr IPO. Navi Technologies, the parent of the startup, slipped in the red in FY22, reporting a net loss of INR 362 Cr as against a net profit of INR 71 Cr in FY21.

A new report by an ad quality and transparency platform has found that YouTube ads may have led to tracking of children by tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft, among others. The findings by Adalytics suggest that over 300 brands’ ads for adult products, like cars, were displayed on 100 YouTube videos for kids. YouTube uses an AI-powered ad-targeting system from Google called “Performance Max” to pinpoint ideal customers. The report also said that the ads were particularly shown to a user not signed in to YouTube. They linked back to the advertisers’ websites, which would tag the user’s browser with tracking software from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other companies. For example, there was an instance when ads for credit cards by BMO, a Canadian bank, were displayed to a viewer in the US on a Barbie-themed children’s video on the “Kids Diana Show” YouTube channel. Why this is a problemThe findings are a matter of concern because tracking the data of children below the age of 13 for the purpose of ads without parental consent violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Two US Senators have urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe whether Google and YouTube violated COPPA. “This behaviour by YouTube and Google is estimated to have impacted hundreds of thousands, to potentially millions, of children across the United States,” the senators told FTC. Here’s what Google has to sayMeanwhile, Google has denied violating COPPA saying that the findings were “deeply flawed and misleading.” Michael Aciman, a spokesperson for Google, responded to the report by Adalytics on Thursday, saying the findings were “deeply flawed and misleading.” Google told The New York Times it was useful to run ads for adults on children’s videos because the parents who were watching could become customers. It also said that the company did not run personalised ads on children’s videos and that its ad practices fully complied with COPPA. The company also clarified that ads that appear on children’s videos are based on webpage content, not targeted to user profiles. It added that it only notified advertisers or tracking services that the user had watched YouTube and clicked on the ad, and not whether a viewer coming from YouTube had watched a children’s video.The company added that it did not have the ability to control data collection on a brand’s website after a YouTube viewer clicked on an ad.

Connect with Mr. Pramod Jain https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajit-garg-bb578618/ ☎️ 99999 64484 Mr. Kapil (KK) https://www.linkedin.com/in/kapil-kumar-kk-9bb5452a/ 🎉 Welcome to CROSSROADTIMES – Your Gateway to Success and Inspiration! 🌟 🎙️ Join us for an electrifying episode featuring Mr. Pramod Jain, Founder of Easy Drive, as he takes us on a captivating journey of entrepreneurship, resilience, and success. Hosted by Mr. Kapil Kumar, a serial entrepreneur, growth expert, and investor, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom. In this podcast, Mr. Jain shares his extraordinary story of leaving a secure job in an MNC to venture into the dynamic world of entrepreneurship. Discover how he overcame challenges and built a thriving business in the CNG fitting sector, all while staying committed to his passion for fitness. 🔥 Topics Covered in this Episode: * Mr. Pramod Jain’s inspiring journey from corporate to entrepreneurship. * The challenges he faced and overcame in the business world. * Building a successful venture in the CNG fitting sector. * The importance of resilience and determination. * Staying dedicated to fitness while growing a business. * Valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Timecodes :- 00:00 – Introduction 01:10 – The Secret to Staying Fit 07:10 – Embarking on the Business Journey 12:10 – Navigating Pivotal Moments 14:54 – Defining the Meaning of Success 21:55 – The Challenge of Team Betrayal 26:35 – Does CNG Damage Engines? 30:20 – Unveiling the Unique Selling Proposition of Easy Drive #FitnessEnthusiast #IndianEntrepreneurs #CNGFitting #MNCtoEntrepreneur #crossroadtimes #pivotpoint #smallbusinessgrowth About Crossroadtimes :- We believe in empowering you with the knowledge and strategies to unleash your full potential. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a go-getter looking for inspiration, or an industry expert seeking valuable tips, this channel is your ultimate resource. 🎥 Each video is carefully crafted to provide you with actionable advice, thought-provoking discussions, and real-life experiences that will elevate your business and personal life. 🔔 Hit that subscribe button and ring the notification bell so you never miss a moment of our content. Join our vibrant community of like-minded individuals and be part of a journey that leads to success, fulfillment, and continuous growth. 🌟 Let’s thrive together, overcome challenges, and celebrate achievements as we navigate the path to greatness. Are you ready to embrace the limitless possibilities? Subscribe now #CROSSROADTIMES and let’s unlock your potential together! 🚀✨ ——————————————————————————— ✅ Follow Crossroad Times Social media Handles :- Facebook :- @crossroadtimes https://www.facebook.com/crossroadtimes Instagram :- @crossroadtimes https://www.instagram.com/crossroadtimes/ Linked.in :- @crossroadtimes https://www.linkedin.com/company/crossroadtimes/ Twitter :- @crossroadtimes Tweets by CrossRoadTimes 🎉 Calling all Achievers and Visionaries! 🌟 If you have a remarkable success story to share, an inspiring journey that the world needs to hear, or valuable insights that can ignite growth, we want to hear from you! 📩 Contact our passionate podcast team at crossroadtimes@gmail.com and let’s create magic together! 🎙️ Whether you’re an accomplished entrepreneur, an industry trailblazer, or someone who’s overcome significant challenges, we’re eager to showcase your achievements and inspire our global audience. More :- WWW.CROSSROADTIMES.COM source

Reliance Jio has introduced two new prepaid plans that come with complimentary Netflix subscriptions. The plans are priced at Rs 1,099 and Rs 1,499. Both are unlimited plans and offer calling, data and some other benefits. Jio also offers free Netflix subscription with its postpaid plans and currently, the company has around two such plans available, priced at Rs 699 and Rs 1,499.So wondering how Reliance Jio’s prepaid and postpaid plans with free Netflix subscription compare and which may be a better option for you. Here are all the four plans compared to help you make an informed decision.Reliance Jio Rs 1,099 prepaid planThis is the most affordable prepaid plan with Netflix subscription. It comes with 84 days of validity, 2GB daily data, 100 SMS per day and unlimited calling. The plan is also eligible for unlimited 5G data as a part of Jio Welcome Offer. The Netflix subscription offered is the basic — Netflix Mobile plan priced at Rs 149 per month.Reliance Jio Rs 1,499 prepaid planThis plan offers unlimited calling, 100 SMS per day, 2.5GB data per day and Netflix Basic plan worth Rs 199 per month. The plan is also eligible for unlimited 5G data as a part of Jio Welcome Offer. Reliance Jio Rs 699 postpaid planThe Rs 699 postpaid plan is a JioPlus plan that offers 100GB data, unlimited calling and SMS and also includes Netflix and Amazon Prime subscription. Users can add up to 3 connections at Rs 99 per user. Also, users get additional 5GB data. The plan is also eligible for unlimited 5G data. It includes Netflix mobile subscription worth Rs 149 per month and one-year Amazon Prime membership with Rs 1,499. Reliance Jio Rs 1,499 postpaid planThe Rs 1,499 is not a JioPlus plan that means it does not offer add-on SIMs like the previous plan. But, what it offers is unlimited calling, 300GB of data, unlimited SMS and Netflix mobile subscription worth Rs 149 per month and 1-year Amazon Prime membership with Rs 1,499. In addition to these, the plan also includes international roaming in the USA – 5GB high speed data and 500 minutes(incoming and outgoing local and callback to India). International Roaming in UAE – 1GB high speed data and 300 minutes (incoming and outgoing local and callback to India).

Telecom regulator TRAI said that it has been receiving a number of call drop complaints from subscribers triggering the need to review existing quality of service (QoS) rules to measure network performance at the district level and bring 4G-5G services also under its ambit. It said that the complaints from the subscribers regarding call drops and other network related issues has increased, especially after the rollout of 5G services. The authority noted that upon detailed analysis of quarterly QoS performance reports, has noted that d that due to long performance assessment period of a quarter over a large area like LSA, there may be pockets or areas experiencing poor quality of service due to averaging effect while service providers are meeting overall QoS benchmark at LSA level.Accordingly, to have a closer view of the status of QoS, it is proposing monthly QoS performance reporting at State and UT level in addition to at LSA level. The QoS parameters and benchmarks for voice and data services are technology agnostic in present regulations. The relevant terminology for 5G services has also been updated in draft regulations to monitor QoS performance of 5G.“As 4G and 5G networks are providing much wider coverage in the country compared to the 2G and 3G networks, stringent performance benchmarks, especially related to call drops, are preposed for 4G and 5G services to improve consumer experience,” it said.The network availability is an important requirement for good QoS. Therefore, the performance against service provider’s network availability is proposed to be monitored at State and UT level to ensure that consumers get uninterrupted services.To simplify the regulatory framework for QoS, it is proposed to have single regulation dealing with QoS standards for all voice and data services irrespective of their access medium i.e., for both wireline and wireless services. Accordingly, three regulations are proposed to be merged into single regulation.

In total, the company has fired 125 employees but there is no clarity on the job roles that have been impacted The new development comes days after Bharti Enterprises scion Kavin Mittal-led web3 gaming startup Hike slashed its workforce by 25%, impacting as many as 100 employees Earlier this month, gaming unicorn MPL began culling its workforce to conserve capital The homegrown online gaming sector continues to reel under the impact of 28% GST as another online gaming platform, Spartan Poker, has reportedly become the latest startup to undergo layoffs.  Sources told Moneycontrol that the startup has fired 125 employees or 40% of its total workforce, as it grapples with the new tax regime. It was not immediately clear which departments were impacted by the company’s retrenchment move.  With this, Spartan Poker has become the third major online gaming startup to have laid off employees after Hike and MPL.  Inc42 has reached out to a company representative for comments. This story will be updated accordingly. Founded by Amin Rozani, Sameer Rattonsey, and Peter Abraham in 2014, Spartan Poker is an online poker platform that allows gaming enthusiasts to play poker tournaments online across various formats.  The new development comes days after Bharti Enterprises scion Kavin Mittal-led web3 gaming startup Hike slashed its workforce by 25%, impacting as many as 100 employees. The company attributed the layoffs to the government’s move to impose a 28% GST, due to which it was staring at a 400% increase in tax burden. Earlier this month, gaming unicorn MPL began culling its workforce to conserve capital. On August 8, Inc42 reported that the company had decided to let go of 350 employees.   The entire gaming ecosystem came out all guns blazing after the GST Council announced its decision to impose 28% GST on the amount being paid at the entry level for online games. Solidifying the move, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, just days later, hinted that the government was looking at amending the GST Act during the Parliament’s Monsoon Session to implement the new tax.  A majority of online gaming platforms had beforehand warned that the 28% GST regime could lead to mass layoffs and increased tax burden. In their letters written to the government, many even termed the levy unconstitutional and called for its revocation.  With another startup joining the growing list of companies undertaking layoffs, it remains to be seen who else joins the layoff bandwagon as the government moves ahead with its plans. With much at stake, all eyes are now on the online gaming ecosystem and how it handles the new curveball which is a 28% GST. 

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The Married Tenant Living With His Female Business Partner In Bengaluru | The Tenant In this episode of The Tenant, meet the tenant who shares a 3BHK apartment with his female business partner, despite being married. Running a tech startup and drawn to Bengaluru’s thriving ecosystem, they embarked on a journey that led them to confront the challenges of finding a rental as opposite-gender tenants. The process becomes akin to tackling a home loan application, complete with the intensity of a job interview, minus the traditional assets. Watch his journey only on the latest episode of The Tenant.