The company is paying well for experienced operators.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) plans to hire 500 more truck drivers for its private fleet, primarily on the East and West Coasts, to help meet the increased demand from its growing e-commerce business.

In a highly competitive market for experienced drivers, Walmart has been attracting applicants by the simple strategy of offering better wages than its rivals. Walmart pays drivers an average of $87,500 per year, and says it plans to improve that in 2020.

Walmart plans to hire 500 more drivers. Image source: Walmart.

The retailer pays for more than mileage driven. It also offerstraining pay and activity pay for times when trucks aren't moving (like when they are is being loaded or unloaded).

Walmart also gives its drivers weekly schedules, which allows them to plan for when they won't be home. And it awards its drivers safety bonuses for meeting its operating standards.

Despite the national shortage of truck drivers, Walmart holds its new hires to relatively high standards. It requires them to have at least 30 months of experience over the past three years with a clean driving record.

Experienced truck drivers have leverage in the job market, and Walmart understands that to get the number of them it needs, it has to offer them a good deal. The company appears to be doing that both in pay and in how it treats drivers. That should allow the retailer to grow its fleet as needed -- and that need could expand significantly in the coming years.

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Walmart Hiring 500 More Truck Drivers to Handle Online Sales Growth - The Motley Fool

Our small business support program launches in Austin, Texas; Athens, Greece; and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to create sustainable economic opportunity in communities around the world.

Mar. 06 /CSRwire/ - eBay partners with local city leaders in regions across the world to develop innovative small business programs that address specific retail challenges and scale solutions to benefit entrepreneurs across different communities. Through programs likeRetail Revival, and its international adaptations like Export Revival, local business owners receive training and coaching to sell their unique inventory on a global marketplace, while strengthening ties within their local business community.

Austin, Texas

This month, eBay proudly launched Retail Revival in Austin, Texas, home to a rich community of artisans, entrepreneurs and small business owners eager to expand their reach. The Austin cohort includes 50 sellers, whose products span everything from ceramics and bicycles, to sustainable fashion and gourmet cotton candy.

Mike Petersen, general manager of the Austin office, kicked off the event with a warm introduction to eBay, followed by remarks from Marni Levine, eBays vice president of seller operations and engagement, on how eBay operates as a true partner to its sellers.

Participating sellers enjoyed a full day of training on pricing strategies, listing optimization and inventory management, among other important tools and strategies for building a successful eBay business. Training sessions were led by the eBay global customer experience team, with support from members of eBays third-party partnerships team, as well as seller guests,Rocky SchianoandAngie Cardona-Nelson.

The audience also heard from Sylnovia Holt-Rabb, deputy director of economic development for the city of Austin, and Christopher Van Bergen, CFO/COO of Nest, an organization that promotes artisans around the world and has partnered with eBay to support Retail Revival Austin through specialized outreach and training.

Athens, Greece

We also recently welcomed 67 Greek businesses in Athens, Greece to Export Revival, a regional spin-off of Retail Revival focused on expanding the trading reach of participants. Benefits of Export Revival include monthly training sessions taught by eBay experts, customized support, exposure to more than 183 million buyers in 190 global markets, a dedicated page on eBay.com highlighting the participants products and a promotional campaign on eBay.

Over 120 guests attended the Export Revival Greece kick-off event. Sellers enjoyed introductory training, and a fireside chat with Greek sellerKonstantinos Spiliadisanda. Attendees also heard from Gregoris Zarifopoulos, Greek Minister for Digital Governance; Yiannis Chatzitheodosiou,President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce; and Ilya Kretov, General Manager Global Emerging Markets - Emerging Europe, LatAm, APAC at eBay, among others.

Greece has unique products and a strong export potential, as proven over time, said Kretov. About 12,000 sellers from Greece are already active on the eBay platformmany of them for more than a decade. In 2019 alone, they sold and exported nearly 1 million items. Together with our partners in Greece, we are working hard to keep these numbers thriving.

The program is being offered under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media and the Municipality of Athens, and is supported by ACT Athens Chambers of Tradesman, SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Fifty local businesses completed their training at eBays Export Revival program in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, at the end of 2019. Through the four-week training program, participants learned to effectively sell online through product presentation and strategic sales tactics. By the end of the training, participants had learned to create their own eBay stores, list and manage inventory, and process their first sales.

The program aims to increase Bulgarias exports by supporting small and medium-sized businesses to sell locally sourced goods online to global consumers. Since the launch, the Plovdiv region has seen rapid economic growth, attracting investments and establishing new businesses in the area.

These online stores are now accessible to 183 million eBay customers worldwide and meet the most up-to-date requirements for convenient functionality and accessibility. Sellers products are presented on a specially designed page,Made in Bulgaria, a destination for customers looking to learn more about Bulgarian products and sellers. Over 8,000 products spanning women's fashion, baby goods, auto parts, leather wear, souvenirs, watches and car parts areavailable for purchase.

The Export Revival program in Bulgaria is backed by the Ministry of Economy, the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Municipality of Plovdiv.

VisitMade in Bulgariato learn more about Bulgarian products and watch seller testimonials.

Export Revival is an international adaptation of eBays global Retail Revival initiative, which has launched in more than 10 cities in the U.S., UK, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Israel and Russia, propelling international sales for hundreds of companies across the globe. Each participating city has seen economic growth and an increase in exports of locally produced products.

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Retail Revival Grows Internationally, Helping Local Businesses Expand Their Sales Online - CSRwire.com

I am, yes, said Hoskins, the Phillies representative for the M.L.B. players union. He added, I have not changed the way that I live.

Fans of the four sports, too, have largely been able to keep to their same routines. None of the leagues have announced plans to cancel games or hold them in empty stadiums, as some leagues in countries like Italy have done. But the landscape is changing quickly, and the leagues remain in consultation with health officials and are prepared to act according to their recommendations.

Organizers of other public events have already taken more drastic measures. On Tuesday, the Ivy League canceled its mens and womens college basketball tournaments, and on Sunday the Indian Wells tennis tournament, one of the biggest on the calendar, was canceled, too. The New York Road Runners also canceled the NYC Half, a half-marathon with about 25,000 runners that was scheduled for Sunday morning.

Other large gatherings including Bostons St. Patricks Day parade and political rallies for the Democratic presidential candidates Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Bernie Sanders, both of which were scheduled for Tuesday have been canceled.

For now, the only restrictions for the professional sports leagues center on nonessential people who have access to locker rooms, like sports equipment sales people, food vendors, traveling scouts and media members. Instituting those measures without any restrictions for fans in the stadiums drew some criticism, including from Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

I found it quite curious that the four major organizations N.H.L., soccer, Major League Baseball, and the N.B.A. put out guidelines to protect their athletes but not their fans, Newsom said at a news conference on Tuesday.

In Los Angeles, the N.B.A.s Lakers roped off a square-shaped area for LeBron James to meet with reporters on Tuesday morning ahead of a game against the Nets at Staples Center.

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Closing Off Locker Rooms, but Not the Stands, Over Coronavirus Concerns - The New York Times

Every year, more sales technologies enter the market.

In fact, sales technology tools have grown in availability.2019 alone saw an increase of 25% in the number of tools available. At the same time, many sales organizations continue to increase their sales technology investment year over year.

However, according to annual Sales Performance report from CSO Insights over the past several years, sales effectiveness has not grown at the same level. The report notes: While much in the world of sales is changing rapidly, sales results have not changed much.

Clearly, most sales organizations are not getting the results from their sales technology that they expect and, probably, deserve. In this article, we take a look at how sales organizations are currently spending on technology, the key mistakes most are making, and how to develop a technology strategy that will enable your organization to get the ROI you expect from your technology investments.

According to a recent Smart Selling Tools report, most companies think they are spending more than $150/month per user on sales technology. But the number didn't sound accurate. To get more insight, I asked Nancy Nardin, owner of Smart Selling Tools, about it.

Not surprisingly, most organizations were vastly underestimating how much they actually spend on technology.Nancy agreed. She said that when respondents reported their spending, they might not have a complete understanding of all the technologies that theyve purchased, either as point solutions or as plug-ins, because they are often independently purchased by different teams and departments.

It can be assumed that the number is currently at $500-$1,000 per month/user for modern sales organizations. Whatever the number is, its too much for too little. The good news is that there are really only three main causes of overspending on sales technology.

Most sales organizations do not have an effective strategy for managing their sales technology spend. Lacking a clear strategy, they fall prey to three big mistakes that cause overspending:

In ancient Greek myth, there is a story of a great monster that destroyed towns and devoured heroes who attempted to defeat it. This monster, called the Hydra, had many heads with sharp teeth and poison breath. But what made it truly dangerous was that every time you cut off one head, it would sprout two more.

Membrain, by Bjrn Andersson

Sales technology can be that way too. Organizations may purchase a large CRM product, expecting it to be a one-size-fits-all solution. But in order to get it to do everything they want it to do, they have to stack add-ons and customizations on top of it. Each of these requires custom coding and updates and upgrades in order to integrate with the CRM.

Each time a new element is added, complexity increases. As complexity increases, so do the opportunities for technology failure. When a breakdown occurs in one part of the technology, it impacts other parts. Custom coding designed to fix one problem, often causes problems elsewhere in the system. And every time one problem is fixed, another rises in its place, like the head of a monstrous Hydra, eating up the companys profits.

While organizations are busy fighting their Hydras, many are also engaging in point pollution. This refers to the habit of purchasing separate pieces of technology to solve individual problems, which solutions may or may not integrate with the larger technology (the Hydra).

As the data cited at the beginning of this article shows, new sales technology point solutions are entering the market at breathtaking speed. They promise to solve all kinds of problems, from prospect research to call recording to proposal building.

But each time you add one to your team without a clear strategy, you add to the complexity of the sales environment and interfere with the sales workflow. Each new technology requires salespeople to switch between tasks and applications, to enter new information, and to manage new administrative tasks.

Salespeople who dutifully use all of the point solutions that their sales organization has invested in run the risk of damaging their productivity by constantly switching among tools. Most simply wont choose to use all of them. Either way, the organization ends up spending money on tools that are not improving sales effectiveness.

The same mythology that gave us the Hydra also gives us the story of the Sirens. These were merpeople who sat upon sharp rocks in the ocean and sang songs. Their singing was so beautiful, that it lured sailors onto the rocks where their ship was destroyed.

In many ways, artificial intelligence (AI) and the automation it promises are like a modern-day siren song. It promises to make salespeople more efficient, faster, better. But very often, it also annoys prospects and destroys goodwill.

In complex B2B sales, this is particularly problematic because trust and relationship are a key component of success. To be effective, AI for B2B must focus on enabling salespeople instead of completing tasks on their behalf.

Augmented intelligence is the practice of using AI to analyze and sort data, and serve it up in a useful format, while leaving salespeople themselves to make decisions based on the insights delivered by the AI. Its called augmented intelligence because it seeks to support the human intelligence on the sales team rather than replacing it. This is one of the keys to making sales technology investments work for your organization.

All of the most common mistakes about sales technology are rooted in one bad assumption: technology can be the salvation of sales.

This assumption ends up making people the servant of the technology. Truly world-class organizations do it the other way around: They make the technology the servant of the people. In order to do that, you have to take a holistic approach to sales technology investment. You cant make those decisions in a silo.

To get the ROI you want from your sales technology investments, you have to start with a solid strategy, and work your way down through process, training, reinforcement, and content enablement. Technology then takes its proper place as an enabler of all these functions within a holistic strategy. The result is a well-functioning sales team that exceeds expectations and, in most cases, outstrips the competition.

At the heart of every effective sales strategy, is a human-first approach, starting with the customer. You must understand how your customers need to be helped, what they want to achieve, and how they ought to buy. This is accomplished by doing your research about your customers business challenges, asking the right questions, and listening to what they say.

Build a customer-focused sales strategy that helps your salespeople be both efficient and effective in guiding customers through their problem-definition and decision-making journey.

Many sales organizations that develop a sales strategy fail to execute on it. This is usually due to a failure to connect it with an actionable sales process. Once you have developed your sales strategy, build a dynamic, milestone-based process that walks salespeople through every step they need to take to help buyers make the purchase.

In such a process, you will have not only stages, but also milestones within those stages, and steps to take to reach each milestone. Within each step will be activities to engage in toward achieving that step.

The process should be dynamic based on the needs of customer segments and their response at each stage, milestone, and step of the process. Such a process makes it possible to take the strategy and actually execute it in the field.

With an effective strategy and process, it becomes possible to align training to support execution of the process. Many sales organizations treat training like a siloed activity that they send salespeople to for a week or a weekend, and then expect that to magically translate into improved performance.

But a holistic sales approach puts training in service to strategy and process. With your milestone-based process mapped out, identify where skills gaps are in your sales team, and develop training that focuses on what they actually need in order to execute on your process and any methodology youre using.

Training that is not reinforced rarely sticks. This is not due to failure on the part of your salespeople. Its simply the way it is. The well-documented Spacing Effect shows that people cant remember information that isnt regularly reinforced, so its not smart to expect them to.

Instead, build reinforcement into your salespersons daily workflow. This can take the form of checklists embedded in their CRM, dynamic reminders of next steps in the process, on-demand an in-context training content, and effective coaching cadences. This can be enabled by AI that identifies when individual salespeople can use reminders and additional training, and serves it up to them at appropriate moments.

Sales enablement software promises to help your team by making it easy to find collateral when they need it. Unfortunately, most salespeople dont know when they need it, so they underutilize resources, or they create their own content off the record to fill gaps.

AI tools promise to alleviate this problem by intelligently sending sales enablement content to customers or to salespeople. Most AI tools fail at this task. AI is only as smart as the training it receives, and when content isnt tied to an effective strategy, process, and training, an AI cant be trained to use it effectively.

Instead, content enablement should be made subject to the strategy, process, and training your salespeople receive. It should be created and managed in context, and suggested to salespeople in the context of your best practice process.

As you can see, I have begun introducing ways that sales technology can serve the rest of the holistic system. When strategy, process, training, reinforcement, and content are aligned, the right technology tools can be chosen to help you execute on those things.

Instead of choosing technology and hoping it will solve problems, you have a holistic system designed to produce the most effective sales team possible. Your technology then becomes the servant of that system and the people in it.

Its also important that your technology be beautiful and easy to use. Remember that your sales organization is run by humans. Technology that is complex and difficult to manage is demotivating, and will rarely be used. Even when it is used, it affects productivity.

But when the technology is easy to use, beautiful, and helps salespeople accomplish what they want to accomplish, they will be eager to use it. Adoption ceases to be a problem.

In short, effective sales technology:

In conclusion, there is no one sales technology purchase that will be your magic potion to sales effectiveness. And, unfortunately, your sales technology stack is probably causing you more problems than its solving if you buy a point solution for each problem that you face.

Sales technology should not be a drain on sales productivity and profits, yet it often is. To solve this problem, align your customer-focused sales strategy, process, training, reinforcement, and content enablement with simple, beautiful, easy-to-use technology that supports your way of selling. The result will be sales technology investment that more than pays for itself.

George Brontn is the author of Stop Killing Deals and the CEO of Membrain, a sales enablement CRM. George has devoted his life to understanding the success factors that drive effective sales organizations. He shares his insights on the award-winning blog, Art & Science of Complex Sales.

More here:
How to Get the Most out of Your Sales Technology Investment - G2

The Global Education & Training Market analysis study was conducted in five stages, including secondary research, primary research, expert advice on subject matter, quality control and final review.

Market data is analyzed and forecast using statistical and coherent models of the market. Market shares and key developments were also taken into account during coverage. Certain data models include Vendor Positioning Grid, Market Timeline Analysis, Market Summary, and Guide, Business Positioning Grid, Company Market Share Analysis, Measurement Requirements, Top to Bottom Analysis, and Vendor Share Analysis, among others.

ReportsnReports have recently added a report titled Education & Training Market Report to our extensive database of reports. Our team of experts has curated the report by considering industry-relevant information related to the leading vendors, distributors, and service providers to collect industry-focused insights. We offer to customize our report according to the requirements of our clients.

Download a FREE PDF Sample of this Report athttps://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/requestsample.aspx?name=2982617

Major players in the global Education & Training Market include:

Career Education Corporation (CEC), Desire2Learn, Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute, Osiris Educational, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, ITT Educational Services, New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Interaction Associates, NIIT, Kaplan, Creative Education, Apollo Education Group, Benesse Corporation, QA, Global Training Solutions, Computer Generated Solutions

Education & Training Market Regional Analysis:

United States, Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland), China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam), Central and South America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria), Other Regions

Major Types Covered Technical Non-technical

Major Applications Covered Student Education Corporate Training Others

The research report, titled Education & Training Market, mainly includes a detailed segmentation of this sector, which is expected to generate massive returns by the end of the forecast period, thus showing an appreciable rate of growth over the coming years on an annual basis. The research study also looks specifically at the need for Education & Training Market.

Recent Industry Trend:

The report contains the profiles of various prominent players in the Global Education & Training Market. Different strategies implemented by these vendors have been analyzed and studied in order to gain a competitive edge, create unique product portfolios and increase their market share. The study also sheds light on major global industry vendors. Such essential vendors consist of both new and well-known players. In addition, the business report contains important data relating to the launch of new products on the market, specific licenses, domestic scenarios and the strategies of the organization implemented on the market.

Do You Have Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry Expert athttps://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/discount.aspx?name=2982617

Scope of the Report:

By pursuing the Demand of Systems for Education & Training Market. This study should be very helpful to the readers through the depth. The aspects and descriptions are represented in the Education & Training Market by maps, bar graphs, pie diagrams, and other visual representations. study. This intensifies the pictures portrayal and also helps improve the Education & Training Markets data.

The report mainly studies the size, recent trends and development status of the Education & Training Market, as well as investment opportunities, government policy, market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities), supply chain and competitive landscape. Technological innovation and advancement will further optimize the performance of the product, making it more widely used in downstream applications. Moreover, Porters Five Forces Analysis (potential entrants, suppliers, substitutes, buyers, industry competitors) provides crucial information for knowing the Education & Training Market.

The content of the study subjects includes a total of 13 chapters:

Chapter 1:Provides an overview of Education & Training Market market, containing global revenue, global production, sales, and CAGR. The forecast and analysis of Education & Training Market market by type, application, and region are also presented in this chapter.

Chapter 2:Is about the market landscape and major players. It provides a competitive situation and market concentration status along with the basic information of these players.

Chapter 3:Provides a full-scale analysis of major players in the Education & Training Market industry. The basic information, as well as the profiles, applications, and specifications of products market performance along with Business Overview, are offered.

Chapter 4:Gives a worldwide view of Education & Training Market market. It includes production, market share revenue, price, and the growth rate by type.

Chapter 5:Focuses on the application of Education & Training Market, by analyzing the consumption and its growth rate of each application.

Chapter 6:Is about production, consumption, export, and import of Education & Training Market in each region.

Chapter 7:Pays attention to the production, revenue, price and gross margin of Education & Training Market in markets of different regions. The analysis of production, revenue, price and gross margin of the global market is covered in this part.

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Chapter 8:Concentrates on manufacturing analysis, including key raw material analysis, cost structure analysis, and process analysis, making up a comprehensive analysis of manufacturing cost.

Chapter 9:Introduces the industrial chain of Education & Training Market. Industrial chain analysis, raw material sources, and downstream buyers are analyzed in this chapter.

Chapter 10:Provides clear insights into market dynamics.

Chapter 11:Prospects the whole Education & Training Market market, including the global production and revenue forecast, regional forecast. It also foresees the Education & Training Market market by type and application.

Chapter 12:Concludes the research findings and refines all the highlights of the study.

Chapter 13:Introduces the research methodology and sources of research data for your understanding.

And more

About Us: ReportsnReports.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 95 leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets. We provide 24/7 online and offline support to our customers.

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Education & Training Market By Regions, Type and Application with Sales and Revenue Analysis Report and Forecast to (2015-2027) - 3rd Watch News

Q4 2019 SI-BONE Inc Earnings Call

Mar 10, 2020 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of SI-BONE Inc earnings conference call or presentation Monday, March 9, 2020 at 8:30:00pm GMT

TEXT version of Transcript

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Corporate Participants

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* Jeffrey W. Dunn

SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO

* Laura A. Francis

SI-BONE, Inc. - CFO & COO

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Conference Call Participants

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* Craig William Bijou

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Research Division - Research Analyst

* David Joshua Saxon

Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division - Associate

* David Louis Turkaly

JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst

* David Ryan Lewis

Morgan Stanley, Research Division - MD

* Kaila Paige Krum

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division - Research Analyst

* Kyle William Rose

Canaccord Genuity Corp., Research Division - Senior Analyst

* Carrie Mendivil

Gilmartin Group LLC - Principal

================================================================================

Presentation

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Operator [1]

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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SI-BONE Q4 and Full Year 2019 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Carrie Mendivil, Investor Relations. Thank you.

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Carrie Mendivil, Gilmartin Group LLC - Principal [2]

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Story continues

Thank you all for participating in today's call. Joining me today are Jeff Dunn, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Laura Francis, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of SI-BONE.

Earlier today, SI-BONE released financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2019. A copy of the press release is available on the company's website.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that relate to expectations or predictions of future events, results or performance are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements, including without limitation our examination of operating funds -- of operating trends and our future financial expectations, which includes expectations for hiring, active surgeons, new products, reimbursement decisions and guidance for revenue, are based upon our current estimates and various assumptions. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated or implied by these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these statements.

For a list and description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business, please refer to the Risk Factors section of our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 12, 2019.

SI-BONE disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the live broadcast today, March 9, 2020.

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Jeff.

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [3]

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Thanks, Carrie. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to welcome you to SI-BONE's earnings call to review our fourth quarter and full year 2019 results. Our progress in 2019 was marked by strong commercial execution that drove accelerating revenue growth. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $19.8 million, up 27% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. We ended the year with $67.3 million in sales, up 22% compared to 2018. We have now exceeded over 45,000 procedures performed by more than 2,000 surgeons worldwide. We are well positioned for the future and continue to expect our revenue for full year 2020 to be in the range of $80 million to $82 million, reflecting 19% to 22% growth over 2019.

As we enter 2020, we expect the progress and the investments we made during 2019 to pay dividends throughout this year. Starting with our sales force, we finished the fourth quarter with 56 reps in our U.S. direct sales organization. Of those 56 reps, 45 are mature reps who have been with the company for over 12 months. During 2019, our direct sales reps had an average run rate of over $1.3 million, and for our mature reps, that figure was over $1.6 million.

Our direct reps are further supported by clinical support specialists, or CSSs, who assist in case coverage. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had 51 CSSs. Looking ahead to 2020, we are focused on increasing the productivity of our U.S. sales force and incrementally hiring both U.S. direct sales reps and CSSs as needed. We expect to end the year with around 66 sales reps as we add approximately 10 direct sales reps to large and underpenetrated territories over the course of 2020. We also plan to further increase the number of CSSs, adding an equal number of new specialists throughout the year to support smaller and rapidly growing territories. This will bring our number of CSSs to 61 by the end of 2020. To support these expansion efforts, we have increased our number of U.S. regions from 10 to 12 by promoting 2 of our top direct sales rep leaders to regional sales directors.

At the core of our commercial strategy is our focus on driving iFuse procedure volumes. During the fourth quarter, our medical affairs team remained focused on training, educating and supporting surgeons. We ended the year with 539 active surgeons in the United States, which is defined as a surgeon who has performed at least one procedure in the last 3 months. While our team was focused on growing our base of active surgeons, they also were involved in increased utilization within existing active accounts. Over the course of the year, we saw our average number of cases per U.S. active surgeon increase from 3.3 in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 3.7 in the fourth quarter of 2019. In 2020, we will work to continue expanding our base of active surgeons while further penetrating existing accounts. By the end of 2020, we expect to increase the number of active surgeons in the U.S. to 625.

There are 3 ongoing initiatives we are implementing that will help us grow our active surgeon base: first, to train new providers; second, to reactivate inactive surgeons; and finally, to continue to grow KOL support for iFuse. Our vision is that eventually, every ortho and neurosurgeon will include the SI joint in their differential diagnosis of lower back pain. Our goal is for those surgeons to incorporate iFuse into his or her practice for patients suffering from SI joint dysfunction or degeneration or refer them to an iFuse-trained surgeon.

On to reimbursement, we made significant progress throughout 2019. Following the publication of the 5-year follow-up results, Cigna established positive coverage for MIS SI joint Fusion in December 2019. The new policy specifies that coverage will be exclusive for FDA-cleared implants that are placed across the SI joint and intended to promote bone fusion. Cigna is the fourth largest commercial health plan in the United States, with 14.6 million members, opening a significant opportunity to treat these patients with iFuse.

In December 2019, Anthem published a policy update on MIS SI joint Fusion. Anthem now covers the procedure but only in the case of pelvic girdle trauma. While we do not consider this a full-fledged positive coverage policy, it is a step in the right direction. We will continue to work with Anthem ahead of their next review in September.

During the fourth quarter, we also received positive news on the surgeon payment front. In the final physician payment rule released on November 1, 2019, CMS increased the CPT code's national average overall surgeon payment by 27% to $915 from $720. The Medicare fee schedule was updated to reflect this new amount effective January 1, 2020. Many private payers set their payment amounts with reference to the Medicare payment typically 10% to 33% higher than the Medicare payment for a procedure. We expect the process of updating commercial payer fee schedules and physician practice contracts to take some time, so the full effect of the payment increase may not be felt immediately. Collectively, we expect these reimbursement and payer wins from 2019 to support the expansion of iFuse in 2020.

Turning now to our international sales opportunities. We returned to positive international revenue growth in the second half of the year and ended the fourth quarter with 12% growth. Following sales force turnover in 2019, our German team ramped toward greater productivity over the course of the year. We also saw strong growth coming from the U.K. and our newer branch in France during the fourth quarter.

Additionally, we continue to make progress expanding our portfolio of comprehensive sacropelvic solutions. In December

2019, we were formally notified of the CE Mark certification in Europe for Bedrock. With these regulatory reviews complete, we launched iFuse Bedrock in Europe last month. Similar to our launch in the U.S., we are focused on gaining support from key opinion leaders at academic centers and creating a halo effect for our core SI joint fusion business.

We also launched iFuse Bone in the U.S. in December 2019. iFuse Bone is an enabling triangular technology for surgeons who are interested implant -- in implanting bone in conjunction with an iFuse procedure.

We are also working to increase awareness with patients of sacroiliac joint issues as the leading cause of chronic lower back pain -- or a leading cost, excuse me. A survey of 1,000 women in 2019 revealed that 8 in 10 are unaware of these issues after pregnancy. On Wednesday, February 26, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Moghimi and SI joint -- Buddy Jamie were featured on the Emmy Award-winning daytime television talk show The Doctors. The Doctors show covers a variety of health and medical topics and has an audience of over 1.5 million people watching nationwide every day. Jamie and Dr. Moghimi discussed how the iFuse procedure enabled Jamie to return to an active lifestyle after over a decade of postpartum pain due to sacroiliac joint dysfunction, frustration and misdiagnosis.

Finally, before turning the call over to Laura, I would like to welcome Jeri Hilleman to our Board of Directors, serving as a director as well as the Chair of our Audit Committee. Her extensive experience as a public company CFO provides deep experience across public company leadership, capital raises and business development.

With now -- with that, I will now turn the call over to Laura Francis, our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, to provide more detail on our financial results and our 2020 outlook.

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Laura A. Francis, SI-BONE, Inc. - CFO & COO [4]

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Thanks, Jeff. For the fourth quarter of 2019, revenue increased 27% to $19.8 million compared to $15.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. The increase in revenue during the fourth quarter was primarily driven by higher case volumes. U.S. revenue increased 28% to $18.5 million, while international revenue increased 12% to $1.3 million compared to the corresponding prior year periods.

Gross margin for the fourth quarter 2019 was 90% compared to 91% in the fourth quarter 2018. Operating expenses increased 42% to $26.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to $18.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. Our operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $8.5 million compared to $4.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. Net loss was $9.1 million or $0.36 per diluted share for the fourth quarter 2019 as compared to $5.3 million or $0.26 per diluted share in the fourth quarter 2018.

For the full year 2019, revenue increased 22% to $67.3 million compared to $55.4 million in 2018. U.S. revenue increased 23% to $61.8 million, while international revenue increased 4% to $5.5 million compared to 2018. The increase in U.S. revenue was primarily driven by higher case volumes. The lower growth rate for international sales was primarily due to softness in our German subsidiary in the first half of the year. Gross margin for 2019 was 90% compared to 91% in 2018. The change in gross margin was due to an increase in personnel and operations to support the growth of the business. This is in line with our expectations for gross margin to trend toward the mid- to high 80% range over the next couple of years.

Operating expenses increased 54% to $96.5 million for 2019 compared to $62.5 million in 2018. The increase in operating expense was primarily driven by increased sales hiring, surgeon training, new public company costs, stock-based compensation and litigation expenses. Regarding litigation, we executed a definitive settlement agreement in January 2020 to settle all disputes related to the advertising fax case we mentioned in our third quarter report. We recognized a loss of $3.2 million in 2019, including $700,000 during the fourth quarter, which reflects the estimable costs the company incurred from settlement of the litigation. The reserve is recorded in our accrued liabilities, and we anticipate payment will occur in the third quarter of 2020. The operating loss was $36 million in 2019 compared to $12 million in 2018. Our net loss was $38.4 million or a loss of $1.55 per diluted share for 2019, as compared to $17.5 million or a loss of $2.20 per diluted share in 2018.

Cash and marketable securities were $93.1 million as of December 31, 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, SI-BONE completed a follow-on offering, raising net proceeds of $63.4 million after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions.

Turning to our outlook for 2020. As Jeff mentioned, we expect revenue to be in the range of $80 million to $82 million, representing growth of 19% to 22% over full year 2019. We expect U.S. growth to be between 20% and 23% during 2020. We also expect our international growth in 2020 to continue improving.

Regarding the coronavirus, we are carefully monitoring the situation. To date, we have seen an impact to our procedures in Northern Italy, which represents less than 1% of our sales. Of course, it's hard to say how the procedures will be affected if the disease becomes more widespread. Also, we have no suppliers in China and are not experiencing supply issues at this time.

I'll now turn the call back over to Jeff for closing comments.

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [5]

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Thank you, Laura. 2019 was a transformational year for SI-BONE. We made significant investments that will add to the continued growth in 2020. Looking ahead in 2020, we are focused on continued commercial execution in the U.S. and overseas, ramping up training and educational efforts and furthering our efforts on the reimbursement front. We are well positioned for growth and look forward to what is ahead. I want to thank the SI-BONE team for their enthusiasm and hard work. We look forward to updating you on our progress.

With that, we will now open it up to questions. Operator?

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of David Turkaly from JMP Securities.

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David Louis Turkaly, JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst [2]

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Great. I know you mentioned Cigna and Anthem on the call. I was wondering, Jeff, if you might just give us an update on some of the other payers and where they stand and when you think you might hear from them.

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [3]

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Yes. So as I think you know, David, Aetna had posted -- and did last year at the same time, had a date of January 9 to post an updated policy. Last year, they actually were late and posted on March 15. So our expectation, and we've heard this sort of indirectly as well, is that sometime mid-month this month, we should see an Aetna update.

As to Anthem, that's still scheduled for the fall. And as you know, they've started to cover some cases under the new policy, but we don't expect anything to change in a significant way until potentially the September time frame.

And I think, as I mentioned before, there's 112 payers that now cover, and there's 12 commercial payers, including the ones we've just talked about that do not cover. So there's a spattering of others that are still being worked on around the country.

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David Louis Turkaly, JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst [4]

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Got it. And then the 3.3 to 3.7 per active surgeon update is great. I think it's a little above what we'd look for. But I guess just your thoughts on -- now that you've been at this for a while, should we expect that to continue? Could that improve? I guess, what your thoughts are, sort of, as you look at 2020, do you think that continues to rise?

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [5]

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Edited Transcript of SIBN.OQ earnings conference call or presentation 9-Mar-20 8:30pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 9, 2020 / Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV:CCE)(FSE:D7H0) (the "Company" or "Commerce") is pleased to announce a collaboration with CanmetMINING focused on beneficiation test work for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit. The primary objective of CanmetMINING's work on the Ashram Deposit is to identify a key approach to further enhance beneficiation performance by exploring and testing a range of potentially applicable process methods at varying test conditions. These methods are expected to include flotation, gravity separation, magnetic separation, and ore sorting, in addition to several other physical separation approaches.

Preliminary flotation results by CanmetMINING have been very encouraging with similar results (<25% mass pull and >80% recovery) to the base case flowsheet achieved while using a modified reagent scheme and test conditions that provide a cost advantage. These results continue to illustrate the versatility and optimization potential of the Ashram Deposit's flowsheet. Flotation test work is continuing, including further reagent screening, mixed collector studies, and preliminary locked cycle and reverse conditioning tests. Test programs for gravity separation and ore sorting are also being advanced through CanmetMINING.

In addition to these test programs, the Company is pleased to announce that a joint abstract by the Company and CanmetMINING titled "Mineral Processing Flowsheet Options for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit" has been accepted for presentation at the 2020 Conference of Metallurgists (COM2020) to be held August 24th to 27th in Toronto, ON. The abstract will also be expanded upon in a paper to be presented at the show.

The funding for the test work is provided by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) through CanmetMINING's 6-year rare earth element ("REE") and chromite program, (announced in January 2015), focused on developing new extraction technologies, addressing Canadian regulations, and improving the knowledge of Canadian deposits (www.reechromite.ca). The Company's contribution to the collaboration is a supply of REE mineralized material from the Ashram Deposit, in which several tonnes remain readily available from a bulk sample completed in 2012.

The Ashram Deposit outcrops at surface, allowing for cost-effective collection of material for test work. As such, the Company is actively engaging with various research and academic institutions to support the advancement of the REE industry in Canada, and in Quebec specifically.

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Darren L. Smith, M.Sc., P.Geo., Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a Permit holder with the Ordre des Gologues du Qubec and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

About Commerce Resources Corp.

Commerce Resources Corp. is an exploration and development company with a particular focus on deposits of rare metals and rare earth elements. The Company is focused on the development of its Ashram Rare Earth Element Deposit in Quebec and the Upper Fir Tantalum-Niobium Deposit in British Columbia.

For more information, please visit the corporate website at http://www.commerceresources.com or email info@commerceresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP.

"Chris Grove" Chris Grove President and Director Tel: 604.484.2700 Email: cgrove@commerceresources.com Web: http://www.commerceresources.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information which is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this press release include that CanmetMINING's work on the Ashram Deposit will identify a key approach to further enhance beneficiation performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Risks that could change or prevent these statements from coming to fruition include that CanmetMINING's work may not be successful; changing costs for mining and processing; increased capital costs; the timing and content of upcoming work programs; geological interpretations based on drilling that may change with more detailed information; potential process methods and mineral recoveries assumption based on limited test work and by comparison to what are considered analogous deposits that with further test work may not be comparable; testing of our process may not prove successful and even it tests are successful, the economic and other outcomes may not be as expected; the availability of labour, equipment and markets for the products produced; and despite the current expected viability of the project, conditions changing such that the minerals on our property cannot be economically mined, or that the required permits to build and operate the envisaged mine can be obtained. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Commerce Resources Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/579537/Commerce-Resources-Corp-Announces-Metallurgical-Collaboration-with-CanmetMINING-for-the-Ashram-Deposit-Quebec

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Commerce Resources Corp. Announces Metallurgical Collaboration with CanmetMINING for the Ashram Deposit, Quebec - Benzinga

by Sukumaran C.V.

In the first week of September 2017, I was in Gandhinagar with my JNU friend who is an Assistant Professor at the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. He picked me up from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad and while travelling through the city, I noticed a plastic mat was draped as a wall for a long stretch preventing our view beyond it and I asked my friend what was beyond the mat wall. He replied that it is a slum and it was matt-walled in order to prevent its view from the sight of the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe who would arrive in Ahmedabad the next week.

When I visited Sabarmati Ashram and the medieval Sidi Saiyyed mosque, they were getting a facelift and my friend told me that they were beautified because the Japanese PM was scheduled to visit both the mosque and the Ashram.

When I read the news of the wall being built to block MrTrumps sight from a slum area along his route from the airport to Motera Stadium, I WhatsApped my friend and asked about it. He replied that it is the same colony that was hidden by a temporary mat wall in 2017, now being hidden by a permanent wall.

There have always been abstract walls in India, especially since Dr Manmohan Singh started the servile corporate economic policiesunder the sweet name called Liberalisation in 1991between the poor and the rich. But the Ahmedabad wall is the first instance of the abstract metamorphosing into the concrete. India is quite incredibly incredible!

Arent those people, whose presence is now hidden by a permanent wall, Indians? Can a democracy hide the underprivileged people from the sight of the VIPs who come from other democratic nations? Do those who rule the people by garnering these same peoples votes have the right to erect walls to hide their very existence from the President or Prime Minister of another nation? When elections come, wont these people who erect walls to hide the slums go to these slums asking for the votes?

Huge amounts were spent to beautify the cities which MrTrump visited. It is reported that 14,000 litres of water was released into the Yamuna in front of Taj Mahal to enable MrTrump to see the monument in a stench-free atmosphere. Yamuna and all the rivers should be stench-free. But is pumping water into the rivers the way to make them stench-free? Why dont we stop making our rivers sewers? Are only the persons like MrTrump entitled to see Taj Mahal without having inhaled the stench the people of India are forced to inhale everywhere in the so-called Swachh Bharat?

If you can spend huge amounts to pump water into rivers and to beautify the cities for the road-show of VVIPs like Trump and Modi and for useless events like Namaste Trump, why cant you spend anything to provide the slum dwellers with better living conditions? When you spend Rs 700 crores to build the Motera stadium, cant you spend at least Rs 7 crores to ameliorate the pathetic living conditions of the slum dwellers instead of insulting them by building walls to hide their very existence? When you spend Rs 2989 crores to build a Statue of Unity, why dont you spend at least Rs 200 crores to eradicate poverty and illiteracy to make the people really united?

India is the nation of Gandhi, the apostle of nonviolence, who said that I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel it is their country, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people. Can the walls that are erected to hide the very existence of the poorest help them feel it is their country? When the Father of the Nation sees the walls that have been erected between the rich and the poor in his country for whose freedom he sacrificed his life, he will be more pained than the pain the bullets of Godse inflicted on him. If the Mahatma sees the walls that are erected to hide the existence of the lesser beings of his nation, he will realise that the Swadeshi rulers are more alien than the real alien rulers who were made to quit India in 1947.

The curse of India is that our politicians/rulers, whether they belong to the Left or the Right, praise Gandhi in words and kill him in deeds.

The Ahmedabad wall reminds me of the Turkman Gate massacre during the Emergency (April 18, 1976) as a result of the demolition drive launched by Sanjay Gandhi to cleanse Delhi of its slums. When the residents of the Turkman Gate were asked to leave the colony, they refused and the police opened fire at the protesting residents and they were even run over by bulldozers. Still it is not really known how many people were massacred as the press was not allowed to cover the incident. The government, that was Indira Gandhi and her son, ordered the newspapers not to publish the news about the massacre. And Indians came to know about the massacre through the foreign media!

John Dayal and Ajoy Bose write in their book For Reasons of State: Delhi Under the Emergency: The 16 bulldozers kept on moving. They did not stop that night, nor the next day or night. In fact the bulldozers worked round the clock till April 22, till they had decimated all signs of life as well as death in Turkman Gate.

The rubble was scooped up into trucks and thrown behind the Ring Road every day where buzzards and jackals were seen rummaging through the rubble. Only the stink of stale meat which hung for days together over the thrown rubble remained to tell the story of the life and death struggle of the people of Turkman Gate.

After Indira Gandhi was ousted from power in March 1977, the Janata Party Government appointed the Shah Commission to inquire about the Turkman Gate massacre. The Commission indicted many bureaucrats and Congressmen like Pranab Mukherjee. The report was particularly scathing of Indira Gandhi, her son Sanjay Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, Bansi Lal, Kamal Nath and officers belonging to civil services who helped Sanjay Gandhi.

After Indira Gandhi returned to power in January 1980, she tried to destroy every single copy of the Shah Commission report and she virtually succeeded in her mission. And we know how prosperous were the political careers of people like Mukherjee, Bansi Lal and Kamal Nath. (Era Sezhiyan published Shah Commission Report: Lost, and Regained in 2011.)

The Modi era of India seems to be marked by continuous deaths of the citizens on the streets. First it was street lynchings; then people died standing in queues as a result of demonetisation. Then came the CAA and people started to be killed on the streets of UP. Now it has virtually become communal riots in Delhi. India has been scourged by communal riots in British era as a result of their divide and rule policy. The lack of unity among the Indians as a nation resulted in the greatest tragedy in the history of the sub-continentthe Partition of India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the greatest opponent of Jinnahs two-nation theory and fought the Partition of India tooth and nail until the last moment, said in a statement he issued, as the President of the Indian National Congress, on April 15, 1946: I have considered from every possible point of view the scheme of Pakistan as formulated by the Muslim League. As an Indian I have examined its implications for the future of India as a whole. As a Muslim I have examined its likely effects upon the fortunes of Muslims of India. Considering the scheme in all its aspects I have come to the conclusion that it is harmful not only for India as a whole but for Muslims in particular. And in fact it creates more problems than it solves....Two states confronting one another, offer no solution of the problem of one anothers minorities, but only lead to retribution and reprisals by introducing a system of mutual hostages. (Quoted from his autobiography India Wins Freedom)

We have been witnessing the retribution and reprisals of the system of mutual hostages the Partition of India permanently created in 1947, ever since. Delhi 2020 is its latest manifestation. As long as the religious, sectarian and exclusive politics rule the roost, India will not stop witnessing people dying on the streets.

As the communal tension in India is having a larger historic context, it cant be solved nationally. When an untoward incident happens in India, its repercussions are felt in the villages of Bangladesh (and Pakistan) as described by Taslima Nasrin in her novel Lajja written in the backdrop of the Babri Masjid demolition. The best method to solve the communal hatred the Indian subcontinent chronically experiences ever since the Partition of India is to form a federation of the sibling nationsIndia, Pakistan and Bangladesheach nation committing to the safety of the religious minorities in it. Such a mechanism may help the systematic disintegration of the religious intolerance in each sibling nation and strengthen the secular democracy that is throttled in India today, and has never been allowed to flourish in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

A former JNU student, the author is now working as a senior clerk in the Kerala State Government Service.

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A Nation that Segregates and Kills the Less Privileged - Mainstream

By ANI

NEW DELHI: Congress will flag off a 27-day-long 'Gandhi Sandesh Yatra'on March 12 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The march is also being undertaken to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's historic Dandi March, which started on March 12, 1930, and ended on April 6, 1930.

The Yatra will begin from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad and will be culminating at Dandi in Gujarat on April 6, covering the 386 km route in 27 days.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and Congress Chief Ministers will attend the 27-day long padayatra. On the culminating day at Dandi, public meetings will be organized which will be addressed by Sonia, Rahul, all Congress-ruled state Chief Ministers, PCC chiefs and CWC members.

The objective of the yatra is to recall and recapture the spirit of Gandhi's Dandi March. "We will be re-establishing our resolve to protect and promote the values enshrined in our Constitution and to emulate Gandhiji's thoughts especially those relating to truth, peace, non-violence and social harmony," said the Congress in a statement.

"The Gandhi Sandesh Yatra will give an opportunity of making our younger generation appreciative of the great legacy that we have inherited from the Father of the Nation," it added.

The party has directed each PCC to participate for a day with their contingent of leaders making it an 'All India Participative Programme'.

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Congress to take out 'Gandhi Sandesh Yatra' to mark 90th anniversary of Dandi March - The New Indian Express

A book on the life and times of Ma Anand Sheela, former aide to infamous spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh, will hit the stands by second-half of this year, announced Penguin Random House India on Friday.

Sheela Birnstiel, who goes by the moniker Ma Anand Sheela, got into spotlight after the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country. She managed the Rajneeshpuram ashram in Wasco County, Oregon, and was the personal secretary of Osho from 1981-1985.

The biography, titled By My Own Rules, beside laying bare details of Sheela and her role in the rise and fall of the godman Osho empire, attempts to present readers with an "unwaveringly honest view of her life after Osho". "It takes a lot of courage for any publishing house to work with someone with my history-for I am no writer; I am simply narrating my life. I believe that experiences are, at times, mightier than literature," said Sheela on her upcoming book. The 70-year-old, who was alleged to be the primary perpetrator of the 1984 Rajneesh bio-terror attack in Oregon, post the attack fled to Europe as a fugitive accused of arson, wiretapping, attempted murder, and mass poisonings.

Later, she pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault for her role and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and paroled after 39 months. Presently, she runs homes for the disabled and elderly in Switzerland.

"Ma Anand Sheela is unconventional, fearless, strong, and spirited. She has had an adventurous and extraordinary life, and has always lived it on her own terms.

"By My Own Rules is her memoir in which she talks about her life and work in Switzerland, her family, her memories of Bhagwan Rajneesh and what continues to drive her to live her dream even today," said Milee Ashwarya, publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage Publishing, Penguin Random House India.

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Book on controversial spiritual guru Ma Anand Sheela to hit stands soon - THE WEEK