Who is the Culprit: Court’s verdict puts 2 mothers to agony

Independent Media


Judgement did not console Ayesha'smother... why? is there any other Factors affected the Decision...

she finds fault with the Police investigation.. who are careless in FIR, and find Evidences from the Scene of Affence.. left the real victims to stay out of the investigation...

who are the people behind???

Sept. 29: The judgment in the B. Pharmacy student Ayesha Meera’s murder case left behind profound grief and agony for two mothers, belonging to poor and middle class families.

Pidatala Mariyamma, poor and physically weak woman, fainted within 10 minutes of the verdict delivered in the court on Wednesday. Mariyamma has been insisting that her son Satyambabu was innocent and did not indulge in the murder of Ayesha. But, her voiced went unnoticed either by the police or by the government. The woman has been living with her son Satyambabu and daughter Satyavati in Anasagaram village near Nandigama.

But, her life was transformed into hell with the police picking up her son in mobilephones robbery case in August 2008. Many times she alleged that police falsely implicated him in the murder case.


Finally, the court convicted him, and sentencing him for life. Ayesha Meera’s mother Shamshad Begam had undergone deep agony since December 2007 when her daughter was murdered and not been able to recover from the rude shock. She questioned why the police did not take action against the hostel management for the brutal murder of the girl on the hostel premises. She said, “I joined my daughter in the hostel with a confidence of pursuing B. Pharmacy in the local college, Ibrahimpatnam. Shamshad Begam alleged that influential Congress leader’s family members committed the heinous crime followed by rape.

She began a relentless battle to prove the guilt of the perpetrators and has been meeting the government officials, ministers, media studios and NGOs seeking justice. She, however, was disappointed with the judgment on Wednesday. “I knew the real culprits would go scot-free and innocent would be punished.”


Shamshad Begam, a resident of Tenali, admitted her daughter in the Durga Women’s Hostel in Ibrah-impatnam in 2007. Unfortunately, the girl’s life ended with brutal murder followed by rape.

Satyambabu has had an attack of G B Syndrome in 2008.

Rupee Symbol: India

Independent Media
D. Udaya Kumar, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) assistant professor who is the man behind the symbol of the Indian rupee approved by the union cabinet on Thursday.

The cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to adopt a new symbol for the Indian rupee to put it in the same bracket as other international currencies like the US dollar, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Centre proposes Unified Command to fight Naxals

Independent Media


In a bid to give a sharp edge to anti-Naxal operations, the Union government on Wednesday asked Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal, worst affected by Maoist violence, to set up a Unified Command to carry out anti-Naxal operations.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected States that the proposed Unified Command would be headed by the four States' Chief Secretaries,

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.


The Unified Command will have a retired Major General as a member. The four States were asked to appoint an Inspector-General-rank police officer to take care of anti-Naxal operations; and appoint an IG (CRPF) as IG (Operations) for that State to work in close coordination with IG (Anti-Naxal operations) of that State.

Assam and Jammu and Kashmir have Unified Commands in place, headed by respective Chief Ministers.

The Centre also offered more helicopters, logistical support and intelligence sharing to the States to fight the Maoist menace. It sanctioned about 16,000 additional Special Police Officers, taking the total number of such posts to about 30,000. It also decided to fund the establishment or strengthening of 400 police stations in the affected districts at the rate of Rs. 2 crore a police station on 80:20 basis over two years.

The States were asked to set up an empowered group, chaired by Member-Secretary, Planning Commission, to modify the norms and guidelines to implement development schemes having regard to the local needs and conditions in the affected districts. It was decided to improve road connectivity in 34 worst affected districts. A number of roads and bridges are proposed to be included at a cost of Rs. 950 crore by the Road Transport and Highways Ministry.

The Chief Ministers were told that the Planning Commission was considering a Special Development Plan for the affected districts with focus on primary education, healthcare, drinking water and road connectivity.

“Consultations have been held with the State governments and it is expected that the plan will be placed before the National Development Council shortly for approval,'' the Home Minister said. “There was complete unanimity on the Centre's approach of development and police action. All the Chief Ministers and the Governor were positive in their approach, fully cooperative and committed to work together to deal with the Maoist menace. In medium to long term, we can overcome the challenge of left wing extremism.''


The decisions were taken in the light of experience gained in the last six months, Mr. Chidambaram said.

The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra, West Bengal Health Minister and Jharkhand Governor. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A. K. Antony were also present.

CBI names four of Hindu group for Macca Masjid blast

June 10: The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a memo in the 14th additional chief metropolitan magistrate court at Nampally on Thursday seeking the arrest of four activists of a Hindu terror group for triggering the Mecca Masjid blast.




In all, five persons were killed in the blast that took place on May 18, 2007. Following this, the court issued prisoners transit warrant for Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma and ordered the CBI to produce them. They are now in Ajmer jail in connection with Ajmer Darga blast and are likely to be brought to the city on Monday.



The CBI alleged that these two accused conspired to carry out the explosion in Mecca Masjid and aided the others.



They also purchased SIM cards and mobile phone devices which were e used in the bomb placed in the masjid. Devender used a fake driving license to buy the SIM cards.



The CBI has established the Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts were part of single conspiracy. According to the CBI prosecutor, the bombs used in the blast were made by Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kaslangara alias Ramji Kaslangara.



The two bomb experts come to the city two months ahead of the blast and stayed here. The CBI thinks they made the bombs using RDX and planted two of them Mecca Masjid and two in Ajmer.



Sandeep and Ramchandra are absconding and a manhunt is on to nab them. The CBI is also looking into the role of Swami Ashimanand in the case.

UPA plans social security fund for unorganised sector

New Delhi: The government is thinking of setting up a National Social Security Fund with an initial corpus of Rs. 1,000 crore for workers in the unorganised sector, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday.

"We are also considering the establishment of a National Social Security Fund with an initial corpus of Rs. 1,000 crore for unorganised sector workers," he said in his opening remarks while releasing a report on the government's performance in the first year of its second term.

Congress leaves Pawar to fend for himself

As Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar found himself in the midst of IPL controversy, Congress today left him to fend for himself amid opposition demands for his resignation.
"Sharad Pawar is a valuable ally. These questions you have to put to him in all fairness," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in response to a volley of questions over BJP demand for the NCP leader's resignation from the ministry. The BJP demand came as Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, Member of Parliament, faced allegations that they were stakeholders in a company that made a failed IPL bid for the Pune team.
Pawar has denied his or his family's association with the bid and said the Citi Corp company's Managing Director Aniruddha Deshpande had done so in his individual capacity.
Asked whether any top executive of a company could bid for IPL in his individual category or if some changes have been made in the eligibility criteria, Singhvi said "I am not going to change my comment. You have to ask the person concerned. Why don't you ask him?"
The Congress spokesman refused to say anything further, pointing out the probe by the government was already on.

Air India on Mangalore air crash

Air India Express regrets to announce that a B737-800 aircraft operating as flight IX-812 from Dubai to Mangalore was involved in an accident early this morning, May 22, 2010. The accident occurred after the aircraft landed at Mangalore airport and overshot the runway. Air India is currently confirming the identities of the casualties. Air India is deploying all its resources for assisting passengers and their families. Air India Express Dubai Airport Tel. Nos. 00971-4-2165828/29.

India : Knocked out of T20 world cup

After India's humiliating exit from the World T20, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said his side failed to play to its potential and admitted the IPL had taken a toll.


While making a reference to the Indian Premiere League (IPL), Dhoni said players need to manage their time better between playing, attending parties and travelling.

Players need to be smart, not only about cricket, but other things going around in the IPL. You have to respect your body and give some time to it because more than playing matches, attending parties and travel can take a toll, he said.

India needed to win by at least 20 runs against Sri Lanka but lost the Super Eights match by five wickets to crash out of the elite ICC event.
India looked set for big score as they were 90 for one in 10 overs after electing to bat and could score just 163 for five and ended up losing all second round matches.

"I think execution of plans from their bowlers was very good, even with set batsmen we couldn't score freely. Overall, batting is our strength and we should have done better. We didn't perform to our potential. The last 4-5 overs that they bowled really restricted us. We need to improve in quite a few areas," Dhoni said after the match.

Sri Lanka enhanced their chances of making the semifinals with this win and captain Kumar Sangakkara had nothing but praise for his bowlers.


"At the end, we were chasing at least 144. Even I thought India would make a very big score, but the guys came back really well at the back end to cut off the runs and to pick up wickets as well," he said.


"Dilshan really got the momentum back after the early wickets, and we have always talked about how good our young players are, and they showed that today. Whatever happens after this, we can rest assured we have done the best we can."

Angelo Mathews, adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his crucial 46-run knock said,"I had to give a good performance with the bat, I'm glad I did it at the right time."

sharukh khan king of Indian cinema

Deemed failures: Failure of MHRD and Higher education Policy

The “deemed-to-be universities” case in the Supreme Court gets curiouser and curiouser.

 

REPORTS about the proceedings on two different petitions before the Supreme Court have made the future of deemed-to-be-universities in the country appear increasingly uncertain.

In one case, Viplav Sharma vs Union of India, initiated as a public interest litigation in 2006, the Supreme Court on January 25 accepted the plea of 44 deemed-to-be-universities to restrain the Central government from derecognising them on the basis of the report of the Professor P.M. Tandon Committee, set up to review their functioning, until the court heard them.

A Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik directed the affected universities to file their responses before March 8, the next date of hearing. Noting that the issue involved a vital public interest affecting students, the Bench asked the government to place before it the reports of the Tandon Committee and the task force. The court’s directions were in response to the Central government’s affidavit that it accepted these reports.

In another case, the Supreme Court on January 29 issued notice to the Centre and the University Grants Commission (UGC) on a writ petition requesting the court to declare illegal Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, which enables the executive to grant deemed university status to an educational institution. In his petition, consumer activist Jitendra Narayan Singh said Section 3 of the Act conferred wide and unguided power on the executive to recognise an institution as a deemed university and such action resulted in the commercialisation of the system of granting degrees.

In recent years, the power had been exercised by the executive authority arbitrarily to confer university status on institutions that “have no standards to be recognised as universities”. These institutions in turn indulge in conferring degrees for profit, he told the Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices V.S. Sirpurkar and Deepak Verma.

“The innocent student, after having invested time, money and effort, receives a piece of paper as a degree which has no value or substance. The students ultimately find themselves being robbed of the value for their money paid for services offered by such deemed universities,” he alleged in his petition.

As the establishment of universities was held to be a legislative act, institutions could not be conferred deemed university status by the executive, the petitioner argued. Section 3 of the UGC Act, which confers the power on the Centre to notify deemed universities, amounted to delegation of an essential legislative function to the executive and this rendered Section 3 ultra vires of the Constitution, the petition claimed.

 

Students of Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, a deemed university, at Thandalam near Chennai, went on the rampage on January 19, a day after the Centre filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that 44 such universities, including this one, would be derecognised.

The outcome of the second case will be watched with interest as it involves the judicial review of a legal provision that stood the test of time until allegations about its abuse began to surface in recent years. But it is clear to any observer that the outcome in the first case will have a bearing on the second case, even if the prayers of the two petitioners are different.

In the first case, the petitioner, Viplav Sharma, an advocate, sought a direction from the court to the government to confer the deemed-to-be-university status only on institutions providing quality training and certifications, producing highly rated research material, and having quality professionals with global acceptability. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which initially opposed his petition, changed its stance after it returned to power following the 2009 general elections, and the assumption of office by Kapil Sibal as the new Human Resource Development Minister.

UGC review

On June 4, Sibal directed that all pending proposals for conferring deemed-to-be-university status on institutions that had applied for the same be held in abeyance until a thorough review of the functioning of the existing deemed-to-be-universities was undertaken. He also directed the UGC to review the functioning of all such universities and report within three months the deficiencies with respect to maintenance of standards, qualifications of the faculty and the quality of infrastructure. Sibal pointed out that the deemed-to-be-universities should have obtained the accreditation of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) or the National Board of Accreditation, (NBA), as the case may be, within a prescribed period. Therefore, he asked the UGC to specifically report as to what the status was about accreditation and also about the rectification of deficiencies as must have been pointed out by the UGC in its periodic inspections. He wanted the information on the above to be furnished for each of the 130 deemed-to-be-universities.

Although those three months were over long ago, it is not known whether the UGC has submitted its report to Sibal. Even in its affidavit to the Supreme Court in the Viplav Sharma matter, the Central government is silent on this report.

The NAAC (an autonomous body established by the UGC in 1994) has granted accreditation to 140 institutions. The State-wise list of these institutions, available on its website, shows that some of the 44 deemed but failed universities are indeed among them. They include the Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar; Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune; and the Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur. The number of institutions that had earned accreditation from the NBA (set up by the All India Council for Technical Education in 1994) is not available from its website.

The Human Resource Development Minister set up the Tandon Committee, in addition to this review by the UGC, to ascertain whether these universities were serving the purposes for which they were so declared, and whether they were complying with the conditions, if any, mentioned in the notification by the Central government in each case.

Only parts of Tandon Committee report revealed

In its affidavit, the Central government has chosen to reveal only parts of the Tandon Committee report. The committee comprised Prof. P.N. Tandon, formerly of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and a former President of the Indian National Science Academy; Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, a former Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Prof. Anandakrishnan, former Vice-Chancellor Anna Technical University and at present Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; and Prof. Mrinal Miri, former Vice-Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University, Shillong.

The committee invited all deemed-to-be-universities for presentations and face-to-face discussions in August and September 2009 in four sessions. A total of 126 institutions attended these sessions. The committee had sent questionnaires seeking all relevant information to these institutions well in advance.

On the basis of their responses, the committee submitted its report on October 20, 2009. Meanwhile, the UGC submitted reports to the government on 47 of these institutions, and the government made these reports available to the Tandon Committee.

In its affidavit, the Centre has revealed that the Tandon Committee found several aberrations in the functioning of these universities. The committee concluded that only 38 of these universities justified their continuation as “deemed universities”; 44 institutions were deficient in some aspects, which needed to be rectified over a three-year period; and, finally, 44 institutions neither on past performance nor on their promise for the future had the attributes to retain their status as deemed-to-be-universities. Sixteen of these 44 institutions are in Tamil Nadu.

The affidavit only revealed some general adverse comments of the Tandon Committee against the rogue institutions. Although all the 44 institutions whose deemed status was to be withdrawn were named in its annexure, the affidavit refrained from mentioning the specific grounds on which each of these invited derecognition.

Thus, the committee found “undesirable management architecture” where families rather than professional academics controlled the functioning of institutions. Several institutions were engaged in thoughtless introduction of unrelated programmes and proliferation of degrees beyond the mandate of the original terms of grant of deemed-to-be-university status. It also found very little evidence of noticeable efforts by some institutions in regard with emerging areas of knowledge.

With the notable exception of some publicly funded institutions, very few institutions could produce evidence of “quality” research in terms of publications in leading high-impact journals in respective fields.

Lack of commitment towards research and irresponsible exercise of power with regard to admission, intake capacity, programmes and fee structure were found to be other attributes of such institutions. Many of these, which were once colleges, increased their intake capacity disproportionately and in some cases exponentially in relation to the qualified faculty strength and other academic infrastructure.

In several institutions, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes had been fragmented with concocted nomenclatures. Several institutions have prescribed fee structures considerably higher than those recommended by the official fee structure committees.

The Tandon Committee members also became members of the task force constituted by the Centre on November 16, 2009, to prepare an action plan to safeguard the interests of students enrolled in institutions whose deemed-to-be-university status was proposed to be revoked in the public interest. The task force recommended that all pre-existing colleges not found suitable for the status of deemed-to-be-university should revert to the status quo ante as an affiliated college of the State university so that students would be able to complete their ongoing courses and obtain degrees from the affiliating university.

Where an institution is unable to obtain affiliation, it suggested that every effort should be made to facilitate migration or re-enrolment of students to equivalent or similar courses in other institutions.

The affidavit estimated the total number of students enrolled in these 44 institutions to be 1,19,363 at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in addition to 2,124 students pursuing research in M.Phil and PhD programmes, and an estimated 74,808 students pursuing Distance Education programmes. These 44 universities are spread over 13 States, and they could be affiliated to 28 existing State universities, it said.

The task force made it clear that the entire cost of migration and rehabilitation of affected students should be at the expense of the managements of the failed institutions and must come from the corpus fund that was required to be maintained in respect of each under UGC guidelines.

The Supreme Court’s intervention might have tied the hands of the Centre with regard to derecognising the 44 deemed-to-be universities that the Tandon Committee has found to be unworthy of deemed status. But the Centre has to blame itself for its hasty announcement in its affidavit that it accepted the reports of the Tandon Committee and the task force. The announcement led to widespread concern and unrest among the students of these universities. The right course for the Centre would have been to place these reports in the public domain, invite public response, and then take a decision.

Deemed University status under MHRD lens

New Delhi: After reviewing the functioning of 130 deemed universities, undergoing scrutiny for the past four months, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has taken a strict stance and has declared that many of theseinstitutions mar the status of being a "University".

"These varsities have been functioning like private limited family-run companies," said an official from the HRD Ministry.

After a thorough analysis, HRD ministry's review committee pointed out institution-wise irregularities. The final decision on these institutions, however, rests with HRD minister Mr. Kapil Sibal.

"Our work is to provide the facts sans mutation. We do not recommend action but have just highlighted some flaws that the University Grants Commission's (UGC) review report did not state," said a source.

The deemed universities, however, are already prepared with their counter remarks to the ministry's report on the basis of the clean chit they received from the UGC panel.

They are ready to face any opposition in the future upon the basis of the law, which states that a deemed status to a university is given by the ministry on UGC's recommendation only.

According to sources, precipitating UGC's stance is a strategy by a section in the ministry to divert the attention from the equation they once enjoyed together while giving the deemed status.

"The biggest blunder in the case of private deemed universities is the way in which they have established study centres all over India", says the report.

"Deemed universities of South with their study centres in North (mainly Delhi andUttar Pradesh) have many students being trained by irregular faculty. Distance education is no more an effort to bring knowledge to your home but has now outgrown into a business endeavor of minting money. All this is due to the glaring loopholes in the guideline laid down by the UGC, which flouts the parameters," said an official.

The abysmal condition in which the deemed universities in South India and UP are, do not accredit the status of being called a university, the report added.

According to an official, "The administrative and fee structures are not at all in tandem with each other. It is on this aspect that the report focuses its attention and brings out the evident irregularities."

The report draws attention upon numerous instances where non-family members were introduced as vice-chancellors, just a few days prior to making a presentation before the committee. As a matter of chance, when the committee asked them about the preceding VC, random names of promoter's relatives came out.

"It was a normal course where the family members made presentations in lieu of theuniversities," said an official.

SCOPUS, being the largest abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources, does not include such private deemed varsities, which shows their shoddy research output.

An official during the presentations said that many institutions do not even know about SCOPUS.

Infact, many of the government-run deemed varsities lack the transparency to function with special emphasis on their administrative structure.

Classifying the deemed varsities into three groups, the report categorizes them based on their credibility.

The first, consisting of universities with exceptional facilities, the second, withinstitutions that meet all parameters and the last, found lacking in various aspects.

The report has even censured regulatory bodies like AICTE, UGC and NCTE charging them for their lack of coordination with the deemed varsities.

Encounter to Counter:top Maoists killed in Andhra Pradesh

Two top Maoists killed

Special Correspondent

WARANGAL:

Sakhamuri Appa Rao was both an ideologue and a military strategist. He was arrested in Hyderabad in 1993 and jailed for seven years along with Patel Sudhakar Reddy (Central Committee member recently killed in Warangal). He jumped bail in January 2000 and went underground to work in Nallamala forests and in Andhra Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC). His rise in the hierarchy was marred by allegations of misbehaviour with women and he was demoted. Later, he worked his way to become a State Committee member and was believed to be in charge of AP State Military Commission.

Kondal Reddy hailed from Chittapur. He went underground in 1988 while studying in Badruka College in Hyderabad. He was arrested by Mahankali police in 1992 and jumped bail six months later. He was adept in military and technical field and had earned the nom de guerre ‘Tech Ramana'. He had worked as the secretary of the South Telangana Regional Committee (STRC) coordinating the naxalite movement in south Telangana districts.

S Rao was accused of being a mastermind of almost all the major naxal-related incidents ranging from the abortive assassination attempt on former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Alipiri to killing of IPS officer K.S. Vyas in Hyderabad. Appa Rao was from Khanapur village of Warangal district.

Continuing the onslaught on the Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh, police managed to ‘neutralise' two top ranking naxalite leaders in separate gun battles in Prakasam and Warangal districts on Friday morning.

The death of Sakhamuri Appa Rao and Solipeta Kondal Reddy is a strong blow to the Maoist movement which is already suffering a severe setback in the State. Both the slain naxals were known for their organisational and military capabilities and were in the rank of State Committee members. They carried a reward of Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh on their heads respectively.

Two Kalashnikov rifles were recovered at Isullapaya Penta in Prakasam district and Bandhala hillocks in Tadvai forests of Warangal district. Police say some more naxalites managed to escape.

Prakasam SP V. Naveenchand said a police team on combing operation noticed the naxalites atop a hillock and challenged them. A gun battle ensued leading to the killing of a Maoist, who was later identified as Sakhamuri Appa Rao. In Warangal, SP Shah Nawaz Qasim said they had information about movement of a Maoist squad for the last ten days and combing operations were on. “There was provocative firing and our teams retaliated,” he said.

The Prakasam superintendent of police, Mr V. Naveenchand, said that a combing party spotted a group of five Maoists on top of a hillock near Nerajamula Thanda under Pullalacheruvu police station limits at around 7.50 am and had encircled them.

“There was an exchange of fire in which one Maoist was killed,” said the SP. “He was later identified as Shakamuri Appa Rao. Four others escaped and we are searching for them.”

Mr Naveenchand added that police recovered two important documents from Appa Rao and was analysing their contents.

Kondal Reddy, on the other hand, was killed in an exchange of fire that occurred at Bandala forest area under Tadwai police stations limits of Warangal around 8.15 am. Police recovered an AK-47 rifle from the spot.

Appa Rao is wanted by the state police in high-profile cases including the attempt to murder the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, at Alipiri.

Meanwhile, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties termed the twin encounters at Warangal and Nallamala as fake and has approached the State Human Rights Commission seeking action on the director-general of police, Mr R.R. Girish Kumar. In response to the petition, the SHRC directed the superintendents of Warangal and Prakasam districts to submit reports on encounters by March 15.

Infosys is Worried with Exiting Employees

Soothing  exits: The Infosys way

 A strong rebound in the economy and rising job prospects, peculiarly, seems to have the top management of Infosys worried as hard facts of employee attrition hit home.

The software major is going out of way to woo employees while setting the pace for pay hikes and promotions. So much so that S. Gopalkrishnan CEO and managing director of Infosys shot off a mail to Infoscions last week seeking to assuage hurt sentiments, obliquely admitting that the management was willing to address some of the critical issues that employees are not happy about. "I understand that you would like me to look at some of the concerns you have raised seriously and resolve them," said Gopalkrishnan in his letter. He added that the organisation believes that employees are key and the force behind every success. "We have formed a task force to look into and champion employee engagement in every unit," he said.

Officially, Infosys says its attrition level is 11.6 per cent for Oct-Dec 2009. However, industry sources say the current quarter, whose figures will be disclosed only next month, has been a matter of concern for the company in view of a higher-than-expected departure of employees. Company officials are not giving details.

Infosys's policy mandates its employees to be physically present for a little more than nine hours a day in the campus. It also has a new iRACE policy that requires an employee to spend a minimum number of years before consideration for promotion. The company has also introduced new certification exams linked to promotions and salary increases. An employee is expected to clear two such exams in a year. Company insiders and ex-Infoscions are hardly surprised by the latest letter from Gopalakrishnan. "Resentment has been brewing for over a year against certain HR initiatives of the company. With the recession waning away and more employment opportunities coming up people are opting out," said Devesh (name changed) a software engineer at Infosys.

The management, however, sought to downplay the issues, stating the company has been continuously changing its HR policies to keep the troops happy and motivated. "We have a robust feedback mechanism in the company and policies are not static. Based on feedback and context, we have been modifying and tweaking policies for best results," a company spokesperson said.

Yousuf, Younis should approach court: Inzamam to Pak Cricket players

Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul- Haq on Wednesday said senior players Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, who have been barred by the PCB from team for an indefinite period, should approach court challenging the decision. "Younis and Yousuf should go to court to challenge the decision," Inzamam said. Inzamam also feels that by imposing a one-year ban on former skipper Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Pakistan Cricket Board has set a bad precedent before the young players. "This is not a good decision for Pakistan cricket. The board is not setting a good example before young cricketers," Inzamam told reporters. "I don't understand the thinking that led the board to take such a decision. What sort of message are we delivering to the world by taking such decisions at a time when nobody is agreeing to come to Pakistan to play cricket?" he asked. The curious case of the IPL Icons PCB today took the decisions in the wake of the team's disastrous tour of Australia, during which they were whitewashed in all the three formats of the game. PCB had set up an inquiry committee headed by Wasim Bari to probe the reasons for the debacle. As recommended by the committee, the Akmal brothers -- Kamran and Umar -- and Afridi have been put on probation for six months besides being fined between Rs 2-3 million for indiscipline on the tour.

one dissenter against Women's Bill: Sharad Joshi

Sharad Joshi lone dissenter against Women's Bill

2010-03-09

New Delhi: Sharad Joshi, a prominent farmers' leader from Maharashtra, was the lone dissenter against the Women's Reservation Bill during voting in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, saying he didn't oppose the measure but the manner in which it would be implemented. Rajya Sabha passes Bill 'Women's reservations yes, yes, yes, yes. Rotation (of constitutions) and (their) selection by lottery no, no, no,' Joshi maintained while participating in the more than three-hour debate on the bill. Thus, when the bill was put to a voice vote, Joshi let the crescendo of 'ayes' to subside before quietly saying 'No'. In the division, there were 186 votes in favour and only Joshi's against the bill. The one-third constituencies to be reserved for women during the next three general elections, beginning 2014, will be selected by a lottery. The 14-year-old journey of the Women's Bill  The constituencies will be rotated at subsequent general elections to ensure that by 2024, all constituencies will have been represented by a woman at some point in time. The bill also provides for reserving one-third of seats in the state assemblies for three elections held from the time the bill becomes law.

Mamata Feels she is undermined by UPA

Mamata Banerjee takes a dig at Left parties on Women Reservation Bill

2010-03-10

Union Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday charged the Left parties of taking undue credit for the successful passage of the Women Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "Why is the Left parties taking undue credit for the bill," said Banerjee. "We boycotted the Bill because there was no floor coordination," she added. Mamata Banerjee, however, indicated that she was not totally against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with respect to the Bill. "We are still backing the Bill. But minority problems must be addressed," she claimed. The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday boycotted the Rajya Sabha vote on the women's bill, railing bitterly against the Congress but keeping its eyes firmly locked on Bengal politics. Mamata Banerjee demanded sub-quotas for Muslim women candidates, seeking to consolidate her support among the community and trying to deny the CPM an opportunity to crow too much on the bill passed on Tuesday. Her pitch for the sub-quota is also being seen as an answer to the ten percent job quota announced by the Left Front government in Bengal for disadvantaged backward-class Muslims. The Trinamool parliamentary party has decided to meet on March 15 to chalk out its strategy for any vote on the bill in the Lok Sabha. A top party source said abstaining in the Lok Sabha was a "very real possibility". But even if it refrains from opposing the bill in the Lok Sabha, Trinamool is likely to use the discussion in the Lower House to articulate its demand for Muslim sub-quotas.

Women's Bill: What For with out Justice delayed and Denied to Minorities, SC/ST and OBC Women

Women's Bill: And now the rumbling allies

Sonia Gandhi  expressed her surprised with Mamata Banerjee's decision to abstain from voting on the Women's Reservation Bill. So, what made Mamata do what she did? She's clearly eyeing the battle for Bengal. Dissent from the government 's largest ally is out in the open and there is a sound political reason. Mamata's demand for a minority quota within 33% is basically a political counter to what the Left government has recently done in the Bengal. In the 1st week of Feb, Bengal government reserved 10% of government jobs for Muslims. So, now  Mamata wants to match that by arguing for quota within 33%. But it is not just Mamata, there are many within the UPA who are worried about a political fallout after Mulayam and Lalu played the Muslim card to oppose Women's Reservation Bill. Many MPs within the UPA privately argue that while the government seems to have gone out on the limb to push the Women's Bill, it is silent about the Ranganath Mishra Commission recommendation for reservation for dalits and Muslims.   So, it is not just the Yadav troika who's trying to corner the government. Even its own allies hold out a veiled threat. Upset with the way government has pushed the bill, it is now fairly possible that Lalu and the others will raise the issue of Ranganath Mishra Commission recommendation for reservation among minorities.

Pak still views India as dangerous: Sethi

Mr Najam Sethi, the editor of Pakistani dailies The Friday Times and Daily Times, on Monday said the Pakistani government and mainstream media had finally recognised Talibans activists as terrorists.

Participating in a round table conference on Freedom of Press held here as part of the 62nd World Newspaper Congress and 16th World Editors’ Forum, Mr Sethi said that earlier neither the Pakistan government nor the mainstream media called Taliban activists as “terrorists.” They were called insurgents or militants.

“The Friday Times and Daily Times were the only newspapers, to call the Taliban a terror force. We received several death threats, but we did not change our stand. Now that the Taliban has been attacking military establishments and security forces and killing innocent people, the government and the mainstream media are recognising the Taliban as a terror force. The war on terror is no longer an US mission, it has also become our own war against terror,” Mr Sethi said.

Mr Sethi said the Pakistan government had, over decades, indoctrinated the media and people against India. After the jihad against the then USSR occupation of Afghanistan, non-state players turned their attention towards India. The backlash of terror now haunts Pakistan.

He pointed out that even though the Taliban may be an existential threat, the media and most Pakistanis continue to view India as the more “potent danger.”

“Entire generations have grown up with this mindset. It’s not going to be easy to turn this clock back. But now people are recognising the terror tactics of Talibans.”

Saying that sometimes the state is not equal to government and sometimes it is, in Pakistan, the senior Pakistani editor said judiciary and bureaucracy sometimes back the government. “The real threat is from non-state actors. They are very powerful. If the media gets threats, there’s no defence. We can’t ask the state to defend us. It is defending itself. Earlier we were fighting in wilderness. Now we are getting support.”

He regretted that the notion of secularism has been distorted in Pakistan in the last 30 years. “We have been dubbing secularism as anti-Islam and secularists as enemies of the religion”

Chits of Unaccounted : Margadarshi chits

s per some news sources RBI has found Margadarsi operations to be illegal after 30 years of its existence. So in these enitire 30 years of existence of Margadarsi in almost entire south India with its incessant advertisements in TV, Radio and Newsprint has RBI could not find anything wrong until NOW.

This is a systemic failure on behalf of RBI that it allowed a scam of this proportion for 30 years doing nothing. RBI present governer should resign for his criminal negligence in the last two years and all living RBI governers of past should be prosecuted for allowing this. Finance ministers in the last 30 years should also be prosecuted for allowing this activity

his an interesting observation. In matters of chit funds, RBI is no doubt is equipped with many regulations to serve notices to the erring, but I think they need some one to make a case of it to act. But the general adminstration and control of these chit companies is with State Govt. More than RBI, it is the State Administration which should be held accountable. What is interesting is the whole thing surfaced due to political rivalries that brought out this issue. What happened with Kolleru scam, where every politician or respected person of society was involved in land grab. Are these people behind bars? Public forgot about it over period. Same thing would happen soon with Margadarsi and the likes. What happened with Karvy on IPO scam. Karvy must have paid huge bribes to SEBI and are getting over it slowly. But in all these we need some public interest litigations filed to seek better justice. Where to find such one man heroes or syndicates outside movie screens? One man commission which is constituted to look into the matters of Margadarsi scam will come out with some middle of path solutions, which would be mild or moderate on Ramoji, due involvement of large number of small time investors. Ramoji is well aware of such cover (public interest), and he will survive, and perhaps would find another name to do same or similar business with another front, as there is a lot of black money in economy which needs some kind of existance and prospect to multiply too. Remember Ramoji is into film making. Afterall politicians are not cannibals. They only grab food (black money) from each other, not eat each other, unless the other is found to be life threatening.

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Jr doctors find reason to strike this year too: studying with public money and killing public lives

Hyderabad
Nov. 15: The ongoing junior doctors’ strike, demanding a steep increase in their montly stipend, is not the first in the history of the state.
Every year, the doctors go on strike following an initial difference of opinion and, later, alleged indifference shown by the state government in responding to their demands.
In 2007, trouble arose when some junior doctors were attacked by relatives of a patient and activists of a political party.
Though senior doctors resumed work after an assurance from the state government that security in hospitals would be beefed up, the junior doctors were not convinced and continued with the strike till the Essential Services Maintenance Act was invoked. The strike was called off after 12 days.
The following year, in 2008, the AP Government Doctors Association undertook a relay hunger strike in Hyderabad and other parts of the state in support of their pending demands. The junior doctors joined in.
In 2009, the junior doctors called a strike in support of their demand for a steep rise in their stipend as against their counterparts in the other states, who were being paid three-four times more.
To press their demands, seven junior doctors from different medical colleges, led by the APJUDA convenor, Dr S. Nagesh, are currently sitting on an indefinite hunger strike. On all three occasions, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has ruled that the strike must end. In the latest instance, too, a PIL has been filed in the High Court, which will be heard on Monday.
The state government has submitted a proposal of the increased stipend structure to the state Election Commission. Since the code of conduct is in vogue, in view of the GHMC elections, the state government cannot announce any other programme or scheme without the prior approval of the Election Commission.
“Once the proposal is approved, the junior doctors will get a 75 per cent hike in their stipend and a 15 per cent hike in the stipend every two years,” said Mr J. Satyanarayana, principal secretary, department of health and family welfare, Andhra Pradesh.
But the state government’s offer has not gone down well with the junior doctors.
“There was a committee formed on the direction of the High Court, which submitted its recommendations to the state government in 2008. We want a revision of the stipend based on those recommendations,” said Dr G. Raghu Kishore, treasurer of APJUDA.
Significantly, the committee, consisting of the then director of Medical Education (DME), Mr K. N. Sudha Ramani, Mr G. Sai Gopal (former DME), Registrar of NTR Health University, Prof. T. Venugopala Rao and two representatives of junior doctors, submitted its report to the state government on in December 20, 2008 with the sole purpose of finalising the stipend for interns and post-graduates.
According to the sixth recommendation submitted by the committee, “After extension of the UGC Scales, the pay scales of these members of the teaching faculty will be de-linked from the state government Pay Revision Commission (PRC) and will be linked to the UGC scales and whenever UGC pay scales and allowances are revised, such revision will automatically be implemented to these teaching faculty also.”
It further read: “The structured pay scales will consist of basic pay, annual increment and other allowances.”
Dr S. Nagesh, APJUDA convenor, said: “Once this is implemented, the issue will be sorted.”
But the medical education minister, Mr P. Sudarshan Reddy, said: “We cannot create a separate pay structure for them at par with government employees. This increase itself will put a financial burden of Rs 20-25 crore on the state annually, we cannot extend it further.” Mr Reddy said that for the release of the extra amount, too, the Chief Minister and the state finance department “had to be convinced a lot.”