"We have already received more than 100 such CVs so far," said Head Hunters India CEO Kris Lakshmikanth.
A Satyam Business manager confessed to the headhunter that he was facing difficulty dealing with clients and convincing them to renew their contracts with Satyam. The clients are in re-evaluation mood as they are "no longer satisfied with the intent and focus of the company."
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Rajus seemed to have pledged their promoter stake in the $2-billion-plus fourth largest Indian IT company to raise funds to buy land and real estate. Though the exact price at which the shares were pledged could not be clearly ascertained, it is believed to be upwards of Rs 800 per share. The process of pledging began in September 2006.
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Rajus seemed to have pledged their promoter stake in the $2-billion-plus fourth largest Indian IT company to raise funds to buy land and real estate. Though the exact price at which the shares were pledged could not be clearly ascertained, it is believed to be upwards of Rs 800 per share. The process of pledging began in September 2006.
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"We were interested in Satyam's BPO arm when the intermediary approached us. But the promoters weren't keen on selling individual components. And picking up the entire stake will be too big a bite for us," said an official from a Delhi-based BPO firm. While there are a few players with requisite financial prowess to match promoters' expectations, there are challenges that may hinder the deal from taking off. "Acquiring promoters' stake alone will not ensure management control. So, prospective buyers may have to explore other options," said Raman Roy, Chairman and Managing Director, Quattro BPO Solutions.
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Though many global IT services firms, including IBM, Accenture and Cap Gemini, are vying for Satyam Computer Services. It might finally endup in the Indian companies kitty.
Infosys and Coginzant have pulled up some of their Top Business managers to do a sort of due-dilligence for getting Satyam into their fold.
The fourth-biggest software exporter is facing a major shareholder rebellion on poor governance after it aborted bid to buy two firms linked to its promoter. Despite the recent developments, IT analysts reckon that the fourth-biggest software exporter is a good buy, as the India outsourcing story is intact.
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Ramalinga started off his entrepreneurial career in the construction business always had a fascination for the real estate and related industry. This is precisely the reason why Maytas (which is Satyam spelt in reverse) was spawned by Ramalinga Raju a few years ago. Maytas has now grown big and comprises Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties. The former's order book is over Rs 12,000 crore besides the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.
The Rajus are considering inducting a strategic partner and selling out their shares in the $2 billion IT company
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The buzz on the Rajus' plan to exit Satyam has been doing the rounds for the last two years. Earlier, there were speculation that IBM would takeover the company. "Though constantly denied, the fact that these tales persisted goes to show that there cannot be smoke without fire,'' says a top Hyderabad businessman who has known Ramalinga Raju for long. Raju, who started off his entrepreneurial career in the construction business, has a fascination for the real estate and related industry, say people who know him. This is precisely the reason why Maytas (which is Satyam spelt in reverse) was spawned by Ramalinga Raju a few years ago. Maytas has now grown big and comprises Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties. The former's order book is over Rs 12,000 crore besides the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.
Sources said if the sell-out by Satyam does not happen or till such time that it happens, B Rama Raju, the co founder and brother of Ramalinga Raju and managing director of the company, will step down from his executive position and make way for a salaried professional managing director. "He will continue as a non-executive director,'' sources said. Similarly it is expected that Ramalinga Raju might himself become a non-executive chairman of the Satyam board.
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According to a corporate lawyer, if Raju resigns, one of the options before the board could be to appoint one of the independent directors as a chairman or managing director. The other option could be to appoint other investor nominees as chairman or managing director. "But this possibility appears remote as financial investors may not be willing to take the onus of running the company," said a corporate lawyer, who wished not to be identified.
Institutional investors led by Aberdeen Asset Management, Fidelity and ICICI Prudential hold a 61% stake in Satyam, several times the 8.5% stake held by the family of the company's founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju. The resignation of Srinivasan, who was on the Satyam board for over 17 years, has also added pressure on other directors to follow her example.
Vinod completed his undergraduate education in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering. In 1971, after graduation, he joined a Delhi-based semiconductor company called Continental Devices. In 1975, he left this job and joined University of Cincinnati to pursue a masters degree in Electrical Engineering, where he specialized in Solid State Science. After completing his masters degree in 1977, he joined NCR Corporation at Dayton, Ohio. He then joined Intel, and started working on the Pentium chip. He is called the "Father of Pentium" for his role in the development of the Pentium processor. He is also one of the co-inventers of non-volatile flash memory. He rose to the position of vice-president of Intel. He left Intel in 1995, and joined a number of startups including NexGen, which was acquired by AMD, and then went on to Silicon Spice, which was acquired by Broadcom in 2000. He is also the co-founding partner of New Path Ventures which has funded Companies like Nevis Networks. In an interview, Dham revealed that he came to the United States with only "$8 in his pocket".
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The World Bank has banned Satyam Computer Services from providing software services to the financial institution for eight years due to
alleged malpractices including bribery, as per a Fox News report
World Bank information security chief Robert Van Pulley admitted to the ban during a recent meeting with the officials of Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower protection organisation in the US, as per the report. The bank has handed over the case to the US Justice Department and the Treasury Department.
Mr Raju had put in his papers and that he was awaiting the company board's decision on the issue.
When contacted, a Satyam spokesperson said: "We are still awaiting news from the management. We will let you know once there is an announcement to make."
The resignation of the chairman, who is also the promoter of the company, could raise issues of succession, which is far greater than him quitting, Mr Shah added.
Shares of Satyam were down 8.5% to Rs 148.60 on the BSE in intra day trading. The company's shares have seen severe beating ever since the company board pushed through a decision to buy out two subsidiaries belonging to the promoters' family. The Satyam board had to later reverse this decision following strong opposition from investors and shareholders.
The failed Maytas deal has come as a big blow to Satyam, which for all its brutal HR policies, were seen as Investor's darling.
Here are blogs of note regarding Satyam - Maytas deal
Satyam - name and reputation are upside down
""Mr Raju said the two companies would be helped by Satyam's 'soft' skills in infrastructure vertical."
Synergy between software and real estate development? Whoa, and saying that with a straight face on TV was truly an achievement of sorts for Ramalinga Raju.
My second favourite cynical quote of Raju is: "With regard to Maytas Infra, he said the valuation was based on SEBI guidelines." Whoa, so now it's SEBI's fault that you grossly overvalued your sons' companies? Raju bhai, SEBI prescribes minimum standards of governance and valuation disclosures not valuation levels and their fairness – and most of them are geared towards honest arms length transactions.
"
(http://blogs.livemint.com/blogs/initial_private_opinion/archive/2008/12/17/satyam-name-and-reputation-is-upside-down.aspx)
Raju's sons have senior posts in both firms - Rama Raju Jnr is vice chairman of Maytas Properties and B Teja Raju is vice chairman of Maytas Infra"
When Indian companies realise this is unacceptable, they can compare themselves with the best of the Western companies. You'd never see IBM behaving in such a way - why did it take an investor revolt to bring the senior execs to their senses ? The CEO of Satyam should resign over this.
amanfromMars - IMHO resignation of the sons should have happened before the deal was even conceived !
(http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/12/18/takeover_abandoned/comments/)
Raju with 8% holding was trying for a day-light robbery.This is atrocious and there must be a regulation stipulating a minimum share holding to be a CEO or the CEO must be a professional. He or his family starts a company, run it for some time, manipulate the valuation and then merge it with a bigger IT company wherein he is a minority share holder. This sucks. All the other major shareholders should join and force Raju to quit.
What Raju did is unpardonable and he has lost the faith i had in the company.He must go!!!
As someone who has followed the fame and fortune of the big 4 in India for the last decade, one definitely gets the feeling that this is more a case of misunderstood intentions or expectations rather than malafide intent.
One must remember, that a minority promoter by working in the best interests of the investor has made Satyam one of the most profitable, fastest growing and most cash rich IT organisation in India. To an outside observer, while this event itself could be a source of discomfort, 25 years of success and ethical success shoule be a source of comfort.
there is a large degree of involvement in terms of the governance of the organisation and the management focus that is provided by the promoters of this organisation.
Without a doubt a few market signals seem to have been misinterpreted, without a doubt a larger buy in would've helped in creating far greater credibility to the event than what it ended up doing, without a doubt, at a sensitive time like this, transparency would've been a much healthier alternative, that said, persecution beyond a point comes across as a witch hunt.
as the actions stand corrected, its a lesson that we all take in and move forward.
(http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2008/12/17/its-all-in-the-family-for-indian-tech-firm/)
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Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday achieved a milestone by becoming the longest serving Congress party Chief Minister in the State for a single term, by completing four years, seven months and seven days.
He surpassed the record of Jalagam Vengal Rao, who held office for four years, six months and 23 days. Veteran Kasu Bramhananda Reddi was the Chief Minister for seven years, six months and 22 days but in two terms. His single term stint was four years, four months and 23 days.
Chief Minister attributed this success to his 'beloved' mother Jayamma. According to a press release issued by the Chief Minister's Office, he observed that there was no greater satisfaction in initiating programmes for well being of people than get elated over records. He said several party stalwarts in the State had left indelible mark on people by their commitment for their welfare.
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Reliance has decided to go for a massive layoffs or job cuts in all group companies. The news was released by IBN LIVE, stating that Reliance and group companies have asked around 6000 employees to resign or forceful job termination
The majority of the layoffs will happen in the Retail segment. Though other companies will also face the heat. Some of the companies involved in the exercise are Reliance Retail, Reliance Logistics, Reliance Info Systems and Reliance Corporate Park.
Reliance Job Cuts affected across sectors
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Statement of accused Mohd Ajmal Amir Qasab; Age 21 yrs. Occupation: Labour, R/O - Faridkot, Tehsil -Dipalpur, Dist -Ukada, State -Suba Punjab, Pakistan
I am as above and reside at the above given address since my birth. I have studied up to 4th standard from Government Primary School.
After leaving school in 2000, I went to Lahore. My brother Afzal stays at galli No. 54, R.No. 12, Mohalla Tohit Abad, near Yadgar Minar, Lahore. I did labour jobs at different places till 2005. During that period I used to visit my native place. In the year 2005, I had a quarrel with my father. Therefore, I left my house and went to Ali Hajveri Darbar at Lahore.
At the said place, the boys who had run away from their houses are kept. From there, the boys are sent to different places for employment. One day when I was there, a person by name Shafiq came there and took me with him. He was in the catering business. He was from Zhelam. I started working with him on daily wages. I was given Rs 120 per day. After some days my salary was increased up to Rs 200 per day. I worked with him till 2007.
While I was working with Shafiq, I came in contact with one Muzaffar Lal Khan, aged 22 years, r/o Village -Romiya, Tehsil & Dist -Atak, State -Sarhad, Pakistan. As we were not getting enough money, we decided to carry out robbery / dacoity at some place so that we will get a large amount. As such we left the job.
Thereafter we went to Rawalpindi. We hired a flat at Bangash Colony, Rawalpindi, and started residing in it. Afzal had located a house where he thought we would get a large amount.
He had surveyed the said place and drawn a map of the said place. We required some fire-arms for our purpose. Afzal told me that he could get some fire-arms at his native place, but it was very risky, as there was frequent checking at his native place.
While we were in search of fire-arms we saw some LeT stalls at Raja bazaar, Rawalpindi, on the day of Bakri-id. We thought that, even if we procured fire-arms, we could not operate them. Therefore, we decided to join LeT for weapon training.
After making enquiries we reached LeT office. In the LeT office we met a person. We told him that we wanted to join LeT. He made some enquiry with us, noted our names and address and told us to come on next day.
On the next day, we went to LeT office and met the same man. One more person was present with him.
He gave us Rs 200 and some receipt. Then he gave us the address of a place called Marqas Taiyyaaba, Muridke, and told us to go to the said place where LeT is having their training camp. As directed, we went to the said place by bus. We showed the receipt given to us at the gate of the camp. We were allowed inside. At the entry gate, our details were filled up on two forms. Then we were taken to the actual camp area. At the said place, initially we were selected for 21 days training called Daura-Sufa. From the next day, we started attending training. The daily programme was as mentioned below.
04.15: Wake up call and thereafter namaz
08.00: Breakfast
08.30-10.00: Lecture on Hadis and Quran by Mufti Sayyed
10.00-12.00: Rest
12.00-13.00: Lunch Break
13.00-14.00: Namaz
14.00-16.00: Rest
16.00-18.00: PT and Game Instructor Fadulla
18.00-20.00: Namaz and other work
20.00-21.00: Dinner
After completion of the above said training, we were selected for another training called Daura-Ama. The said training was also for 21 days. We were then taken in a vehicle to a place called Mansera, Buttal Village. At the said place, we were given training of all weapons for 21 days. The daily programme was as mentioned below.
04.15 - 05.00: Wake up call and thereafter namaz
05.00-6.00: PT Instructor abu Anas
08.00: Breakfast
08.30-11.30: Weapons training. Trainer Abdul Rehman, Weapons AK-47, Green-O, SKS, Uzi gun, pistol, revolver
11.30-12.00: Rest
12.00-13.00: Lunch break
13.00-14.00: Namaz
14.00-16.00: Rest
16.00-18.00: PT
18.00-20.00: Namaz and other work
20.00-21.00: Dinner
After completing the said training, we were told that, we will be given the next advance training, but for that purpose we have to do some Khidmat for two months (Khidmat is a sort of service in the said camp as per the trainees' liking). We agreed to do the Khidmat for two months.
After two months, I was allowed to go to meet my parents. I stayed with my parents for one month. Thereafter, I went to LeT camp situated at Shaiwainala, Muzzafarabad, for further advanced training. At that place, they took my photographs and filled up some forms. Then we were taken to Chelabandi pahadi area for training called Duara-khas. The said training was for 3 months. The training included PT, handling of all weapons and firing practice of the said weapons, training of handling of hand grenade, rocket launchers and mortars. The daily programme was as mentioned below.
04.15-05.00: Wake up call and thereafter namaz
05.00-06.00: PT Instructor Abu Mawiya
08.00: Breakfast
08.30-11.30: Weapons training handling of all weapons and firing practices of the said weapons, training of handling of hand grenade, rocket launchers and mortars, Green-O, SKS, Uzi gun, pistol, revolver, Hand grenade, rocket launchers. Trainer Abu Mawiya
11.30-12.00: Rest
12.00-13.00: Lunch Break
13.00-14.00: Namaz
14.00-16.00: Weapon training and firing practice. Lecture on Indian security agencies
16.00-18.00: PT
18.00-20.00: Namaz and other work
20.00-21.00: Dinner
At the said place 32 persons were present for training.
Out of these 32 trainees, 16 were selected for some confidential operation by one Zaqi-ur-Rehman Chacha. Out of these 16 trainees 3 trainees ran away from the camp. The above said chacha then sent the remaining 13 of us along with a person called Kafa to the above said earlier camp at Muridke. At Muridke, we were taught swimming and getting acquainted with the environment experienced by a fisherman on a sea.
We did some experimental tours by launches on the sea. During the said training, we were given lectures on working of Indian security agencies. We were shown the clippings highlighting the atrocities on Muslims in India.
After completing the said training, we were allowed to go to our native places. For seven days, I stayed with my family members. After seven days I went to the LeT camp at Muzzafarabad.
The above said 13 of us were present for training. Thereafter, as per the instructions of Zaki-ur-Rehman, the above said Kafa took us to camp at Muridke. At the said camp again we underwent the training of swimming and getting acquainted with the environment and experience on sea. The training continued for one month.
During the said training, we were given the lectures on India and its security agencies, including RAW. We were also given the training on how to evade the chase by security personnel. We were strictly instructed not to make phone calls to Pakistan after reaching India.
The names of the persons present for the said training are as mentioned below.
Mohd Azmal aka Abu Muzahid
Ismail aka Abu Umar
Abu Ali
Abu Aksha
Abu Umer
Abu Shoeb
Abdul Rehman (Bada)
Abdul Rehman (Chhota)
Afadulla
Abu Umar
After completion of training, Zaki-ur-Rehman aka Chacha selected 10 of us and formed 5 teams each having two persons on 15 Sept 2008. My team included myself and Ismail. Our code name was VTS team. We were then shown the site 'Google Earth' on Internet. On the same site, we were shown the information about Azad Maidan, Mumbai, how and where to get down at Mumbai. We were shown the film on VT railway station and the film showing the commuters moving around at rush hours at VT railway station.
We were instructed to carry out the firing at rush hours in the morning between 7 to 11 hours and between 7 to 11 hours in the evening. Then kidnap some persons, take them to the roof of some nearby building. After reaching at the roof top, we were to contact chacha. After that, chacha would give the telephone or mobile no of electronic media. We were then to contact the media persons on the same phone. And as per the instructions received from chacha, we would make demands for releasing the hostages. This was the general strategy decided by our trainers.
The date fixed for the said operation was 27th Sept 2008. However, the operation was cancelled for some reason. We stayed at Karachi. Again we made practice of travelling by speed boats on the sea. We stayed there upto 23rd Nov 2008. The other teams were as mentioned below.
2nd Team
1) Abu Aksha
2) Abu Umar
3rd Team
1) Bada Abdul Rehman
2) Abu Ali
4th Team
1) Chhota Abdul Rehman
2) Afadulla
5th Team
1) Shoeb
2) Abu Umer
On 23rd Nov 2008, the above said teams including our team left from Azizabad, Karachi along with Zaki-ur-Rehman aka Chacha and Kafa. We were taken to the nearby sea shore. At 04.15 hours we reached the sea shore. At the sea shore we boarded a launch. After traveling for 22 to 25 nautical miles we met a bigger launch in the sea. We boarded the said launch and after journey of 1 hour we boarded a bigger ship by name Al-Huseini in the deep sea. While boarding the said ship, each of us was given a sack containing 8 grenades, one AK-47 rifle, 200 cartridges, 2 magazines and one cell phone for communication.
Then we started towards Indian coast. When we reached Indian waters, the crew members of Al-Huseini ship hijacked one Indian launch. The seamen from the said launch were shifted to Al-Huseini ship. We were then boarded the hijacked Indian ship. One Indian seaman was kept along with us.
At the gun point, he took us towards the Indian coast. After journey of about 3 days, we reached near sea shore of Mumbai. While we were at some distance from the shore, Ismail and Afadulla killed the Indian seaman, (Tandel) at the basement of the said Indian launch. Then we boarded floatable dinghi and reached Budwar Park Jetty as per the instructions received earlier.
After getting down at Budwar Park, I went along with Ismail to VT railway stn by taxi.
After reaching the hall of VT railway stn. We, i.e. Ismail and myself, went to the common toilet, took out the weapons from our sacks, loaded them, came out of toilet and started firing indiscriminately towards the passengers.
Suddenly one police officer in uniform came towards us and opened fire. In retaliation, we threw hand grenades towards him and also opened fire towards him. Then we went inside the railway stn threatening the commuters and randomly firing at them.
Then we came out of the railway stn and started searching for a building with roof top. But we did not find a suitable building. Therefore, we entered a lane. Then we entered a building and went upstarts. On 3rd or 4th floor we searched for hostages but we found that the said building was a hospital and not a residential building. Therefore we started coming down.
At that time policemen started firing at us. As such we threw some grenades towards them. When we were coming out of the hospital premises, we suddenly saw one police vehicle passing in front of us. Therefore, we took shelter behind a bush.
Another vehicle passed in front of us and stopped at some distance. One police officer got down from the said vehicle and started firing at us. One bullet hit my hand and my AK-47 dropped down. I bent to pick it up when second bullet hit me on the same hand. I got injured. Ismail opened fire at the officers who were in said vehicle. They got injured and firing from their side stopped.
We waited for some time and then went towards the said vehicle. Three bodies lying there. Ismail removed the three bodies and drove the said vehicle. I sat next to him. While we were moving in the said vehicle, some police men tried to stop us. Ismail opened fire towards them while we were on the move; our vehicle got punctured near a big ground by the side of road. Ismail got down from the driver seat, stopped a car at the gun point and removed the three lady occupants from the said car. Then Ismail carried me to the car and sat me inside as I was injured. Then he drove the said car.
While we were moving in the said car, we were stopped on the road near sea shore. Ismail fired towards them. Some policemen got injured. Police also opened fire towards us. Due to the police firing Ismail got injured. Then police removed us to some hospital. In the hospital I came to know that Ismail succumbed to the injuries he has sustained.
My statement is read over to me, explained in Hindi and it is correctly recorded.
(The statement has been reproduced verbatim)
Pray mourn to all, who lost their lives in MUMBAI
The third edition of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), currently on in Hyderabad, has been presenting to the multi-stakeholders quite a few perspectives on cyber crime and cyber security including identify theft.
The IGF organisers, however, will need to rethink about their objectives and include physical theft too on their agenda from the next edition.
For, despite the tight security measures including scanners and metal detectors besides over 100 Indian policemen and the United Nation's security personnel cordoning the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the venue for the event, day one saw around 80 simultaneous language interpretation headsets missing after the opening session.
Series of resignations forced from ministers and chief ministers. But why Ms Sonia Gandhi who - listened to her inner voice and - gave up Primeministership now listen to the inner voice and resign from UPA chairperson and politics.
If Rahul Dravid & Sachin Tendulkar resigned from captaincy for poor performance, why can't Soniaji relinquish her post. What for she is sticking to that? Why the inexperienced media is after a cartoon character like Naqvi and not after Sonia?
Is the media doing justice by saving Sonia?
Ban Pakistan Cricketers from IPL
Mumbai attacks clearly has handiwork of ISI. After hundreds of humiliation we supported Pakistan as they were out brothers? Can we continue that? Can we allow the Pakistan players to play IPL and take away the money, fame and credit to fund terrorists who hit us back? Voice your concern?
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Time for Super PM Sonia to take Sanyas from Politics
Another day, another attack and another message to be calm. All these attacks are due to a weak national government headed by Manmohan Singh. The government's power is taken by the parasite (UPA Convener Ms Sonia).
History shows that if there are two power centres in a government it is bound to be weak. It is high time for Sonia to step away from Congress and return to Italy. This is the best thing she can do for ordinary Indians
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The Deccan Mujahideen are an alleged Islamic terrorist group within India that is, according to an e-mail sent to news organizations, claiming responsibility for attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 in which 101 people have been killed and over 250 others injured. The group's involvement has not been confirmed, and could be a hoax or assumed name for another group. It is possible that the organization, if exists, could be related to the Indian Mujahideen.
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Wipro is asking its latest batch of recruits from engineering colleges if they want to join its BPO division instead of the technology services unit for which they were originally hired. Wipro Technologies said it is offering the option because it sees delays in the joining dates for some batches of recruits due to the "current business environment."
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) - A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.
Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily Izvestia published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."
The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.
When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."
When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."
Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."
He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions."
He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.
He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all."
On the fate of the U.S. dollar, he said: "In 2006 a secret agreement was reached between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. on a common Amero currency as a new monetary unit. This could signal preparations to replace the dollar. The one-hundred dollar bills that have flooded the world could be simply frozen. Under the pretext, let's say, that terrorists are forging them and they need to be checked."
When asked how Russia should react to his vision of the future, Panarin said: "Develop the ruble as a regional currency. Create a fully functioning oil exchange, trading in rubles... We must break the strings tying us to the financial Titanic, which in my view will soon sink."
Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare
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Technology firms are increasing working hours and monitoring the hours worked far more rigorously than ever before in a bid to squeeze more out of employees in these difficult times.
Some are even going to the extent of checking the recess-hour of their employees, to make sure that lunch sessions and coffee breaks do not cut into their per-day productivity. TCS has recently increased the working hours by an hour a day to 9 hours. From January 1, 2009, Accenture India will do the same, becoming perhaps the first MNC company in India to move to longer working hours.
Wipro employees already put in 9.5 hours (8.30 am to 6pm) a day including a brief lunch break, while it's 9.15 hours in Infosys. But these weren't implemented stringently; until now. ''It's sort of mandatory for us now to put in 9.5 hours of work a day. Our HR seems to be monitoring it very closely these days and even a 15 minute shortage/delay is being noticed,'' said a Wipro employee who got a reminder for short-swiping a few days ago.
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Pepsi Bottling Group: 3,150 jobs
The global economy is in the doldrums. Nations are battling a nightmare called recession. Balance sheets are studied with a frenzy and companies are struggling to stay in the black. Yet, the saddest story of the financial meltdown is the common man. In less than 20 days this month, 30 well-known international companies have announced job cuts.
Soft drink distributor Pepsi Bottling Group Inc is planning to slash about 3,150 jobs across US, Canada Europe and Mexico as part of its restructuring plan.
This is expected to result in pre-tax savings of up to $160 million.
"These moves will allow our business to better deal with the challenging macroeconomic conditions that currently exist," Pepsi Bottling Group's chairman and chief executive officer Eric Foss said.
Image: A sculpture called 'Three People on Four Benches' by George Segal sits in front of Pepsico's world headquarters. | Photo credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
HSBC: 500 jobs
HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank (when market value is considered), plans to cut 500 jobs in Asia due to the global economic slump, says wire service Associated Press. The cuts will be made in various parts of the business, including back office functions, with about 450 jobs in Hong Kong to be shed, the London-based lender announced to employees on November 17.
In September, the bank announced 1,100 job cuts worldwide in the wake of the financial turmoil.
HSBC has been hit hard by the financial crisis. The bank was forced to reduce the value of its assets by $4.9 billion in the third quarter, as the cost of bad loans in the US continued to mount and the credit market faltered.
Image: Overview of the HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong. | Photograph: Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images
Citigroup: 52,000 jobs
Citigroup has announced it will cut more than 52,000 jobs in the coming months and reduce expenses by 20 per cent in 2009. It said it intends to reduce the total head count to less than 300,000 soon. In terms of expenses, the financial services major aims to save $ 50-52 billion in 2009.
These cuts are expected to have a 'limited' impact on its India staff strength. Citigroup has about 22,000 employees currently working in India. Of which, 12,000 work for Citigroup Global Services Ltd.
Citigroup had a workforce of 352,000 in the third quarter of 2008. In the same quarter, it reported a loss of $ 2.8 billion. In the first three quarters of 2008, Citigroup has reduced its workforce by about 23,000 persons.
Image: A Citibank branch in central London. | Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Fidelity Investments: 3,000 and counting
Leading fund house Fidelity Investments will cut about 1,300 jobs later this month, followed by another 1,700 jobs in the first quarter next year.
This means Fidelity is looking at reducing its 44,400 employee-strong workforce by about 7 per cent.
Fidelity Investments, which managed assets worth $ 3 trillion as on September 30, 2008, has seen its assets decline sharply following the meltdown in the stock markets.
Image: A Fidelity Investments investor centre located near the White House, Washington, DC. | Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Royal Bank of Scotland: 3,000 jobs
The Royal Bank of Scotland will cut about 3,000 jobs in the next few weeks.
'The positions will go in its global banking and markets workforce, spanning more than 50 countries. Jobs are likely to go in the City of London,' said a BBC report.
The bank has about 170,000 employees, of which about 100,000 are in the UK.
Image: A Royal Bank of Scotland branch in central London. | Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images
Sun Microsystems: 6,000 jobs
Sun Microsystems has said it is eliminating 6,000 jobs or 18 per cent of its global work force. It expects to reduce its costs by $375-450 million in the current fiscal.
Sun Microsystems is also reorganising its software organisation into new business groups. Besides, it will implement a restructuring plan aimed at reducing costs by approximately $700 to $800 million annually.
Image: A pedestrian walks by a sign outside the Sun Microsystems headquarters in Santa Clara, California. | Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
United States Steel Corp: 675 jobs
November 20, 2008
United States Steel Corp has laid off about 3 per cent of its production workers in North America as the global economic slowdown cut into the demand for steel used in construction, autos and appliances.
The layoffs, effective immediately, include 500 employees in the US and 175 in Canada.
Image: One of the two blast-furnaces at steel giant US Steel will be stopped from November 16, 2008 to January 31, 2009, because of a decline in orders. This will reduce production by 15 per cent. | Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images
British Telecom: 10,000 jobs and counting
November 20, 2008
UK-based telecom major British Telecom will cut 10,000 jobs by March 2009. About 4,000 of the job losses will be direct BT staff, the remaining 6,000 will be from related employees.
The cuts will mainly affect agency and contract staff and offshore workers, the company said, but sub-contractors and other indirect employees would also lose their jobs. BT has also said its India operations won't be affected.
The move to cut jobs comes after the company posted an 11 per cent decline in pre-tax profits at pound 590 million for the September quarter.
A report in The Telegraph said, 'BT has cut its headcount from 250,000 at privatisation in 1984 to 160,000 today and indicated there is scope for more job losses. The company said 4,000 employees have already left the business this financial year and a further 6,000, mostly in the UK, will go by the end of March.'
BT has a global workforce of 160,000.
Morgan Stanley: 19 per cent of its staff
November 20, 2008
Morgan Stanley has outlined plans to cut 10 per cent of its staff by the end of the year. The layoffs follow a 10 per cent cut made earlier this year.
Morgan Stanley also plans to restructure its money management business by cutting 9 per cent of its staff.
It was not immediately clear how many positions will ultimately be eliminated from the company's total ranks of about 44,000 employees.
Image: Morgan Stanley headquarters in Times Square, New York City. | Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Virgin Media: 2,200 jobs
November 20, 2008
The Virgin Media cable group will be slashing 2,200 jobs, or 15 per cent of its workforce, by 2012. This will result in annual cost savings of more than pound 120 million by 2012.
The group said it would not start cutting jobs until the fourth quarter of next year, with the majority of the role reductions taking place before the end of 2010. It also said the cuts were not related to the strained economic environment.
Virgin Media was formed through the merger of Telewest and ntl in 2006; Virgin Mobile was later acquired by it. The group has already reduced 4,000 staff jobs after the ntl and Telewest deal.
Yell Group: 1,300 jobs
November 20, 2008
Yell Group, the publisher of the Yellow Pages in the UK, is planning to cut 1,300 jobs over the coming year, which is expected to reduce costs by pound 100 million.
The company has already cut 1,300 jobs since September last year, resulting in a saving of pound 150 million.
Image: Yell Group plc publishes the Yellow Pages in the UK | Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images
Nokia Siemens Networks: 1,820 jobs
November 20, 2008
Telecommunications solution provider Nokia Siemens Networks said it will slash around 1,800 jobs as part of its restructuring efforts. The company is a 50:50 joint venture of Finnish cell phone maker Nokia and German firm Siemens.
Nokia Siemens plans to cut about 750 jobs in Finland. It will also close its Hofmannstrasse site in Munich, Germany, which will affect nearly 500 employees.
The company separately announced an agreement whereby its manufacturing site in Durach, Germany, will be purchased in a management buy-out. 'That agreement will result in the transfer of around 500 employees. At the completion of the planned headcount restructuring and employee transfer activities, Nokia Siemens Networks expects to have in the range of 10,000 employees in Germany, from an initial base of approximately 13,000,' the statement noted.
In addition, the company has planned reduction of headcount by about 50 in Egypt and by 20 in the United States.
Image: A construction worker walks past a building housing Finnish-German company Nokia Siemens Networks in Dubai; the office is on the 27th floor. | Photograph: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images)
Volvo AB: 1,000 jobs and counting
November 20, 2008
Swedish truck and bus maker Volvo AB has said it will lay off 1,000 staff at its powertrain unit in Sweden and the United States as the global financial crisis continues to affect the demand for heavy vehicles.
He said a number of consultants in Sweden could also receive notices.
The Volvo group has previously announced layoffs of 2,000 workers at their truck plants in Belgium and Sweden and 1,350 workers at its construction unit.
It has more than 100,000 employees worldwide, including its subsidiaries Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks and Nissan Diesel.
Image: An employee leaves the Volvo AB truck plant in Tuve outside Gothenburg, Sweden. | Photograph: Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/AFP/Getty Images
DHL US Express: 9,500 jobs
November 20, 2008
German logistics giant Deutsche Post AG announced it would slash 9,500 jobs at its DHL US Express business and shut all service centres following the economic downturn. This is in addition to the 5,400-odd positions already reduced since the beginning of the year.
DHL US Express will also close all ground hubs and reduce the number of stations from 412 to 103, said a company statement. As a result, its annual operating costs are expected to reduce to less than euro 770 million from the present euro 4.2 billion.
The US international express network, with a total of 3,000 to 4,000 employees, will be re-tailored to the needs of the group's international express service customers.
Image: A worker steps out of a DHL distribution centre in New York. DHL announced heavy job cuts and the elimination of their US domestic shipping business on November 10. | Photograph: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Nortel Networks Corporation: 1,300 jobs
November 20, 2008
Global telecom equipment vendor Nortel Networks Corporation, which reported a net loss of $3.4 billion on November 10, said it will slash about 1,300 jobs as part of its cost cutting measures for 2009. The firm had a net income of $ 27 million in the same period a year ago.
Nearly 25 per cent of the reduction would take place this year and the rest in 2009.
Image: A SuperComm2001 communications convention attendee strolls past the Nortel Networks booth at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta | Photograph: Erik S Lesser/Getty Images
General Motors Corp: 3,600 jobs
November 20, 2008
General Motors Corp, which plans to slow down production at 10 of its assembly plans, says it will indefinitely lay off about 3,600 workers.
To cope with the shrinking market demand, General Motors is also planning to reduce inventory though production line re-rates.
Image: The General Motors Corporation world headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. | Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
EW Scripps Co: 400 jobs
November 20, 2008
Faced with a 20 per cent drop in advertising revenue, US media company EW Scripps Co has announced it would cut 400 jobs. Scripps also reported a Q3 loss of $21 million; in the same quarter the previous year, it registered a profit of $16.6 million.
The Ohio-based company owns 10 television stations and newspapers in 15 US markets.
Scripps also hosts the National Spelling Bee, which is in its 78th year.
Image: A participant at the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Ford Motor Company: 2,600 jobs
November 20, 2008
Battling a net loss of $129 mn million in its third quarter, US car maker Ford Motor Company has introduced cost cutting measures including 2,600 job cuts.
According to a company statement, it is also planning an additional 10 per cent reduction in North American salaried personnel related costs.
Earlier this year, Ford had sold its two iconic brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, to Tata Motors for $2.3 billion.
Image: The Ford Motor Company world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.| Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Volvo: 6,000 jobs
November 20, 2008
As part of its restructuring plans, Volvo, a Ford unit, plans to cut 6,000 jobs -- including 1,200 agency employees -- worldwide.
Image: The headquarters of car manufacturer Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden. | Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
Corus: 400 jobs
November 20, 2008
British steel giant Corus, now part of Indian conglomerate Tata Steel, will cut 400 jobs in its distribution business.
A company spokesperson said Corus would consult its workers and have as many voluntary redundancies as possible. He added that the decision had to be taken because of a steep slump in the demand for steel and softening global prices.
Corus's distribution business employs nearly 2,400 people at 36 sites in the UK and Ireland.
Image: An aerial view of the Corus Hoogovens complex on the Northsea channel in IJmuiden. | Photograph: Vincent Jannink/AFP/Getty Images
American Express: 7,000 jobs
November 20, 2008
In order to slash costs by $1.8 billion in 2009, US credit card group American Express will lay off 7,000 of its employees, amounting to around 10 per cent of its worldwide workforce.
The company is also planning to suspend management salary increases, put a freeze on new hires, slash investment spending and cut expenses for consulting, travel and entertainment.
Image: A woman walks past an American Express travel agent inside the American Express headquarters in New York City. | Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Bank of America: 7,500 jobs and counting
November 20, 2008
Bank of America has said it will eliminate 7,500 jobs after buying Countrywide.
Thousands of more job cuts are likely as the bank integrates its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Image: The Bank of America building in Washington, DC. | Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
Development Bank of Singapore Group: 900 jobs
November 20, 2008
Even the Development Bank of Singapore Group -- Southeast Asia's biggest bank when one looks at assets -- has not escaped the mayhem. It has reduced its staff strength by 900 employees in its battle to survive the global credit crisis and a 38 per cent slump in third quarter net profit.
The cuts will affect its offices in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Image: A man walks past a Development Bank of Singapore branch in the financial district of Raffles Place in Singapore | Photograph: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images
Mattel Inc: 1,000 jobs
November 20, 2008
The makers of Barbie and Fisher Price products have not escaped the economic crisis either. Toy maker Mattel Inc has announced it will cutting about 1,000 jobs worldwide.
The cuts, which will affect 3 per cent its workforce and 8 per cent of its professional and management staff, will include a combination of layoffs, attrition and retirements.
Image: People shop for Barbie products at FAO Schwarz in New York City. | Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City: 3,000 jobs
November 20, 2008
The economic downturn has hit New York City hard, with Mayor Michael R Bloomberg announcing the laying off 3,000 employees, cutting expenditure on several other fronts, rescinding a popular 7 per cent property tax cut and suspending checks for annual property tax rebates.
These measures will save some $ 1.5 billion but the city will still be in the red.
Image: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. | Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
AMD: 500 jobs
November 20, 2008
California-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc says it is cutting 500 workers, or 3 per cent of its global staff, in its quest to return to profitability.
The struggling chip maker has been facing problems -- caused by product delays and a costly acquisition -- even before the financial tsunami swamped the globe.
Image: One AMD Place, the headquarters of Advanced Micro Devices | Photograph: Rob Elliott/AFP/Getty Images
Troubled pop star Michael Jackson has converted to Islam and changed his name to Mikaeel.
Thesun.co.uk reports that Jackson, 50, was dressed in the Islamic garb as he pledged his allegiance to the Koran at a friend's house in Los Angeles. He sat on the floor as an Imam was called to officiate the ceremony.
Jackson, who was raised a Jehovah's Witness, decided to convert after discussing religion with a music producer and songwriter on his new album -- both of them converts to Islam.
"They began talking to him about their beliefs and how they thought they had become better people after they converted. Michael soon began warming to the idea. An Imam was summoned, and Michael went through the shahada, which is the Muslim declaration of belief," a source was quoted as saying.
Mikaeel is the name of one of Allah's angels.
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It doesn't take a long time to recognize a fool. For the Indian public it almost took four years to ascertain the foolishness of Hon Railway Minister Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav
The first four years of his stint have been full of hype, hope and jubilation. He was carried over by the inept Indian news media's (NDTV, CNN-IBN) cajoling and had nurtured the thought of becoming prime minister of India (oh my God!)
There were students from reputed (I will contest that claim though) business schools like Harvard, Wharton et al. queuing up to hear Lalu's business lectures. But finally the truth has emerged.
As Wharton and Harvard graduates and alumni are begging the federal government for bailout after bailout, Lalu's profitable railways has started deteriorating.
Indian Railways was supposed to be a transport for the public and not a capitalist corporate for making profits. In past many railway minister held similar views and have made many changes for the benefit of rail passengers.
Madhu Dandavate initiated improvements in second-class railway travel for passengers by replacing the wooden berths with berths consisting of two inches foam.
Poor Laloo increased the load of the Goods wagons and overloaded the tracks and now has introduced Side Middle berths
Poor management and maintenance has caused fire accidents
'I was on cloud nine and didn't join the MBA as I thought that I would join the job at Infosys BPO,' says Bharath, who got 69 rank in I-CET. Dayanand, a parent from Krishna district said that her daughter got 500 rank in M.Sc entrance exam but did not join the course. 'If my daughter was to be withdrawn from the course, we had to pay the full fee. That's why we didn't join her in the course,' he said. Similar stories were narrated by the rest of the recruits. 'We were disqualified from the other JKC interviews as we had received an offer letter. Many of us were to appear for the Wipro's written test today. But, we came here with the hope of receiving the appointment order,' says a recruit from Kadappa district. 'We didn't expect such blunder from a company like Infosys. What we want is clarity as to when they would take us into the jobs?' questions a girl recruit.
The graduates who were hired by Infosys BPO through Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs) in July 2008 from across the State are yet to receive their appointment letter and were told to wait till next May.
The IT Special Eco nomic Zone proposed by Satyam Computers in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam has run into trouble.
Though the Centre has notified SEZ status to the project, the company is now being forced to shift its location from Thotakonda following objections from the Indian Navy.
The government had allotted 50 acres to Satyam Computers, which started operations in Visakhapatnam in 2005.
However, the land allotted to the company had earlier been given to the Navy though it did not use it for any purpose.
"The district collector resumed the land and allotted it to Satyam but naval authorities took exception to the government's decision," said a senior official.
The Chief-of-Naval Staff wrote to the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, explaining the importance of the location and informed that the Navy wanted to set up wireless signal system there. This prompted the government to step back.
Sources said that the Chief Minister held a meeting with officials on Friday to check out alternative locations.
Officials informed him of the availability of 50 acres in Kapula Vuppada in city outskirts.
"But this land belongs to AP Greyhounds, the elite anti-Naxal squad, and the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority," a senior official pointed out.
Dr Reddy was amenable to the suggestion and said that the Greyhounds could be shown an alternative location in the state capital and Vuda could be compensated.
The founding chief executive of Technopark forecast in a recent television discussion that if the global economic crisis were to continue for another three months or so, Kerala could expect to see a loss of at least 1,500 jobs in the IT sector.
The effects of the global financial and economic crisis have already had its toll on the IT sector in Kerala. Last fortnight. IBS Software Services, a leading IT company which employs around 2,200 in its facility in Technopark, the State's first information technology park, showed the door to 27 employees.
The staff downsizing by a major player like L&T Infotech is one of the early signs of slowing IT spends in areas outside the crisis-hit financial services industry. Unlike the majority of Indian IT and BPO firms which earn a large part of their revenues from banking and financial services clients, L&T Infotech gets most of its revenues from manufacturing clients.
So far, most of the downsizing in the IT industry was a fallout of troubles in the financial services sector and in many cases, a direct impact of customers closing down and project cutbacks and delays. This is one of the first instances of an IT firm with significant focus on the manufacturing sector being affected. "Rather than give out pink slips, people are being forced to hand in their resignations," said one person familiar with the development.
Sources close to the company estimated the number of forced resignations till date to be around 100. Market sources, however, quoted a higher figure and said it could be as high as 5% of the company's total strength of 10,000. L&T Infotech responded to a mail from ET saying it had no comments.
In the past, the company's growth has lagged some of its larger peers because of its focus on the manufacturing sector. Financial services players have far more aggressive tech spends than those in the manufacturing. The latest Nasscom survey ranks the company as the tenth largest software exporter from India.
For the fiscal 2008, it had revenues of Rs 1,573 crore and a net profit of Rs 211 crore, compared with revenues of Rs 1,278 crore and a net profit of Rs 151 crore in the previous fiscal. The company had also had plans for an IPO and recently made a high profile appointment — Wipro's Sudip Banerjee — to the post of chief executive. At that time, V Magapu, who represents all the knowledge-based businesses on L&T board, had said: "The running team is ready. We are only waiting for the sun to come out of the clouds now," in a reference to the bear market. This wait may now be longer.
Accenture lays off 98 at Reston office
Accenture is laying off nearly 100 employees at its Reston office. The New York-based consulting giant, located at 11951 Freedom Drive, will cut 98 workers Jan. 2, according to a notice filed by the company with Virginia. Combined with its D.C. office, Accenture employs around 3,000 in the area and works with many federal departments and technology corridor clients in area.
After bagging Tata's small car project, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today taunted the country's IT industry to come out with a 'Nano' model for the masses asking it to reinvent itself and emerge from the "comfort zone" of providing low-end services.
"With all the abundance of Indian Information Technology (IT) talent available, when is it that we will come out with a 'Nano' of IT, with holistic and accessible solutions for the mankind", the Chief Minister asked speaking from the IT Capital of India.
A majority of the revenue for the Indian IT industry continues to come from low value addition jobs like manpower provisioning and low-end support services, Modi said at the ICT event Bangalore IT.biz.
"The industry should come out of this comfort zone and engage itself in creating value for the company and also adding value to the manpower which is working for it", he said, inaugurating the exhibition of the three-day event, in which Gujarat is the partner State.
Modi stressed that the IT industry has to reinvent itself, focus on innovations and on systems rather than being comfortable with services.
"It must invest in R & D. It must develop sustainable products. While services may offer marginal advantage over costs, the payoffs against the product development are huge", he said, adding, "it was understandable till the industry was trying to stand on its feet, but now having grown healthy, it must show foresight."
"Why cannot we develop MS Windows in India, or a Google or a Yahoo ? If an Indian can develop Hotmail and given that 30 per cent of Windows developers may well be Indians in any case, the task does not look all that difficult. What is required is a leap of faith, a paradigm shift", he said.
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It was a flurry of pink slips at IT major Satyam Computers on Tuesday when it axed over 100 employees from its rolls in Chennai. According to the employees, they received a call from the human resource (HR) department on Monday asking them to meet HR managers who informed them that they were being fired.
"There was no intimation and the company officials didn't even bother to listen to us when we asked for an explanation," said Vasanth (name changed) who has been with Satyam for over two years. Apparently the US recession cost them their jobs, he said. "They gave us a letter, which said our services had been terminated. We approached the company officials to provide us the option of voluntary resignation. Then we were given relieving letters," lamented another employee, on condition of anonymity. He also said that they were not given any compensation.
When contacted, S.V. Krishnan, HR head, Satyam Computers, ruled out any move to retrench employees due to the economic slowdown. He said the company had a rating policy wherein bottom performers were asked to leave. "We concluded our appraisal process a few weeks back. The employees might have left voluntarily or due to bad performance," he said. He noted that Satyam has been consistently adding more employees to its rolls. "There is growth, but at a slow pace," he said. Employees from the company said more layoffs are expected in the next two weeks.
Satyam is notorious for its HR policy; hardly any Ex-Satyam would be proud to have worked there!!!
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From a small-time community worker to the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential polls marks a huge political transformation in a country with a racist past that will have a Black occupy the top post for the first time.
A votary of strong ties with India, the 47-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer and a Democrat reached the White House exactly 45 years after the Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King challenged Americans to embrace his "dream" of equality.
Barack Hussein Obama, whose father was a Kenyan and mother a White American, himself has had no misgivings on the herculean task he faced in getting elected as President because of his race and name.
This was reflected by his recent comment that getting elected to the White House would be a "leap".
Undertaking his campaign with a catchy slogan -- 'The Change We Need' -- Obama presented himself to America as a fresh face with the knowledge and mettle needed for the White House.
He emerged victorious after a gruelling and bitter 21-month-long campaign in which he overcame the challenge from high-profile fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton and Vietnam War veteran Republican nominee John McCain.
Born on 4th August, 1961, in Hawaii, Obama will be the first Black President, a development that demonstrates a major change in America, which has witnessed bitter racism for centuries before the social evil was abolished about 200 years ago.
Obama's first tryst with power came in 1996 when the low-paid community organiser on Chicago's south side was elected to the state Senate of Illinois.
He made it to the federal Senate in 2004 after a landslide electoral victory.
While many have scoffed at Obama's experience as a community organiser saying community work experience does not count in the making of a US President, analysts feel that it has helped the black American leader to reach out to individual voters during his campaign.
Obama became a media darling and one of the most visible figures in Washington, with two best-selling books to his name - 'The Audacity of Hope' and 'Dreams From My Father'.
For the Democrats, who were out to wrest the Presidency from the Republicans after eight years, Obama's nomination was a gamble.
But Obama defeated Arizona Senator McCain handsomely in the election which was dominated by frequent controversies, mostly related to his race and religion.
Obama, whose first name Barack in Arabic means 'the blessed', was hard pressed to fend off rumours that he is a Muslim and said he is a practising Christian.
During the campaign, the advocate of strong partnership with India has made a number of comments and gestures, including lending support to the civil nuclear deal though he initially had reservations on it.
He has also made it clear that India posed no threat to Pakistan and that the latter rather faced the danger from militants within.
At the same time, he also talked about discouraging outsourcing, a move, if implemented, could have an adverse impact on India.
"....Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America," he said during campaigning.
Obama, who broke all records for fund-raising, had said that his victory would be a "defining moment" for the nation which abolished slavery 200 years ago but was still battling the scourge of racial discrimination.
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Chandrasekhar had just come back to Chennai from his on-site assignment in Europe last week when he heard that several colleagues were being asked to resign. The domain consultant, employed by one of India's top IT companies, was discussing the news with a friend over phone when he was called into his boss' office.
"I did not know that I was going to be sacked," he says. "I was just told that 'You are not fitting our requirement. Why don't you put in papers by tomorrow evening?'"
Rather than issuing the dreaded pink slips which can turn into a public relations fiasco, his company is forcing employees to resign citing a variety of "flimsy" reasons, says Chandrasekhar, who was lucky enough to find a new job.
At another of the IT majors, at least 12 employees were forced to resign at one go two weeks ago. Those with families in Chennai were asked to transfer immediately to a remote location, while another with a health problem was moved to the night shift with immediate effect. Faced with such "arm-twisting", they had no option but to quit, says a colleague. Even project managers were not exempt!!!
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"It has been barely three months since I moved here, and we have been asked to present our projects for review," a TCS employee, posted in the US, said. The present mood among onsite employees is that this means a review of the essentiality of the project so as to decide whether it can be moved offshore, benched or done away with.
Candidates joining the IT profession on hopes of becoming global citizens may soon have to motivate themselves differently as data shows IT companies have been moving more employees offshore in the last few quarters that may mean moving more operations home for better margins.
As the chart shows, while differences in the onsite-offshore ratio may not be significant between quarters, there is a noticeable shift from one year to the next. As most IT majors have the capacity to bench resource for when projects come up, they should have no immediate trouble decreasing their onsite count, a TCS employee says. This means that the danger of job cuts is not immediate. TCS has so far followed a 70:30 ratio between its offshore and onsite count.
"It's true that we keep hearing about projects being closed down or sent to India; but it has not happened to my project, which makes me think keeping a project depend only on the relationship we build with the client," a Cognizant employee working in US said.
Announcing their Q2 results recently, Polaris officials said that the company is looking at offshore growth in previously unexplored areas and functions, despite its reasonably strong pipeline of projects in its strongest market–the US TCS employees posted onsite, in US as well as UK, have been asked to present some of their projects for review, so as to decide which ones are capable of being carried out offshore, or done away with "It is a logical outcome, really. At a time when cutting flab is the norm, it makes sense to follow this simple strategy," said KPMG IT advisory head Akhilesh Tuteja.
Frost & Sullivan's ICT practice deputy head Kaustubh Dhavse added, "While the revenue per employee is almost the same onsite and offshore, the cost per employee is lesser offshore, so it gives companies better margins."
For example, a company could get Rs 12,000 of revenue per employee from an onsite location where the cost would be Rs 10,000. But, in the case of offshore model, while the revenue is the same, the cost per employee could come down to Rs 5,000.
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Motorola, the largest US mobile phone manufacturer, announced on Thursday the job cuts just hours after reporting a quarterly net loss of nearly USD 400 million
and said more than two-thirds of the layoffs would be in the handset division.
The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company said it suffered a net loss of USD 397 million in the third quarter of the year after reporting a net profit of USD 60 million for the same period last year.
Motorola lowered its forecast for the remainder of the year but said its cost-cutting moves would result in annual savings of some USD 800 million next year.
The ailing company had 66,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2007 and the latest job cuts bring the total number of layoffs since January 2007 to 13,000.
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Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday announced the decision of the Union Cabinet, which met on Thursday night, to table a comprehensive bill to amend various laws relating to the insurance sector and among other things seek to raise the FDI cap to 49 per cent from 26 per cent now.
The Left parties criticised the decision as one that will demolish institutions that helped India withstand the impact of global financial crisis.
However, private sector insurers hailed the decision to amend the Insurance Regulatory and Development Act, 1999 to raise FDI limit in insurance from 26 to 49 per cent which would enable them to enhance capital for business expansion.
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TCS and Infosys have clarified that they would not lay off any of their employees and their future recruitments would continue, Ashok Kumar C Manoli, principal secretary for information technology, biotechnology and science and technology of the Karnataka state government told reporters
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It was in mid 1990s, the Andhra Pradesh government suddenly went into an introspection mode. The mission was to find out the reasons for not many IT companies willing to set up their offices in the state and they were all queuing in Bangalore for office space. The findings after a thorough research were interesting. The non-availability of human resource was one of the key reasons for companies not moving to Hyderabad despite the government willing to allot land either free or at nominal cost apart from various other incentives like concessions in power tariff. The power that be in the state government realized that the neighbouring state had several private engineering colleges and students from Andhra Pradesh too moving to the state for pursuing their engineering and finding an IT job in Bangalore. The migration of students coupled with the engineering pass-outs from Karnataka itself helped the state attract IT majors to Bangalore to set up their facilities. This helped the garden city get the distinction of being the Silicon Valley of India.
The Andhra Pradesh government too quickly moved in that direction and opened the gates for private engineering colleges and took several bold decisions to open up the state for a sort of education revolution. The information technology boom took shape in Hyderabad in 1999-2000 with the setting up an exclusive 146-acre Hitec City. The government's move was timed at making the HR readily available to the companies willing to explore the opportunities in Hitec City. And it worked. Today, the state has over 300 popular engineering colleges offering a wide range of courses including MCA. This boom in engineering education has encouraged IT and ITeS companies to shift their facilities to Hyderabad and today it estimated that the total number of companies operating in IT and ITeS space would be about 1,200 including the small and medium companies. About 2 lakh people depend directly on this sector in Hyderabad alone while the indirect employment would be about eight lakh.
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The growth of the IT sector in Karnataka has slowed down, lost jobs to other states and would lose more jobs in the days to come. Courtesy — the global meltdown and more importantly the apathy of the state government.
Infosys Technologies CEO S Gopalakrishnan and director (HR) T V Mohandas Pai said this on Thursday during the consultative meeting on "the implications of the global financial crisis on the state's economy'' convened by the state government.
According to Pai, the state has lost 45,000 jobs during the current fiscal year to places like Chennai and Pune. "Next year (2009-2010), around 30,000 to 35,000 jobs would be lost, if things don't change,'' he cautioned.
He compared employment generation in the IT sector in the previous year to the current year and predicted what would happen in the next financial year. "During 2007-08, 50,000 jobs were added and this year it would probably be around 35,000 jobs. But, in the next year, 30,000 to 35,000 jobs will be lost, if things don't change,'' said Pai. He said the IT industry provided direct employment to 5.5 lakh people and its exports from Karnataka stood at Rs 60,000 crore.
Gopalakrishnan admitted the IT sector had slowed down and it would affect recruitment. "IT sector will not be 'a best employer' for the next two years. Graduates in the next two years would be hit due to this. They won't find the IT sector attractive,'' he said.
What are the reasons? "IT is still growing and growth requires expansion. Growth is happening in other states, but not in Karnataka. It is this lack of growth which has impacted us,'' Gopalakrishnan said.
Pai blasted the government for the prevailing situation. He was of the view that Karnataka has a bad reputation for investments and multinational companies are not coming forward to invest here.
Both of them were of the view that clearances and regulatory mechanism was the biggest hindrance for investments. They wanted the government to remove bottlenecks, simplify procedures, including SEZ regulations, and make single window agency attractive.
Economist Sudipto Mandal said the meltdown would hit IT industry, garment exports and manufacturing industries.
Former IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni said lot of IT companies had lost money. He said technology companies with lot of intellectual property rights were not getting funds.
Mandal urged the government to spend on infrastructure and social sectors. Kulkarni felt there should an improvement in the employability of graduates and the government should come out with a policy on SMEs, spread financial literacy and speed up projects.
FICCI president Rajiv Chandrashekar said government should create infrastructure and jobs and must diversify the economy by attracting sectors that have not set shop here.
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Assembly Elections for Madhya Pradesh 2009 Dates Announced
elections will be held in Madhya Pradesh on 25th November
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