Latest news with #Chaudhuri
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
a day ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Hooked on plastic: A timely probe into the brands and greenwashing
Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastics Harper Collins India 368 pages ₹599 The annual observance of World Environment Day on June 5 goes back to 1973. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme, it is a major occasion for governments and corporations to renew their commitment to environmental causes, take meaningful action and bring new people into the ambit of outreach. It is hosted by a different country each year. In 2025, the Republic of Korea will have that honour. This year's theme is #BeatPlasticPollution. In this context, journalist Saabira Chaudhuri's book Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic assumes tremendous significance, more so because we are just two months away from a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in Geneva, where a global treaty will be negotiated to end plastic pollution. An international, legally binding instrument of this kind seems like an ambitious undertaking but it is the need of the hour. The author grew up in Bengaluru, obtained an MA in business and economic reporting from New York University, and now lives in London. The book focuses mostly on the United States and India while discussing the history of how plastic became an indispensable part of human life. This historical lens that she adopts is important so that environmental advocacy is grounded in solid facts and not based only on ideology and emotion. We need to have a clear grasp of why plastics became so popular across geographies. They did not emerge out of thin air. Ms Chaudhuri writes, for instance, 'The Second World War had seen the largest influx of women into the American workforce on record. While many stopped working initially after men returned from the frontlines, a war-born desire for convenient weeknight meals, easy-to-clean surfaces and wrinkle-free clothes did not disappear.' The author's intention here is not to pin the blame for plastic pollution on women. Since the burden of housework was shouldered largely by women, the promise of more time for rest and leisure was understandably quite attractive. Plastic offered them a way out of monotony and drudgery. In the Indian scenario, Manmohan Singh's decision as finance minister to slash excise duties on shampoo in 1993 put it within the reach of people who could not afford it earlier. Ms Chaudhuri writes, 'Taxes dropped from 120.75 per cent to 70 per cent, making sachets way more profitable.' She also points out that sachets were also appealing to women 'who typically were in charge of buying household essentials' because they 'offered built-in portion control — precluding wayward children or careless husbands from using too much, the way they might from a bottle'. These well-researched culturally specific insights from the author help us look at plastic not as a monster but as a material that has both pros and cons. This book also helps us make sense of how and why businesses engage in greenwashing, which is a widespread practice of making false, deceptive and unsubstantiated claims of having a positive impact on the environment. Greenwashing is often a tactic used to appear environmentally friendly so as to win over new customers or retain existing ones. The author examines in detail how in the United States recycling became a 'get-out-of-jail-free card in a situation otherwise riddled with reputational risk'. Instead of any real impact in terms of reducing pollution, it became a marketing campaign to manage public perception. By emphasising this, the author cautions us against being taken for a ride by businesses that are looking to make a quick buck out of our sensitivities that favour being eco-friendly. Ms Chaudhuri's training as a journalist ensures that she stays cool-headed instead of peddling doomsday predictions. She reminds us that different kinds of plastic melt at different temperatures. 'Even today, mixed plastics recycling is plagued by collection and sorting problems; the resulting park benches and picnic tables have never commanded a high-enough price to justify collecting and cleaning big volumes of often highly contaminated plastics,' she adds. These are realities that people need to know as they grapple with systems that seem outside their control, and also make small changes in their own lives. The book ends with a useful section titled FAQs, where the author addresses basic but important questions that many do not have reliable answers to. Some of the questions are: Why are plastics recycling rates so slow? What's greener: Cloth diapers or disposables? How can I protect myself against greenwashing? Isn't paper better than plastic? Are bio-based plastics a good alternative to fossil-fuel-based ones? The author offers explanations that are accessible but not simplistic. This book is not the last word on the subject but it is a good start.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock's Chaudhuri Optimistic About US Stocks
Gargi Chaudhuri, BlackRock chief investment and portfolio strategist, Americas, says she sees some reasons to be optimistic about US stocks but risks still remain. Speaking on "Bloomberg Open Interest," Chaudhuri also comments on the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy.
NZ Herald
25-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Family mourn ‘hero' Auckland heart surgeon Dr Parma Nand
Speaking publicly for the first time, his daughter, Komal Nash, told the Herald it had been an overwhelming experience to see and hear about the many lives her father had touched in his work as a surgeon. 'He's always been a hero to me, growing up. He came from nothing and made sure that I had everything in my life - he supported me with my education and gave me absolutely everything,' Nash, a lawyer, said. 'So seeing how many other people consider him their hero has been really touching and overwhelming. 'In a time of intense grief, it brings me a lot of comfort to know that he's changed a lot of lives and saved a lot of people. 'My heart is broken, but I know he mended a lot of other hearts. I'm just a very proud daughter.' Nand was also the father of 16-year-old twins Thomas and William and grandfather of Sierra, 3, and 1-year-old Rumi. Nand worked as a cardiothoracic surgeon - specialising in surgeries on the heart, lungs and other structures in the chest - for about 30 years at Mercy Ascot and Auckland City hospitals. His philanthropic work and drive to give back to his homeland of Fiji and other parts of the Pacific made him a well-respected figure in the region. In 2006, Nand organised a team of medical staff - including surgeons, specialists and nurses - to travel to Fiji to give free operations to locals who would otherwise not be able to afford it. That first trip turned into the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation NZ and over the years, a total of 15 missions to Fiji have taken place - resulting in more than 770 surgical treatments and 4200 screening assessments and associated services for Fijian residents. From extreme poverty to sought-after surgeon At yesterday's service, many of the audience included members of the medical profession and those from different parts of the Indian, Fijian and Fijian-Indian communities. Fellow cardiothoracic surgeon and friend, Dr Krish Chaudhuri, described Nand as more than a mentor - he was a brother. Chaudhuri shared how Nand had emailed him an autobiographical summary of his life a few years ago. Reading out his friend's words, mourners heard about Nand's humble beginnings in Fiji. 'I lived in extreme poverty with 10 siblings. We sometimes struggled to have food on the table. 'Our parents were small-time tailors with limited income. Our family income was supplemented by a small volume of 5 litres of milk to sell daily to township households. 'The milk was delivered approximately 4km away by bicycle every morning before school by my eldest siblings and later by myself.' Despite school fees costing $3 per term, Nand was often dragged out of the classroom as his parents could not afford to pay them. 'We were probably the poorest family in the community.' Chaudhuri acknowledged how Nand's humble beginnings had pushed him to work hard in life - and never forgetting to give back to those in need. 'When we look at his life story, we see that he may have started off as a pawn, but he made it to become the most significant piece on the chessboard - the king.' A new scholarship for surgeons in Fiji Chaudhuri revealed that over the years, he and Nand had discussed how financially difficult it was becoming to fund the annual missions to Fiji. Instead, Nand thought it would be a good idea to start training doctors and surgeons from Fiji here in New Zealand, to improve their skills and ultimately carry out the life-saving operations themselves. Nash said the family was passionate about that idea and organising a scholarship under Nand's name. 'It's like you're teaching them to fish, so they can set up their own unit and be sustainable and not have to rely on these missions every year. 'He always spoke about going back to Fiji and helping the less fortunate.'
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Can AI ‘think'? In a few years, this won't be a question any more, says one Indian researcher
Swarat Chaudhuri was obsessed with puzzles as a child, he says. Growing up in Kolkata, he spent the afternoons solving every number pyramid and word jumble he could find in local publications. He then graduated to Bengali translations of the American mathematician Martin Gardner's popular-science books on math, logic and puzzles. Chaudhuri dreamed of a world in which he could solve puzzles for a living. That is, more or less, what he now does, as a researcher and professor of computer science at the University of Texas, Austin. One of the puzzles he's working on is particularly crucial. It is the question of whether artificial intelligence can actually expand the scale of human knowledge. Here's how Chaudhuri, 46, is going about it: At his Trishul lab at the university, he has developed an AI program called COPRA (short for In-Context Prover Agent) that works with large language models (in this case, GPT-4), to prove mathematical theorems. That may not sound like much fun, but here's what waits down the line. As the two systems work together, Chaudhuri's eventual aim is for Copra to propose new math problems of its own, and then work to solve them. This would be a crucial step towards determining whether AI can emulate the curiosity-driven explorative nature of the human mind. It would go some way towards answering questions such as: Could AI eventually co-author a scientific paper? In other words: Can an AI program reach beyond what it knows, in order to not just connect dots in new ways (they are already doing this) but to reach out and gather more dots to add to the matrix? (Dots that we may not have factored in at all.) 'This would mean a big leap, from the AI engines we see around us, which deal in available data and perform somewhat repetitive tasks, to a system that uses a lot more logic and can perform 'superhuman' tasks,' he says. *** That 'superhuman' bit is what interests him, because it would mean newer and faster solutions to some of our most pressing problems. Such programs could potentially alter how we view our world, and navigate it. New maths problems would be just the start. Down the line, he believes, these programs could be collaborators working alongside researchers. 'They could be like curious children stepping out to find things on their own and figure out what works and what doesn't,' he says. With the help of such a program, small start-ups and lone tinkerers could take on giant puzzles such as cleaner energy and urban planning. New answers could emerge to questions such as: How do we move large numbers of people from Point A to Point B and back every day? How do we address the issue of solar cells having such a short lifespan? Or, how can we better manage indoor temperature control, amid the climate crisis? *** Chaudhuri has been at this for a while. In 2017, he and his students created Bayou, an early AI-led tool that could build code based only on text prompts. That early win set the stage for his current Copra system of AI agents. Chaudhuri has now been awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, for his body of work and for the projects he is leading on 'open-ended mathematical discovery'. He knew early on, he says, that the path to the world's greatest and gravest puzzles lay through the world of computing. After school, he studied computer science and enrolled at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur. After college, he began studying neural networks — which are types of programs that seek to mimic the dot-connecting capabilities of the human brain, rather than relying on the linear (this-therefore-that) progressions that guide traditional software. At this time, 20 years ago, the idea that a computer could one day sift through options and pick the right one, rather than spit out a ready answer that had been fed to it, was considered outlandish. Today, of course, all LLMs do it. It's how ChatGPT converses; how Midjourney and Sora creates their eerily realistic images and videos. *** Five years from now (if not sooner), Chaudhuri believes it will be as common for AI programs to 'think' in ways that more closely mimic the human brain, and to have superhuman abilities in many areas of human activity. A switch to renewable resources will be vital, to lessen the environmental impact of the server farms and data centres that support such systems, he adds. What's something he believes even this advanced version of AI would struggle to do? Create profound art, Chaudhuri says. For the simple reason that the arts are driven, perhaps more than any other human endeavour, by the artist's lived experience of the world. 'It is unlikely that AI will start writing like Rabindranath Tagore or churning out innovative movie scripts because, to produce something like literature, the constantly shifting inputs from the world and the interaction of the artist with the world are vital,' Chaudhuri says. 'That level of input is a long way away for AI.'
CNBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CNBC
BlackRock says investors can profit from diversifying beyond the 60/40 amid volatility
The recent market turbulence has highlighted the importance of having a diversified portfolio, according to BlackRock. For many investors, that means looking beyond a traditional portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% fixed income, the firm said in a recent report. "Crucially, we believe investors can benefit from a more deliberate diversification strategy, where traditional asset classes may not meet the moment," the team wrote. Equities fell on Wednesday after data showed the United States economy contracted in the first quarter, raising concerns about a possible recession. Treasury yields were flat. Yields move inversely to prices. The moves were just the latest in the market's ups and downs as investors consider President Donald Trump's trade policy and ensuing tariff negotiations. Expanding beyond a basic 60/40 makes sense because stocks and bonds haven't had the negative correlation they once enjoyed — where bonds would provide a ballast if stocks tanked, said Gargi Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist at BlackRock. Not only that, there has been an increasingly positive correlation, she said. For instance, earlier this month stocks sank and bond yields rose, particularly on the longer end of the curve, Chaudhuri pointed out. That's led to a lot of clients asking, "what else?" she said. "[When] rethinking your 60/40, I think the starting place is important," Chaudhuri said. "What type of portfolio you're trying to build of that 60 — what part is in U.S. versus international," she added. "Of the 40, what part is in something traditional like an [ iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF ] AGG versus more shorter-duration, income-seeking solutions." Diversifying your portfolio There are several ways to diversify your portfolio to help hedge against volatility, Chaudhuri said. First, when looking at the fixed income portion, investors should concentrate on maturities in the 3- to 7-year range, she said. That allows them to focus on "the income of fixed income," she added. For instance, the iShares Flexible Income Active ETF has an effective duration of around 3 years. BINC YTD mountain iShares Flexible Income Active ETF In addition, a small exposure to inflation-linked bonds in the front end of the curve could also help protect against inflation, Chaudhuri said. Within equities, investors should make sure they also have international allocations in addition to U.S. stocks, she said. The percentage depends on the investor, she noted, but said most advisors are underweight international. Then, investors can consider adding sleeves of diversifiers in their portfolios, like gold, which has had a tremendous run of late. "Maybe it won't continue to go up at a straight line like it has, but certainly considering the diversifying properties, especially in a slowing growth, a rising inflationary world where you might want to reconsider the role of gold in a portfolio," she said. Then there are what Chaudhuri calls liquid alternatives that are market-neutral strategies that have a lower correlation to the S & P 500 . "When equity markets are going down, they will not follow that same path. So looking at strong alpha generators that have a very low beta to the equity as well as the bond markets," she said. These solutions can "significantly improve your portfolio outcomes by enhancing your performance … especially in a market down, but certainly in a market up scenario as well by utilizing different futures — basically long, short strategies across several sectors of the market, several parts of the capital stack in fixed income," she added. BlackRock has three of these strategies that it said delivered better annualized returns and lower annualized risk compared to the benchmark aggregate bond index in the past three years. The BlackRock Global Equity Market Neutral Fund (BDMAX) focuses on diversification through equity long and shorts in an effort to deliver attractive returns that have a lower correlation to broad asset classes. The BlackRock Tactical Opportunities Fund (PCBAX) also seeks a lower correlation between stocks and bonds with a mix of equities, sovereign bonds and currencies. Lastly, the BlackRock Systematic Multi-Strategy Fund (BAMBX) focuses on total return that includes income and capital appreciation. BAMBX YTD mountain BlackRock Systematic Multi-Strategy Fund The funds don't come cheap. The more accessible A-shares for the BlackRock Global Equity Market Neutral Fund have a 1.6% net expense ratio, while the BlackRock Tactical Opportunities Fund has a 1.09% and BlackRock Systematic Multi-Strategy Fund as a 1.2% net expense ratio. Still, diversifying beyond the 60/40 may not be for everyone, Chaudhuri said. "You could be an investor that's just starting your investing journey … and you want a simple liquid, one ticker solution," she said. In that case, something like the iShares Core 60/40 Balanced Allocation ETF (AOR) could work, she said. "They don't want to be thinking about rebalancing," she said. "It has your 60 and 40, and it's balanced." AOR .SPX YTD line iShares Core 60/40 Balanced Allocation ETF vs. S & P 500
