Blind women detecting breast cancer; Decentralised approach for eco-friendly products

Hello,

A credit line on UPI!

The RBI is expanding the scope of the UPI payment system. The central bank has asked banks to start providing pre-sanctioned credit on UPI to individuals if they meet stipulated conditions.

In other news, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm parent One97 Communications, has now become the sole significant beneficial owner of the company with a 19.42% stake. His shareholding increased after Ant Financial sold a 10.3% stake to Sharma-owned Resilient Asset Management. However, the Paytm head will continue to remain a non-promoter.

Elsewhere, Zerodha founders Nikhil and Nithin Kamath increased their stake in Nazara Technologies with an investment worth Rs 100 crore. The mobile games publisher will use the funding for strategic acquisitions and growth.

ICYMI: The Verge explores how fans, researchers, and enthusiasts are preserving video game history. No child’s play this.

Lastly, the business of silence is booming with the global market for noise-cancelling headphones market expected to reach $45.4 billion by 2031

But there’s a hidden cost…

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Blind women detecting breast cancer
• Decentralised approach for eco-friendly products
• Childhood cancer survivors’ sports journey

Here’s your trivia for today: Where is the largest single piece of meteorite found on Earth?

Healthcare

Blind women detecting breast cancer

Noorunnissa and Ayesha Banu are medical tactile examiners (MTEs) trained by EnAble India as part of the Discovering Hands programme. Started in Germany by Dr Frank Hoffmann, it trains blind and visually impaired women to detect early breast cancer tumours.

Though Noor and Ayesha may never become doctors, they understand that their work will impact women positively and help in the early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Catch’em early:

• In India, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every four minutes and one woman dies of breast cancer every 13 minutes.
• The programme is designed to detect early breast cancer tumours through palpation of fingers performed by blind and visually impaired women.
• EnAble India added three more months to the training period to provide blind women with computer literacy, mobility, employability, life skills, and counselling. These skills help them navigate the hospital, file reports, interact with patients, and be empathetic towards them.

MSME

Decentralised approach for eco-friendly products

Amit Subodh, a former sales executive, began his entrepreneurial journey in 2020 when he joined Arbhu Enterprises as a co-founder to manage its sales and operations. The Bengaluru-based company uses a decentralised manufacturing process to supply eco-friendly products like areca plates to global brands.

On the plate:

• Subodh and his co-founders—Gulshan Iyer and Arvind Kumar—identified small clusters in the villages of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where areca plates are manufactured. 
• Instead of buying the products, Arbhu started investing in these factories. The company now works with four factories and many smaller clusters where its products are manufactured. 
• Working on its B2B model, Arbhu made a revenue of Rs 35 lakh in 2019-20, which grew to Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 5 crore in the subsequent years. The company’s revenue stood at Rs 7.5 crore in FY23.

Inspiration

Childhood cancer survivors’ sports journey

For the last decade, Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) has been improving the lives of cancer survivors via its TMH - Improving Paediatric Cancer Care and Treatment (ImPaCCT) Foundation.  

The programme provides a holistic environment for children with cancer to lead full lives. It covers everything from treatment-related support like navigation, counselling, nutrition, and blood and platelet support, to access to state and central government schemes and education.     

A new life: 

• According to Dr Maya Prasad, a consultant paediatric oncologist at TMH, taking up sports can be a big part of immunity building and recovery post-cancer treatment. 
• In 2014, while working on recovery and rehabilitation, the foundation was contacted by the World Children’s Winners Games in Moscow, Russia—a global sports competition for children aged seven to 16 years old, who have completed their treatment for an oncological disease.
• Zohair Murtuza Dhinojwala, who was diagnosed with a low-fat tumour when he was less than a year old, grew up to become a state-level champion in football.

News & updates

• A nest egg: Alibaba Group’s cloud division is weighing a private round to raise funds from Chinese state-owned enterprises ahead of its market debut. The tech giant is working with advisers on a potential Cloud Intelligence Unit fundraising of about 10-20 billion yuan ($1.4-2.8 billion).
• Slow down: Persistently higher interest rates in major economies mean global growth is likely to slow next year after outperforming expectations so far in 2023. Output will expand 2.1% in 2024, according to Consensus Economics, down from 2.4% expected to log this year.
• Powered up: The EU has given phone manufacturers a deadline of December 28, 2024, to adopt a common charging cable. It was previously agreed new portable electronic devices would have to use a USB Type-C charger by autumn 2024.

Where is the largest single piece of meteorite found on Earth?

Answer: In the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Named Hoba, it weighs 66 tonnes and is also the largest naturally occurring piece of iron on Earth.

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.