CHENNAI PLUS

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) announced that its classroom advertising literacy initiative, AdWise, has covered more than a million students. 10,66,374 students across 2,063 schools have been reached across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi NCR, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab, Assam, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.  The programme was developed by ASCI Academy in the context of digital advertising which is all pervasive, as well as new formats of advertising where brands are increasingly embedded into content, such as influencer advertising. The intent was for students to be well equipped with the means to navigate this new world of advertising and recognise its commercial nature.  The intervention has shown significant improvement in ad-literacy levels of students  as measured by assessment tests before and after the program.  For grades 3 to 5, the percentage of students who could:  Correctly r...

  Wadhwani Foundation and the Gates Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem through the National Innovation Network (NIN), a national-scale extension of the Wadhwani Innovation Network (WIN).   The partnership is focused on enabling translational research and entrepreneurial innovation in areas of high societal impact, including health, nutrition, biotechnology, genomics, medtech, and other emerging sectors aligned with India’s development priorities.   As part of the collaboration, the Gates Foundation will support five NIN Centres of Excellence (CoEs) over five years, beginning with two Centres this year.   The supported NIN CoEs will help researchers advance innovations beyond laboratory-stage research (TRL-4+) toward real-world deployment through proof-of-concept development, prototyping, validation, pilot deployments, IP and commercialization support, venture creation, and industry partnerships....

In a world where digital connections are getting stronger by the minute, real-life connections are quietly fading. Meaningful personal conversations are often taking a backseat, especially among couples. As per a Sunfeast survey* conducted in Chennai, 53% people say that they spend more time with their phone than with their partner , highlighting a growing emotional gap in modern relationships. To shine a light on this behavior, Sunfeast Marie Light launched a quirky yet pertinent initiative as part of its #MarieLightMode campaign. In partnership with Swiggy Instamart, the brand surprised more than 20,000 couples across Tamil Nadu with a quirky 'Divorce Agreement with Phones' tucked into their orders. Written in the style of a mock legal agreement, it encouraged couples to put their phones aside and make more room for quality time & light moments. The thoughtful activity transformed a routine delivery moment into an unexpected moment of reflection. Mr. Suraj Kathuria, ...

Lava International Limited, India’s leading homegrown smartphone brand, is gearing up to expand its Shark portfolio with Shark 2 5G, built to deliver an elevated smartphone experience for value-seeking consumers in the budget 5G segment. The upcoming Shark smartphone has been designed with a clear focus on delivering practical features that matter in day-to-day use. It will be equipped with a big battery and a large 17.13cm (6.75”) 120Hz display, offering a smoother viewing and scrolling experience, making entertainment and everyday usage more immersive. The smartphone is also built to comfortably power users through an entire day of streaming, social media, gaming and work on a single charge. At a 120Hz refresh rate, the device offers up to 815 minutes (13 hours 35 minutes) of YouTube playback and up to 743 minutes (12 hours 23 minutes) of screen-on time, ensuring reliable all-day performance for users. In terms of durability and performance, the smartphone will come with IP6...

​Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has achieved a significant milestone in passenger safety today with flagging-off of the First Metro Train fitted with the Anti-Drag feature for passenger operation. The train is flagged off by Thiru. Manoj Goyal, Director (Systems and Operations), in the presence of senior officials of CMRL, Thiru. S. Ramasubbu (Advisor – Electrical), Thiru. Gopinath Mallaya (Chief Advisor – Operations & Maintenance), Thiru. A.R. Rajendran (Chief General Manager – Rolling Stock), Thiru. S. Satheesh Prabu (General Manager – Operations & Maintenance), and Thiru. C. Balamurugan (Additional General Manager – Rolling Stock) and the contractor’s higher officials from M/s Faiveley Transport Rail Technologies India Pvt Ltd and M/s Alstom Transport India Limited along with other officials and staff of CMRL and the contractors. ​The Anti-Drag feature is an additional safety layer incorporated into the automatic sliding saloon doors of CMRL Phase-1 trains, over and abo...

An Immunology Laboratory was inaugurated at The Madras Medical Mission through funding support from Aptus Value Housing Finance India Limited and facilitated by the TANKER Foundation. The objective of this initiative is to strengthen diagnostic services and extend vital healthcare support to economically disadvantaged patients.   On Friday, 15th May 2026, Shri. M. Anandan, Founder & Executive Chairman of Aptus Value Housing Finance India Limited, and his wife Mrs Padma Anandan inaugurated the new Immunology laboratory.   Dr. Georgi Abraham stated that this laboratory is a “dream come true” and emphasized the importance of establishing such a specialized facility to support patient care and diagnosis. He also said that this initiative marks another important milestone in improving access to quality healthcare services for patients requiring advanced diagnostic support. The laboratory will significantly benefit patients by enabling timely and accurate immunological inves...