Business briefs

Preventive healthcare firm Indus Health Plus on Thursday said it has collaborated with SRL Diagnostic (India) to extend its services to conduct COVID-19 detection tests. The collaboration aims to focus on preventing and controlling the disease transmission through an extensive testing of COVID-19, the company said in a release here. For this purpose, Indus Health Plus has extended this facility to Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Goa by collaborating with SRL Diagnostics. * ************* Mahindra's Swaraj Tractors offers standby tractors for harvest in these critical times * Swaraj Tractors, a part of the USD 20.7 billion Mahindra Group, on Thursday said it is offering a standby tractor during the harvesting season, which will help farmers during this critical time. All Swaraj dealers and service teams will also be just a phone-call away for helping the farmers during this critical situation, a release said here. The harvesting season is a very critical period for farmers. Due to the current pandemic, Swaraj did not want them to face any difficulty with regard to their tractors and hence launched this scheme. Standby tractors of Swaraj will be available at different locations offered by dealers on a first cum first serve basis.

* ************* LANXESS donates Rs 2 cr to PM-CARES Fund * Specialty chemicals company LANXESS on Thursday donated Rs 2 crore to the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) as part of its CSR initiative. LANXESS India has pledged an additional Rs 30 lakh for donation of material such as face masks, disinfectants, hand sanitizers, liquid soaps, groceries among others in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, around the areas in which its sites operate, the company said in a release here. Based on the local requirements, the material will be procured locally at each location and will be handed over to the respective Municipal Corporations and government agencies, the company added.

* ************* Pearson to upskill teachers in online teaching techniques * Learning company Pearson on Thursday said it has taken the initiative to upskill teachers in online teaching techniques. Pearson conducted pan-India online training sessions for over 500 teachers across 30 schools, empowering them to use online learning platforms and teach students digitally during this critical time, a release said here. Important topics like Lesson Planning, Strategies to improve Reading and Writing skills in English, Interactive strategies to teach Science and Social Science, Strategies to make Mathematics learning (Fun)tastics, Phonics, how to plan and execute an online class in an engaging and interactive manner were covered during these sessions. * ************* Tata Power gets The Edison Award for its energy saving efforts * Tata Power on Thursday said it has been bestowed upon with the highest accolade in the field of Innovation, “The Edison Award”.

"Tata Power has been conferred with the honourable global, “Edison Award” for its “Club Enerji #Switchoff2SwitchOn” campaign under the social innovation category and social energy solutions subcategory," a company statement said. The Edison Awards, named after Thomas Alva Edison, recognises and honours the world’s best innovations and innovators.

Being recognised with an Edison Award is one of the highest accolades a company can receive in the name of innovation and business success, it said..