Employment News 4 October 2013

Employment News 4 October 2013 - Current News 4 October 2013

Nokia's mapping services division--- HERE ===launches first community mapping project in India

Nokia's mapping services division HERE today launched its first community mapping pilot programme in India, where it partners with local experts to improve its navigation services in the country will work with students from universities, including Mount Carmel College in Bangalore and the SAL Institute of Technology in Ahmedabad, allowing them to add missing streets, bridges, points of interests (POIs) and other information to the map.

HERE maps are used by many companies, including automakers, personal navigation device manufactures, mobile device makers and web and enterprise clients, to develop their traffic navigation system. 

It also comes embedded in many Nokia devices in the Asha and Lumia series.

Microsoft bought Nokia's handset business for USD 7.2 billion. Nokia has retained its telecom networking business NSN, location services HERE and advanced technologies.

Bombay high court has directed a Juhu tenant, the lone occupant of a dilapidated building, to vacate her flat within one month---

The tenant, Esther Manickam, who has been paying a monthly rent of Rs 50 for many years, was offered Rs 1 crore by the owner to move out of old building but she had refused.

Justice Anoop Mohta refused to grant the tenant any relief against the demolition notice served by the BMC for the old building which has been declared dangerous.

"The owner of the property is entitled to deal with the property. 

Even otherwise, tenants cannot object to transfer and/or even to create third-party rights or interest in such property by the landlord. 

The owner, therefore, if he wants to develop the property, but for want of insistence to have permanent alternate accommodation in the same premises, (and hurdles are created) to the whole project, is entitled to oppose the action of the tenant

Google acquires Indian-led company Flutter

Google has acquired gesture recognition startup Flutter. 

The San-Francisco-based company is founded by Navneet Dalal and Mehul Nariyawala of Indian origin.

Flutter develops gesture recognition technology that controls popular apps like YouTube, Pandora and Netflix via webcam.

Flutter was received funding from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Spring Ventures and Y Combinator.

The deal has tech circles speculating if the new tech will find its way into Google's upcoming devices like Nexus 5.

Yashasvini scheme launched in Karnataka

Yashasvini Cooperative Farmers’ Health Care Scheme, launched in Karnataka  in June 2003, has successfully completed 10 years benefiting lakhs of farmers in co-operative sector.

The Yashasvini Cooperative Farmers’ Health Care Trust was formed under the principle “One for all and all for one” has made healthcare affordable to farmers in co-operative sector.

The scheme started with a beneficiary contribution of Rs 60 per year in the beginning and the contribution amount was enhanced to Rs 210 for the year 2012-13.

Yashasvini Trust had 16 lakh membership in 2003-04 and it has been almost doubled to 30.36 lakhs 35,814 people were treated as out patients and 9,047 had undergone surgery.

In the first year itself under this scheme for which Rs 10.65 crore was spent.

In 2012-13, 1.10 lakh farmers were treated as outpatients and 83,802 people have undergone surgeries.

Tata Power starts work on Georgia project

Tata Power today said that it has commenced construction work for the first phase of its joint venture 400-MW hydro power project in Georgia.

The hydel project would be jointly developed by Tata Power along with Clean Energy Invest AS, Norway (Clean Energy) and IFC InfraVentures (IFC).

Tata Power, India’s largest private power producer, has hydel generation capacity of 450 MW in Maharashtra. The company has an installed capacity of over 8,500 MW.

Tata Power, as part of sustainability initiatives, aims to have 20-25 per cent of its total electricity generation capacity from clean energy sources.

SBI Life launches Smart Power Insurance plan

Private insurer SBI Life Insurance on Thursday launched ‘Smart Power Insurance’ plan, which is designed to care for investor’s twin needs of insurance and investment.

Smart Power Insurance plan is a simple, low premium product that takes care of the changing needs of the policy holder as his income increases while giving him flexibility of periodic increase in sum assured and partial withdrawal,” SBI Life Managing Director and CEO Atanu Sen said in a release issued here.

This plan, which will be available to customers from October 7, comes with two options — level cover option and increasing cover option.

Smart Power has two fund options — Trigger Fund option with the advantage of buying low and selling high and Smart Funds option that has the option to choose from seven funds.

The policy term options are 10, 15 or 30 years and the minimum premium payable works out to 

The product is open for the age group of 18 to 45 years with the maximum age of maturity being 65 years.

SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas.

Fujitsu to hire 10,000 people from India

Japanese technology firm Fujitsu is looking to more than triple the work force at its IT consulting arm Rapidigm in India to 10,000 within two years.

Takashi Yano Fujitsu India's head for JOC Business said—

Both the governments started working on the project following the visit of Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to Japan where he appealed companies to look at manufacturing in India. 

Fujitsu has made huge investments and we expect many more investment to come under this agreement," India-Japan Business Promotion Council's Chairman at Assocham Rahul Sharma said.

Mamata ‘Yuvashree’ scheme announces monthly dole to unemployed youth

West Bengal government on Thursday launched a scheme under which a monthly dole of Rs. 1,500 will be provided to the unemployed youth in the state.

Inaugurating the ‘Yuvashree’ scheme, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said one lakh youth enrolled in employment exchanges would receive the amount every month in the first phase, while maintaining that it was not an unemployment allowance but “assistance” for them to meet their expenses.

Finance minister Amit Mitra had announced the Yuva Utsaha Prokolpo (Youth Encouragement Scheme) while tabling the 2013-14 budget. 

He had said one lakh unemployed people aged between 18 and 45 years would get the assistance.

Malaysia approved crime-prevention law

Malaysian lawmakers approved changes to a crime-prevention law early Thursday that opponents fear could be abused by authorities to hold people without trial for years and negate the prime minister’s pledge to protect human rights.

Opposition leaders and international rights activists have criticised Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration for introducing the changes less than two years after abolishing laws that had occasionally been used in past decades to hold political dissenters without charge. 

Mr. Najib earlier this week said the changes were crucial to tackle an increase in organized crime, insisting that crime “has frightened the public and if the government doesn’t act, more people will become victims.” Malaysians have been concerned in recent months over robberies and high-profile public shootings of targets including businessmen. 

Star, ESPN bag BCCI sponsorship rights for 2013-14 season

The BCCI on Thursday awarded the title sponsorship for all international series and the domestic tournaments in India for the year 2013-14 to Star Private Ltd and ESPN at the base price of Rs. two crore per fixture, considerably low compared to their previous deal with Airtel.

Mr. Patel said the bidders had the option of “bidding for either the series between India and Australia, or the series between India and the West Indies, or both.”

There are two international series currently scheduled during the period — the seven-match ODI series and a T20 game between India and Australia, followed by two Tests and three ODIs against the West Indies.

Sponsorship rights will extend to domestic events such as Irani Cup, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare, Deodhar Trophy and Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy.

Gambia Decided to Withdraw from the Commonwealth

The Gambian Government on 2 October 2013 announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect. 

Gambian, a West African country joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1965.

The Gambian also stated that it will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism.

The decision came after the Government rejected a proposal by the Commonwealth in 2012 to create commissions in Banjul (capital of Gambia) to protect human rights, media rights and fight against corruption.

The last country to be withdrawn from the Commonwealth group was Zimbabwe in 2003.

About the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 54 countries, many of them former territories of the British Empire. It was established in 1949.

Former national TT champion Uttam Chandarana no more

Former national table tennis champion Uttam Chandarana, who dominated the sport during 1940s and 50s, passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday morning due to old age, family sources said.

Chandarana is remembered for defeating world champion Ivan Andreadis in 1954. 

The left-handed ex-international player had four national titles, with two triple crowns -- men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles -- to his credit. 

Khodaiji, who was coached by Chandarana, said the TT veteran had interests in other sports as well like cricket, tennis, bridge, billiards and snooker. 

Balaji Motion Pictures buys film adaptation rights of Japanese detective novel

Balaji Motion Pictures, the film production unit of Balaji Telefilms, has acquired the film adaptation rights to the book, The Devotion of Suspect X.

Director Sujoy Ghosh, whose previous release was the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani, has been signed to direct the Hindi feature film.

The Devotion of Suspect X by Japanese author Keigo Higashino, is the third of the cult ‘Detective Galileo’ series.

The English translation of the novel was nominated for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Barry Award for Best First Novel, Balaji said in a press statement.

Tanuj Garg, Chief Executive Officer of Balaji Motion Pictures said: “We are proud to have clinched the rights of one of the world’s most celebrated detective novels. 

It has heart, drama and thrill, and as a content-driven studio, we believe that it will make for an engaging and entertaining feature film.

China's first FTZ in Shanghai to start new wave of reforms

China today unveiled a blueprint for its first free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai that will ease restrictions on the yuan, trade and investment to transform the world's second-largest economy under the new leadership. 

The wide range of reforms aimed at halting the slide of the economic slowdown will start in the Communist giant's gleaming metropolis after the pilot zone is officially inaugurated, according to the plan issued by the cabinet.

The Shanghai FTZ, a pet project of Premier Li Keqiang, was expected to pose a stiff competition to international trade hub Hong Kong. 

It was envisaged to test how it could boost FDI and reignite the slowing down of the world's second largest economy, currently stabilising around 7.5 per cent GDP.

The FTZ will also push for "a full-scale opening" of the financial service sector to eligible private capital and foreign financial institutions.

Author Tom Clancy dead

Tom Clancy, whose high-tech, cold war  books such as The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games made him the most widely read and influential military novelist of his time, has died. He was 66.

Mr. Clancy arrived on best-seller lists in 1984 with The Hunt for Red October. 

He sold the manuscript to the first publisher he tried, the Naval Institute Press, which had never bought original fiction. A string of other best-sellers soon followed, including Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears. 

After graduation in 1969, he married Wanda and joined her family’s insurance business, all the while scribbling down ideas for a novel. 

In 1979, he began Patriot Games, in which he invented his hero, CIA agent Jack Ryan. In 1982, he put it aside and started The Hunt For Red October, basing it on a real incident in November 1979, in which a Soviet missile frigate called the Storozhevoy attempted to defect. 

In real life, the ship didn’t make it, but in Mr. Clancy’s book, the defection is a success. 

UCBs with deposits of over Rs 750cr can be a scheduled bank

Reserve Bank today allowed urban cooperative banks (UCBs) with total deposits of over Rs 750 crore to graduate to scheduled bank category. 

If UCBs fulfill certain listed criteria, it will eligible for inclusion in the second schedule, RBI said in a notification. 

All the public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks are part of the second schedule. 

As per the government's notification, with effect from April 01, 2013, only those primary co-operative banks whose demand and time liabilities are not less than Rs 750 crore would be treated as a 'financial institution' for the purpose of inclusion of UCBs in the Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. 

Such UCBs can submit their application along with relevant documents to the Regional Office concerned of Urban Banks Department.

Banks to bear card fraud cost in absence of security features

Refusing to give further extension to banks for complying with security norms, the RBI today said that banks will have to bear the cost of fraudulent card transaction through point of sales that do not have prescribed security features. 

RBI said in a notification---

"It has been decided not to grant any further extension of time. Accordingly, banks not complying with the requirements shall compensate loss, if any, incurred by the card holder using card at POS (points of sale) terminals not adhering to the mandated standards.

The card issuing bank would ascertain, within three working days from the date of card holder approaching the bank, whether the respective POS terminal where the said transaction occurred is compliant with mandated security features, it said.

World Bank removes Iran from list of non-payers

World Bank removed Iran from its list of deadbeat borrowers Friday, saying the Islamic Republic had paid outstanding loan amounts.

The Bank said that its key lending unit, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, "has moved all loans to the Islamic Republic of Iran from non-performing status to performing status following the payment of all overdue amounts on these loans."

The Bank had placed Iran's account on non-performing status on July 16, when the country fell six months in arrears in paying $79.1 million on nearly $700 million in outstanding loan principal.

The Bank did not say how much Iran had paid to be removed from the list. But it said the remaining principal Iran owes is around $616 million. The Bank has not lent any new money to Iran since 2005. It said it complies with United Nations and other international sanctions set against the country to force it to give up alleged ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists that its nuclear programs are all aimed at peaceful uses.