Round The Universe

  Amazon India on Sunday announced the launch of its ' Mentor Connect ' programme, which is aimed at accelerating the growth of startups and emerging brand owners enrolled under its Amazon Launchpad initiative. Through the programme, startups and emerging brands will gain access to guidance from venture capital firms, industry veterans and Amazon leaders through expert knowledge sharing sessions, networking events and 1:1 mentorship sessions, a statement said. Mentors from educational institutions and VC firms like Fireside Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, Elevation Capital, Tomorrow Capital have already signed up for the programme to contribute to the Indian startup growth story, it added. "Startups and emerging brands enrolled in the Amazon Launchpad programme can access guidance from these mentors through various ways. This includes one-to-one mentorship with chosen mentors over a three-month period, ongoing networking opportunities with a wider pool of industry experts...

  As the second wave of  Covid-19  intensifies, the Centre has said that onboard meals will not be allowed on flights with duration of under two hours, with a set of guidelines including staggered service, use of only disposable utensils, etc. to be followed by airlines in case of flights that are two hours or longer in duration. For flights longer than two hours, the government has asked airlines to serve meals in a staggered manner for adjacent seats as far as possible to reduce the incidence of a larger number of people in a flight removing masks together. “In all classes, tray set-up, plates and cutlery will be completely disposable with no re-use, or cleaned and disinfected rotables will be used,” the ministry noted in its order. Airline executives expressed displeasure at the move but said they would implement the government’s orders. “On board meals is a significant revenue stream for airlines,” a senior executive at a low-cost airline said.