Share to lead the transformation

In Focus

Mahendra Upadhyay, CIO

Broadcast Audience Research Council

We are skilled at using AI for analyzing troves of data efficiently

BARC India is a statistical and measurement science company which is ‘Of the Industry, By the Industry and For the Industry’.

The company is registered with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) as a self-regulated, not-for-profit Joint Industry Body that provides the most authentic audience estimates of What India Watches, to Broadcasters, Advertisers and Advertising Agencies. The Big Data driven insights generated by BARC India, is built upon a robust and future-ready technology backbone which powers efficient media spends and content decisions in a highly dynamic and growing broadcasting sector.

Commencing operations in 2015, today BARC India manages the world’s largest and most diverse TV measurement system covering approximately187000 individuals in 44,000 households, in 513 districts covering over 600 towns and 1300 villages, across India.

Jatinder Singh of Better World recently interacted with Mahendra K Upadhyay, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India to get in-depth understanding of how BARC has leveraged technologies such as AI, machine learning (ML) and robotics to analyze, predict and process various metrics for driving effective business and customer experience. Excerpts of the interview:

Better World: How have you leveraged the latest technologies and innovations to strengthen credibility, transparency and instill confidence in all stakeholders in the TRP measurement system?

Mahendra K Upadhyay: Our data serves as the trusted “currency” for the Indian broadcast industry. Through this “currency,” broadcasters and agencies make several vital decisions relating to programming, strategy, and audience targeting. Providing the data in usable forms in an unfailing and timely fashion, week on week is highly dependent on technology.

Collecting data from over 44,000 household television meters and 15,000+ individuals’ digital meters daily while integrating with massive databases and alternative data sources requires the data to be stored safely, scalably, efficiently, accessible, and cost-effectively. The kind of data BARC India collects, compiles, and provides insights for is a brilliant example of the 5Vs of big data – Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity, and Value. BARC India processes ten petabytes of data annually, larger than the Aadhar Card database’s data size and the US Census Bureau.

With this large and variable data, extensive use of the latest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies is required to minimize human intervention and extract and represent the information accurately as per the prescribed methodology.

We have set a strict standard for releasing our clients’ data, doing so diligently every Thursday at 11 am. Performance, improvements, quality, and consistency are few parameters we experience and implement each passing day – without a firm Information and technology framework, this would not be possible.

Besides, we have deployed and enriched Lambda (λ) architecture that utilizes cloud services (Native & Custom) and on-premises data center capacities. An in-house created Enterprise Data Lake (EDL) helps end-to-end Data Validation Processes (DVP), fully automated, removing any human intervention. In addition to this, the application framework learns system patterns to help us identify areas for improvement.

Better World: Can you please elaborate more on AI and ML technologies to strengthen business resiliency levels and navigate the disruptions?

Mahendra K Upadhyay: At BARC India, rather than serving as a replacement for human intelligence and ingenuity, we use AI as a supporting tool. We are skilled at processing and analyzing troves of data efficiently to generate the insights needed by our clients.  This way, we use AI to help get the best-required output and streamline the decision-making process.

BARC India has eliminated human intervention end-to-end in the data validation journey. All admin access on the system and the data is via Identity and Access Management and activity recording.

We prefer networks rather than hierarchies. BARC India has created cross-technology groups to share knowledge. To ensure that our systems/networks and applications are robust and mitigate process lapses, we regularly undertake third-party audits.

To generate authentic and accurate data of ‘What India Watches™’ is a responsibility we take with the highest sense of commitment and integrity. Also, we are implementing Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to do the daily repetitive operational jobs, not only in the Tech stream, but we are experimenting with it across the organization.

Better World: How do you prevent data tampering in your business?

Mahendra K Upadhyay: To generate authentic and accurate data of ‘What India Watches™’ is a responsibility we take with the highest sense of commitment and integrity.

Mahendra K Upadhyay, CIO, BARC India

Mahendra Upadhyay is a senior management professional in digital, data and technology space; presently working with BARC India as Chief Information Officer. Mahendra comes with 20 years of rich experience in telecom, banking, retail, media, and advertising industries with expertise in the entire data/digital value chain, i.e., ingestion-insights-analytics-interventions-auto AI and digital transformation.

Mahendra Upadhyay has previously worked with multinationals such as Mindshare, Ericsson, SAS Institute, among others.

Expertise

  • Digital transformation and automation
  • Digital marketing, marketing automation and measurement
  • Consumer Insights, interventions and advance analytics
  • Big data analytics, business intelligence (AI/ML)
  • Data/process management, security and governance
  • Large scale program management

Education

  • Executive Management, Business Administration and Management, General, Harvard business publishing, 2018
  • MBA, Business Management, Institute of Technology and Management, 2011
  • MCA, Rajiv Gandhi Prodyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, 2001

To ensure that we have deployed enterprise-level security architecture with robust perimeter and access control measures with the entire data path, from source to delivery, being end-to-end encrypted and monitored while maintaining vigilance through privilege identity management.

To ensure that endpoint security controls are in place, we’ve implemented Mobile Device Management (MDM) on the devices used/accessed by employees and the field force for data collection.

Over a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a single sign-in option for all corporate applications (on-premises, SaaS, IaaS) and Privilege Identity Management (PIM) based access methods ensure we have control over the actions being taken at every logging.  Further to this, we have network/user-level access controls for information to ensure it never crosses the BARC boundaries.

We have multi-layer firewalls and encryption methods; most importantly, we ensure that our data resides within India for effective law enforcement. Excellence is continuous. We do audits/checks of our IT systems and general control policies periodically to ensure we have updated protocols in place to resolve digital/cybersecurity-related challenges effectively.

Better World: How have you navigated the transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Mahendra K Upadhyay: BARC India drafted a comprehensive work-from-home (WFH) framework for its internal and external users by focusing on its key pillars: Communication, Collaboration, and Checks (security, integrity, and authority).

Secure processes and information flow are keys for success, so ‘Checks’ are critical to ensure their integrity. We have implemented two additional security layers and encryption protocols to ensure information is secure and applications function smoothly in the new normal environment of WFH.

Better World: What, according to you, are the key technology trends that will likely have the most significant impact on the enterprise ecosystem in the post-COVID environment?

Mahendra K Upadhyay: The FOUR key trends I see are:

  1. ‘Security Frameworks’ for securing information, application, networks, and end-users.
  2. ‘Robotic Process Automation’ for 100% uptime and optimum process utilization.
  3. Data-driven use cases and auto-discovery/treatments using advanced AI.
  4. Edge computing.

Finally, while technology and innovations can help, it’s ultimately human intelligence that makes the outcome business-friendly. This requires continuous investment, not only in tech but also in PEOPLE.

MORE FROM BETTER WORLD

Atal Community Innovation Centre launched

Atal Community Innovation Centre launched

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan launched Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) in New Delhi, to encourage the spirit of innovation at the community level. This initiative aims to encourage the spirit of innovation through solution-driven design thinking to serve society, a PIB release said.

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said, Atal Innovation Mission has a key role to perform in order to achieve the target of five trillion dollar economy by 2025. He urged the NITI Aayog to open innovation Centres in all Gram Panchayats of the country to promote local innovation. Pradhan said innovation is part of every Indian’s daily affairs and there is need to support and promote them.He said that traditional and conventional knowledge available in the country needs to be supported and brought into the mainstream, through innovative mechanism.

Dharmendra Pradhan

The minister urged for innovative mechanism to harness and support traditional knowledge in the country.

Lauding the efforts of NITI Aayog in coming up with the idea of ACICs, the Minister said that they will make available cutting-edge innovation platforms across all corners of our country, with a focus on Aspirational Districts, Tier 2 and 3 cities and to North-east and J&K which will give a fillip to the skill development and employment opportunities in these areas. ACIC’s grassroot-level approach shall focus on a community oriented problem solving through small ideas with a big impact. ACICs will become a conduit for CSR funding by private and public sector firms in addition to direct funding through Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).

Pradhan said reducing the lab to land distance is one of the key objectives of AIM and Atal Community Innovation Centre will help in further strengthening our mission to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem of India. ACICs will add a new chapter to India’s innovation story. It is a platform where the most innovative minds of the country can get access to solutions to modern entrepreneurial challenges.

The Minister also said that India produces approx. 600 MMT of non-fossilised biomass through farm waste, which if converted to energy can help usher prosperity in rural economy, promote a sustainable energy future & make our Annadatas, our ‘Urjadata’, in line with Hon. PM’s vision of Waste to Wealth creation. This is a CSR initiative in true sense.He expressed full support for the culture of innovation in the Country and assured that the public sector undertakings from Steel and Petroleum Sectors will provide support and hand-holding in this innovation mission. “I have asked Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to support this initiative, I also request NITI Aayog & AIM to innovate ACICs to help in finding innovative solutions to extract consumable energy from Biomass available in the country”, Pradhan said. The Minister added that Unique and incentivized solutions offered by ACICs will encourage students, researchers and other individuals/group of individuals to ideate and design novel solutions. ACICs will also connect innovative thinkers to our market and mainstream economy.

ACIC is a new initiative of Atal Innovation Mission to support community innovation drive in the country. The program is directed to encourage the spirit of innovation through solution driven design thinking to serve the society. It will focus on underserved and unserved regions of the country which at present lack a vibrant start-up and innovation ecosystem. ACIC will be established either in PPP mode or with support of PSUs and other agencies. The maximum grant-in-aid support form AIM will be up to 2.5 crores subject following compliance to ACIC guidelines and contributing matching form the host institutions and their funding partners.

Following are the distinguishing features of the program:

  • Enabling infrastructure for building innovation ecosystem in above proposed areas.
  • Community oriented approach to innovation by enabling solutions through advanced tinkering
  • Offer opportunities to innovators to ideate in areas of societal importance
  • Capacity building of communities in evolving technologies and taking their solutions from ideation to prototype.
  • Promoting design thinking process to spur innovation
  • Providing a framework to engage local industries to facilitate offering of innovative solutions in their products, services and processes
  • Public private Partnership (PPP) mode to ensure financial sustainability and participationof central agencies, PSUs etc. to mobilize resources for running the program
  • Offer an opportunity for everyone to innovate, ideate and design impactful solutions, irrespective of their age.
  • One of the unique feature of this program wherein talented students and youth of ITI and Diploma will be offered opportunity to display their and build innovative solutions through ACIC.
  • The program will offer a big leapfrog jump towards establishing Indian for further scale up the ranking in Global Innovation Index.

The Vice-Chairman of the NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar and CEO of the Aayog Amitabh Kant also spoke on the occasion.

A new logo, posters, brochure and video, AICC website, and application portal were also launched on the occasion.

Innovate to turn biomass into energy: Pradhan

Innovate to turn biomass into energy: Pradhan

Dharmendra Pradhan

The minister says 600 MMT of non-fossilized biomass could be converted to energy.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said that India produces approximately 600 MMT of non-fossilized biomass through farm waste, as per a Press Information Bureau release. This, if converted to energy, can help usher prosperity in rural economy, promote a sustainable energy and make our Annadatas (foodgrains providers), our Urjadatas (energy providers), in line with PM’s vision of Waste to Wealth creation.

Pradhan was speaking at the launch of Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) in New Delhi, which has been set up to encourage the spirit of innovation at the community level across the country.

Noting that this was a CSR initiative in true sense, Pradhan expressed full support for the culture of innovation in the country and assured that the public sector undertakings from steel and petroleum sectors will provide support and hand-holding in this innovation mission. “I have asked Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to support this initiative, I also request NITI Aayog & AIM to innovate ACICs to help in finding innovative solutions to extract consumable energy from Biomass available in the country”, the minister said. He added that unique and incentivized solutions offered by ACICs will encourage students, researchers and other individuals/group of individuals to ideate and design novel solutions. ACICs will also connect innovative thinkers to our market and mainstream economy.

India holds energy talks with Niger, Togo, and Tonga

India holds energy talks with Niger, Togo, and Tonga

Amina Moumouni, the Minister of Energy, Niger.

Marc Dederiwe Ably- Bidamon, Minister of Energy and Mines, Togo.

Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship RK Singh held bilateral meetings with Energy Ministers of Niger, Togo, and Tonga on 30 July. The bilateral talks were held with Amina Moumouni, the Minister of Energy, Niger; Marc Dederiwe Ably- Bidamon, Minister of Energy and Mines, Togo and Poasi Mataele Tei, Minister of Energy, Tonga in New Delhi, a PIB release said.

Poasi Mataele Tei, Minister of Energy, Tonga.

The meetings were held on the sidelines of first International Solar Alliance (ISA) Standing Committee Meeting in New Delhi. During the meetings, the Minister discussed various issues pertaining to ISA and areas of bilateral cooperation between India and these countries in Energy sector.

The ISA is an alliance of more than 122 countries headquartered in India. As the largest grouping of countries after the United Nations, ISA’s objective is to leverage solar energy in an efficient manner in order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. As per the International Solar Alliance (ISA), it is conceived as a coalition of solar resource rich countries to address their special energy needs and provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach. The initiative was first proposed by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.

 

Govt mulls waterways for the Northeast region

Govt mulls waterways for the Northeast region

(Representative image)

The Ministry of Shipping is keen to start inland waterways navigation and passenger transportation in the rivers in the North Eastern states of the country. Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Shipping and MoS, C&F has said that the public sector company Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited (WAPCOS) is preparing a model detailed project report (DPR) for implementing projects for running low-cost ferry services in the inland waterways in these states. This model DPR can be adopted for quick implementation by the Inland Waterways Authority of India in consultation with the different state governments in the region.

As per a PIB release, Mandaviya also said that inland waterways transport can be a game changer for the North Eastern states as land routes here are often long, circuitous and time consuming due to the difficult terrain. Besides bringing ease of movement, the waterways projects will also help generate employment locally, he said.

It is noteworthy that after the passing of the 2016 National Waterways Act, India has made significant progress in developing new waterways. When it comes to the Northeast, waterway navigation could help cut distances as well as the carbon footprint in the region by several notches and hence may be seen as a positive for the environment. Given the intent to focus on low-cost ferry services, the impact on river ecology may also be designed to be minimum.

PM lays stress on balancing development and environment as tiger count nears 3,000

PM lays stress on balancing development and environment as tiger count nears 3,000

royal bengal tiger

A Royal Bengal tiger in Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India. (Source: Wikipedia)

On the occasion of Global Tiger Day today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the fourth cycle of All India Tiger Estimation – 2018, at Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi. The count of tigers in India, has risen to 2,967, in 2018, according to this survey.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister described this as a historic achievement for India, and reaffirmed India’s commitment towards protecting the tiger. The Prime Minister appreciated the speed and dedication with which various stakeholders worked to achieve this. He described it as one of the finest examples of Sankalp Se Siddhi. Once the people of India decide to do something, there is no force that can prevent them from getting the desired results, he declared.

The Prime Minister said that with almost 3000 tigers, India is today among the biggest and most secure habitats.

Prime Minister asserted that the way ahead is “collectiveness” instead of “selectiveness.” He said that a broad-based and holistic look is essential for environmental conservation. He said, it is possible to strike a healthy balance between development and environment. “In our policies, in our economics, we have to change the conversation about conservation,” he added.

India will build more homes for our citizens and that the same time create quality habitats for animals. India will have a vibrant marine economy and a healthier marine ecology. This balance is what will contribute to a strong and inclusive India, the Prime Minister asserted.

He expressed confidence that India will prosper both economically and environmentally; India will build more roads and India will have cleaner rivers; India will have better train connectivity and also greater tree coverage.

He said that in the last five years, while work has proceeded at a fast pace for next-generation infrastructure, the forest cover in the country has also grown. There has also been an increase in the “protected areas.” In 2014, there were 692 protected areas, which increased to more than 860 in 2019. The “Community Reserves” have also grown from 43, in 2014, to more than 100 now.

The Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javdekar; the Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Babul Supriyo; and the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, C.K. Mishra, were present on the occasion.

News Source: Press Information Bureau 

Pix Source: Wikipedia (see attribution)

Mega capacity building program launched for sustainable rural water supply and sanitation

Mega capacity building program launched for sustainable rural water supply and sanitation

water supply

The program aims to improve rural water supply and sanitation. (Representative image.)

The Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, launched the capacity strengthening initiative of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, in Ranchi, Jharkhand on 27 July. He was joined at the event by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Rattan Lal Kataria, Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das, and Minister of the Drinking Water and Sanitation,Government of Jharkhand, Ramchandra Sahis. This initiative will create a pool of 2,800 field trainers in its initial trainings, who will reach out to around 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country.

The initiative seeks to ensure the sustainability of open defecation free (ODF) villages created under the Swachh Bharat Mission in the long term and enable field trainers and members of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs)  to create capacity to manage solid and liquid wastes as well as improve access to safe and adequate drinking water supply.

Addressing more than 6,000 Mukhiyas (i.e., panchayat heads), Jal Sahiyas, Swachhagrahis and others present on the occasion, Shekhawat emphasized the need for people’s participation highlighting that it is now time to turn the “jal ka andolan” into “jan ka andolan”to avert the impending water crisis. He appreciated the role of people who has committed themselves towards the cause of the Swachh Bharat Mission. Because of their efforts, in ODF and sanitized villages lakhs of lives have been saved, he added. He urged the people to re-energize their efforts for enabling sustained safe sanitation practices and expanding their efforts towards the provision of piped water supply to every household.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Rattan Lal Kataria also appreciated the role played by the various stakeholders in making Jharkhand State ODF and reiterated that the country is on track to achieve an ODF India by 2nd October 2019, on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Addressing the gathering, Secretary, DDWS, Parameswaran Iyer shared the details of the capacity building training program. He shared that by January 2020, four Field Trainers (FTs) from each district will be trained through five-day Training of Trainers (ToTs) organized by the DDWS. The FTs would then train Sarpanchs, village secretaries and Swachhagrahis in their districts through a 3-day field training supported by the states and the districts, completing the entire exercise by March 2020.

During the event, a booklet and a film on the Jharkhand State Government’s Menstrual Hygiene Management Campaign – ‘Chuppi Todo-Swasth Raho’ Abhiyan were released while grassroots functionaries shared their experiences of being a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen). This was followed by an award ceremony recognizing the outstanding contributions in the field of sanitation.

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