Brands
Panasonic’s #DiwaliWaliSafai: Promoting responsible e-waste disposal
Mumbai: In commemoration of International E-waste Day, Panasonic Life Solutions India (PLSIND), a leading diversified technology company, today announced its fourth edition of #DiwaliWaliSafai – an awareness campaign on responsible disposal of e-waste. The Central Pollution Control Board reports that the volume of e-waste continues to rise. India, the third largest contributor to e-waste in the world, generated 16.01 lakh tonnes of e-waste in 2021-22 and only 33% of it was collected and processed. #DiwaliWaliSafai campaign by Panasonic is a small step towards sensitizing consumers around the escalating e-waste crisis and the importance of its responsible collection, disposal, and recycling.
The campaign is centred around the ritual of festive cleaning, a significant and widespread custom in every Indian household during Diwali. While consumers focus on celebrations and buying new items, the responsible disposal of old electronics safely gets overlooked. With #DiwaliWaliSafai, Panasonic is calling upon everyone to proactively become active agents of change and make this Diwali more environmentally friendly by responsibly managing their e-waste. To support this, Panasonic is also offering free-of-cost home pick-ups for large appliances as well as assistance in identifying the closest e-waste collection centres.
Commenting on the campaign, Panasonic Marketing India, Panasonic Life Solutions India managing director Fumiyasu Fujimori said, “At Panasonic, we are committed towards a larger cause ie, creating a sustainable environment through our businesses. Whether it is through using environment-friendly technologies, promoting renewable energies, environment-focused activities such as tree plantation or, through responsible e-waste awareness programs and campaigns – every action of ours is aligned towards sustainability and development of society. And this extends beyond the products and solutions we develop. Our endeavour is to leave a positive impact on the environment and, in this process, encourage our consumers too. The #DiwaliWaliSafai campaign is yet another effort towards enriching our future. Through this campaign, to date, we’ve reached out to 10.3 million consumers through our digital platforms to help spread the word on the safe disposal of e-waste. In the fourth edition, we are hoping to continue this momentum and, would urge everyone to come forward and take part in this noble cause.”
As part of the #DiwaliWaliSafai campaign, Panasonic is running an engaging contest on its social media handles till 30 October 2023, encouraging consumers to responsibly dispose of e-waste. Additionally, customers can simply visit the Panasonic D2C website where they can easily provide their information for e-waste submission. As a token of appreciation, those who actively participate in e-waste recycling will have the opportunity to win exciting prizes from Panasonic.
To participate in the #DiwaliWaliSafaai campaign individuals can use any of the following social media handles of Panasonic Life Solutions India:
#ContestAlert! #DiwaliWaliSafai is back! Turn on the throttle on your safai mode, register yourself to dispose off your old appliances and stand a chance to win exciting prizes! Register now – https://t.co/6TyEHUenfL #InternationalEwasteDay *T&Cs apply: https://t.co/MV4Gt8Lx62 pic.twitter.com/ylaC2WxOOE
— Panasonic India News (@PanasonicInNews) October 14, 2023
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
