Brands
Use 21-day lockdown to quit smoking, says Nicotex
MUMBAI: Nicotex, the leading brand in the smoking cessation category by Cipla Health Ltd has introduced a ‘21 Days to Quit Smoking Challenge’ exhorting smokers to quit smoking. As the nation entered a 21-day lockdown due to COVID-19 and is practicing social distancing, Nicotex also urged individuals to distance themselves from cigarettes by highlighting the health hazards of smoking in such times.
According to the world health organisation (WHO), smoking damages the lungs, making the person more vulnerable to COVID- 19. Also while smoking, the fingers (and possibly contaminated cigarettes) come in contact with lips which increases the possibility of transmission of the virus from hand to mouth. Hence for safer and better health during the growing pandemic spread, it is advisable to quit smoking at the earliest.
Link of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmxWnTDOCZY&feature=youtu.be
It is also a well-established fact that it takes around 21 days for developing or breaking a habit, thereby inducing the thought that if a person does not smoke for 21 days, there are high chances that he or she will not be tempted to do the same later. The idea might appear like a herculean task; however, Nicotex, based on the principle of Nicotine Replacement Therapy can help smokers in their journey to quit smoking. It helps control the urge to smoke, and gradually allows the body to adjust having no nicotine at the end of the therapy.
Commenting on this campaign Cipla Health Ltd CEO Shivam Puri said, “As the entire country is taking efforts to practice social distancing and build immunity to combat potential threats of COVID-19, it is also the best time to distance oneself from the habit of smoking. During these times as much as a poor immune system can make individuals increasingly susceptible to the virus, smoking can damage the lungs and make a person more vulnerable. We are hence reaching out to all smokers to give up smoking and adopt a healthier lifestyle. We believe you can!”
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
