Bengalooru | Bangalore

Bangalore's Boomtown Blues

2007-01-31T13:05:00.000+05:30

By Steve Schifferes
Economics reporter, BBC News, Bangalore

Nitesh Shetty may be Bangalore's youngest property billionaire.

Aged 30, he has 4,000 apartments under construction in the city, with plans to expand his operations into Calcutta, Mumbai and New Delhi.

And he has just sealed a $100m deal with Citigroup to build Bangalore's latest luxury hotel, the Ritz Carlton.

Having dropped out of university to pursue a career as a tennis pro, he began his career by selling billboard space in Bangalore, after getting a 10,000 rupee ($226, £115) loan from his mother.

At 23, he borrowed 500,000 rupees ($11,000) to turn a house in central Bangalore into an office block.

The home was owned by an old widow, and he gave her a 50% stake in the venture.

He then persuaded the bank to rent the ground floor - which covered his interest payments - and he never looked back.

Mr Shetty told the BBC there was no shortage of foreign investors eager to take a stake in India's real estate boom.

He has named all his luxury apartment complexes after famous US locations, such as Times Square, Key Biscayne, and Forest Hills (the US Wimbledon), and has hired the Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne to promote his properties.

Hi-tech boom

In the 1990s, when the Indian government decided to liberalise the economy and encourage the IT services industry, Bangalore established special zones such as Electronic City - a hub of hi-tech firms.

But its highly educated, literate workforce prompted the government to locate its defence and space research here in the 1960s.

Today the Bangalore boom is based on its attractiveness as the centre of India's IT industry, which is enjoying unprecedented growth as foreign multinationals rush to outsource their back-office functions to India.

The city's population has grown from 1.6m in 1970 to 2.8m in 1990 and 6.5m today, making it India's fastest growing city, and planners expect it to reach 10m by 2015.

India's IT sector employs 1.3 million people directly, and 3 million indirectly - and 40% of the IT sector is concentrated in Bangalore.

Bangalore also has the highest average income in India, and the jobs are plentiful, with Infosys expected to hire thousands this year.

Out on the town

The spirit of affluence pervades Bangalore.

Civil servants... are not good at managing big projects on time and on budget says K Jairaj
City commissioner

There are six new shopping malls, and luxury car showrooms like BMW are springing up everywhere.

The young, well-paid worker likes to go out on the town, and restaurants and bars are doing a roaring trade, with 500 new bars in the city alone and dozens of cafes.

With a new bar opening every week, owners cannot get enough staff.

That's good news for the head barman at the newly opened Le Rock pub, who has been hired at double his previous salary.

And there has been a boom for taxi firms as the IT companies all pay them to transport their workers to and from their offices, given the hopeless inadequacy of the public transport system.

Not that the new-found wealth always filters through.

Raj Singh came from Tamil Nadu 15 years ago to work as a taxi driver.

He still sends half his salary to his mother back home, and visits her two weekends a month, travelling for 15 hours on three buses.

But if his wages are higher, so is his rent. He cannot afford to live in Bangalore, and it costs half his salary even to rent a room in a village 30 miles away.

And many of the thousands of construction workers who have to build the new apartments and offices live in squalor in makeshift roadside tents that sit uneasily among the city's glamour.

Weekend breaks

The hi-tech industry has also introduced a new phenomenon in Indian life for those who are on-the-up - the weekend break.

Affluent IT workers like to get away from the city.

Previously, everyone spent six days a week in the office, but the high-paid IT workers only do five.

With their high-stress jobs, they are increasingly interested in getting away from it all.

And into the breach has stepped Santosh, a trekking guide.

His web-based travel agency, Getoffurass.com, specialises in finding weekend hideaways in the jungle, and is doing a roaring trade.

Santosh told the BBC that the biggest change was that now he was leading Indians, not Westerners, in treks across the Himalayas.

Infrastructure woes

Bangalore's public infrastructure has lagged woefully behind the pace of private sector investment.

Every Bangalore IT company has to have a private generator and uninterruptible power supply to cope with the daily power failures of the grid.

Despite 15 years of lobbying, the 5km stretch of road linking Electronic City to the city centre is still crammed with bullock carts, trucks, cars and two-wheelers despite a private-public partnership to fund a new expressway.

And its international airport has an antiquated terminal far too small for the hordes of international businessmen flooding into the city - and the frenzied search for luggage as people gather five-deep around the single luggage carousel sometimes prompts emotional - and occasionally physical - outbursts.

Bangalore's city commissioner, K Jairaj, told the BBC that untrammelled growth could not go on indefinitely, with five million vehicles already clogging the roads and property prices going through the roof.

The government's policy is to decentralise development - building new towns on green field sites surrounding the city.

Mr Jairaj also said that, in order to generate more jobs, the government wanted to encourage more labour-intensive sectors like car manufacturing to locate in Bangalore, and would not resist plans to disperse IT jobs to more cities in India.

But he said his greatest problem was the weakness of his own civil servants, who were not good at managing big projects "on time and on budget."

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Terror suspect visited Infosys, Wipro

2007-01-10T02:41:00.000+05:30

January 06, 2007, Rediff.com

The suspected Pakistan-trained militant, who was arrested from Bangalore outskirts, had visited Infosys and Wipro to find out the security arrangements there for a possible terror strike as per instructions of top insurgents in Pakistan with alleged Lashkar-e-Tayiba links, his questioning revealed.

Police recovered 1 AK-56 rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition, 5 hand grenades, 2 magazines of AK-56 and 1 charger for satellite phone from his rented house at Ranipet in Bellary district, City Police Commissioner Neelam Achyut Rao said.

Rao said the 34-year-old terrorist Bilal Ahmed Kota alias Imran Jalal alias Salim, was asked by his "bosses" (top insurgents in Pakistan with alleged LeT links) to visit the offices of Wipro and Infosys and Bangalore airport to find out the security arragements at these places, and to report back.

Bangalore brokers turn developers in real estate explosion

2007-01-08T05:01:00.000+05:30

Ranju Sarkar, HT

In the twists and turns of the nation’s real estate boom, bigger city builders are going national, while local brokers are turning into developers.

Bangalore broker Feroze Estate & Properties has become a developer. ‘‘Every builder today was once upon a time a trader or a real estate broker. I am developing my own property and will retain it,’’ says Feroze Abdulla, who has just leased 150,000 square feet to the Reliance group at Prestige Feroze in the technology capital’s plush Cunningham Road, where property prices have risen three-fold in three years.

Delhi-based Parsvnath also started as a real estate broker, and is an idol for many agents. ‘‘Broking is more of liaison. There is no great value addition except bringing the two parties together. In real estate, you need a lot of technical knowhow, say, on how you provide noise installation on floors or tackle the leakage problem,” says an industry expert. Hospitality player Panoramic Universal is now a real estate aspirant. ‘‘These are two different sectors. I can understand when a real estate guy gets into retail – there’s synergy. But moving from hospitality to real estate could be dicey,’’ said Susil Dungarwal of Bangalore-based Prestige group. But such comment from entrenched players does not deter firms like Panoramic, which is planning to raise $12 million through a global depository receipt (GDR) issue, after announcing its foray into real estate and getting listed on the National Stock Exchange in addition to BSE.

"We are not in the valuation game. The money is being raised for the hospitality business. The announcement on real estate was made to inform the stock exchange. We need to get the board approval and amend the MoU, before we get into real estate," says Panoramic’s chief financial officer (CFO) Utpal Parekh.

Not everyone is worried about such furious expansion. ‘‘This is not similar to the IT/dotcom story, where the valuation method was unreal. Real estate is an asset-based business, where the promoter puts in his money to grow the business. It is a mixed bag. You have to examine each case individually,’’ said Jaidev Mody, director, Peninsula Land, a Ashok Piramal Group firm, which recently raised Rs 160 crore for local investors.

Techie Adhip Lahiri’s murder cracked; 2 held

2006-12-31T17:58:00.000+05:30

Times News Network
Picture: Md Asad

Culprits Wanted To Lead Lavish Life; Police Discount Professional Rivalry

Bangalore:
Motive: Murder for gain
Victim: Adhip Lahiri, a software professional
Accused: J Raju and Venkatesh, former employees of IT companies
Clue: Killers used Lahiri’s credit card to buy a cellphone and SIM card

The Adhip Lahiri murder case has been solved and two former employees of ITPB have been arrested. Adhip Lahiri was found murdered on December 22. He was killed the previous night in his car and the killers had dumped the body near a water tank in Garudacharpalya.

The accused are J Raju, who worked as a transport supervisor and Venkatesh, a security guard. Both of them worked at ITPB premises, Whitefield, in the past. The police have discounted the theory of professional jealousy as alleged by Lahiri’s family. Police commissioner Achutha Rao on Saturday said Lahiri’s killers were working for two different IT companies. Thirty-two-year-old Lahiri, worked for i-2G software and as an outsourced project person for Infeneon at ITPB.

The killers were caught based on the transactions they had made on a credit card belonging to Lahiri. They had snatched credit and debit cards along with a laptop and a cellphone from Lahiri before killing him. The killers used the credit card to buy a cellphone and SIM card. This helped the police to trap them.

The police, who had kept a close watch on the transactions made on Lahiri’s cards, learnt about this purchase. Acting swiftly, they monitored the calls made and received on the cellphone. The police team, led by joint commissioner Gopal B Hosur, laid the trap. Achuta Rao said: “After work on December 21, Lahiri, a native of Kolkata, left ITPB at around 9 pm in his car. The killers followed him in another car from the ITPB gate. Lahiri was not their specific target and he was picked up randomly. Initially, they wanted to rob him and they had no intention of killing him. The duo wanted to lead a luxurious life by targeting techies.”

“After following him up to some distance, the killers created a scene of accident near Sri Sathya Sai general hospital on Varthur road and forced Lahiri to stop his car and get down in an isolated place. They sprayed pepper powder on Lahiri’s face and shoved him on the back seat. They overpowered him, tied his hands and legs and gaged him using a scotch tape. The killers left their car near the hospital and drove Lahiri’s car after robbing credit cards, cellphone and other valuables. They forced Lahiri to reveal the PIN numbers of the cards.”

“When the car reached Whitefield railway level-crossing, Lahiri tried to shout for help. The killers smothered him to death and took his body to Garudacharpalya through narrow lanes, avoiding police picket points on the main road. The duo threw Lahiri’s body near a water tank and sped away.”

“Later, they planned to sell the car outside Bangalore and drove towards Tumkur. However, on seeing heavy police presence on the roads, they abandoned the car near Yeshwantpur and took an autorickshaw to reach Varthur road near their car which they had borrowed from a friend. The killers used the stolen debit cards to withdraw cash from ATM counters and make some purchases in Bangalore and Kolar.”

In the early hours of December 22, Lahiri’s wife Aparna went to Airport road police station and lodged a complaint that her husband had not come home. Later, an unidentified body was found at a water tank near Garudacharpalya and Aparna identified the body as Lahiri’s. Though Aparna had tried to block the card transactions, the cards remained active for some reason and the killers made purchases worth Rs 1 lakh.

According to the police, Venkatesh, who worked as a guard at an IT firm, was removed from his job recently due to misbehaviour. The police have recovered the laptop robbed from Lahiri and also the items which they had purchased using credit cards.

Companies go on a recruitment spree at IIT Bangalore

2006-12-25T22:15:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: As many as 25 companies hit the International Institute of Technology, Bangalore, to recruit the seventh batch of students this year. Despite lucrative offers, nine students declined offers, opting to pursue higher studies.

Another 64 students are pursuing the research option in industrial research laboratories like ABB Corporate Research, HP IMS, IBM Software Labs, Motorola Research, Microsoft Research, Nokia and Siemens Research.

IT majors like Amex, SAP, EMC, GE, Novell, BEA, Web Methods and Intel who have been the major recruiters continued their drive at IIIT-B recruiting 52 students.

Another interesting feature of the placement this year is that 26 students joined startup companies like Ziva, Tyfone and niche firms like Techvoyant, Kodiak Networks Fiberlink and Allgo.

Three students will spend their internship of six months at University of Kaiserslautern in Germany and one student, Megha Saini, is going to University of Trento at Italy.

Another student, Abhishek S, will be spending six months in UK working with a company and Kingston University.

Family suspects sinister motive in Techi's Murder

2006-12-25T21:41:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: The Lahiris and Mukherjees are still in a state of shock following the robbery and murder of 32-year-old software engineer Adhip Lahiri.

The family feels it was not murder for gain and suspects a sinister motive as Adhip was gagged and bound with ropes and scotch tape. Adhip’s father Arun Chandra Lahiri, a retired deputy chief engineer with LIC, says his son was not the kind of person who was foolish to stop his car while driving through lonely stretches. His office was in ITBP and he lived near Manipal Hospital. He was to leave for Germany on Monday from Kolkata.

Adhip’s credit cards were also robbed at the time of the murder. On Sunday, when the family called the bank to block his credit cards they found that his HSBC card was already blocked. The bank said an attempt was made to use the card around 3 pm on Sunday. After a few unsuccessful attempts at guessing the PIN it may have got automatically blocked, they suspect.

On the fateful night, Adhip’s wife Aparna called him at 11.30 pm. The cell rang for some time. When she tried again later it was switched off. It was then that she panicked and called the police.
Picture 1: File photo of Adhip Lahiri and his wife Aparna
Picture 2: The car in which Adhip was driving back home on Thursday night

Chidambaram fractures toe in Bangalore incident

2006-12-25T21:19:00.000+05:30

S. Rajendran, The Hindu

BANGALORE: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram fractured a toe after he tripped and fell off a granite step leading to Koshy's, a restaurant on St. Marks Road here, on Saturday. This followed an incident involving a photographer of The Times of India.

An official press release said Mr. Chidambaram and some members of his family (wife, son, daughter - in - law and grand-daughter) were dining out with some friends when the photographer of a newspaper approached them repeatedly and asked for permission to take photographs. Each time, his request was turned down as the family was on a private visit.

Police sources said there was a scuffle when the photographer of The Times of India attempted to take pictures as the family came out of the restaurant. An attempt was made to snatch his camera and in the melee the Minister tripped and fell.

The press release said that when the family came out, the photographer began clicking away. "Mr Chidambaram's son and his friend objected. In order to avoid the photographer, Mr. Chidambaram moved to the right, but missed a step, tripped and fell down. He suffered a fracture of the toe and a plaster cast has been put on the right foot."

The release said the photographer, and subsequently the Resident Editor of the newspaper apologised to Mr. Chidambaram and his family.

The Minister and his family members arrived here on a private visit two days ago and they were said to have planned a visit to Melkote in Mandya district.

Police sources said that being on a private outing, Mr. Chidambaram was in an attire different from his usual white dhoti and white shirt.

The family was perturbed on noticing the photographer waiting outside and there was a scuffle.

The Minister was thereafter taken to the Manipal Hospital on Airport Road. He has been advised rest for a fortnight.

After long wait, Archbishop tells CM not to come for Xmas party

2006-12-25T18:51:00.000+05:30

Times news Network

Bangalore: Politicians religiously come late to functions, whether they are related to religion or not. Archbishop Bernard Moras, who had organised a Christmas get-together for important personalities of Bangalore on Friday, got tired of waiting for the chief minister and told his office that Kumaraswamy need not come.

The Christmas party was to start at 5 pm on Friday. After waiting for the CM, the Archbishop got it started around 5.30 pm, but still waited for him. The CM’s office told the Archbishop that Kumaraswamy was stuck in Sira, Tumkur district, and would join the party after landing at Jakkur by a helicopter. Political leaders, the Chief Justice, bureaucrats, the police commissioner and others were already there. Though the governor could not make it as he is in Hyderabad undergoing an eye surgery, he sent two representatives from Raj Bhavan with bouquets to greet the Archbishop.

But no such courtesies from the CM, and the wait continued. The CM’s office kept saying Kumaraswamy was coming by road and would reach the party around 8.30 pm. It was revised to 10.30 pm. By then, it was time for the Archbishop and other priests to leave the venue to attend to their prayers.

On Saturday morning, the Archbishop called the CM’s office at 8.30 am to check if the CM could come over for the occasion. The CM’s office confirmed he would be there at 9.30 am, and revised it to 10.30 am. Again, there was no sign of him till noon, the Archbishop’s office said.

Around 12.30 pm, a frustrated Archbishop started moving out his chambers, when a couple of policemen came running to inform him that the CM was on his way.

It was again the same story. When the Archbishop’s office checked with the CM’s staff, they said Kumaraswamy was attending some function at the Vidhana Soudha Banquet Hall and would be with the religious head in a little while.

The Archbishop, whose patience had already been tested to the limit, conveyed to the CM’s office that he need not come.

“The CM should not always look to capture votes, but also participate in social and cultural gettogethers. He has been late to arrive in virtually every function and he has never apologised. His father H D Deve Gowda too used to come late, but at least he used to apologise,’’ the Archbishop’s office said.

CM clarifies
Kumaraswamy said, “There was some communication gap and I will meet the Archbishop on Sunday morning.”

Of Late...

Kumaraswamy was to inaugurate a water tank at Ramnagaram at 10.30 am last week. When he landed, it was 6.15 pm.
For signing an MoU at Oracle for networking 100 polytechnics, he came so late that four corporate honchos finished speaking and then asked the audience to sing to pass time. He came two hours late.
At the Rajyotsava function where top honchos like Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Toyota Kirloskar Motors chairman Vikram Kirloskar among others were present, the CM arrived late.

Techie Adhip’s kin in Bengal shocked by the murder

2006-12-25T18:15:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Kolkata: Relatives and neighbours of slain Bangalore-based IT employee Adhip Lahiri’s family in Salt Lake’s Laboni Abasan are shocked. To neighbours, the murder of the ‘amiable, polite and humble’ young man is unbelievable.

Adhip’s father Arun Chandra Lahiri flew to Bangalore on Friday on hearing of his son’s death. The rest of the family, including Adhip’s mother, brother Ayanand and an uncle left for Bangalore in the wee hours of Saturday.

Adhip’s father is a retired employee of an insurance company. He was also president of Laboni Abasik Samiti a few years ago. Adhip’s mother Aparna is an assistant headmistress at Dum Dum Motijheel Girls’ High School. Ayan is a second year mechanical engineering student at Jadavpur university.

Adhip’s aunt Sanjukta Maitra, who lives at Skyline Apartment near Bidhan Sishu Udyan, said Adhip was supposed to arrive in Kolkata on Sunday and fly to Germany on December 26 on an official assignment. “Adhip was a brilliant student. He passed out of IIT Kharagpur and first joined American Express. He did his MBA in New Delhi and got married in November 2000. We cannot even imagine that somebody could kill such a boy,” she said.

The relatives are clueless about the motive behind the murder. “We learnt that Adhip’s laptop as well as his cellphone was lost,” said Sanjukta. “We have heard that there was a deep injury mark on the right side of Adhip’s face,” said a relative.

Known persons may have killed engineer

2006-12-25T18:08:00.000+05:30

Police Rule Out Murder-For-Gain Theory

Times News Network

Bangalore: The police suspect some known persons were involved in the murder of software engineer Adhip Lahiri, who was smothered between ITPB and his house on Airport Road on Thursday night.

The police had earlier said it could be murder for gain, but are now ruling it out. The crucial clue is that Adhip’s hands and feet were tied. If the attackers were interested only in money, they would not waste time finding a rope to bind his hands and feet which would take up precious time. The murderers had also placed the body beside the Mahadevapura tank and not thrown it into a ditch or into the tank, the police say.

They are also working on the theory that Adhip was smothered by some known persons at a place known to him, because there were no “major signs” of struggle, except a small injury on his head. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Gopal B Hosur said the victim was bound using cloth, ropes and adhesive tape. The cloth was part of an old dupatta used to clean his car, but the ropes and tapes were possibly carried by the attackers.

“The attackers, possibly three of them, could have stopped him, gained entry into the car and murdered him. The post-mortem report indicates death due to asphyxiation. It also states that there were signs of struggle as his shirt button was torn,’’ Hosur says.

The autopsy was conducted at the Bowring Hospital on Saturday morning. Details of the report were not available. The body was cremated at the Kalhalli crematorium in Cox Town.

Adhip’s wife Aparna, who works for TCS in the city, preferred not to speak to the media and refused to part with her husband’s photo, saying: “That will not be necessary.’’

Other family members, including her father Rear Admiral S S Mukherjee, were present at their residence behind Manipal Hospital.

BSNL broadband goes high speed, to offer 2mbps at Rs.250 a month

2006-12-25T17:44:00.000+05:30

Times News Network & Agencies

New Delhi: State-run BSNL will invest up to Rs 2,000 crore to augment its broadband infrastructure in urban and rural areas to aggressively capture subscribers.

"We’ll invest Rs 1,200-1,500 crore for expanding our broadband network in urban areas, while about Rs 500 crore would be invested in rural areas,” BSNL CMD A K Sinha said here, adding that BSNL is already in the process of launching triple play services over broadband in Pune and subsequently in Chennai and Bangalore.

BSNL will provide broadband up to 2 mbps at Rs 250 a month. The speed has been increased eight times, whereas the download has been increased by 2.5 times at almost half the cost. Under the new plan, all the existing 8.2 lakh customers are also being upgraded for the speed up to 2 mbps, depending upon technical feasibility.

With 2007 being declared the Year of Broadband, BSNL will add the 5 million port capacity to existing network of 1 million ports. BSNL at present has a market share of 44% in this segment. BSNL also holds the prime position as the largest internet service provider of the country. More than 1,000 cities and towns and 20,000 villages will come under the broadband map. Nearly 10,000 exchanges in urban areas and 20,000 exchanges in rural areas would be broadband enabled.

The telecom major would start an online gaming service very shortly under two categories — standard and premium packages with monthly fixed charges of Rs 100 and Rs 200, respectively.

IT engineer robbed, killed

2006-12-24T17:46:00.000+05:30

Body Found Off Mahadevapura Tank; Murder For Gain Suspected
23 Dec 2006, Times News Network

Bangalore: In yet another crime against IT professionals, a software engineer, Adhit Lahiri (32), was waylaid, abducted and smothered to death on Thursday night. His body was found at an isolated stretch near Mahadevapura tank in Bangalore’a eastern suburbs early on Friday.

The police said software engineer’s wife Aparna Lahiri (in her late twenties), who was waiting for her husband, started getting anxious when he did not return even by midnight. He normally came home around 10 or 10.30 pm.

Aparna rushed to the nearby Airport police station and lodged a complaint about her missing husband. She told the police that her husband was wearing a checked yellow shirt, a ‘sacred’ thread and red ‘sacred’ band around his wrist. Immediately, the police wireless sets started crackling across the city with the description of the missing man.

The police found the body dumped near Mahadevapura tank early on Friday. Adhit had been smothered — prevented from breathing by pressing a cloth or some other object against his mouth and nose. His hands and legs were bound and the police are wondering why the attackers went to such lengths, when they could have just dumped the body.

The police suspect that Adhit, who was commuting by car, may have been waylaid somewhere between ITPB and his house by at least three attackers. There was no sign of struggle at the spot. Initial suspicion was that it could be a murder for gain; Adhit’s car, ring, watch, cash and mobile phone have been robbed. After examination by sleuths and forensic experts, the body was taken to the Bowring Hospital mortuary. The post-mortem will be conducted on Saturday.

Additional commissioner of police Bipin Gopalkrishna, joint commissioner of police Gopal Hosur and deputy commissioner of police P Muniswamy visited the spot where the body was found.

Aparna has been inconsolable and her father, Rear Admiral S S Mukherjee, flew down in the evening to be with his daughter at their residence near Manipal Hospital.

Dental student glitters with seven medals

2006-12-21T12:39:00.000+05:30

Swati Anand | Times News Network

Bangalore: When you ask Sharanya Ajit Kumar how she managed to get seven gold medals from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), she smiles modestly. “I’ve always focussed on doing my best. Ranks and medals are just a byproduct,” she says.

By the looks of it, this student of Government Dental College (GDC) has quite a few ‘by-products’ to accommodate. She has been topping her college through the four years and secured first ranks in at least two subjects every year, making it a tally of 13. Sharanya has stood first on two occasions in RGUHS through the four years.

And while she dominated the awards ceremony at her college convocation on Wednesday, at the university convocation to be held in early 2007, she will walk away with medals for oral anatomy, oral pathology, dental materials, community dentistry and conservative dentistry, apart from overall merit for third and final year.

That’s not all. The Indian Association of Periodontics recently commemorated her at Pune for academic excellence in the subject.

“She’s been a firstranker all through school,” says her proud father Ajit Kumar, an ISRO employee. Sharanya graduated from Kendriya Vidyalaya, NAL, with an impressive score of 93 per cent.

Her mother, insurance agent Shakina, doesn’t recall a single day of prodding their daughter to study. “I think it was an inborn trait in her to be organised,” she says.

It’s this trait that has been Sharanya’s key to success. “I study bit by bit every day. So I’m never tensed or overworked when it’s exam time,” she says.

Focus is evidently another strong point. “I began weighing my career options seriously after my 10th and zeroed in on dentistry because I thought it was an upcoming field,” she says. So while she could opt for a medical seat with a CET rank of 1,100, she went ahead with dentistry. “At least half the people in my class are here because they did not get a medical seat. But the step-sisterly treatment towards BDS is changing.”

When not studying, Sharanya’s a regular mallrat, who loves watching movies. “I saw Umrao Jaan recently — it was so slow and weepy,” she frowns. A trained Bharatanatyam dancer, she’s been dabbling with salsa recently. At college, she was the cultural secretary and general secretary of the student body council. And she usually curls up in bed with a racy novel by John Grisham.

Next on cards is a post-graduate degree. “I would like to get into any government college, hopefully back to GDC.” And while she plans to work in a multi-speciality hospital and then, in a private clinic, she eventually wants to teach. “It would be great if I could be a faculty member in a dental college by the day and run my practise in the evening."

Land worth crores gobbled

2006-12-21T12:33:00.000+05:30

S Kushala | Times News Network

Bangalore: It cannot be more timely. The ordinance bringing land grabbers and erring officials under the ambit of law has come at a time when government has identified thousands of acres of its land that has been encroached upon.

Sample this: Of the 1.18 lakh government lands in Bangalore Urban, 13,614 acres have been encroached upon. The value of these lands, taking into consideration the guidance value of stamps and registration department, has been estimated at Rs 27,377.75 crore.

The legislature committee for land encroachment survey has identified largescale encroachment of government lands under the purview of 15 departments. Departments occupying top slots are revenue, BDA, forest and wakf, says an interim report prepared by the committee, headed by MLA A T Ramaswamy, which will be released on Thursday.

According to the report, a copy of which has been made available to TOI, information on government lands was obtained from 28 departments and a survey done. Bangalore Urban deputy commissioner M A Sadiq carried out the exercise with 250 surveyors.

The revenue department tops in both murky deals and the quantum of land encroached upon. The committee found that over 3 lakh bogus possession certificates were issued to encroachers of government lands in connivance with revenue department officials.

Housing societies have played a major role too. A large number of societies violated all norms and went ahead with layout formation. Some of these are Shantinagar Housing Society, Vishwa Bharati Housebuilding Co-operative Society and Aircraft Employees Society.

The Pollution Control Board has also come under the scanner. It has been pulled up for renewing licences for stone-crushing units around TG Halli reservoir which has been declared environmentally sensitive. While the government has banned stone crushing activities around 1,493 sq km area of TG Halli, the authorities have still been renewing licences.

In a Nutshell:

Since stringent action has been initiated in other states to prevent encroachment, land grabbers are migrating to Bangalore who find it easy to lay their hands on government properties.
Prime temple properties are being grabbed; Muzrai and endowments department has not acted.
3.5 acres of NIMHANS property grabbed by a private developer who has constructed an apartment for which BMP has given khata

Top 3 departments:

Revenue: 9,294 acres valued at Rs 18,588 crore
BDA: 2,878.2 acres, Rs 5,236.25 crore
Forest and lakes: 938.54 acres, at Rs 1,877.08 crore

Principal arrested for harassment, released on bail

2006-12-21T12:10:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: St Claret’s School principal, Fr Mathew, was arrested and released on bail late on Wednesday night.

The principal has been under the scanner for his alleged misbehaviour with two schoolgirls as reported in city newspapers.

According to the police, their officers were sent to apprehend the principal.

The Archbishop of Bangalore, Bernard Moras, said the principal will not return to the school. “I have contacted Fr Mathew’s superiors and they have assured me that he will be transferred. He will not come back to the school as principal,” he assured.

According to the police complaint, which was filed on Sunday, Fr Mathew had used “suggestive language” and had “thrown his arms around their shoulders” at a school excursion three months ago. It’s reported that the girls spoke about the incident at a private party recently.

School responds
School authorities responded on Wednesday: “Principal Fr Mathew was never alone with the students during this school trip. He was accompanied by other students and teachers and nothing could have gone unnoticed. “We are surprised that such a complaint was made after three months. We have enquired with the staff and other students and they all claim that nothing happened. He has been principal for six years and no such case has been registered against him.

“We suspect that the principal’s uncompromising stand on discipline and admonishing students for immoral behaviour could have led to this.’’

Related post:
Tension over harassment of schoolgirls

Doctor held for obscene e-mails

2006-12-21T12:04:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: A woman received an obscene e-mail on November 19: “Hello Preeti (name changed) u r so beautiful, met u 1st time 3 days back, u r so sexy I don’t know whether u r married? Lovely eyes, lovely **, lovely **, u r sexy.”

She ignored the e-mail in disgust. However, the mails didn’t stop.

On November 21, she received another obscene e-mail. Though she was angry, she decided to ignore it again.

When the e-mails didn’t stop, she approached the cyber crime sleuths on November 23.

Once the complaint was lodged, the sleuths managed to track down the e-mails to raaj-sv@yahoo.co.in. They then hunted down the sender, who was surreptitiously sending these mails from a dingy e-mail parlour in J P Nagar.

The Cyber Crime sleuths registered a case against the sender, Dr Saravanan E. Initials investigations revealed that he sent five anonymous obscene e-mail messages from the cyber cafes to this woman.

Additional director general of police S Mahapatra said a case has been registered against Dr Saravanan E under Section 67 of Information Technology Act 2000.

Dacoits strike at petrol bunk

2006-12-20T03:30:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: Five armed hoodlums attacked the Shell petrol bunk on Hosur Road and decamped with Rs 17.5 lakh and seven cell phones on Monday morning. The gang threatened the 11 employees with an air pistol and choppers and locked them inside the office.

South east DCP Soumendu Mukherjee said, “These men escaped in their twowheelers.” Police suggested the gang could be novices, who lived nearby. Although they carried out the operation in 15 minutes flat, they dropped two bundles of currency notes in their hurry to escape. They stuffed the money in their pockets and a small cloth bag.

This dacoity comes 24 hours after three armed men abducted a jeweller on Airport Road and forced him to open his own jewellery store for them to loot. They escaped with 2.5 kg of gold jewellery. Later, the owner was blindfolded, sedated and abandoned.

Tension over harassment of schoolgirls

2006-12-20T03:25:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: An angry mob gathered outside St Claret High School, Jalahalli village, on Monday to protest school principal Fr Mathew’s alleged misbehaviour with two girl students.

It is reported that the principal of St Claret High School allegedly used “suggestive language and even put his hands around the shoulders” of two students.

According to the police, parents of the students lodged a complaint with the Jalahalli police on Sunday evening. Around 11.15 pm the same day, a mob attacked the church and school.

Fr Mathew, who has been part of the school for the last six years, was unavailable for comment on Monday.

The archbishop of Bangalore, Bernard Moras, who visited the school at about 8.15 am on Monday in a private car, bore the brunt of the mob’s ire. The mob smashed the car’s windshield.

Later, the archbishop met the protesters and heard their grievances. Health minister R Ashok rushed to the spot and pacified the crowd.

DCP North Malini Krishnamurthy will probe the case.

Exams have been put forward by a week because of the incident. Christmas vacation starts from Thursday.

Picture: Archbishop Bernard Moras hears out protesters outside St Claret School in Jalahalli village on Monday

Related post:
Principal arrested for harassment, released on bail

Salary cut for late pizza delivery illegal: Labour dept

2006-12-20T03:24:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: Labour commissioner has warned the pizza outlet managements of penal action if they are found deducting wages of pizza boys for late delivery.

Reacting to a report in The Times of India “Delivery boys pay for our free pizzas,” labour commissioner has stated: “Deduction in the salary of pizza boys for not delivering pizza on time to consumers is illegal.

The management’s doing so is liable for penal action under labour laws. The aggrieved delivery boys may approach the department for redressal of grievances if any.”

Contact commissioner of labour, Karmika Bhavan, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore.

'Neelakanta' starring Ravichandran and Namitha

2006-12-19T14:06:00.000+05:30

Kannada Movie Neelakanta, scheduled to release on December 22, stars Ravichandran and Namitha

Neelankanta's director Sai Prakash already has hugely successful films like Anna Thangi, Tavarige Baa Thangi and Rama Krishna to his credit.

Neelankanta, apparently, is inspired from Aranmanai Kili, a Tamil film featuring Raj Kiran and Meena. It was also remade in Telugu as Mansunna Maaraaju, with Arjun in the lead.

Neelakanta stars Tamil glamour doll Namitha, who is making her first foray into Kannada cinema. It also stars Malayalam actress Sree Devika.

Namitha says that, though glamour is her USP, she wants to expand her repertoire. That's when she got the offer to act in Neelakanta where, she says, she portrays a woman of substance.

Lightspeed invests $29.5m in Bangalore net cos

2006-12-19T13:41:00.000+05:30

Times News Network Dec 19, 2006

Bangalore: US-based venture capital fund Lightspeed Venture Partners has announced that it has invested a total of $29.5 million in two internet companies, primarily operating out of Bangalore — Mercantila and TutorVista.

Lightspeed has invested $22.5 million in Mercantila, which is a collection of hundreds of online speciality stores catering to the US and Canadian markets, with a captive Bangalore operation with over 100 people. The VC firm has invested $7 million in TutorVista, an online tutoring and test preparation company.

Ravi Mhatre, general partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, said: “Internet technology companies across a spectrum of sectors, including retail and education, are in the key focus set of global VCs.

We are scouting for Indian entrepreneurial ventures which could be candidates for early and growth stage equity investments.”

The VC firm, which is betting on India as a strategic market, is also planning to set up an office in the next 12 months. Lightspeed recently raised a $475 million fund of which one third is allocated for investments outside the US.

This means the company has set aside about $158 million for the three countries it is active in — Israel, China and India — outside the US. Market sources say that the investment basket for India could be in the range of $50-100 million.

Serena Williams to play Bangalore Open

2006-12-19T13:32:00.000+05:30

December 19, 2006 12:02 IST, Rediff.com

Former world number one Serena Williams will play in the WTA Bangalore Open event in February, organisers said on Monday.

The 25-year-old American winner of seven grand slam singles titles has struggled due to injury and poor form since her Australian Open triumph in 2005 and has slipped to 95th in the world rankings.

FlickrPhoto: Scene at Bangalore Railway station

2006-12-15T13:31:00.001+05:30

india_1106_0068, originally uploaded by curreter.

Model displaying bluetooth device studded with crystals

2006-12-15T12:15:00.000+05:30

A model displays a bluetooth device studded with crystals at Osmosis, a technology event organised by MindTree Consulting, in Bangalore on Thursday. MindTree showcased all its IP (intellectual property) in bluetooth technology at the event. The company has a 72-member team that's dedicated to this technology.

Source: Times of India

IT, ITeS drive demand for office space in Bangalore

2006-12-15T12:08:00.000+05:30

Sujit John | Times News Network

Bangalore: Demand for commercial property space in Bangalore this year remains strong and the city is likely to end this year too as the Indian city with the highest office space absorption. But the place that has seen the most remarkable growth in this segment is the National Capital Region (NCR).

As per office space absorption estimates made by property consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Leung for the first nine months of 2006, Bangalore has crossed 8.9 million sq ft, an increase of 25% as compared to 7.1 mn sq ft in the same period of 2005. Total absorption for the city is expected to cross 11 mn sq ft by the end of the year. Last year it was 9.5 mn sq ft, making it the city with the third highest office space absorption in the world, after Tokyo and London.

But it's Delhi, or rather the NCR (including Gurgaon and Noida), that stands out this year. DTZ estimates NCR's absorption at 6.36 mn sq ft for the first nine months, and expects this to be 8 mn sq ft for the whole year. That's nearly 3.5 times the absorption in 2005 (2.36 mn sq ft). In both Bangalore and NCR, the office market absorption continues to be driven by the IT and ITeS sectors. In Bangalore, they account for over 70% of the space absorbed, and in NCR, the figure is about 59%. A notable change in NCR is the growing share of Noida in absorption. In the third quarter of this year, Noida accounted for almost 48% of the total absorption, against the 27% it had in the first two quarters. Gurgaon seems to be losing ground.

Bangaloreans thirst for broadband

2006-12-15T12:05:00.000+05:30

R Raghavendra | Times News Network

Bangalore: Tech-savvy Bangaloreans can't seem to have enough of the worldwide web. A huge rush for broadband connectivity is making service providers go back to their drawing boards in an attempt to bridge the demand-supply gap.

Not long ago, BSNL was almost pleading with customers to sign up for their broadband service and even offered a free threemonth trial period. Today, 96,000 Bangaloreans have already signed up for its broadband services, and the stateowned communication service provider is fast approaching its full capacity for connections. Those asking for connections now are being told there would be a two/threemonth waiting period.

The capacity constraint has arisen due to non-availability of ports. Each user gets one port and BSNL is currently in the process of adding 2-3 lakh ports nationally, which could provide some relief.

For the medium term, BSNL has issued orders for supply of 2.66 million ports worth Rs 800 crore to UT Starcom, Siemens and ZTE. As part of the national expansion plan, BSNL plans to add six million ports across its network. These new ports, however, would take about two months to arrive.

"The present infrastructure is designed to add 2-3 lakh lines across India. But we expect another two lakh customers to sign up for broadband in Bangalore alone. By March, we would have built up additional capacity for 2.25 lakh lines in the city," A N J Aradhya, general manager (network co-ordination), BSNL, said.

BSNL's Bangalore office has been entrusted with the responsibility for the national rollout, where it decides all aspects of procurement and deployment of new lines.

Private service providers too are under pressure. Airtel, which claims it has a broadband customer base of over one lakh in Bangalore, says most of its wireline customers are signing up for broadband. "But since it is not easy to get permission to dig up roads for enabling new fixed line connections, there could be some difficulty to cater to new connections,'' said Prem Pradeep, CEO-South (broadband and telephone services), Airtel.

He says the usage of broadband is very high in Bangalore, with more and more people working from home.

Also read
BSNL broadband will soon be at 2 mbps in India

Internet service provider to pay for lowering speed

2006-12-14T01:26:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, Dec 11: A consumer forum has directed Internet service provider Sify limited to pay a compensation of Rs 7,000 including litigation cost to a customer for its failure to provide the minimum internet speed despite the promises.

"It appears to us that promising for providing a connection having minimum speed of 256 kbps... And then reducing it to 14 kbps, cannot be said providing proper service in any manner," the North West District consumer forum bench headed by President K S Khurana said.

"Moreover, concealing the hidden conditions and not redressing the grievances of the complainant who made complaints with regard to poor customer service on number of occasions, in our considered opinion, amounts to deficiency in service and indulging into unfair trade practice," it held in a recent order.

Ankur Raheja of Lawrence Road here, who subscribed to Sify for broadband service since July 16 to September 16, 2004 after paying Rs 600 per month, had made a complaint alleging the service provider failed to provide the minimum speed of 256 kbps as per the definition of broadband.

He found that after downloading 750 mb data, the broadband speed was lowered to 14 kbps.

To his utter surprise, Raheja also discovered that though the service provider had sold their packages as "unlimited" but it had some "hidden conditions".

"If a customer download more than 150 mb data in a day, H was penalized in the form of reduction of package by one day," he said alleging that such hidden conditions had not been brought to the notice at the time of entering into agreement.

Bureau Report

Supervalu comes shopping for IT professionals

2006-12-13T12:40:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

Bangalore: Following the likes of Tesco and Target, the $44-billion, US-based grocery retail and pharmacy giant Supervalu is opening a centre in Bangalore to provide IT functions for its US operations.

Supervalu Services India (SSI) is planning to hire 300 people over the next 12-18 months. The investment it has planned is $50 million over the next five years. This is the first time that this retail giant has come out of the US for its IT operations. It has three such centres in the US, employing 1,800 people. Every year, the company spends close to $500 million on IT, operations and support.

Supervalu is a Fortune 50 company with a store network across 2,500 locations, along with in-store pharmacy in 900 locations in the US. Grocery retail and pharmacy services contribute 80% of its revenues, while the rest comes from its supply chain services. It employs 2 lakh people.

According to Paul Singer, chief information officer of Supervalu and chairman of SSI, the Bangalore centre would complement teams in the US in developing IT applications on Java and other emerging technologies. It will specifically help in application development, technical operations, quality assurance and testing to support overall corporate IT functions including the company's retail and supply chain operations.

"In the long term, we are even looking at work on business intelligence (BI) in the retail space to be done from here. The Bangalore facility will also look at providing technical support to over 3,000 grocery stores who are our customers,'' said Singer.

Singer visited India about three years ago as part of retail major Target, where he was looking at hiring 200 people for that company's IT outfit in Bangalore.

However, he managed to convince his Board to hire some 2,000 people. Little wonder then that Supervalu has chosen him to roll out its operations in Bangalore.

Supervalu is already working with top Indian vendors like TCS, Wipro, Satyam and Infosys, and this relationship is expected to continue. "We have over 400 projects for the next year. We will look at how to distribute this between our partners and us,'' added Singer.

Supervalu Services India (SSI) is planning to hire 300 people over the next 12-18 months
An amount of $50 million will be invested over the next five years
Supervalu is a Fortune 50 company with a store network across 2,500 locations, along with in-store pharmacy in 900 locations in the US

FlickrPhoto: City Autos

2006-12-11T12:33:00.001+05:30

india_1106_0080, originally uploaded by curreter.

4-in-one device for easy geometry invented by Bangalorean

2006-12-11T04:21:00.000+05:30

Rakesh Prakash
10 Dec, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: It's an instrument set to change the way in which school students solve geometrical problems.

From drawing circles to cutting arc angles, this 'multi-touch' four-in-one (compass, divider, scale and pencil) instrument can help one draw in four to five seconds flat. Its inventor is 20-yearold Bangalore-based student-cum-entrepreneur N Praveen.

The instrument weighs 17 grams as against 40 gms of those available in the market and is touted to be a timesaver for students while writing exams.

"Unlike the traditional compass where one has to fix the pencil to it and take measurements from a scale before drawing geometrical figures, this instrument does everything in one shot. It will make geometrical devices less cumbersome," says Praveen.

The invention has not only been certified by national scientific organisations but also been patented under the title 'Technology method of compass'.

Like other success stories, the invention was also fuelled by necessity and backed by perseverance. "I started working on this compass when I was in the tenth standard and had to answer a lot of theorems. It was then I began thinking of simplifying geometrical instruments. One day I was playing with a scale and it suddenly struck me why I shouldn't start with it," Praveen says.

Four years of labour bore fruit. The youngster is now preparing to market his invention. "So far, I have interacted with over 2,000 students in 25 schools and got their feedback. I have started a production unit in a hired shed at Peenya. It will be launched in January," he says.

Finances for the project did not flow easily. Having lost his parents in a road accident when he was 18 months old, Praveen had to do a lot of coaxing and convincing to get funds. He also disposed of a site that was purchased by his parents in Hiriyur.

Praveen proposes to route the proceeds to Aryabhatta Astronomy Explore and Exhibitors Institute — a centre he started with friends to encourage youngsters pursue research. He also plans to distribute the compass among rural students free of cost. "I don't want to stop with this. I'm interested in astronomy and aerospace technology," he says.

The dark side of IT outsourcing in Bangalore - IT women suffer infertility due to sexual dysfunction

2006-12-11T03:59:00.000+05:30

Media Release
Dec 10, 2006

The IT lifestyle has wreaked havoc in Bangalore’s bedrooms. A large number of IT women engage in sex only once in 120-180 days as against alternate days among normal couples. The result: Many of them are suffering from infertility due to sexual dysfunction.

Doctors say that this is common due to psychological implications and hormonal imbalances, which are interrelated, leading to anovulation. Long and irregular hours of work and intake of fast food have led to the change in lifestyle. The other most common factor is non-consummated marriages, leading to absence of sexual activity among IT professionals.

On an average, 20-25 infertility cases are reported in a week across various sexologist clinics in the city. Gynaecologists are of the view that since most of the cases are due to the hectic lifestyle, women can conceive, if they get back to their normal stable lifestyle. But, because these women approach sexologists after 5-10 years, chances are bleak.

Consultant gynaecologist and sexologist Dr Padmini Prasad gets at least 10-15 cases of infertile women on the weekends, and about 5-10 cases on weekdays.

“The long hours of work are intervening normal sexual activities among these professionals. In women, infrequent menstruation and ovulation disturbances are increasing,” she said.

Infosys Technologies to become 1st Indian company on Nasdaq-100

2006-12-11T03:57:00.000+05:30

The Associated Press
December 10. 2006

Software maker Infosys Technologies Ltd. was set to become the first Indian company to join an elite Nasdaq grouping when the U.S. stock exchange opens for trading Monday.

The Nasdaq Stock Market is including Infosys among its top 100 companies as part of an annual revision to the Nasdaq-100 index.

In a statement issued Sunday, Infosys - headquartered in the southern Indian city of Bangalore - said its listing on Nasdaq's benchmark index would bring more global visibility to the company, which already is one of India's best known brands abroad.

Other Nasdaq-100 names - chosen mostly on the basis of their market worth - include Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Dell Inc.

Infosys' inclusion follows the company's secondary offering of 30 million American Depository Shares worth $1.6 billion. The offering, which was closed last month, involved the sale of shares held by investors on Indian stock exchanges to investors in the U.S.

About 19 percent of Infosys shares are now traded on Nasdaq.

Infosys, which writes software for companies such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J. C. Penney Corp., was the first Indian firm to be listed on the Nasdaq when it was initially offered in 1999.

Long-haul telecommunications carrier Level 3 Communications Inc. of Broomfield, Colo. and biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., are also joining the index on Monday.

Leaving the index are: JDS Uniphase Corp., a maker of optical telecommunications gear based in San Jose, Calif.; respiratory services provider Lincare Holdings Inc. of Clearwater, Fla.; and retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. of Philadelphia.

Racing buffs ransack Bangalore Turf Club

2006-12-09T04:19:00.000+05:30

8 Dec, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: An angry crowd of over 2,000 railbirds ransacked the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) premises, damaged 23 TV sets, windowpanes and flowerpots worth over Rs 10 lakh on Friday evening, accusing a jockey of indulging in race-fixing.

The trouble started around 5 pm after Hidalgo from trainer Hidayath Khan's yard upset the applecart of the two top fancies — Simply Spectacular and Appoint — in the Bugs Bunny Cup. Immediately, all hell broke loose as angry railbirds hurled stones and soda bottles at the members' enclosure before storming the bookmakers' ring and stalls.

DCP (Central) G B Chebbi said jockey Christopher Alford astride Appoint,which was in command and looked set to win the race, "deliberately" relaxed and, in fact, looked back twice at the trailing horses. "The crowd saw it as race-fixing."

But the BTC chose to ignore the rising anger of the mob, which felt further incensed that the turf club, instead of ordering a probe into the incident, went ahead with awards presentation. "As a result, the crowd went berserk," Chebbi said.

They went on an attacking spree for over 30 minutes — damaging furniture and hurling chairs in the paddock area and weighing room — until the police intervened and brought the situation under control.

Late in the night, BTC directors decided to suspend jockey Alford from Dec 19 to March 31, 2007. An inquiry has been ordered into the last race. The High Grounds police have taken up a case of rioting on a BTC complaint.

FlickrPhoto: vidhana soudha at night

2006-12-07T23:46:00.001+05:30

vidhana soudha, originally uploaded by peevee@ds.

Rs 15 crore unused funds of the dept. of Woman & Child welfare

2006-12-07T04:13:00.000+05:30

Seethalakshmi S.
6 Dec, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: Rs 15 crore accrued but no beneficiaries. This is what the department of women and child development has discovered.

After religiously depositing funds for several years under the Namma Magalu Namma Shakti scheme, to be disbursed to girls from poor families once they attain 18 years, the government has found that the girls who enrolled as beneficiaries for the scheme have disappeared!

"Of the 44,000 cheques that the government readied to be distributed to the girls, 25,000 cheques came back because the families had migrated.We could not trace the girls.With absolutely no tracking system, the scheme was being continued without keeping a check on the movement of beneficiaries. The money was saved but majority of the girls may never benefit from the government's noble intentions,"official sources told TOI.

The Department of Women and Child Welfare has now begun a head-hunt for the girls to disburse the Rs 15 crore that has accrued for the last several years and lying in the government account.

Having learnt a bitter lesson, the department is not taking any chances with the Rs 234-crore Bhagyalakshmi Scheme, where the government deposits Rs 10,000 for girls from BPL families, born after March 31, 2006.

On an average, four lakh girls are born every year in Karnataka of which two lakh belong to the below poverty category.

"It is imperative that we evolve a child-tracking system, so that the scheme benefits the girls. We will involve 10 departments to keep track of the girl right from her birth till she attains 18 years,"Ranjani Srikumar, principal secretary, women and child development department said.

As a first step, the department will create a unique identification number for each of the girl child enrolled in the scheme.

"The partner financial institution will develop a bio-metric system, so that there is no duplication when the girl attains 18 years of age. A central database will be created so that respective departments update the girl's progress from time to time,"she said.

Besides the lumpsum amount when they attain 18 years, the girls will be paid Rs 300 from class one to three per annum, Rs 500 (class four), Rs 600 (class 5), Rs 700 (class 6 and 7), Rs 800 (class 8) and Rs 1,000 (class 9 and 10) "We will lay down guidelines for parents who enroll under the scheme.

They must give an undertaking that the girl will not be married off before she attains 18 years and will not dropout of the school midway. The maturity amount will be forfeited if we find that the girl has been married off,"she said.

A Swiss holiday for Rs 25,000

2006-12-06T04:15:00.000+05:30

Swati Anand
5 Dec, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: The Swiss goodie bag is overflowing — and we’re not just talking chocolates, cheese and Swiss knives. With India contributing to only 2.8% of the foreign tourist pie, Switzerland Tourism is offering a five-night vacation to the Alpine country on a shoestring budget of Rs 25,000 — flights, accommodation, et al.

“Most people perceive Switzerland as an expensive holiday because it’s in Europe. But the truth is that the free individual traveller (FTI) can enjoy almost a week in our country for as little as Rs 25,000,’’ Switzerland Tourism director Federico Sommaruga told The Times of India on Tuesday.

No wonder the FTI segment share has doubled to 50% in five years. Thanks to the secure environment, single women, too, take off on trips on their own. While there are no statistics to prove this, Sommaruga firmly believes that thanks to the strong Bollywood patronage — particularly Yash Chopra’s gossamer romance tales — a Swiss holiday is part of the Great Indian Middle Class Dream.

That’s probably why ‘scouting packages’ are being worked out for film industries across the country, wherein a team of 3-5 people can tour the country at reduced prices scouting for film locales.

Despite the romanticism, honeymooners aren’t very frequent from India. “That’s probably because of the mindset that the tourism season is April-July. Marriages largely take place in monsoon and winter. But now, in Switzerland, there is no offseason — anytime is a good time to visit us.’’

UK supermarket chain outsources to TCS

2006-12-04T17:43:00.000+05:30

Indo-Asian News Service
London, December 1, 2006

British supermarket major Somerfield has announced the outsourcing of its IT services to India's Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a move estimated to save the company 2 million pounds ($3.9m) a year.

The move is expected to result in the loss of 115 of 130 current IT jobs with the company. TCS and Somerfield have signed a seven-year agreement. Somerfield, with 1,300 stores, is Britain's fifth-largest grocery chain.

Several of the employees who would be rendered redundant are likely to be offered jobs by TCS in their offices in Britain.

Somerfield was acquired for 1.1 billion pounds in December 2005 by a consortium made up of property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, private equity firm Apax and investment bank Barclays Capital.

The new owners have since then undertaken a major review of the business.

Teacher become whistle-blower, exposes siphoning off foodgrains

2006-12-04T15:41:00.000+05:30

2 Dec, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: A teacher has become the whistle-blower of the education department to expose schools which are siphoning off foodgrains under the mid-day meal scheme by faking attendance. The modus operandi of the schools is rather simple: If there are 40 students enrolled in a class, the attendance register will have 50 to 55 students. The additional 10 to 15 students do not exist. They are 'enrolled' to get additional foodgrains which are pocketed by the school staff.

P Asha Kumari, an assistant teacher at the government model primary school, Jakkur, in Yelahanka, has told the Lok Ayukta that the principal and teachers were giving attendance to students, who had either left the school or simply did not exist. "When the children remained absent for more than a fortnight, I grew suspicious and checked the address of the students. While some had left the city, some names were just fake. I was asked to mark attendance for them, which I refused," she told TOI.

Subsequently, when the Lok Ayukta conducted a probe, it indicted four persons in the school for misappropriation.

But that's when trouble began for Asha Kumari. She was harassed by her colleagues,who she claimed did not allow to carry-out her routine work. "They would ask students to shout slogans against me and they would unnecessarily find fault with my work," she said. Such was the harassment that Upa Lok Ayukta Justice G Patri Basavana Goud wrote to primary education secretary T M Vijaybhaskar in May 2006 urging him to transfer her to another school.

"It is unfortunate that a teacher who came forward to give information and who was instrumental in unearthing a major scandal is being harassed. I request you to transfer her," the letter said. In June 2006, the department transferred her from the Yelahanka school to the government primary school in Cholanayakahalli.

"It was the same story here too. Fake attendance and students. The school knew that I was transferred because I exposed misappropriation. They began threatening me. I am being harassed again" she said.

Following a complaint on November 17, 2006, the Lok Ayukta has now issued notices to the Cholanayakahalli school too, seeking explanation.

Air Deccan to reach Gulbarga, Hassan

2006-12-04T15:39:00.000+05:30

2 Dec, 2006 Times News Network
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GULBARGA: The Air Deccan has written a letter to the Karnataka government, dated November 24, expressing its readiness to provide its service in Gulbarga and Hassan, said V. P. Balegar, principal secretary to the infrastructure development department of the Karnataka government,on Wednesday.

Participating in an interactive programme, organised by the Hyderabad-Karnataka CII, Balegar said that the Union government in its letter to the Karnataka government in October,had sought information on which company would provide its air facility if airports were started in Hassan and Gulbarga, for which it was ready to provide a special grant of Rs. 20 crore to the selected company.

He said that 567 acres of land has already been acquired in Srinivas Saradgi village, which is in the outskirts of Gulbarga City and he has asked the Gulbarga deputy commissioner to acquire another 125 acres of land for expanding the proposed Gulbarga airport into an international airport.Balegar said the construction of Gulbarga airport would commence as soon as the Airport Authority of India gave its nod.

more...

Rajasthan CM Raje under fire for 'lip lock' picture!

2006-12-02T17:18:00.000+05:30

Indo-Asian News Service

Jaipur, December 1, 2006

Rajasthan Chief Minister has come in for scathing criticism from several quarters for posing with Biocon's Kiran Majumdar Shaw in a "lip lock" position at the India Economic Submit in New Delhi.

The photograph was carried by some of national as well as local dailies.

The Congress has raised strong objections over the chief minister's exchange of pleasantries with Shaw.

"It's a cultural shock to the people of the state," senior Congress leader Raghu Sharma said.

"The chief minister has her own style. She may do whatever she wants in her personal life but she should not forget that she is the chief minister and should maintain the sanctity of her post," said Puja Mathur, a college student.

"Such ways of greeting are not prevalent even in foreign countries. This is not at all acceptable. Moreover, the chief minister is an icon for the state and people follow her. When she behaves in such a manner, then what message is she sending to the people?" asked entrepreneur P.K. Singh.

Meanwhile, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Mahesh Sharma said it "is not good to raise such light issues.

"These are non-issues, which should not be emphasised," he said.

2 Gadag girls sold for Rs 2 lakh

2006-12-01T20:22:00.000+05:30

30 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

GADAG/HUBLI: The courage shown by a seventh-standard girl could very well lead to her sister's freedom and also give the police a clue as to where many other missing children of Sortur village of Shirahatti taluk in Gadag are.

When this girl, Soumya, and her sister Neelamma, studying in tenth standard, went missing from Gadag bus stand a month ago, few knew that they had been sold by their unscrupulous father.

The pieces started falling into place after Soumya ran away from her captors and sought the help of Gujarat Police who contacted Gadag superintendent of police K V Shridhar.

What's intriguing is that even though for a month the children have been missing, their parents never filed a police complaint.

The mother of the children told a police team that visited the village that the children had gone to Maharashtra. The father, Shenkappa Khannur, is not traceable and is reported to be hiding with his son in Bangalore.

Shridhar, who suspects this to be a case of sale of girls, told The Times of India on Thursday that the help of Bangalore police had been sought.

The incident has now rattled the villagers who suspect that Ramana Tavaknavar of the same village has acted as a middleman in the sale of the girls for Rs 1 lakh each to some people in Gujarat.

They feel that many other children who had disappeared in the past might have also been similarly sold.

A team of police personnel from Gadag is on its way to Surat to bring the two girls back to Sortur village. Once they are back, the police will register a case and begin investigation.

FlickrPhoto: Maruthi Infotech Center

2006-11-30T14:13:00.001+05:30

100_2527, originally uploaded by jatinpancholi.

Underworld Wide Web. Social networking? Cops are watching you

2006-11-30T14:07:00.000+05:30

November 30, 2006 12:08 IST

Fan clubs, which idolise underworld dons on social networking web sites, have run afoul of the city police who plan to closely monitor the content and the members of these communities.

"Though nobody has complained to us, we fear that the communities would be misused by organised crime syndicates. Moreover, there are thousands of members of communities devoted to dons," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Dhananjay Kamlakar.

There are eight fan clubs devoted to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and one each dedicated to Chhota Rajan, Chhota Shakeel and Abu Salem on Orkut.com alone.

"We will have to monitor the material posted and also the members of the networking sites," he said.

Social networking sites, especially the Google-owned Orkut, were in the news recently. The Pune Crime Branch had recently blocked a community, which had posted objectionable remarks against the Maratha warrior king Shivaji.

A public interest litigation has also been filed in the Bombay High Court asking for a ban on Orkut for hosting the anti-Shivaji community. Earlier, while hearing another PIL, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court had issued a notice to the government about the presence of a community titled 'I hate India' on the same site.

Google runs out of Answers, announces closure

2006-11-30T13:39:00.000+05:30

IbnLive

November 30, 2006 at 12:30

San Francisco: Google has finally run out answers.

Four years after the high-pitched launch of its fee-based Answers service, Google has announced its closure, apparently due to its failure to catch on with the web users.

"Google is a company fueled by innovation, which to us means trying lots of new things all the time -- and sometimes it means reconsidering our goals for a project," a Google official wrote on the company blogsite.

Google Answers was based on an idea by the company's co-founder Larry Page and enlisted researchers to find answers to submitted questions at rates ranging from $2 to hundreds of dollars.

It seems Yahoo's free Answers service took away all the traffic from Google, forcing it to admit a rare defeat. On Wednesday, Google went public with its decision, saying that it would stop accepting questions this week and post the last of the answers by the end of the year.

An archive of Google Answers questions and responses will, however, remain available at the Mountain View, California-company's website, company officials said.

Incidentally, the decision comes only months after Microsoft launched a similar no-charge service called Windows Live QnA. The Answers services on the web tap into the online community for responses to queries.

"Google Answers was a great experiment which provided us with a lot of material for developing future products to serve our users," software engineers Andrew Fikes and Lexi Baugher blogged on the company website.

"Google Answers taught us exactly how many tyrannosaurs are in a gallon of gasoline, why flies survive a good microwaving, and why you really shouldn't drink water emitted by your air conditioner."

Even as the news broke, the blogsphere went wild with speculation that the shutdown was proof that the company has suffered a chink in its armour. Others, however, said Google dropped the programme as Google Answers wasn't contributing to its mission of 'organising the world's knowledge and making it useful'.

Experts also point out that Google Answers had become simply redundant on the face of its hyper-efficient search engine and its sophisticated algorithms, which are now so good that most people no longer need to pay others to answer questions for them. They can do it themselves quickly, and for free.

Biocon CMD lip kisses Rajasthan Chief Minister

2006-11-30T03:13:00.000+05:30

Bangalore based 'Biocon' CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (left) with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia (right) at the India Economic Summit organised by World Economic Forum and CII in New Delhi.

Wipro employee's wife withdraws the first case against Premji, would file a separate case

2006-11-30T02:10:00.000+05:30

PTI, November 29, 2006
KANPUR: The wife of a Wipro employee has withdrawn the names of company chief Azim Premji and another senior executive from a domestic violence case she had filed against her husband in a court here.

Tripti Nigam's lawyer Nandlal Jaiswal said she would file a separate case against Premji and Wipro for allegedly providing a "dating allowance" to her husband Gaurav. Wipro has denied that it pays any such allowance to its employees.

Tripti had created a flutter by naming Premji and Wipro Vice President Pratik Kumar in her case, in which she had alleged Gaurav had abandoned her because the firm paid him a "dating allowance".

Jaiswal said since the names of direct relations alone could be included in a case under the new domestic violence law, the names of Premji and Kumar were withdrawn on technical grounds. But Gaurav's name still remained in the complaint.

Tripti, a resident of Gwaltoli area here, submitted an application to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, asking him to premit her to withdraw the names of Premji and Kumar from the case. This was accepted by the court.

The court fixed December 13 as the next date for hearing the matter. Gaurav was present in the court and sought copies of the papers filed by Tripti.

Jaiswal said a separate case about Wipro allegedly providing a "dating allowance" to Gaurav would be filed against Premji and Kumar in another court.

In the wake of Tripti's allegations, software major Wipro had said on Friday, "We would like to categorically state we don't have a dating allowance in any form and hence cannot elaborate on this alleged issue."

FlickrPhoto: REaDy to go

2006-11-26T21:14:00.001+05:30

REaDy to go, originally uploaded by Subash Chandran.

grocery and vegetable carts ready to go in search of customers

Sushma: 'Stars in Bangalore can't think beyond themselves'

2006-11-26T20:54:00.000+05:30

Madhu Daithota
21 Nov, 2006 Times News Network
SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

B Sushma is unapologetic because she believes her heart is in the right place.

Every other word she utters may be an expletive. But B Sushma is unapologetic because she believes her heart is in the right place. The singer and actress won't say that about some of our local celebrities though. She says they showed little concern when she approached them to be part of her latest album Kash, which has been made to support an orphanage. It's another story that she roped in 18 Bollywood names for the project.

"Our local stars really don't connect to a genuine cause. All they're bothered about is publicity and how much leverage they get out of it. I find them so fake," says Sushma. "None of them was ready to spare half a day because there's no commercial element in my cause! They lack commonsense and concern," she adds.

Sushma says, "Name one person whom I didn't approach. All it required was time and talent, and they kept saying 'next time'. But if it's a filmstar's birthday, they'll go to an orphanage, cut a cake and make sure the press covers it. But what after that? It's all fake and pseudo concern."

She's grateful to Syed Kirmani, Priya Sudeep, Arunachalam, Rockline Venkatesh, Madhu Bangarappa and Pankaj Advani because they were the only people who stood by her. "Kirmani postponed his engagement with a TV channel while Pankaj skipped his practice sessions. It showed they really cared," she says.

Sushma wanted to make the album in Kannada but changed plans after the lukewarm response she received back home. "It has now been made into a Hindi album and it's come out really well," she says. The album stars Sachin Tendulkar, Mandira Bedi, Sharad Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Tom Alter and Dolly Thakore, among others.

"Manoj Bajpai was so helpful and all he said was, 'Mention your date and time.' Raveena came down all the way in spite of being a busy mum. Even though they're stars, they behave like humans. Their intentions were true and totally unlike our local celebs who can't think beyond themselves," says Sushma.

It was for similar reasons that Sushma quit the film industry some time ago. "People here lack manners and decency. The industry doesn't know how to treat artistes. They insult you and use such foul language — there's too much filth in here. Each one manipulates you to suit his needs. In the end I had to become like them and then they couldn't tolerate me! Today I'm a very controversial person and I have no regrets," she says. And you can tell she really means that.

Mother, daughter in bowling team

2006-11-26T20:49:00.000+05:30

Biju Babu Cyriac,
25 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

BANGALORE: Sana is just out of her teens. And she is itching to beat her mother in tenpin bowling. However, she will admit that it will not be an easy task as her mom, Sabeena Saleem, is a four-time national champion.

Both Sabeena, 38, and Sana, 20, are part of the Indian team which will take part in the Asian Games beginning in Doha next week. They probably would have watched the 15th Asiad on television had the Tenpin Bowling Federation of India (TBFI) not taken the initiative to participate in the Games at no cost to the government.

"We're all aiming for a medal in the Games, but it will be tough.We've had proper training for just a month," Sabeena told the Sunday Times of India. The 12-member Indian team (six women) trained over two sessions for one month under the guidance of Malaysian Lee Poh Choong at the Amoeba Bowling Centre, Bangalore.

"It is tough to practise daily.We end up paying Rs 500 a day and we need to train five days a week," said Sabeena.

But she admits that the cost of playing a game has come down from what it was in 1999 when tenpin bowling was introduced in Chennai.

"Then we'd to pay 150-200 per game. Now professional bowlers (there are about 100 in Chennai) are charged Rs 50 per game," said Sabeena, who has trained under six foreign coaches.

The love for the sport has passed through the genes and Sabeena's daughter Sana is determined to make it big one day.

"First, I want to beat my mom. Then I want to win medals for my country," said Sana, a final-year fine arts student of Stella Maris College (Chennai).

"Tenpin bowling looks very simple for the viewer, but it is not. After undergoing training for the last one month, I'm really serious to make it big," said Sana. At the moment, she is on her mom's trail.

Bangaloreans see dip in property prices

2006-11-26T20:47:00.001+05:30

Sujit John
24 Nov, 2006 Times News Network
SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

BANGALORE: The somewhat berserk run that property prices in Bangalore saw for over three years appears finally to have ended. While prices, especially of commercial property, in some areas like Whitefield have actually dipped a little, those in other locations are rising at only a steady clip.

Between 2003 and early 2006, apartment prices rose by 40% to 50% per annum in many locations.And land prices even more. But now, the average price rise is seen to be no more than 5% to 10%. The only exceptions are north Bangalore —towards the upcoming international airport —and the city centre, where end-user buying and investor sentiments are still keeping prices buoyant.

"The buyer response in South-East Bangalore (which saw the biggest jumps in prices in previous years) is now less than enthusiastic," says Manisha Grover, national director in property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India. "This is reflected in lower absorption and flattening growth rate of capital values. The growth in average capital values has reduced drastically to about 5% during the current year."

A Balakrishna Hegde, president, Karnataka Ownership Apartments Promoters' Association (KOAPA), agrees: "Though the number of jobs, as also salaries, are going up, buyers have become cautious and are delaying their purchase. So there is stability in the market, which is good."

The phenomenon of speculative buying — people buying property with the intention to sell it within a few months and make some profit — is seen to have lost momentum, with investors believing that the Bangalore market is peaking. Earlier, when prices were rising at over Rs 50/sq ft a month, such speculative buying would have been rewarded with substantial gains.

"But now builders are unable to raise prices like that. In Whitefield, some developers have been forced to reduce their quoted prices from Rs 2,500-2,600/sq ft to Rs 2,000-2,300," says I Mahabaleswarappa, MD of Ittina Group.

Feroze Abdulla of Feroze's Estate Agency says central Bangalore is still hot, but the general market is not. While the city centre suffers a severe supply shortage, in other parts, supply has increased markedly. KOAPA estimates some 1.4 lakh flats are currently under construction (to be complete in 2.5 years), against the annual demand of 30,000 flats.

The same is true in the commercial property space. Here, while demand continues to be good, supply has kept pace, and in some locations has outstripped demand. Ankur Srivastava, MD of property consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, says lease rentals in the South-East belt (along outer ring road) has risen just about 5% in the last six months.

Sindhia may quit JD(S), to root for Siddu

2006-11-26T20:46:00.001+05:30

25 Nov, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: The already truncated JD(S) is all set to face another split after the Chamundeshwari bypoll in Dec.

For, senior JD(S) MLA and former minister P G R Sindhia is likely to pull the trigger against party supremo H D Deve Gowda. Sindhia is expected to campaign for Gowda's bete noire Siddaramaiah in the last two days of the by-poll, sources said.

Unhappy over JD(S) joining hands with the BJP, Sindhia had decided to maintain a low profile for some time. He was also planning to revive the Janata Party by bringing together all the disgruntled members in the JD(S) and those who had left it for various reasons.

But for now, Sindhia appears to side with Siddaramaiah, he recently taunted Gowda by describing Siddaramaiah as a pro-farmer leader.

Going a step further, Sindhia along with party's national executive members M P Veerendra Kumar and Surendra Mohan have convened a meeting of the party's national council by December-end in Thiruvananthapuram to decide on expelling Gowda for having joined hands with communal forces.

In a joint statement, they appealed to all the members of the national committee, state unit presidents and members of the state committees to join hands against Gowda for having betrayed the party.

Though Gowda chose not to react, his supporters maintained that the ‘expulsion drama' was being staged in the backdrop of the by poll. JD(S) spokesperson and MLC Y S V Datta said: "There is no legal sanctity to such statements."

I was beaten by my wife: Wipro man

2006-11-26T20:45:00.001+05:30

25 Nov, 2006 Times News Network
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BANGALORE: Does Wipro give dating allowance to its employees or not? The issue that got a wide news coverage after an employee's wife filed a case that her husband started neglected her after Wipro started the allowance has taken a new turn.

The Wipro employee in question, Gaurav Nigam, on Saturday alleged that it was his wife, Tripti, who was actually beating him and he was not the guilty party.

Gaurav narrated his side of the story to the Sunday Times of India over phone from Delhi. He said he is not paid any dating allowance by the company and that his wife is drawing the name of his company chairman Azim Premji just to "harass me".

Gaurav (32) has been working with Wipro for six years as a technical consultant. He has taken a temporary transfer to the Gurgaon office, to fight the case, which has been filed by his wife in the Kanpur Magistrate's court.

Gaurav alleged that his wife used to hit him and push him when they got into an argument. "She also used to pressure me to transfer the ownership of my Sarjapur Road house and car into her name. When I would refuse, she would beat me."

Gaurav said Tripti had complained that he, his father, mother, sisters and brothersin-law had gone to her Kanpur house to kill her. Based on her complaint, the police arrested his parents and he had to get them released after filing a plea in the court.

But, he says, he can prove that she was still in Bangalore on that date. "She got a Reliance phone connection installed and activated that day." "But why is she dragging Premji's name into the case, when there is no such thing as dating allowance in our company" he asked. "All I have is the basic salary component, a transporation allowance, a special allowance and Wipro Benefit Plan."

Tripti and Gaurav, who are married for four years now, are living separately for the last 18 months. Gaurav filed for a divorce in April, and she filed a case against him under the Domestic Violence Act this October after the law came into force.

Gaurav said the problem started soon after he got married in December 2002. "She wanted everything on her terms and often threatened to book me under Section 498 of the IPC," he said.

"When I was going to the US on a long-term assignment, she said she was accompanying me. But on the last day, she refused to come with me and left for her parent's house in Kanpur," he said.

"When I was still in the US, she came back to Bangalore and started complaining to my employer, Vanitha Mahila Sahayavani and to the US Consulate in Chennai. When I came back in January, I filed for a divorce in Lucknow.

"She filed a case in the family court, saying that the apartment which I have in Bangalore was funded by her father and she took an injunction on Feb. 22. She took up a job in Bangalore, she worked for oneand-a-half months and then went off to Kanpur," Gaurav explained.

In her petition, Tripti has alleged that Wipro's dating allowance "showed their (company's) complicity in encouraging his extra-marital affairs".

She has claimed that Gaurav started neglecting her and the home after he started getting the allowance. Gaurav denied that he had any affair with any woman.

The Kanpur Magistrate's court has issued summonses to Premji and company human resources head Pratik Kumar, asking them to appear before it on November 29.

FlickrPhoto: Office Building and City Volvo Bus

2006-11-26T20:10:00.000+05:30

dollar-money1, originally uploaded by peevee@ds.

Trouble ahead for Deve Gowda? Expulsion from party ?

2006-11-26T19:04:00.000+05:30

Rediff.com November 25, 2006 13:32 IST

Trouble is in store for former prime minister H D Deve Gowda with moves being made by senior leaders of Janata Dal (Secular) for his expulsion from the party for his continued support to the coalition government in Karnataka in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

M P Veerendra Kumar, leader of the Parliamentary Party, Surendra Mohan and Karnataka MLA P G R Sindhia, all National Executive members, have now convened a meeting of the National Council, the party's supreme policy-making body, by the end of December or January in Thiruvananthapuram.

This is to be followed by a national conference to take the 'logical decision' to expel Gowda from the party.

The three leaders said in a joint statement that this would be a follow-up to a decision of the February 20 meeting of the National Committee, presided over by Gowda, which suspended the MLAs, including Chief Minister H D Kumaraswami from the primary membership of the party for his decision to ally wih BJP.

In that meeting it was also recommended to the disciplinary committee for their expulsion which still stood, they said.

The three leaders appealed to all the members of the National Committee, state unit presidents and members of the state commitees who oppose Gowda to join hands to make the National Council a great success.

"We have to strengthen the platform of secularism, democracy and socialism," they said.

Venkatachala in and as Ayukta

2006-11-24T20:13:00.000+05:30

Rakesh Prakash, Times News Network
23 Nov, 2006, SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

BANGALORE: Attention greasy palms, former Lok Ayukta Justice N Venkatachala is back in action.

Only this time, he is launching a crusade on the silverscreen, enacting the role he was known for in real life in a forthcoming Kannada movie — Lancha Samrajya (Corrupt empire).

The plot of the movie was conceived a year ago when Venkatachala was making headlines with his raids on corrupt officials.

Directed by Boodhal Krishnamurthy and produced by health department employee Mahadevappa of Tumkur, it is likely to hit the screen either in the second week of December or during Sankranti. About his new assignment, Justice Venkatachala said: "Cinema is one of the powerful mediums to create awareness among people against graft."

Playing the protagonist, is Master Hirannaiah, also known for his theatrical campaign against bribery in the hugely popular Lanchavatara. Hirannaiah plays an aged man fighting the scourge of corruption. It is here that Justice Venkatachala walks in as Lok Ayukta.

"There is a scene where he raids a hospital and pulls up the authorities for fleecing the common man," Krishnamurthy said. Portions of the movie were shot in Lok Ayukta's office in Bangalore. Director Krishnamurthy says, Venkatachala's presence is a 'plus point'.

"He is popular not only in Karnataka, but also across the country. Since this is a message-oriented movie, Justice Venkatachala's words would make a lot of difference," he added.

How did the former Lok Ayukta fare in front of the camera? The director says: "He was at his natural best, all we did was to explain the sequence to him."

But would Justice Venkatachala take to full-time acting? His firm reply: "I am not interested in acting. Post-retirement, I am into alerting people against corruption through other means like giving lectures."

IIM-B pays, but won't say

2006-11-24T20:10:00.000+05:30

Geetha Rao, Times News Network
23 Nov, 2006

IIM-B has said it will not disclose the pay packets of its students. What's the funda behind big buck salaries?

The fat pay packets IIM graduates get after placement at various companies always attract a lot of attention. However, recently, IIM-B decided not to divulge salaries of students since it could make them vulnerable to unscrupulous elements; also because it says it's not a placement agency.

It can be unsafe
V Ravichandar, management consultant, and alumnus of IIM-A says there may be a little concern because opportunists might hit at highsalary employees like in the case of Adobe CEO Naresh Gupta.

"Who gets how much —there is a vicarious kind of pleasure in knowing that, and that's really trouble. One must stay below-radar in today's times."

Brand expert and alumnus of IIM-B Ramanujam Sreedhar feels there may be something in that: "I have promoter-clients who are Indians settled in the US drawing huge salaries who insist on invisibility because they feel vulnerable."

Privacy please
HR trainer-consultant CVK Maithreya, who's been on the admission panel for IIM-K, says besides concern for safety, there's the aspect of personal privacy: companies may not want employees to divulge salaries; and the employee himself may not want his friends or relatives to know how much he earns.

Why tell?
On the other hand, says Maithreya, the high salaries can be an incentive for people to take up management. Plus, irrespective of publicity, the demand for managers is high and the supply is low, which means that there will be more management institutes coming up.

And there's always the feel good factor: it feels good to know an Indian earns so well. V Ravichandar says it helps to have such info, since HR managers need to know what people are being paid, they must know competitive levels. And the high salary has a positive rub-off on the institute.

Why not tell?
But Ramesh Venkateswaran, alumnus and visiting faculty, IIM-B, says he sees no logic in not revealing high salaries. And he doesn't believe employees' lives are at stake if salaries are revealed.

Also, he thinks salary levels are not a measure of the performance metric of an institute. So it can give rise to the quality being decided by the salary, while in reality, there are other parameters for quality.

Besides, the institute policy may want to keep the focus on academic excellence. Though the salaries can make students aspire to belong to such institutes, Ramanujam Sreedhar also says mentioning salaries can create inequity among those who have landed plum jobs and those who haven't, or even between IIM batchmates.

Also, it puts pressure on students who don't make it to an IIM. It also puts pressure on quality second-rung management colleges, which do produce quality students.

At the same time, one must understand that only a few IIM students get super-huge salaries, adds Sreedhar.

Negative impact
Experts say that the emphasis on salaries has had its impact on second and third-rung management colleges. They too have begun to quote salaries as an indicator of how good they are.

Placement agency?
When asked why IIM-B said it was not a placement agency, Rajeev Gowda, professor, IIMB, says probably because it meant, "we are in the business of educating people. That is, the focus is on academics. It just so happens that the students do well in the market."

Govt gives a push to Greater B'lore plan

2006-11-24T20:07:00.000+05:30

23 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

BANGALORE: The government gave a further push to its Greater Bangalore plans by appointing Dilip Rau as administrator of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) on Thursday.

The 1972-batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer steps in with the onus of being a one-man council.Apart from handling the municipal corporation responsibilities, Rau also holds the existing post of additional chief secretary, energy department.

The posting order categorically states: "Dilip Rau, additional chief secretary, energy department, is concurrently appointed as administrator of the BMP with immediate effect".

The obvious question is: What are his immediate priorities? "Improving the delivery of basic services like better roads, footpaths, garbage clearance as also getting prepared for the exercise of Greater Bangalore," he says. Sounds familiar?

How approachable will he be to the public, considering that there is no elected people's representatives to put forth any problems? "The process of consultation with the public is an on-going process. I will be meeting MLAs.

All the resident welfare associations can approach me with their problems." Any visiting hours? "Not yet decided.

Now that there would not be any "interference" by corporators as often alleged by officials, would he galvanise projects and processes?

"There is already an existing system at the BMP. There are many existing projects which need to be speeded up. If resolutions need to be passed, it will be done within the confines of the law," he says.

Rau now holds two key posts — the existing one in the energy department and the historic one of administrator at the BMP. All he says is, "There need not be any fear that the BMP will not be interactive with the public.We will not ignore aspirations of the public."

Serving in the bureaucracy runs in his family: Rau is the brother of chief secretary Malathi Das. The only Rau connection to the more popular administrator Lakshman Rau is this — Dilip Rau served as deputy commissioner (development) at the BMP during Rau Sr's tenure.

In the past, the Karnataka-cadre officer has held such postings as electoral officer, BDA commissioner, Hassan DC, among others.

Airport project may be delayed further

2006-11-24T19:59:00.000+05:30

M L Kapur
23 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

HUBLI: The Hubli airport expansion project has taken a new turn with the state government directing the district administration to submit two fresh proposals envisaging it as a national and international facility.

This may further delay the expansion of the airport as the state government has all along been pushing to upgrade it as a night landing compliant allweather national airport capable of handling big aircraft like Airbus A-320.

As per the revised master plan for expansion of the airport prepared by Airports Authority of India (AAI) in September, 446 acres of additional land is required to upgrade it as a national airport.

At present, it can take only up to 50-seater aircraft. Now, the district administration has been asked to submit two proposals to the infrastructure development department — one for 446 acres and another for 650 acres of additional land to develop it as national or international airport depending on the final decision.

This emerged at a high-level meeting convened in Bangalore on Wednesday by infrastructure development minister B Sriramulu.

Revenue and district incharge minister Jagadish Shettar, Dharwad deputy commissioner M S Shrikar and AAI officials attended.

It was felt that once 446 acres of land is acquired and the airport developed to handle bigger aircraft, there will be a problem to acquire additional 204 acres land later on if the government wants to upgrade it as an international airport.

The deputy commissioner has been asked to submit the proposals to the government within a week. He was also asked to work out details for land acquisition in consultations with the 100-odd families affected by the project.

Shrikar said in fact AAI had submitted both the plans in September itself. However, he clarified that in both the cases the number of houses affected was the same as the additional land for international airport proposal was agricultural land towards the bypass.

Meanwhile, though night landing facilities for 50-seater aircraft have been provided at the airport, so far no airline has come forward to start night services from Hubli to Bangalore or Mumbai.

Recently, Air Deccan extended its Mumbai-Belgaum service up to Hubli, which will fly nonstop to Mumbai on its return trip.

But it still remains to be seen whether there is enough traffic to sustain the new service. Kingfisher Airlines also plans to start one service in the morning from Bangalore to Hubli and back.

Another service will be from Bangalore to Delhi, which will stop at Hubli on the return trip in the evening to take Bangalore-bound passengers.

CET Cell to get 'authority' status

2006-11-23T19:45:00.000+05:30

22 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

BANGALORE: Quite like the stop-and-shop concept, the government is turning the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell into Karnataka Examinations Authority to hold fair and transparent entrance/aptitude tests for all private, corporate and even the government â€” for a price.

The higher education department will place the proposal before the cabinet. The authority is a registered society with an ISO certification.

The 18-member governing council will be headed by the higher education secretary, with four representatives from private college managements.

Any CEO of a reputed company who pays Rs 10 lakh will become member of the council subject to state government approval.

The Authority will conduct the CET for admission to professional courses in both government and private colleges.

Besides, it will also hold tests for recruitment to private/corporate organisations and even other government departments.

The government has already announced that it is working towards having a single CET for next year. The executive committee will be headed by the commissioner for pre-university education, who will hold the post of executive director.

Commissioner for collegiate education and vice-chancellors of Visvesvaraya Technological University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences will be other members of the committee.

The panel will have administrative, financial and academic authority except for the power to create posts. It will also be empowered to enter into agreements with other public/private organisations or individuals in the course of affairs of the society.

The current assets of the CET Cell will automatically become the property of the society from the date it is statutorily registered.

Spare the rod & the child: panel

2006-11-23T19:10:00.000+05:30

22 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

BANGALORE: Can we punish a child for hitting another for reasons that the child thinks are justified? Isn't spanking a student a form of indisciplined behaviour? Is punishment a strategy to change a child or simply a manifestation of the adultf' anger? Are we looking at the whole child, not just his head?

These were among the slew of questions raised at the Times Round Table on "Can we spare the rod and spare the child?" held at the TOI office on Wednesday.

With a wide spectrum that included two principals, a counsellor, a child psychiatrist and education consultants, the debate could only get richer.

The panelists spoke in one voice about the need to see discipline beyond the act of using the cane. If one of them insisted that corporal punishment is a non-negotiable issue and so the debate itself becomes irrelevant, another saw the act of taming students as taking a negative position.

This premise threw up a whole range of issues crying for change, particularly in the intellectually challenging environment that we live in.

Suggestions ranged from making the classroom a more discursive space, changing parenting styles, retraining teachers, to removing the emphasis on mere scholastic learning, making examinations a time for celebration, learning the art of listening to children to exploring all other options before thinking of punishing the child.

Carry hard disk in a pen drive!

2006-11-23T11:38:00.000+05:30

R Raghavendra

22 Nov, 2006 2258hrs IST Times News Network

BANGALORE: His first tryst with programming was in a computer class at St Paul's English School, Bangalore. That very moment he knew he was made for the world of programming.

From then on, Anil Gulecha has been on an aggressive learning mode. The internet and books have been his tutors. He is still learning.

But he has already accomplished a unique feat — that of putting a whole operating system on a thumb/pen drive and enabling it to run live on any computer without having to install it on the computer's hard disk.

In other words, you can now carry your hard disk or your entire operating system in your pocket. This effort takes computing to a whole new level.

Moinak Ghosh, an engineer at Sun Microsystems, Bangalore, recently took the lead on Solaris 10, the flagship operating system of Sun Microsystems, and came up with the version called BeleniX.

As TOI reported in July, Moinak took the whole OS and put it together as an abridged LiveCD version. Thanks to the 20-year-old Anil Gulecha, BeleniX can now "boot from a USB thumb drive."

The challenge for Anil was to take the existing LiveCD programme and modify it in a way that it identifies USB drives when these are inserted.

"You can now buy a thumb drive, visit the BeleniX website and mount the whole OS on to it. You can then carry this with you and use it. We'll now work on enhancements for future versions,"he said.

Anil is a third year computer science student at JSS Academy, Bangalore. He worked on BeleniX during his spare time and happened to cross paths with the BeleniX team at a college tech fest, where Sun was organising a contest for hackers.

Moinak helped Anil identify the need for BeleniX to be mounted on a thumb drive and then helped him through the project.

"This is my first open source project and my first experience with Unix. I'm happy with the outcome and encouraged by Moinak's support,"he said.

Anil looks forward to the days when new variants of the OS would make computing more simple and effective. Meanwhile, plenty of accolades have piled up.

"Anil has received huge appreciation from the top management at Sun. He has been nominated as one of our technology ambassadors — to talk about Sun technologies in colleges. "We equip these ambassadors with tools and information to work on new technologies and applications,"K P Unnikrishnan, director in Sun Microsystems India, said.

Cisco Chairman John Chambers to visit India

2006-11-23T00:26:00.001+05:30

CRN Network, November 22, 2006

John T. Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco Inc., is planning to visit India on December 6th and 7th, 2006. During this two-day visit he will be meeting with ministers, senior government officials, leaders of Indian industry, key Indian customers and partners.

Chambers will be spending a day each in Delhi and Bangalore respectively. Other engagements on Chambers' schedule include a keynote on "Network as an Enabler for Life's Experiences" to senior Indian executives at a CEO's address organized in association with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Commenting on his India visit, David Caspari, interim president, Cisco India said, "India has become a key part of Cisco's operations worldwide and is one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia Pacific Region. The fact that John has chosen to visit the country for the third time demonstrates the importance of India to Cisco and provides an opportunity to focus on the next phase of Cisco's growth plans in India."

During his last visit in Oct 2005, Cisco had announced a three-year, $1.16 billion investment plan in India.

Intel India's GB Kumar to join Cisco

2006-11-23T00:24:00.000+05:30

Sources say he will join the customer advocacy services group at Cisco

Priya Padmanabhan, CIOL
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

BANGALORE: GB Kumar, who served as director- sales, Intel (South Asia), has revealed that he is leaving Intel this month.

Industry sources say he is expected to join Cisco’s customer advocacy services division in Bangalore.

Kumar, however, did not confirm whether he is joining Cisco but said that his new role at another company would be totally different from what he has done so far in his career.

“India is well-known for its strength in services and consulting. My new assignment would revolve around these areas and not around product selling,” Kumar told CyberMedia News.

Kumar has been with Intel for ten years and has served in several positions including Internet solutions group and director, channels and OEM groups. “As I leave Intel, I see a strong roadmap ahead for Intel's innovating technologies, compelling products and passionate teams that I am sure Intel will soar to even greater heights,” he stated earlier in an e-mail.

He is expected to join Cisco on December 1. The customer advocacy division at Cisco was created by one of the company founders Sandy Lerner, and this organization is responsible for customer satisfaction, service and support, and has devised many programs and incentives to help ensure that all Cisco employees are committed to upholding this value.

Intel, meanwhile, has not announced a replacement for Kumar.

© CyberMedia News

'BIG 92.7 FM' titled the FM King of Bangalore!

2006-11-23T00:23:00.000+05:30

2006-11-21 13:51 Source : Moneycontrol.com

Soon after being voted the top FM Station in Hyderabad, BIG 92.7 FM has emerged as the leading FM Station in Bangalore as well. These findings are a result of a recent survey conducted by Indica Research Consumer Insights Pvt. Ltd. BIG 92.7 FM Bangalore has been adjudged as the most preferred Station via the study on various criteria such as Listenership, Awareness, Relevance, Music and RJs.

Within just four weeks after launch, BIG 92 .7 FM Bangalore enjoys a listenership base of 98% with the overall preference for the Station being 46%, way ahead of the other current players. While BIG 92.7 FM Radio Jockeys Sihi Kahi Chandru and Dayanand have been rated the most recalled RJs in the city, the Station also enjoys brand recall of 99% amongst its target audience.

The consumer feedback study stressed on factors such as local connect through lingual flavour, content that speaks on behalf of the consumer, appeal in RJs’ ‘on air’ personalities. BIG 92.7 FM topped the industry in all of these areas establishing its leadership in the Bangalore market.

Anand Chakravarthy, Head, Marketing, BIG 92.7 FM stated, “We have conducted this study in Bangalore and earlier in Hyderabad, intended to offer us a quick indication of the Station’s stance within two weeks after launch in these cities. The findings have shown that we are on top in both the cities. The challenge now lies in maintaining the position in these cities and possibly duplicating some of the successes from these cities in others where we have launched”

Speaking on the Bangalore Station’s success, says Farida Kaliyadan, Station Head, BIG 92.7 FM, Bangalore “It is our genuine native flavor that has helped us find local connect and gain much popularity amongst our listeners. The BIG 92.7FM RJs, SK Chandru, Dayanand and Kiran are true localites who cater to the Kannada tastes perfectly. Our content and delivery, music and tone are all very ethnic and typical, something Bangalore has never heard before on an FM station. Added to which, Upendra is a big name in the south and having him as our brand ambassador definitely adds to the Station’s appeal”.

Mr V. Ravi, Managing Director, Indica Research Consumer Insights Pvt. Ltd said, “The findings for BIG 92.7 FM in Bangalore have been quite commendable. The brand has been successful in getting people to try it out while the content has allowed the Station to not only hold on to the listeners, but also become one of their favourites, in a market where there are other established FM players.” He adds “The good news is also for the Advertisers who can now count on reaching out to a wider audience via the popular BIG 92.7 FM”.

The target group for these findings consists of FM listeners between the ages of 18 to 34 years from the SEC ABC categories.

Syndesis opens new office in Bangalore, India

2006-11-23T00:18:00.000+05:30

TORONTO and BANGALORE, INDIA -- (MARKET WIRE) --

November 20, 2006 -- Syndesis, the worldwide leader in Convergent Service Delivery Management (CSDM) solutions, is expanding its commitment to the Asia Pacific region with the opening of a new office in Bangalore, India. This Regional Development Center will support Syndesis' growing regional business by providing enhanced sales and services to communications service providers (CSPs) across the region, as well as enhancing Syndesis' industry-leading technical capabilities and product development capacity.

The new office builds on Syndesis' long working relationship with development firms in India and continues the company's ongoing expansion in the Asia Pacific region, including recent customer success.

"Syndesis has a critical role to play in helping operators across Asia and the Pacific to deliver a true convergence experience for today's increasingly sophisticated and demanding service subscribers," said John Lochow, President and CEO of Syndesis. "We are keen to continue sharing our unique combination of network and systems expertise so that CSPs can maintain a technological edge over their competition and continue to delight their customers. Furthermore, we are committed to growing our business in the burgeoning Asia Pacific region and to do so requires a dedicated regional presence of sales, services, development and support personnel."

The Bangalore office is a strategic extension of Syndesis' existing Asia Pacific presence, and the company currently supports more than 20 service providers across the globe, including six of the world's 10 largest service providers.

Syndesis has successfully deployed its award-winning solutions at many of the world's leading carriers, including AT&T (SBC), Telecom Italia, TELUS and Swisscom. These implementations leverage the power of Syndesis' provisioning, activation and data integrity management solutions and are enabling the automation of complex, transaction-intense, revenue-generating services.

For more information about Syndesis' expanding AsiaPac operations, or to inquire about new employment opportunities, please visit http://www.syndesis.com.

About Syndesis (www.syndesis.com)
Syndesis is the leader in Convergent Service Delivery Management, essential for the seamless, painless migration to advanced service offerings, such as Triple/Quad Play, VoIP and IPTV, and advanced architectures, such as IMS. Syndesis empowers the world's leading Communications Service Providers to deliver new network and application experiences for their customers. Renowned for customer success, in-depth network expertise and off-the-shelf support for more technologies and equipment than any other communications software developer, Syndesis is the vendor of choice in deployments at more than 20 major service providers worldwide including AT&T (SBC), Bell Canada, BT, Cingular, COLT, NuVox, Qwest, Sprint, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, TELUS, Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless.

Bangalore is new home to Wisden’s Cricinfo.com

2006-11-23T00:15:00.000+05:30

Harsimran Singh, FinancialExpress.com
Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 0214 hours IST

NEW DELHI, NOV 21: The mobile and online cricket content market, growing at about 100% per annum, with India accounting for almost 60% of cricket content users, has led the world's largest cricket website – Wisden's Cricinfo.com – to shift base from London to Bangalore.

“Almost 60% of Cricinfo.com’s support-base of 20 million users are Indians. About 25% are based in India while the rest (35%) are located in North America (US west coast, Canada), UK (South England), Australia and Middle East,” said Cricinfo.com CEO, Tom Gleeson, who has shifted to Bangalore from London, along with his 100 strong staff.

All top domestic Internet majors like Rediff.com, Indiatimes Cricket, Sify, Yahoo India are active players in the cricket content market. Globally BBC and ESPN are the big players in online cricket content. CNBC TV 18 has also pitched in the battle by acquiring world's second largest cricket website – the Walchand group's Cricketnext.com for an undisclosed sum in August, this year.

Interestingly, the global cricket content market's fortunes vary with Indian cricket team's fortunes. "On a match day like India v Pakistan, our unique visitor count shoots upto 3 million users per day. It also shoots up when Indian team and especially Sachin Tendulkar is holding the bat," adds Tom Gleeson.

Not only website usage, but also the number mobile cricket game industry depends upon players' form. "We see more game and wallpaper downloads when the respective cricket player is doing well," says Mobile2Win CEO Rajiv Hirnandani.

Mobile2win.com develops contests, games, wallpapers, animated scorecards for the online and mobile cricket content industry. The company developed the first mobile Sachin Tendulkar based game in India. Other content like match clips, audio, quizzes, trivia, animated logos are also very popular. While a cricket SMS costs Rs 3-6, other applications like scorecards are based on a monthly subscription of Rs 50 each.

Interestingly, the content developed by cricket websites is used by other games like soccer and tennis content users as well. For instance, the ball tracking application developed by Cricinfo.com to determine LBW decisions is being used by soccer and tennis websites globally.

High growth in the telecom market, say experts is largely responsible for the boom in cricket content. “The market cuts across age and class. However, male users are obviously more than female. A monthly addition of over 5 million mobile subscribers per month is boosting the market,” says an expert. ARPUs of telecom companies dramatically shoot up on big match days.

Shortcode based SMS like 8888, 123, 7333 are also booming. The cricket market is also importing clips from TV channels and selling it online and through mobile. The prospect of 3G-technology is expected to further boost the market.

Doubling of Bangalore-Tumkur line by March

2006-11-23T00:11:00.000+05:30

Staff Reporter, The Hindu

FKCCI says absence of an extensive railway network has hampered industrial growth

# Electrification of Bangalore area to be completed by March
# Gauge conversion on between Kolar and Chikkaballapur

BANGALORE: The South Western Railway (SWR) will complete doubling of track between Bangalore and Tumkur by March 2007 and that of Bangalore and Ramanagaram by June 2007.

Stating this at an interactive session organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here on Tuesday, Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Division, South Western Railway, Mahesh Mangal said electrification of the Railway network in Bangalore area would be completed by March 2007.

Projects
He said while the gauge conversion work was under progress between Kolar and Chikkaballapur, several other projects, such as doubling of Ramanagaram and Mysore line, construction of coaching terminal at Byappanahalli, construction of a freight terminal at Malur and modernisation of stations at Bangalore City, Bangalore Cantonment and Yeshwantapur were in the pipeline.

Schemes
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager S. Gagarin in his presentation drew the attention of FKCCI members towards several incentive schemes being offered by the railways for freight movement.

One of the members drew the attention of the officials that the two-lane Railway under bridge on Old Madras Road near Kissan factory I Bangalore had been a traffic bottleneck.

Though the stretch of NH 4 had been made six-lane, the underbridge hindered traffic movement into the city, he said.

Due to the bottleneck, many prospective investors, who intended to set up units in and around Hoskote, had migrated to other States, he claimed.

Mr. Mangal said that widening of the under bridge depended on the funding by the State Government.

In his introductory address, FKCCI president R.C. Purohit said the absence of double tracks in Karnataka's railway network had placed the State in a disadvantageous position.

Industries hit
Absence of an extensive railway network had hampered industrial growth in the State.

He urged SWR to speed up doubling work on Bangalore-Mysore line.

Bangalore: Miscreants Break Mary's Statue, Chapel Windowpanes

2006-11-23T00:04:00.001+05:30

By SAR NEWS

BANGALORE, Nov 22 -- Unidentified vandals damaged a statue of Mother Mary and the windowpanes of a convent at Karunalaya, Carmaleram in Bangalore, November 18.

Carmelite Father Thomas Puliackal, Rector, Carmelaram Theology College, told SAR News, November 22, that on November 18 at 11pm, miscreants destroyed the front windowpanes and spat on the door of the chapel.

“Hearing the commotion, our theology students rushed out but by then the miscreants had fled. After sometime, two more goons came in a car and started breaking the light shade of Adhyatma Vidya Peedham Convent opposite to our house and escaped,” said Father Puliackal.

“Later, we discovered that the statue of Our Lady placed at the entrance of Karunalayam Convent and a number of sign boards of various religious houses were damaged.”

Superior of Karunalayam, Sister Shine, said: “The statue of Our Lady in the grotto was completely destroyed. We were inside; we didn’t know until the Carmaleram brothers came that night and found it out.”

A complaint was lodged at the Varthur police station and police officials visited the convent and collected evidences.

Father Puliackal added: “Tissue papers of a liquor bar were left behind by the miscreants. This will perhaps serve as a clue to trap them.”

Carmelaram is on the outskirts of Bangalore, about 15 km from the city limits. There are around 30 religious houses of priests and nuns running schools and formation houses. This is the first time such an incident is taking place in the otherwise peaceful area.

Cyber crimes leap 54 per cent in 2005

2006-11-22T23:58:00.000+05:30

22 Nov, 2006 0308hrs IST Times News Network

PUNE: Though the state has been witnessing a decrease in crime trend in the last five years, the crime report released by deputy chief minister R.R. Patil here on Tuesday shows that the crime rate in the state had, in fact, increased by 6.1% in 2005, as compared to previous year.

A 25.87 per cent growth in economic offences in 2005 and a 54.74 per cent rise in cyber crimes over 2004 are some of the highlights of the report. The fact that 84 per cent of the accused in economic offences and cyber crimes were in the 18-30 age group is an alarming indicator of the younger generation’s involvement in white collar crimes, according to additional director general of police (CID), Jayant Umranikar.

The VIIIth issue of Crime in Maharashtra-2005, prepared on the lines of Crime in India, published by National Crime Records Bureau, New Delhi, presents an analysis of prevailing patterns and features of crime.

Property-related offences increased by 6.59% as compared to 2004, while incidents of bank robberies during the year rose by 55%. The report states that violent crime has increased by 7.99% as compared to 2004, while crimes like attempt to commit murder (10.3%), rape (11.3%), kidnapping (14.3%) and riots (13.4%) have shown an increasing trend.

Investors shy away from IT Park

2006-11-22T23:55:00.000+05:30

M L Kapur, 21 Nov, 2006 Times News Network

HUBLI: The government's initiatives to take information technology (IT) to Tier-II cities may well seem halfhearted if one goes by the fate of the state-of-the-art IT Park here. There are virtually no takers for more than 2 lakh sqft of space ready for occupation.

The Hubli IT Park, developed at a cost of Rs 45 crore, is managed by Keonics on behalf of the Software Technology Parks of India and attempts to sell the idea to potential IT/ITeS investors have come to naught. Sources attribute this to lack of imaginative marketing strategy. While inaugurating the IT Investors' Meet here on May 20, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had announced a conditional offer to attract new investors. The package envisaged competitive rates comparable with neighbouring states.

The offer was valid for a period of six moths, which lapsed earlier this week without attracting a single new investor. Neilsoft, a Pune-based engineering software solutions firm, had set up base here a day before the investors' meet.

Sources said what worked against attracting potential start-up ventures was the condition that concession would be given to firms which take a minimum of 10,000 sqft of space. Not many new ventures need that kind of space.

Keonics deputy manager H Devanand said that many firms, including the BPO arm of ICICI, made inquiries about the facilities available here, but no deal has been struck so far since the package was announced.

Meanwhile, certain other investors like Bangalore based Sankalp Semiconductors, who need limited space to expand to this Tier-II city, have set up their development centre on the BVB Engineering College campus.

It is learnt that both Neilsoft and Sankalp Semiconductors are satisfied with their decision to set up base in Hubli. Both companies have plans to expand their capacities here in the near future.

According to sources, the state government is learnt to have put its final seal of approval on HDMC's proposal to allot 25 acres of its land in Rayapur to five IT/ITeS companies. Another 25 acres is also on offer to some other IT companies in the queue.

Panel proposes Muslim quota in police force

2006-11-22T23:45:00.000+05:30

21 Nov, 2006 2257hrs IST Times News Network

BANGALORE: The long arm of quota has found its way to the police force in Karnataka. Just as the debate on having quota for Muslims gathers pace, the Karnataka State Minorities Commission has proposed 15% reservation for Muslims in the police force in communally sensitive areas.

In its latest report submitted to chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on November 17, 2006, the committee chairman Alhaj K S Mohammed Masood said: "In Dakshina Kannada, Mangalore and other affected areas in the coastal belt, it is recommended that at least 15% of the police force should be drawn from the Muslim community, which has been adversely targeted and affected by the riots. As a control and precautionary mechanism, it is imperative that the police force should have Muslim police also."

The Commission's report comes in the aftermath of recent communal violence in Mangalore. They recommended that in communally sensitive areas, police stations should be manned by suitable dedicated policemen drawn from minorities. "The Commission is of the view that in the offices of IGP, DSP, ACP and in sensitive police stations, some of the persons belonging to minority community should be posted as sub-inspector or at least as police constable," the report states.

It has asked the state to appoint Muslim officers in the offices of deputy commissioner, zilla panchayat, assistant commissioner, head quarters assistant to deputy commissioner in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Karwar.

To increase surveillance in sensitive areas, the Commission has suggested constitution of peace committees comprising representatives from all communities. These committees, with principal secretary (home) as the chairperson, are to be assisted by a police cell headed by a DIG rank officer.

Unwired, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad

2006-11-21T14:12:00.000+05:30

Times News Network

WiMax promises high-speed mobile data and telecom services India is finally getting rid of cable connectivity. Last month Chennai was declared the first WiMax enabled city. Then Pune followed suit. Or the other way around.

In between, Bangalore and Hyderabad also declared they were offering the same services. Some of course duck the fact that they don't offer 100 per cent availability or access yet. However, as of two weeks ago, Baramati, a small city near Pune, seemed to have pipped all the others.

Whatever the truth, the fact is both metropolitan and mofussil India are falling over themselves trying to provide wide-area broadband wireless access to its consumers.

And whereas the older Wi-Fi network is limited to about 30 metres within offices, campuses and scattered "hotspots" in airports, etc, WiMax or worldwide interoperability for microwave access is like Wi-Fi on steroids.

It's an inexpensive way to cover a large area up to a radius of 50 kilometres ideal for rural towns as well as most cities which have limited infrastructure offering high speed access to the Internet from a notebook, personal digital assistant or any similar hand-held device.

Research firms are already predicting India will have 13 million WiMax subscribers by 2012.

This is important because after globalisation and the Internet have created rapid growth in IT related interfaces, connectivity has now become vital to Indian business and society.

At the same time only a little more than half a percent of the population has residential Internet access with just 60 million users in all.

The reason is not far to see: The telecom infrastructure is inadequate and last-mile connections are typically via copper cable, DSL and fibre optic landlines where installation costs are high since they require ripping up kilometres of roadways while disrupting already chaotic traffic in order to lay cables.

In such a scenario the ability to provide connections wirelessly would not only lower the cost of services but also ensure a much-needed impetus to accelerated growth.

Embracing wireless as a dominant delivery mode will be an economically viable solution to Internet adoption that can revolutionise lifestyles in the country.

WiMax technology has the potential to provide extensive Internet access that can boost the economy, deliver better education and healthcare facilities and improve entertainment services as it has done in other places in the world.

ITC Infotech sets up centre for Finnair, Finland's biggest airland

2006-11-21T14:03:00.000+05:30

2006-11-21 08:26 Source : Moneycontrol.com

ITC Infotech India Ltd has set up a dedicated development centre for Finnair, Finland's biggest airline. Finnair recently started its services to New Delhi.

Finnair had signed a five-year, multi-million dollar deal with ITC Infotech early this year. ITC Infotech will be involved in implementing the frequent flyer loyalty programme, e-ticketing and other operational application systems at Finnair.

Mr Tom Källström, Vice President, eBusiness Development, Commercial Division, Finnair, inaugurated the development centre at ITC's tech park campus in Bangalore, which has a seating capacity of 100.

ITC Infotech had recently set up dedicated Development Centre India (DCI) for Danske Bank, the largest bank in Denmark and leading player in the Scandinavian financial markets.

Biozeen, a biotech consulting firm of Bangalore to open an office in the Lehigh Valley

2006-11-21T13:58:00.000+05:30

November 18, 2006,By Jeanne Bonner Of The Morning Call, mcall.com

Biozeen is a biotech consultant. Co-founder lives in Easton.

The company, Biozeen, is a division of Bangalore Biotech Labs. It provides engineering, consulting, research and training to pharmaceutical and biotech firms. The company operates a training facility in Bangalore for engineers and other workers in the biotech field. It offers courses in animal cell culture and microbial fermentation, among others.

It's not clear how many people Biozeen will employ when it opens an office here, nor where it will locate in the Lehigh Valley. The announcement came from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, which said the company might eventually employ 30 to 50 people in the Valley.

While the company has operations in India, its management has roots in the Valley. Biozeen's co-founder and chairman, Cherian Philip, lives in Easton. He was until recently the general manager of Sartorius BBI Systems of Bethlehem Township. Sartorius, formerly known as B. Braun Biotech, makes fermenters and other equipment for biotech and drug companies.

The announcement is the reverse of what's become common news. Many American companies have set up offices in India or outsourced manufacturing there. Agere Systems, for example, opened its second chip design operation in India last year. The Hanover Township, Lehigh County, chipmaker employs chip and software designers at its Indian operations. The company said its presence there helps facilitate interaction with clients in Asia.

Pennsylvania has stepped up its investment in attracting companies with international operations. The state added $15 million to the 2006-07 budget for international business development. It has 22 international trade representatives, including one in India.

''We are deeply committed to broadening our cooperation and facilitating trade and investment in the region,'' said state Secretary of Community and Economic Development Dennis Yablonsky in a statement. He was in Bangalore on a trade mission Friday.

A department spokesman said Biozeen will be eligible for incentives because it will bring jobs to the state. The state offers grants, loans and tax credits to any company that relocates here or to existing businesses that add jobs.

DiBcom Opens Development Center in Bangalore, India

2006-11-21T13:21:00.000+05:30

Electronic News Network, 11/20/2006

Palaiseau, France-based mobile TV-focused fabless semiconductor provider DiBcom reported today it is investing in India by opening a software development center in Bangalore as an extension of its R&D team in France, to complement all of its software development activities.

The company also says this Indian entity is a normal consequence of its partnership strategy with its global hardware and software vendors, which have requested more personalized and dedicated resources to support collaborative development and product integration in associated platforms.

DiBcom intends to provide increasingly sophisticated software stacks to adapt both DVB-T and DVB-H receivers into different platforms with its new DIB7070 family of chips that combine a tri-band RF tuner with an integrated DVB-T and DVB-H demodulator.

Targeted applications for the chips include residential and automotive set top boxes; desktop and laptop PCs; personal media players and LCD TVs; and cell phone and Smartphone accessories.

www.dibcom.com

Mum about money: IIM on an undercover job!

2006-11-21T11:32:00.000+05:30

Priyanka Tiwari, 20 Nov, 2006 2056hrs IST Times News Network

IIM-Bangalore's decision to not disclose the impressive salaries being offered to students is being deemed as a sensible move.

Much is made of the whopping pay packets that IIM or IIT students bag even before they've stepped out of the hallowed precincts of their institutes. Just last week, an IIM-Calcutta student was offered a record stipend of Rs 10 lakh approx ($22,000) for his summer training! The salary of two IIM Bangalore students -- Gaurav Agarwal and Venkatesh Shankararaman -- became the topic of discussion and reason for jubilation when they bagged plum pay packets. While Venkatesh was offered Rs 30 lakh per month -- the highest offer for a domestic position, Gaurav Agarwal received the highest ever offer of £105,000 ($193,000) per annum in London.

But as much as it may be a reason to cheer, IIM Bangalore has decided to not reveal the salary/stipend offers that its students receive from here on because it creates unnecessary psychological pressure on other students of the institute to meet greater expectations.

And others agree. "Highlighting salary details, especially when they are above normal compensation levels, creates psychological pressure on other students and draws the attention of unscrupulous elements. The expectations of parents, students and teachers are upped, but the worst affected is the student whose salary gets disclosed as he is inundated with queries," says Prof Devi Singh, director IIM Lucknow.

Prof Salwan, placement chairman at IIM-Indore also agrees that disclosing pay packages increases the burden of expectation on other students. "However, I think that most students are mature enough to understand that salary packages are just one of the components of their job profile," adds the Prof.

Also, the hype created around hefty pay packets tends to sideline other factors involved in job selection. Training and placement head at IIT-Mumbai Prof Subash Babu feels disappointed that only the salaries offered by organisations gets reported. "There are many other issues which deserve attention while differentiating job offers. Of course, the pay offered is a huge attraction, but a large number of students look for jobs that are professionally challenging and relevant to their field of expertise and interest," says Prof Subash and adds that he is contemplating a policy proposal to ensure that salary offers to students are not made public.

But students mince no words while criticising the hype created over job salaries. Says Shobhit Bhatnagar, an IIT-Kanpur student, "Disclosing unexpectedly high salaries offered to students puts other students under tremendous pressure, especially from their parents."

The psychological angle is confirmed by experts as well. "Imagine the stress created on brilliant students who have not been able to bag an equally good offer. It also increases the burden on average students who try to overreach themselves," says psychologist Dr Parveen Shukla.

However, the institutes' decision to not reveal the salaries offered to their students is not the end of the problem. For, in many cases, it's the companies that disclose these offers. Explains Prof Rajiv Sinha, head of the training and placement department at IIT-Kanpur, "There's stiff competition between companies as well and they highlight their salary offers to outdo their competitors. At least in the IITs, disclosing salaries is the prerogative of the recruiting company."

This, when companies make students they are employing sign a confidentiality clause saying that salaries offered by them should not be made public, as Sourav Mukherjee, chairperson of the placements department at IIM-Bangalore points out. He adds, "The decision of IIM-Bangalore, which has been collectively taken by students, dean and director would now meet that clause."

Wipro’s secret out

2006-11-21T06:17:00.000+05:30

Deccan Herald
Bangalore: Steve Hamm’s “Bangalore Tiger-How Indian Tech Upstart Wipro is rewriting the rules of Global Competition” was formally launched on Monday, with the author speaking about the way he went about writing the book.

Hamm who is a senior writer with Business Week in New York said the word tiger in his book came from the popular name calling of westerners of Asians as “tigers”, and that he wanted to write about the tech industry through the eyes of one company. He said that he was impressed with the way Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro had made the company climb to such great heights. The book is a narrative of not only the company, but also about personal life of Premji.

Residents chase survey staff

2006-11-21T06:14:00.000+05:30

Special Correspondent, The Hindu

Bangalore: Residents of Indiranagar, and in particular those of Chinmaya Mission Hospital Road, on Monday chased the staff of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation who came to the spot to conduct a preliminary survey before commencing the formal civil works.

People residing in the vicinity of the CMH Road and the 100-foot Road of Indiranagar told The Hindu that a section of angry residents and traders, who were awaiting the arrival of the survey staff, chased them even as they alighted from a Government car. The survey staff were accompanied by a contingent of police personnel, but the latter, sensing the anger of the people, chose to stay away. The survey staff suggested some remedial measures to the people.

Thereafter the survey staff left for another spot about a kilometre away on the same stretch of road where again they were threatened with "dire consequences" if they attempted to commence their work.The former Chamarajpet MLA and resident of Indiranagar, Pramila Nesargi, who has taken up the cause of the residents and traders of Indiranagar, told The Hindu : "Come what may we will not permit the authorities to take up the metro rail work. Let them shoot us down before commencing the work. The metro rail will not be permitted on CMH Road at any cost."

She said: "Let them shift the alignment to the Old Madras Road which runs parallel to the CMH Road. Shifting it will even reduce the length of the rail link by 0.5 km and save the tax-payers' money."

The BMRC authorities said that they had been to CMH Road to finalise their plan to start the work. "The people started demanding the Government order relating to the alignment. Why should we show the Government order to all. We wanted to start work after receiving directions from senior officials. The alignment has been finalised and there is no question of changing it at the present juncture," an official said.

IT gals do not have it

2006-11-21T05:58:00.000+05:30

Geeta Rao
20 Nov, 2006 2139hrs IST Times News Network

They're achievers, earn well, but struggle to find that work-life balance.

Projects, deadlines, working for 10-12 hours sometimes, and then the traffic. That's why some women IT professionals spoke to the CM and his deputy recently, requesting for better infrastructure. Many, young mothers, find the 'golden time' between 6-9 pm spent in buses, not with their kids. There is no quality of life, they say. But what kind of lives do they lead anyway?

Traffic's terrible
For young Dechamma, with an MNC major for three years, traffic's a huge bugbear. Up early, she catches the 7.15 am bus to reach office by 8.15 am. If she takes the 7.30 am bus, she reaches only by 9.30! Then it's work till 5.15 pm, with breakfast and lunch breaks, and she's home by 7.15. A full 12 hours gone, and a neat 25 per cent of it in traffic. So, she plugs in her earphones and listens to music on the bus. However, that's better than travelling by car (which most own) and getting caught in a jam, she says.

No time
Shobha Ramakanth, with an IT major for three years, says IT employees earn great salaries, but spend them? No time. "We earn well but there's no time to spend money. We just look forward to the weekend, but are so pooped we sleep almost all day. No socialising. Sundays are spent in catching up on personal work like buying groceries for the next week."

Before leaving home at 7.30 am, Shobha rushes out on a glass of milk, has breakfast and lunch at office. Some colleagues pick up dinner at the office, catch the bus, reach home by 9 pm and microwave the dinner.

Nupur K, from an IT MNC, says her older colleagues with kids have a huge worklife balance issue.

No exercise
At work, they sit in front of the computer for 10-12 hours, and the weight piles on, says Shobha. There's just no time for exercise, though facilities include gyms, tennis, basketball, badminton courts and more. Take time off, and you must make up by coming in on Saturdays.

Trupti, in the IT field for eight years, has a one-yearold and rushes back home after work. "I could gym at the office, but I don't, since it means an hour less with family."

Weekends, holidays
The traffic's gotten to Dechamma so, she doesn't move out on weekends. "I just don't want to see another vehicle," she says. Another software pro gets Sunday evening and Monday morning blues each week. Shobha doesn't have time for anything, so she married an architect (not an IT guy, by choice) so at least one of them has a normal life. Shobha says most IT colleagues spend 15 days annually at a hill station with family. Or visit relatives who live abroad.

Trupti believes vacations are a must. "It must be a 10-day break at least, otherwise you keep thinking of the
Monday that's fast approaching."

Beat the problem
Asha S, an IT employee lives close to the office in the heart of the city. So there's time in the evening and during weekends for herself. Trupti, husband and child eat out a lot, and watch movies during weekdays. But it's her support system that keeps her afloat. "I'm the kind who wants everything, home and work. But I have my parents and inlaws around, so they all help."

Work or life?
Says Hema Ravichandar, Strategic HR Advisory, "While worklife balance has always been more of a challenge for women, when offices are located outside Central Business Districts, travel times place a greater demand on the employee's time. Also it becomes tougher for employees to visit paediatricians or attend parent-teacher meetings and return to the workplace. However, company campuses situated outside CBD have space to allow for gyms, lifestyle enhancement, hobby centres and even on campus guest houses which are a boon to coping with the heavily burdened infrastructure."

You will get SMS alerts on your land

2006-11-21T05:53:00.001+05:30

S Kushala
20 Nov, 2006 0128hrs IST Times News Network

BANGALORE: "There is a transaction on your land bearing survey no. X of Y village of Z taluk. This is for your information. Sender: Bhoomi."

An SMS beeps on your mobile. This alert system, designed by Bhoomi, a part of e-governance department, which should be up in a month, will help landowners who reside in places other than where their property is situated.With dubious transactions via impersonation becoming the order of the day, such tip-offs about mutation can come as a boon, e-governance secretary Rajeev Chawla told TOI.

"The software is ready and has to be integrated with the Bhoomi system. We are in talks with SMS service providers on the user charge and other modalities,"he said.

The department will charge a fee for users who want this facility and their mobile numbers will be registered in the Bhoomi kiosk.

The SMS alert can also be for a legal transaction initiated by the owner. For those who don't have mobile phones, the department is considering another form of informing them, says Gurumurthy of Bhoomi Monitoring Cell.

Under Bhoomi, as many as 4.9 crore farmers have availed of the services by obtaining Record of right, tenancy and crop certificate. Fee of Rs 15 is charged per record.

'India on high growth'

2006-11-21T05:51:00.000+05:30

19 Nov, 2006 0100hrs IST Times News Network

BANGALORE: Development and prosperity can be achieved only through active collaboration between various stake holders — the government, industry and the citizens, said Ravi Uppal, vice-chairman and MD, ABB India Ltd and president of South Asia Pacific Region on Saturday.

Delivering the graduation ceremony address at the PES Institute of Technology (PESIT) he said: "India is on high growth trajectory, but we still have to overcome problems like poor infrastructure, lack of civic amenities, poverty and illiteracy. It is easy to blame the government, but we need to work together for development."

Though the opportunities today are plenty, the task of sustainable development is daunting. "Even if India continues to grow at a rate of 8 to 10 per cent, it will take us 25 years to reach the world's average per capita income," Uppal said.

Outlining the need for aligning the education system to the needs of corporate world, he said: "One of the biggest challenges is to develop vocational skills and training programmes in our institutions to meet industry requirements," he added.

Founder-chairman, PES Institutions, M R Doreswamy said the PES Group of Institutions has adopted 12 rural government schools, providing free vocational training for school dropouts, adopting community parks, tree plantation programmes and drinking water schemes.

Higher education minister D H Shankaramurthy urged the youth to work towards prosperity.

Snake's day out creates traffic snarl in Bangalore

2006-11-21T05:47:00.001+05:30

Monday, 20 November , 2006, 10:51, Sify

A snake sneaked into a luxury van, creating panic and bringing to a grinding halt lunch hour traffic at the busy Krishnarajendra Circle in the heart of the city.

The incident occurred when the snake slithered from the sprawling Curzon Park, adjacent to Karnataka High Court and the State Secretariat Vidhana Soudha, to the road near the traffic signal.

Scared by the zooming vehicles and the cry raised by the two wheeler riders on seeing the reptile, the frightened snake sneaked into a van. The sight of the snake unnerved the driver, who rammed into the pavement, throwing traffic out of gear and leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded.

Police requisitioned well known snake catcher Mohan who rushed to the spot and caught the non-venomous snake effortlessly.

Drag racing accident

2006-11-21T05:45:00.000+05:30

Thursday, 16 November , 2006, 12:24, Sify

Drag racing is a favourite sport for many youngsters in the city. Unfortunately the thrills can prove to be pretty dangerous too and sometimes fatal as in the case of Arun. Arun (23), a resident of Cauvery Nagar near Banashankari and his friend were racing against other on Bannerghatta Ring Road on Tuesday night.

As they were trying to overtake each other, Arun lost his balance and hit an electric pole, he died on the spot. The pillion rider Arun (18) sustained serious injuries and has been admitted in a hospital.

Kannada number plates violate law

2006-11-21T05:44:00.000+05:30

Monday, 20 November , 2006, 10:54, Sify
The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) launched ‘Kannada Numerals’ week at Malleswaram Grounds yesterday and there has been a great deal of campaigning asking vehicle owners to use Kannada numerals on number plates. Many have responded but in most cases, this has been at the cost of English numerals. This is in total violation of the Motor Vehicles Act which states very clearly that English numerals are compulsory. However, both the Police and the RTO officials are turning a blind eye to this violation.

CAT was easier this year

2006-11-21T05:42:00.000+05:30

Monday, 20 November , 2006, 10:55, Sify
Bangalore had 18,500 students appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) held at the city yesterday for admission to top B-Schools, including the six Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) in India. The examination was held at 16 centres and went off peacefully without any malpractices. The question papers were found to be easier when compared to those of the previous years and the number of questions were reduced to 75 this year from the earlier 90.

Police to close case, Nikhil may go free

2006-11-18T05:49:00.000+05:30

17 Nov, 2006 2316hrs IST Times News Network

BANGALORE: Chief ministers H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Gowda,who was involved in a restaurant brawl last month, could go scot-free.

The reason: the police said the hotelier has refused to identify Nikhil. The police are now filing a B-report, which is drawn up when there is no evidence to back up a case.

Nikhil Gowda (19) and his friend Syed Ehtesham allegedly roughed up staff at Empire Restaurant on Church Street after the staff refused to serve them food at 3 am on Oct 29.

In the brawl, Nikhil was injured, and he had filed a complaint with the Cubbon Park police against the restaurant staff.

ACP Bipin Gopalkrishna, when asked if the B-report had been filed, said: ‘No'. Are the police preparing a B-report?

"Yes, we are going to do that, because the restaurateur has refused to identify him (Nikhil)."Asked if there was any timeframe to file the report, he said, "No, there is no such thing. But we might file the report today or any time in the future."

Police commissioner N Achuta Rao said the city police have not filed the Breport yet. Two senior officers are supposed to be probing the case.

But, there is really nothing to investigate as both parties have agreed not to aggravate the issue and are willing for a compromise. No arrests have been made.

Bridal Bliss makes lovely brides

2006-11-18T05:46:00.000+05:30

Friday, 17 November , 2006, 10:20, Sify

Fitness One recently launched Bridal Bliss which is a unique package for brides. Besides availing a fitness package at a nominal price, a Bridal Bliss member can also avail privileges and discounts at skin care stores, jewellery stores, aromatherapy salons and sports gear shops.

Bridal Bliss was launched amidst much fanfare. The launch party recreated a dream-like wedding ambience with music, mehendi, bangle sellers and tattoo designers. Shiamak Davar’s troupe entertained the guests. So all you brides-to-be, you know where to head.

Karnataka CM denies vindictive action against Shivakumar

2006-11-18T05:43:00.000+05:30

Friday, 17 November , 2006, 10:18

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today denied that he had indulged in 'vindictive politics' against Congress leader D K Shivakumar as alleged by him yesterday.

Speaking to newsmen after releasing copies of several documents related to the illegal stocking of iron ore issue, he said 20 companies were engaged in iron ore collection business at Nandhihalli village in Bellary district of which eight belonged to Mr Shivakumar.

The forest officials had arrested three people in Bellary on Tuesday night and booked cases against 15 others for allegedly storing over two lakh tones of iron ore valued at Rs 27 crore in the yard belonging to PKP mines illegally. Three of the names against whom cases were filed included that of the wife, brother and sister of Mr Shivakumar.

Explaining the officials action, he said the mobile squad of the forest department raided the yard of PKP Mines in that area and seized iron ore which was illegally stocked there. When Mr Shivakumar was the Urban Development Minister he had misused his powers and brought pressure on the officials of the Mysore Minerals Company to secure iron ore at Rs 350 per ton while other companies quoted Rs 1250. Nearly five lakh tons of waste dump were purchased by his companies at Rs 25 to Rs 75 a ton.

He said there was an agreement between Mr Shivakumar's companies and the PKP Company, with regard to sale of waste dump, but details of transactions were not mentioned thereby 'committing fraud' on the state's exchequer in the form of sales and income taxes. His company lawyers had also misled the High Court in connection with the case, he said.

Boom & zoom: Rs 7 cr per acre in Devanahalli, Bangalore

2006-11-16T19:08:00.000+05:30

S Kushala & Smitha Rao | Times of India 16, Nov 2006

Devanahalli: Here’s Bangalore’s ultimate commercial toast to real estate — an astronomical Rs 7 crore per acre.

That’s the present going rate for acreage at Devanahalli where the international airport is coming up. The flights are yet to take off the tarmac but land value in this hitherto sleepy suburb has touched the skies, thanks to the national highway and the upcoming airport.

Check the shocking difference between government value and market rates. On paper: What is put out officially at the sub-registrar’s office is Rs 40 lakh per acre. Ground reality: The going rate or market value is a dizzying Rs 7 crore per acre.

Explain officials at the Stamps and Registration Department: “Under-valuation of the properties is also increasing as the stamp duty paid is very low compared with the price paid. We are in the process of revising the guidance value in Devanahalli in tandem with the market prices. The draft notification has been issued which has hiked the guidance value by 50% in some prime areas.’’

What was Rs 1 crore per acre five years ago has now sky-rocketed to Rs 7 crore for the lands abutting the highway. Land value started escalating when the land acquisition proceedings began for the Bangalore International Airport. The foundation stone laying ceremony and the subsequent commencement of work pushed the land rates further up. The six-laning of the highway has favourably added to pushing up the land values.

Two years ago, value of the land in villages on the fringes of airport was Rs 80 lakh per acre. What was being quoted at Rs 3 lakh per acre in the interior villages has now touched Rs 2 crore.

At Chikkasonne, a village close to airport, land prices have shot up from Rs 5 lakh per acre to Rs 2.5 crore. At Uganadi, which is close to the highway cutting across Devanahalli, the going rate is anything between Rs 3 crore and Rs 3.5 crore. At Sadahalli, sites are being sold for Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per sqft; further away, it is Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600 per sqft.

Neglected village lands, now bought by developers, boast of such fancy titles as Airport View, Airport Meadows, Airport Park, Airport Hills.

Here’s to the international airport brand.

Official price Rs 40 lakh per acre
Market value Rs 7 cr per acre
Two years ago Value of the land in villages on the fringes of airport was Rs 80 lakh per acre.

Work, interrupted. Mobile phones at work

2006-11-15T06:00:00.000+05:30

GEETHA RAO
13 Nov, 2006 2251hrs IST Times News Network

With the constant diversion caused by mobile phones at work, we now have interrupt-driven workstyles.

You are in the middle of the meeting, discussing an important point with your client, when your mobile goes off; you excuse yourself, take the call, get back, but then... where were you? You lose the thread of the discussion and take some time to continue from where you left off. Interruptions at work, something that happens to many of us in these instant-connect days, can be frustrating. But that's the "interrupt-driven" workstyle, as Dave Molta, senior tech editor with a networking mag, puts it. So you're at your mobile's mercy, and there's no way out. Or is there?

Neurosurgeon Dr NK Venkatramana is at the receiving end every so many minutes, he says. For him, it's a dilemma whether to take the call or ignore it. "When I'm in the operation theatre, I switch my mobile off because I get calls every two-three minutes. When I'm seeing out-patients, I give my mobile to my secretary." Otherwise, he'd find himself right in the middle of examining a patient and being disturbed by a call. "My work gets disrupted. Everyone who calls says it's urgent."

But Dr Venkatramana feels guilty about switching his mobile off. "It could be an emergency. My advice could be crucial. It's a big dilemma."

Artist Yusuf Arakkal usually switches off his mobile while he's working on a painting. If the calls come during the initial stages of his painting, like at the conceptual stage, it irritates him. "Because the thought process can change, and you may need some effort to go back to where you stopped. But after that stage, it's alright."

Suhas Gopinath, CEO of an IT company, says such mobile calls hinder productivity to some extent. There are times when he's in a conference, and he gets a call, only to find it's a telemarketing call. "When you get back to the conference, you have missed some important points of the discussion."

There are times, too, when some employees get calls from HR companies asking them for salary details and work profiles, all on company time. Not only are the employees using company time, but even after the call, their concentration wavers.

Or, the project manager may be explaining something important to the team, when he could get a mobile call, and that would disrupt the continuous flow of thought.

Schoolgirls in rain

2006-11-03T05:39:00.000+05:30

Schoolgirls take shelter under a polythene cover during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Karnataka's formation day at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday, November 1, 2006.

It's official: Bangalore is now Bengalooru

2006-11-03T05:24:00.000+05:30

2 Nov, 2006 0007hrs Times News Network

BANGALORE: Even a cricket match would not attract the kind of crowd that the Chinnaswamy stadium saw here on Wednesday.

The 55,000-capacity stadium overflowed as people stood, cheered, clapped, whistled, hooted, sang and danced, marking Karnataka's 50th birthday to the dhamaka of crackers, lighting of thousands of lamps, patriotic songs and folk dancing.

The enthusiasm was boundless, despite jostling crowds, occasional crackers in the stands and pouring rain. Be it the 70-plus Ekikarna (unification award winners) or the young schoolchildren who had come to dance to the Kannada songs, the rain drenched everyone to the skin, but dimmed nothing of the occasion's exuberance or colour.

In line with the history and culture woven into the fabric of the event, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy quoted Kannada poets and leaders extensively, even as he made course-altering announcements for the state and the language:

Bengalooru: Using the platform, nearly a year after his predecessor N Dharam Singh said Bangalore would be renamed as Bengalooru, he said: "I am formally stating that 10 cities including Bangalore will use their Kannada names in English also. The process to make this official is on."

The 10 cities are: Bengalooru (Bangalore), Mysooru (Mysore), Mangalooru (Mangalore), Chikmagalooru (Chikmagalur), Shivamogga (Shimoga), Belagaavi (Belgaum), Kalburgi (Gulbarga), Hubballi (Hubli), Hosapete (Hospet) and Tumakooru (Tumkur).

Name change
It will take another 45 days for Bangalore to be called Bengalooru along with nine other cities. The Geological Survey of India has to be informed by the Union home ministry and all maps must change to the new names.

The revenue department sent a formal proposal to the Union home ministry on October 17 seeking to rename all these cities.