This week's "Poke Me" invited your comments on "Young and the restless". Here are the selected opinions.

Drying trends have been reported in Krishna and Kaveri and the pollution problem in the Ganga is well recognised. The future of our rivers appears bleak.

Under the PMKVY-2.0, launched in October 2016, ministry had targeted to impart skill training to one crore youth for over four years (2016-20). Out of this, 60,00,000 was the target under short-term training while 40,00,000 was the target under the recognition of prior learning (RPL) component for 2016-20.

As many as 72 changes to the Companies Act 2013 have been approved by the Cabinet. Briefing reporters, Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the priority is to "decriminalise" provisions in the Act. Sitharaman, who is also the Finance Minister, said the Cabinet has approved 72 changes to the Act.

On February 23, 2019, the first draft of the National e-Commerce policy was placed in public domain for suggestions. Comments from over 120 stakeholders- companies both Indian and foreign, industry associations, think tanks, foreign governments were received. Post this, a series of meetings have been held with different stakeholders.

The chamber said that in keeping up with most economies of the world to institute stimulus measures with 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Indian economy would need a transfusion of over $200 billion with an ability to go up to $300 billion, over the next 12-18 months.

The government (GoI) has so far been very supportive and empathetic towards businesses and was quick to respond through delayed application of few amendments introduced in Finance Act 2020 (FA 2020) along with relief measures on various tax and other statutory compliances announced subsequently.

​​​The intention is to bring all B2B, B2C, consumer-facing, consumer-based content platforms, apps-based commerce and IoT device-based services under the policy, potentially engulfing products like the Amazon Echo, which is powered by artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant Alexa, and MG Hector, the Internet-enabled vehicle from Morris Garages in the regulatory realm of e-commerce.

MSMEs need easy credit facilities to fulfil the financial requirements of their business. The DCE's Credit Guarantee Scheme provides easy, collateral free credit facilities to MSMEs.

ESOPs allow grantees to have a stake in the company which directly results in greater loyalty.

Equipping the business with cutting-edge technology is essential to ensure you stay competitive in today’s industrial environment.

Many research studies have shown that large numbers of projects do not achieve their assigned business goals and the failure rate is significantly higher for SMBs.

Making products meet international standards requires ISO Certifications, but getting it is an expensive affair. To get around this, the government provides reimbursement to SMEs seeking ISO 9000/ISO 14001Certification.

Preparation is the key to winning. Having adequate information, ability to influence, and the resources can work as the power to turn the negotiation in one's favor.

Competing with private companies for limited resources could cap the room for RBI to cut interest rates. Even if it does, market rates won’t ease due to higher government debt. Also, with inflation being predicted to ease by the second half of 2020 towards the target of 4%, prospects for sharp rate cuts diminish.

A googly that founders often face from investors is the market they address is too crowded. Now competition is a given, very much like death or taxes, and it’s often better to have competition that validates that the market exists than otherwise.

Organizations are struggling to implement an immediate crisis response mechanism while exploring long term sustainability solutions to build resilience against future black swan events.

Police should have welfare systems similar to the ones implemented by the armed forces, says Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava.

The year 2019 saw the launch of many smartphones. However, there were some of these which were game-changers and paved the way for the next generation of smartphones. ET Wealth rounds up the top six among these.

The offering of ‘Cardless Cash Withdrawal’ from iMobile enables customers to withdraw cash securely and conveniently for everyday usage and purchases, all from the convenience of their mobile phone. Here is a look at how you can use this facility.

Now all domestic airlines, including government-owned Air India, have announced a waiver on re-booking charges in case a customer does not want to travel on the designated date. Wadia group-owned private carrier GoAir, which was earlier offering free cancellation, has said it will now allow people to only reschedule their flights for no charge.

If you are someone who has been asked to work remotely and are looking for a laptop at a reasonable price, here are six of the best ones under Rs 40,000.

When the Covid-19 pandemic caused a sudden shortage of hand sanitisers, alcoholic beverage major Pernod Ricard was among the companies in the US that stepped up to ensure there was no dearth of the product in the market. Leading the initiative was Ann Mukherjee, who took over as chairman & CEO of Pernod Ricard North America in December 2019. Mukherjee has spent almost 30 years in sales, marketing and brands, including with Frito-Lay North America and SC Johnson. The Kolkata-born Mukherjee was last month chosen by US President Donald Trump to be part of a high-profile group to advise the American government on how to kick-start US manufacturing in the post-pandemic era. Trump has formed several such groups to focus on various sectors of the economy. In an interview with Ishani Duttagupta, Mukherjee says that re-entering life and enabling safe travel will be the biggest challenges that all nations face in a post-lockdown world. Edited excerpts...You took over the reins at Pernod Ricard North America only last December; how are you dealing with the crisis caused by the pandemic?My first priority was the health and safety of our employees. That meant creating an infrastructure and agile ways of working to enable working from home through confinement. It also meant creating and maintaining safety protocols for our essential frontline workers, especially our teams in production facilities and distilleries. Second, we focused on our ability to give back to the communities we serve and partner with. Given our entrepreneurial culture, many teams went into action creating opportunities with speed. Working closely with the White House COVID taskforce, we were able to get clearance to produce and supply hand sanitiser for the US government. We provided this free of cost to help first responders across the country. Our Jameson team --- realizing that many bartenders that partner to make the brand great would be out of work – donated $600,000, and generated another $700,000 in matching funds, to the US Bartenders Guild charity fund. Also, our on-premise team worked with multiple charities to provide free meals for hospitality workers affected by the crisis.Finally, we dealt with the crisis by closely collaborating with our distributor partners to keep our business open in the short term, while working together to create a roadmap for recovery. We leveraged our resilience and our culture of conviviality to keep spirits high -- and work with optimism -- during difficult times.As the head of the American operations of an European giant, what are the challenges? Are there any cultural issues?Honestly, cultural issues never even enter the conversation. The culture is centred around conviviality…..bringing people together. That is true for what we sell and how we interact together as business units. Our CEO Alex Ricard sets the tone and walks the walk. He is a very expansive thinker and an inclusive leader who unites us and our different experiences to make for a more powerful whole. Take me for example. He hired an Indian American with very strong roots in India, with North American commercial experience and global marketing experience. He looks for people with broad perspectives and experiences. 75649631Is the American market for scotch whisky growing?Scotch is the best-selling imported whiskey in the US by revenue. Blended scotch has been somewhat flat, with some growth during the crisis, and we see that with our iconic Chivas brand. Single malt is where we see the growth; sales increased almost 10% last year. Our Glenlivet brand has been a huge driver of that growth, bringing new drinkers into both the brand and the category. The brand is positioned to challenge the more traditional conventions of scotch drinkers and celebrates the young unconventional drinker, especially appealing to women who are now open to enjoying single malt as their drink of choice.You are part of the team of top CEOs advising President Trump on reviving the US economy. What are some of the key issues that you think the US government needs to address at this point? It’s an honour to serve the country in this capacity. Our number 1 objective is to help the administration bring back and rebuild confidence. It is a very difficult balance between managing public health and insuring a sustainable economy. We must protect the population from this virus but we need to ensure there is an economy to come back to post the recovery. If we open too quickly, we might be back in confinement; if we don’t re-open with smart speed, we might create a bigger crisis. So we need to ensure that there are the right protocols in place for recovery, ensure there is adequate supply and access to protective accessories needed, and the right partnerships in place with private enterprise, local government and federal oversight. What should the Indian government do?As the world’s largest democracy, India has a very strong state-driven government system with strong central government oversight, not unlike the US. It is critical to get that balance right and work together to strengthen and unite the mosaic that is India. India defines entrepreneurship. It is vital to tap into that cultural advantage and unite business leaders, scholars and government to create out of the box solutions. Private enterprise will need to understand that we as CEOs have not only a fiscal responsibility to our companies, but also a societal responsibility. One feeds the other; without a vibrant market, our businesses cannot thrive, so working together as a collective across business and government is key.The alcobeverages sector traditionally didn’t have women in top roles. Do you see that changing? What are the challenges?I absolutely see it changing, though I wish progress was faster. Companies need to reflect their consumer base, and a majority of everyday purchase decisions globally are made by women. That fact is only accelerating as women become more educated, empowered as single parents or heads of households across many countries. In beverage alcohol in the US, a majority of decisions are actually made by women. The challenge is that we need corporate boards and top management teams to get more rigorous about achieving this objective. Companies must put shorter term and longer term 5-10 year succession plans in place to achieve ambitious targets for women in top management roles; they need to be identified early, developed, and given aggressive career plans to groom them for these positions. This is a passion point for Pernod Ricard driven by our Chairman, Alex Ricard. It’s about achieving better balance…and I personally like this approach. It isn’t about favouring one gender over the other, it’s about getting the right balance reflective of the marketplace and in creating tomorrow’s workforce now. Going forward, what do you think are the biggest challenges that your company and sector will have to grapple with as lockdown gradually lifts across the US and the world?Re-entering life safely is the biggest challenge the world faces. Whether it’s re-entering your neighbourhood, your town, travelling within your own country, or beginning to travel the world again. It also will be parents letting go of their children after they kept them from harm in confinement, and trusting school systems to keep them safe. And family members trusting each other to maintain safety protocols as they come back home from work. We all will lose control when we come out of confinement. In our industry, our biggest challenge will be restaurants, hotels, bars and pubs. How can you enjoy and connect, but safely from a distance? Can smaller establishments have viable businesses when there need to be fewer patrons? It will be a new normal, and we need to work together to make it viable and enjoyable.What do you think are the major differences between the liquor market in the US and Europe?I believe the liquor market is very similar in the two continents. During this crisis, we have seen the market stay strong through in-home consumption, with some of the bar and restaurant consumption shifting to home consumption. People are drinking brands they know and trust. They are also looking for premium experiences to help overcome the difficulty of confinement. For us at Pernod Ricard, we have the world’s largest premium portfolio with a large stable of familiar and trusted brands. So we have seen positive performance from our portfolio in both continents. What has your experience been as a woman in a typically male-dominated industry?Joining Pernod Ricard was a great fit for me. My husband and I love entertaining, bringing friends and family together because we believe creating special moments together makes life worth living. That is exactly the spirit and culture of conviviality. So when I joined the company, I invited my leadership team to my home for a night to meet the Mukherjees as part of a bigger leadership summit. My husband, who is very proud of his bar, rebuilt all the shelves so he could light up and showcase all of the incredible Pernod Ricard brands. I show my compassion through food. So I made samosas, mutton biriyani, raita, chicken cutlet and chapali kababs, and for my vegetarian team members, I made dal makhani, matter paneer, aloo dum. As a parting gift I gave everyone a small Ganesh so our paths moving forward would have no obstacles. I believe that if you are to be a meaningful leader, you must bring your whole and authentic self to work. As a woman, I don’t shy away from sharing my personal stories as a wife, mother and daughter, or from sharing my vulnerabilities as a woman leader in how I manage, try to instil trust and inspire others. After all, we are in the human being business. Do you see a timeline for recovery of firms such as yours in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis?The only thing that is certain about this crisis is that it is uncertain. Until we have viable testing and treatment and eventually vaccines, we cannot fully recover. So the key right now is to be agile. Adjust as the marketplace adjusts. That means new ways of working, helping your workforce to be in a mode of agile planning and execution. We can help people through the stops and starts this will cause by helping them see the bigger long-term goal of recovery and viability.Do you have any connections with India?I have very strong connections with India. 98% of my family is still in India, in my native hometown of Kolkata, New Delhi where I went to high school, as well as Mumbai and Bengaluru. We talk to them daily/weekly to keep in touch and stay connected through this crisis. We speak Bengali at home as a family. I am very proud of my sari collection and dress Indian any chance I get. We have a very strong Indian community here. I am as Indian as I am American and am a better person for it. I hope and pray that everyone stays safe and recovers with prosperity.

You would have given your bank account numbers and IFSC codes for various financial transactions. Unless these accounts are seamlessly merged into the financial system of the anchor bank, you would be required to change the details of your bank account.

Banks have been alerting their customers of cyber frauds that can happen while availing EMI moratorium.

It must be recalled that the finance ministry had revised rules and introduced separate forms for each small savings scheme via a notification in December 2019.

The RBI announced a host of measures today aimed at increasing liquidity in the economy.

Apart from small finance banks, certain private banks are also offering higher interest rate on savings accounts. Banks offering higher interest rates on savings account comes with certain conditions.

When we think of how amazingly things work in the cosmos, it seems revelatory, because it is not something that’s in your face.

Dead souls are supposed to drink from this so as not to remember their past lives upon being reincarnated!

His goals include building an emergency corpus, saving for his children’s (including another child in future) education and weddings, and retirement.

Any investment decision during this period should be made factoring in the short-term goals of an individual.

Applying this to financial markets helps investors to determine their chances of success in a fixed number of attempts (or trials). Another application of binomial distribution is to find out the probability of a company reporting positive growth in the EPS.

His goals include building an emergency corpus, saving for his spouse’s business, child’s education and wedding, taking a vacation, and retirement.

Incomes of many people, especially those who are self-employed, have been impacted due to the lockdown. To help you through these tough times, here is how you can cut down on current expenses so that your future goals are not at risk.

Asked whether Indians are being targeted abroad, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said, "One cannot make such a general statement."

High costs, poor job prospects and wrangles over work permits are persuading a host of Indian students with foreign degrees to return home.

The trend of Indians returning from abroad to work here has picked up pace with the recovery in the country's economy.

The minister said the government has already set up an Indian Workers Resource Centre in Dubai and will set up two more in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

V K Singh said presently, a section of Indian workers facing difficulties in two major Saudi companies -- Saudi Oger and the Saad Group -- are being brought back to India.

Around 1,500 blue collar workers from Tamil Nadu are among those who are using the amnesty to come back to the country.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services receives about 1,00,000 green card applications from high-skilled applicants of Indian origin every year.

"During this period of volatility in other asset classes, a large number of PPB bank account holders are moving their savings into fixed deposits during the ongoing lockdown," stated Paytm Payments Bank.

The Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund fiasco seems to have hit the debt mutual fund space very hard. The data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India or Amfi reveals that most debt mutual fund categories have witnessed outflows in the last month.

"We have decided to take this initiative to help our customers to overcome this pandemic and drive growth in the housing sector. With this, over 2.35 lakh of our customers will be positively impacted irrespective of their base loan amount," PNB Housing Finance Managing Director and CEO Neeraj Vyas said.

In a notification issued Friday, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) allowed tax exemption to donations under Section 80 G of the Income Tax Act, on the grounds that the structure would be a “place of historic importance and a place of public worship”.