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Daily Record
19 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Record
West Lothian volunteer recognised for hard work with local kids initiative
Donna Watson from Livingston, received a £100 Gift Card from The Centre, Livingston in recognition of her 10th anniversary as a volunteer with the social enterprise, Kidzeco during Volunteers Week. A West Lothian volunteer has been recognised for her hard work at a local kids initiative. Donna Watson from Livingston, received a £100 Gift Card from The Centre, Livingston in recognition of her 10th anniversary as a volunteer with the social enterprise, Kidzeco during Volunteers Week. The Centre, Livingston Volunteer Award is part of the shopping centre's 'Support in the Community' initiative, established almost 10 years ago, to pay tribute to people like Donna who are doing an outstanding job helping other people in the local community and reward them for all their efforts. Kidzeco, which has a team of 35, including 20 volunteers, who like Donna give up their time every week to help the social enterprise, was founded by Tracy Murdoch in 2010, with the aim of enhancing the happiness, health, and resilience of parents and children in the local area and empowering them for a better future. Their focus is to support disadvantaged families in West Lothian by providing services and facilities that build skills, confidence and wellbeing. Kidzeco, which has a retail outlet at the shopping centre, offers affordable, high-quality pre-loved goods, including baby clothes, toys and essentials like prams and highchairs, promoting a circular economy by tracking waste diversion and CO2 reduction. The social enterprise also creates local job opportunities, particularly for those distant from the job market. As a social enterprise profits are reinvested back into the community to run various projects including the Bumpz 2 Babiez café in Whitburn community centre, every Tuesday from 10am to 1pm and the Bumpz 2 Babiez café, 'Kidz n Kin', at the shopping centre every Thursday between 10am to 3pm, both for parents with children under two. Donna, who marks her 10th volunteering anniversary at Kidzeco this year, was nominated by the Retail Operations Manager, Steph Forsyth, in recognition of her outstanding dedication over the past decade. Steph said: 'Donna is very deserving of this Volunteer Award in recognition of her enthusiasm, attention to detail, reliability and genuine passion for everything we do at Kidzeco. 'Over the years, Donna has taken on a wide range of tasks, from customer service to keyholding, processing and filtering donations and pricing. 'Her current role is to look after our preloved clothing section, ensuring all items are of the highest quality - clean, refreshed and steamed - before they reach the shop floor. 'In addition to her hands-on work, Donna is also a tremendous support to new volunteers and staff. With her deep knowledge of our processes, she's always ready to answer questions, offer guidance or demonstrate tasks to help others feel confident in their roles. 'Most recently, during our restructure and store refit, Donna went above and beyond - she even increased her hours to help ensure we were ready for our grand reopening. 'Her dedication is truly invaluable and highly commendable - we are incredibly grateful to have her as part of the team and can't thank her enough.' Donna said: 'I absolutely love volunteering with Kidzeco because I believe in everything they stand for as an organisation and really enjoy giving something back to the community. 'As a parent, shopping there is a lovely experience – it doesn't feel like a typical preloved store, there's real care in how everything is displayed. 'I was so excited and honoured to get this Award in recognition of my efforts – it's nice to know my contributions make a difference." Tracy said: 'Volunteers are the golden thread woven through everything we do at Kidzeco — they are the heart of our services, and we simply couldn't operate without them. 'Each and every volunteer brings something unique and valuable, and we are truly grateful for their time, passion, and dedication. 'Donna has been an incredible part of our team for the past 10 years, and her commitment has made a real difference. We're genuinely grateful to have her as part of the Kidzeco team and deeply appreciate everything she brings to our work and our community.' Tess Sundberg, Marketing Manager at The Centre, Livingston said: 'We are delighted to be able to pay tribute to Donna with our special Volunteer Award for all of her outstanding efforts at Kidzeco. 'It was great to hear about her role and the incredible impact she is making in the local community. 'If you know someone who is also going the extra mile and making a big difference helping people in West Lothian, please email The Centre, Livingston at enquiries@ and share their story with us so that we can shine a bright light on the great work they are doing.'
Economic Times
a day ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Centre nudges Indian carriers to invest in crisis-hit Air Mauritius amid strategic push in Indian Ocean
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Centre has asked carriers to consider a strategic investment in Air Mauritius , the financially strapped national carrier of the African island nation, people aware of the development said. The nudge from the government comes as that airline battles a financial crisis , with a negative equity of $237 million (Rs 2,035 crore).A government official said the move came after the ministry of external affairs got a request from the Mauritian government for a potential strategic investment. It also asked for an increase in flights by Indian carriers to its capital, Port Louis, the person said.'To cut losses, Air Mauritius has restructured its network, as part of which it significantly cut flights to India,' the official said. 'Indian carriers have been asked to launch more flights to cover the shortfall. The airline is also seeking to raise funding by selling equity, so Indian airlines are being requested to consider that, (but) only if it suits their business interest.'Airport Holdings (AHL), controlled by the Government of Mauritius, has a 99% stake in the airline. AHL recently converted Rs 1,500 crore of debt into equity as part of the carrier's financial restructuring. Earlier this year, Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam said the carrier was technically insolvent, casting doubt over its airline, which earlier operated two weekly flights between Port Louis and Delhi, had considered axing them but then decided to reduce it to one a week, while increasing fares significantly. Spokespersons of the ministry of civil aviation and Air Mauritius didn't respond to queries on the airline executives said they are unlikely to be interested in investing in a market that's not a significant source of passengers for them. Besides, they are in the midst of executing their own ambitious expansion Minister Narendra Modi was chief guest at Mauritius' National Day celebrations earlier this year. During his visit, Ramgoolam asked Indian investors to explore opportunities in the island nation, underlining that their participation is 'vital' for its economic growth. Last year, India built an airstrip and a jetty at Agaléga island in that country. Air India held about 8% of Air Mauritius before the former was privatised in said Mauritius is of strategic interest to India due to its location on the maritime routes of the Western Indian Ocean Region (WIOR). Geopolitical competition over the region has intensified. China has a military base in Djibouti and extended its engagement with and presence in Mauritius and other island nations, according to Samir Bhattacharya, associate fellow at Observer Research Foundation.'Given its diplomatic, cultural and commercial connections in the region, India considers the WIOR a part of its extended neighbourhood,' he wrote recently. 'Despite geographically being part of Africa, New Delhi categorises both Mauritius and the Seychelles under the Indian Ocean Region division, alongside more proximate states such as Sri Lanka and the is therefore keen to safeguard its influence against Beijing in this region.' While Mauritius is geographically well positioned to attract transit traffic between Africa and Asia, a fast-growing market, competition has surged. That's made it difficult for Air Mauritius to succeed at developing a new east-west hub while maintaining Air India absorbed Vistara last November, the airline has increased flights, managing to win a portion of the traffic from Air Mauritius while IndiGo continues to capture a significant share of that market. Additionally, Middle East carriers such as Emirates have a strong presence on the route.
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
E-mail verification via OTP for all RTI requests starting Jun 16: Govt
The aim is to enhance citizen privacy and data security, besides strengthening the portal's cybersecurity framework The Centre will implement e-mail verification via a one-time password (OTP) from June 16 for all RTI applications, according to an official statement issued on Monday. The aim is to enhance citizen privacy and data security, besides strengthening the portal's cybersecurity framework, it said. Citizens can file Right to Information (RTI) applications through the portal -- -- which also allows users to file appeals and know their status. "To enhance citizen privacy and data security, and to strengthen the portal's cybersecurity framework, email verification via OTP will be implemented for all RTI requests starting Monday, June 16, 2025," read a message on the website under the administrative control of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
E-mail verification via OTP for all RTI requests starting Jun 16: Govt
(You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The Centre will implement e-mail verification via a one-time password ( OTP ) from June 16 for all RTI applications , according to an official statement issued on aim is to enhance citizen privacy and data security , besides strengthening the portal's cybersecurity framework, it can file Right to Information (RTI) applications through the portal -- -- which also allows users to file appeals and know their status."To enhance citizen privacy and data security, and to strengthen the portal's cybersecurity framework, email verification via OTP will be implemented for all RTI requests starting Monday, June 16, 2025," read a message on the website under the administrative control of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Centre okays additional instalment of Rs 81,735 crore as tax devolution to the state govts
(You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The Centre on Friday said that it has approved an additional instalment of Rs 81,735 crore as tax devolution to the state governments, which will be released on June 2, 2025."The additional instalment of devolution to States is in line with the principle of co-operative federalism and the aim of becoming 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047, which can be realized through 'Viksit States' as envisioned by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi," said the Finance Minister in its Finance Ministry added that the additional instalment of devolution will enable the States to speed up their capital spending, finance their development and welfare-related expenditure and also make available resources for priority projects/schemes of the States.
