Friday, January 13, 2006
No more new Infy units in Bangalore
It's beyond Bangalore for Infosys in future. Call it the effect of the Deve Gowda-Narayana Murthy spat or the company’s strategy to reduce its costs, Infosys has made it official that its expansion will certainly be outside of Bangalore. We’ve no space in Bangalore. Bangalore is a very attractive destination to hire people but we don’t have space to add,’’ said T V Mohandas Pai, CFO, Infosys Technologies. The company which holds over Rs 1,600 crore in cash has not been able to strike a land deal for over four years in the city. It is not just the lack of land which is forcing Infy to look at other cities like Chennai and Pune. The company believes that with travel time increasing in Bangalore, it makes sense for it to look at cities which offer better infrastructure. The company has already announced it would have an employee strength of over 50,000 in the near future but its fresh additions would be outside Bangalore. We will build capacity where we can quickly scale up, where there is infrastructure.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Finally a Blog Site from Bangalore Dedicated to Indian Girls
A New Blog Website has been hosted Featuring Indian Girls who have made India Proud in Beauty Contest, Sports, Acting, Career, Bussiness, Education and in Many Other Feilds. This Special Blog Site will feature a Girl each Month with her career profile and up-t0-date detail.
Visit Indian Girl Blog Site Now
# posted by Tanu @ 1:04 AM
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
All for a better Bangalore
The public can register all property documents at present, but the state government is planning an amendment to impose restrictions through a legislation in an effort to ensure that Bangalore's growth is more planned. The government had issued a notification on April 23, 2005, imposing restrictions on the kind of documents that can be registered for the sale, mortgage, gift, exchange, agreement to sell, lease or assignment of any site. But, in response to a petition, the Karnataka High Court, in its order dated January 3, 2006, quashed this notification. After reviewing the situation in the aftermath of the order being quashed and a Supreme Court judgment that the HC referred to, deputy chief minister M P Prakash on Monday told reporters: "The judiciary has said an executive order is not enough to impose such restrictions.
Our law department is of the opinion that a legislation will be more effective." Prakash said as a result of the January 3 order, all types of registration, without any restrictions, were now open. In view of this, the government wants to bring in the legislation and the restrictions at the earliest. "We will bring the legislation — an amendment to the Karnataka Stamps and Registrations Act — in the legislature session, beginning January 19. But there will be a lag period of about three months, as this legislation has to get Presidential assent," Prakash said. The state also considered putting in a review petition in the HC on the January 3 order, but dropped it as the law department favoured the amendment as a better option. Prakash said suitable amendments to the Karnataka Municipalities Act (1964) will also be brought in the session to ensure that the restrictions are properly implemented. In revenue layouts: On the regularisation of property in revenue layouts against payment of a fine, Prakash said the issue will come up before the next cabinet session for clearance.
Bangalore biz majors revise office hours
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Intellectual property stuck in Bangalore traffic could soon become a thing of the past. Tormented by slow moving traffic which rendered employees distressed and tired even before they stepped into office, Bangalore corporates have revised their office timings to beat the city's infamous bumper-to-bumper vehicular movement. Biotech major Biocon has advanced its office hours from October, with the clock ticking for them from 7.30 am to 4 pm. UK-based retail giant Tesco's Whitefield facility has re-scheduled its timings to 8.15am to 5.15pm from mid-December, software behemoth TCS to 8am-5pm from November, and Siemens to 7.15 am-4.30 pm. Prior to this revamp, all of these companies were sticking to the predictable 9.30 am to 5.30 pm schedule.
Chinese telecom vendor Huawei Technologies, interestingly, has pushed forward its office hours at its Airport Road facility by an hour with the timings now scheduled from 10.30am, a far cry from the peak-hour of 9.30am. Biocon's HR head Gautam Reddy told The Sunday Times of India that employees were spending more than three hours to commute to and fro from the office every day. "Being a research firm we want people to be as fresh as possible when they come in. Initially, there was some resistance as people found it too early. But now they are enjoying it as they are getting a lot of time at home in the evening," he said. "Now we have a bunch of content employees, who have time to catch up with friends or go to a pub."
Dodging Traffic And Talking Business In Bangalore
By Aaron Ricadela
Within a few hours in Bangalore, you can go from wending your way down a dirt road outside a 17th-Century mosque lined with trinket-sellers, barefoot urchins, and men herding sheep in the street, to drinking beer in the walled-off gardens of the old British Bangalore Club, where Winston Churchill used sup. It's not that other cities don't abut rich and poor, extravagant and destitute. But here they're in high relief. And quite literally, nearly crashing into each other.
For entry one in a week-long blog I'll keep of a reporting trip to India: 24 hours on duty and off. I arrived at my hotel at nearly 3 a.m. Sunday after negotiating the chaos of the baggage claim at Bangalore International—a misnomer, really, since the crumbling former industrial airport owned by military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has been pressed into service as an international port of call to accommodate the city's booming technology business. It takes 20 hours to get here from San Francisco, and I've been assured that's the short way. It also means that day's night and night day, which led to breakfast at 3 p.m. They do make a strong pot of coffee here though.
I knew I was on tap to meet some executives from IT outsourcing company Microland in the evening, but I wanted to see Bangalore for myself first. So I hired a taxi driver for two hours for the equivalent of $15—for that price the driver will take you around the city, and wait for you while you walk around and see the sights. But getting around can be an adventure. The poor are on foot, the noveau riche drive new cars, and in between surge city buses, auto rickshaws—smoke-spewing, three-wheeled motorized cabs, taxis, trucks, and ubiquitous motor scooters. The roads—the paved ones—have lines on the blacktop, but that's a formality. Generally, the whole lot lurches forward in an urgent mass. Suresh Iyer, a VP at Microland, compares it to a school of fish. They just know where to go.
Which brings me to the Bangalore Club. Built in 1868, it's the type of woody, Raj-era oasis that that still has a men's only bar, and another tie-required chamber with a giant hookah in the corner. My host, Microland chairman Pradeep Kar, a bearded, casually dressed Indian businessman who used to live in California's Silicon Valley, walks me through the place and tells me about his company's origins as a PC importer, distributor, and network designer. That's partly where the 1,300-person IT outsourcing firm's big contracts with U.S. companies like General Electric and Proctor & Gamble sprang from. Microland got out of the computer distribution business in 1998, but its IT services work persists quite nicely. Like most things in business, high-tech money here didn't suddenly appear here whole cloth. But the juxtapositions resulting from it seem to some residents to have done so.
For entry one in a week-long blog I'll keep of a reporting trip to India: 24 hours on duty and off. I arrived at my hotel at nearly 3 a.m. Sunday after negotiating the chaos of the baggage claim at Bangalore International—a misnomer, really, since the crumbling former industrial airport owned by military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has been pressed into service as an international port of call to accommodate the city's booming technology business. It takes 20 hours to get here from San Francisco, and I've been assured that's the short way. It also means that day's night and night day, which led to breakfast at 3 p.m. They do make a strong pot of coffee here though.
I knew I was on tap to meet some executives from IT outsourcing company Microland in the evening, but I wanted to see Bangalore for myself first. So I hired a taxi driver for two hours for the equivalent of $15—for that price the driver will take you around the city, and wait for you while you walk around and see the sights. But getting around can be an adventure. The poor are on foot, the noveau riche drive new cars, and in between surge city buses, auto rickshaws—smoke-spewing, three-wheeled motorized cabs, taxis, trucks, and ubiquitous motor scooters. The roads—the paved ones—have lines on the blacktop, but that's a formality. Generally, the whole lot lurches forward in an urgent mass. Suresh Iyer, a VP at Microland, compares it to a school of fish. They just know where to go.
Which brings me to the Bangalore Club. Built in 1868, it's the type of woody, Raj-era oasis that that still has a men's only bar, and another tie-required chamber with a giant hookah in the corner. My host, Microland chairman Pradeep Kar, a bearded, casually dressed Indian businessman who used to live in California's Silicon Valley, walks me through the place and tells me about his company's origins as a PC importer, distributor, and network designer. That's partly where the 1,300-person IT outsourcing firm's big contracts with U.S. companies like General Electric and Proctor & Gamble sprang from. Microland got out of the computer distribution business in 1998, but its IT services work persists quite nicely. Like most things in business, high-tech money here didn't suddenly appear here whole cloth. But the juxtapositions resulting from it seem to some residents to have done so.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Bangalore has the ingredients to be one of the best cities
EDISON THOMAS
What should Bangalore’s priorities be this year? The government of India introduced the National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) in December 2005, with financial incentives to the states and municipalities. Sixty-three cities have been chosen. Bangalore is one of them. We should make maximum use of this.
Should we try a new approach to citizens’ participation in governance this year? Yes, absolutely! We believe that unless citizens are given a formal role, participation can only be sporadic and through patronage. For the first time a formal role is suggested for the urban citizen through NURM, with a law for citizens’ participation in urban India.
How is citizens’ participation different under the scheme? The dilemma in engaging the urban citizen thus far has been the large numbers. The size of the ward constituency in a metropolitan city is anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000. NURM proposes a simple solution — the area sabha. Every resident within each area will have an opportunity to participate. Citizens need to be proactive and ensure that the government delivers this law.
Is there a silver lining? Bangalore has all the ingredients to be one of the best cities in the world. We were pioneers in Panchayati Raj reforms and have an engaged citizenry and a plethora of NGOs. The BDA has one of the best digitised data information systems and the BMP one of the best financial management systems. With this kind of good quality information must follow good quality decision making.
Bangalore too to catch cold wave
According to A L Koppar, the temperature could plunge to 12.5 °C in the next couple of days.
Bangalore too is expected to witness a sharp dip in temperature accompanied by fog in the next few days, if predictions of the weatherman are anything to go by. According to Director A L Koppar, the temperature could plunge to 12.5 °C in the next couple of days. However, the dip cannot be attributed to the cold wave currently sweeping north India. “We are currently under the easterly influence and not the cold waves that are lashing the northern parts of India. Oscillating temperatures that increase and decrease from the normal minimum temperature of 15 °C are a regular phenomena during this month,” he said. Incidentally, the light drizzle that Bangalore received on Sunday morning is also a part of the easterly influence.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Bangalore United Pentecostal Church has Released a Special Apostolic Resource Website
On 18th November, Bangalore United Pentecostal Church has lunched a special online informative website providing links and other information on Apostolic Resource.
The first of its kind of Apostolic Resource is now more widely accessible on the Internet. This would be probably one of few sites you will find on world wide web. This project currently gives information about the best Apostolic Resource on Sermon, Bible Study, Audio and Video.
The Administrator of this special Project says "We want to provide the best information on any Apostolic Resource to visitors who use our site. Many Apostolic resource are available on net, but since they are scattered all over hundreds of websites, it would be very helpful to visitors if they can find all the prime sources at one spot. That's what Our Project's Main Purpose"
The World Wide Web is filled with so many resource which a normal Christian person search for. Among these thousands of websites, finding an Apostolic Resource would be very time consumable work. This Special Project of Bangalore United Pentecostal Church has a list of 35 major Christian topics and also you will find information on other useful topics. The simple text format of this Website is very user friendly and easy viewable.
The navigator system of this website is a time saving effort and you can always go to the desired page from current page. All the pages takes very less time to load and this is not a much graphical site. More information about this site and Apostolic Resources can be found at www.unitedpentecostalchurch.info
The Administrator of this special Project says "We want to provide the best information on any Apostolic Resource to visitors who use our site. Many Apostolic resource are available on net, but since they are scattered all over hundreds of websites, it would be very helpful to visitors if they can find all the prime sources at one spot. That's what Our Project's Main Purpose"
The World Wide Web is filled with so many resource which a normal Christian person search for. Among these thousands of websites, finding an Apostolic Resource would be very time consumable work. This Special Project of Bangalore United Pentecostal Church has a list of 35 major Christian topics and also you will find information on other useful topics. The simple text format of this Website is very user friendly and easy viewable.
The navigator system of this website is a time saving effort and you can always go to the desired page from current page. All the pages takes very less time to load and this is not a much graphical site. More information about this site and Apostolic Resources can be found at www.unitedpentecostalchurch.info
Saturday, January 07, 2006
'World would soon adapt to Bengaluru'
When it comes to changing the names of cities and towns, there's history and there's geography. Wait a second. For Americans, there is also commerce. Boom city Bangalore may be in a momentary rewind mode historically, but there is no looking back in the United States, where the ringing of cash registers can bring about a name change. Would Bangalore call itself Billtown if the world’s richest man plonked down a few billions and promised to fix its beat-up infrastructure? Fat chance? No compunction about such deals in the US, albeit on a smaller scale. Last month, the city of Clark, Texas, renamed itself DISH as part of an advertising campaign for EchoStar Communication, which gave the town’s 125 residents free satellite equipment and services in return (cost: $ 4500 per home).
Back with a bengaluru
Go for the new name - Bengaluru adds up to a dream number, says numerologist Sanjay B Jumaani.
Is Changing the name of a city a good idea?
The debate rages on, and most have strong personal views on the matter. We decided to consult numerologist, Sanjay B Jumaani and get another perspective on the issue. Excerpts from the interview:
Earlier, 'Bangalore' added up to 20 (which adds up to 2), which is represented by the Moon, an imaginative, moody and creative number - but a little lazy.
'Bengaluru' adds up by default to a dream number - 33, which adds up to 6, the number of Venus, planet of peace, love, prosperity and harmony. As 3 is Jupiter's number, two 3s make double Jupiter. Jupiter is both the biggest planet and the planet of wealth.
Is Changing the name of a city a good idea?
The debate rages on, and most have strong personal views on the matter. We decided to consult numerologist, Sanjay B Jumaani and get another perspective on the issue. Excerpts from the interview:
Earlier, 'Bangalore' added up to 20 (which adds up to 2), which is represented by the Moon, an imaginative, moody and creative number - but a little lazy.
'Bengaluru' adds up by default to a dream number - 33, which adds up to 6, the number of Venus, planet of peace, love, prosperity and harmony. As 3 is Jupiter's number, two 3s make double Jupiter. Jupiter is both the biggest planet and the planet of wealth.
Friday, January 06, 2006
B'lore incident rings alarm bells
Although Pune is perceived as a safe city, the rape and murder of a BPO employee in Bangalore, by a taxi driver attached to a call centre there, has got the city BPOs seriously thinking of enhancing security measures, especially for their female employees. Over 20,000 people work in the 30-odd BPOs in the city. Around 50 per cent of them are women, who work at odd hours and on night shifts. Ganesh Natarajan, chairman of the outsourcing conclave of the Confederation of Indian Industry, western region, and deputy chairman and managing director of Zensar Technologies, said the Bangalore incident is an alarm signal for BPOs. "Most BPOs do reference checks of all collateral staff, including drivers, and ensure that they come from reputed contractors/agencies, apart from making sure that a female never travels unaccompanied on long distances.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Bangalore no more a mere terror hideout
CHENNAI: For two decades, Bangalore was known to be an easy hideout for terrorists and underworld dons, especially those from Tamil Nadu. Most terrorists on the run were traced to Bangalore and killed in shootouts here by Tamil Nadu police. But the Wednesday shootout at IISc has proved that Bangalore is no more just a hideout. Can one ever forget the encounter with Sivarasan and Subha, co-assassins of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, along with other LTTE members in a hideout in Konanakunte? Sivarasan and company were not the first LTTE cadres to have taken refuge in Bangalore. Since the hard stand taken in Tamil Nadu against LTTE and its chief Villupillai Prabhakaran, the increasingly cosmopolitan Bangalore has provided an easy escape for the hunted Tigers. And experts believe that the city was used to hatch plots and re-group. It is now that Islamic terrorism which is raising its head here. As recent as 2002, gangsters had freed two terrorist of Al Umma, Imam Ali and Hyder Ali, from police custody in Madurai...
Bangalore loses safe city tag
The rape and murder of call centre worker, Prathibha Srikanth Murthy, has raised questions about safety for women in the city, in general - whether it's working women, or college girls, women on a night out, or even out on a walk. Bangalore was, so far, considered safe for women, but is that the reality? Is it safe to go any place alone, or do they feel it's risky or dangerous? BT found that for most women, their defences are up when they are alone. Parul Seth, a young corporate, says earlier, she could travel back home from work alone at night, but now, she finds it difficult, and says Bangalore's going the Delhi way. She recalls how she was travelling with a friend, a woman, by car, back from work.
"I was not partying. I was harassed by a taxi driver, he got his friends over and they surrounded the car and intimidated us, and this was in a busy locality. When I got out of the car to confront them, they came at me. I didn't want to be manhandled, so I went back and sat in the car. It was because I was a woman that they did it, because the minute my husband came there with his friends (I called him over), they backed off." She says she keeps her mobile handy, but"How much precaution can you take?" She makes sure she wears a shawl and a jacket, because"when I tell people about an incident the first thing they ask me is what I was wearing, but there is harassment even if you are fully clothed." Pooja Singh, a corporate employee, says she works upto 9-9.30 pm sometimes, and has faced harassment on the streets."Guys follow you. Or they come on bikes and pretend to ask for directions. This happens even during daytime. And just when you are helping them out, they'll ask you if you have a boyfriend, or if you can come with them for a cup of coffee.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Now, Bangalore gets Gurgaoned!
Bangalore may have become the byword for worldwide off-shoring, but guess which satellite town tops the Garden City-turned-IT metropolis in the business? The good old Haryana enclave of Gurgaon. According to a nationwide survey of Indian cities considered the most attractive ITO/BPO services destination conducted by the firm Neo-IT, Gurgaon (100) pips Bangalore (99.6) to second place. They are followed by Pune and Hyderabad (tied at 99.3), Chennai (98.3), Kolkata (95.3) and Chandigarh (93). The numbers are what Neo-IT calls the Offshore City Competitive Index (OCC) and the metrics used to compute it include People (number, quality, education system), Infrastructure, Financials and Catalysts. Mumbai (90.5) and Delhi (85.4) are in the middle of the pack, while Lucknow (78.4), Guwahati (77.1), Ahmedabad (74.7) and Goa (69.7) make up the bottom four in the list. Current trends indicate that top supplier companies in India as well as global companies are looking at alternative cities to develop additional centres, including outside India, the report said. While competition from Chinese and Filipino cities is strong, there is a healthy competition among internal Indian cities to entice suppliers and clients alike
"This increasing trend is sure to accelerate the emergence of multiple delivery centres within India and rapid development overall," the report observed in an upbeat assessment of the offshoring trend while recording a sudden spurt in activity among Tier II cities in India and a narrowing gap between urban and semi-urban centres. The 27-city OCC index included Tier II cities such as Mysore, Mangalore, Trichy, Coimbatore, Indore, Vizag, Nagpur and Shimla. The report also classified Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi as Generation I cities that possessed manpower and other catalytic conditions in the 1990s to attract IT business. Hyderabad and Chennai are classed as Generation II cities that began their growth phase in the mid-90s and significantly improved their competitiveness. Mysore, Coimbatore, Vizag, Noida, Kolkota, Chandigarh are seen as Gen III cities which have the potential to get there. Laggard cities are those with a low OCC Index and low performance rating. They include Jaipur, Bhubhaneshwar, Shimla, Nagpur, Guwahati, Goa and Ahmedabad. "These cities need to critically evaluate their competitive factor and adopt concrete actionable plans... before they are permanently left behind," the report warned.
Is Bangalore crumbling? A guide to action...
There are many who seem to think that Bangalore is in terminal decline. They see the consummation of this process in the epic battle between Deve Gowda and S M Krishna. There is a dire prediction of the exit of major IT giants from the city. Some in the media believe that the rot will be stemmed only when there is a truce between these giants. It is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for solving the city's malaise. The news of Bangalore's demise, I am afraid, has been exaggerated. First of all, there should be a more balanced view of the current situation and understanding of where remedial actions are immediately needed. Glib generalisations about the crumbling infrastructure conveys a picture of everything in the city falling apart. Only five years ago, people were complaining about electricity, water, telephones, roads, transport and garbage. Today, one does not hear much about most of these services. The fact is that there has been an improvement in water supply, electricity, telecom, public transport and even garbage removal. Surveys have confirmed these improvements. We need to give credit where it is due. Of course, there is scope for further improvement in all these areas and the matter should be addressed separately. But we need to appreciate that at present from an infrastructural standpoint, the main sectors lagging behind are roads and drains
