Tom here from Orange Systems. It is November 13th of 2023. And the people at Neckate have been busy. We have a new release, 23.09 of PF Sense Plus. PF Sense CE is at 2.71, which is your release candidate. Both contain the updated OpenSSL, moving them to the 3.0 series, as opposed to the unsupported 111 series of OpenSSL, a new DHCP server, and the end of squid. That's a lot to talk about, let's dive into it. Now we're gonna start with the PF Sense version 23.09, released on November 6th of 2023. I've updated several systems, they have worked perfectly fine, no problem with any of the Neckate devices we've done. Still have more to do, because we have a lot of clients running this. The major changes, OpenSSL, they have a dedicated blog post to this. The too long didn't read that our blog post is the OpenSSL version 111 has reached end of life in September of 2023. The Neckate team has rebuilt the PF Sense system to use version 3.012 for both PF Sense CE 27.1, which is a release candidate, and the 23.09. There is some confusion I've seen amongst a lot of people when I brought this up. They say, well, isn't FreeBSD supporting this because FreeBSD says it's in support? Not exactly, and that's because OpenSSL is supported by OpenSSL, and yes, there have been flaws found in the OpenSSL 111 that are on the will not be fix list because it has reached end of life. More and more projects are gonna have to move to OpenSSL 3.0 and that's where the challenge comes in. As that move will break some things depending on how dependent those things are on specifics of OpenSSL 1 that may not be the exact parity features that are in OpenSSL 3. So this can be a trivial task or a complicated task, kinda depends on all the interdependencies. The big interdependency you're gonna see though is gonna be with OpenVPN and some of the older deprecated functions. And if you have any certificates that are also built with the older deprecated security, and that means they will not work. Now, this will allow the upgrade to work but those particular things will fail telling you they are not supported anymore in the modern version of OpenSSL.  And before you do the upgrade, you can simply look here to see if these are the ones you have in use and read their blog post on that topic for more details. The next topic is the Kia DHCP server and it is an opt-in feature. The reason it's opt-ins because it's not feature complete yet but this is an important change because the ISC version has been deprecated. So ISC DHCP is a deprecated project but still in PF Sense and many other projects as the primary DHCP server and they are working to build feature completeness with the new Kia, which is a supported one. This comes from the internet consortium. They actually produce both of these as open source projects but they have now stopped adding updates to the ISC, the older one and now all the updates are focused on the Kia one. Well, they've done the integration but they've not completed the integration. You can easily switch between them. I've done some testing with it. It is up to you if you wanna test. This is optional and there's a blog post you can dive into on there and I'll leave you a forum post where there's some discussion about some of the bugs people are finding with it and you can continue looking at it and help them troubleshoot it so we can get that feature complete and find any of the edge cases so that can become eventually the primary DHCP server. So I wanna jump over to the release candidate of the PF Sense CE or Community Edition software to 271. You'll see it's pretty much the same. We've got the updated changes, OpenSSL and the Kia DHCP server and actually the other Arata down here is the same as well. Moving to PHP 8211 and FreeBSD 14 Current. So now they are pretty much in parity with each other the 2309 and 271. It's a release candidate as I'm making this video but I did some testing so far I didn't have any problems with it but there's still probably a few more minor bugs that might need to be closed. But there is the, of course, call for people who would like to do the testing to help do the final troubleshooting on this to get this release out. You'll find those links down below. Now let's talk about the deprecation of the squid add-on packages for PF Sense. I know this is a controversial topic but there are some unresolved vulnerabilities in squid. This is a pretty big challenge because well, squid's been around a long time and you would assume a project that is so well used by so many people and is really the underpayings of many of the commercial firewalls they may obscure that they're actually using squid that's often the same proxy of choice that they bake into their systems. This project is extremely under resourced. And that comes down to this blog post right here of 55 vulnerabilities found in squid caching proxy and 35 zero days. This goes back to 2021. And I'll leave links to this as well as you can read through here but essentially this came down to a security researcher finding a lot of problems. I tweeted about this a couple of weeks ago posted in a couple of my socials and it came down to essentially that the squid team is going, yeah, those are a lot of security vulnerabilities. We don't have the resources to patch them all. So this person says, well, we'll just post them because they're gonna get found and if we make them discoverable by more people people will make decisions like that gate has to go, well, we probably shouldn't use this project. I'm hoping some decision gets made that this project gets more support and resources but that doesn't really seem to be the case that has happened so far. So with all these different problems and they're outlined in here the different types of vulnerabilities. And unfortunately what this came down to is the squid team have been helpful and supportive during the process of reporting these issues. However, they are effectively understaffed and simply do not have the resources to fix the discovered issues. While the future of squid may not be completely clear I'm also not clear on the future of doing intercept with the firewall and putting certificates in. So each one of these systems that are connecting trust the firewall as another intermediary between that and the server that they're connecting to just so you can intercept the traffic. If you have a proper TLS 1.3 implementation with perfect forward secrecy that even makes things more complicated and with some of the push for encrypted hello for example now you're making it even more challenging and I'm seeing those type of tools really have some struggles with that including a lot of them recommend disabling the QIC protocol which means you a well less great internet experience. Also for caching it's not as necessary here in 2023 unless you're somewhere that has well still has dial up I know still dial up still exists here to some extent but I don't know how many people have dial up and would actually benefit that much from a squid proxy and the dynamic nature of many of the things on the web doesn't lend it very well to squid caching those things as effectively as it did when I set one up 20 years ago. Love hearing from you leave your thoughts and comments down below thoughts, questions, comments, concerns and all that around all these different updates let me know if you've upgraded to the latest version of PF cents plus or if you're on the release candidate or maybe when you're watching this video the release candidates turned into the full version leave that down below too which one you're going with always curious like and subscribe if you want to see more content from his channel and head over to lornsystems.com to connect with me on whatever socials you can find me on when you go there. Thanks.


Anya Corazon, who, during the movie, we get that she is a daughter of a deportee, and she's been living alone for six months, for six months in New York going to school. Her dad got deported.  What was that? What was that?  How offensive can you be?  It was just downright offensive, man.


Members, I can remind you of the cover-related measures that are in place and face masks should be worn while moving around the chamber and around the wider Holydod campus. Steven Kerr. Presiding Officer, I wish to seek your guidance on a matter. It's regarding a question that was raised with the First Minister by Christine Graham in that question. The member said that the UK had the worst state pension in Europe.  Cymru, wrth gwrs, mae'n fawr iawn i'n gweld me'n cael eu rhan ac iddyn nhw'n cael eu ddau iawn, codes. It is possible for members to avail themselves of this data on the OECD website so that such mistakes are not made again. As members will be aware, there is a mechanism that can be used to correct any contributions that are made in the chamber. Guidance on those mechanisms can be provided, but Mr A'r ry Temple has made his point. With that, we will move on to portfolio questions and the portfolio this afternoon is Rural Affairs and Islands. Anybody who wishes to ask a supplementary if they could press the request, the suitable buttons, the place and on the chat function during the relevant question. Question number one has been withdrawn. Question number two, Siobhan Brown. To ask the Scottish Government what support it currently provides to regional food groups. We support the groups through a £250,000 annual fund delivered by Scotland Food and Drink, which allows groups across the country to resource co-ordinator posts within each group. The fund leverages match funding from partners, including local authorities, and it allows for the establishment of an active network of regional ambassadors who work in conjunction with local authorities to promote regional food and drink and tourism strategies. The support has ensured that we have 19 regional food groups operating collaboratively within their regions and collectively in partnership across Scotland. As the cabinet secretary is aware, Asher food and all that in my constituency aims to identify and promote new opportunities for food and drink in Asher, including in areas of activity such as local procurement, education, skills and training. Does the cabinet secretary share my view that organisations such as this are vital to continuing the good work that Scotland has accomplished in our cultural approach to food as we strive towards our ambition of being a good food nation? I absolutely do. It is really clear to me that the regional food groups have an absolutely pivotal role to play in telling Scotland's fantastic food and drink stories. They are also going to be fundamental to the delivery of the next phase of ambition 2030 at both a local and a national level, too. The work that the member has outlined in relation to food and all that is exactly the kind of approach that we want to see and the kind of approach that we want to encourage. It is that kind of work that they are undertaking in relation to all the issues that the member has talked about, whether that is education or procurement, that is going to help us to build the good food nation and become the good food nation that we want to be. I also envisage that the groups playing a key role as we look to develop national and local good food nation plans as part of the good food nation Scotland bill. Those groups will also be vital partners as we develop our local food strategy, which has been based on our recent consultation. Bruce Supplementary from Rhoda Grant joins us remotely. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Being a good food nation means that people should have adequate access to food as well. This week I heard of a really sad case where an elderly person ended up in hospital due to starvation, not because they did not have food but that they did not have the electricity to cook it on. I asked the cabinet secretary what support she is giving to groups who are trying to help people in that situation, both to access food and the means to cook it. The member raises a really important question there. Some of that was teased out in the debate that we had earlier this week in stage 1 of the good food nation bill, because ensuring that people do have the right to adequate food is a right in itself that we will be enshrining and incorporating into Scots law as part of a human rights bill. It is something that we are trying to give effect to at the moment through the work that we are undertaking and through the good food nation bill itself, which provides the legal framework and underpinning for that. We are always looking at ways in which we can try to support people. I completely understand the issues that the member has raised and it is a situation that I think we will unfortunately see increasingly often, given the number of people that are currently in fuel poverty at the moment, and will continue to be in that situation. It is only set to get worse. Together, the Scottish Government is trying to do all we can to address these issues where that is within our capabilities to do so. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to help farmers to make improvements to their farms. I refer members to my register of interests regarding agriculture. The Scottish Government supports farmers and crofters to make improvements through a range of measures. Those include the sustainable agricultural capital grant scheme and access to specialist advice and information through our farm advisory services. I can also announce today that we will be running a further round of the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund in 2022-23, with £1.6 million available to support projects that enable more sustainable and low-carbon farming and crofting. KTF has a significant track record in supporting projects that enable farmers, crofters and land managers to create improved opportunities for nature, adapt to climate change and benefit from new organic farming materials. We have helped to fund some really exciting projects over the last few years through this fund, and I would hope that people will apply for a shade of this year's fund to play their part in tackling climate change. There are reports that laun us later would not be prepared to convert wild land into farms. Rewilding is important, but this Government must be ready to adapt in the face of rising food prices and shortages. Does the cabinet secretary think a dogmatic, inflexible approach from the Greens could hold back support for our farmers in response to the crisis in Ukraine? I have a question on this matter from the member's colleague later on, but in relation to some of the requests that have been made in that regard, first of all, we just want to reiterate the Scottish Government's commitment to supporting our farmers, our crofters and our food producers. That has been a core part of the vision that we outlined in which we published earlier this month, and it is something that we have committed to continue to do. Given the horrendous board that we are watching and all the acts that we are watching unfold in the Ukraine, I think that it highlights just how important and how vital our food security is. That is why we recently established a task force to help us to address some of those issues and to address some of the immediate matters that we are facing, but also to look to what we can do to tackle these over the medium and longer term. Does the cabinet secretary share my dismay at the Tories' failure to deliver on their Brexit promise to at least maintain current rural funding, and instead they are now short changing Scotland to the tune of £93 million during this Parliament? Funding that could have been provided to farmers to help them mitigate and address and adapt to climate change? Yes, I absolutely do. The member's dismay in that regard, because the Scottish Government has been clear and consistent that we expect—because it is what we were promised—that full replacement of EU funds to ensure that there is no detriment to Scotland's finances. We would expect the UK Government to fully respect the devolution settlement in any future arrangement, and this so far has not happened. I know that my colleagues in the fellow administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland also share our frustration in that regard. There was also a review commitment to hold meaningful discussions to agree the principles of future intra-UK allocations. That should have occurred before the UK spending review, but we are still waiting on the UK Government and George Eustace to meet that commitment. In response to my colleague Martin Whitfield back in September, the cabinet secretary said that food should be processed as close as possible to the point of primary production. She also committed the Scottish Government to working with any operators looking to take forward a mobile abattoir model. Given that six months have passed, can the cabinet secretary update the chamber on what steps she is taking to improve abattoir provision and whether the Scottish Government will take forward the mobile abattoir model if no prospective operators come forward? I want to see, first of all, in response to that that my previous commitment still stands and we still stand ready to work with anybody who is interested in looking at this as a model to go forward. I would also stand by the first part of the member's question in relation to trying to ensure, as far as we possibly can, that food is processed as locally as possible. All of those are issues that we were considering through our draft local food strategy, which was out to consultation and which closed towards the end of last year. We are currently still analysing the responses of that consultation and we will be setting out our responses to that in due course. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Snare Watch annual report 2021 from one kind. I am aware of the report's findings and I understand the concerns around the use of snares. We have recently concluded a review of snaring in terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 2021 and we will publish it very shortly. However, I have also commissioned an additional review that will look beyond the terms of the act and will consider a potential ban on snaring. It will look at the land management aspects of it as well as animal welfare, but in the meantime Scotland has the most robust laws with regard to snaring in the UK. We remain committed to the highest possible animal welfare standards. Ruth McGuire I thank the minister for that very full answer. Ending cruelty against animals is something that is very important to myself and to my constituents. With that in mind, can the minister say a little bit more about the second review that she has commissioned? Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am happy to have said that while that initial statutory review is now complete and I will be pleased to share the details of it shortly, I have commissioned that further review and will look beyond the terms including considering a ban. I hope to announce the details of it very shortly. I know how strongly the member and how strongly the public feel about that. I am clear that we need control measures, but what we cannot and must not tolerate is suffering. I will look to include that in the terms of the review. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with scientists regarding gene editing of crops. Scottish Government ministers and officials speak regularly with scientists on a range of issues, including gene editing. We have access to a wealth of scientific expertise, including from the chief scientific adviser for environment, natural resources and agriculture, the chief plant health officer and research and evidence provided by centres of expertise such as the plant health centre. Thank you for that answer. My colleague Rachel Hamilton recently met with the Roslyn Institute and they once again reaffirmed their support for gene editing to get the green light in Scotland. Why is the Scottish Government continuing to fail to support Scotland's top scientists on this? There are a range of views on this matter, which I am following very closely. I have greatly welcomed scientific opinion on that. However, our policy on GM has not changed. Russell Findlay and his Tory colleagues might be prepared to hurriedly change environmental standards post Brexit, but this Government will not take a considered approach and I am closely following progress at EU level in that regard. Can the cabinet secretary advise whether the Tory UK Government has shared or provided any cumulative impact assessment from the two trade deals that it has negotiated since Brexit, which by its own admission fall in UK and Scottish agriculture? That is not relevant to gene editing. I do not think that there is anything that you can add unless you advise me otherwise that we would relate back to the original question. Except perhaps in regard to advice received, but I will take your views on the matter and I will not answer the question. At our last rural questions, the cabinet secretary was clearly confused between GMOs and gene editing. Now it appears that the minister is equally as confused. Will the minister please take the time to understand the difference between GMOs and gene editing? Scotland's farmers can see potential benefits in gene editing. Why can't the Scottish Government? The member needn't try to patronise or belittle me or outsmart me because he will not succeed. I am following very closely both scientific and judicial reasoning about the decoupling of GM and gene editing. The latter being a process that is considered that could also have resulted in the same process as occurring naturally if not through the gene editing process. As I have said to his colleague, our position has not changed and I am following the EU in this regard. To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is putting in place to attract younger people into the farming sector. We recognise that getting young people into the sector is key to driving our rural economy forward and we know that younger people face a number of obstacles getting into the sector, which can be off-putting. That is why this Government is continuing to support them by developing skills and talent through our skills action plan for rural Scotland and through the skills for farming group to guide employers on apprenticeships and work placements. Additional support will continue to be provided by our farming opportunities for new entrance group, the Scottish land matching service and farm advisory service. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for her acknowledgement that there is a problem because I have certainly been contacted by several younger constituents across Mid Scotland and Fife recently that they feel that they are struggling to get into the farming sector. That is an issue that has been highlighted at some of the NFUS meetings on a local basis. That includes the recent Scottish Government statistics that show that, since 2016, Scottish Government opportunities for new entrance programme has helped only 76 young entrants to get into farming. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that is a disappointingly low number and that a new strategy is required to address that? First of all, we want to say that we have a manifesto commitment that we would look at that. That is where I welcome the evaluation that has recently been published. I was pleased to read in that the grants were successful in encouraging 254 new younger entrants into the sector and that we granted more than £11.6 million to allow that to happen. As the member highlights, the review highlighted that there are challenges relating to land availability and profitability of agricultural businesses, and that there still remain those considerable barriers to new entrants, which grants alone will not be able to address. However, as I have just previously intimated, we will be using the outcomes of that review to help to shape the future plans for new entrance support in line with our manifesto commitment. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can the cabinet secretary advise Parliament about the skill seader programme, what it does, and how it is being funded? The skill seader company is delivering a really easy accessible rural land-based training and skill seader IT platform. Ultimately, what that aims to do is to break down the barriers for people throughout rural Scotland and make it easier for people to find the right training for them and for skill sharers and trainers to easily reach people who need their training. There are currently 5,000 courses on there already, including from colleges, machinery rings, renewable companies and forestry, and we have recently announced some funding in relation to that, so I would encourage people that, if they are interested in undertaking that training, to seek out those opportunities. I appreciate Liz Smith's original questions related to the farming sector. Similarly, the fishing and seafood industries are also working hard to attract young people to their sectors. That includes fish processors in my constituency, working with seafish and the seafood association through campaigns such as See a Bright Future. I ask the cabinet secretary for an update on the work being done to support young people moving in to the fishing and processing sectors. I do like to keep you on your toes, but the cabinet secretary is not also in an area where we are keen to see a new entrance. The Marine Fund Scotland has supported new entrants to secure their positions in the fishing industry, so, for example, we have been assisting young fishers to purchase their first fishing boat or to have a share in a fishing boat. To date, so far, we have awarded around £2 million of funding to assist entry of young fishers to the sector, and the fund has also supported new entrants by providing grant support to seafish to deliver training in Scotland. To ask the Scottish Government when it will implement the findings of the first stage of the review on licensing in the aquaculture sector. The review undertaken by Professor Griggs is comprehensive, ambitious and fulfills the remit that was given to him. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Professor Russell Griggs again for his work and all the effort that he put into producing this piece of work. I have already made clear my agreement to all the recommendations and principles, and I will, and I will shortly, take the next steps that will take us beyond this first phase. I think that it is really vital that we maintain that momentum and approach our commitment to streamline the regulatory process for aquaculture with PACE. I thank the cabinet secretary for her response, and I am pleased to hear that there is an intention to proceed speedily. However, the cabinet secretary will be aware that some 600 jobs in rescyth in my constituency depend on the success of the salmon industry. Therefore, I ask the cabinet secretary to take the opportunity to confirm today that she will now instruct her officials to work at PACE to implement the Griggs review recommendations, because that will ensure a better, more efficient and transparent aquaculture regulatory framework, which is essential for future sustainability and competitiveness. Can the cabinet secretary also take the opportunity today to confirm that she will work constructively with industry to get this right? Yes, that is certainly my intention. Aquaculture is hugely important to Scotland's economy. I recognise rescyth as one of the communities that depend on the success of a sustainable aquaculture industry. As I have mentioned, we are determined to make sure that we continue with that momentum and PACE in progressing work that takes us beyond the first phase of the review, and we are committed to that collaborative working. We will continue to engage with stakeholders in phase 2 of the aquaculture review and in the production of a Government-led vision for aquaculture. We also want to mention that, as part of our manifesto commitments, we said that we would reform and streamline regulatory processes so that development is more responsive, transparent and efficient. To achieve that, we are also committed through our manifesto commitments to implement a process that will bring greater clarity and speed to the process of aquaculture regulation. We appointed Professor Griggs as part of that 100-day commitment, and we are now finalising the next steps into phase 2 of the work that is required to move beyond the status quo. The mortality rate of Scottish salmon farms is 24 per cent, and that was in 2020. Environmental sustainability depends on the robust enforcement of compliance, and we know that SEPA and NatureScot have recently suffered successive budget cuts. Cabinet Secretary, with any new licence fee, will it be used to pay for greatly expanded independent monitoring of fish farms' impacts, especially including sea lice counts and fish deaths? The work that has just been announced, as I have just said in my previous response, to continue that momentum and to build on the work that has already been announced, would be premature for me to make any specific commitments in relation to what the member is talking about given the phase that we are at with that work. I also want to point out that, as part of the Bute House agreement, we recognised that there was an immediate programme of work that needed to be carried out in that regard. I would also highlight to the member and to those across the chamber that that was also why we set out our response to the salmon interactions working group to try to tackle some of the issues that already exist while we were undertaking this review. Thank you, and question number eight is whoever who joins us remotely. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. For us, the Scottish Government, whether it is adapting its agricultural policy for crops and livestock stock due to the war in Ukraine. The Scottish Government recognises the impact that the terrible war in Ukraine is having on global agrifood markets. On 17 March, we announced the establishment of a short-life food security and supply task force jointly with industry leaders to monitor, identify and respond to any potential disruption to the food and drink supply chain. It will also seek to recommend actions that can be taken to mitigate impacts, resolve supply issues and strengthen food security and supply in Scotland, where we remain committed to producing more of our own food sustainably while maintaining and enhancing nature. Sue Webber. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for her answer. I guess the war in Ukraine has highlighted the need to support farmers and growers to help deal with crises like this, inflationary pressures and the market volatility that they are facing. Will the Cabinet Secretary also promise that her Government will not approve any more deals to send thousands of seed potatoes to Russia? I think that there are a few points that need to be clarified in relation to this. The Scottish Government does not approve export deals. We have led calls for businesses to disinvest in Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, and we have communicated that very clearly to the seed potato suppliers concerned. The Scottish Government and its economic agencies will use all available powers not to support trade and investment activity within Russia, and where a company makes the decision to export any plants or other plant products from Scotland, including seed potatoes. The Scottish Government officials are required to carry out various activities in relation to this, including the inspection and the certification of goods. Again, the Scottish Government does not approve export deals. A couple of supplementaries, first of all, to any mental. The terrible conflict in Ukraine, as has been said earlier, will impact on food security in Scotland, as was highlighted in Tuesday's Good Food Nation Bill debate. So, could the cabinet secretary inform us how the UK Government is involving the Scottish Government and the other devolved administrations in discussions and deliberations in this area? Right across the Scottish Government, we are in contact with the UK Government on a range of aspects relating to the conflict and the impacts as a result of that. I know that the First Minister attends a weekly domestic resilience meeting chaired by the minister for the Cabinet Office, and Ukraine has been one of the top agenda items at the regular inter-ministerial group meetings that we have with DEFRA and with other devolved administrations, too. However, I am also continuing to press for further engagement with DEFRA minister Victoria Prentis to ensure that we are closely involved in responding to this fast-moving situation, and that includes most recently at the last inter-ministerial group meeting, which took place at the start of this week. At that meeting, Victoria Prentis assured all the relevant devolved ministers that there would be that on-going close contact and liaison, given that many of the issues that are impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine are devolved and are shared right across the UK. I am obviously keen to ensure that that commitment is followed through and that we will be doing what I can to ensure that it is. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I wish the cabinet secretary well in getting that engagement, because she will know that there are many Ukrainian seasonal workers carrying outstanding work at the moment supporting Scottish agriculture and fruit growing, and although their visas have been extending until December, they are only valid as long as workers stay on their current farm or are placed by their sponsor on another farm. However, those workers cannot apply for their families to join them, and they are generally subject to no recourse to public funds. Will the cabinet secretary consider what more support the Scottish Government could give those farm workers and indeed help more to come to Scotland from Ukraine, including how they may be able to bring their family over, have access to public funds and services, given the enormous contribution that they are all making to Scottish farming and fruit pickers at the moment? That is briefly as possible, cabinet secretary. Yes, absolutely. We are committed to doing that and are doing all that we can to ensure that we are giving that support where possible. I just want to provide the assurance to the member in the cross-chamber that we are engaging closely with our fruit and vegetable producers on a regular basis. We are aware that, of course, there are some workers from Ukraine already here, and the plan was for many more to join them as part of the seasonal workforce. Clearly, that is unlikely to happen, but we are working urgently with all of our stakeholders and internally to determine how best we can support those workers. That includes to ensure that they are aware of and are known to parts of Government, which are co-ordinating our action to support Ukrainian refugees. Just in addition to that, we have also reached out to RSAPI with a view to utilise their already-established seasonal worker helpline and are working closely with them to find out what and how they can provide assistance. Clearly, we want to be able to provide all possible practical and emotional support that we can, and we will certainly be doing everything that we can within the powers and resources that we have to provide that support. That concludes portfolio questions. Can I extend an apology again to Audrey Nicholl and Evelyn Tweed for the confusion? I also remind members that, for portfolio questions, if you have a question or you intend to ask a supplementary, you need to be here at the beginning of portfolio questions and remain until the end of portfolio questions. I am not going to name and shame on this occasion, but let it be noted. We will be slight paused before we move to the next item of business.


Good afternoon, welcome to this special broadcast with Mr. Arjun Ranga who is the founder and manager of Arjun Nagarbatti. It's a brand that's very well known in southern India and very popular part of the daily culture there. Thank you Mr. Ranga for joining us and we're glad you could join us. I apologize for starting a couple of minutes late but we'll make up as we go now. Mr. Ranga, how's been the last 60 days? Yeah, it's been tough but before that, you know, our business was started by my grandfather in 1948, Sri Endrang Rao. He's the founder of the business. The company is called Endrang Rao & Sons. The brand is called Cycle Pure Agarbhati. I definitely like to launch Arjun Agarbhati but that's in the future for sure. But I think the second generation of a family is what laid the foundation for what we are today and thanks to our elders for creating this platform for me as well. So we are into the third generation of our family business now. Just like every other business in India, the last two months have been really tough for us as well. I think in the 75 year history of the company, this is the first time we've had zero business for two months consecutively. So of course just like everybody else, it's been really tough for us but our focus has been to support the government, do what we can in our locality and for the country and support our employees in that time of need. That's what we've been more or less up to. Apologies I called you Arjun Agarbhati but who knows? You may start one. Maybe I am a futurist or astrologer but that was a forepower of being under pressure on time. Tell me why did your grandfather call it Cycle? There must be a story that your father must have told you. Why it was called Cycle? Well I think my grandfather was a visionary. He came from a very humble background. He grew up in Madurai district in a small village called Vazhapur. Had a lot of struggles in childhood as well. Very tough childhood. Lost his father in 1920 during the great plague in India. Had to take care of his family. Very very determined, strong-willed person, willing to take risk, educated himself, killed himself well as well. And then when the opportunity came another time India got independent in 1947. He moved to Mysore from Kurg. That's where he was working and started our small Agarbhati company in Mysore in 1948. Took a big mother, all of them and then started our business in Mysore. They were articulate and very smart man. So very early he realized that to be successful in India you need to have a brand. Small and a small name. Yes. As a knowing that is easy. He wanted to have a brand that everybody would understand and recognize and so he said Cycle Agarbhati as affordable and eco-friendly as a cycle and that's how it came about. And a cycle is called a cycle anywhere in the country. You go no matter what. People see the symbol, they know it's a cycle. The name is very simple and no matter what language they call it a cycle, not just in India anywhere else. And then over a period of time the philosophical values of what Agarbhati and prayer mean, the cycle of life, the ups and downs of life. And it's powered by one's own will just like a prayer is. So there's a lot of philosophical values of what a cycle stands as well for us. And that's how he coined the word cycle in 1950. And he also started a brand called Vasu Agarbhati's in the name Vasu under the name of his son. So my uncle. Yes. So Vasu and Cycle brand Agarbhati. That's what we were. And we are today as well. Fantastic. And tell me what is the size of the Agarbhati market today overall? I think AC Nielsen estimates the Agarbhati market at about 7000 crores today. Addition to that, there's about 800 to 850 crores of exports to over 165 countries. So overall market, so you can say including exports, guesstimate would be about 8000 crores. That's a very size. That's a one point, almost $2 billion industry. A billion dollar industry. Yeah. Agarbhati, right? In their part, I use them in my study. There is a temple. So and I'm away, you know, Sneha is our head of south. Whenever I'm in Bangalore, I requested to take me to a good South Indian restaurant and to take me to a temple. So that's what I do. In fact, I keep saying next life I want to be born in South Indian food. I love South Indian temples. And I do Agarbhati. So tell us what is the next three months looking like? I know the last in Bangalore, Monday the off-smoke point, I could be in a slow start. So if you had to put, though there is no certainty, but if you had to put like if on in February, so 100 units, where do you think you'll be at in 90 days? So if we spoke on 20th August, in the 90 days preceding 20th August, what would be, instead of being 300 would be 150, 200. What does it look like? Yeah, see, I think, you know, I'm not a, I don't have a crystal ball to gaze at. And the way I'm looking at it is I'm looking at it day by day, a week by week, right? Support the government. Day by day, week by week. That's it. I'm not even looking beyond a seven day horizon to be honest. I think this is purely tactical now. It is survival that we are looking for. There's no grand vision. There's no grand plan of what I will do after three months or six months or a year. Trying to put pieces in place so that we can get our product to market. There is no challenge with demand contraction in our industry. It's a daily use product. People pray every day. It's not very expensive. It's light on the pocket. So consumption is not a challenge in our industry. The challenge would be in supply chain and ensuring product reaches retail, right? So we're looking at markets opening up, ensuring service to our trade partners and our channels, ensuring product reaches retail quickly and efficiently and safely as well. So that's what I'm planning. There's no grand plan for what would be next three months or six months, but that's where we are today. And tell me, you know, I'm already starting to get question. What is your father's start of the company with the founder, then grandfather, then your father came in now. What is the difference in the leadership style of, let's say, you saw your father definitely growing the business and now you own the business, you professionalize the business, you enhance the brand, you know, it was already a very well established brand, but you kind of made it relevant and invested in brand building and the product.  Tell me, what is the leadership style that you, you know, kind of taken from your grandfather and father and what have you added on? To be honest, I think the revolutionary generation for our family was the second generation. My grandfather started the business, of course, in 1948. I think by 1968, the three elders in our family, Mr. Guru, the chairman of the group, my father, Mr. Murthy and Mr. Vasu had joined the business already and they were growing the business. They laid the foundation. I think the fundamental premise for the business and the family has been ethical and collaborative growth. Right. So we always grew and our trade partners grew with us. We have distributors who've been with us for 50 years now, our employees, the second generation of the employees are working with us as well. So take the family forward, take the employees together as well and that's been the driving force for the group right from the beginning. And the second generation, I think, laid a solid foundation of trusting employees. This is the time, you know, 1980s, when there was licences, great challenges of material availability. That's when the company was actually built. The distribution network was created. Today we are among the top 20 non-food FMCG companies in India. We have a reach of 15 lakh retail outlets serviced, you know, by our own sales network of over 2,000 people. So all of this, the platform was laid down by the second generation and the way they managed, they always encouraged professionalism. They said one of our values are professional management with family business values. So when I came back from the U.S., it was all on a platter for me and after my MBA, getting my work experience outside to just take it, you know, with the growth of the country after 2000. So I joined the business in the year 2000. So that's how last 20 years, 20th year in the business. 20th year, yes. And I'm sure it will help you. I know it's tough time, but as they say, you know, tough people last, not tough circumstances. In leadership style, I think the second generation was more mentoring generation. They had a lot of patience. They would take their time in explaining situations to employees, help them nurture and grow. I think in my leadership style, I'm in a bit of a hurry of solving problems. So I kind of push my team to come up with results and answers a lot quicker. I think that's something I need to learn from the second generation as well. But I mean, that's my leadership style. Tell us, you have to grow the market. How would you start getting millennials to use Agar Bhatthi? You know, so I think I'm just thinking growing the Agar Bhatthi market, you know, so how I know we all are like tradition oriented. We see what our parents do, what our grandparents do, and then for a period of time it becomes happening. And you know, so how do you enhance the size of the Agar Bhatthi market? What's happened is I think post the year 2000, 2001, once Ayurveda, yoga, spirituality, Eastern culture started to become popular, Agar Bhatthi transcended religion and became a spiritual product. So today, whoever is spiritual, Agar Bhatthi is part of the connect and the world is going through a spiritual wave now. And Agar Bhatthi is not just prayer, it goes beyond. It's for peace of mind. It helps in spatial cleansing. So the, and we did a recent survey about a couple of years ago to understand the modern millennials. And they said one of the things that they connect with their families and their roots is praying in the morning, lighting their Agar Bhatthi and Dya. So I think the consumption is intact for us. There is no category expansion required. The category is penetrated at 82%. It's more about reach and premarization and ensuring that we also go into the living room and other places of relaxation as well. By the way, I read Aroma therapy works. I have a friend she does aromatherapy. She wrote a book on aromatherapy.  And it was blossom culture. And next time we do possibly carry that book. So what you're saying is scientific, it's not, you know, it does elevate the mood at different times of the day, different kinds of aromas can change the energy and hence change the mood. So it's called the science of aromacology, the effect fragrances have on your mind and your space. So the effects of aromacology are proven, you know, so lavender invigorates you, there's patcholi, there's gingers, there's a lot of beautiful fragrances that can actually very good for sleep as well. Very good for, you know, lowering anxiety. So it's called aromacology and we have a range of products around that under a brand name called Iris, you know, so we have that across the country as well. So in that context, you know, during COVID times, it should be using Agar Bhatthi's board, the cycle Agar Bhatthi and other Agar Bhatthi's, you know, instance fixes, we call them, right? Coming back to COVID, it's a really unusual time. This is the first time the supplies impacted, demand is impacted. So how do you pivot your company?  For them, it's possible the first big crisis they've seen. So what is your advice to entrepreneurs who are dealing with a new normal today? I think I can only tell you what I am going through and what I'm experiencing because no matter how big or small you are, the challenges remain similar. And for us, I think the way I'm looking at it is I am taking a call and opportunity against liquidity, right? So I am compromising an opportunity to ensure liquidity. I think sitting with compromising an opportunity to keep liquidity, that's a lovely headline. Yeah, so that's, yeah, so that's, that's what I'm looking at. I think over the next three months, taking care of our trade partners or stakeholders and employees is going to be critical. So I am innovating a lot in supply chain using a lot of technology to help us, you know, take faster decisions, but I'm not investing money in places where I don't know what the end result will be. So I'm saving cash right now. And that's what I think most entrepreneurs will do at this point of time, focus on their core competence, not take unnecessary risks, because you don't have a foreseeable future in sight. And that's that's kind of what I'm doing as well.  What we've done over the last two months is completely decentralized decision making. And we're enabling our frontline warriors to actually take decisions at the marketplace, even at the supply locations as well, we have a lot of manufacturing locations across. So we have decentralized decision making to a great extent, put in some level of financial controllership to be able to manage that use technology to enable everybody across the supply and the value chain. And I think that's what most entrepreneurs will do. You know, look at their core competence and ensure they secure some level of liquidity. Fantastic.  So are there any silver linings in this COVID times? For example, if you were hesitant to do certain things in the past, because you were too timid or you told yourself, you know, it can't be done. Now, you know, a lot of things we said can't be done, can be done. Right. It was only our mindset that was stopping us. So tell us, is there any silver lining in this sort of saying COVID times? No, definitely, I think one silver lining is the fact that the company is strong. Their employees are amazing. They're all banding together. They all came forward. You know, I was, I had tears in my eyes yesterday when one of our state teams messaged me saying that we don't want to get our incentive this month because you took care of us last month and can hold back our incentives for the company's sake. Now, these things I would have never have imagined that level of commitment and passion in our employees. And our trade partners as well, they said, you've been with us for 50 years. So, you know, this is the time we have to stay together and we will do what is required. I think, you know, the strength of a brand, the strength of an organization is actually reflected in crisis. And for me, the way each and every one of our stakeholders came together, supported each other, contributed to community. There is a guy in Bihar, my sales representative, he earns 15,000 rupees a month. He is going out there distributing food packets on his own with his earning. And that's the level of satisfaction I get that the values that my founder, Shri Endang Rao, prescribed has percolated through the organization. And that's something that I learned the past couple of months that you're only as good as your people and if your people are not there, you're nothing. Fantastic. I think tough time show you are on your side and bring out a certain character in people. And as long as the intent is good, everything else matters. Coming back to looking ahead in the future. Now, have you cut down on the brand building aspect? Because the demand is lesser or zero. Supply side there may be a disruption. So what are you doing about your brand building? Have you continued to build the brand or you put a pause to your brand building activities? Not definitely not going to put a pause to our brand building activities. I mean, brand is our life, right? And we need to communicate our brand and what we stand for. But I think the way we focus the way we allocate our resources is definitely going to change going forward. If you look at our below the line communication, our POPs, our danglers, our in-shop promoters used to have so many things happening at the storefront. That definitely is going to change. Consumer buying behaviors have changed. The way retailers, social distancing has to be maintained. Those challenges will definitely be there. So those budgets are definitely... However, on the other side of the pyramid, you know, above the line spending on brand building, either on television or on cricket or on media, that will definitely have to continue after things come back to normal. I mean, like I said, opportunity at the cost of liquidity. So I'm not going to pull money out of something else and put it on media, which I cannot measure at this point of time. Because I don't know if I'm going to be able to sell the products. I think in our category, the worst thing to do is to advertise and not have product in the shelf. So first focus is to get the product in the shelf and then advertise. Fantastic. One more question that has come is that over the next 12 to 18 months, do you expect the other monthly market to grow? And if yes, why? Or it will stay sitting? Now, if you talk in the context of well-being, because as well-being and self-care become more important, what is the role and incense thing or Agarbati has to play? See, the Agarbati today goes hand-in-hand with prayer. So wherever there is prayer, there is Agarbati and wherever there's Agarbati, there's cycle Agarbati. So that's a given as added to that, the category per se will definitely continue to grow and emerge as rural market starts to pick up. But what is more important for us to understand is that this category today is essential but non-essential. People will continue to pray, will continue to use Agarbati in all its formats, be it do, be it Samrani, be it Kone. So consumption will continue to increase going forward. The industry has been growing over the last six, seven years. Once supply chains come back to normal, Agarbati will continue to grow and new categories will also get added like Aromachology that we were just discussing. So people will start using Agarbati beyond just prayer, also for relaxation and peace of mind. I think the category is only going to expand. I don't see any contraction happening at all. Fantastic. This is another question. If Aromachwapi can uplift more, it can be a stress reliever. Why can't you ensure that e-commerce setups deliver Agarbati to people who want these impacts? I think all the e-commerce platforms are developing Agarbati right now. I think once the government allowed non-essential delivery, even our website Cycle.in we're doing really well on our e-commerce platform. We have almost, you know, three times more enquiries when we're closed. So Cycle.in is our online e-commerce platform. We're also available on Amazon and all the other platforms as well. So products completely available on e-commerce and I think you should go and look at our create your own incense category as well within Cycle.in where you can customize your incense, choose the fragrances that you want, you can play around, you can customize your packaging. Beautiful. I'm going to go to your site. Cycle.in. There are lots of questions. I mean, 12 questions already. There is Manasi KG asking, what is your marketing strategy for the next quarter? What has changed? How do you plan to influence the market? What about online personalization service for cycles and incense picks? This is the online service which you've launched. Deepak Ghatke is asking, you had multiple epidemics. This one was unprecedented. There might be other epidemics that may follow. How should one's business be prepared for future? These are some of the questions that are coming at this point and I can take the first. What about the marketing strategy for the next quarter? Like I said, there's no great strategy. Taking care of my employees, ensuring my product reads the shelf, ensuring supply chain integrity is the key. Not looking beyond 2-3 months, very tactical at this point of time, on-ground reality, market to market, what is containment zone, what is not, which distributor can operate, who cannot, which transporter is available, who is not. So there is no great strategic thought here. I think it's predominantly tactical, delegation or responsibility to the front line, enabling decision making, quick decision making that is. And that's what we are looking at till this entire pandemic passes and we are returned to some state of normalcy. You have one more question. How do you compete and succeed as a family business against large corporates like ITC, for example? So you already in some way explained that you're a large brand or the trust of people. It's a 70 plus year old brand, 72 years now? Yes, 1948. So 72 years. Deepak Gandhi is asking, how do you compete with players like us? You know, look at it as competition, right? Any player that comes into the market actually helps you become better and improve. So that's the way I look at it. I think you are your own competition after you read a certain stage. You need to keep setting new benchmarks and pushing yourself to achieve newer and greater things. You know, all in all, you know, we are here to help the consumer and deliver and value. So as long as you continue to deliver value and consumer starts to see quality in what you create, I don't think you should worry about competition. See, for me, market share or no market share is one thing.  You know, this question has been answered in some way. Bharat Vui asks, Agar Bhakti is an orthodox practice in the country and cycle brand has a huge impact on this orthodox practice. Will you put money on this category for spiritual practice, which will grow the market? That's a question I asked you. Dr. Parag Amin is asking, have you about thought about launching a special cold proof Agar Bhakti that has camphor turmeric ginger that is supposed to boost immunity as part of leveraging on the opportunity to get back in there? Operation CK is asking, how do you see the hospitality industry opening up opportunities for your product? Right now, the hospitality industry is not open, my friend. A.G.V. Narayanan is saying, do you foresee he incense sticks in the future? Adwet Kurlekar from Pune is asking, you plan to diversify into anything related or you believe focus is important going forward. The management consultant, we know that he is asking, what would be your advice to others who are facing the anxiety and how do how does the common citizen deal with this? So these are these are then there are questions around modern millenials which have asked, A.G.V. Narayanan saying cycle has become a generic brand, the brand does it stop you from diversifying using the cycle brand? These are the kind of questions that give you. There are comments also, for example, somebody saying, you know, for years we've been using cycle brand, and great to see you maintain the same high standard. This is from PSN. Okay, great, so you can ask me any one of them, like I have you take the one that you see in incense stick coming up and second is you're leveraging on the cycle brand and launching new kind of variants or you know, launching a brand extension? We have, you know, cycle is the mother brand, so we have over, you know, 200 different SKUs catering to different markets, different fragrance preferences. We have a brand called Lea, we have a brand called Rhythm, Sandalum, Woods is our premium handmade handcrafted incense. So we have an entire basket of products. What I'm not going to get into is the therapeutic benefits because we're going to stick to aromacology. I don't want to get into medicinal right now, but I'm going to stick to aromacology and the benefits of fragrances have on mood. What we've done as a brand as well is extended cycle into puja samagri. So we are into kunkum, turmeric, dhyas, githyas, puja oils and all of that. So the entire puja room space we are trying to operate in.   So we have all of those kits created already and you know you can order them online. So what we have done is on one side we have expanded into the spirituality and well-being and the religious space. On the other side we've got into fragrances and home care with our air fresheners under the brand name of liya, bathroom care under the brand name of stopover and lifestyle air fragrances under the brand name of virus. So kind of leveraging on our fragrance creative competence. So we are all perfumers by nature. My grandfather is a perfumer. My father and uncles are perfumers. I'm a perfumer. My brother Kiran is a perfumer. So we know how to create fragrances for Indian conditions and we are local perfumers. We use the best ingredients. So fragrance creation is our competence. It's a core competence for us. So leveraging in our fragrance creative competence, we have launched a whole host of products in the local market. So to say if I had to put a headline, you smell an opportunity in the near future which has come about because of the current circumstances which he was not looking at, say before 15 parts. And suddenly the last 60 days have made you smell an opportunity that didn't exist. So show us how in these times also, while you said you're living for the day, you're living for the week, you're focusing on the basics and protecting liquidity and not going after opportunity. But some of the opportunities that you've seen, you may address them at some stage. So I think the opportunities are within my own core competence. I think that's what I'm looking at. I don't want to go into things that I'm not clear about. Like I said, fragrance creative ability is a core competence. Another amazing thing I realized is the ability of our operations team. In a span of five days, they converted one of our fragrance filling lines to start making hand sanitizers. So today we have our hand sanitizer brand in the market. So I'm seriously looking at that as a big opportunity going forward. With home care, you also have a lot of added products that come in which is in the sweet spot for us because it is part of our competence as well. I think that's one thing that's come about which I would not have done at the space at which I'm doing right now. Fantastic. Now, there is one more question that has come in. Question on Ganpati Pooja, since you raised that. How is it performing? What were the challenges and how did you overcome the challenges when you first got from Manasi? Manasi wants to know. The greatest challenge was the fact that people did not understand that it was a one kid that kind of covered the entire gamut of the Pooja. I think once the user started understanding the product, they started to value it and hence today you know during the Pooja time we always sell out of the product and there is a niche clientele that actually keeps reordering the product as well. We have sent it to the US. I think it's more an international product. People who don't have access to pandals and mothers who know tradition actually kind of engage with that product a lot more. It's available even today though. You can order it on our cycle.in website. Good. If you have to make two predictions for the future, what would those be? Two predictions, I think. Prediction to your business or overall co-business? I think God exists. Please continue to pray. Cycle brand will be there to support you 100 percent no matter what. That's one prediction that's there for sure. I think the second prediction, I think the country is intact. Believe in our government, believe in our country, believe in what we have today. No matter what happens, India will survive whatever pandemic we're facing. Beautiful. God exists. Continue to have faith in God and if you have faith and believe in something, it happens. You know, we know about the effect medicine lab but we also know that there is a placebo effect and that works in faith religion also. If you believe that God will look after you, if you believe you're lucky, then you do get lucky. You have hope and then you make it happen. And as he said, Cycle will be there. There's one more question that has come. Kavya Bharati is asking, in this new normal, what would you consider as relevant mediums to engage with your end consumer going forward? What is the media mix that stays and what is the new media mix? You were told there is a new media mix. Now I think still, I think no matter how you look at it, television still happens to be the biggest medium for you. You've seen what Durdas and did with Ramayana and Mahabharat during the lockdown had the highest rating and highest viewership as well. That being said, I think digital is really important. Digital budgets will definitely get relocated after the COVID. Looking at different opportunities, either advertising on digital or creating your own content. I think creating your own content is what the future will be about. You need to learn how to start creating in-house content and getting it viral and communicating what you stand for. I think that's something that most companies will start doing. And I think quite a few examples globally who have successfully done that as well in our FMCG space.  And in the last one week, the prime minister, the finance minister, all have given us an economic stimulus, an economic packet. And they've tried to address compliance, liquidity, reforms. You know, they've tried to address supply side first and hopefully demand side. Also, they've tried to address the weaker section and go for the bottom of the pyramid. So what are the expectations you have as a business owner from the government? Now, I think my understanding is the government is an administrator. He's not, government's not running my business. It is my responsibility to take care of my people and my business. The fundamental role of the government is to ensure its 1.2 billion citizens don't feel helpless at any point of time. I mean, that's the responsibility the government has. And liberty has to stay intact, which I think our government has done wonderfully. It is a responsibility for those 300 million below poverty line people in India. I think that's its fundamental responsibility first. Second would be to businesses and in businesses, the micro and small businesses, which are single owner, you know, less than 5, 5 employees who are struggling day in and day out. Those traders out there are almost 10 lakh traders in India. I think the government's responsibility is to the lesser privileged youth in the country. And I think it is done, it's best to take care of them and ensure that the epidemic or the pandemic doesn't catch on to masses in India. Because if that would have happened, you know, we don't know where we would have been. So my business, I believe, is my responsibility. My people are my responsibility and I need to own up to that. And I can't expect the government to come and save me at any point of time. And that's my view. You know, I do a show every day on 6 to 7. It's a business world, a news show. And I said exactly the same two days back to a panelist who said from the QSR sector that, you know, the government hasn't done any. I said, you build your business on your own and you have the capability and the government is doing its best that it can. I mean, so I think I echo your sentiment just to, so just to guide you, that media industry is overall looking at a loss of, depending on which media you are definitely overall 60% loss and in some cases 70-80% loss of revenue in the last two months, right? So what do you think you work with media partners? So do the media companies who are carriers of your brand messaging, your ads, whether it's in the television format, newspapers, magazines, digital. What is your message to your media owner partners? Oh, we definitely will continue to build our brand. Just ensure that the efficiency and cost effectiveness is delivered and ensure that, you know, that we create new properties that are exciting to customers. I think value addition is the key today. Innovation is the key, even from media standpoint. How can we make sure that the consumer gets what we stand for in a shorter form at a time? Because if you look at consumption on media, everything has come down to 10 to 15 to 20 seconds. And if you look at newsprint and on magazines, it's all small format ads and cost-related communication that is becoming the order of the day. So I think feature ads is something that will become important because everybody needs to tell the story. What I've understood today is that purpose-led, meaningful brands are what consumers will want to look at. People who are making a difference in society. People who are making a difference to the society they are in for contributing beyond themselves is what consumers want to buy into. And the media can partner with companies to tell the story. I think those are the media partners that companies would also want to choose. Fantastic. Look at more value for money, cost efficiency, and try to reinvent yourself for the needs of the new consumer and also to the new budgets. I will ask my last two questions and take some more questions. How are you dealing with competition in the unorganized sector? Agrabatis, you know, I buy Agrabatis, I'll be more conscious of buying your brand next time. I go to the Vinayak temple in Saranginagar in Delhi, the Ganesha temple. I go to at least four South Indian temples. And I just pick up Agrabatis with the diet to speak. But I'll hopefully pick up a cycle brand in the other panel. But normally, you know, is there a level of involvement with the brand? And how do you see? I'm sure there is. As once you discover a brand and the quality, what it stands for, you kind of tend to go back to it. But how do you deal with the unorganized sector? You know. Yeah. So in the Agrabatis industry, there is a huge segment that is small and there is an equally big segment that is big. So whether it's organized or unorganized is left to debate because there is no outlet in India that does not have Agrabatis. So each and every store carries Agrabatis, it reaches the store and all of it is packaged. There is some loose unpackaged Agrabatis that has now come into the market, which I don't think is a long-term thing because consumers will buy products that they can trust, that is packaged properly, that is hygienic. I think that's one thing that we will start seeing going forward is that branded products, brand products that people can trust their safety and retailer service is important. Those products will start moving forward. So I think in our category especially, we will see a shift, you know, from unbranded or to branded, not unorganized to organized. So unbranded products will reduce, branded products will definitely start increasing in our category. I think we being on the forefront of that, being a national brand gone beyond South, we will see benefits of reaching the retail outlet at the right time. Fantastic. Now, if I have to ask you in the last few months, two and a half months, two months, what has been the biggest challenge in communication? I know we have more Zoom webinars in our feeling. I'm talking to you and it's become a way of life. But why this is the upside? What has been the downside in communication? Now, I think the biggest downside is human contact.  That's been, I think, a very big problem going forward because most Zoom calls today we are on Microsoft Teams, by the way. So most Microsoft Teams calls today are without the video. So you actually don't see what the other person is saying. I can only hear them. So that's, I think, been one of the biggest drawbacks of not being able to actually read the actual body language of the person sitting next to you and communicating whoever it could be. But isn't it was, I would not do a job interview without physically meeting the person. I had to meet a customer, I had to meet them. Even in the office, I'd say to a colleague, why don't you hop over to the conference room or I'll come to your cabin or I'll come to your desk. I think, you know, while I miss human contact, but we're doing fine. So I agree that we miss it. There is no, you're in my age, you're too used to, kind of sitting across each other and being in the present, being mindful, being face to face. But I think we're getting by. And as the only challenge that you are, do now find it, that, you know, are in screen time, which we wanted to minimize has actually gone up. Yeah, where are you? For my children, whether it's for me, whether it's for my parents, it has gone up. So, which has its own disadvantages, right? No, so for me, I think the biggest problem has been in the entire video conferring, conferencing, communication is a transaction. You ask a question, you get an answer. There is no explanation, there is no background. You don't get that. In a physical communication, I used to be able to establish some level of history. That cannot happen today. The moment we get into a meeting, there is a presentation that's put off on the screen that is shared, and then we start discussing 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4. It is a lot more business, a lot more professional, because people have to be precise in their communication, a lot more today than they were when you're sitting, you know, in a conference room setting. Here, there's a time frame, there are other people as well who need to get their point across. Everybody can communicate, which is a big advantage.  I wouldn't want to use the word humanity, but it's become more transactional. Yes, I understand. Empathy has come down. I think that's an important point. We should have gone up, actually, but it has come down. Yeah. So, I wonder, what does leadership mean to you? You already said, but Simran prompted me to ask this question again. What does leadership mean to you? I think a leader is one who can inspire and, you know, who can get things done without telling people what to do. As long as your team can do what they can do without you telling them what to do, I think you've done your job as a leader. I mean, that's been my simple understanding over the period of time. And that's what I learned from my father and uncles as well. The build is a great organization. And very seldom did I, you know, see them telling people what to do rather than tell them, you know, how to do what to do. So, I think a leader is one who can get things done without telling people what to do. And I believe that's my style as well. I'm also a very detail-oriented person. I think that sometime is detrimental. I get into a lot of details, which sometimes de-focuses the team. But I think in the long-term, you know, the bugs are in the details. Fantastic. There's one more question that has come from Purnima, you know. What are the key markets in tier 2 and tier 3 that will become even more important for story? Now, I think the key markets are rural for sure. And today, rural connectivity is really bad. You know, only about 30 to 40 percent of the transportation is actually working today. And going forward, we don't know when secondary transportation is actually going to come online. So, I think rural India, tier 3, tier 4 cities, population 50,000 to 1 lakh is the future growth opportunity for the nation, not just for our company. And that will happen as supply chain routes start to open up, which I'm thinking is going to be at least three to four months away and not immediately. Fantastic. So, Purnima, what he's saying is that the tier to tier markets will even become more important in the medium term as long-term. And hopefully, the growth that cycle is looking for, cycle brand, whatever he's looking for will come from those markets. My last two questions before we end this conversation. First is what is the change it has brought in you as an individual? You as a person, of course, we heard what is the change it has brought in you as a business owner? That's my first question. Second, you know, I keep saying this economy has become a 3C economy. We can make it 4C cycle also. But it has become a caring economy, a collaborative economy and a contactless economy. Tell us, how do you imagine the future of these 3Cs? And as I asked you, how has it changed as you as a person? We know you. No, I think, you know, our family values and motto has always been to give back to society, right? Our family has been running a school for blind, visually impaired girl children for almost 30 years now. We do a lot of work with about 14 slums in and around myself. We do a lot of social work and contribute to society. And I always never realized the impact it would have had during this COVID, we did a lot for the community as well. And I didn't realize that I had so much of giving in me as well and what my uncles and grandfather inscribed in me. I didn't know I had it in me not to give back to society. So we did a lot. You know, we contributed to the PM CARES fund, almost a crore and 8 lakhs. We donated 5000 N95 masks from 10, from 6, 7,000 face shields to the local community, helped so many migrant laborers, helped tribals in Nagarore forest, you know, with food and all the employees across the country. So I think for me, my inner revelation was that there is no, you know, you need to help people without them knowing that you're helping them. And that's where, you know, you really know that you can make a difference. And for me, the fact that I had it in me, I didn't realize that till the last two months I've kind of taken it for granted. But I think contributing to society and helping people is something that is paramount and that's what I think we'll save humanity and ensure that we all pass this epidemic, you know. Fantastic. You discovered that there was a lot that you could do without, you know, thinking consciously about it. It just came out naturally, subconsciously. Possibly extended your own value system into that in your brand's value system of being a community product if I may use that. At this point, I'd like to bring Simran. Simran is, you know, our senior editorial leader. And she brings out a page and she was very close with me and now I'll let it stay up. So Simran, if you'd like to ask a question to Mr. Ranga, please go ahead. As I just, good afternoon. I just wanted to know you're very involved in sports, you know, with IPL and also with the local T20V. So sports sponsorship is very big. You also mentioned that TV and sports is something that now the uncertainty and you don't know whether you will have viewers in the stadiums. How are you looking at this entire sports sponsorship part for you? No, we started to look at cricket as an opportunity, I think around 2003-2004 when we wanted to get national presence. One thing I've learned about cricket is unless you're there year on year continuously, you cannot don't get, you know, visible. From 2004-2009, we were continuously on cricket and that's when people actually started recognizing us. So very expensive proposition. On hindsight, if I had to go relook at it, I may. But now, when I think about it, one of the big reasons why we've become a national brand is because we've been present on cricket. And why cricket? Because we believe that cricket is a religion in the nation and cricket unites the nation. So when India is playing, everybody prays and they pray together. And that's when cycle had to be there. And then that was a very simple thought and then cricket has taken us beyond, you know, just the Pooja Room and it's really inspired our trade partners, inspired our field force as well. When you see cycle lagerbati right there among the top brands of the country, you know, it kind of reemphasizes who we are and what it stands for as the largest brand in the nation. Fantastic. I want to ask a book that you want to recommend to our viewers. I'm sure you had some time, you know, you started in the U.S.  No, I'm just in front of me. It was a book that you recently read or any book that is a favorite that you'd like to recommend? No, I think one of the first books of I read about family business was the IBM story, you know, the Watson and Junior. So that was one of the first books I read. Leah Icoca's book was one of the first books I read as well about business. That's kind of stayed with me for a long time. Over a period of time, I've read a lot of different books, but more about business and business improvement. Leading change by Philip Kotler is one book that I really liked. I think that's something that helped me, you know, when I came back around 2003-2004, I used that book as a guiding philosophy for me when we're trying to implement some ERPs in my organization as well when we needed a culture shift. So I think over a period of time, different books have given me company at different points of time. I think right now a friend of mine has given me a book called Business Classics by Tom Butler from Pranam. Just look at that. Show us the book. Show us the book, I just think. I think it's a reverse mirrored, so I don't think you'll be able to see it, but... Tom Butler, I haven't read this book, sir. Yeah, I'm sorry. A friend of mine gave it to me just today. So, but, you know, my dad had recommended me to read this, so I was just trying to go through that. Yeah, this one I've read because it's got a more provocative title. And a nice cover, a nice cover.  Both of these are true, absolutely authentic. So I go to a temple, I know you're from Mysore, right? Yes. Your family's from Mysore, right? The home of incense, yes. Yes. And I go from Bangalore to Mysore, and I go, I stop at a, I go to pray at a temple in Khodamallu, Chenkapatni. It's a Navneet Krishna temple, when Lord Krishna was a baby or a young adult, you know, whatever. And on the way back, I stopped at the South Indian joint, you know, the name, you know, when you come back from Mysore to Bangalore, the Lokaruchi Kamat, I think that's probably... Kamat, that's the one. That's the one I stopped. And it's the most tasty. In fact, my friend joked with me, that I actually don't go and, don't just go for the gods. In the temple, I actually go for that food. It's not true. Of course, I go for the, for my, paying obeisance to my order, and then come back and of course, enjoy the food. So we enjoyed talking to you today. We wish you luck in your mission to bring calm in your mission to make sure that the prayers are answered. And we hope that the prayers of 130 Lord Indians are answered and we are able to come out of this difficulty soon. And as it's a delicate balance between lives and livelihood, I hope next time I'm talking to you, both lives and livelihoods are secured. It's been a pleasure talking to you and I wish you and the cycle brand, and your colleagues all the best. Till we chat again, Mr. Arjun Ranga, thank you for being on an exchange for media pitch talk, brought to you by APP News. And we hope you continue to use news channels apart from cricket to be able to get your brand out to the mass consumers. We wish you luck and till we see you next time, numbering. Thanks. Thank you so much, Dr. Anurag. It has been a wonderful experience to be out there, believe in the nation, believe in that we're going to pass this pandemic and only together can we actually survive. Anurag, I keep saying that, I heard it from somewhere, it's not original, that storms don't last, dreams don't perish. I hope the storm won't last long and dreams will actually become stronger. I believe in that. I keep telling my colleague that this time is not for flattening up, it's not time to be sad, it's time to reinvent, it's time to build on whatever we've caught and do the best and live for the day. The best people are, they don't have a plan, you know, a couple of days and you take things as they come and you know, you make the best of it. And I also believe, since you recommended a book, I would recommend a book, but Eckhart told the power of now. It's about mindfulness, it's about staying in the moment. While I was looking at the phone for questions, I actually only like to look at because it does, it does make an impact to me, you know, to my brain on what you're saying, what I'm receiving, you know, processing that and being able to have a conversation which is deeper. So that's the book I'd recommend to everyone and you know, books are a lifeline. So we wish you luck and again, thank you and sorry for the two-minute late start and calling it, you know, Arjun Agarvati. Who knows? Who knows, your son will launch Arjun Agarvati. And Arad. Doctor will launch it Arjun Agarvati, we don't know. No. There is a lot we know, there's a lot we don't know. There's a lot we don't even know that we don't know. That's a good thing. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you for meeting us. Stay in touch. Doctor Anurag. Stay in touch. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you.


Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. In this definition, scientific refers to the empirical investigation using the scientific method. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behavior refer to psychological variables that can be measured in humans. The statement that others' presence may be imagined or implied suggests that humans are merrily able to social influences even when alone, such as when watching television or following internalized cultural norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the interaction of mental states and social situations. Social psychologists examine factors that cause behaviors to unfold in a given way in the presence of others. They study conditions under which certain behavior, actions, and feelings occur. Social psychology is concerned with the way these feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and goals are cognitively constructed and how these mental representations, in turn, influence our interactions with others. Social psychology traditionally bridged the gap between psychology and sociology. During the years immediately following World War II there was frequent collaboration between psychologists and sociologists. The two disciplines, however, have become increasingly specialized and isolated from each other in recent years, with sociologists focusing on macro variables e.g., social structure to a much greater extent than psychologists.Citation needed nevertheless. Sociological approaches to psychology remained an important counterpart to psychological research in this area. In addition to the split between psychology and sociology, there has been a somewhat less pronounced difference in emphasis between American social psychologists and European social psychologists. As of generalization, American researchers traditionally have focused more on the individual, whereas Europeans have paid more attention to group-level phenomena c. group dynamics.


Canada took a leading role in supporting the NEPAD and the G8 Africa Action Plan with our creation of a $500 million Canada Fund for Africa. This fund focused on the key challenges identified by NEPAD and provided an opportunity to showcase Canadian leadership in pursuit of effective development through a series of large-scale flagship initiatives. With this context in mind in May 2003, Canada announced a contribution of $30 million to establish the Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa Initiative in Kenya. BECCA is the first of four networks of centres of excellence across Africa to strengthen Africa's scientific and technological development. BECCA hub, located here in Ilri and Nairobi, in collaboration with regional nodes and national laboratory, allows eastern and central African countries to develop and apply bioscience research and expertise. According to the 2008 World Development Report, most poor people living in rural areas earn their income from agriculture. The report states that investments in agriculture are two to four times more effective in reducing poverty than investments in other sectors. In addition, Africa is at the very heart of African life. Most Africans live and work in rural areas, and despite their immense natural resources, one African and three goes to bed hungry every night. Women, who are the main producers of crops consumed by families, often lack access to credit, seeds, technical training, and other support that could help them improve production. BECCA, a partnership between CEDA, Ilri, and NEPAD, is a significant initiative focusing and strengthening the agricultural search pillars of NEPAD's comprehensive African agricultural development programme in meeting the goal of 6% annual growth in agricultural predictivity by 2015. Canada's support assists the NEPAD secretariat in the establishment and development of three other networks of excellence in northwest and southern Africa within the framework of the African Biosciences Initiative. Your Excellency, Canada is pleased to celebrate the achievements that have been made in establishing this particular centre of excellence in bioscience in agriculture. BECCA is conducting important research that will help address key agricultural issues, including those facing small-scale African farmers, the majority of whom are women. Our investment here is support of the construction of new and the renovation of existing facilities, including laboratories. With the completion of construction, the hub is now in full operation, with a number of significant research programmes underway, and is quickly gaining regional and international recognition as a world-class facility to support capacity for bioscience in Africa. Today, African scientists and university researchers do not have to leave the continent to conduct their biological research. Rather, research can now be done by Africans for Africa at this new facility. Indeed, this hub provides a focal point for the whole African scientific community to address agricultural health and environmental-related problems of the highest priority. Moreover, this hub will enable African scientists and researchers to play a major role in helping Africa meet its Millennium Development Goals by 2015, as a more productive and profitable agricultural sector is a critical component in the successful attainment of the MDGs. Through Accent C, Canada encourages the strengthening of the strong relationships that have been built amongst partners involved in the establishment of the BECCA network, including the hub, and we encourage others to build on this investment. This facility, for example, is fast becoming a magnet for a number of projects that are using moderate biotechnology to solve problems faced by small-scale farmers in Africa. For example, I gather that a large number of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation projects are already being conducted here at BECCA. Further, as a result of the hub, a new bio-innovate program, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency, is also being implemented at these facilities. These exciting developments emerging from Canada's investment will be one of the many success stories that highlight CEDA's work in the area of research development, which is one of the priorities of Canada's food security strategy. Your excellency, in conclusion, I'm excited to be here today to witness the official opening of the hub, not only because Canada helped fund the facilities, but because it will assist African scientists to find your solutions to key agricultural issues. It is gratifying to see the birth of a hub that will pay a cre-roll in ensuring that Africa drives her own agenda in regards to agriculture and strength in the research pillar of the Comprehensive Africa to Agricultural Development Program.


What's good Josh your Bob Ross back at again with another video, so I Haven't had a chance to check out carrying cross versus Finn bowler I know that happened last week, and I'm pretty sure it was a pretty good match I just didn't get a chance to check it out because I was kind of busy with recording and stuff like that I'm trying to get some other videos situated, but I will probably go check it out after I finish recording These videos and I'm trying to get out to you guys on this channel So I'm actually gonna take some time to watch that match But I kind of figured the outcome was going to be carrying across retaining the NXT Championship it wouldn't make sense for them to throw the belt right back on Finn bowler But hey, I'm okay with that because they're building up carrying cross as this next Legitimate big threat in WWE I just hope whenever he does go to the main roster that they just continue to Carry his momentum But right now Adam Cole has returned Adam Cole has been out of action since the last time we seen them at NXT Takeover going against Kyle O'Reilly, and I did see the clip previous to this where basically Adam Cole Disrupts a triple threat match to see who's gonna be the number one contender to face carrying across at the next NXT Takeover the match was between Johnny Gargano Kyle O'Reilly and Pete Dunn and that's when Adam Cole comes out of nowhere and Destroys the match he destroys everyone disrupts the match causes chaos William Regal has to come out there with officials and security To pretty much get a hold on things and all the competitors were laid out So we don't know what's gonna happen here, and it looks like he's calling out carrying cross man So I'm interested to see what comes out of this because this could be pretty pretty dope I'm not gonna lie to you. So I'm looking forward to seeing what was said in this promo segment. Let's check it out Two years ago to the day I became the NXT champion And whether NXT wants to admit it or not whether Regal wants to admit it or not You were looking at the real number one contender Okay, you took out everybody so I've been gone for two months Damn and for two months. I watched is everybody everybody tried to live up to my legacy and surprise surprise everybody failed Because I just took out three of NXT's top stars and I did it in one night So you know what that means boys and girls that means old Adam Cole baby What's the NXT championship? Like it.  You think it was a mistake That I held the NXT championship for four hundred and three days Man a lot to you He was putting NXT on his back not even gonna lie to he was carrying NXT on his back man that His title run will definitely be remembered. He had some of the greatest matches. NXT has ever produced man Little man your motives tonight getting involved with the triple threat Understandable you want to be the NXT champion again No, it's not yours first of all and secondly, let me explain something to you no matter what you ever do It's never gonna change things in the grand scheme. You know why because When I signed here at NXT on the dotted line you No longer became Special Nice The thing can cross is the complete package bro. He's great on the mic. He has great and ring presence He has he has the girl like he has the complete wrestling package, bro He's intimidating fierce like bruh. I Like that since I signed on the dotted line You weren't special no more, bro Your time was up tick-tock your time was up. I like this man And you know that Wake we can talk about it out here. We don't have to go back there But hey, hey, hey humor me. Tell me a story entertain me. Mr. Cole Explained to me be happy to mr. Overrated Nice The truth is you ain't Adam Cole baby, and you never will be Because this brand has done everything in their power to make you feel special You got the cool music. You got the lights. You got the fog machine. You got the girl You know what they do to make Adam Cole feel special.  I just wish that if they do go to the main roster it They don't lose their momentum, but nine times out of ten they will So it's like Until vent steps down I really don't want them to go to the main roster because they're just so much better in NXT Because they go to the main roster the only person I think that will actually somewhat still keep his momentum is carrying cross Adam Cole He'll be fine for maybe a couple months, and then they'll bury him But carrying cross I would be surprised if they mess him up, but then again, they did the same thing with Drew McIntyre They didn't really push him correctly He had to get over on his own and then he got the right push. So I don't know man I just stand there next to you.  Hey, man, sign me up Sign me the F up bro. That's gonna be a great match There's a lot of story to be told within that entire match. Ah, man You know what the right person to win is Karrion Kross, bro Karrion Kross, I think should win that match The question is who does he pin? Does he pin Adam Cole? Does he I don't know who he pins there.  You didn't beat me so I think They're gonna go with that. I think that's gonna be the the proper way to book this is to have Karrion Kross win and have him pin somebody else and then potentially continue to feud with Adam Cole But comment down below. Let me know what you guys think who you think is gonna win this match I would love your thoughts and opinions on this I'm looking forward to the next in its NXT takeover. I think this is gonna be fantastic But I appreciate all love and support road to a 40k appreciate y'all kicking in with me and I see y'all on the next one Peace