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INDIA 2010 – A FLASHBACK

January

• January 2 - First three Uttar Pradesh rail accidents: Three train accidents occur in Uttar Pradesh amid thick fog. Ten people died in the accidents and 45 others were injured.
• January 9 – 2009 attacks on Indian students in Australia: An Indian man is set on fire in Melbourne, Australia, in the latest in a series of attacks on Indian nationals in the country.
• January 16 - Forth Uttar Pradesh rail accident: two express trains collide in thick fog in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Three people died in the accident and around a dozen were injured.
• January 17 - Fifth Uttar Pradesh rail accidents: A car is hit by a train at an unmanned crossing in Barabanki district. Two persons whom were in the car were killed as a result and four others injured
• January 22 - Sixth Uttar Pradesh rail accidents: A goods train derailed near Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, disrupting rail traffic in the region. No one was injured in the accident.
• January 25 – Environment ministers from the G4 bloc (IBSA Dialogue Forum & China) meet in New Delhi, India, to agree a common position ahead of future climate change talks
• January 30 – 12 people drown and least 20 others are missing after a boat accident in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh in India.

February

• February 5 – the last native of India's Andaman Islands fluent in the Aka-Bo language dies, rendering the language extinct. (Daily Mail)
• February 8 – At least 17 Indian soldiers are killed in an avalanche in Kashmir.
• February 13 – 2010 Pune bombing: a bomb exploded at the German Bakery in the city of Pune in western India, killing 17 people and injuring at least 60 others. Two little known groups calling themselves the Laskhar-e-Taiba Al Alami and the Mujahideen Islami Muslim Front claimed they were behind the bomb attack. However, according to government agencies, the attack could have been part of a project by Lashkar-e-Taiba to use the Indian Mujahideen, called the 'Karachi project'. David Coleman Headley a Pakistani-American terror suspect has been accused of involvement in the project
• February 15 – Silda camp attack: a Naxalite attack on an army camp in West Bengal kills 24 Indian soldiers, with many more reported missing.
• February 17 – 2010 Jalaun district bus crash: At least 22 people are killed in a bus crash in Northern India.

March

• March 3 – Three are killed in Indian Navy air show crash in Hyderabad, India.
• March 4 – 2010 Pratapgarh stampede: at least 63 people die after a stampede at a Hindu temple in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• March 12 – Russia signs a nuclear reactor deal with India which will see it build 16 nuclear reactors in India.
• March 23 – a fire tears through a combined residential and office building in Calcutta, India, killing 24 people, including two who leapt to their deaths.
• March 27 – India test fires two short range missiles, the Dhanush and Prithvi II.
• March 30 – Somali pirates hijack 8 Indian vessels abducting 120 sailors, biggest abduction count till date, off the coast of Kismayo.

April

• April 1 – the Indian government initiates the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged between 6 and 14 years, making education a fundamental right for millions of children.
• April 1 – India launches its new 2011 biometric census, the largest census in the world.
• April 3 – At least 10 Indian security personnel are killed and three injured when Maoist guerrillas blow up a police bus in Orissa's Koraput district.
• April 6 – 2010 Dantewada ambush: At least 70 Indian soldiers are killed in an attack by Naxalites in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
• April 13 – 2010 Eastern Indian storm: At least 140 people were killed in eastern India after a powerful storm demolished thousands of homes in West Bengal. (BBC News) Nearly 500,000 people were left homeless or otherwise affected by the storm.
• April 15 – the maiden flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II, India's first launch with an indigenous cryogenic upper stage, ends in failure, resulting in the loss of the GSAT-4 satellite.
• April 17 – Twin bombs injure eight people outside M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore ahead of an IPL-3 league game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians. A third device is located outside.
• April 27 – India arrests a woman working at its embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on charges of espionage.

May

            Cyclone Laila over India, 19 May 2010

• May 3 – Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving terrorist involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is found guilty of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against India.
• May 6 – Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving member of a group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is sentenced to death.
• May 7 – May 2010 Kashmir skirmishes: 5 insurgents and 2 soldiers die in a gunbattle between Islamic rebels and Indian security forces in Kashmir.
• May 7–9 – India International Light Fair & India International Sign Show in Mumbai.
• May 8 – Naxalite rebels blow up a bullet-proof vehicle of the Central Reserve Police Force in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, India, killing seven officers.
• May 16 – Maoist guerillasChhattisgarh, India.
• May 17 – 2010 Dantewada bus bombing: Naxalite insurgents blow up a bus in India filled with police and para-militaries. Fatalities reports range from 31 to 44, including several Special Police Officers (SPOs) and civilians.
• May 19 – 2010 North Indian Ocean cyclone season: Cyclone Laila approaches landfall in southeastern India, having already caused at least ten deaths and prompting the evacuations of 10,000 people in Tamil Nadu.
• May 21 – A court restores the Indian Hockey Federation, two years after it was dissolved by the country's Olympic chiefs over bribery allegations and poor on-field results.
• May 21 – Six girls aged between eight and twelve years drown in the Rapti in Balrampur while bathing.
• May 22 – Air India Express Flight 812 overshoots the runway at Mangalore International Airport in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors.
• May 23 – Clashes break out between Indian and Pakistani troops near the border in the disputed Kashmir region.
• May 28 – Gyaneshwari Express train derailment: At least 25 people are killed and 150 injured in India after a Mumbai train with 13 passenger coaches is derailed by an explosion on the tracks and collides with another train as it traveled through the Paschim Medinipur district, a rebel stronghold in eastern India.

June

• June 2 – 2010 Indian heat wave: a heat wave strikes India and South Asia, reaching 53C (127F) and killing many hundreds of people.
• June 7 – the Magistrate court in Bhopal, India convicts eight people, one posthumously, for their role in the Bhopal disaster industrial catastrophe 25 years ago in 1984.
• June 13 – A 7.5-magnitude earthquake west of India's Nicobar Islands cause’s tremors felt along India's eastern seaboard and triggers a tsunami watch, which is later cancelled.
• June 17 – Heavy rains claim 46 lives in Maharashtra, India.
• June 23 – 1 person is killed when a crane crashes at Chennai International Airport, Chennai, India.
• June 25 – 17 people are killed and 25 others injured when an overcrowded bus collided head-on with a speeding truck near Chenaki More, abount 30 km from Patna, India.
• June 26 – Four people are killed and five wounded in violence in Indian-administered Kashmir's Sopore area.
• June 29 – 2010 Maoist attack in Narayanpur: At least 26 policemen are killed in a Maoist attack in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

July

• July 5 – A nationwide strike takes place in India in protest at a recent rise in fuel prices.
• July 8 – a bomb rips through the engine and coach of a passenger train in Assam, India, and killing one person.
• July 13 – One death and three injuries result from a stampede during pulling of Ratha Yatra chariots in Puri, India.
• July 13 – the Supreme Court of India tentatively approves the Tamil Nadu government's new quota law, providing 69% of employment in educational institutions to scheduled castes and tribes and other backward classes.
• July 14 – Senior Indian Army officer Major A. K. Thinge is killed in battle in Kashmir.
• July 19 – Two trains collide in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India with at least 50 people feared dead.
• July 20 – Former Indian junior diplomat Madhuri Gupta is charged under the Official Secrets Act with spying for Pakistan.
• July 21 – Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles fatally shoot Indian civil rights campaigner and environmentalist Amit Jethwa in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
• July 23 – The Indian government unveils a solar power touch-screen laptop, cheaper than America's iPad, expected to be on sale next year.

August

• August 1 – Six people die in the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir after a third day of clashes between security forces and Kashmiri separatists.
• August 4 – About 70 Indian police personnel are reported missing in Chhattisgarh forests amid a major engagement with Maoist guerrillas; they are later found. No casualties have been reported.
• August 6 – 2010 Leh floods: Flash floods in the Ladakh region of India's Jammu and Kashmir state kill at least 113 people and leave lots of others missing.
• August 7 – Mumbai oil spill: An oil spill stretching at least two miles long occurs in the Arabian Sea offshore Mumbai, India, after a vessel from Panama collides with another vessel from St. Kitts. The Panamanian ship was carrying 2,662 tons of oil, 283 tons of diesel and 88,040 liters of lube oil when it became grounded and started to leak.
• August 12 – India issues the producer of the controversial Blackberry devices a 31 August deadline to give the Indian government access to its services or be shut down over concerns the devices could be used to commit a repeat of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
• August 18 – a school building collapses due to heavy rain in the village of Sumgarh in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 17 schoolchildren.
• August 27 – Police in India kill Umakanta Mahato, a top Maoist guerilla wanted in connection with the Gyaneshwari Express train derailment in May.

September

• September 10 – Thousands of people are evacuated in Delhi over flooding fears.
• September 20 – At least 21 people are killed and dozens are injured after 2 trains collide in the Shivpuri district of India's Madhya Pradesh state.
• September 23 – Speeding train kills 7 elephants in Eastern India.
• September 29 – India launches a national identity scheme aimed at reducing fraud and improving access to state benefits.

October

• 3 October - XIX Commonwealth Games were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010.
• 10 October – At least 36 people die after an overloaded boat capsizes on the Ganges River in the Buxar district of India's Bihar state.
• 11 October – 18 people are killed when a bus falls into a river in Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• 25 October – More than 700 species of ancient insects are discovered preserved in amber in an ancient rainforest in India.
• 30 October – At least 16 people drown and 70 are missing after an overcrowded ferry sinks in a river in West Bengal, eastern India.

November

• 1 November – At least 74 people drown after a ferry-boat capsizes on the Muri Ganga River in West Bengal, India.
• 2 November – 17 people are killed and three others injured when a truck carrying them overturned at Tarapur talukav near Indranaj in India. The truck was on its way from Surat to Bhavnagar.
• 15 November – 66 people die after a building collapses in eastern New Delhi, India.
• 21 November – Seven people are killed after a bomb planted by suspected Maoist rebels explodes in Aurangabad district, Bihar, northeastern India.

December

• 5 December – 20-year-old Nicole Faria from Bangalore, Miss India, wins the Miss Earth 2010 crown in Vinpearl Land, Nha Trang, Vietnam.
• 26 December – A collision between a bus and a mini-truck kills 34 people and leaves 30 injured, near the town of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh state, in northern India.

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS ?

Azim Premji, CEO - Wipro  

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.

Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office,and the very best technology,even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave ?

Mark quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules". It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss .Immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he 's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge,experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Mostly manager drives people away?

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave,but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don 't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious,too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Talented men leave. Dead wood doesn't.


"Jack Welch of GE once said. A company's value lies "between the ears of its employees". 

Mr. Ratan Tata and the flat tyre

 

One of Mr. Ratan N Tata's first assignments was the stewardship of the ailing electronics company in the Tata portfolio - Nelco.

Story goes that a team of senior managers from Nelco was driving to Nasik along with RNT. Halfway into the journey, the car had a flat tyre, and as the driver pulled up, the occupants - including Mr. Tata - got off for a comfort break, leaving the driver to replace the tyre.

Some of the managers welcomed the forced break, as it allowed them a much-needed chance to light up a cigarette. Some used the opportunity to stretch, and smile, and share a joke. And then, one of them suddenly noticed that Mr. Tata was not to be seen, and wondered aloud where Ratan Tata might have vanished.

·       Was he behind some bush?
·       Had he wandered off inside the roadside dhaba for a quick cup of tea?
·       Or was he mingling with some passer-bys, listening to their stories?

None of these, in fact while his colleagues were taking a break, Ratan Tata was busy helping the driver change tyres. Sleeves rolled up, tie swatted away over the shoulder, the hands expertly working the jack and the spanner, bouncing the spare tyre to check if the tyre pressure was ok. Droplets of sweat on the brow, and a smile on the face.

In that moment, the managers accompanying Ratan Tata got a master class in leadership they haven't forgotten.

And that's a moment that the driver of that car probably hasn't forgotten either.  

Questions to ask:
When was the last time I rolled up my sleeves to do a task much below my hierarchy?
Do I wait for the big opportunity to showcase my leadership?
Is that big opportunity ever going to come?
Am I trying to manage upwards so much that I lost the feel of the field?
 

Ideas for action:
·       Humility is the essence of success.  Be humble and even teach your children to be so.
·       To reach the top and remain there, always start from the bottom, else your days at the top will not last long..
·       Practice leadership in small things instead of waiting for the big crisis or a major product launch.
·       Seek to find opportunities to lead in everyday moments.
·       Build your leadership skills one baby step at a time.
·       Good day!!
"It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing."

Indian politician accused of 'provoking' mosque riot

The mosque's destruction was one of India's most bitterly contested events

An Indian police officer has claimed that a prominent politician made a provocative speech moments before the 1992 sacking of a mosque in Ayodhya.

The officer, Anju Gupta, said the speech was made by LK Advani, who at the time was a top leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Ms Gupta was assigned as a security officer to Mr Advani in 1992.

The mosque was brought down by a Hindu mob and some 2,000 people died in riots across India after its demolition.

It was some of the worst Hindu-Muslim violence since the partition of India in 1947.

'Creating discord'

Ms Gupta said that Mr Advani had declared in his speech that a Hindu temple would be built on the site.

Mr Advani has described the razing as the saddest day in his life

The former bodyguard told a special court in the town of Rae Bareli that Mr Advani had made his "provocative speech" to right-wing Hindus in Ayodhya on the day the mosque was attacked.

Ms Gupta was testifying as a prosecution witness in a case against Mr Advani - a former leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - who has been charged with "provoking people into rioting and arson" and "creating discord among communities".

Mr Advani - who has won plaudits for transforming the BJP into a viable political force - has denied involvement in the demolition, calling it "the saddest day" of his life.

In 2003 Mr Advani - who served as home minister and deputy prime minister under the BJP-led government between 1998 and 2004 - was cleared of being linked to the demolition.

The current case against him came about after a court in the state of Uttar Pradesh revived charges against him.

The hearing has been adjourned for four weeks.

In November 2009 an official report implicated more than 60 people - including the most senior members of the BJP - in the mosque's destruction.

The site of the 16th Century Babri Masjid had been a focus for Hindu-Muslim hostility for decades when on 6 December 1992 a mob of Hindu militants tore the mosque down, claiming that it had been a temple marking the birthplace of the Hindu God Ram.

Lakshmi Mittal richest Asian in Britain in 2010

NRI steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, owner of the world's largest steel company ArcelorMittal, is the richest Asian in Britain for the year 2010 with an estimated wealth of 17 billion pound.

According to the Asian Rich List 2010, brought out by Eastern Eye, a publication of the Asian Media & Marketing Group, 59-year-old Mittal is followed by the Hinduja brothers, Srichand and Gopichand, with 8 billion pound, Anil Agarwal of mining group Vedanta Resources with 4 billion pound, Sir Anwar Pervez of Bestways with 715 million pound and NRI industrialist Swraj Paul of Caparo with 510 million pound.

The Rich List was released at the Sofitel Hotel here last night where the Hinduja brothers, S P Hinduja and G P Hinduja, Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Hinduja Group were presented with the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' for their outstanding achievements in various spheres of life.

The list noted that Mittal's rise sometimes obscured the fact that he has been one of the most enterprising figures of "our age", and no episode perhaps better reflected this than his takeover of European steel giant Arcelor.

Mittal is the Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, while his son Aditya is the chief financial officer. Mittal''s daughter Vanisha, who attracted much publicity when her father organised an extravagant wedding costing 10-20 million pound for her in France in 2004, is also on the board, it said.

In 2008, ArcelorMittal had USD 124.9 billion revenues and crude steel production of 103.3 million tonnes (MT), showing 10 per cent of world steel output. In contrast, in 2009 the company had USD 65.1 billion revenues and crude steel output of 73.2 MT, representing 8 per cent of global steel output.

Commenting on the fall, Mittal said in a very difficult environment, ArcelorMittal has succeeded in lowering its cost base substantially and significantly strengthening the balance sheet. "We, therefore, start the year in a good position to benefit from the progressive, albeit slow, recovery that is underway". "Although 2010 will continue to be challenging, we are now increasing capital expenditure to take advantage of selected growth opportunities as demand improves".

Mittal will emerge a stronger man from the present crisis, predicts Philip Beresford, the journalist who was among the first to spot his potential when the Indian businessman relocated his headquarters from Jakarta to London towards the end of 1995.

Paul, who is listed as the fifth richest Asian in the UK, built Caparo, a global steel company that employs over 3,000 people in the UK alone, through sheer "hard work, integrity and a lot of luck

India in 2030 will be most educated in the world: Sibal

New Delhi: "India in 2030 will be most educated in the world. The world must realize that future human capital will flow from India. They should make our population literate and take the benefit," Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said in an event organized by computer giant HP and TV channel CNBC.

He also reiterated his point that his ministry is in touch with Nandan Nilekani, the chief of Unique Identity Authority for an UID for every single student.

"Nandan has told me that he will work with us."

Sibal also stressed the need for an education finance corporation, which will help refinancing education with a long-term goal and provide education loans to all needy students.

All secondary schools in India will have a computer teacher each and the central government will bear the related expenses, Sibal said.

"We have now a policy. All schools will have an ICT (Information and Communications Technology) teacher. We will pay their salary, which is Rs.10,000 per month," Sibal said to highlight the need for technology to better educational scenario in the country.

"We are open to any technology solution (provided by private sectors) but it should not be elitist. The real problem is in rural India and we must keep that in mind. I think, the private sector can collaborate with government and train these ICT teachers," he said.

"Our focus is on giving every child an opportunity."

Sibal also said that all states should chip in to improve education and make right to education a success.

"It is not about politics, it is about education... it's about every single child. We need a system in place for quality education and quality teachers."

The minister also said that India will be most educated country in the world by 2030 and it will be the key to provide intellectual capital to all countries.

India cricket mania soars despite tight security

Security was tight but did not spoil the fun (Photos: Shailendra Pandey/Tehelka)

Security is tight for the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament amid fears of attacks by militants. The BBC's Soutik Biswas attends a match in Delhi to take a look.
What do you need to do to watch the world's greatest cricketer (Sachin Tendulkar) pitted in rare battle against one of its most destructive batsmen (Virender Sehwag)?
Well - if you are in the Indian capital, Delhi, at least - you may like to follow the police advisory and arrive at least four hours before the game armed with your ticket.
Once you're at an untidy park-and-ride to the ground, make sure you are not carrying any of the "33 items" prohibited by the city police.
The intriguing list includes:

• chairs and stools (why should anybody be carrying them to a modern stadium?)
• skateboards (where can you skate in the stands?)
• animals (I have never seen a spectator with a pet at any cricket match)
• distress signals (intriguing)
• "loud hailer/whistle/horn", balloons, bottles and cameras.

All this is in aid of securing the spectators, of course.
The authorities are keen to allay concerns, particularly ahead of the Commonwealth Games later this year.
Stamina and patience
Police in Delhi appear to be leaving nothing to chance when it comes to protecting the packed-to-the brim IPL matches, considering the tense security environment in the country.
But it's not easy to attend a game - you need lots of stamina and patience.

It's better to be safe than sorry and go through these checks Cricket fan Ravi Bhatia

I went through half a dozen security checks en route to Wednesday night's game between the Delhi Daredevils and the Mumbai Indians - two rounds of frisking, and a jangling journey through a noisy metal detector.
Every "checkpoint" at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground was littered with "prohibited" detritus confiscated from hapless fans - a pile of cigarette packets, enough pens to set up a stationary shop, a mountain of cigarette lighters.
I had to part with my chewing gum - when I asked why, an officer said that my gum box was a potential "projectile". Some reporters have described such tight security as an example of "police high-handedness".
But most spectators I chatted with appeared to have happily accepted it.

Security inside the ground

"We keep reading in the papers that Delhi is a prime target for terrorists. It's better to be safe than sorry and go through these checks," says a young fan, Ravi Bhatia.
Inside the ground, security was firm but fairly unobtrusive, allowing fans to breathe and enjoy the game.
Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat told me that there were layers of security inside the ground - policemen, armed and otherwise, along with private security guards keep an eye on the stands and around the periphery of the ground.
It is not in your face, and it looks pretty well managed.
Party mood
So nothing really came in the way of enjoying a good evening out at an IPL game.
Crowds bopped to Bollywood remixes, went delirious as the cameras swooped down to capture the party mood, clicked pictures of shimmying cheerleaders on their mobile phones and helped themselves to sandwiches, cookies and cola.

Delhi lost for the first time in the tournament

Sachin Tendulkar made a quicksilver 32-ball 63 - in his 21st year in international cricket, the master is in sublime form - to set up an imposing 218 runs for Mumbai, the highest in the tournament so far.
The pressure proved to be too much for the Delhi team and even Virender Sehwag succumbed after a too brief demolition job, scoring 26 runs in 16 balls.
Delhi, favourites to win the tournament, suffered a heavy near-100 run defeat.
When the match ended close to midnight and the disappointed Delhi fans trooped out, one finally got an inkling of the scale of security - riot police vans were lined up and hundreds of heavily armed police were milling around.
But nobody was really complaining - security has not killed the spirit and fun of the IPL. Yet

Rising pay in India dwarfed by inflation

Food prices are soaring and pay rises are struggling to keep up

Kedar Shirali feels that the Indian economy has bounced back and that things are looking up.
So the investor relations director at India's largest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), expects his salary will be raised.
"Extra money in the bank is always welcome, so this year it will be a better vacation," he laughs.
And he is not the only one who is optimistic.
The mood in companies such as TCS is far better this year it was last year.
Rising pay
Software and computer companies faced the brunt of the global economic downturn, so in 2009 few of them gave their staff pay rises.

Mr Shirali hopes his pay will rise this year

But this year, TCS says it will look at a number of options when it comes to compensation before making a decision in April.
Pay rises could be in the region of 10%, according to TCS chief finance officer, S Mahalingham, with pay only making up one part of overall compensation packages.
Average pay is expected to rise some 10.6% in India this year, according to consulting firm Hewitt Associates India, well ahead of China where pay is set to rise 6.7%.
Though unlike in the past, the wage growth is being led by companies supplying domestic markets rather than firms relying on exports.
Caution urged
The pay rises may sound impressive, though with the cost of food and other prices soaring, people's spending power may not actually be rising that fast - if at all.
Everything here has become more expensive during the last year, especially food.
The price of vegetables has more than doubled and overall food inflation for February was 17.8%.
Manufactured goods are also getting more expensive.
Last month, India reported that headline inflation had reached 9.9%, having increased almost seven-fold since October last year.
Price inflation is further fuelled by wage inflation, so many experts say companies should careful and not get carried away and be too generous with their pay increases.
"It's a bit premature," according to Dr Ganesh Shermon from KPMG, a consultancy.
""The markets are looking better, sentiment is definitely better, people want to do all the right things," he agrees, before cautioning that "not all the banks are lending the money, there are not as many people going out there to borrow funds".
No improvement
But such warnings from naysayers do little to curb the enthusiasm of the many companies that say they will go ahead and raise pay for their staff.
People here are already beginning to feel the change in fortunes.
And when the money is actually paid out, it will bring smiles to people's faces - even though the supposed pay rises do little more than keep up with inflation, ensuring people are no worse off than they were before.

Indian school helping the brightest Muslims

The mould-breaking Rahmani 30 school has a record of success

 

In a congested part of Patna, capital of India's Bihar state, stands a striking yellow building - a 100-year-old mansion that has clearly seen better days.
Inside it, in a small dark room, a young bearded cleric is reading out sermons from the Muslim holy scriptures to a group of boys seated cross-legged on the floor.
They are in their late teens, some are wearing skull caps and they all listen to him with rapt attention.
At first glance, this could be any of the region's hundreds of Islamic seminaries or madrassas, where young Muslims receive religious instruction.
But this is no ordinary seminary.
After prayers, the boys head out to a classroom, pen and notebook in hand, where they listen with equal attention to a lecture on advanced mathematics.
This is the unusual setting for Rahmani 30 - a training institute which prepares talented but underprivileged young Muslims for entry into India's best engineering colleges - the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).
Only the top 2% make it through the stiff entrance exam.
Getting ahead
India's large Muslim minority is consistently placed at the bottom of social and economic rankings.

I wanted to make something of my life, become someone Irfan Alam, student

Part of this has to do with education - most Muslims end up studying in madrassas, which means they have little chance of being employed in the private sector or government.
So the significance of Rahmani's initiative is not lost on anyone.
It is the brainchild of a senior Bihar police officer, Abhyanand, who takes time off from his day job to teach the boys physics.
Rahmani was inspired by a similar school - the Super 30, where Abhyanand used to work and which is also aimed at poor children but not Muslims exclusively.
"In our country, any difficult examination is very fearful because a huge number of students take part but only a few get in," Abhyanand says.
The advantage at Rahmani, he says, is the kind of students they get - mostly from poor backgrounds and determined to get ahead in life.
"They come from a rural background and that is their strength. They become competitive because, for them, it is a win or lose situation.
"If they don't make it they don't stand anywhere [socially and economically]."
Great chance
Irfan Alam, 15, the son of a barber who is preparing for the IIT exam due to be held in 2011, says it is a great opportunity.
"I wanted to make something of my life, become someone," he says smiling shyly.

The school's philosophy is inspired by the ideas of a madrassa

"It's the perfect platform. The teachers are amazing and the best part is that it's completely free."
It is a chance that few others where Irfan comes from will ever get.
His village is a good four hours drive north of Patna, with lush green wheat-fields, narrow dirt tracks and few proper buildings.
Most people here work as farm labour and a large number of the men are barbers by trade.
I meet Irfan's father, Mohammad Shafiq, outside his modest, two-room hut made of mud and straw.
Now recuperating after an eye operation, he tells me how his son displayed flashes of brilliance as a child and soon outgrew his village school.
So he decided to send him away.
"Nobody studies here. Most of the teenagers waste their time or start drinking heavily.
"I can't read and write myself and it was always my dream that my son should be educated and not become a barber like his father and grandfather."
Back at Rahmani the classes are done but the studying continues late into the night.
Irfan sits with three of his friends inside his little dorm room, poring over textbooks and brainstorming.
In another room, one of the teachers uses a webcam to conduct a tutorial with students in another part of Bihar.
Cultural debate
It's a fascinating mix of the traditional and the modern.
"The basic philosophy of a madrassa is that the boys live, eat and study together. There is no distinction between rich and poor - everybody is equal," says Maulana Wali Rahmani, an influential cleric who heads this institute.
"There's also a culture of open debate. It's something I experienced myself while growing up in a madrassa. So we thought, why not channel these strengths in a whole new direction and see what we can achieve."
To find out how spectacularly they have succeeded, you need to travel 1,000km (625 miles), to the national capital, Delhi.
It is a completely different world in the tree-lined, sprawling IIT campus.
Young men and women stroll into their classrooms, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, back-packs slung over their shoulders.
These are India's brightest brains, many of whom will go on to work in the country's top software companies or head to Silicon Valley.
Among them is a shy, earnest young man - Shadman Anwar, part of Rahmani's inaugural batch of students last year, all 10 of whom made it through to the IITs.
"It's been a dream come true, being here with all the other students. And I don't feel as if I'm any different," he says.
His is the kind of confidence that has helped raise expectations at Rahmani, whose administrators now want to establish 10 similar schools over the next couple of years.
India's Muslim community is often said to have under-achieved, plagued by poverty, low education standards and a conservative outlook.
Now in one of India's poorest states, a small initiative is trying to break the mould.

Bin Laden won't be caught alive, says Attorney General Holder

Washington, March 17 (DPA) Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will not be tried in a US courtroom because he won't be caught alive, the top US law enforcement official said.

Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday appeared before a congressional committee for budget testimony but was forced to defend the Obama administration's plan to put some terrorist suspects on trial in civilian courts rather than military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.

Holder rejected charges by Republicans that the policy would make it possible for bin Laden to enjoy the same constitutional rights as US citizens.

'We will be reading Miranda rights to a corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom,' Holder responded, referring to the rights read by police while conducting arrests.

He said that bin Laden 'will be killed by us, or he will be killed by his own people'.

Bin Laden has been on the run since the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, believed to be hiding along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.

Former president George W. Bush had once famously said he wanted bin Laden 'dead or alive', and President Barack Obama has vowed to intensify the effort to capture or kill the Al Qaeda figurehead

Indian Dalit icon Mayawati attacked over rupee garland

Ms Mayawati needed several people to help her lift the garland

Controversial Chief Minister of India's Uttar Pradesh state, Mayawati, has been criticised for accepting a huge garland made entirely of 1,000-rupee notes.

Ms Mayawati's supporters gave her the garland as a gift at her Bahujan Samaj Party's silver jubilee rally on Monday.
It is made of new 1,000-rupee notes and is estimated to have cost anywhere between $400,000 and $2m.
Ms Mayawati, who champions the cause of the poorest of the poor, is criticised for amassing vast personal wealth.
She is India's first woman Dalit (formerly "untouchable") chief minister and has a huge following among those at the bottom of the Hindu caste system.
Calls for inquiry
Photographs of Ms Mayawati, wearing the rupee garland, appeared on the front pages of Indian newspapers on Tuesday morning.
The issue was also raised in parliament, with MPs from different parties criticising what they said was a vulgar display by Ms Mayawati.
"We appeal to the government to take cognisance of the money that is being spent, or rather, misspent in the rally. And millions' worth of the garland that she accepted should be inquired into," senior Congress party leader Digvijay Singh said.
A leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajnath Singh, said: "I just want to say that state funds and resources have been misused in Uttar Pradesh in every form. And I want the government to take action in this case at the earliest."
It is estimated that nearly 400,000 supporters attended the rally in the Uttar Pradesh state capital, Lucknow, on Monday. The city was draped in blue (the colour of Ms Mayawati's party) for the celebration.
Statue spree
A former school teacher, Ms Mayawati is one of India's most colourful politicians. She has governed Uttar Pradesh and its 180 million people since state elections in 2007.
In the past few years, she has amassed massive personal wealth, developing a fondness for lavish birthday parties and diamond jewellery.
She has been taken to court for commissioning massive statues of past Dalit icons and herself at great public expense.
Ms Mayawati's critics accuse her of wasting precious government funds in one of India's most backward states.
Uttar Pradesh has soaring crime, poor health services and very high illiteracy rates.
Ms Mayawati appears unfazed by all the criticism and has spoken many times about her ambition to be prime minister of India.
Her party denied claims on Monday that state funds had helped pay for Monday's festivities, saying it had footed the bill.

Getting a passport could soon be hassle free

New Delhi, Mar.7 (ANI):If long queues outside shoddy passport offices gives you the jitters and, the thought of brokers and touts stops you from getting your passport by right, here is some good news for passport seekers.

Getting a passport will soon be hassle free with the revolutionisation of the current process, which at best, can be described as arduous.
It is learnt that External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who hails from IT city Bangalore and, is very tech savvy, is walking that extra mile to facilitate the implementation of the landmark Passport Sewa E- Governance initiative.
Sevety-seven hi-tech state-of-the-art IT-enabled Passport Sewa offices are likely to come up across the country under the new initiative.
Krishna recently inspected two such centers in Bangalore. The presence of cutting-edge technology such as a centralised IT system, which includes a data centre and a disaster recovery centre to which, all proposed centers will be connected, biometric verification, availability of online services for fixing appointments, three national call centers and a grievance redressel system, status of application via SMS and outsourcing of front-end activities, acquiring a passport will be easier and simpler.
If that's not all, the 24x7 national call centre in 17 languages will also be a part of the new project.
The Passport Sewa project is a perfect example of public-private partnership, involving the Ministry of External Affairs and Tata Consultancy Services.
Keeping in view security and sensitivity, the MEA has not surrendered sovereign functions to the TCS and has only outsourced front-end activities.
If fully implemented, then a passport can be got in three days following police verification.
Tatkal applicants could get the passport the same day. Currently, it takes around 30 to 45 days for non-Tatkal passports and a minimum of seven days for getting a Tatkal-routed passport.
Under the proposed system, the number of public dealing counters will also increase from the current figure of 345 to 1250. Public dealing hours will also increase from four to seven hours.
According to sources, new centres could come up at Gurgaon, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Hubli, Dharwad, Mangalore, Baroda, Rajkot, Kottayam, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Ambala, Varanasi, Kanpur, Jodhpur and Sikar etc.
Although the project looks impressive, it also has its share of problems and challenges. The IT-enabled project could leave many passport officials out of work. Already, unions in passport offices have opposed the proposal. The other big challenge will be to train underskilled MEA staff on cutting-edge technology. By Naveen Kapoor

Nokia develops self-charging cellphone

London, March 6 (ANI): Experts have come up with a cellphone that can recharge its own battery by harvesting energy from the owner's motion.

The self-charging handset by Nokia, who has already filed for a US patent, was predicted to work with heavier components, such as the radio transmitter circuit and battery, supported on a sturdy frame.

The frame apparently could shift along two sets of rails, allowing it travel up and down and side to side, New Scientist reported.

Each rail apparently hosted strips of piezoelectric crystals at its end, capable of generating a current when compressed by the frame such that motion, by the user or the movement of the phone, generates electricity.

That in turn charged a capacitor and subsequently the battery, boosting the charge.

Auto loans get costly, curtains on teasers

Money is becoming dearer. That was evident on Thursday when private sector banks ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK.NS : 901.75 +3.35), HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank (KOTAKBANK.NS : 801.85 +26.65) upped interest rates on auto loans. At the same time, home loan major HDFC and ICICI Bank decided it was time to do away with teaser loans, which were being offered at 8.25% for an initial period of two years.
Kotak Mahindra Bank went a step further and hiked home loan rates for new customers to 8.5% from its existing 7.99%. "Our decision to increase home loan rate is in lines with the rising interest rate scenario," said KVS Manian, the bank's retail liabilities head. Car loans at Kotak Mahindra will now be costlier by 50-75 basis points and borrowers will have to pay between 10-10.50% as interest.
"Borrowing rates have been firming up since the last credit policy. While we did not pass on the rate hike earlier, we need to do it now," Kotak Mahindra Prime CEO Sumit Bali.
ICICI Bank has raised auto loans rate by 25-50 basis points, which means they will cost between 9.75%-11%, depending on the tenure.
The bank's home loans up to Rs 30 lakh will attract an interest rate of 8.75% while loans between Rs 30 lakh and 50 lakh will be at 9%.
HDFC Bank plans to charge between 25 and 100 basis points more for car loans. "There has been a change in the monetary stance and there could be some shortage of liquidity with the CRR hike and advance tax payments coming up. So it is not surprising that interest rates are going up," said Ashish Parthsarathy, head of treasury, HDFC Bank.
Meanwhile, the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBIN.NS : 2047.2 +14.5), is likely to take a call on whether or not to increase rates at its next assets and liability committee (Alco) meeting. SBI's chief financial officer SS Ranjan said, "Generally, interest rates are moving up and that is possibly the reason some banks have increased lending rates."
At IDBI bank (IDBIBANK.NS : 0 0) though rates may not move up. According to its CFO P Sitaram, while IDBI had marginally increased deposit rates in a couple of buckets in February, the bank has no plans hiking its lending rates as of now. Added Bank of Baroda chairman and managing director MD Mallya, "We are maintaining both our lending and deposits rates for the moment. But the situation is dynamic."
HDFC has discontinued its special festival offer on home loans much like ICICI Bank, which too will no longer offer special rates home loans. In February, two public sector and two private sector banks had raised deposit rates following the Reserve Bank's decision to hike the cash reserve ratio by 75 basis points.

Strategic break periods spelt out in IPL

The Indian Premier League has fixed a five-minute period, split into two equal halves, for the mandatory strategic time-outs during the third edition of the Twenty20 event starting March 12.

"The batting team would have to take the 2 and a half minute time-out mandatory between the sixth and eighth overs while the fielding side would have to take the time-out between the 11th and 16th overs," IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said.

Modi said the decision to specify the overs for taking the mandatory stoppages, lasting 2.5 minutes each, had been arrived at after having a look at the time-outs in other games like basketball and American football (NFL).

"We have found out that these are the times the batting and fielding teams normally rearrange their strategies. The players will not leave the field of play but would confer in the middle," he said. Modi said the batting side can opt for time-outs after the fifth, sixth or seventh over while the bowling team can do so after the end of the 10th to 15th overs.

"We have a new partner for strategic time-outs, Maxx Mobile, and the deal is for three years from season three commencing on March 12," Modi announced, adding "they will also be our official playoff partner", without specifying the financial details.

New video of tsunami wave sweeping through Chilean town

New amateur video has been released showing how the tsunami that followed a massive magnitude 8.8 quake swept in the small town of Penco in southern Chile on Saturday.
The footage was taken by a resident who captured the surge of water that swept through the streets, leaving cars overturned and homes submerged.

Chandrayaan data reveals water on moon equator too

SCIENTISTS had another eureka moment as water was found on the moon's equator.

New analysis of data from the moon mineralogy mapper ( M3) on board Chandrayaan- 1 shows water on the moon is not limited to its polar regions but extends to the equator.
" The new map shows water and hydroxyl ions detected by M3 is more extensive," US geologist Roger Clark and colleagues said at the ongoing 41st lunar and planetary science conference at Woodlands near Houston.
Last September, NASA and ISRO scientists had announced the discovery of water molecules in the polar regions of the moon. M3 had also revealed hydroxyl, a molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, in the lunar soil.
Data from instruments on board two NASA spacecraft, Cassini and Deep Impact , had also shown the presence of water and hydroxyl trapped or absorbed in the minerals on the lunar surface. It corroborated the initial M3 find.
However, there was a problem. While the other spacecraft indicated the presence of water closer to the equator, the M3 data failed to show that.
Scientists said the main reason for the mismatch was conservative processing of the M3 data.
Scientists also found that M3 had not completely covered certain wavelengths that denote the presence of water. So, they constructed a new map on the basis of finer data and it now confirms what Cassini and Deep Impact had indicated there is water close to the equator of the moon too.
Clark, who works with the US geological survey, is part of the team that analysed data from visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on board Cassini which had had a flyby of the moon in 1999 as well as M3.
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, en route to the comet Hartley 2, had also observed the moon for calibration. In June last year, it took detailed measurements of light from the north polar regions of the moon. Data from these two experiments had confirmed M3 findings last September.
However, the water found by M3 in the lit areas of the moon was not much. As much as 1,000 water molecule parts per million could be in the lunar soil. That means if you harvested one tonne of the top layer of the moon's surface, you could get as much as 32 ounces ( 946 ml) of water.
But what mini- synthetic aperture radar ( SAR) on board Chandrayaan- 1 found inside the lunar craters on the dark side of the moon was two metres of thick layers of ice, potentially yielding millions of tonnes of water, as NASA claimed. The tonnage, however, was not published in a journal article.
An ISRO spokesperson said the space agency would comment on the new equatorial water find only after Prof J. N. Goswami, the principal scientist of Chandrayaan- 1 , returns from the Houston conference later this week.