Institute of Apparel Management organises World Heart Day

World Heart Day is celebrated each year on 29th September in order to make people aware about heart related diseases and the increasing number of deaths due to this. This year’s heart day was focus on "Creating Heart-Healthy Environments". Therefore, with the aim of achieving a disease free healthy society, Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) gurgaon organized a one day free heart check up camp at their campus. It was extended for general public and more than 200 people including the students and faculties of IAM got themselves checked.

The various tests conducted under this camp were blood sugar test, ECG, blood pressure monitoring and height, weight & BMI Monitoring. People were examined for general health parameters, obesity and heart check up. Various heart ailments like high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and congenital heart disease were detected in people.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Somesh Singh Director, IAM said, “As per our lifestyle we are more prone to heart diseases. Therefore, to create awareness about heart diseases and importance of regular check-up we organized this heath camp".

Mayank singh, resident of sector-44 said, “Earlier I used to consider myself as a healthy person but after my reports and medical examination I understood 5years down the line I will be prone to heart diseases. It’s a good initiative by IAM to create awareness on health diseases.

The camp provided free diagnosis and consultation by expert doctors. They also explained that if four main risk factors – tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol are controlled then premature deaths occurring from cardiovascular diseases can be decreased to a large extent. Heart diseases and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year.

Read the rest of this entry

Paras Hospitals organises Mini Marathon on World Heart Day

Gurgaon, Sept 28, 2015: India’s leading kabaddi player and captain of U Mumba Pro-Kabaddi league team, Anup Kumar today joined Gurgaon’s citizens for a mini marathon as part of Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon’s initiative to promote the absolute importance of running, walking and exercising to fight the cardiovascular disease epidemic facing India.

The mini marathon saw active participation of a wide spectrum of people from school children, working professionals to the city’s elderly residents who ran across a 5.5 km stretch from Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon to HUDA City Centre.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of deaths across the world, including India. While, the risk of acquiring CVD increases with age, unhealthy lifestyle factors such as poor diet and lack of physical activity today are making relatively younger people prone to the disease.

Anup Kumar, the Arjuna awardee kabaddi player, who recently led U Mumba to a spectacular victory in the 2015 Pro Kabaddi League, joined the mini-marathon as Chief Guest. He advocated greater focus towards sports and physical activities in schools and colleges to improve public health.

“Physical sport is a great way of keeping oneself fit. Fitness is a habit that needs to be instilled in people right from their young age. I believe it is important that schools and colleges give more focus to sports for their students so that we not only reap more successful sportspersons but also a healthy generation of Indians,” said Anup Kumar.

Aimed at encouraging and motivating people to make heart health a focus, the “Our Health Our Heart” mini marathon is a special initiative by the hospital on World Heart Day. The effort aims to awaken people about the importance of healthy lifestyle in ensuring a long and productive life.

“While medical advancements have increased life expectancy of the world’s population, unfortunately our lifestyle shifts have curtailed this achievement by augmenting our risks for several diseases. Factors such as sedentary jobs, near total mechanization of work, heavy dependence on technology, unhealthy food habits, and highly stressful lives that include irregular sleeping patterns form the prime reasons for the surge in prevalence of heart disease today. 

The prevalence of this faulty lifestyle is higher in city like Gurgaon where the people live by deadlines. Long working hours, night jobs resulting in irregular sleep, excessive dependence on fast food, absence of any physical activity and high degree of stress are common factors today. We need to counter these negative factors by adopting positive modes of action such as regular physical exercise, running, jogging and walking every day. 30 minutes of exercise daily goes a long way in reducing our risk for several diseases including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease,” says Dr. Tapan Ghose, Director and HOD, Cardiology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon.

Starting at 7 am, the marathon covered a stretch of nearly 5.5 kms, with wide participation from corporate personnel, school and college children and other residents of Gurgaon, the mini marathon recorded an encouraging footfall of nearly 400 Above people from all age groups.

“Cardiovascular diseases are not only the world’s largest killer but also the silent ones. With no specific symptoms, CVD tends to develop slowly until they cause a heart attack or stroke all of a sudden one day. Factors such as hypertension, diabetes, stress or depression often increase the risk of developing CVD. Through a marathon we not only want to draw youngsters to the idea of exercise but also exhort the administration for creating exercise friendly environment in the city including clean and safe spaces to walk, run or cycle,” said Dr. Bharat Kukreti, Senior Consultant, Cardiology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon.

The benefits that running brings to heart health are known to everybody. Running improves heart healthy by increasing blood circulation that further forces the heart to pump more blood. Likewise, not only the blood circulation improves but also the muscles of heart become strong and active. Running helps keep body weight in control, thus checking another risk factor for heart disease. It also helps reduce risk of high blood pressure and diabetes.

Read the rest of this entry

Conference on Turnaround Strategy

CII with BMGI Showcase Successful Organizational Strategies at the “Conference on Turnaround Strategy”

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) along with Breakthrough Management Group (India) as Knowledge Partner organized the “Conference on Turnaround Strategy”. The conference focused on providing a roadmap to Industry on formulating strategies for Business Transformation. The conference was attended by over 100 organizational representatives.



BMGI and CII released a White Paper on “Strategies for the New Age Corporation – Bridging the Chasm Between Fact and Fiction.” The white paper clearly outlined aspects of a robust strategy planning and execution process . The note emphasised being able to manage the paradox of negotiating the unknown future successfully with structured innovative thinking, scenario planning and ‘conscious & monitored assumptions’ as enablers to pure data and knowledge based approach.


The session started with a welcome address by Mr Sameer Gupta, Vice Chairman, CII UP State Council and Managing Director of Jakson group. He stated, “Organizations must understand the environment in which they operate in and should strive to gain competitive advantage and find ways to sustain the advantage as companies expand into new markets and businesses.”

Mr Naresh T Raisinghani. CEO and Executive Director of Breakthrough Management Group International (India Division) introduced the overall theme of the conference and introduced the opening session. He outlined four key steps to a successful business strategy: 1 - create the correct vision; decide what not to do; 2 – Ensure that technology/digitization are critical aspects of the strategy and not just enablers; 3 - socialize strategy with all your employees. Naresh recommended the use of the Balanced Scorecard or Hoshin Kanri as means to deploy strategy and ensure connect with employees; 4 – realize strategy by ensuring appropriate review and tracking as 80 % of the success of strategy was in the execution. He also stressed on the need to have the “right strategic metrics and initiatives” to ensure focus.


Mr Maghin Tamilarasan, Director Strategy & Business Development of Rolls Royce India Ltd enumerated his companies “three pronged” strategy – Focus on Customers, Innovate and Ensure Profitable Growth. He made an interesting point on the need to “Invent Once and Use Many Times”.


Mr Ramesh C Jain, Past Chairman CII Haryana State Council, Former Group Vice Chairman Eicher Group, spoke about the need for a Strong Leadership for ensuring Business Turnaround. He shared his experiences on the successful turnaround of Ramon & Demm Ltd. He delighted the audiences through the narration of how the team at Royal Enfield Motors “reinvented” the Bullet motorcycle. He let out the secret to the companies success – build the business around the customer. Ramesh narrated several examples on how “customer centric approach” led to many successes for Royal Enfield.

Dr Shubhrangshu Roy, Business Head at BMGI (India Division) chaired the second session on “Staying Ahead and Maintaining Leadership Position”. He gave a perspective on the need to build a bridge between product innovation and the demanding customer.

The first speaker in this session, Mr Rahul Chaddha, CEO - RWL Healthworld Limited described the strategies of his company to gain market leadership. He indicated that the availability of the right product at the right place and the right time is of prime importance. He concurred with Naresh’s perspective that to enable this strategy; Technology is the key.

Mr Ramesh Agarwal, Chairman of Agarwal Packers Group continued the discussion and highlighted the need for Innovation to be the core driver of strategy for ensuring success in the rapidly changing business environment. He passionately shared some of the innovations done by them to improve customer satisfaction. He quoted “it is impossible to satisfy the needs of every member of the family in the business of shifting” but keeping a highly customer centric approach their organization has managed to achieve this goal. The innovation led strategies have enabled his company to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and contribute towards the environment. The company enjoys continued leadership position – Number 1 to 50 as stated by Ramesh!!


Mr Tarun Jain, Head Strategy & Business Development from New Holland India talked about models for diversification and identifying opportunities. He gave provided the strategic blueprint for how his company had diversified beyond the traditional business like making tractors and moved towards “selling farm equipment and financing of tractors”.

Mr Ambarish Raj, Business Head at BMGI – India Division, chaired the next session. He stated that going global might not always guarantee revenue growth. Any such expansion can only be successful if backed by appropriate understanding of which market to target. Ambarish explained the possible growth strategies and techniques for identification of “underserved opportunities”. He stressed that focusing on underserved opportunities can fuel unprecedented growth.



Mr Pankaj Dubey, Country Head and Managing Director Polaris India Private Limited concurred with Ambarish and highlighted his company had thrived by identifying “underserved opportunities” – i.e. the leisure/ off-road biking segment.


Mr K K Verma Author and Founder Director Innovative Institute of Learning stated that it becomes imperative for organizations to unlearn the past if they wish to thrive in today’s context. He provided a roadmap on how to unlearn and then relearn.


The conference concluded with a summary on the roadmap organizations need to use for achieving more than average growth rates by Mr Nimish Danani, Associate Vice President Breakthrough Management Group India. Data has shown that average life span of a company listed in the S&P 500 index of leading US companies has reduced from 67 years in 1920 to 15 years in 2014. He closed the session by stating “A great business Strategy can either make or kill the company”

Read the rest of this entry

An Animated Doodle from Google to Celebrate Earth Day

Every year, April 22nd is observed as Earth Day to create awareness among the public on environmental issues. To mark the occasion, Google has created an animated doodle to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Earth Day.

The history behind Earth Day goes like this, the idea of observing Earth Day on March 21st was first proposed by John McConnell, in the year 1969, at UNESCO Conference. US Senator Nelson a month later proposed to observe Earth Day on April 22nd he was a conservationist and an environmental activist.

This Day is observed across the Globe and many Ngo’s, Schools and Organizations conduct programmes to create awareness among the people on environmental issues.

Read the rest of this entry

April 13th Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Cambodian New Year

‘Songkran’ Thailand Traditional New Year

The traditional New Year's Day is celebrated in Thailand as, Songkran festival and is celebrated from 13 to 16 April. Originally they used to celebrate New Year on the date depending on astrological calculations, but now the system is changed and the date is fixed. If these festival days fall on a weekend, the missed days off are taken on the immediately following weekdays.

Songkran is believed to have been adapted from an Indian festival, and has traditionally been celebrated as the New Year for many centuries. This festival is now observed nationwide, but still the most famous Songkran celebrations are in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where it continues for six days and even more.

Pbeemai or Song Kan, Lao New Year

Every year from April 13 to April 15, Lao New Year Is celebrated, and this is known as Pbeemai, or Song Kan. Lao New Year falls in April, on the first day of the festival, houses and villages are cleaned, flowers, perfume and water are prepared for the new year. The first day of the festival is the last day of the older year.

"Day of no day", is the second day of the festival that falls neither in the older year nor in the New Year. And the last day of the festival is the beginning of the New Year.

Thingyan Burmese New Year

Burmese New Year Water Festival is known as Thingyan. This festival falls around mid-April it is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the New Year. Formerly the dates of the festival were calculated according to the traditional Burmese calendar, but now the dates are fixed as 13 to 16 April.

The distinguishing feature of this festival is, water-throwing or dousing one another from any sort of vessel or device that delivers water and this may be done on the first four days of the festival. However, in most parts of the country, this does not begin until the second day.

Khmer Cambodian New Year
Cambodian New Year is known as Khmer, which means "Enter New Year" in the Khmer Language. Beginning on New Year's Day, the holiday lasts for three days, this usually falls on April 13 or 14th. Khmers who are living abroad may choose to celebrate the New Year during a weekend rather than celebrating it specifically from April 13 through 15th.

Maha Songkran, is derived from Sanskrit word Maha Sankranti. It is the name of the first day of the New Year celebration; it is the ending of the old year and the beginning of a new one.

Family members dress up, visit shrines and light candles and incense sticks. Family members individually, pay homage and offer thanks to Buddha and his teachings by kneeling, prostrating and bowing three times before Buddha’s image.

In the morning people wash their face with holy water, at noon they wash their chests, and in the evening before they go to bed they wash their feet, for good luck.

Read the rest of this entry

Bataan Day: National Observance Day in Philippines

National observance day in the Philippines is Bataan Day or Bataan and Corregidor Day. This commemorates the fall of Bataan during World War II and it falls on April 9. In the year 1961, Congress passed republic Act 3022, declaring April 9th of every year as Bataan Day.

In the year 1987, Executive Order 203 revised all national holidays and renamed Bataan Day into “Araw ng Kagitingan (Bataan and Corregidor Day)".

The year 2012 marked the 70th anniversary of the Fall of Bataan. This was commemorated at Mount Samat Shrine in Pilar Bataan by 18,000 still-living Filipino veterans.

President Benigo S. Aquino III and former President Fidel V. Ramos attended this year's rites. Toshina Urabe Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines expressed "deep apology and a deep sense of remorse to the tragedy".

The United States Deputy of Mission Leslie Bassett said their Embassy has provided a total of US$220 million to Filipino war veterans.

The history behind the day goes like this, against the orders of Generals the commander of the Luzon Force, Bataan, Major General Edward P.King Jr. surrendered more than 76,000 starving and disease-ridden soldiers to Japanese troops On 9 April 1942.

The soldiers had to cover the distance by walk and in the process, thousands of them died from dehydration, heat prostration, and untreated wounds. A few of them who were lucky enough to travel by truck to San would still have to endure more than 25 additional miles of marching.

Prisoners were beaten and they were often denied promised food and water. Those who fell behind were usually executed or left to die. The sides of the roads becoming littered with dead bodies and those crying for help.

Only 54,000 of the total 76,000 prisoners reached their destination. As thousands of captives managed to escape from their guards, the exact death toll is difficult to assess. Around 5,000-10,000 Filipino and 600-650 American prisoners of war died before they could reach camp.

Read the rest of this entry

World Laughter Day: Laugh and be Merry

Laughter is the best medicine. Rightly said, if there is one blessing that is there especially for humans, it is laughter no other creature in the nature is blessed with this.

Laughter makes us lessen our burdens, and makes us deal with life in a lighter way. The laughing moments that we share with our loved ones brings us together and much closer to each other wiping out all the differences.

It has also been proved again and again scientifically that laughing is very good for both physical health and mental health. Laughter lessens the stress, and helps the person keep up his balance.

Laughter is such an important thing that we can hardly neglect its importance. But due to the mechanical life and hard situations in life we hardly have a situation where in we can share a laughing moment with our families.

It is exactly this situation that has given rise to laughter clubs. Laughter club is a place where people get together and share good jokes and funny incidents may be anything that brings laughter and makes up ones mood.

These kinds of clubs are in fact rendering good service to the society by keeping people stress free and light at heart. I think this example is enough for us to show how important it is for us to laugh.

Laughter has unlimited benefits and the good news is it comes free of cost. You don’t have to spend a penny to laugh; all that is need is to look out for situations in life that make you laugh.

And be surrounded by people who laugh and who spread positive energy. You can also view comedy shows that come on T. V, cartoons that will make you burst with laughter, comedy films, anything and everything that will make you laugh and make you look the positive side of life.

So, spread laughter, and live life the lighter way, that is the best way to celebrate World Laughter Day.

Read the rest of this entry