ITV

Tag: Swami Ramdev

  • Aaj Tak’s Health summit tackles India’s silent crisis

    Aaj Tak’s Health summit tackles India’s silent crisis

    MUMBAI: India’s health is under the weather, and Aaj Tak is putting it back in the spotlight. The news channel will host the first edition of Health summit 2025 on 29 September, aligning with World heart day, to address the nation’s growing silent health emergency.

    With more than 100 million people battling diabetes, obesity and fatty liver cases on the rise, and mental health concerns mounting, the summit promises to be a wake-up call. Policymakers, doctors, nutritionists and mental health experts will gather for a day of hard-hitting discussions on everything from cardiovascular health and childhood lifestyle diseases to nutrition myths and mental well-being.

    Union health minister J P Nadda, yoga guru Swami Ramdev, and eminent specialists including Fortis Escorts’s Ashok Seth and AIIMS’s Rakesh Yadav will join the dialogue. Senior ministers from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh will also bring a policymaker’s perspective.

    Anchored by Aaj Tak’s most trusted voices, the event aims not just to raise awareness but to inspire action: building pathways for a fitter, stronger, and healthier India.

  • Patanjali Group hard wires IBSFintech to transform treasury operations

    Patanjali Group hard wires IBSFintech to transform treasury operations

    MUMBAI: The Swami Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna founded Patanjali FMCG group, has collaborated with IBSFintech, a global leader in treasury management solutions, to integrate advanced treasury and trade finance functions into its operations. This partnership marks a significant step in Patanjali’s digital evolution, leveraging IBSFintech’s platform for seamless integration with its existing ERP ecosystem.

    The new system provides real-time analytics and actionable insights, enhancing risk management and boosting organisational agility and resilience.

    Patanjali Foods  CEO Sanjeev Asthana remarked, “This collaboration underscores our commitment to innovation and supports our global expansion strategy by addressing complexities in international operations, Forex management, and market volatility.”

    Patanjali Group CFO Kumar Rajesh highlighted the operational benefits, stating, “The adoption of real-time financial insights has strengthened governance and empowered Patanjali to navigate dynamic financial landscapes with confidence.”

    The initiative also integrates emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, reinforcing Patanjali’s leadership in digital transformation across the FMCG sector.

  • Patanjali Ayurved apologises to SC over misleading ads

    Patanjali Ayurved apologises to SC over misleading ads

    MUMBAI: So, finally, India’s leading Ayurveda flagbearer has Patanjali Ayurved has bent its knees. The firm has issued an “unqualified apology” to India’s supreme court  about its stance of issuing misleading advertisements and criticism  modern medicines. It has assured the court that it will put a full stop to issuing such ads. 

    The apex court had on 19 March ordered the Swami Ramdevi Acharya Balkrishna owned Patanjali Ayurved to appear before it to clarify the failure to respond to the contempt notice, and misleading advertisements about medicinal cures.

    The supreme court had earlier reprimanded the company from issuing false ads and the counsel for the company had on 21 November 2023 assured it that “henceforth there shall not be any violation of any law(s), especially relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it and, further, that no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form.”

    But Patanjali Ayurved had continued to do so unafraid which led to the court rapping it hard on its knuckles on 27 February banning it from issuing ads for medicines with misleading claims. It had also slapped the central government on its wrists for “sitting with eyes closed” while the entire country was “taken for a ride.”

    The apex court had issued contempt of court notices against both Swami Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna citing flouting of previous court orders by continuing to peddle misleading claims.

  • Day 1 at Goafest 2018 sees Baba Ramdev make major announcements

    Day 1 at Goafest 2018 sees Baba Ramdev make major announcements

    GOA: They say the advertising sector is for hardcore creative people and by working round the clock all year, one needs an escape from it now and then. Goafest is one such adverting event that brings together all the creative minds in the industry to celebrate, sit back and enjoy three days in the beaches of Baga!

    The 13th edition of Goafest hosted by The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) in association with The Advertising Club commenced yesterday. 

    Captains of the industry MK Anand, Vikram Tanna, Nakul Chopra, Vikram Sakhuja, Ashish Bhasin, Ajay Kakkar and Jaideep Gandhi lit the ceremonial light.

    Pepperfry CMO and head of new business Kashyap Vadapalli began the session by speaking about the brand’s own growth story. The company wanted to promote Indian artisans and craftsmen and build honesty and transparency in the company. Today, Pepperfry has streamlined its business, and taken supply, mixed with technology, to the Indian consuming class. “We worked towards standardising the entire category. Since we were very close to manufacturers, it helped us bring value to the Indian consumer,” said Vadapalli. 

    He mentioned that Pepperfry has launched 10 house brands that contribute to 50 per cent of their business, 27 studios across 15 cities in the country and is planning to launch 12 more. The key learning from Kashyap’s session was to constantly evolve and listen to the consumers and their needs. 

    Next up, was a man who came swathed in a saffron loincloth, a.k.a Baba Ramdev – the mind behind India’s largest swadeshi (domestic) FMCG brand Patanjali. After starting classic style with a gayatri mantra, he dived deep, full Hindi, into how everything, from knowledge, emotions, actions, expertise, experience, skills, innovation, research, resource, and even waste converts to wealth.

    Even though he had humble beginnings from an agriculture background, he was never scared to dream of a prosperous country, even for the poor, and the biggest financial powerhouse. “I only had one question: What can I do about this country? From farming to retailing, I haven’t studied anything, but the world is enough to teach me lessons. When you come face to face with reality, it teaches you lessons no conventional course can teach,” said Ramdev. 

    An avid rebellion of MNCs that he is, Ramdev mentioned that he made Patanjali a Rs 500 crore brand without any major investment in advertising as opposed to MNCs who believe in creating a fairy tale picture while selling every product. He said, “We don’t believe in having glamourous ads as we want our products to speak for themselves and only highlight the product’s benefits or ingredients.”  He also announced that with the growing profit rate of Patanjali, the company will double its turnover in 2019. 

    Peppered with laughter, yoga, life lessons, jokes and harsh doses of reality, he shared the essence of his being: Jo karo, usko pura karo, 100 per cent daalo apna. Usko beech me mat choro, which translates to – Whatever you do, do it whole-heartedly. Give your 100 per cent and don’t leave anything mid-way. He also stressed that companies should not focus on cost cutting as it leads to delivering poor quality products which will result in a great fall for the company sooner or later. Companies also need to have an open mind about implementing newer technologies into their systems since the world is going digital and technological advancement is the need of the hour today. 

    While he encouraged everyone to take risks, he also said, “Whatever you do, do it without ego. Give it all. There is nothing called destiny.” Without any inhibitions, he also added that while some people depended on hard work, some relied on destiny and some believed in cheating. “I believe in universal justice. If you cheat, you might grow for 10 years tops. What will you do after that? Same is the rule for destiny. Work on your work; not on Gods.” 

    During his session, Ramdev also publicly announced that Patanjali will venture into selling liquid milk and other dairy products by next year. He also confidently declared that the company will also launch kids-wear, activewear, accessories and fashion clothing for men and women by 2021. He concluded his session by publicly announcing that Patanjali will also launch its own mineral water very soon and the company has already started work in that area.

  • Swami Ramdev: Ek Sangharsh set to inspire you starting february 12 only on Discovery JEET

    Swami Ramdev: Ek Sangharsh set to inspire you starting february 12 only on Discovery JEET

    Discovery JEET, the eagerly awaited new entertainment channel from Discovery India with meaningful content spanning biopics, historicals, crime and comedy, is all set to showcase Swami Ramdev’s never seen before inspirational life journey starting February 12, 2018 every weekday at 8:30 pm. Swami Ramdev is popular across the length and breadth of the country and beyond but little is known about his background. Where did he come from? What are his origins? What was his journey? In this official biopic, shot on locations in Rajasthan, Haridwar and Mumbai, Discovery JEET will narrate the Swami Baba Ramdev’s life story, from his start as a poor farmer’s son to becoming a national icon. Co-Produced by Ajay Devgn FFlims and Watergate Production, Swami Ramdev’s life is symbolic of ‘Hai Mumkin’ attitude which forms the bedrock of Discovery JEET’s programming philosophy. 

    “Swami Ramdev’s life arc – with its many ups and downs – is an inspirational story of an individual winning against all odds, the exact thesis of Discovery JEET, launching Feb 12th,” said, Karan Bajaj, Sr. Vice President & General Manager – South Asia, Discovery Communications India. “Our writers’ team first met Swami Ramdev for a 1-hour show, and then we realized that his life cannot be captured in such a short series. The result is an epic bio pic spanning 85 episodes which we believe will capture the hearts and minds of our target audience across the country.”

     “I am humbled that Discovery JEET has made a television series on my life. I was initially not keen to open-up my life for a television series but Discovery JEET’s philosophy of ‘Hai Mumkin’ attracted my attention,” said, Swami Ramdev. “My life has not been an easy ride, I have faced ‘sangarsh’ all along and the bio pic traces the sequence of events as they emerged.  I want to give a message to all countrymen – never give up, life will offer its challenges but if you are up to it, day in and day out, then nothing can stop you from succeeding.”

    Acharya Balkrishna, said, “We receive millions of requests from curious followers wanting to know more about Swami Ramdev’s life. I am delighted that their wish has been granted and a larger-than-life life bio pic is being showcased on Discovery JEET. I hope and pray that people across the country imbibe and get inspired from the life of a living legend.”

    Swami Ramdev: Ek Sangharsh’s trailer and TV campaign have generated immense interest on the social and have raked up an impressive 25 million plus views across YouTube and Facebook. 

    Discovery JEET will launch with highest ever distribution, of more than 100 million households, in the history of GECs in India.  The channel will be available on all leading DTH & Cable platforms across the country. With an aim to be India’s first national GEC, Discovery JEET will be available in Hindi, Tamil & Telugu languages. 
    Discovery Communications India (DCIN) has signed Netflix as the exclusive global OTT platform partner for the content of Discovery JEET.  The deal will ensure that Discovery JEET’s marquee content, with English subtitles, will be available to audiences in more than 190 countries world-wide. Netflix communities globally will be able to binge-watch each series after it is aired on the Discovery JEET channel in India. 

  • Patanjali drags former partner to court

    Patanjali drags former partner to court

    Swami Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved has dragged a firm launched by former partner Swami Karamveer to Delhi High court for allegedly violating its trademark and copyrights.

    Karamveer is a former partner of Ramdev, having cofounded Divya Yog Mandir Trust along with Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna. His company sells a number of consumer products from toothpaste and shampoo to juices and spices under the Kalpamrit brand.

    Patanjali Ayurved has accused Maharishi Patanjali Parivar, whose unit Kalpamrit Ayurved works “under the direct inspiration and guidance” of yoga guru Karamveer, of “infringement of trademark, copyright, dilution, rendition of accounts and damages” by launching products that are “deceptively similar” to Patanjali products in name, logo and packaging. The high court in an interim order on Tuesday restrained Kalpamrit and its associates from using the word Patanjali or logo/artwork similar to those used by Patanjali till further orders.

    “…this court is of the opinion that a prima facie case of infringement of trademark and copyright is made out in favour of the plaintiff and balance of convenience is also in its favour. Further, irreparable harm or injury would be caused to the plaintiff if an interim injunction order is not passed,” a bench of Justice Manmohan said.

    The next hearing on the matter is listed for May 7.

  • Aastha, Swami Ramdev’s HD TV plans

    Aastha, Swami Ramdev’s HD TV plans

    MUMBAI: Most spiritual and devotional channels operating in India have a bagful of problems: limited revenues, low production budgets, which have led to very poor production values for their shows. Programmes and shows are shot with standard definition cameras with cheap sets as backdrops.

    This, at a time, when most of television land is moving to high definition and a select few towards 4k high dynamic range productions – both of which give better quality video – which can play out better on HD and 4K sets, making for a near realistic viewing experience.

    Swami Ramdev and Acharaya Balkrishna’s Patanjali Ayurveda has been giving FMCG multinationals in India a bit of a headache by eating away at their market shares in several product categories.

    Now the yoga guru-turned-entrepreneur is hoping to capture global audiences with his brand of yoga keeping in mind prime minister Narendra Modi’s penchant for it.

    Aastha – as is known to many – is among the leaders in the spiritual television space in India. And it is a channel that is part of Swami Ramdev’s empire.

    Over the past year or so, an HD revolution has been taking place silently in Noida where Aastha TV’s studios, playout and uplinking hub are located. Swami Ramdev has pumped in more than Rs 50 lakh into infrastructure – including 10-12 Sony PMW 200 cameras and post production facilities – which has helped facilitate production of programmes featuring him in high definition.

    Two multi-camera teams have been trailing the yoga guru filming him at gatherings, camps and seminars where he has led his disciples in asanas. Almost 700 hours of Yoga have been filmed in HD so far.

    “We wanted to upgrade and keep pace with technology,” says Aastha Broadcasting Network CEO Pramod Joshi. “We were producing and transmitting in SD which has limited demand in international markets.”

    Joshi acknowledges that the shift to HD came at the urging of Reed Midem’s India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka representative Anil Wanvari (also the founder of the indiantelevision.com group) when the company exhibited at annual trade show MipCom in Cannes, France.

    He points out that there here are no plans to roll out a HD channel for now, since the focus is on building a library first with Swami Ramdev’s yoga practice. Simultaneously, the channel’s programmers have been giving a nudge to other prime gurus who have taken slots on Aastha to upgrade their productions.

    “We know there is a lot of demand for Indian spirituality and yoga worldwide,” points out Joshi. “With this step up in quality, we believe many more networks will want our programming. We are also open to dubbing the content in other local languages.”

    Currently, Zee International airs programmes featuring Swami Ramdev practising and teaching yoga at his camps. Enquiries from other overseas networks have been coming in.

    In addition to yogic exercise and spiritual TV shows, Joshi says that Aastha is also looking at filming spiritual tourism documentaries by partnering with different state tourism boards. “There is a lot of India interest and these documentaries will go a long way in helping both Indian and international visitors understand India’s diverse belief systems and places of spiritual worship better and from a regional perspective.”

    Finally, Aastha, like other Indian networks which are looking at licensing and syndication revenues, is hopeful that its HD production will find cachet with international buyers. “Swamiji is known worldwide,” he says. “That’s to our advantage. We hope in the next year or so, licensing and syndication of our content will scale up. “

    When it does, Astha’s investment in HD will start paying off.

  • Aastha, Swami Ramdev’s HD TV plans

    Aastha, Swami Ramdev’s HD TV plans

    MUMBAI: Most spiritual and devotional channels operating in India have a bagful of problems: limited revenues, low production budgets, which have led to very poor production values for their shows. Programmes and shows are shot with standard definition cameras with cheap sets as backdrops.

    This, at a time, when most of television land is moving to high definition and a select few towards 4k high dynamic range productions – both of which give better quality video – which can play out better on HD and 4K sets, making for a near realistic viewing experience.

    Swami Ramdev and Acharaya Balkrishna’s Patanjali Ayurveda has been giving FMCG multinationals in India a bit of a headache by eating away at their market shares in several product categories.

    Now the yoga guru-turned-entrepreneur is hoping to capture global audiences with his brand of yoga keeping in mind prime minister Narendra Modi’s penchant for it.

    Aastha – as is known to many – is among the leaders in the spiritual television space in India. And it is a channel that is part of Swami Ramdev’s empire.

    Over the past year or so, an HD revolution has been taking place silently in Noida where Aastha TV’s studios, playout and uplinking hub are located. Swami Ramdev has pumped in more than Rs 50 lakh into infrastructure – including 10-12 Sony PMW 200 cameras and post production facilities – which has helped facilitate production of programmes featuring him in high definition.

    Two multi-camera teams have been trailing the yoga guru filming him at gatherings, camps and seminars where he has led his disciples in asanas. Almost 700 hours of Yoga have been filmed in HD so far.

    “We wanted to upgrade and keep pace with technology,” says Aastha Broadcasting Network CEO Pramod Joshi. “We were producing and transmitting in SD which has limited demand in international markets.”

    Joshi acknowledges that the shift to HD came at the urging of Reed Midem’s India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka representative Anil Wanvari (also the founder of the indiantelevision.com group) when the company exhibited at annual trade show MipCom in Cannes, France.

    He points out that there here are no plans to roll out a HD channel for now, since the focus is on building a library first with Swami Ramdev’s yoga practice. Simultaneously, the channel’s programmers have been giving a nudge to other prime gurus who have taken slots on Aastha to upgrade their productions.

    “We know there is a lot of demand for Indian spirituality and yoga worldwide,” points out Joshi. “With this step up in quality, we believe many more networks will want our programming. We are also open to dubbing the content in other local languages.”

    Currently, Zee International airs programmes featuring Swami Ramdev practising and teaching yoga at his camps. Enquiries from other overseas networks have been coming in.

    In addition to yogic exercise and spiritual TV shows, Joshi says that Aastha is also looking at filming spiritual tourism documentaries by partnering with different state tourism boards. “There is a lot of India interest and these documentaries will go a long way in helping both Indian and international visitors understand India’s diverse belief systems and places of spiritual worship better and from a regional perspective.”

    Finally, Aastha, like other Indian networks which are looking at licensing and syndication revenues, is hopeful that its HD production will find cachet with international buyers. “Swamiji is known worldwide,” he says. “That’s to our advantage. We hope in the next year or so, licensing and syndication of our content will scale up. “

    When it does, Astha’s investment in HD will start paying off.

  • Aaj Tak launches new show ‘Har Har Gangay’

    Aaj Tak launches new show ‘Har Har Gangay’

    MUMBAI: Indian Hindi news channel, Aaj Tak, has launched a special series on India’s most revered river, the Ganga, titled Har Har Gangay. The series promises to give an in-depth perspective on the state the river which has seen an onslaught of pollution owing to rampant negligence and public apathy.  

     

    According to Aaj Tak managing editor Supriya Prasad the thought behind this show is to take these issues to millions of viewers while also suggesting a roadmap to the recovery.

     

    Through the 12 part series which began on 14 July Har Har Gangay will start from the source of Ganga at Gomukh at a height of 13,200 feet and will follow the river through Gangotri, Uttarkashi, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Farakka and will finally culminate at Ganga Sagar. The series is being led by Aaj Tak’s senior anchor and editor Sweta Singh.

     

    The series has several big names associated with it such as the 87 year old environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, Swami Ramdev and Swami Chidanand Saraswati of the Ganga Action Parivar. “We also plan to interview Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharati,” adds Prasad.

    A team of around 10 people were involved in the project along with others. In addition to the regular cameras, a special drone camera was also used . Aaj Tak had used drone cameras for its election programme Election Express as well.

     

    To mobilise audiences, the news platform will be leveraged in addition to SMS service, a dedicated website for the cause of the show and other media to create a people led movement towards the cause.

     

    The show will air from Monday to Saturday at 8:30 pm.