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Saturday,
April 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Bangalore sings slowdown blues
Car device for heatstroke
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Hoechst Marion net spurts 60 pc Is computer good for children?
Won Aussie jackpot? Beware! Suicide bid
by Piramal chief
Gujarat Ambuja net jumps 32 pc ‘Decentralise energy management’
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Bangalore sings slowdown blues Bangalore, April 27 Leading software companies such as Infosys Technologies, whose sales had doubled annually the past five years, suddenly are forecasting growth of just 30 per cent this year. To cope, many companies have clammed down hard on spending. Trigyn Technologies, whose clients include Hewlett-Packard and Nokia, has frozen hiring unless linked to specific projects, closed some U.S. offices and slashed top executives' salaries by 50 per cent. Mascot Systems, another software services firm, has taken similar action. "We've frozen salaries at current levels and any increase will be linked to company performance." Few companies have laid off workers, but primarily because of India's stiff labour laws. "We can't use the term layoffs in the Indian context," said the head of one Indian software company, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If I try layoffs, I have to pay 50 per cent of the wages." The fact Indian engineers typically earn only a fifth of what their U.S. counterparts get has also made layoffs less necessary, industry officials say. But fewer companies are still willing to hire enough staff to also have some engineers and programmers sitting "on the bench", ready to respond to an increase in orders.
Now the waiting is of a different sort. "Almost everyone has sort of frozen new recruitments," said N. Muralidharan, Managing Director of Jobstreet.com's India unit said. "Most are in a wait-and-watch mode." The hiring freeze is having a big effect on employment conditions and employee mentality. Fewer companies offer stock options and mid-year salary hikes, common incentives for retaining talented employees during the freewheeling Internet boom. There is less need as software workers themselves embrace the concepts of loyalty, security and long-term prospects. Job-hunting is on the rise, but is often motivated by the search for safer havens, particularly among junior workers. "There is a great feeling of insecurity among employees in terms of the environment," said Nathan S.V., the top personnel manager at Internet technology firm Planetasia.com, who said he was hiring only senior managers.
Not all is grim
But expansion and new hiring certainly has not come to a complete stop, especially in firms building future technologies. Telecoms equipment maker Lucent may slash 10,000 jobs in the USA, but this week it announced plans to hire 500 in Bangalore, mainly to aid wireless and optical technology work. And R. Vidyasagar, head of human resources at financial software product firm i-flex solutions, said he was still hiring actively. Growing orders from Europe too is offering succour to Indian software firms in the face of the volatile U.S. market, which accounted for more than 60 per cent of India's $6.2 billion exports in 2000/01 (April-March).
Reuters
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Wintech students left in lurch Chandigarh, April 27 Interestingly, today a franchise of another computer institute is planning to operate from the same premises. Frantic enquiries by the students who were pursuing a computer course with Wintech have yielded no satisfactory answers. The students, who have already completed a course, are demanding certificates and those whose classes were suspended midway all of a sudden want the faculty members to complete the course, at least. Sources revealed that even the faculty members have left the institute en masse allegedly owing to the non-payment of their salaries for the past four months. Despite repeated attempts Mr Vineet, the head of Wintech franchise, could not be contacted for his comments. Similarly phone calls to Mumbai head-office also went unattended. However, an executive from the institute, who requested anonymity, said: “The students have been trapped. The whole day they keep pouring in asking about certificates and fee refund. Some of them have even threatened legal action”. The staff is busy convincing those who had completed the course that they would be provided with the provisional certificates within a few days. Some of the students told The Tribune that they had spent as much as Rs 42,000 for an eight-month course on e-commerce. A case of cheating and criminal breach of trust was registered with the Moti Nagar Police station in Delhi against Wintech Computers in January this year. About 50 students, who had been enrolled for a computer course in West Delhi’s Wintech outlet, had claimed that the company had cheated them.
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Car device for heatstroke New York, April 27 General Motors Corp unveiled the device at a news conference in New York on Thursday, saying it hoped to address a serious safety issue that has taken the lives of at least 120 children in the USA since 1996. Using research conducted by a paediatrician, GM has developed a high frequency but very low energy radar sensor that would be built into the roof of a vehicle, capable of detecting motion as slight as the breathing of a sleeping infant. When the sensor detects the presence of a child inside a vehicle and determines the vehicle's air temperature is potentially dangerous, it instructs the horn to issue three short honks, or "chirps." "We are committed to putting this technology into production, GM Vice- Chairman Harry Pearce said at a news conference on Thursday. GM aims to offer the sensor in its minivans and full-sized utility vehicles in 2004, if not sooner.
Technology in the works
The system's sensor focuses mainly on a car's rear seating area, where children are most likely to be. The sensor will also pick up motion inside a vehicle's trunk, but it is engineered not to detect movement or heat outside the vehicle, which could result in false alarms. The device also detects the presence of pets, which Humane Society officials estimated die five times more frequently than children from heat strain while trapped inside vehicles. A Ford Motor Co.spokesman said Ford is developing similar devices to prevent entrapment, which were shown on a sedan produced by its Volvo division last year. One device still in testing checks for carbon dioxide emissions from the trunk, and either opens the trunk lid or sounds an alarm if emissions measure too high. In October, 2000, Ford showcased a device similar to GM's sensor that was capable of detecting a human heartbeat. Ford did not specify when the new safety features will enter commercial production or start being offered on new vehicles. Thresholds for sounding the "chirping" GM alarm are still being developed, based on data collected when GM of Canada parked 10 male college students, one by one, in the backseat of a black Chevrolet Cavalier inside a hot climactic chamber. The findings were adjusted, based on body size, to reflect the effects the conditions would have on infants.
Bottomline for consumers
Pearce would not estimate the potential cost of GM's sensor system, but said he hoped to integrate it into vehicle security systems to make it more cost-effective for consumers. He also suggested the sensor could be linked to GM's OnStar vehicle security and information service. Safetyforum.com Director Ralph Hoar said the sensor's costs to consumers should be "negligible. It's all done with (computer) chips." In fact, he argued GM should step up its technology and use an automated "voice" that would be more easily understood by passers-by than the three monotonous chirps. "If it can say "Door ajar," can't it say "Child in car?" he asked. Janette Fennell, co-founder of non-profit organization Kids 'N Cars, said GM's heat strain-based initiative touches upon only one of the dangers of leaving a child in a closed vehicle, which also include strangulation, carbon monoxide poisoning, and shifting the car into gear.
Reuters
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Hoechst Marion net spurts 60 pc Mumbai, April 27 Net sales increased by 14.59 per cent to Rs 117.8 crore during Q1 compared to Rs 102.8 crore in Q1 2000, HMRL said in a release here today. Other income for the quarter ended March 31, 2001 was at Rs 4 crore (Rs 90 lakh), which includes interest income from advance tax payment and refund of sales tax, it added. The company’s exceptional income stood at Rs 15 crore on account of proceeds from granting development rights on a portion of its land, the release said, adding that the exceptional expenses were Rs 4 crore, including amortisation of expenses of the voluntary retirement scheme implemented last fiscal and marketing and technical rights. HMRL’s domestic net sales grew by 14.6 per cent over the same quarter last year while its strategic brands grew strongly, led by Cardace, Allegra and Amaryl, it said. The company’s exports grew by 18 per cent with good recovery in the cis countries and expansion in new markets of Central Asian Republics. CMC net jumps four-fold: CMC Limited, a Government of India enterprise, today reported a staggering Rs 17.54 crore net profit during the fourth quarter of 2000-2001 against Rs 4.35 crore in the same quarter of previous fiscal, company sources said. Net profit during the full fiscal stood higher at Rs 24.46 crore against Rs 12.70 crore in 1999-2000, the sources said. Total income during the last quarter jumped to Rs 232.50 crore (Rs 171.41 crore) and during the full fiscal to Rs 552.21 crore from Rs 468.74 crore, they said. Better results were achieved due to huge reduction in staff cost to Rs 27.82 crore during the quarter from Rs 34.86 crore even as expenditure on materials and overseas deployment stood higher compared to last year’s expenses on these accounts. Interest charges during the quarter increased to Rs 95.40 crore from Rs 86.33 crore, while depreciation charges almost doubled to Rs 3.85 crore from Rs 2.13 crore in the 4th quarter of last fiscal.
PTI
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Is computer good for children? Research shows that far better than sticking kids in front of
computers is putting them with caring adults, engaging them in creative play, outdoor experiences with nature, the arts, and hands-on learning of all kinds. “For certain types of learning,” says educational psychologist Jane Healy, author of Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds — for Better and Worse, “certain mental habits such as motivation, perseverance, concentration, and certainly reading and language skills, everything we know suggests that this technology may do more harm than good.” In the early years, children begin to learn many of the skills that will carry them through the rest of their lives: language and socialisation, the ability to organise their thoughts, and the concept of cause and effect. They learn to find solutions, to be creative, to imagine, to self-motivate, and to respond to failure by trying again. They develop and refine small and large motor skills, depth perception, and hand-eye coordination. They are beginning to understand how they fit into a larger world and gain a sense of competence and a basic self-esteem. How do they learn so much? Through experience, experimentation, and observation: tasting, smelling, hearing, touching. It is the real-life lessons — the climbing over and scooting under, putting one cup inside another, and chasing things around the kitchen floor — that teach a child how the world and his body work. Pushing a computer key to make an animated monkey dance does not have the same effect. For young children, seeing circles and squares is not as good as manipulating circles and squares.
Language better than computers If you ever have a choice between reading to your child and letting him log on to the computer, read. What makes us human will always be language. In order to effectively use a computer, we must know how to read and understand what we are reading. So more important to the pre-schooler than learning computer skills is learning language. Songs, nursery rhymes, word games, questions and little jokes all help the child acquire and master language. To give your child a head start in school, start reading aloud almost from birth. Fill your child’s life with books, read to your child every day, ask your child to point out the bunny or baby or letter “b” on the page, take your child to the library frequently, and be sure your child sees you read every day. The best way to ensure that your child will learn to read is to provide many hours of that time-honored triad — child, parent’s lap and book. There is no evidence (though there are lots of claims) that computers magically develop reading or math skills in pre-schoolers. A computer cannot be as spontaneous or responsive as a parent or a teacher. Sitting in front of a computer by definition means the child is relatively inactive and passive, as in TV viewing. Children need lots of physical activity and learn better by doing than watching. The computer leads the child to the right answer, which is a good way to both learn and reinforce learning. But children also need to realise there is not always one answer in order to approach critical thinking. Another downside is that much of the software available is violent and some of it is not child-friendly, even though it’s marketed to children.
Music beats computers too According to a study published in the February 1997 issue of Neurological Research, music training—specifically piano instruction—is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. The findings were the result of a 2-year experiment with pre-schoolers. A follow-up study found that music uniquely enhances higher brain functions required for mathematics, chess, science and engineering. Both studies indicate that music training generates the neural connections used for abstract reasoning, including those necessary for understanding mathematical concepts.
Tips for parents Give your children their real needs in life for healthy development before introducing a computer. The human and physical world holds greater learning potential. In the 3-dimensional real world, children encounter the unexpected. On the computer screen, children see only the choices a programmer has developed for them. The keyboard and mouse constraint a child’s option to reach out and touch the world. If you’re planning to buy your child a computer, keep the following in mind: * Keep the computer in a central location. Do not place a computer in your child’s room until he/she is clearly able to use it responsibly. * Any time your child starts to substitute computer time for normal social contacts, responsibilities at school and home, or show hyperactivity, sleep disturbance or depression with extended use, take action. * And it’s important to feed the body, not just the mind. Don’t make children sit in a chair and stare at moving pictures. Get them outside to play too. Play is a necessity for physical and mental health in children. Research shows that children who play well show gains in many other areas such as language development, social skills and imagination. * If you’re buying software, choose programmes that encourage children to be actors, not reactors. Avoid programmes that stoop to drilling (rote single-answer questions) and are dolled up with bouncy graphics. Also avoid “edutainment” programmes that border on computer or video game banality. * Make sure that your child takes a break from computer work every 20 minutes and spends no more than about 45 minutes in any hour at a computer.
TWN Features |
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Won
Aussie jackpot? Beware! New Delhi, April 27 Scores of people in New Delhi have received such letters, apparently originating from a World Wide Winners Search Centre in Sydney, asking them to send U.S. $19 to cover “handling charges” of delivering them the prize money within 72 hours. Many have fallen for the gambit - and that’s the last they have seen of their money. Those who did not received repeat letters, or the missives were directed at other members of their family. The Delhi Police say they have not received any complaint so far, and Australian diplomats say they are not aware of the fraud. But victims are venting their anger. C.L.M. Reddy, a government employee who resides in R.K. Puram, received the letter several times but treated them with contempt. Then his wife, Sandhya Rani, started getting the letter.
IANS |
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Suicide bid
by Piramal chief Mumbai, April 27 The 69-year-old industrialist shot himself at around 3 p.m. yesterday and was rushed to Breach Candy Hospital where his condition was stated to be critical as he was still unconscious, the police said. A suicide note, found in his room, stated that he wanted to end his life without giving any reason, they said. The police suspect business problems to be a major reason behind the suicide attempt. Piramal, who often stayed till late night at his office, had yesterday returned home early at around 2 p.m. Around 3.15 p.m. a close relative and his servant heard gun shots from Piramal’s room. Piramal’s wife, currently in the USA, has been informed about the incident, police said.
PTI |
cr
Gujarat Ambuja net jumps 32 pc Mumbai, April 27 The turnover during Q3 stood at Rs 386.25 crore as against Rs 331.48 crore, an increase of 17 per cent, the company said in a release in Mumbai on Friday. It sold 15.42 lakh tonnes of cement for the period under review compared to 14.98 lakh tonnes in the previous quarter. The company’s two subsidiaries - Ambuja Cement Eastern and Ambuja Cement Rajasthan, posted net profits of Rs 10.11 crore (loss of Rs 9.55 crore last year) and cash profit of Rs 1.88 crore (loss of Rs 23.46 crore last year), respectively. Exide Industries has posted a 15 per cent decline in the net profit at Rs 41.56 crore for the financial year ended March, 2001, as compared to Rs 48.89 crore for 1999-2000. The Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of 15 per cent, taking the total dividend to 40 per cent for 2000-01. It posted a net profit of Rs 13.62 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2001, (Rs 17.28 crore) and the total income at Rs 238.2 crore (rs 221.42 crore). The company had declared interim dividend at Rs 2.50 per share (25 per cent) for the 2000-01 at the Board meeting held on April 5, last year. E Merck has recorded a 31.95 per cent rise in the net profit at Rs 6.69 crore for the first quarter ended March, 2001, as compared to Rs 5.07 crore in the same period last year. The total income for the period under review stood at Rs 73.22 crore as compared to Rs 68.80 crore for the quarter ended March, 2000. The company is planning to discontinue imaging products business (non ionic radilogical X-Ray Contrast medium) and would terminate its alliance with Bracco of Italy for sale and distribution of their products in India from June 30, 2001. Hindalco holds 5.3 crore equity shares of Indal representing 74.62 per cent of the company’s paid up share capital. Satyam: The Board of Satyam Computer Services India has approved the enhancment of ceiling of investments by FIIs from the existing 40 per cent to 49 per cent. Hindustan construction company has reported a 20.69 per cent fall in the net profit at Rs 5.25 crore for the third quarter ended March 31, 2001, compared to Rs 6.62 crore in same period of previous fiscal. The turnover in the reporting quarter was Rs 157.40 crore, marginally higher than Rs 155.70 crore posted in Q3 of last year. CRISIL today maintained a divided of 55 per cent for the year ended March 31,2001. The board also hiked the shareholding limit for FIIs to 49 per cent and for NRIs and OCBs to 24 per cent. SHAW WALLACE GALETINE today reported a net loss of Rs 0.39 crore during the fourth quarter of 2000-2001 against a net profit of Rs 0.52 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year. Despite the adverse performance in the last quarter, the company managed to report a net profit of Rs 0.69 crore during the full fiscal, which was much lower than Rs 4.18 crore in the previous fiscal. Total income during the last quarter came down to Rs 11.57 crore from Rs 12.27 crore last year as the company had to deduct Rs 0.30 crore on account of other income. IEC Softwares
today announced a 79 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 3.85 crore during 2000-01 as against a net profit of Rs 2.14 crore posted in the previous year.
UNI, PTI
Chandigarh, April 27 He was delivering the inaugural address at the two-day training programme on energy management, organised by CII here today. He said the role of the government lay in creating conditions for the private sector to work efficiently. The state government's proposed initiative to involve private producers in small power projects would have a positive impact on pricing which is another important aspect of energy management. Last year as many as 500 solar pump sets were installed in Punjab and this year the aim is to double that number. Though the cost of each such set is around Rs 4.5 lakh, subsidies and rebates make them available for merely Rs 35,000, he said Mr Kirpal, Member Operations, Punjab State Electricity Board, pointed towards the gap between the demand and supply of power, which , he said, touched as much as 20 to 22 per cent during peak hours. Mr I.S. Paul, Chairman, CII, Chandigarh Council, suggested that initiatives should be extended to cover small and medium enterprises which are the backbone of the nation. He said that identifying the energy efficient units and sharing of experiences of such units with others would help tremendously in saving energy.
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CII suggestion Export obligation Zap InfoTech Apollo Hospital |
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