New Delhi, Nov. 24 With many automakers planning to launch eco-friendly vehicles for the domestic market, Tata Motors said on Tuesday that it may launch the electric version of the small car Indica in early 2011.
The company has been developing the car with Norway-based Miljøbil Grenland/Innovasjon, in which it has a 50.3 per cent stake. It plans to start a feasibility study for this in the next year and may launch the car simultaneously with the European launch.
“It will be available for India at around the same time as the global launch. It will be launched in Norway, Denmark and the UK in 12-14 months. We’re evaluating the option of an Indian launch, but are still not sure if the electric vehicles (EVs) are the best option for the country,” said Mr Prakash M Telang, Managing Director, India Operations, Tata Motors.
He further added that the main problem is the high cost attached to EVs, which is mainly because of the expensive batteries. “It will be 70-150 per cent more expensive depending on batteries. While lead acid batteries are not good enough, lithium-ion is too expensive. We have to look into the cost equation,” he said.
Responding to sales outlook for the remaining half of the fiscal, Mr Telang said that the shift from Bharat Stage III emission norms to Bharat Stage IV in April, may lead to good sales in the fourth quarter.
“There is optimism – I see good sales in the fourth quarter. In commercial vehicles (CVs), there may be pre-buying because of the change in emission norms. Even passenger cars may see better volumes, but not as much as CVs since price escalation will not be as much in them. This has been the experience in most countries across the globe,” he said.
Automakers and especially commercial vehicle manufacturers are expected to raise prices from April, because of the newer engines that companies will have to deploy on their vehicles in order to meet the new emission norms.
When asked about the status of the Nano’s Sanand plant, Mr Telang said that the company is producing around 3,000-4,000 units of the low-cast car a month at the Pantnagar facility and it will start the trial production at Sanand by the fourth quarter of the fiscal. The Sanand plant will have an initial annual capacity of 2.5 lakh units a year, which will later be increased to 3.5 lakh units. The Pantnagar plant mainly produces the light commercial vehicle (LCV) Ace.
“We’re striving between the Ace requirement and the Nano. The plant has a capacity to produce 1.5 lakh Ace LCVs a year,”
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Showing posts with label PGDM-3rd sem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PGDM-3rd sem. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Post-26/11, is India safer?
The BEST assessment is that the Government's strategy has broadly worked but there's no room for complacency. Home Minister Chidambaram gets a pat, but the threat remains and major systemic changes need to be carried out.
Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today:
Our first meeting was in March 2009 when the Board of Experts on Security Terror (BEST) was set up as a part of the India Today Group's campaign on the 'War on Terror' which was launched in the aftermath of 26/11. The idea was to keep our audience briefed with expert viewpoints on security and terror and what can be done. Our focus continues to be on the threat of cross-border terrorism and in the last 11 months, nothing major has happened as far as a terrorist attack is concerned. Is this our good fortune or has the government done something?
Meanwhile, other security and terror-related issues have come up. Naxal terror is now on top of the national agenda and we want to hear from you on how the Government should tackle it. We can't, of course, stop looking at Pakistan which seems to have its own internal problems but doesn't appear to be repentant for what it does to India and continues on its stubborn path. How we should tackle Pakistan remains an issue. Add to all this, of course, is tensions with China. We are keen to hear from you how India is dealing with China and what it really needs to do.
Raj Chengappa, Managing Editor, India Today:
In March, the BEST assessment was that the Government had totally failed to tackle the terror threat post-26/11. We are just a month away from the first anniversary of 26/11 and we need an assessment as to whether we have progressed, have there been any big shifts or as Aroon mentioned, are we just lucky that we haven't had a major cross-border terror attack?
Ved Marwah, Former Governor, Jharkhand:
A number of factors have helped in ensuring that we haven't had any major incidents since 26/11. Some credit for it goes to the Government and some to developments in Pakistan where the jihadis are busy fighting a battle for survival; India and Jammu and Kashmir is no longer on top of their agenda. If the Pakistan Army wins, we will have trouble and if the jihadis win, of course, we will have more trouble. P. Chidambaram taking over as the Union home minister has helped in creating a feeling of urgency in the security agencies-intelligence agencies, state police and paramilitary forces.
Certain legislative actions have been taken, the law has been tightened with the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act and an investigative agency has been set up. But the Government should not be complacent. The danger is very much there and the moment things settle down in our neighbourhood, we will be a big target for the jihadis. The apparatus inside the country is there; it hasn't been identified or eliminated. This can be activated at an opportune moment. For that the Government still needs to do a number of steps. Among them is that the Government needs to give the National Anti-Terrorism Agency a mandate to keep an eye on developments within the country and in the world. It should analyse every incident and take steps to strengthen our preparedness. We need a comprehensive law which is understood by the investigative agencies, the prosecution and the courts. We need a broad national consensus among all political parties and they should not make political capital out of a terror incident.
Satish Nambiar, Former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff:
Last time we started on the premise that our focus should be on prevention. I have been articulating this for sometime and this is relevant. Now it's almost a year and we have not had a major strike. So let us credit the establishment. I would also like to see us evolve a pre-emptive strategy and develop a capability for pre-emptive strikes on terrorists dealing with the jihadi groups. This means that we have to find out where they are located and where their leadership is. If we have not done that then there is something seriously wrong. The Air Force has the capability to effect precision attacks. We must focus on developing it because we cannot wait for things to happen. We must pre-empt terror attacks.
Brahma Chellaney, Professor, Strategic Studies, Centre for Policy Studies:
There has been no terror attack for nearly 11 months but that doesn't mean that India is less vulnerable to terror attacks since we last met. The vulnerability level remains the same, but are we better prepared? Yes, we are better prepared not institutionally but at the level of Governmental response. It goes to show that if you put a professional in charge of a ministry he or she can make a difference. Ever since Chidambaram took over as the home minister, we have seen a conscious effort to revamp India's internal security policy.
He began from scratch and today knows exactly what is happening. Plus, he has put everybody under pressure. Every morning, he meets the heads of different agencies and the National Security Adviser (NSA). Therefore, for the first time there's coordination at the senior-most level. The prime minister has given him a blank cheque and doesn't interfere at all with the execution of Home Ministry policies and therefore suddenly you find there is a sea change in terms of management of India's internal security policy.
For the last three-and-a-half years, I have heard the prime minister periodically say that Naxalism is the biggest threat to India's security but there was no action. It was as if just waving the red flag was enough. But suddenly we have at least an effort, if not a strategy, to deal with Naxal violence. All this is happening at a personal level. What happens if the person is no longer there, there will be a slide back to where we were a year ago. It is remarkable that there hasn't been a single major terror attack in the last 11 months because we have ensured that 26/11 is not forgotten.
Even though we know at the policy-making level that Pakistan will not do anything about it, we have adopted a policy of throwing a dossier at them to keep them on the defensive. I was quite sceptical at the beginning of the wisdom of preparing a dossier and handing it to the sponsors of terrorism in India. So far, we have seen that these dossiers keep them off balance and remind Pakistan that as long as it would not act against the masterminds of the 26/11, there will be no normalisation of relations with India. Earlier, the Government had not shown this kind of will to stay on the course for more than few months. It came close to reversing the policy at Sharm el-Sheikh. But then stepped back. In a way a message has been sent to Pakistan that the onus is on them.
Ajit Kumar Doval, Former Director, Intelligence Bureau:
When you say, "Is India now better prepared to tackle terror attacks?" the terror threat has got to be seen in two areas. First, Pakistan and terrorist groups are entities, and second is the response that is the Indian state in its pro-active capability to prevent and to punish. The threat level has gone down-partly due to what is happening inside Pakistan; partly due to diplomatic pressure on Pakistan, partly what India has done diplomatically- playing its card in sustaining the pressure, calibrating it and not letting it be put on the backburner. Pakistan has come to some sort of an assessment that any covert action may probably incur an unacceptable cost.
It appeared that they are working on this assessment as was evident during former Pakistan NSA Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani's recent visit. Institutional changes have not come up in a big way, except in building up an organisation for investigation. Chidambaram has been able to put the house in order. It is not that new capacity building has been done, but the existing capacity is now being used more optimally. In being pro-active, intelligence services have an important role to play. Our intelligence services too are performing and they have been much more effective than they were before.
G. Parthasarathy, Former High Commissioner to Pakistan:
India's ability to influence the real decisionmakers in Pakistan is limited. Your leverage with the Pakistan military is limited. The US, China and Saudi Arabia are the only countries which wield clout in the Pakistan military. Now, Saudi Arabia seems to be going along with what the Americans want. I think our effort to thwart Pakistan's attempt to bring Kashmir into the entire terrorist Afghanistan-Pakistan equation was imaginatively done. The focus, therefore, remained only on Afghanistan-Pakistan. The second point is that we are able to work with this system and get provisions in the Kerry-Lugar Act which for the first time singled out and conditioned aid to Pakistan to fund terrorism across its borders.
This was a conscious effort and the embassy and the ambassador deserve some credit for it. We have been able to influence one side, but also managed to move away from the initial pressure. We will have to find a mechanism at least on a back channel to engage the ISI. Whether or not to share intelligence is debatable, but we should spell out specifically what they should not do and what we mean by the infrastructure of terrorism. How that works out still remains to be seen. Pakistan has got its hands full on its western border and it may have to pay a heavier price if it repeats or even tries to repeat something like the 26/11. This message has been conveyed primarily because many citizens from other countries were affected by the terror strike and, most importantly, the Israelis too had their own impact.
This was the fall out of Mumbai. India derived a benefit and, in fact, it neutralised many things the previous government did like weeping about Pakistan being a victim of terrorism, joint terror mechanism and all such nonsense. If the Government shifts its focus with respect to Pakistan, to tell them about the price which they will have to pay and about what we mean by the terrorism infrastructure, it will be useful. Pakistan is in a very delicate situation and my hunch says that its army will run into a mess in Waziristan. There's a power struggle going on between the army and President Asif Ali Zardari.
If the army prevails, then they will be emboldened to look eastwards. If they don't, they could well be emboldened to divert attention and so under no circumstances should we let down our guard. Chidambaram has changed the ambience of the Government and the way it looks towards terrorism. In China's case though, its Government seems to have gone the other direction. Immediately after Mumbai, they welcomed Pakistan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Tariq Majid and held out all sorts of goodies to him. The Saudis have been quiet apart from voting on Kashmir in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
Kapil Kak, Additional Director, Centre for Air Power Studies:
We are congratulating ourselves that nothing has happened in last 11 months. Let's reverse this. Nothing has happened as Pakistan is pre-occupied with its troubles on its western border. In the wake of 9/11, infiltration into J&K has virtually been reduced to a trickle, from 13 to less than one a day. Since Chidambaram took over as home minister, preparedness levels have been heightened but we have a long way to go. If there is an aerial attack, which has been feared and talked about, we are not prepared at all on the southern side which is very vulnerable as there are no radars to detect an aerial intrusion. Unless we get a homeland security kind of a template to prevent terror attacks, nothing much can be done. There has been a great deal of improvement on the intelligence side but I am not sure whether there has been an improvement in assessments. Situational awareness in managing terror now and in the next 10 or 15 years is crucial for any mechanism that would come in. I think it was a statesman-like act in not exercising the military option post-26/11. We have seen the rich dividends that philosophy has paid.
Yes, we have precision attack capabilities and have strengthened it competently and can deliver punishment precisely, but we also need to factor into our calculus that Pakistan is not going to let that attack or series of attacks go uncontested. Are we prepared to get into a limited war? I would much rather go the Chinese way. After the war with Vietnam, they tucked their tail between the legs and ran back to Beijing because they wanted to develop. We must follow the same strategy and keep in mind that strategic importance of India is its 9 per cent growth rate in the next 20 years.
Kiran Bedi, Former DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development:
We have more than a million policemen. I don't know whether any assessment has been made on their training, welfare or personnel policy. We invest nothing and have no objective assessments. I have not come across a single objective police assessment on police performance and their impact on us. The real intelligence, tackling of terror is actually done by the footsoldiers. I don't think that Chidambaram has reached the footsoldiers. Chidambaram has only reached the Central Police Organisations (CPOS). He has at least met the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief and the NSA, but why didn't he meet the state DGPs? The BSF and CRPF should be a part of his meeting and he should start involving others CPOs.
I don't think the responses are truly corrective, they are still only reactive. I want to see Chidambaram grooming leadership. I doubt if he is doing it. I don't see impatience in him. We all have to be in a hurry to be good leaders. If Chidambaram says police is a state subject, it is not acceptable to me because he can groom leadership. Maybe our expectations from him are high.
There is a big difference in the way we are responding to this meeting and the last one; the last one was one of total helplessness. Today, we may be over the moon but we should not be satisfied. We expect Chidambaram to spread good practices, structures, systems, responses and human resource policies down the line.
Ajai Sahni, Executive Director, Centre for Conflict Studies:
I agree with Kiran. There is a tremendous change in ambience but it is essentially something on the surface. Basically, our expectations are too high. Our standards have fallen so low that we are delighted with anybody doing anything. India is the only country in the world which idolises people for doing their jobs. What has been done in terms of real capacity transformation? Yes, there has been some additional efficiency in utilisation of existing capacities. In certain sectors, intelligence is one of the critical areas, the Central agencies have also been geared up to start trying to coordinate with the state agencies.
Are we better prepared? Chidambaram's answer was "we are as vulnerable as we were on 26/11". It would be wonderful if he becomes the home minister of India and not just of the Centre. It's not his job. He can't be running police stations at the ground level. Yes, he can coordinate better and create a better ambience, but he can't be running the security apparatus of the whole country. I am not an admirer of his predecessor Shivraj Patil but it was completely nonsensical to say Patil must go because there has been a terror attack in Mumbai. Protecting Mumbai is the job of the Mumbai Police, in coordination with the other agencies. Is the Mumbai police better off today? The National Security Guards (NSG) and Force One of the Mumbai Police have been allocated land which has been encroached by a builder and a slum colony.
One can meet all the DGs in the country but are the DGs running a police force that can be effective? No. Orissa has a sanctioned strength of 207 IPS cadres. It has 84 officers in place. There are 30-40 per cent capacity deficits in leadership at different levels in the state police forces. You can coordinate all you like and pass any law in the country but who will implement this law? You can do nothing with 1.2 judges per lakh population when worldwide, it is between 11 and 39. A police force can't do its job efficiently because it doesn't have the capacity to do so. The IB has improved tremendously, in terms of coordination, but what about capacity building? There is, moreover, a certain critical mass below which no augmentation is going to diminish our vulnerabilities. See the training of police forces: raw recruits are being thrown into special operations groups after 13 weeks of training.
Chidambaram is doing a good job but it is not his exclusive job to protect India. The rest of the system is still dysfunctional and the accumulated capacity deficits are so great and the rate of redressal so slow that Chidambaram's efforts will soon be overtaken by challenges. You can celebrate 11 months without any terror incident but it has nothing to do with any response that we have put in place; the critical mass is simply not there to alter the quantum of threat we are confronted with. We are just as vulnerable today as we were before.
V.K. Datta, Former DDG MO (Special Operations):
Let's not be lulled into complacency because nothing has happened since 26/11. We have been lucky and the luck is due to circumstances that Pakistan is facing now. The demon has not gone away, only his attention has been diverted. What we must examine is that after 26/11, it was for the first time that we were able to actually prove to the international community that Pakistan is a rogue nation. The cumulative pressure of the whole episode of producing evidences and handing over a dossier of these to Pakistan, has put them on guard. It is not non-state actors like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or the Hizbul Mujahideen which are attacking us, but it is the Pakistan Army and the ISI. If we wonder why Hafiz Saeed is not being hanged, it is because he is being run by the Pakistan army and they will not harm him irrespective of the government in power.
We created more NSG hubs. If a terror attack were to take place in Hyderabad, how much time will the NSG hub there take to intervene in the city's outskirts? In Hyderabad's traffic, it takes a minimum of an hourand-a-half to move. Has the commander on the ground in that metro been given the mandate to move his force immediately, the moment the state police chief asks or is he still going to seek clearances from the Centre, the Home Ministry and from the director-general of the NSG. If you don't have this response mechanism properly organised, we will find a time lag in our response. A terror attack should have an immediate response from the NSG team in the metro and the mandate should be given to that officer immediately.
Can 26/11 happen again? Yes, any time. Our responses may be better. When we talk about our crisis and a disaster, we always propagate prevention. Prevention involves intelligence and pre-emptive strikes on terror modules before they can strike. We have not improved our preventive capability but our response time to a strike has improved from two hours to half-an-hour. But we will take a long time as there is no equipment, finances are short and motivation depends on individual personalities.
Amitabh Mattoo, Professor, International Politics, JNU:
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We haven't had a major terrorist attack since 26/11. Some things have changed. What is happening inside Pakistan makes it difficult or costly for elements there to mount the kind of attacks they did last year. Then there is turmoil whether as a result of our pressure, international diplomacy or from internal elements in Pakistan. We need to be cautiously optimistic as we have always been but the fact is that changes have happened in the NSG hubs, the NIA and the IB. There has been more coordination. Chidambaram is right but let's not forget the prime minister, who has given him the leeway, freedom and carte blanche. It's a combination of personalities, policies and systemic factors.
Kashmir is Ground Zero. For Pakistan, it still remains a central issue. And a deeply emotive one whether we recognise it or not. Even now, Kashmir remains a deeply passionate issue which when provoked can create the most virulent ideologies prevalent in Pakistan. I feel that there is a moment of opportunity even on the Kashmir issue because you had the most inclusive elections in J & amp;K which have brought a large section of the state in favour of certain accommodation with New Delhi. I am not one of those who believe that Sharm el-Sheikh was a disaster. Even today, Pakistan is in turmoil and requires a multiplicity of engagements. You need an engagement with the LeT, of the kind that Doval or Datta might be capable of or have the capacity to deal with, but you need a diplomacy to deal with both civil society actors and actors that you might want to strengthen.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today:
Our first meeting was in March 2009 when the Board of Experts on Security Terror (BEST) was set up as a part of the India Today Group's campaign on the 'War on Terror' which was launched in the aftermath of 26/11. The idea was to keep our audience briefed with expert viewpoints on security and terror and what can be done. Our focus continues to be on the threat of cross-border terrorism and in the last 11 months, nothing major has happened as far as a terrorist attack is concerned. Is this our good fortune or has the government done something?
Meanwhile, other security and terror-related issues have come up. Naxal terror is now on top of the national agenda and we want to hear from you on how the Government should tackle it. We can't, of course, stop looking at Pakistan which seems to have its own internal problems but doesn't appear to be repentant for what it does to India and continues on its stubborn path. How we should tackle Pakistan remains an issue. Add to all this, of course, is tensions with China. We are keen to hear from you how India is dealing with China and what it really needs to do.
Raj Chengappa, Managing Editor, India Today:
In March, the BEST assessment was that the Government had totally failed to tackle the terror threat post-26/11. We are just a month away from the first anniversary of 26/11 and we need an assessment as to whether we have progressed, have there been any big shifts or as Aroon mentioned, are we just lucky that we haven't had a major cross-border terror attack?
Ved Marwah, Former Governor, Jharkhand:
A number of factors have helped in ensuring that we haven't had any major incidents since 26/11. Some credit for it goes to the Government and some to developments in Pakistan where the jihadis are busy fighting a battle for survival; India and Jammu and Kashmir is no longer on top of their agenda. If the Pakistan Army wins, we will have trouble and if the jihadis win, of course, we will have more trouble. P. Chidambaram taking over as the Union home minister has helped in creating a feeling of urgency in the security agencies-intelligence agencies, state police and paramilitary forces.
Certain legislative actions have been taken, the law has been tightened with the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act and an investigative agency has been set up. But the Government should not be complacent. The danger is very much there and the moment things settle down in our neighbourhood, we will be a big target for the jihadis. The apparatus inside the country is there; it hasn't been identified or eliminated. This can be activated at an opportune moment. For that the Government still needs to do a number of steps. Among them is that the Government needs to give the National Anti-Terrorism Agency a mandate to keep an eye on developments within the country and in the world. It should analyse every incident and take steps to strengthen our preparedness. We need a comprehensive law which is understood by the investigative agencies, the prosecution and the courts. We need a broad national consensus among all political parties and they should not make political capital out of a terror incident.
Satish Nambiar, Former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff:
Last time we started on the premise that our focus should be on prevention. I have been articulating this for sometime and this is relevant. Now it's almost a year and we have not had a major strike. So let us credit the establishment. I would also like to see us evolve a pre-emptive strategy and develop a capability for pre-emptive strikes on terrorists dealing with the jihadi groups. This means that we have to find out where they are located and where their leadership is. If we have not done that then there is something seriously wrong. The Air Force has the capability to effect precision attacks. We must focus on developing it because we cannot wait for things to happen. We must pre-empt terror attacks.
Brahma Chellaney, Professor, Strategic Studies, Centre for Policy Studies:
There has been no terror attack for nearly 11 months but that doesn't mean that India is less vulnerable to terror attacks since we last met. The vulnerability level remains the same, but are we better prepared? Yes, we are better prepared not institutionally but at the level of Governmental response. It goes to show that if you put a professional in charge of a ministry he or she can make a difference. Ever since Chidambaram took over as the home minister, we have seen a conscious effort to revamp India's internal security policy.
He began from scratch and today knows exactly what is happening. Plus, he has put everybody under pressure. Every morning, he meets the heads of different agencies and the National Security Adviser (NSA). Therefore, for the first time there's coordination at the senior-most level. The prime minister has given him a blank cheque and doesn't interfere at all with the execution of Home Ministry policies and therefore suddenly you find there is a sea change in terms of management of India's internal security policy.
For the last three-and-a-half years, I have heard the prime minister periodically say that Naxalism is the biggest threat to India's security but there was no action. It was as if just waving the red flag was enough. But suddenly we have at least an effort, if not a strategy, to deal with Naxal violence. All this is happening at a personal level. What happens if the person is no longer there, there will be a slide back to where we were a year ago. It is remarkable that there hasn't been a single major terror attack in the last 11 months because we have ensured that 26/11 is not forgotten.
Even though we know at the policy-making level that Pakistan will not do anything about it, we have adopted a policy of throwing a dossier at them to keep them on the defensive. I was quite sceptical at the beginning of the wisdom of preparing a dossier and handing it to the sponsors of terrorism in India. So far, we have seen that these dossiers keep them off balance and remind Pakistan that as long as it would not act against the masterminds of the 26/11, there will be no normalisation of relations with India. Earlier, the Government had not shown this kind of will to stay on the course for more than few months. It came close to reversing the policy at Sharm el-Sheikh. But then stepped back. In a way a message has been sent to Pakistan that the onus is on them.
Ajit Kumar Doval, Former Director, Intelligence Bureau:
When you say, "Is India now better prepared to tackle terror attacks?" the terror threat has got to be seen in two areas. First, Pakistan and terrorist groups are entities, and second is the response that is the Indian state in its pro-active capability to prevent and to punish. The threat level has gone down-partly due to what is happening inside Pakistan; partly due to diplomatic pressure on Pakistan, partly what India has done diplomatically- playing its card in sustaining the pressure, calibrating it and not letting it be put on the backburner. Pakistan has come to some sort of an assessment that any covert action may probably incur an unacceptable cost.
It appeared that they are working on this assessment as was evident during former Pakistan NSA Major-General Mahmud Ali Durrani's recent visit. Institutional changes have not come up in a big way, except in building up an organisation for investigation. Chidambaram has been able to put the house in order. It is not that new capacity building has been done, but the existing capacity is now being used more optimally. In being pro-active, intelligence services have an important role to play. Our intelligence services too are performing and they have been much more effective than they were before.
G. Parthasarathy, Former High Commissioner to Pakistan:
India's ability to influence the real decisionmakers in Pakistan is limited. Your leverage with the Pakistan military is limited. The US, China and Saudi Arabia are the only countries which wield clout in the Pakistan military. Now, Saudi Arabia seems to be going along with what the Americans want. I think our effort to thwart Pakistan's attempt to bring Kashmir into the entire terrorist Afghanistan-Pakistan equation was imaginatively done. The focus, therefore, remained only on Afghanistan-Pakistan. The second point is that we are able to work with this system and get provisions in the Kerry-Lugar Act which for the first time singled out and conditioned aid to Pakistan to fund terrorism across its borders.
This was a conscious effort and the embassy and the ambassador deserve some credit for it. We have been able to influence one side, but also managed to move away from the initial pressure. We will have to find a mechanism at least on a back channel to engage the ISI. Whether or not to share intelligence is debatable, but we should spell out specifically what they should not do and what we mean by the infrastructure of terrorism. How that works out still remains to be seen. Pakistan has got its hands full on its western border and it may have to pay a heavier price if it repeats or even tries to repeat something like the 26/11. This message has been conveyed primarily because many citizens from other countries were affected by the terror strike and, most importantly, the Israelis too had their own impact.
This was the fall out of Mumbai. India derived a benefit and, in fact, it neutralised many things the previous government did like weeping about Pakistan being a victim of terrorism, joint terror mechanism and all such nonsense. If the Government shifts its focus with respect to Pakistan, to tell them about the price which they will have to pay and about what we mean by the terrorism infrastructure, it will be useful. Pakistan is in a very delicate situation and my hunch says that its army will run into a mess in Waziristan. There's a power struggle going on between the army and President Asif Ali Zardari.
If the army prevails, then they will be emboldened to look eastwards. If they don't, they could well be emboldened to divert attention and so under no circumstances should we let down our guard. Chidambaram has changed the ambience of the Government and the way it looks towards terrorism. In China's case though, its Government seems to have gone the other direction. Immediately after Mumbai, they welcomed Pakistan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Tariq Majid and held out all sorts of goodies to him. The Saudis have been quiet apart from voting on Kashmir in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
Kapil Kak, Additional Director, Centre for Air Power Studies:
We are congratulating ourselves that nothing has happened in last 11 months. Let's reverse this. Nothing has happened as Pakistan is pre-occupied with its troubles on its western border. In the wake of 9/11, infiltration into J&K has virtually been reduced to a trickle, from 13 to less than one a day. Since Chidambaram took over as home minister, preparedness levels have been heightened but we have a long way to go. If there is an aerial attack, which has been feared and talked about, we are not prepared at all on the southern side which is very vulnerable as there are no radars to detect an aerial intrusion. Unless we get a homeland security kind of a template to prevent terror attacks, nothing much can be done. There has been a great deal of improvement on the intelligence side but I am not sure whether there has been an improvement in assessments. Situational awareness in managing terror now and in the next 10 or 15 years is crucial for any mechanism that would come in. I think it was a statesman-like act in not exercising the military option post-26/11. We have seen the rich dividends that philosophy has paid.
Yes, we have precision attack capabilities and have strengthened it competently and can deliver punishment precisely, but we also need to factor into our calculus that Pakistan is not going to let that attack or series of attacks go uncontested. Are we prepared to get into a limited war? I would much rather go the Chinese way. After the war with Vietnam, they tucked their tail between the legs and ran back to Beijing because they wanted to develop. We must follow the same strategy and keep in mind that strategic importance of India is its 9 per cent growth rate in the next 20 years.
Kiran Bedi, Former DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development:
We have more than a million policemen. I don't know whether any assessment has been made on their training, welfare or personnel policy. We invest nothing and have no objective assessments. I have not come across a single objective police assessment on police performance and their impact on us. The real intelligence, tackling of terror is actually done by the footsoldiers. I don't think that Chidambaram has reached the footsoldiers. Chidambaram has only reached the Central Police Organisations (CPOS). He has at least met the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief and the NSA, but why didn't he meet the state DGPs? The BSF and CRPF should be a part of his meeting and he should start involving others CPOs.
I don't think the responses are truly corrective, they are still only reactive. I want to see Chidambaram grooming leadership. I doubt if he is doing it. I don't see impatience in him. We all have to be in a hurry to be good leaders. If Chidambaram says police is a state subject, it is not acceptable to me because he can groom leadership. Maybe our expectations from him are high.
There is a big difference in the way we are responding to this meeting and the last one; the last one was one of total helplessness. Today, we may be over the moon but we should not be satisfied. We expect Chidambaram to spread good practices, structures, systems, responses and human resource policies down the line.
Ajai Sahni, Executive Director, Centre for Conflict Studies:
I agree with Kiran. There is a tremendous change in ambience but it is essentially something on the surface. Basically, our expectations are too high. Our standards have fallen so low that we are delighted with anybody doing anything. India is the only country in the world which idolises people for doing their jobs. What has been done in terms of real capacity transformation? Yes, there has been some additional efficiency in utilisation of existing capacities. In certain sectors, intelligence is one of the critical areas, the Central agencies have also been geared up to start trying to coordinate with the state agencies.
Are we better prepared? Chidambaram's answer was "we are as vulnerable as we were on 26/11". It would be wonderful if he becomes the home minister of India and not just of the Centre. It's not his job. He can't be running police stations at the ground level. Yes, he can coordinate better and create a better ambience, but he can't be running the security apparatus of the whole country. I am not an admirer of his predecessor Shivraj Patil but it was completely nonsensical to say Patil must go because there has been a terror attack in Mumbai. Protecting Mumbai is the job of the Mumbai Police, in coordination with the other agencies. Is the Mumbai police better off today? The National Security Guards (NSG) and Force One of the Mumbai Police have been allocated land which has been encroached by a builder and a slum colony.
One can meet all the DGs in the country but are the DGs running a police force that can be effective? No. Orissa has a sanctioned strength of 207 IPS cadres. It has 84 officers in place. There are 30-40 per cent capacity deficits in leadership at different levels in the state police forces. You can coordinate all you like and pass any law in the country but who will implement this law? You can do nothing with 1.2 judges per lakh population when worldwide, it is between 11 and 39. A police force can't do its job efficiently because it doesn't have the capacity to do so. The IB has improved tremendously, in terms of coordination, but what about capacity building? There is, moreover, a certain critical mass below which no augmentation is going to diminish our vulnerabilities. See the training of police forces: raw recruits are being thrown into special operations groups after 13 weeks of training.
Chidambaram is doing a good job but it is not his exclusive job to protect India. The rest of the system is still dysfunctional and the accumulated capacity deficits are so great and the rate of redressal so slow that Chidambaram's efforts will soon be overtaken by challenges. You can celebrate 11 months without any terror incident but it has nothing to do with any response that we have put in place; the critical mass is simply not there to alter the quantum of threat we are confronted with. We are just as vulnerable today as we were before.
V.K. Datta, Former DDG MO (Special Operations):
Let's not be lulled into complacency because nothing has happened since 26/11. We have been lucky and the luck is due to circumstances that Pakistan is facing now. The demon has not gone away, only his attention has been diverted. What we must examine is that after 26/11, it was for the first time that we were able to actually prove to the international community that Pakistan is a rogue nation. The cumulative pressure of the whole episode of producing evidences and handing over a dossier of these to Pakistan, has put them on guard. It is not non-state actors like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or the Hizbul Mujahideen which are attacking us, but it is the Pakistan Army and the ISI. If we wonder why Hafiz Saeed is not being hanged, it is because he is being run by the Pakistan army and they will not harm him irrespective of the government in power.
We created more NSG hubs. If a terror attack were to take place in Hyderabad, how much time will the NSG hub there take to intervene in the city's outskirts? In Hyderabad's traffic, it takes a minimum of an hourand-a-half to move. Has the commander on the ground in that metro been given the mandate to move his force immediately, the moment the state police chief asks or is he still going to seek clearances from the Centre, the Home Ministry and from the director-general of the NSG. If you don't have this response mechanism properly organised, we will find a time lag in our response. A terror attack should have an immediate response from the NSG team in the metro and the mandate should be given to that officer immediately.
Can 26/11 happen again? Yes, any time. Our responses may be better. When we talk about our crisis and a disaster, we always propagate prevention. Prevention involves intelligence and pre-emptive strikes on terror modules before they can strike. We have not improved our preventive capability but our response time to a strike has improved from two hours to half-an-hour. But we will take a long time as there is no equipment, finances are short and motivation depends on individual personalities.
Amitabh Mattoo, Professor, International Politics, JNU:
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We haven't had a major terrorist attack since 26/11. Some things have changed. What is happening inside Pakistan makes it difficult or costly for elements there to mount the kind of attacks they did last year. Then there is turmoil whether as a result of our pressure, international diplomacy or from internal elements in Pakistan. We need to be cautiously optimistic as we have always been but the fact is that changes have happened in the NSG hubs, the NIA and the IB. There has been more coordination. Chidambaram is right but let's not forget the prime minister, who has given him the leeway, freedom and carte blanche. It's a combination of personalities, policies and systemic factors.
Kashmir is Ground Zero. For Pakistan, it still remains a central issue. And a deeply emotive one whether we recognise it or not. Even now, Kashmir remains a deeply passionate issue which when provoked can create the most virulent ideologies prevalent in Pakistan. I feel that there is a moment of opportunity even on the Kashmir issue because you had the most inclusive elections in J & amp;K which have brought a large section of the state in favour of certain accommodation with New Delhi. I am not one of those who believe that Sharm el-Sheikh was a disaster. Even today, Pakistan is in turmoil and requires a multiplicity of engagements. You need an engagement with the LeT, of the kind that Doval or Datta might be capable of or have the capacity to deal with, but you need a diplomacy to deal with both civil society actors and actors that you might want to strengthen.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Thursday, November 19, 2009
First women combatants to be inducted by Indian Navy
Kochi (Kerala), Nov.19 (ANI): Indian Navy is once again poised to create history by inducting two women combatants into its combat arm, which is happening for the first time in the Indian Armed Forces.
Sub-Lieutenants Ambica Hooda of Haryana and Seema Rani Sharma of Uttar Pradesh who will be observers, who are airborne tacticians, on the Indian Navy's multi-role Dornier aircraft, used for transportation and aerial surveillance will be awarded wings by the Indian Navy in a passing out ceremony.
Both are part of the four member officers of the First short service commission observer course out of the total ten officers passing out of 70th abintio Observer Course in Kochi base.
According to Indian Navy's press release the passing out parade of the four officers will be held at Southern Naval Command in Kochi on 20th November.
The Passing Out Parade, to be reviewed by Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, Flag Officer Naval Aviation.
This would be a special occasion as this is the first time that the Navy is inducting ladies into a combat arm. Observers are airborne tacticians who conduct operations, in a military aircraft.
Hooda and Sharma, both 22-years old, completed a 16 month course at the Naval Academy at Mandovi in Goa and other professional schools of the Indian Navy before landing up at the Observer School at INS Garuda in Kochi.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Sub-Lieutenants Ambica Hooda of Haryana and Seema Rani Sharma of Uttar Pradesh who will be observers, who are airborne tacticians, on the Indian Navy's multi-role Dornier aircraft, used for transportation and aerial surveillance will be awarded wings by the Indian Navy in a passing out ceremony.
Both are part of the four member officers of the First short service commission observer course out of the total ten officers passing out of 70th abintio Observer Course in Kochi base.
According to Indian Navy's press release the passing out parade of the four officers will be held at Southern Naval Command in Kochi on 20th November.
The Passing Out Parade, to be reviewed by Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, Flag Officer Naval Aviation.
This would be a special occasion as this is the first time that the Navy is inducting ladies into a combat arm. Observers are airborne tacticians who conduct operations, in a military aircraft.
Hooda and Sharma, both 22-years old, completed a 16 month course at the Naval Academy at Mandovi in Goa and other professional schools of the Indian Navy before landing up at the Observer School at INS Garuda in Kochi.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Hyundai to launch new small car
Hyundai Motor India has said that it will continue to be aggressive with its product launches to protect and grow its market share, in the face of increasing launches in the compact car space in the country.
The company’s newly-appointed Managing Director and CEO, Han Woo Park, and Senior Vice-President – Marketing and Sales, Arvind Saxena, said at a press conference here on Tuesday that the company had always been aggressive in introducing products and that it would continue to do that.
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Click here
Hyundai Motor India, Park said, would cover more parts of the country with its dealer network and strengthen its brands. Key to its strategy to grow in the domestic market would be the launch of a car smaller than the Santro, Hyundai’s best-selling entry-level compact car that is now being developed in Korea. The car would be smaller than the Santro in terms of engine displacement and priced lower too, Park said.
Saxena, however, added that the new car would not be a Nano.
Hyundai Motor India sees a pick up in exports relative to last year. The company expects to end the year with exports of 2.70 lakh cars compared with 2.45 lakh cars last year, according to Saxena.
“There is a pick up in fundamental demand,” he said, drawing a contrast with the demand spurred by reduction in excise duty for cars that was announced last December as part of government’s stimulus package.
India, however, remains a major small car market. Small cars constitute 78% of the market.He said there was no firm decision as yet on whether and when to shift production of the i20 cars to another manufacturing facility, perhaps the one in Turkey. At present, the i20s are made at Chennai. The thinking towards the shift was triggered by a number of factors such as proximity to Europe, fiscal benefits that come when Turkey joins the European Union and labour unrest in Hyundai’s Sriperumbudur (Chennai) plant.
Park told the press conference that he expects no labour-related issues to trouble the company. He said that a wage agreement, valid for the next three years, has been signed and a majority of the (1,650) workers are on board.
However, only a ‘minority group’ is creating problems, Park said. He said that while he would keep open all channels of communication with the group, there will be no compromise with the group. Park said that a majority of workers were hardworking people and he would “protect their interests”.
Saxena said the company would showcase the Genesis, its mid-size premium car in the US, at the Delhi auto expo in January, besides other products. Hyundai Motor India did not plan to launch the car in India.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
The company’s newly-appointed Managing Director and CEO, Han Woo Park, and Senior Vice-President – Marketing and Sales, Arvind Saxena, said at a press conference here on Tuesday that the company had always been aggressive in introducing products and that it would continue to do that.
Related News
Renault small car to beat Nano on price, mileage: CEO
Tata Motors may let local car makers assemble Nano
RSS feed for news
Click here
Hyundai Motor India, Park said, would cover more parts of the country with its dealer network and strengthen its brands. Key to its strategy to grow in the domestic market would be the launch of a car smaller than the Santro, Hyundai’s best-selling entry-level compact car that is now being developed in Korea. The car would be smaller than the Santro in terms of engine displacement and priced lower too, Park said.
Saxena, however, added that the new car would not be a Nano.
Hyundai Motor India sees a pick up in exports relative to last year. The company expects to end the year with exports of 2.70 lakh cars compared with 2.45 lakh cars last year, according to Saxena.
“There is a pick up in fundamental demand,” he said, drawing a contrast with the demand spurred by reduction in excise duty for cars that was announced last December as part of government’s stimulus package.
India, however, remains a major small car market. Small cars constitute 78% of the market.He said there was no firm decision as yet on whether and when to shift production of the i20 cars to another manufacturing facility, perhaps the one in Turkey. At present, the i20s are made at Chennai. The thinking towards the shift was triggered by a number of factors such as proximity to Europe, fiscal benefits that come when Turkey joins the European Union and labour unrest in Hyundai’s Sriperumbudur (Chennai) plant.
Park told the press conference that he expects no labour-related issues to trouble the company. He said that a wage agreement, valid for the next three years, has been signed and a majority of the (1,650) workers are on board.
However, only a ‘minority group’ is creating problems, Park said. He said that while he would keep open all channels of communication with the group, there will be no compromise with the group. Park said that a majority of workers were hardworking people and he would “protect their interests”.
Saxena said the company would showcase the Genesis, its mid-size premium car in the US, at the Delhi auto expo in January, besides other products. Hyundai Motor India did not plan to launch the car in India.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
How To Handle Recession Job Stress
The office grapevine is rife with rumors of yet more layoffs. Your workload has increased exponentially. Since your office confidante got axed in the last bloodbath, you can't call her up and complain. And your new supervisor expects you to meet a crushing deadline by month's end.
American workers have never had to cope with so much anxiety and confusion on the job. "Everybody is as stressed as I've ever seen," reports Joan Kane, a Manhattan psychologist who has worked as a therapist for 22 years. "The stress level is off the charts."
In Pictures: How To Handle Recession Job Stress
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Is there any way to stay calm amid the chaos?
According to Kane, the usual therapeutic approaches do not apply right now. "In therapy, we try to help patients discover who they really are," she explains. "In this environment, it's more helpful to not necessarily be your authentic self." Instead, she says, you need to show that you can adapt. "Even if things are horrible and morale is low, you do not want to go in and say so to your boss. Instead you want to describe how what you're doing is positive and talk about what you've created and why you're successful."
An added challenge is wondering whether your boss will survive the next round of cuts. "You have to try to be strategic about whom you please," Kane says.
Many workers whose central focus in life was their job have had to set their sights elsewhere. Patients who complained about their work for years are suddenly clamming up. "They feel they have no right to complain, because they've got a job," says Paul Browde, a New York psychiatrist. "Underneath, they are more stressed than ever before. It's like living with a continual chronic stress disorder." Many shift their conflicts to the home front. "People are starting to have marital and health issues," Browde observes.
Browde encourages his patients to be aware of their anxiety. Know that eventually this phase must pass. Meanwhile, find time for relaxation and exercise, even if you must engage in a shorter than optimal routine. "Even if it's just five minutes of relaxation exercises a day, it's important," he counsels.
Billie A. Pivnick, a psychologist who teaches in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Columbia University's Teachers College, breaks stress responses into categories, depending on personality type. There are people who get overwhelmed and then withdraw, logging multiple sick days and absences. There are others who manically dive into workaholic mode while displaying irritability and picking fights with their colleagues.
Some freeze as though caught between the impulses of fight and flight. "Those are the folks who wind up getting into trouble with substance abuse, sex on the job or other inappropriate things that make them less functional," says Pivnick, who designed a pioneering stress management program for cardiac rehab patients back in the 1970s.
A fourth category includes the most well-adjusted people, who exhibit what Pivnick calls a "secure response." They hang back for a moment and assess the situation before moving forward in a judicious way.
Pivnick suggests different coping techniques for each personality type. People with a tendency to withdraw should find an exercise routine that keeps them active. For manic workaholics, Pivnick prescribes deep breathing, meditation and diverting their attention from work by socializing or going to movies. "Those people need a life," she says. For those who freeze, it's important to find a mentor or attachment figure at work who can help them move forward.
Dorothy Cantor, a psychologist in Westfield, N.J., says that beleaguered workers should realize that it's normal to feel anxious at times like these. "Don't add to your own discomfort and anxiety by being self-critical," says Cantor. "Too many people pathologize what they're feeling. You just have to tolerate it. Time will heal it.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
American workers have never had to cope with so much anxiety and confusion on the job. "Everybody is as stressed as I've ever seen," reports Joan Kane, a Manhattan psychologist who has worked as a therapist for 22 years. "The stress level is off the charts."
In Pictures: How To Handle Recession Job Stress
Free Resources For Finding A Job In The Arts
In Pictures: When You Need A Completely New Career
In Pictures: How To Find A Job When You've Been Looking Forever
In Pictures: Where The IT Jobs Are
Is there any way to stay calm amid the chaos?
According to Kane, the usual therapeutic approaches do not apply right now. "In therapy, we try to help patients discover who they really are," she explains. "In this environment, it's more helpful to not necessarily be your authentic self." Instead, she says, you need to show that you can adapt. "Even if things are horrible and morale is low, you do not want to go in and say so to your boss. Instead you want to describe how what you're doing is positive and talk about what you've created and why you're successful."
An added challenge is wondering whether your boss will survive the next round of cuts. "You have to try to be strategic about whom you please," Kane says.
Many workers whose central focus in life was their job have had to set their sights elsewhere. Patients who complained about their work for years are suddenly clamming up. "They feel they have no right to complain, because they've got a job," says Paul Browde, a New York psychiatrist. "Underneath, they are more stressed than ever before. It's like living with a continual chronic stress disorder." Many shift their conflicts to the home front. "People are starting to have marital and health issues," Browde observes.
Browde encourages his patients to be aware of their anxiety. Know that eventually this phase must pass. Meanwhile, find time for relaxation and exercise, even if you must engage in a shorter than optimal routine. "Even if it's just five minutes of relaxation exercises a day, it's important," he counsels.
Billie A. Pivnick, a psychologist who teaches in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Columbia University's Teachers College, breaks stress responses into categories, depending on personality type. There are people who get overwhelmed and then withdraw, logging multiple sick days and absences. There are others who manically dive into workaholic mode while displaying irritability and picking fights with their colleagues.
Some freeze as though caught between the impulses of fight and flight. "Those are the folks who wind up getting into trouble with substance abuse, sex on the job or other inappropriate things that make them less functional," says Pivnick, who designed a pioneering stress management program for cardiac rehab patients back in the 1970s.
A fourth category includes the most well-adjusted people, who exhibit what Pivnick calls a "secure response." They hang back for a moment and assess the situation before moving forward in a judicious way.
Pivnick suggests different coping techniques for each personality type. People with a tendency to withdraw should find an exercise routine that keeps them active. For manic workaholics, Pivnick prescribes deep breathing, meditation and diverting their attention from work by socializing or going to movies. "Those people need a life," she says. For those who freeze, it's important to find a mentor or attachment figure at work who can help them move forward.
Dorothy Cantor, a psychologist in Westfield, N.J., says that beleaguered workers should realize that it's normal to feel anxious at times like these. "Don't add to your own discomfort and anxiety by being self-critical," says Cantor. "Too many people pathologize what they're feeling. You just have to tolerate it. Time will heal it.
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
An awesome way to browse easy
Firefox 3.5 includes a useful feature called the Awesome Bar that helps you quickly navigate to previously visited websites without having to type the full address of that site in the address bar of the browser. For instance, let's say you searched for "match scores" on Google a few days back and want to repeat that same search today. If you are using an older browser, you will have to type the whole search phrase in the Google box and hit enter. But with Firefox 3.5, you can simply type a few letters - like "ma sc" - in the address bar and it will automatically show you a drop-down list of matching web pages from your browser history and bookmarks that contain those words, either in the title or the address (URL). Only for your eyesSo Firefox's Awesome Bar saves a lot of time and effort. However, some people may be wary of upgrading to Firefox 3.5 worrying that this feature might reveal their embarrassing Google search queries and visits to other inappropriate Websites. Luckily, there's an option to turn that off. Go to Firefox Tools > Options > Privacy > Location Bar and select either "Bookmarks" or "Nothing" from the option that says "When using the location bar, suggest:".
Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bid to hike CNG price may raise transport cost
Public transport running on CNG (compressed natural gas) in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai as well as power is set to get costlier if the government approves an oil ministry proposal to raise the price of gas under government control by as much as 33%. Since gas under government control fuels most gas-fired power generation and CNG services, their costs will rise proportionately. Present norms allow power producers to pass on the fuel cost to consumers. The hike in city transport, however, could be moderated by the service providers such as IGL in Delhi and MGL in Mumbai who could absorb part of the increase. Official sources said the proposal, being prepared for consideration of the cabinet, envisages raising the price of controlled gas from Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic metres ($1.8 per unit) to Rs 4,250 per thousand cubic metres ($2.4 per mBtu) in the first round. Subsequently, it is to be raised to Rs 7,500 per thousand cubic metres ($4.2 per unit) by 2013 in stages. Government controls the price of gas from fields given to state-run explorers without bidding. Gas from joint venture fields and the quantity bought and marketed by GAIL is market-driven and costs between $4.3 and $5.65 per unit. Next is imported LNG and finally gas from Andhra offshore field of Reliance Industries Ltd. A ministerial panel had set $4.2 per unit as the price for RIL gas and the Planning Commission wants this to be the benchmark for pricing gas from all domestic sources. The increase in the price of controlled gas is also in line with a 2005 Tariffs Commission recommendation. Prices were last revised in 2005. State explorers ONGC and Oil India will be the main beneficiaries. ONGC alone could mop up an additional Rs 2,000 crore per year. Producer price for ONGC is proposed at Rs 3,870 per thousand cubic metres from Rs 3,200. The consumer price would be 10% higher. The government too will garner Rs 750 crore more by way of taxes and royalty in the current year. This would rise to Rs 4,500 crore in 2013 when prices are brought at par with RIL's price. Sources said consumer price for power and fertilizer units outside north-east would be fixed at 10% above the producer price, while for the plants in that region it would be 60% of the price. Consumer price for transport and small consumers outside north-east may be fixed at 20% above the price for power and fertilizer sectors.Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Job street in India to get flooded next year
If the plans of global banks and consulting firms are anything to go by, the current trickle of job offers in India may turn into a flood next year, marking a complete transition from a global downturn that eliminated thousands of jobs. Global consultancy firms Accenture, Deloitte, banks StanChart and Barclays and Indian IT giant Infosys all have announced hiring plans that would see the creation of at least 13,000 jobs in India by the end of next year. Analysts are not surprised by the bullishness on display. “India has been reporting the strongest quarterly hiring expectations globally for the last six quarters and preliminary research shows that strong hiring optimism should continue at least into the first quarter of 2010,” said Darryl Green, president, Asia Pacific and Middle East, at global HR consulting firm Manpower Inc. In the past year, India remained a global success story in terms of job growth despite the fact that the world’s most populous nation faced some serious economic challenges including its worst drought in almost four decades, he said. Global technology and consultancy firm Accenture on Monday said it planned to hire 8,000 people by the end of next year, which will take its total workforce in India to 50,000. “We believe that analytics is going to be an important trend that our customers are going to demand from us. We think India is going to be a great place for us. We have some core centres of excellence in the analytics space in the country,” said William D Green, chairman and CEO of the $21.58 billion firm that employs 177,000 people globally. UK-based Standard Chartered that may list its shares on Indian bourses next year is planning to hire 3,000 people in India by the end of 2010. StanChart, which has around 18,000 people on its rolls in India, has already hired 2,000 employees so far this year, said Madhavi Lall, StanChart’s regional head for human resources. Barclays, another UK-based bank, said it would boost its merchant banking workforce across Asia by 10% during 2010. “We have seen very strong performance across Asia for all our business classes.... We would expect our workforce to increase across Asia by 10%,” said Robert A Morrice, the bank’s chairman and CEO for Asia Pacific. Audit and consultancy firm Deloitte upped its employee strength by 30% to 11,500 in India in a year when most firms where shedding jobs. It has also raised its workforce target from 12,000 to 15,000 by 2012. “India is more resilient than other economies and I think India would lead the recovery in the global economy,” Deloitte global CEO Jim Quigley said, reflecting the faith business leaders across the globe have in the strength of the second-fastest growing economy of the world. Infosys BPO too plans to hire 2000 people by the end of the current fiscal, CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said. The Indian IT giant’s backoffice services wing that employs 16,000 people in India at present recently signed a pact with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up rural BPO centres in 22 districts of the state.Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
sec-B
Thursday, November 5, 2009
MBA losing its lustre?
After a steady increase in the number of MBA aspirants applying for the Common Admission Test or CAT, 2009 has seen a drop for the first time in years.
Last year over 246,000 students had applied for the test. This year the number has fallen to 241,000.
Even though it might seem like a miniscule drop -- less than four per cent or 5,000 applications -- Neelesh Kossambi, national media manager at IMS Learning, wonders if it might be reason enough to start worrying. And if, after all these years, is an MBA or Masters of Business Administration finally beginning to lose its lustre in India?
One of the reasons that Kossambi points to is the CAT going online. And with other related entrance tests (like XAT, CET etc) also going online, Kossambi feels the number could well be significant.
ARKS Srinivas, director of TIME, seems to echo Kossambi's point of view. He tells us that over 20 per cent of his Mumbai [ Images ] students do not have an email address. "Young India is not as tech savvy as we might want to believe. And if this is the number in Mumbai can you imagine what happens to smaller towns?" Srinivas asks.
Khurshroo Antia, a chartered accountant preparing for CAT, told us that the web version of the test entails all calculations be done mentally, a major hitch for most students. "Earlier you had the privilege of using the pen and paper. That is not the case this year. Copying out the problem on a paper is not an option either because it will cost you time and effectively your percentile," Antia says.
Kossambi also attributes the drop to the media reports. He points out that the IIMs have been under the constant glare of the media. "Reports of hefty pay packages of IIM grads have given way to how their salary levels have dropped in recent times. This has definitely affected aspiring MBA students," he says.
Srinivas however has another take on the matter. He dismisses it as herd mentality and says: "In India we work on sentiment. And since the sentiment is down so is the number of MBA aspirants."
Further the hike in the fees is an issue that is troubling, says Kossambi. He says that the IIMs and ISB have hiked their fees so much that students are put off.
But is it reason enough to start worrying? Apparently not.
Aspirants like Antia are quite cheerful because they will have less competition this year. And recruiters are scoffing at the very idea that it might affect recruitment in the coming years.
The drop in applications will not affect the number of graduates since the seats are limited and will get filled any way, one recruiter points out.
Vinay Bhave of R-Search, a recruiting firm, also says that infrastructure projects hold the key. He says that while this sector was the worst hit it will also be one of the first to take off.
Engineers, he insists, will be back in business: "You cannot keep infrastructure projects on hold for long. And once they get off the ground you will require engineers."
Bhave describes the current market situation as being 'cautiously optimistic' a phrase that is becoming as popular as 'Wall Street crash'.
He says that he's already started receiving calls for recruiting at the CEO level and insists that this is just the beginning. Bhave also foresees the need for people specialising in finance.
Srinivas agrees with Bhave, though only in part. He suggests that CA trend is 'merely cyclical'. "It was hot from the mid-80s to the 90s and then around 2003 after which it saw a slump. Now it's back," he says almost dismissively.
Career counsellor Pratibha Jain offers a far more balanced perspective. She agrees that CA might be the in-demand course but says that MBA will continue to hold its sway in the long run.
Jain insists that the degree is nowhere close to losing its lustre and lauds student professionals who stick to their job and get work experience to the classrooms. This according to her helps them 'make an informed choice of what they wish to specialise in'.
The trend according to Jain is that of 'matching aptitude with goals and not vice versa'. So a lot of professionals keen on rising up the ladder seek to get an MBA degree on their resume.
"It is your only option," Jain says, "Unless you are looking at finance (where you can study Chartered Accountancy), MBA continues to remain the sole specialisation post-grad programme. There is nothing equivalent that will leverage your career prospects."
This also means that, IIMs not withstanding, a whole lot of professionals will opt for a good second tier business school, which will give them a better edge.
As Jain says, "MBA is still the golden bird." And everyone wants a shot at it.
Last year over 246,000 students had applied for the test. This year the number has fallen to 241,000.
Even though it might seem like a miniscule drop -- less than four per cent or 5,000 applications -- Neelesh Kossambi, national media manager at IMS Learning, wonders if it might be reason enough to start worrying. And if, after all these years, is an MBA or Masters of Business Administration finally beginning to lose its lustre in India?
One of the reasons that Kossambi points to is the CAT going online. And with other related entrance tests (like XAT, CET etc) also going online, Kossambi feels the number could well be significant.
ARKS Srinivas, director of TIME, seems to echo Kossambi's point of view. He tells us that over 20 per cent of his Mumbai [ Images ] students do not have an email address. "Young India is not as tech savvy as we might want to believe. And if this is the number in Mumbai can you imagine what happens to smaller towns?" Srinivas asks.
Khurshroo Antia, a chartered accountant preparing for CAT, told us that the web version of the test entails all calculations be done mentally, a major hitch for most students. "Earlier you had the privilege of using the pen and paper. That is not the case this year. Copying out the problem on a paper is not an option either because it will cost you time and effectively your percentile," Antia says.
Kossambi also attributes the drop to the media reports. He points out that the IIMs have been under the constant glare of the media. "Reports of hefty pay packages of IIM grads have given way to how their salary levels have dropped in recent times. This has definitely affected aspiring MBA students," he says.
Srinivas however has another take on the matter. He dismisses it as herd mentality and says: "In India we work on sentiment. And since the sentiment is down so is the number of MBA aspirants."
Further the hike in the fees is an issue that is troubling, says Kossambi. He says that the IIMs and ISB have hiked their fees so much that students are put off.
But is it reason enough to start worrying? Apparently not.
Aspirants like Antia are quite cheerful because they will have less competition this year. And recruiters are scoffing at the very idea that it might affect recruitment in the coming years.
The drop in applications will not affect the number of graduates since the seats are limited and will get filled any way, one recruiter points out.
Vinay Bhave of R-Search, a recruiting firm, also says that infrastructure projects hold the key. He says that while this sector was the worst hit it will also be one of the first to take off.
Engineers, he insists, will be back in business: "You cannot keep infrastructure projects on hold for long. And once they get off the ground you will require engineers."
Bhave describes the current market situation as being 'cautiously optimistic' a phrase that is becoming as popular as 'Wall Street crash'.
He says that he's already started receiving calls for recruiting at the CEO level and insists that this is just the beginning. Bhave also foresees the need for people specialising in finance.
Srinivas agrees with Bhave, though only in part. He suggests that CA trend is 'merely cyclical'. "It was hot from the mid-80s to the 90s and then around 2003 after which it saw a slump. Now it's back," he says almost dismissively.
Career counsellor Pratibha Jain offers a far more balanced perspective. She agrees that CA might be the in-demand course but says that MBA will continue to hold its sway in the long run.
Jain insists that the degree is nowhere close to losing its lustre and lauds student professionals who stick to their job and get work experience to the classrooms. This according to her helps them 'make an informed choice of what they wish to specialise in'.
The trend according to Jain is that of 'matching aptitude with goals and not vice versa'. So a lot of professionals keen on rising up the ladder seek to get an MBA degree on their resume.
"It is your only option," Jain says, "Unless you are looking at finance (where you can study Chartered Accountancy), MBA continues to remain the sole specialisation post-grad programme. There is nothing equivalent that will leverage your career prospects."
This also means that, IIMs not withstanding, a whole lot of professionals will opt for a good second tier business school, which will give them a better edge.
As Jain says, "MBA is still the golden bird." And everyone wants a shot at it.
Nitika
PGDM,3rd Sem,Sec-B
Sensex up 152pts after roller-coaster day
A sudden spurt of buying towards the fag end of trading, sparked by the government's decision today to divest 10% in all listed companies,pushed the benchmark Sensex up by more than 150 points to regain the 16,000-level after three days.Markets turned bearish in early trade after yesterday's rebound rally on weak cues from Asia and plunged to 15,564 points. Sentiment, however, turned bullish within minutes of Home Minister P Chidambaram announcing the Cabinet decision to divest 10% stake in all listed companies. Government also decided to list all profit-making public sector firms with a positive networth. After a roller-coaster ride, which saw the Sensex swinging over 500 points, the 30-share index finally closed the day at 16,063.90, netting a rise of 151.77 points or 0.95% over its previous close. Small-cap and mid-cap stocks attracted brisk buying with their indices rising by 1.82% and 2.02%. Shares of the telecom companies were flavour of the day. Brokers said reports of government planning to reduce licence fee for telcos attracted heavy buying in these stocks. Sensex stocks Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel posted impressive gains of 5.34 and 4.50% respectively. "The market is in a pull-back mode as it has witnessed vertical sell off in the earlier sessions. It is more of a bounce back kind of a trend. The long term uptrend is still intact and investors should put in money in the index stocks at every lows.Nitika
PGDM-3rd sem
section-B
CONNECTED
"The key to understanding people is understanding the ties between them", write authors Nicholas A. Christakis MD, PhD. and James H. Fowler PhD., in their groundbreaking book Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. The authors demonstrate that social networks have a profound effect on how people live, think, and behave. There are even discernible rules governing that behavior and the relationships between people.Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler apply years of research into the complex social relationships between people, and how those interactions have a direct influence on how connected individuals will behave. The authors also discovered in their research that an individual can have their behavior changed even by people who that person has never met and doesn't even know personally. Friends of friends can be more influential than more closely tied people. Human society, according to Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler form networks that parallel other networks found in science, and indeed human networks can be even more complex than those found in nature or in technology. For the authors, these human connected networks can even take on an organic life of their own.
Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler (both in photo left) recognize that the understanding the importance and influence of social networks changes the perception of individual control over one's life. The authors realize that such an insight can be frightening for many people. On the other hand, they consider the powerful idea that interconnectedness is a crucial force in a person's life. That force can also be one for good, and can have benefits for all members of the interconnected networks. For Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, knowing how people are connected is critical for understanding the human experience.For me, the power of the book is the in depth analysis undertaken by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler as they delve into the connections that create human networks. Because people interact with one another, and friends of friends have friends, a social network can exert considerable influence over how people within the group behave. That knowledge can be applied to fight the spread of disease, inspire more people to vote, or to help find suitable marriage partners. The authors also describe the importance of social connections in the online internet world. Their research found that networks and internet communities behave in a similar manner to connections made in the off line world. The knowledge of how connections are created, multiply, and interact can have a powerful effect on people's health, safety, and happiness.I highly recommend the exciting and important book Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, to anyone seeking a deeper, science based study of human connectedness. The authors provide compelling evidence that social networks are a crucial part of the human experience, and how those network interactions can have profound effects on the lives of the network's membership.Read and take time to ponder the concepts presented in the must read book Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler. In an ever shrinking world, linked more closely together through the internet and globalization, a clear understanding of how connections are formed and effect their participants is vital in the global economy. At the same time, the same concepts can be applied to recognizing the influence of one's own social networks. The book is a wonderful guide to how people interact and behave, and is essential reading for everyone.
NITIKA
PGDM-3rd sem
sect-B
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