Praveen Singhal, Co-founder, and Director of BeatMySugar recently sat with NewsX for a conversation as part of NewsX India’s special A-List series. BeatMySugar is a tech-powered, comprehensive, and unique platform that focuses on making best-in-class diabetes care effortless, affordable, and easily accessible to everyone. 

Speaking about the ethos of the company, Mr Praveen said- ”BeatMySugar is a platform for people with diabetes with an intent to be true partners in life. So the ethos driving the corporate culture is in sync with it and our ethos are collaborative, transparency, progressive, and integrity. We always believe in growing along with all our stakeholders and delivering the best solutions to our customers using all the progressive tools and technologies available in the area of healthcare.”

Talking about how the platform is inclusive for its customers, Mr. Praveen Singhal stated – ”There are three main pillars of BeatMySugar. The first one is ‘Education’, the second is ‘Product’ and the third is ‘Service’. In Education, we have very exclusively self-curated content from various key opinion leaders and our internal medical affairs team to disseminate the right information and knowledge to people with diabetes. Along with that, we have come up with one of its kind in India, a diabetes education programme co-authored by leading diabetologists of national and international repute to help people understand the basics of diabetes so that they can start their self-monitoring of this silent pandemic. On the product side, whatever a person with diabetes need, be it food or supplements, food care, books or medicines, and devices, we make it available to them and the most important thing, the core of BeatMySugar services which help them manage their lifestyle in terms of doctor’s consultation, diet, fitness plans, and lab services as well as fulfilling their other requirements. so that’s why we call it an inclusive model for people with diabetes.”

Speaking about the idea of starting a One-Stop platform for people with Diabetes, Mr. Praveen said- ”It came from within the families of co-founders with two of them being diabetic. Shaurya was diagnosed with type II diabetes at the age of 12 and Atul had type II diabetes for over 2 decades.  Having understood the pain and the trouble they had in finding all the requirements at one place, that gave the thought for BeatMySugar. After that we found that though India is becoming the world capital of diabetes, awareness, and the right information about the same is completely missing. That’s when we came up with the concept of BeatMySugar.”

Sharing the offers and the benefits that BeatMySugar provides to its customer and how can it serve those who have diabetes, Mr. Singhal elaborated, ”The help is in the form of complete care and that is what we intend to provide. It is driven by our concept which is in the DNA of our company and that is- Educate, Empathise, Engage and Evolve. With this, we are there to take care of all the requirements and be the true partners to our customers in their journey with diabetes.”

Talking about the reluctance and the fear in the mind of those having the disease, Mr. Praveen shed some light upon the transparency that the company has and gaining the trust of the customers, ”Our ethos of transparency and integrity, they drive the trust from the people and that gets reflected in the results that we have had so far. At present, we have over 35% orders from our customers. This also gets accelerated because this is one place where they get all the right information. The doctors that are associated with us and the content that is available is one way of helping them get the right information about diabetes. so this is how the prospective is built up,” he said.

Speaking about the queries that are received on a daily basis to BeatMySugar, Mr. Singhal underlined- ”The major query that we get is surprisingly from various brands and vendors wherein they are showing interest to collaborate with us and asking how they can associate with us or how their products can be onboarded with BeatMySugar. I think that is one of the major queries and I think it is very interesting and motivating for us because it shows the kind of traction and the visibility of what this platform has already built.”

When asked about the R&D of the company, Mr. Praveen Singhal responded ”We are developing various tools so that remote monitoring enabled by data science and artificial intelligence can be put into use wherein rather than being reactive, we provide a proactive solution to people with diabetes, helping them manage their disorder.” He further talked about connecting with customers from tier-1 and tier 2 cities rather than just metropolitan ones. ”If you look at the way this complete ecosystem is changing. The Internet penetration rate is going higher and higher in India and it is expected that we would have a better connection by 2025. Smartphones numbers are also increasing and we are expected to have about 966 million by the year 2023. We are talking of Digital health or Mobile health that would bring the healthcare within the reach and accessibility of everyone in the country.”

On a parting note, Mr. Singhal shared the vision of the company,” BeatMySugar is and would be a fully integrated tech-enabled platform and our vision is to be the leading provider of diabetes care with our continuum of care model not only in India but in other parts of the world as well.”

Arun Lakhani, Chairman and Managing Director of Vishvaraj Environment Private  Ltd. recently sat with NewsX in an exclusive interview under its special segment called NewsX India A-List to talk about India’s first and the largest PPP on water reuse and recycling which was completed in record time during the pandemic and has recently been felicitated with the FICCI Water Award 2020. Vishvaraj Pvt Ltd. has a fresher outlook towards the overall management of the water cycle with a newly integrated PPP model into function.

Talking about the ethos of the company and what does it stands for, Mr. Lakhani said, ”We stand for the water Sustainability, We stand for the reuse and recycling of water. We believe that unless the fourth P that stands for ‘People’ into the PPP Model, particularly in the water sector which is one of the social sectors rather than a corporate one, is not included, we will not get adequate success. We believe that the reuse and recycling of water is a must for us and only by being aware of the same, we can become ‘Sujjlaam, Suflaam’ which our country has always been.”

Expressing his gratitude for winning the FICCI Water Award 2020, Mr. Arun Lakhani talked about the project that led the company to bag an honour like this, he stated, ”We won the first prize in the FICCI National Competition. this is a project which was 100% privately funded project of 200 Billion Litre per day sewage treatment. so there is a plan of secondary treatment of 200 MLD out of which we have added a tertiary treatment and we are selling 119  MLD of treated water to nearby Thermal Power Stations. now, what good it does to the society is that the freshwater that is being used by the thermal power stations, the same amount of 190 MLD  is now available for the city for drinking purposes. this takes care of the upcoming generation and about 35 years of population growth of the city of Nagpur.  so with this type of complete positive cycle, you treat the sewage and supply it to a non-portable use be it industrial or others.  We take out the freshwater which we were using earlier for treatment. this cycle basically brought us into the competition.”

Talking about the procedure that the model entails, Mr. Lakhani underlined, ” Every city that we supply water to, Nagpur for example;  We supply 70 crores Litre of Water every day and 80% of this water comes back as Sewage. So when around 500-600 crore Litres of Water comes back every day in the form of Sewage, if you don’t treat it, then it goes on to contaminate the wells, lakes, streams, and rivers in the city. so when we treat the water, it not only saves the freshwater sources but can also use this treated water in the industry. What we do is that we treat the sewage, and the treated water is pumped across the pipeline to the thermal power stations and they are stored in the reservoirs of freshwater which eventually gets transferred to the city for drinking purpose. Its a total of 20 crore litres of water per day that is additionally available in the city of Nagpur.”

When asked about the reason of starting Nagpur Rescue Project, Mr. Lakhani said, “Actually this started with the contamination of water in Nagpur. there were Public Interest Litigations around the matter and the court took cognisance of the matter and further laid out a ruling ordering the Municipal Corporations to start treating the sewage which further led to the announcement of PPP project with a public biding. At that time when we entered the project, it was a secondary treatment but we took it further and added the tertiary treatment as well seeking some help from Mahagenco, which is quite proactive and is a generation company of Maharashtra for power with their own power plant that was implemented a decade earlier.  So they were familiar with the concept and when we approached them, they said they’d be happy to treat more sewage water and help the environment.”

When asked about his plans of expanding the venture to different cities across India, Mr. Lakhani’s response was affirmative. ”Yes, definitely! We have been called in so many forums in different cities. Actually, we are present across India, nearly in 20 towns in different sectors such as water distribution, water treatment and sewage treatment. We are also on the list of top 50 companies in the world as per population and are serving around 80 lakh people in the country presently. We intend to go to more cities with more investment,” said Arun.

He further talked about the reason for water pollution in India. He added, ”In our country, management of water has been missing. we have always had an adequate amount of water and you’ll be surprised to know that out of 100 smart cities, 82 cities have enough water, with 130 LPD per person as per the international standards data. the management is missing as the water leakages are there and the sewage that goes untreated.  We have 60 thousand million litres of sewage  that is being generated in the country out of which 36,000 is released without any treatment.”

Speaking about the government policies, he underlined, ”This government has fortunately been very proactive. the clean Gange Programme is one such example, where a hybrid annuity PPP model was suggested. then there is also ‘Jal Jeevan mission’ through which they are trying to reach every household with tao water. there is also one programme that the government will be funding, necessarily with the sewage treatment.”

On a concluding note, Mr Lakhani talked about the dire need for a policy that sheds light on newly integrated models. ”We need a policy that clearly defines the PPP rules for the entrepreneurs as well as the government that give revenue separately. Like the one given in the Namami Ganga programme, where the central government has assured the payment which makes people interested into the sector,” said Arun.

When being asked about the vision of the company, Mr. Arun Lakhani said, ”Now with the complete understanding of the issues as well as the solutions, we are looking to expand in many more cities and towns where we would be able to invest.  We believe in the skills of the game and plan to do more PPP models and hopefully in the next couple of years, we would be in around 1–15 cities.”

Whenever I think of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s thoughts and his sublime vision, his works on social democracy strike the mind. It is not a coincidence that Babasaheb Ambedkar kept social democracy at the centre of the address he gave at the last meeting of the Constituent Assembly.

He said that the caste system and democracy cannot coexist. That is why the Indian Constitution introduced such rules that there is no discrimination on the basis of caste and language for the citizens living in any part of the country.

I believe that any nation is formed by combining its traditions, culture, religion, castes and languages. Therefore, nationalism has no place for parochialism. The main task of proving the provisions of the draft and their justification in the Constituent Assembly was carried out by Dr Ambedkar and other Drafting Committee members. He drafted the Constitution with his able colleagues and gave a voice to the traditions, faith and beliefs of the country. But, the basic thing in it was that all the citizens of the country are Indians first and have some other identity later.

If we go into the depth of Dr Ambedkar’s statements in the Constituent Assembly, we will also find that there is a unique confluence of politics, law, history and philosophy. Everyone has a sense of equality, not just any one caste.

In November 1948, while proposing to consider the draft of the Constitution, he said that they had called India a Union of States and not a Federation of States. I believe that Dr Ambedkar was concerned with social separation in India, so he said, “If we want to build a democracy, we have to recognize the obstacles in our path because the grand palace of the Constitution stands on the foundation of people’s allegiance in democracy.”

I think Dr Ambedkar’s views are in fact related to the nationalism in which there is no distinction between caste and religion among the individuals. Every citizen of the country has the same principle. There is harmony among all of us under social order and social thinking. That is why our nation is a classic example of unity in diversity. Even in the Preamble of the Constitution, equality and fraternity have been talked about for all citizens.

Dr Ambedkar also explained this vision for India in a wider perspective in his thoughts. Giving importance to the land, its society, and the best traditions for nation building, he also stressed that the nation is not a physical entity. The nation is the result of the continuous efforts, sacrifice and patriotism of the people of the past.

While describing the nation as lively, he also said that nationality is social consciousness and is how citizens come close to each other. The sense of fraternity develops from this. In this, the idea of narrowness is the biggest obstacle. He clearly said that he wants all the people of India to consider themselves as Indian and only Indian. Ambedkar said that if for some reason this cannot happen, then we will commit the biggest sin, and he will always keep opposing it with his strength.

Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, took three words from the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. These words, included in the core of the Constitution, also deeply influenced his political and social philosophy. That is why the Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Constitution explain the Right to Equality through Articles 14 to 18, Right to Freedom through Articles 19 to 22, and Articles 23 and 24 provide the Right Against Exploitation. The important fact is that Article 19 (2) also prohibits unrestrained expression against any caste, class or community under the Right to Freedom of Expression. If there is any law for the preservation of these three or if there is any law being made, it should not be hindered. The Right to Religious Freedom is also given in the Constitution of India through Articles 25 to 28. I believe that it is only the Indian Constitution, among other constitutions around the world, in which the fundamental rights have been interpreted in this way.

Dr Ambedkar’s contemplation is also profound because he pushed himself forward by having a fundamental vision for almost all-important areas. If we take his thoughts on women’s education, it also feels as if he was the first initiator for reservation for women in jobs. While addressing the Mahila Sabha of Bombay, he once said, “Woman is the creator of the nation, every citizen grows up in her lap, the development of the nation is not possible without awakening the woman.” His depth of thought also probably made him the first scholar who tried to understand the position of women in the caste structure from the point of view of gender in the Indian context. For this, women rights were also advocated.

At the core of his vision was the thought that equality should be established at all levels of society. That is why he constantly emphasized on making society classless. His saying, “Revolution is for the people, people are not for the revolution” will always enlighten minds.

Dr Ambedkar was a great personality. I also believe that it is intellectual poverty if we associate him with a particular class or caste. He was a great man with a lofty vision. There is also a need to explain his view of seeing everyone as equal as something essential for the rounded development of the nation.

It also needs to be understood that Article 370, which has been abrogated 72 years after Independence due to the strong will and resolve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had been added to the Constitution against Dr Ambedkar’s will.

Instead of looking at his thoughts and vision from a single point of view, there is a need to think deeply about it in totality and see the seeds of equality, unity and integrity of the country in his words. His multifaceted philosophy of “Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya”, speaking of equality and justice, is relevant even today and will remain so tomorrow too.

The author is the Governor of Rajasthan.

Rishabh Tongya, Creative Director, Diacolor, recently joined NewsX for an exclusive conversation as a part of NewsX India A-List and said that one might feel that there are more jewellers than confectionery stores in India, but when it comes to fine jewellery, there is a dearth of it. 

Tracing the journey of his family business Diacolor, Rishabh said, “Jewellery has been my family business. It was started by my great-grandfather. We have been working with a lot of brands and designers around the world, mostly overseas. It was after I had my son that we decided to move to Delhi and open up our store. Since then, there has been no looking back. It has been a tremendous, incredible and happy journey and I think that the best is yet to come.”

When asked about any significant milestones, achievements, or growth plans he would like to share, Rishabh said, “When you just start your first store, you want to get everything right. The checks on the list, you trying to get the right team in place, the right setting, the right product, and then of course reaching out to the Indian consumer. We have three branch stores in India with another two in pipeline and we have got plans to further move to other cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. We feel that in India, there’s a dearth of fine jewellers. One might sort of argue that there are more jewellers than confectionery stores in India, but when it comes to fine jewellery, I think there is the dearth of it. That’s where we find a space and that’s what we’re looking to expand.”

Diacolor has long been known for its range of rare emeralds as a jewellery brand. An admirer of his father’s craftsmanship, Rishabh said that his father is very passionate about stones, so whenever he comes across something nice and beautiful, he makes an attempt to acquire it. Speaking on two stones that they acquired a few years back, Rishabh shared, “About five years ago, one of them was found in Zambia and it was one of the most important finds in the last 12-13 years. Two years later, they found another important, rough stone with the right colour, saturation and size. Again, we couldn’t resist from acquiring it. Interestingly, we got covered as one of the most read stories of 2019 by CNN. We’re very happy and proud to have it over with us.”

On acquiring the assets for their brand, Rishabh expressed, “The most important thing that remains a challenge for any jewellery brand today is the acquisition because there is no consistent supply when it comes to emeralds, diamonds and rubies. We took a step further and acquired some great assets in Mozambique for rubies, for emeralds in Ethiopia and Colombia. We sort of pursue further assets and so, like in the energy business where one tends to focus all the way from pit to plug, I think here our challenge and our sort of mission is to acquire and secure our own assets in coloured stones and diamonds.”

When asked about the challenges he had faced during the pandemic, he expressed, “2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, especially in the luxury business. Unlike other products, unless you really have the feel of ambiance, one doesn’t really transact. I must say the first eight-nine months of the year were extremely challenging. But then, things in India sort of turned the corner and the wedding boom was back again.”

On a concluding note, Rishabh shared his success mantra and said, “I think persistence, I mean, nothing comes easy and nothing comes faster. We’re all living in a generation and at a time when everybody wants to add things immediately, but I think if you believe in it and if you want it and if you are persistent about any project you wish to pursue or anything you’d like to do in life, then I think things sort of come around. Human persistence and passion, I think, are two things that work for me.”

India has been known for its rich culture and heritage and she has been rated the top-most culturally rich country across the globe. Indian artisans are known as the backbone of the non-farm rural economy. This Saturday witnessed a conversation around India’s soft power between designer and architect Dikshu Kukreja of C.P. Kukreja Architects and Sunil Kant Munjal of Hero Enterprises.

“Our culture of art and business skills has been one of the strongest in the world. But in more recent times, we’ve given it a go by and one doesn’t see much of it in homes or offices. In everyday use, it appears that we’ve also started to make this distinction between high art and low art,” said Munjal, when asked about the positioning of India’s resplendent crafts in the contemporary world.

With mobile times and global economies, awareness towards craft and the value of our artisanal skills, and India’s influence in this regard, is coming back and on the rise. However, while the craft is out there and being made present through multiple opportunities, newer generations do not want to carry it forward and are more willing to relocate for jobs. The actual art is getting lost in the urbanisation of lifestyles and the diminished value of its existence.

“I think for the country to grow in a balanced way, it can’t just be about urban centres and smart cities and all of that. It’s really the balanced growth of urban and rural areas that has to defend it for certain,” says Dikshu Kukreja

The time has come when we put our artisanal skills and products in the limelight and create the right kind of design awareness around it. Understanding the growing importance of design in our day to day lives, Dikshu Kukreja has curated his show, Deciphering Design with Dikshu, to increase sensitivity and create awareness towards design, and bring back the value it holds in our lives. “This show is not just about conversations, it’s about creating a community of like-minded people to come together and create a ripple effect towards design awareness” he says. 

Today, Indian artisans are uncertain about their future and are decreasing in number due to a lack of affordable livelihoods. Given this context, the Serendipity Arts Foundation, an initiative led by Sunil Kant Munjal, is doing pathbreaking work by coming up with sustainability initiatives in the arts and craft world for reviving various art forms.

“We widened the scope to look at all art forms because traditionally in India there were no silos or barriers between different art forms as we normally see. What we actually see right now is an inheritance from British times. The Western sensibility looks at arts as theatre, music, crafts and dance — each in its own category. Whereas that was not the way the arts were in India. So, one of our attempts was to bring back different art forms and look at what happens at their junctions,” says Munjal.

Kukreja, Chief Architect of the Live Museum Project, conceptualised by the Serendipity Arts Foundation, is creating a unique building which will speak its own language based on the heritage of architectural design in India. Speaking about the lost richness of Indian culture, which demonstrated itself in its design and architecture, he says, “That is something I ponder over many times because, if you see, our history is witness to the kind of architecture that this country has possessed. I don’t think there are that many places in the world which can have this kind of plethora of works. Somewhere down the line it started to change and unfortunately, I would say, then it slipped into decay before we knew it. Otherwise, there has been tremendous synergy between craftspeople and professionals. Architects were the visionaries who envisioned a great building but the craftsmen were the invisible hands that executed the designs to perfection. In our country, whether it is the stone work or woodwork or metal work or textiles, it has been an amazing journey all through those graphs. So, what you said, I think, is very fascinating because somewhere we have probably followed that Western model.” 

Both Dikshu Kukreja and Sunil Kant Munjal are creating common pathways today for creating awareness and bringing to light the importance of design. They are actively working towards building a revolutionary icon through the Live Museum on the cultural landscape of the world.

Log into www.designwithdikshu.com to watch the entire episode of rebuilding India’s soft power and join Dikshu Kukreja in his journey of creating awareness towards design by following and subscribing to the show. You can also directly connect with Dikshu Kukreja and find answers to your questions about design by using the hashtag #designwithdikshu on Instagram or Twitter. For more updates follow @DikshuKukreja on Instagram and Twitter.

A very sad case of lynching took place in West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district, where a Station House Officer from Bihar’s Kishanganj, Ashwini Kumar, was beaten to death by a village mob, which was instigated to attack him by a few criminals who had stolen a bike in Bihar and fled to their village in Bengal. If this was not enough, the incident came at a time when the fourth phase of polling in the state was marred by unbelievable violence. At Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district, a young voter died after being attacked allegedly by the cadre of the state’s ruling party; and then the Central forces shot dead four young men after allegedly coming under attack by a local mob. Even otherwise, the poll process has been marred by violence, making one wonder what ails the state of Bengal. This sort of violence is not observed in any other state, in fact not even in Jammu and Kashmir, where too elections have to be spread over several days so that voters can vote peacefully. But Jammu and Kashmir is the most “disturbed” region in the country—a “conflict zone”. To place Bengal in the same category as Kashmir, raises the obvious question: where has Bengal gone wrong? Even Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, once considered the two most violent states in the country, have smooth election processes now, but not Bengal.

Bengal’s elite takes great pride in the state’s culture and its icons. In fact one of the main attacks on the Prime Minister and his party coming from this section—echoing the ruling Trinamool Congress—is that they being “outsiders”, are unable to fathom Bengal’s syncretic culture. There is no denying Bengal’s rich cultural heritage. But the problem starts when the only culture that is apparent to the rest of the country at present is the culture of violence—something that cannot be justified by saying “but political violence is in the DNA of Bengal”. Worse, in this election season, it’s also about politics over violence. The two parties trying to make the maximum political capital out of the Central-force incident at Sitalkuchi, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress, are also totally responsible for the present state of affairs. In 35 years of CPM rule, Bengal witnessed complete anarchy. The Left single-handedly drove out industry from the state, and stopped the rise of any viable political opposition, by unleashing violence through its unions and cadre. Over a period of time, Left rule become synonymous with murder, massacre and mayhem. So, when Mamata Banerjee’s government came to power in 2011, it was hoped that since she herself had withstood Left violence, she would be mindful of this aspect. However, to “eliminate” the Left, which was too entrenched in the ground, her party needed the help of elements—ironically, many of them originally CPM—who could fight a tough turf war. From there onwards, the situation has deteriorated to the extent that ground level criminality is one of the biggest issues of the 2021 elections. It was this criminality that made 30% of the panchayat seats go uncontested in 2018. In fact, 2018 was the turning point for Mamata Banerjee’s second term in office. Coming within two years of a landslide Assembly victory in 2016, there was no reason for the TMC to fear any adverse outcome in the panchayat elections. Even then voters were not allowed to vote and terror was unleashed. 2018 showed how free and fair elections were next to impossible in the state unless conducted under strict supervision. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Central forces did an exemplary job. In 2021 too they are doing an equally good job. They have been able to instil a certain degree of confidence among the people, and in fact have created conditions that are helping some voters in some areas exercise their franchise for the first time in five or ten years. Voters in general are all praise for the forces. Hence, it is rather unfortunate that supposedly responsible politicians are trying to spread disaffection about them by hurling the most outrageous charges at them. The forces are above politics. So is the Election Commission. There is no point crying foul over them when, as Sitalkuchi showed, even eight phases of election may not have been enough for Bengal. It is not the EC’s fault that the fear of intimidation and vote manipulation is very real in Bengal. Hence, politicians of all hues need to behave more responsibly, talk more responsibly and create conditions so that voters can vote in peace. Parties need to rein in their goons. After 45 years—35 years of the Left and 10 of TMC—Bengal is broken. A state has lost almost half a century of its existence to anarchy. The canker of violence is eating away at the innards of Bengal. This cannot be allowed to continue.