Latest news with #DEI
Business Standard
15 minutes ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Bombay Chamber DEI Awards 2025 winners announced; DEI Forum drives dialogue on inclusive growth in Corporate India
VMPL Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 20: The Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry successfully hosted the third edition of its flagship DEI Forum & Awards 2025 on June 18, 2025, in Mumbai, reinforcing its continued commitment to fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion within corporate India. The winners of the awards were announced at a glittering ceremony at the Taj Santacruz Mumbai. The awards ceremony, which recognised outstanding contributions to DEI across six categories, was underpinned by a transparent and unbiased evaluation event brought together prominent industry leaders, DEI champions, and stakeholders for an engaging and reflective evening focused on inclusive growth and transformative practices. In her Welcome Address, Pinky Mehta, President, Bombay Chamber and CFO, Aditya Birla Capital said, "As we stand in 2025, India finds itself at a pivotal juncture, where the ideals of inclusivity are not just aspirational but are actively shaping our institutions, workplaces, and communities. It is time now to operationalise DEI beyond policy and poster walls -- embedding it into every function, decision and layer of leadership." One of the evening's most engaging moments was a Fireside Chat on the theme "Inclusive Leadership: What Does It Really Look Like?" The panel featured four powerhouse leaders Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO of Salesforce South Asia; Dr. Indu Shahani, Founding President and Chancellor of ATLAS SkillTech University; and Mansi Madan Tripathy, Chairperson of the Shell Group of Companies in India and Senior Vice President of Shell Lubricants, APAC and moderator Meenakshi Priyam, Chair, D & I Committee, Bombay Chamber and Sr VP & HR Head - Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra. Welcoming delegates to the Bombay Chamber DEI Forum which was held prior to the Awards, Sandeep Khosla, Director General, Bombay Chamber focused on the Chamber's rich 189 year history and how it is helping build bridges across industry. Setting the theme for the Forum, Nikhil Kolur, Partner, Human Capital, Deloitte, said, "Inclusion isn't policy, it's muscle memory. Built in small moments, until it becomes who we are." He spoke about how DEI spends in India's corporate world have increased by 70%, but that is just 18% of the workspace. A key segment of the Forum, titled "The Exchange - Part 1," featured former DEI Award winners - Shell India, Tata Communications and NICHEM Solutions, who shared candid insights into their DEI journeys, outlining both achievements and ongoing challenges in creating inclusive workplaces. The presentations were followed by a participatory group activity where attendees discussed the core enablers of DEI success and the barriers that continue to persist. The Forum also celebrated the participants of the Chamber's Mentoring for Enrichment Program 2025, with certificates awarded to both mentors and mentees in recognition of their dedication to fostering inclusive leadership development. Later in the evening, attendees experienced "Portraits of Progress", an immersive DEI Gallery Walk that offered reflective installations, storytelling exhibits, and interactive displays designed to prompt dialogue on the evolving nature of work through a DEI lens. In the session titled "The Exchange - Part 2," participants came together once more to share their insights from the Gallery Walk and earlier discussions, culminating in the identification of one actionable idea to take back to their own organisations. This session also encouraged peer commitments for continued collaboration and knowledge exchange, ensuring that the day's conversations would translate into tangible action. Closing the Forum, Meenakshi Priyam, Chair of the Chamber's D & I Committee and Head of HR - Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, offered a powerful reflection: "One of our goals with the DEI Committee was to celebrate progress while also tapping into the collective energy of those driving change. We aimed to create a space where people passionate about DEI could connect and collaborate. Today, we need to reframe the conversation -- this isn't about the cost of DEI, but about the value of inclusive opportunity. While attention to DEI is waning in many parts of the world, Indian corporations are stepping up. Still, challenges remain -- especially for MSMEs, who struggle with the resources to implement initiatives like extended maternity leave. We're trying to build a community of committed individuals who will keep the conversation alive and move the needle in the right direction, because inclusive leadership is not a choice, it's a necessity." The winners of the Bombay Chamber DEI Awards 2025 across the categories were: Disability Confidence & Inclusion Award Winner: Capgemini Technology Services India Limited 1st Runner up: Godrej Capital 2nd Runner up: Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Award Winner: Godrej Properties Limited 1st Runner up: Deutsche Bank Group 1st Runner up: Axis Bank Special Mention: Asian Paints Limited Gender Equality Champion Award Winner: Novo Nordisk India Pvt. Ltd. 1st Runner up: Godrej Properties Limited 2nd Runner up: Nestle India Limited Special Mention: GIA India Laboratory Pvt Ltd. Impactful DEI Program Award Winner: InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo) 1st Runner up: HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited 2nd Runner up: Capgemini Technology Services India Limited Special Award for MSME Winner: HAB Pharmaceutical & Research Ltd. 1st Runner up: Harkesh Rubber LLP DEI Champion Award Winner: Godrej Properties Limited 1st Runner up: Capgemini Technology Services India Limited 2nd Runner up: HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited 2nd Runner up: Indian Hotels Company Limited
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Colm O'Regan: Enid Blyton may be outdated, but my kids are into the adventure
Enid Blyton – or Gnid Blitten as I used to pronounce it when I couldn't make out the cursive. The famous signature that's on the front of about 600 different books is back on a couple of charity shop Famous Five books that are in the house. The signature of a woman who has been given a fair bit of fairly fair criticism over the last 60 years. Time has not been kind to attitudes toward the Famous Five. For decades, they have got a lot of criticism for sexism, racism, classism, outdated stereotypes, and repetitive plots. Just like the Simpsons or Bosco or Rugrats or Glenroe's Dick Moran, none of the Famous Five seem to age. Ian Mander, a contributor to an Enid Blyton fansite, has worked out that by last book 'Five Are Together Again', Julian should be 23, Dick and George 22 and Anne 21. Yet still Anne seems nervous about life in general. But with all that, I'm still reading them to the children. Maybe it's nostalgia, recapturing how I felt. But also, they're still great for an escape. To a land of cycleable rural roads, cream buns and nothing resembling responsibilities. The first rule of many books for children is Kill the Parents so that the children can do some adventuring. But the Famous Five is not just escapism for children. It's also for parents. Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin's approach to childcare is refreshing in that they don't seem to do much of it at all. They, along with the childrens' parents, send the children off to boarding school, and then during the holidays, don't mind them at all. Often, the plot hinges on Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin allowing four preteen children to head off into the countryside by themselves. Gráinne Seoige digs into a Famous Five book in 2005. Pic: Fennells In Five Get Into Trouble, Uncle Quentin mixes up the date of Easter and attends a conference during the holidays despite all the children coming to visit. The solution? The children will just go cycling and camping for a week. Aunt Fanny is worried, but Quentin just says, 'Oh, Fanny, if Julian can't look after the others, he must be a pretty feeble specimen.' A reminder: Julian is 12. Dick gets kidnapped in this book. I'm not judging Quentin and Fanny, but you'd have to say the two facts are linked. The Famous Five are not exactly strong on DEI programmes. Anyone who is different: Roma, circus folk, foreigners, the working class, are all given short shrift and are really only welcomed into the circle of trust when they've saved their lives. And that's with some of the worst stuff edited out over the years. There is a lack of garda vetting. Both Jo, an orphan with a jailed thief for a father, and Nobby, an orphan with a thief for an uncle, are handed over to other families after the aforementioned blood relatives are jailed without a single bit of paperwork. And yet despite all this, my children like the books. They know the Famous Five, apart from Timmy (who has the best radar of any of them), are sometimes unpleasant children. And the attitudes were different then. But that's fine. Enid Blyton mightn't have noticed that her heroes can sometimes be little shitebags but sometimes very generous with doling out sandwiches. That level of nuance is good for children now. They can appreciate a flawed main character and how the past was a cold place if you were different. Their favourite bits are not always the characters anyway. It's the idyllic countryside, barrelling out the door to go adventuring, the wearing of ragged old shorts and patched up jumpers, placid horses, secret passageways in wood panelling, and swimming in clean rivers. That, at least, is timeless.
New York Post
8 hours ago
- Business
- New York Post
Beware ‘belonging' — the sneaky word companies use to keep up their DEI discrimination
Since President Donald Trump took office in January and announced his intent to dismantle divisive diversity, equity and inclusion policies nationwide, many companies leaped to claim that they, too, have rejected the once-trendy movement. But in truth, a large number are not actually ending their DEI activities — they're simply rebranding them with the pleasant-sounding term 'belonging.' Workplace DEI policies base hiring, promotions and other key decisions solely on race, gender and sexual orientation. Such discriminatory practices are illegal — and harmful, prioritizing a person's immutable characteristics over his or her hard work and achievements. But for the committed woke activists burrowed into countless HR departments, the power to push identity politics on everyone around them is hard to give up. That's why my organization, Consumers' Research, predicted this widespread rebranding maneuver about a year ago, when public backlash against DEI began gaining momentum. In fact, 'belonging' is one of the words we suggested companies might use, after it got a test-run on many college campuses. The only surprise is just how many corporations are taking the same lockstep approach to the effort. Kohl's, for example, declared in March that it had dropped DEI from its messaging. But in fact the company just swapped out its 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' web page for an 'Inclusion and Belonging' page instead. Michelle Banks, Kohl's former chief DEI officer, is still there doing the very same work — now under her new title of Chief Inclusion and Belonging Officer. For Kohl's, DEI has not waned, merely disguised itself. Amid pressure from Trump, insurance company Nationwide removed all mentions of DEI from its website and rolled out the phrase as 'Belonging, respect and fairness' in its place. But despite shedding its skin, DEI's vital organs are very much present there, including Nationwide's Associate Resource Groups that 'offer allyship' based on race. Disney has been attempting to camouflage its former DEI webpage with the same 'belonging' fig leaf — but still publishes 'workforce' and 'content' representation data broken down by race and sex. That drew the notice of the Federal Communications Commission, which has launched an investigation into Disney's DEI programming. 'I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,' wrote FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Trump has made it crystal clear that discriminatory practices like DEI must be swept from our public institutions, and he has directed federal departments to identify private-sector targets for enforcement action. Understandably, C-suite executives are eager to avoid potential litigation — and are all too aware that consumers have become weary of DEI-obsessed corporations' efforts to appease woke activists. But too many of these companies are trying to have it both ways, either because corporate officers remain committed to the morally bankrupt DEI ideology, or because they're still intimidated by leftist employees or left-leaning activist organizations. Ultimately, the motivation behind the cowardice doesn't matter: It's an insult to the intelligence of consumers, shareholders and public officials for companies to imagine that a mere DEI name change is going to be enough. Are they so arrogant to believe they can fool the American public with a cosmetic cover-up? It looks that way. DEI, by 'belonging' or any other name, is still divisive, discriminatory and often outright illegal. Corporate America needs to stop trying to deceive its customers, and start focusing on expunging radical political ideologies from businesses that serve Americans of all ideological persuasions. Consumers also have a role to play. We must let companies know we won't stand for these deceptive antics by withholding patronage from businesses that use our hard-earned dollars to advance DEI and other manifestations of extreme wokeness. Only after they make real and substantive changes should we let them off the hook. Finally, any CEO who knowingly continues to oversee the deliberate violation of federal civil-rights laws should be on notice: Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the relentless culture warrior who now heads the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, is an excellent lawyer. She may be reaching out soon. Will Hild is executive director of Consumers' Research.
Time Magazine
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
What Building Black Power Could Mean for Workplaces
By Ahead of Juneteenth, we spoke with Andre M. Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the recent book, Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close it. He told us that the goal of Black Power Scorecard was to 'find out the factors that we must address in order to create vibrant, thriving communities.' In it, he argues that Black power movements seek to 'remove privileges based on race,' a process that would 'advance democracy, benefiting all racial groups.' We asked him about employers' role in working towards that vision, given the attacks on corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on the federal level. Here are excerpts from our conversation, edited for length and clarity: In Black Power Scorecard, you write that 'the concepts, strategies, and objectives of Black power have never been fully encapsulated by [corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)] programs.' Where has DEI fallen short? I wrote the book before Trump was elected, but I still feel that my position holds up in that the goal of DEI and affirmative action have never been the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. It's always been to have mainstream access to capital markets, mainstream access to higher educational institutions. And in many ways, DEI programs—not the values—are consolation prizes that have been offered in the face of not providing access. In one of my favorite studies, we scraped all the Yelp data from businesses across the country and found that Black-, Brown-, and Asian-owned firms actually score higher on Yelp than their white counterparts. That research shows empirically what elders used to say all the time, that our ice is just as cold, meaning that our businesses and entrepreneurs are just as worthy of investment. No one wants to be a consolation prize. No one wants to be a set aside. We don't want workarounds. Communities need investment like everyone else, and so to me, the goal is to create policy both in the public and private sectors that recognize the strength of people and that Black, Brown, and Asian folks are not a set aside. We don't want special programs. We just want mainstream access. One of my favorite quotes comes from Thich Nhat Han, a Vietnamese philosopher, who used to say, 'When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce.' You look to see if the soil's enriched. You look to see if it's getting proper rain water or sunlight. But when things aren't growing in black communities, we constantly blame the lettuce. I want for us to recognize that when there's a lack of growth it's because of a lack of investment, but also that we have strength in black communities, but that strength is devalued. And I don't necessarily promote the furtherance of devaluation through policies that aren't truly providing the investments that they deserve. So it's incumbent upon corporate America, upon government, upon American citizens to say, 'Hey, we want policies that work for all of us.' What should employers be doing instead to realize the goals of Black power, or as you write, 'create environments that maximize human potential?' When it comes to employers in particular, I do emphasize the role of income. Income is one of the top predictors [of life expectancy in Black communities]. What employers should be mindful of is that pay is a major factor in the quality of life for individuals. No surprises there. When people have adequate pay, they invest in their lives and their communities' lives. We always need to check our pay against cost of living increases because what has happened over the decades is that the cost of living in many markets has outpaced the increase in pay. And if we're not mindful, we can really make it hard on families overall to have a good quality of life. Another avenue could be workforce housing, which may be difficult in tight housing markets but can be a viable goal to create thriving communities. Because of those tight markets, we have not seen widespread employer-housing benefits, but if firefighters and teachers and other municipal employees can get access to home ownership, it helps stabilize their lives as well as the lives of others in the community. In the book, I talk a lot about how we must look for collective means to solve these problems. Unionization is one critical institution or practice for employees if their employers are not providing the incomes that encourage longevity. I'm also interested in employee-owned firms and other ways that employees can have a stake in the growth of a business. Employers shouldn't interfere with employees' efforts to organize and mobilize. That may be hard to hear, but for an employer, it does come with certain tensions that are ultimately healthy in a democracy. You want employees to have some say in how resources are distributed because their work matters and in many cases, they are a primary reason why the business is seeing profits. It only makes sense that there is some kind of mechanism for employers to recognize the contributions of workers. What are you seeing that gives you hope and keeps you engaged in this kind of work? When I did the research, it was clear that there are lots of places that are thriving and that we see growth in a lot of areas. What happens at the national level often masks the real growth at the local level. Things are changing at a local level in spite of what's happening at the federal level. I point to the growth in Black-owned employer firms, for instance, or firms with more than one employee. Black people represent about 14% of the population. In 2017, Black-owned firms were about 2.3% of employer firms. That number has actually increased by 50% since 2017. And that was through the first Trump administration, a pandemic, and then the Biden administration. In spite of everything, we're seeing growth on a local level, and so I'm encouraged by that. Certainly, there are threats that can thwart those advancements, but I know there's strength that has been created during these periods, and we can't lose sight of that growth because it really will mask the innovation, the dignity, the strength of the people who are doing the good work and winning.
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Pete Hegseth urged his staff to take a ‘passive' approach to celebrating Juneteenth, report claims
The message was relayed by the Pentagon's Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, Rolling Stone reports. The message added that the office wasn't planning to publish Juneteenth-related content on the Pentagon's website, according to the outlet. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, has long been commemorated but didn't become a federal holiday until 2021 under President Joe Biden. A Pentagon official told Rolling Stone that the Defense Department 'may engage celebrations that build camaraderie and esprit de recognition of historical events and notable figures where such recognition informs strategic thinking, reinforces our unity, and promotes meritocracy and accountability.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also noted Thursday that she's 'not tracking the president's signature on any proclamation' related to Juneteenth. The Defense Department declined to comment when contacted by The Independent. Shortly after he was confirmed, Hegseth declared that there would be 'no more' diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Pentagon. This followed President Donald Trump's executive order ending DEI programs across government. The Pentagon went on to cancel a slew of historical and cultural annual events, including observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Women's History Month. The Defense Department also marked thousands of files for deletion in a purge of so-called DEI content, the Associated Press reported in March. This included documents and photos referencing a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, and the first women to pass Marine infantry training. Hegseth has even targeted so-called 'DEI programs' that Trump and his allies helped create. In late April, Hegseth announced he 'proudly ENDED' the Pentagon's Women, Peace & Security program. Trump signed the Women, Peace & Security Act into law during his first term. The law vowed to ensure the U.S. 'promotes the meaningful participation of women in mediation and negotiation processes seeking to prevent, mitigate, or resolve violent conflict.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a Florida senator, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, then a South Dakota congresswoman, also cosponsored the legislation.
