MakadJaal

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Hindu : News / National : ‘UPA government trying to shut down Air India'

The BJP on Sunday accused the UPA government of trying to shut down Air India to benefit private operators.

BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy sought an explanation from the Prime Minister.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Rudy wanted to know whether the government was aiming to shut down the national carrier by blaming pilots for the mess, which he feared, would unravel as a much bigger scam than the CWG and 2G scams.

He squarely blamed the government for the passengers' plight pointing out that the striking pilots were willing to come forward for a negotiated settlement which the Air India management had spurned.

Stressing that the losses of the public carrier had mounted due to mismanagement, the BJP leader contended that the Managing Director of Air India directly reported to the Prime Minister's Office and not to either the Civil Aviation Minister or the departmental secretary.

In such a situation, the Prime Minister should answer categorically whether the government intended to shut down Air India, Mr. Rudy said. There was no such thing as a partial lockout or shutdown.

He warned that the 800 striking pilots would land a job in the ever-expanding aviation sector where the demand was for over 1,000 commanders and senior first officers in the private sector. The strike was already benefiting the private players, who had raised ticket prices by 10 to 20 per cent. On certain routes they had doubled the prices.

Mr. Rudy suspected the government of plotting to shut down the carrier to cover up its mess — right from merging Indian Airlines with Air India and selling off routes with high load factors to private companies and selling off about 112 acres for over Rs. 1 lakh crore.

Taking exception to Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi's description of pilots as “12th pass” persons, Mr. Rudy wondered whether Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi approved of the comment and viewed the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in the same light.

Keywords: Air India, losses, pilot strike, AI-IA merger

The Hindu : Business / Industry : Attractive salary hikes in store for IT professionals: experts

IT industry is likely to witness attractive salary hikes and job offers for experienced professionals, resulting in high attrition over the next few quarters as demand for talent will outstrip supply, say experts.

“It looks like a talent war among the IT companies, where people hold multiple job offers and try to select the best firm. And companies are also making efforts to select best talent pool for their requirements,” said Sunil Goel, Director, GlobalHunt, an executive search firm.

Echoing similar view, staffing services firm Manpower India Head (Sales and Marketing), Namr Kishore said, “In India, demand far outstrips genuine qualified supply. Companies are vying for the best talent and are ready to offer hefty packages for the same, luring the employees to switch jobs at a swift pace.”

Wage hikes have been very good in IT companies this year.

It has been 15-25 per cent. And for niche and critical skills, companies have given 30-45 per cent hikes while recruiting or retaining talent for specific projects.

“The trends seen so far is as per expectation and after tier one companies having set the expectation other companies can do not much but follow the trend to a large extent,” said Thammaiah B N, Director, India Kelly IT Resources, Kelly Services, a global workforce player.

Thammaiah said he expects hikes in the range of 10-15 per cent broadly, and around 20 per cent for niche skills or business critical roles.

Experts said that such high salary hikes by IT companies will be sustainable at least for the next few quarters as firms usually deliver projects through a mix of freshers and experienced resources.

Besides, they added, not all employees receive such hikes. Only the top performers do, rest employees get around 8-10 per cent hike.

Profitability of most Indian software companies are likely to come down to 15-20 per cent, which are international standards, from present 25-30 per cent. But the fact that these companies are regularly bagging huge projects might help them sustain the current profitability, Kishore said.

“Attrition has become the DNA, which is required from both the sides. If IT professionals do not change jobs and upgrade themselves as per latest technology, then they may get outdated. The same applies to the companies too, if they do not innovate model and market themselves, they may get outdated,” Goel said.

Keywords: IT Industry, salary hikes, IT professionals

The Hindu : News / National : No trace yet of Dorjee Khandu

The Pawan Hans helicopter that went missing with Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others on Saturday morning remained untraced till Sunday night.

The big search by the Army, Air Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Royal Bhutan Army yielded no result.

Two Sukhoi-30 fighter jets from the Bareilly base in Uttar Pradesh mapped the possible locations of the helicopter.

The satellite imageries taken by the Indian Space Research Organisation could not spot anything because of thick layers of cloud, according to information received by the Arunachal Pradesh government.

The government said permission was obtained from Bhutan for conducting an aerial search over its space. Official sources said a radio signal was detected, but it was yet to be analysed to confirm whether it came from the transponder of the helicopter that went missing 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang at 9.56 a.m.

Twenty-five Army teams, along with 300 SSB and ITBP personnel and hundreds of villagers, marched through the rugged terrains of the frontier State in Tawang, East Kameng and West Kameng districts to locate the helicopter. The government has also sought the assistance of the National Disaster Response Force.

Aerial search

Ranjeeb Sahoo, IAF spokesman at the Eastern Air Command headquarters in Shillong, told The Hindu that inclement weather hampered the aerial search, which resumed for the second day at 6 a.m. on Sunday. Sorties by two Mi-17 (one from Guwahati and the other from Tawang) and two Cheetah helicopters from Tezpur were planned. However, the Mi-17 from Tawang returned to the base after two sorties, while the Mi-17 from Guwahati could not fly any sortie because of the inclement weather.

The two Cheetah helicopters carried out two sorties each, but the operations were called off after the visibility level dropped in the afternoon.

The aerial search would resume at 5 a.m. on Monday, he said.

Coordination with Bhutan

Union Ministers Mukul Wasnik and V. Narayanasamy, deputed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to oversee the search operations, reached Itanagar.

They met the Crisis Management Cell, headed by the Chief Secretary, and Ministers and other senior officials.

Mr. Narayanasamy told journalists in Itanagar that all measures to locate the helicopter and rescue Mr. Khandu and the others had been initiated by the Ministries of Defence, Home and External Affairs, in coordination with the State government and Bhutan. However, inclement weather hampered the operations.

On Saturday, initial reports said the helicopter had landed in Bhutan.

However, the Bhutanese authorities denied either sighting or tracing any Indian helicopter in their territory, while the Arunachal Pradesh government said no contact could be established with anyone on board the helicopter.

Keywords: Dorjee Khandu, missing chopper, ISRO, Pawan Hans

The Hindu : States / Other States : Adarsh scam: CBI to question Ashok Chavan soon

After having quizzed several accused in the infamous Adarsh scam, it will be the turn of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan soon to face some questions from the CBI which plans to wrap up probe into the Housing Society case.

The CBI, which has been spending considerable time in scrutinising the documents and records of the housing society, has questioned at length other accused including Adarsh society’s general secretary R C Thakur, retired brigadier M M Wanchoo and Congress leader K L Gidwani.

They were called first to gather as much information about the case before Mr. Chavan and senior IAS officer Jairaj Phatak were called for questioning.

Mr. Phatak, a 1978 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, was the then Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and was chairing the high-rise committee.

According to the CBI, Mr. Chavan, during his tenure as Revenue Minister, became part of the criminal conspiracy along with Thakur, Wanchoo and Gidwani after he proposed to the trio to pass a letter recommending inclusion of civilians in the Adarsh society which was initially meant for Kargil war widows and victims.

CBI alleged Mr. Chavan abused his official position with an ulterior motive of getting flats for his relatives.

When contacted, Mr. Chavan told PTI that “I have not been summoned yet. I am sure it is a normal process.”

The former Chief Minister also refuted reports that his mother-in-law Bhagwati Sharma had taken Rs 65 lakh loan from former joint commissioner of police (traffic), Sanjay Barve.

“It is 100 per cent bogus news planted in media by some political rival. Neither I nor any of my relatives have taken money from the police official,” Mr. Chavan said.

CBI, which was handed over the probe by the Defence Ministry, is conducting investigations on war-footing to finish investigations by May 31.

“We had kept a tentative deadline of May 31 to finish probe. But it seems like it would overshoot as several investigating officers are either busy preparing documents to be submitted to the inquiry commission, set up to probe the scam, or are busy preparing for the numerous petitions filed in Bombay High Court,” CBI officials said.

The allegation against Mr. Phatak was that during his tenure as Commissioner of BMC, he had approved the height to be increased from 97 metres to 107 metres on September 1, 2007.

He was the head of the committee looking after high rise buildings in the city and the agency alleged that he had not referred the height increase to other committee members.

CBI had on January 29 registered a case against 14 persons including Mr. Chavan and retired army officials, bureaucrats and State government officials on charges of criminal conspiracy, fraud and misuse of their official powers.

The plush housing society was built on prime defence land in alleged violation of rules. The building was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house families of Kargil war heroes but was later extended to 31 floors without mandatory permission with the flats being given to relatives of politicians, bureaucrats and police officials.

Keywords: Adarsh housing scam, CBI probe, Ashok Chavan, High Court

The Hindu : States / Other States : EC stepped up security in East Midnapore after CPI(M) complaint

Ahead of the fourth phase of Assembly election in West Bengal on May 3, the Election Commission today further strengthened the security arrangement following complaints of threat and terror by the ruling Left Front.

“Security arrangement has been revamped further in East Midnapore district following complaint by the LF. There will not be any problem for any voter to exercise franchise in the presence of a huge contingent of central force and State security personnel in the districts going to poll on May 3”, West Bengal CEO Sunil Kumar Gupta said here today.

Mr. Gupta said a LF delegation led by CPI(M) leaders, Rabin Deb and Sukhendu Panigrahi, today called on him and submitted a letter, alleging “their supporters are under threat of terror by the Trinamool Congress and are not allowed to enter several areas under East Midnapore district.”

Demanding measures from the EC for the protection of the Front supporters and workers, CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb said that “without any concrete step by the EC against growing evidences of the campaign of terror and violence in East Midnapore, it is very difficult for our supporters to exercise franchise in the areas under Nandigram, Khejuri, Patashpur, Bhagabanpur, Chandipur, Contai and Moyna.”

Responding to the complaint, the CEO said that he had already ordered the district administration to act immediately to ensure safety and security of all voters irrespective of the political parties they belonged to.

“Strong security arrangement has been made in all these areas with the central force engaged in area domination, route march and flag march on the basis of vulnerability mapping”, Mr. Gupta said.

Mr. Gupta said 1.26 crore electorate will decide the fate of 366 candidates, comprising 327 male and 39 female contestants, for 63 seats under Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore and part of Burdwan districts during the fourth phase.

20,000 EVMs will be used in 15,711 polling stations, he said.

While maximum number of 13 candidates were at Bally in Howrah district in this phase, lowest number of three contestants were in six seats at Singur, Pursurah, Arambagh, Goghat, Khanakul and Bhagabanpur, the CEO said.

Chinsurah Assembly seat under Hooghly district had 327 polling stations, the largest in this phase, with the highest number of electorate at 2.63 lakh, while Bally seat in Howrah district had the lowest number of electorate at 1.42 lakh, Mr. Gupta said.

Keywords: West Bengal, Assembly elections, Security forces, CPI(M), Trinamool, Maoists

The Hindu : States / Other States : Jharkhand Opposition rejects rehabilitation policy

The rehabilitation policy for more than 1 lakh people displaced by an ongoing demolition drive of the Jharkhand government was rejected by Opposition parties on Sunday.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) chief Babulal Marandi staged a hunger strike on Sunday here demanding that the drive be stopped immediately. He said: “There are no special measures for the non-BPL families. The whole concept is misleading. The government has created a differentiation among the displaced.”

TWO-PHASED PACKAGE

The government has come up with a provision of two-phased rehabilitation package.

In the first phase of temporary settlement, the affected people will be shifted to makeshift tents where basic facilities will be made available.

In the second step, the government will construct flats but only for people below the poverty line (BPL).

The Left and the Congress also rejected the package and extended support to Mr. Marandi.

The Left parties have called a dawn-to-dusk Jharkhand shutdown for Monday to protest against the anti-encroachment drive and demand the resignation of Chief Minister Arjun Munda.

Over 5,000 illegal structures have been demolished in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro and other districts in the last 45 days on the directives of the Jharkhand High Court.

The drive has claimed 13 lives and rendered more than 1.20 lakh people homeless.

Keywords: Jharkhand Opposition, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric), Babulal Marandi

The Hindu : States / Other States : Remnants of Mauryan-era stupas found in Girnar forest

Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to undertake a thorough archaeological survey of the Girnar reserve forest and the Gir sanctuary in Junagadh district in the Saurashtra region of the State.

In a letter dated April 21, Mr. Ramesh said he was giving the advice on the suggestion of a noted historian from Delhi University Nayanjot Lahiri, who recently visited the reserve forest and found the remnants of two “stupas” which she believed could be of the Mauryan dynasty.

Mr. Ramesh said Dr. Lahiri located one of the stupas, locally known as Lakha Medi, near the Bhordevi temple inside the forest.

The historian reckoned that the stupa must have been about 50 feet high. Its core was of solid bricks, similar to the “Sanchi Stupa – I” (Madhya Pradesh) and the “Stupa at Piprahwa” (Uttar Pradesh), believed to be of the Mauryan era.

She had also found many loose bricks around indicating there could have been other stupas in the vicinity. But what was more alarming was that the bricks from the stupas were being taken away by the locals for renovating the temple.

“Therefore, it is urgent, that there is a complete survey of the stupa with accurate line drawings and photographs followed by careful archaeological conservation,” Mr. Ramesh said.

BETTER STUPA

The historian located another “stupa,” locally called “Rathakot,” near another temple known as “Jina Baba ki Madi,” beyond Hasnapur dam in the Girnar reserve forest. This stupa was found to be in a much better condition.

Mr. Ramesh said Dr. Lahiri believed that if a proper survey was carried out, the reserve forest and the sanctuary could become famous for not only being the only abode of the Asiatic Lions, but also of the country's “historic heritage.”

The survey would require close cooperation between the State Forest Department and the Department of Archaeology.

‘CORAL ATLAS'

Meanwhile, a first comprehensive “Coral Atlas” of the State — giving not only the figures and extent of the coral reefs across the State's coastline, but also the details of the habitat scenario in each of the reefs — has been released by the State government. The Atlas was prepared by the State-owned Gujarat Ecology Commission with technical assistance from the Bhashkaracharya Institute of Space Applications and Geo-Informatics.

According to Principal Secretary of the State Environment and Forests Department S.K. Nanda, the Atlas would serve as an important baseline in the preparation of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan for Gujarat initiated by the Union Environment Ministry. “It is also a contribution to the State's earnest efforts towards sustainable development,” he said.

WEBSITE LAUNCHED

Along with the Atlas, a dedicated website on Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project was also launched by the State government. The Atlas was the second publication of the GEC after the “Mangrove Atlas of Gujarat” last year featuring thematic maps of mangrove distribution along the State's coastline.

“The initiative by GEC is an attempt to come out with the baseline documentation on the natural heritage in order to ensure effective management of the coastal zone in line with the rising developmental activities on the coastal belt,” GEC member-secretary E. Belaguruswamy said.

Keywords: Jairam Ramesh, Girnar forest, Mauryan-era