The Cyberabad Times

Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, has moved its operations in Hyderabad to a larger facility at Mindspace IT Park, a press release said. Accenture set up its operations in the city in 2003. It currently employs over 600 people providing technology services to global clients.

“Hyderabad is an integral part of Accenture’s global delivery network. This new and larger facility is further proof of Accenture’s commitment to India,” Chet Kamat, head, India Delivery Centre Network, Accenture, said. “Our employees in Hyderabad deliver industry-leading technology services that help address some of the greatest business challenges of customers around the world,” he added.

Accenture’s global delivery network consists of more than 40 delivery centres around the world including facilities in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. In India, its facilities are located in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Source : Business Standard

Waste handling all set to go colourful

From Tuesday, residences in the twin cities will have college students knocking on their door to brief housewives on handling garbage generated at home. Waste handling is also set to become a `colourful affair' with bright red and green bins to be used for segregation of dry and wet waste respectively.

The visits are part of a massive state-wide campaign by the National Green Corps (NGC), aimed at making urban residential areas across the State cleaner and reducing the load on municipal garbage dumps.

The campaign, according to NGC Andhra Pradesh director, W.G. Prasanna Kumar, will see NGC's Eco Club students from over 1,300 degree colleges being involved in introduction of the phased launching of house-level segregated collection of waste in areas covered by the 125 urban local bodies or municipalities in Andhra Pradesh.

The campaign will have students going door-to-door, educating the public on collecting waste in the colour bins. Talk shows, street plays and awareness programmes in public spots, residential areas and on campuses will be part of the campaign.

ISB ups its batch strength

The Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) has increased the intake of students for its 2006 batch by 28 per cent. ISB claims that it will continue to ramp up its student strength every year till it reaches its full capacity of 550.

This year the student strength stands at 349. Last the figure was 273 and in 2001, at the time of ISB’s inception, it was 126.

ISB Dean M Rammohan Rao said that the reason for a gradual increase in the class strength is ISB’s emphasis on admitting “students of high calibre”.

The institute claims it has made extra effort to attract students from non-metro cities in the country. Students from relatively smaller cities and towns such as Goa, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Mathura, Mangalore, Solan, Panipat and Thiruvananthapuram have made it to ISB this year.

Cash in on golden period

The present generation of students are in the `golden period' when the nation's economy is poised to take off in a big way, thanks to India emerging as a leader in the IT field, the Director, IBM India, Ganesh Margabandhu said. He was the chief guest at the inaugural of second batch of MCA class of 2007 at ICFAI School of Information Technology (ISIT), here on Monday.

Listing out the favourable factors, he said the present generation has a great opportunity called India which was growing not only in IT but in bio-engineering, bio-medicine, etc., and universities like ICFAI were specially designing innovative courses to suit the requirements of industry including IT.

He advised the students of tightly packed two-year MCA course as against the three-year conventional MCA course to develop strong functional skills and an ability to apply, adapt and integrate information technology in any business environment.

The fast developing technology of Internet has redefined the concept of working and computing was undergoing phenomenal changes, he said. The IT services were available for customers to utilise and pay with offshore development ensuring 24x7 service to the client.

Lot of thought had gone into designing the curriculum and the programme has six terms spread over two years. Apart from Hyderabad, it was offered in six other cities. ISIT signed up with Microsoft and Oracle Corporation for their certification programmes, he said.

ISIT launches second batch of MCA course
Students told to develop strong functional skills
ISIT in pact with Microsoft, Oracle for the programme
Apart from Hyderabad, the course is offered in six cities

Source: The Hindu

City's voice at child labour meeting

A city lad will speak up against child labour and present their woes in the form of folk songs at an international conference on child labour and children's rights to be held at Geneva from June 6 to 10.

G. Anjaneyulu, a rescued child labourer under the tutelage of Arya Samaj Bonded Labour Child Labour Front has been selected for the conference. A native of Khanapur village in Atmakur mandal of Mahabubnagar district, he spent his childhood working in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. While working in a cycle shop, he was rescued by M. Sudarshan of Arya Samaj and enrolled in the primary school of Atmakur.

IT hubs to be high security zones

The Cyberabad police have initiated plans to convert Madhapur and Gachibowli areas, hubs of software development companies of the State, into high security zones to check any kind of subversive activities. As a first step in that direction, the Cyberabad Police Commissioner, M. Mahendar Reddy, held a series of meetings with the managements of software firms. About 1,000 software firms, including several global players, have their offices at Madhapur and Gachibowli.

According to sources, a check-post or a help desk is being planned at every 300 metres in the areas, each of which would be manned round the clock jointly by the police and private security agencies. Besides having modern communication facilities, the check-posts will have drop gates. There is also a plan to introduce electronic barricading to ensure that all roads are closed at the press of a button.

Sources say that the software firms have been asked to bear the expenses of employing private security and the necessary gadgets. The Cyberabad Commissioner said officials of various departments like Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, APTransco and Transport department were part of the meetings. So far, six such meetings have been convened, wherein issues like road widening, parking lots/junctions and having private security figured. However, the Cyberabad Police Commissioner clarified that there was no immediate threat to the software installations.

Icrisat project wins Award

The project developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) for managing the pigeonpea pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera, through the production and use of the biopesticide Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (NPV) has won World Bank’s Development Marketplace Award for 2005.

Icrisat’s project, titled ‘traditional technology with a modern twist’, is among the 31 projects selected through global competition by World Bank for this year’s award. Icrisat and partner, the Centre for World Solidarity (a Hyderabad-based non-governmental organisation working on integrated pest management), will receive a grant of US $150,000, for establishing 100 community-based rural NPV production facilities. The project’s sustainability is based on the programme to train villagers on NPV production and utilisation, and thus spread awareness on the use of biopesticides.

RTC introduces free pick-up

Book a ticket for an APSRTC bus and get a free ride to the bus station. Yes, commuters in the twin cities travelling by RTC buses can now reach their place of boarding without shelling out a pie. Before the scheduled time of departure, a pick-up van will come to their doorstep and take them to the bus station free of cost.

The scheme recently introduced by the authorised ticket-booking agents of RTC at Ameerpet and Kukatpally Housing Board has become a big hit with a large number of people availing the facility. Encouraged by its success, the APSRTC Ranga Reddy region has decided to extend the service to another 10 centres in the State capital from June 6.

The new centres are BHEL, Alwal, NGO Colony, Vanasthalipuram, Shivam, Mehdipatnam, Ramanthapur, Tarnaka, Kukatpally, Chaitanyapuri and Kothapet. The RTC has 62 ticket-booking agents in the city and together they sell about 4,500 tickets per day. The passenger pick-up facility is introduced primarily to meet the challenge posed by private bus operators and to wean away passengers from them. Though 520 private buses are operated from the city, so far no operator thought of running a pick-up service to transport passengers to the boarding point, it is said.

Meanwhile, the passenger rush at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) has picked up. Normally, 2,650 buses are operated from here everyday with an average of 50,000 passengers boarding and an equal number alighting.

Window to world from India

Seven years since its inception at Hyderabad, Microsoft India Development Centre has evolved into becoming a product development centre for the global software giant, writes Rajesh Parishwad.

Scores of brilliant engineers from India migrated to the land of opportunities during 1990s for not only greener pastures but also to be a part of the technological revolution sweeping through the US. Indians managed to find a place in the budding as well as established technology companies, making a sizeable contribution to their growth. Besides, they were also ambassadors of Indian talent. The scene was no different at Microsoft.

In fact, a huge number of Indian engineers were working at Microsoft’s product development centre at Redmond. In the mid-1990s, as the movement for offshore or remote development had caught on, a team of Indian engineers based at Redmond was talking of “doing something” in India with the Microsoft’s top management. Starting “something” here hastened with Microsoft Chief Bill Gates’ maiden visit to the country. Bill Gates, who was impressed with the quality of people and standards of education, gave the green signal to start a development centre in India.

In 1998, the company’s second technology facility — Microsoft India Development Centre (MIDC) was opened in India. The choice of the location surprised many, as they opted for Hyderabad instead of Bangalore, which was being considered the country’s Silicon Valley. The story goes that former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu personally invited Bill Gates to start their operations in Hyderabad.

From 20 people in 1998, the MIDC has now grown to over 500 professionals. It has released several key products in recent years, demonstrating its ability to conceptualise and develop products for millions of diverse set of customers all over the world. MIDC has been making critical contributions to key Microsoft products like Windows, TabletPC, MSN, Pocket PC and Longhorn, the next generation of Windows operating system.

MIDC has already filed for 40 patents in 2004 for various innovations besides identifying additional 70 projects that can be patented in 2005. Says MIDC Managing Director Srini Koppolu, who moved to India from the US to set up the development centre here, "As we grow in the organisation, the number of patents filed from Hyderabad will continue to grow."

The company has filed for patents across all its product categories, Mr Koppolu, who has six patents to his credit on COM technology, notes. "Microsoft has filed over 5,000 patents so far. It is more of a defensive move rather than offensive," he told Deccan Herald at his sprawling campus in Hyderabad. MIDC, the largest development centre for Microsoft outside the US and is becoming the most strategic development centre for the company.

MICROSOFT INDIA DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Established: 1998

Location: Hyderabad

Number of employees: 500

Investment earmarked: $ 100 million

Number of patents filed: 40 in 2004

Products Released: Services for Unix, Visual J# .NET, Outlook to Notes Connector and Windows System Resource Manager.

New Initiatives: Networking Technology Centre,

Developer Division, Enterprise Storage Group, Business Solution Group, Tablet PC.

Compassion is his thing

When it comes to compassion nothing beats Clinton. Bill Clinton, Special Envoy of the U.N. Secretary-General for Tsunami Recovery, empathises with seven-month-old Mohammed Imran Nazeer of Silladi Nagar in Nagapattinam.

Clinton

His mother managed to hold him tight when the tsunami struck on December 26. His two brothers, seven-year-old Mohammed Basith and five-year-old Abdul Halim, were snatched away from their mother by the giant wave; only the older survived.

CIEFL courses in July

The Central Institute of English and Foreign Langauges (CIEFL) will offer certificate and diploma part-time courses in various foreign languages from July this year.

According to a press release, the following courses are offered: Both the certificate of proficiency and advanced diploma in Arabic, German, Spanish, Russian and French; a diploma in Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and French; diploma in translation in Arabic and German; diploma in technical and scientific translation in Russian; and a beginners course in Arabic are available.

For SC and ST candidates, reservation and fee concession will be given as per the rules. Fee concession will be provided for physically handicapped candidates.

The registration into the courses will begin from June 1.

Source: Newindpress

HMWS to step up revenue collection

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB), Managing Director, KS Jawahar Reddy on Friday asked the Water board officials to take measures to increase the monthly revenue collections for achieving the target.

Reviewing the revenue collections for this month, he said that the Board could only collect around Rs 12 crore as against the target of Rs 20 crore for the month.

He further asked the officials to verify the functioning of the meters in all the divisions, and directed to rectify immediately those, which are in defunct condition. At the time of issuing of spot bills, steps should be taken to collect the bills also, he said.

Source: Newindpress

Learn while you earn : OU

Earn while you learn is a passe. Now, it is the other way. The Department of Commerce, Osmania University, will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with GE to offer B.Com course to the latter’s employees at the work place. The university, apart from formulating the curriculum, will send its faculty members to teach the GE employees. The examinations will be conducted annually.

Disclosing this to the media, Prof H Venkateshwarlu, Dean, Commerce Department, said the new module was being worked out to suit the industry requirements. "The course will aid those who have missed academics due to a job," he says.

Source: Newindpress

JM Financial MF ties up with Karvy

Karvy Computershare Private Ltd on Friday announced its association with JM Financial Mutual Fund. Under this arrangement, Karvy would act as JM Financial's exclusive registrar and share transfer (R&T) agent in India.

In a press release here, Karvy said the inclusion of an esteemed fund house such as JM Financial to its portfolio has further broadened its penetration in the mutual fund registry business. This, Karvy said, is an outcome of global capabilities and local expertise in carrying forward the legacy of comprehensive registry management services in India.

New HUDA VC

Jayesh Ranjan on Thursday took over as Vice-Chairman of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA). Mr. Ranjan took charge from the Commissioner and Director, Municipal Administration, and in-charge Vice-Chairman, Vijay Kumar. Later, he held a series of meetings with officers to know about the on-going projects. Mr. Ranjan worked as Sub-Collector, Nandyal, Project Officer, ITDA, Rampachodavaram, Project Director, DPAP, and Project Director, Velugu, Chittoor.

Wider city roads

The twin cities will witness a number of road widenings and junction improvements in the next three months. A task force will be constituted soon to oversee the road widening works. This was stated by MCH Commissioner Sanjay Jaju at the 10th meeting of the council on Thursday.

He said priority would be given to road widening and junction improvement works. About 30 junctions have been identified for improvement and the works will be taken up soon, he said. Corporators of different political parties complained that the road widening works taken up by the MCH at various places in the city were going on at a snail’s pace. The MCH Commissioner said steps would be taken to speed up the work progress. He said equal importance would be given to the development of the Old City and the new city.

Yakutpura MLA Mumtaz Ahmed Khan alleged that the MCH was neglecting the development of the Old City. He urged the new commissioner to take steps to develop infrastructural facilities in the old city. Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy urged the commissioner to involve local corporators in execution of road widening works.

BJP floor leader Shyam Sunder Burugula suggested that the house owners whose properties were acquired for road widening be given the option of selling the additional FSI benefit they got in lieu of it. A policy on FSI rights should be evolved to protect the interests of the affected house owners, he said. The Mayor promised to look into the matter.

Source : Newindpress

Fish medicine contains steroids

The fish medicine given to asthma patients by a family contains steroids, has been confirmed by the National Accredited Board for Laboratories (NABL) recently, according to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), former director, P M Bhargava.

"We don't know from where the steroids came in the medicine. It should be either from the herbs or from the fish itself. But, the fact is that the steroids will bring temporarily relief and would have adverse effect over a period of time," Bhargava, who has been spearheading a campaign against the se of such medicines said.

The medicine was analysed as per the high court order. Bhargava said such medicines, which have no data or scientific studies to prove its efficacy, will have no effect on patients. Every year on June 7, Bathina family administers fish medicine to asthma patients, who come from various places including abroad for the cure.

PTI

Infy to be richer by Rs 1,500 cr

Another chapter is being added to the fairytale of wealth creation as the senior management of Infy is set to grow richer by over Rs 1,500 crore (estimated). Infy's much-talked about second sponsored ADS is yielding an unprecedented wealth to its own founders, directors, employees and a clutch of institutional investors.

While the actual valuation is slated to be known in a late evening announcement by the company top brass currently in New York, the valuations arrived from the ADS pricing on the Nasdaq stock exchange is heady. For instance, Infy chief mentor and chairman N R Narayana Murthy offered 1.55 million shares with an estimated valuation of around Rs 462 crore, its managing director and CEO Nandan Nilekani's cash bag would be slightly smaller at around Rs 320 crore. They didn't have to offload much for this money as Murthy sold only 0.57% of his stake while it was even lower for Nilekani at 0.4%. The company's chief operating officer, S Gopalakrishnan, sold 0.4% stake for a valuation of Rs 310 crore. Murthy now holds slightly over 6% in Infy. Indian promoters accounted for 32% of the Rs 16 million ADS issue.

Australian student visa changes

To make application procedure for student visas more streamlined, the Australian High Commission (AHC) has introduced a new system for Indian and Nepalese students applying for visas through education agents and those applying directly. From May 16, under the new procedure, for the applications lodged through agents, the procedure to follow is for agents to submit completed papers with the AHCs business partner TT Services (TTS) across the country. Applicants choosing to self lodge will continue to do so through TTS.

Before approaching TTS, agents will have to ensure that the applications are valid by verifying all documents of students. TTS will then issue medical forms. It will then send documents to AHC which will re-verify documents before issuing visas. Agents would have to submit a declaration pledging responsibility to AHC about the veracity of the documents.

Volkswagen team to visit

German car major Volkswagen’s officials will hold a vendors meet for the proposed Visakhapatnam manufacturing plant here at Hyderabad on Thursday. This is the first vendors meet planned by the company, which is also expected to conduct similar exercises in the country’s vendor bases such as Gurgaon and other places to tie-up with ancillaries required for the project.

A ten-member delegation, including Volkswagen’s India project head Helmuth Schuster, will land at Vizag on Wednesday to visit the project location and arrive at Hyderabad the next day for the scheduled vendors meet. According to the official tour programme, the three-day trip will being with the German team directly flying into Visakhapatnam on a chartered flight from Chennai on Wednesday morning.

Apart from visiting the site earmarked by the state government for the proposed car manufacturing plant near Vizag Steel, the team will also visit other places of interest before arriving at Hyderabad on Thursday afternoon. The team will hold a meeting with local vendors for enlisting ancillaries required for the manufacturing plant on the same day. On May 27, the team will visit the Indian School of Business (ISB) and a couple of IT companies at Madhapur before winding up the tour the same evening.

According to official sources, the Volkswagen management is also mulling to shift its Skoda assembly plant at Aurangabad to the Vizag facility. The Euro1 billion project at Visakhapatnam has been planned both for domestic market as well as for exports.

M&M plans Logan facility

Close on the heels of Volkswagen announcing its decision to set up a manufacturing facility in Vizag, Mahindra & Mahindra is learnt to have indicated that it is likely to locate its joint venture facility for manufacturing Renault’s Logan cars at Zahirabad in Andhra Pradesh.

Zahirabad, a small town in the Medak district, is nearly 100 km from Hyderabad. The company has an LCV (light commercial vehicle) manufacturing plant at Zahirabad. The LCVs are sold under the Allwyn Nissan brand.

The company has formed a JV with French automobile manufacturer Renault to produce its popular C-segment passenger car in the country from 2007. M&M will have 51 per cent stake in the project, which is expected to cost about Rs 700 crore.

Indo-German MOU on air services

India and Germany today signed a Memorandum Of Understanding updating the existing Air Services Agreement (ASA) between the two countries. The delegations representing the two Governments met in New Delhi on 24-25 May, 2005 to work out the arrangements governing the air services between the two countries.

As per the revised Air Services Agreement the existing Route Schedule would be amended to provide for:

Grant of access to Hyderabad, Goa and Kochi as additional points of call in India, without intermediate 5th freedom traffic rights, for the designated airlines of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Grant of access to three additional points of call (to be specified by India) in the Federal Republic of Germany, without intermediate 5th freedom traffic rights, for the designated airlines of India.

Grant of access to any point beyond for the designated airlines of both sides including the exercise of 5th freedom traffic rights to/from these beyond points by the designated airlines of both sides on all their services.

The designated airlines of each side would be permitted to operate a total of 50 frequencies per week in each direction, with an aircraft with capacity not exceeding that of a B747, in a phased manner, as follows:

Winter 2005/06 42 per week

Summer 2006 50 per week

Within the above capacity entitlements, the designated airlines of the Federal Republic of Germany will be permitted to operate a maximum of 7 frequencies to/through any point of call in India, excluding Delhi. The designated airlines of the Federal Republic of Germany will be permitted to operate a maximum of 20 frequencies to/through Delhi, in a phased manner, as follows :

Winter 2005/06 14 per week

Summer 2006 17 per week

Winter 2006/07 20 per week

The permission granted to Lufthansa, one of the designated airlines of the Federal Republic of Germany, to operate 5 additional frequencies (2 to Bangalore and 3 to Hyderabad) on a provisional basis up to 31 May 2005 would be extended further till the end of the Summer 2005 time table period. The designated airlines of both sides would be permitted to operate as many frequencies as they wish, with any aircraft type, from any point(s) in their home country, via any point(s), to any point(s) in the territory of the other country and beyond to any point(s) and vice versa, including with traffic rights. The delegations agreed to meet again in mid 2006 to further discuss air services’ matters, including the use of Airbus A380 aircraft.

Sunil Dutt 1929 - 2005

Giraffes, zebras to adorn Zoo

The Nehru Zoo Park, one of the biggest zoo parks in Asia, is planning to acquire more animals this year. It will acquire the animals under an exchange programme with other zoos situated at different places in the world. The zoo park will get a pair of giraffes, four zebras and four squirrel monkeys.

Having learnt about the zoo park’s plans, the Philippine Zoo has already agreed to provide zebras and the South American squirrel monkeys to it. In exchange, it has sought an elephant from the Nehru Zoo. The proposal to acquire the new animals has been sent to the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi.

Once, the proposal is cleared, the Zoo Park will get the zebras and squirrel monkeys.
The Nehru Zoo spread over an area of 360 acres has about 3,000 animals. There are 15 varieties of primates, 20 varieties of carnivores, 24 varieties of herbivores, 13 varieties of reptiles and 192 bird species. The zoo has 18 lions and 24 tigers (8 white tigers).

To promote its animal adoption scheme, the zoo authorities are planning to appoint 10 agents (five each for the Old City and New City). A proposal in this regard has been submitted to the State Government. The agents will be paid 10 per cent commission if they get any of the animals adopted by any firm or individual.

Utility mapping in nine months

The ‘Computer Aided Utility Mapping’ project for Hyderabad city will be completed in nine months, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH), Commissioner, Sanjay Jaju said. The project was supposed to be completed in 18 months.

Participating in a one-day workshop on Computer Aided Utility Mapping organised by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) at ASCI here, he said that the project will help in collecting information about resources in the city like water, and about facilities for sewerage, electricity, roads and communication by creating digital maps, with a view to augment urban planning.

The Central Government selected Hyderabad as one among the six cities in the country to take up the computer aided utility mapping under National Urban Renewal Mission.

The other five cities that were selected for the project are Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkatta and Mumbai. The National Urban Renewal Mission keeping in view the fact that there was a rapid urbanisation all over the nation sanctioned the project.

An outlay of Rs 5,500 crore has been earmarked in the Union Budget 2005-06 for the implementation of the project in all the six cities. The NIC, Director General, N Vijayaditya said that the project is bound to bring a change disaster management, utility mapping, generating GIS for villages to see that disparities existing the villages are corrected and proper steps ate taken.

Through this project, the six cities can get maximum benefits. He urged the civic departments and other agencies that are involved in the project to help them in preparing the GIS. Various departments should work hand-in-hand for the success of the project, Vijayaditya said. Advisor, Murali said that once the utility network records are available on the computer they could be shared among other utilities for better management of their functioning. Also it will prove to be a boon to the planning departments, as they have most accurate data available for perspective planning.

Jobs in the sky go up

The sudden spurt in the number of airlines -- both domestic and international has thrown open a plethora of fresh opportunities for jobs such as pilots and cabin-crew.
the required educational qualification for pursuing a career in this sector is minimum 10+2 or intermediate with Mathematics and Physics as must subjects.

Speaking about the salary, he said that the remuneration offered is lucrative. It might range between Rs 60,000-Rs 80,000 per month as the pilot’s job is challenging and full of adventures. The cabin-crew including air hostesses, stewards, are also well paid and draw minimum salary of Rs 30,000 per month.

There are presently three aviation academies in Andhra Pradesh which offer long term courses of two to three years. Very critical to a job seeker in the aviation field is medical fitness. The pilot has to be Class I fit which means that one must be 100 per cent healthy physically and mentally.

Planet Hollywood in Hyderabad?

Britney Spears might come to India when the Planet Hollywood chain of restaurants opens here early next year, if the pop princess' baby delivery schedule does not clash with the launch. Like elsewhere, Planet Hollywood restaurants in India would also be filled with memorabilia from legendary Hollywood blockbusters like Spiderman's costume from the films, a fighter jet used in a film and stuff from Stallone, Willis and the California governor's film.

The restaurants would be opened in five cities around the country. One each at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore are finalised and the other two could be either in Chennai and Hyderabad or Goa and Kolkata. Planet Hollywood founders call their restaurants "eatertainment". The restaurants in India would have high tech audio systems, which would play clips of movies, videos, and guests would also be able to see what is happening in Planet Hollywood restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, London and Paris.

Planet Hollywood has been described as a 'shrine' dedicated to Hollywood movies, with theme dining and chock-a-block with Hollywood memorabilia. The Arch Millennium portfolio includes chains like the Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, Doubletree and Holiday Inn Hotels.

Satyam joins insurance initiative

Satyam Computer Services Limited today announced that it has partnered with Microsoft 'Experience Insurance' initiative, offering a comprehensive approach for addressing market pressures facing the insurance enterprise.

The initiative is focused on significantly improving three key areas-- the insurance customer, employee and operations experience. Satyam has been working with Microsoft technologies and reusable solution frameworks in developing large integrated insurance value chain solutions for various carriers and insurance value chain partners, a company release said today.

Superspeciality hospital coming up

The ball has been set rolling for the construction of a superspeciality hospital at Sanathnagar here by the State Government in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Labour for employees working in various industries.

The superspeciality hospital, which would come up on a 13.5 acre land at Sanathnagar, will be constructed at a cost of about Rs 60 crore. It would cater to the needs of 40-lakh workforce in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

To a question, he said that the pattern of funding was being worked out between the Central and State governments.

He said that superspeciality treat referrals have been provided to 9,417 ESI beneficiaries to the tune of Rs 1.16 crore. Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has already agreed to permit the employees directly refer to superspeciality tie-up hospitals without referring to government hospitals except for treatment for angiogram, angioplasty with stent, angioplasty and CT scan, the Minister said.

Showcase of Buddhist sites

Hundreds of devotees had a glimpse of a relic of Lord Buddha at Necklace Road on Monday. The bone, which was excavated from Bavikonda in Visakhapatnam about 12 years ago, is on display to mark the Buddha Jayanthi Festival, which started off here on Monday.

The relic was brought on a chariot from the AP State Museum amid chanting of Vedic hymns. A large number of Buddhist monks from various monasteries in the country took part in the procession.

Geeta Reddy said a large number of officials of Dalai Lama would come to the State to oversee the arrangements Kala Chakra festival which will be held at Amaravati in January next year. More than two lakh Buddhist monks from all over the world will participate in the event.

A theme park on the ‘Life and Legend of Gautam Buddha’ is coming up at Nagarjunasagar. The project has taken up at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. The Tourism Department has funded the development of Ghantasala village in Krishna district, which will also be part of the Buddhist circuit. Several cultural programmes were presented on the occasion. MP Anjan Kumar Yadav, corporator G Krishna Yadav and others were also present on the occasion.

Satyam scale China headcount to 3000

In yet another attempt to expand the definition of offshore-onsite model, Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services, an IT services and solutions company is charting out plans to further expand its operations in China.

Being the first to set up a facility in Shanghai Pudong Software Park, in early 2002, Satyam has around 150 associates (as of December 2004) with 98 percent local talent. The company has plans to increase the workforce to 3000 by 2007 and set up two more operations, one in Dalian and another in Beijing.

Call center training for the underprivileged

According to the press release, Aptech is inviting applications from candidates belonging to schedule castes (SCs), other backward classes (OBCs) and minorities for admission in modules for voice and accent and personality development for appointment in the BPO industry and call centers. Selected candidates, upon admission, would not only be entitled for free coaching but a monthly stipend of Rs 700 and Rs 225 for outstation and local candidates respectively.

A total of 60 seats will be available at each location i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Heavy rain lashes city

Trees were uprooted and hoardings razed due to the downpour on Sunday at several places in the city. The power supply was disrupted in Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Khairtabad, Begumpet, Madhapur and other places for more than four to six hours on Sunday night.

Sheets of water were seen on roads in the city on Monday morning. As a result, traffic moved at a snail’s pace on arterial roads like the Khairtabad flyover in the morning. However, the heavy rains brought down the sweltering heat by a few degrees.

Supersonic jet trainer facility

Leveraging the light combat aircraft (LCA) technology, India is now considering the possibility of developing its own supersonic jet trainer facility along with a multi-role medium range combat plane indigenously. Mr M. Natarajan, Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, said that this move on supersonic jet trainer and multi-mode combat aircraft was a logical extension of the LCA technology that India has developed. However, the matter has not yet been taken up with the three services arms and the Integrated Defence Committee.

Mr Natarajan was delivering a keynote address on a meet on `Emerging Technologies for Unmanned Air Vehicles' at Research Centre Imarat of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Representatives from various Defence establishments and scientists participated in the event, which was organised by the Aeronautical Society of India's Hyderabad chapter. The event assumes importance with projections showing increasing potential for unmanned airborne vehicles for civilian, policing and Defence applications.

Indian experts have worked on a major part of the Rs 10,000-crore LCA project budget on development of the light combat aircraft, airborne early warning systems and the Kaveri Engine.

It is now under consideration to leverage the knowhow from such a large project and extend its applicability to design and development of advanced systems. Given the vendor network and technology capabilities, it can facilitate designers to work on a supersonic jetliner along with a multi-role medium range combat aircraft.

India has taken a decision to acquire the advanced trainer jet, Hawk, from Britain, in an effort to upgrade the skills of Air Force pilots. DRDO has also embarked on a major developmental programme to make India self-reliant in unmanned airborne vehicles.

Software to cut pharma R&D spend

It’s a fact that IT is revolutionising and kickstarting every molecule under development and what more, it is integrating from lab to market at a faster pace. Business intelligence software and services can create true enterprise intelligence, especially when the R&D costs in the pharma sector is scaling upwards despite competition.

Here comes the need for a technology, which can reduce ‘time to intelligence’ and ‘time to market’. Being provided by the North Carolina-based SAS Inc, the software helps in ‘time to discovery’ thus making all the difference. The $1.5-billion SAS Inc, claimed to be the world’s largest privately-held company, caters to more than 90% of the Fortune 500 companies.

SAS India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of SAS Inc, is being used over 40,000 sites in the country. Right from the discovery stage to sales and marketing, SAS has evolved a solution, which can optimise the flow of valuable scientific and operational data within pharma and biotech firms.

Says Sudipta K Sen, CEO of SAS India Pvt Ltd, “We are the only company that offers an end-to-end solution to drive efficiencies throughout every stage of a drug’s lifecycle.”

Above all, it is interesting to note that for e-submission for US FDA approval, the whole application has to be in SAS format, adds George Verghese, head of marketing. Adding to this credit, the company hopes to add three to six customers per month.

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report on Business Intelligence in India, SAS India led the business intelligence market in the country with a share of 22.5%. “We are bullish about the growth as the R&D trends in the industry seems to be expanding. We are planning to post a growth higher than the industry average of 25%,” he said. The company has launched SAS Drug Development 3.0, in a bid to tap the $100 million-Indian clinical research market through data integration and analysis. It allows lifescience firms to analyse the clinical research for regulatory submission and explore new market opportunities, product line extensions and safety issues - all through a centralised repository.

For instance, the discovery stage is taken care by a drug discovery solution, which contains an Extract Transform Load wherein unified information is extracted from different databases in a single organisation.

MMTS-bus combo tickets

Here is some good news for MMTS commuters. The proposal for a combined train and bus ticket for MMTS passengers is likely to materialise soon. The MMTS project authorities forwarded the proposal to the Railway Board three days ago, seeking its approval for introduction of the combo ticket. The combo ticket is likely to increase the occupancy rate both in the MMTS trains and MMTS link buses. The officials of the MMTS project, railways and RTC held a meeting a fortnight ago and finalised the proposal for the combo ticket. It has been proposed to introduce three types of combo tickets.

They are a monthly pass, which enables people to travel by APSRTC ordinary buses and MMTS trains from anywhere to anywhere and a monthly pass, which permits people to travel in MMTS trains and link buses from anywhere to anywhere. The third one is a Travel as You Like one-day ticket which allows people to travel in any MMTS train or ordinary bus. The number of passengers travelling in MMTS trains per day has gone up from 11,297 in August 2003 to 29,885 in April 2005. The revenue per day has also increased from Rs 66,442 to Rs 1,35,493.

DC takes 67 pc in Asian Age

Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) has acquired an additional 67 per cent stake in Asian Age Holdings Ltd (AAHL) for a consideration of Rs 17.10 crore, taking its total holding in the media company to 90 per cent. Hyderabad-based DCHL already holds 23 per cent stake in AAHL, Deccan Chronicle said in a release here today.

Leela's groups to setup new hotels

The Leela Palaces and Resorts plans to set up three new hotels at Udaipur, Chennai and Hyderabad, at an investment of Rs695bn, Vivek Nair, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the group said on Friday. A new palace hotel at Lake Pichchola in Udaipur is under construction, Nair told reporters in New Delhi. The hotel is expected to be completed for the 2007 winter season with about 68 guest rooms and royal suites. The palace hotel is likely to cost Rs650mn.

In Chennai, the group has acquired a property at Adyar beach and proposes to build a 15-storey hotel with 360 guest rooms and suites, according to Nair. Work on the Rs3.2bn project is scheduled to begin in August and the hotel is expected to be commissioned in early 2008. In Hyderabad, the Leela group has identified a prime location in Banjara hills to build a hotel with 300 rooms at a projected cost of Rs3.1bn, Nair said. The hotel is likely to be commissioned by 2008.

The Group is also embarking on renovation and upgradation of its existing hotels in Mumbai and Bangalore at an investment of Rs1.3bn, Nair said, adding that the Group would raise the funds through internal accruals and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds worth $80mn. It is also eyeing two properties in Kerala. One of the hotels would have 200 rooms built with an investment of Rs1.1bn. The group is also looking at the possibility of acquiring an existing beach resort or a plot being offered by Government of Kerala at Bekal Tourism Zone in North Kerala.

The Group might look at the six properties being offered by Delhi government in view of the Commonwealth Games, said Nair. The Leela Palace Bangalore has one of the highest average room rates (ARR) in Asia at Rs14,000, Peter J Leitgeb, president, Leela Palaces and Resorts said. The hotel also has an 85% occupancy during weekdays, he added. Due to high turn-away factor, an additional wing of 120 guest rooms is being added with an investment of Rs400mn. This wing is expected to be operational by May 2006. The Leela Kempinski Mumbai is also undergoing a refurbishment programme at a cost of Rs900mn. 119 guest rooms are being renovated to suit the needs of business travelers.

IDFC offers Rs 300cr

IDFC is in the process of funding about Rs 300 crore for the proposed greenfield Hyderabad International Airport project. The Managing Director of IDFC, Rajiv B. Lall, said that IDFC as a lead institution, facility, and security agent is actively engaged in the project finance for the Rs 1,763-crore airport project.

The project has debt component of Rs 519 crore and Rs 300 crore from IDFC would be a major chunk in the funding arrangement made through a consortium of banks and financial institutions. The project is at an advanced stage of achieving financial closure, which is expected to be completed on schedule. Speaking to newspersons after IDFC filed its draft red herring prospectus on May 18, Lall said that the book-building process is aimed at investors, including Government and financial institutions offloading their shares.

Lall said that the infrastructure development in the country has gathered momentum, offering scope for funding agencies such as IDFC. "As a specialised infrastructure funding agency, IDFC is positioned strategically and exploring funding options in infrastructure projects such as roads, airports, and the energy sector."

In the fiscal gone by, IDFC recorded its highest-ever gross approvals, which were pegged at Rs 6,414 crore for 59 projects against Rs 5,720 crore for 83 projects in the previous year. The cumulative approvals grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 36 per cent at Rs 24,594 crore for 198 projects and approvals net of cancellations were Rs 14,980 crore.

IDFC's assets are estimated at Rs 9,000 crore, Lall said. About 50 per cent of the Rs 850-crore private equity infrastructure fund has been committed and IDFC's share as a percentage of total private infrastructure financing is about 20-25 per cent. This is set to grow to about 30 per cent in the current year, Lall added.

Referring to IDFC's proposed IPO, he said: "IDFC had started the process of redefining its business plan following approval by the company board and the Government, with the latter being the major shareholder with 35 per cent equity. We have filed for the IPO with the SEBI and expect to get approval within two weeks; the public offering is likely by June-end."

New Map Policy to encourage GIS

The New Map Policy announced by the Centre is expected to boost the Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based industry, as well as help create a range of databases, which could be used in better planning and implementation of development projects.

The policy, announced by the Union Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal, will allow for two sets of maps - one for civilian utility, the Open Series Maps (OSMs), and the Defence Series Maps (DSMs). The Survey of India, under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), will be the nodal agency to make available these maps.

India, with an area of about 32,87,263 sq. km., has been covered through topographical and geographical maps. The topographical maps are large format in the scale of 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 sheets and useful to professionals such as geographers, engineers, planners, tourists and foresters. The geographical maps are small scale 1:2,50,000. These are used by various government agencies and research organisations.

However, most of these maps have been made several decades ago. With the changed demands and the availability of satellite imagery, the need is to generate maps of the scale 1:10,000 and lower, which could be used in development projects. Here, the private sector can see an opportunity both in preparing such maps and creating databases.

Though the policy says the civilian maps would provide coordinates, heights, etc., a lot would depend on the contents of the map. Similarly, the industry apprehension remains whether the maps would be freely available or another body would screen them.

The Survey of India has been asked to create a National Digital Topographical Database (NDTB). The use of OSMs would be through registration. A map information registry database is being created. And maps of scale 1:1 million and smaller are being de-classified.

With the growing role for the private sector in providing services to the government and local bodies, there is a need for the creation of a whole scale of new set of maps. The policy's flexibility allowing private agencies to carry out surveys in all parts of the country using public domain data would be a positive step.

There has been persistent demand from the growing private industry using the maps, especially the GIS, Global Positioning Systems, travel and tourism and the infrastructure developers for the removal of restrictions on access to maps. At present, for example, GIS-based companies in India do 90 per cent of their business through foreign projects and only 10 per cent domestic due to the restrictions on the access to digital maps. This situation would significantly reverse, if the policy is implemented in toto, said G.S. Kumar, Chairman of the Map World Technologies and former Director of Survey of India.

The liberalisation in access to maps would help both the private sector and the government organisations. In addition to telecom, planning in infrastructure projects, marketing activities, land records, water and natural resources management and municipalities would gain from the databases that could be created.

During the last 5-6 years, the access to maps became more difficult, especially with the availability of technology to put the maps in digital format. The Ministry of Defence put up a rigid front with issues of security and sensitive nature of the map data being cited in defence, industry experts said.

The industry has been stating that restrictions were slowing down development work and the growth of the sector. For a long time, publication of maps in any form, including in geography textbooks, needed the permission of the Surveyor General of India. There are other restrictions related to defence installations or vital civil areas and features such as reservoirs and dams.

However, with satellite imagery of high resolution coming in and becoming available, especially the one-metre resolution Ikonos images, restrictions were questioned by a section of scientists and private companies needing maps. Though the Indian Space Research Organisation put a committee to screen the request and provide these images of India to private companies, the process took three months. While a foreign company could get the maps immediately, hence neither a level playing field nor the security issues could be taken care off.

The Survey of India has generated invaluable data in the form of maps, toposheets of various scales, which provide the basis for the emergence of strong players in the sector. Similarly, the satellite imagery through the Remote Sensing Satellites, and even the recent Cartosat-I, with a resolution of 2.5 metres, and the Cartosat-II (about one metre resolution), scheduled for launch towards the end of 2005 would generate a wealth of data, which could be utilised for planning and creating appropriate databases.

Hyderabad airport expansion contract

Malaysian Airports Authority (MAA) has been awarded the contract for the expansion of Hyderabad airport, Indian High Commissioner to the country, R L Narayan said today.

Narayan told reporters at a joint press meet that MAA has also been shortlisted for modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. With business and trade relations between India and Malaysia increasing and presence of a number of it companies in the malaysian multimedia super corridor, "the inbound and outbound tourist travel is set to enhance further," he said.

Narayan said Malaysian Airlines, which was already operating to seven destinations in India, proposed to add three more destinations. Malaysian tourism deputy minister Y B Dato Zahid Hamidi said a delegation, led by his country's tourism minister Leo Michael Toyad, would arrive in India this September. The delegation, with a view to fostering better relations between the two countries, would visit Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Sonata opens second centre

Sonata Software Ltd, an IT consulting and software services provider, has announced the inauguration of its Hyderabad development centre, its fourth in India.

The IT Director of TUI UK, Keith Norman, inaugurated the Sonata facility, which will locate TUI's offshore development centre (ODC) and support its IT requirements. TUI is UK's largest holiday company and employs over 9,000 people serving 40 holiday destinations around the world.

The Hyderabad centre spread over 90,000 sq. ft. in five floors has the capacity to host 800 IT professionals.

Big plans for big cats

Even as the dwindling tiger population continues to concern authorities, the Science and Technology Ministry is setting up a facility for conservation of endangered species and has worked out a plan to map the genetic diversity of the big cats as part of the programme. The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lab in Hyderabad, is setting up the facility for conservation of endangered species, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here today.

The facility, to be called LACONES, would be inaugurated in July, he said, adding it would chart out programmes for conservation of endangered species such as vultures and tigers. A programme has been made to map genetic diversity of tigers, he said. It is important because loss of genetic diversity could lead to extinction of the species concerned, he said. If there is enough genetic diversity, the species could be preserved. However, if there is less genetic diversity, tigers need to be brought from outside to create genetic diversity, he said. (Agencies)

Kirloskar Bros bags water project

Kirloskar Brothers has received a letter of award from Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board for a value of Rs 78.62 crore.

According to a release issued by Kirloskar Brothers to the BSE, the project envisates design, manufacture, supply, creation and commissioning of clear water pumping plants under Krishna Drinking Water Supply Project Phase-II.

Andhra Bank ties up with LIC

Andhra Bank and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India have entered into a strategic tie-up for developing bancassurance.

The memorandum of understanding which was signed on Thursday will enable Andhra Bank to become the corporate agent of LIC to provide insurance cover through the wide range of products of LIC to the large customer base of the bank.

According to him Andhra Bank already has an association with LIC for the last two years for some of the products like AB Jeevan Abhaya, AB Jeevan Abhaya Special, AB Jeevan Prakash, AB Jeevan Prakash Plus and liability insurance on its retail loan products.

British Library, OU agreement

Ambience, lighting and colour patterns have a bearing on reading. You will be convinced about this after seeing the renovated British Library. This is the second library, after the one in Chennai, to have cushy interiors in mint green shades, wooden flooring imported from Switzerland and aluminum panels on the walls.

"This is an effort to make reading in the library a pleasure," says Edmund Marsden, Minister (Cultural Affairs), British High Commission. The British Council spent more than Rs 1 crore for the refurbishing the library, putting up a fire safety mechanism, increasing the number of computers and more. Osmania University Vice-Chancellor Prof Suleman Siddiqi formally inaugurated the renovated library. The Council will work to promote academic links with various institutions in the State.It will identify key research and development institutions and produce a document base for the UK centres seeking partnerships, he says adding that Visakhapatnam in the State will soon see an increased activity of the Council.

It will also network with Women’s Studies units at Sri Venkateshwara University and Andhra University. About 25 schools in Hyderabad will be identified for the Young Learners English programme offered by the British Library, says the Minister.
Buzz-events organised for young people—which has been launched in Chennai will be extended to Hyderabad in October this year, he adds. British Library and Osmania University will meet soon to discuss the feasibility of sharing knowledge tools like books and reference journals. The university has a rich collection of books and some rare manuscripts. British Council South India director Eunice Crook, AP State Council of Higher Education former chairman Prof C Subba Rao and British Library manager Sudhakar Goud shared their thoughts about the library.

Gold souk malls

The Rs 300-crore Aerens Group plans to launch specialty malls across India. G.S. Pillai, Director, Aerens Goldsouk International Ltd, said that the first phase would cover Gurgaon, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Kochi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

He said that each of these malls would need an investment of about Rs 80 crore to Rs 110 crore and the construction would take two years. The first specialty mall, the Gold Souk, came up in Gurgaon near New Delhi in October 2004 and houses some of the big names in the jewellery business in India and aboard. The second mall in Ludhiana is a Gold Souk and Wedding Souk. The mall is spread over four acres and is expected to open in 2007.

In Chennai, the company plans to come out with a mall, which caters to the gold and wedding markets as well as the construction and home improvement market. This would be called the Home Souk. The work on this mall will start by October or November, Pillai said. The company also plans to set up a Gold and Wedding Souk in Kochi. Pillai said the company has plans to enter the service apartment segment in all the cities that the Gold Souks are planned.

First awake heart surgery

Kamineni Hospitals cardiac surgeon Dr Sunil Agarwal and cardiac anaesthesiologists Dr Sai Satyanarayana and Dr Phaneshwar have performed its first 'awake heart surgery' last week using cervical epidural anaesthesia. This is a special anaesthesia technique used to perform open heart surgery in an awake patient. This does not paralyse or comatose the patients. The patients can interact with the doctors. The recovery is faster in this method, said Dr CR Patnaik, chief of the anaesthesiology department.

The patient was admitted with aortic stenosis and needed a valve replacement. "The patient was awake and responded to the commands during the surgery," he said. Dr Sai and Dr Agarwal said the new method with 'beating heart surgery' would reduce the complications. The new method will reduce the costs of surgery, said Kamineni managing director Dr. K Shashidhar in a press release.

6 new galleries at State Museum

A confluence of ancientness and modernity dotted with relics from the bygone centuries greeted the visitors. Right from the sacred relics of Buddha to the Egyptian mummy of a 16-year-old girl to myriad forms of cannons, the six new galleries at the AP State Museum present a picture of novelty. The platinum jubilee celebrations of the museum saw the galleries being thrown open for the public here on Wednesday.

Decorative Art Gallery showcases more than 400 items made of terracota, ivory, agate, crystal and many more. Move on to Egyptian Mummy Gallery housing the only mummy in South India apart from the Four Pillared Mandapa, Buddhist Sculptural, Inscription and Cannon galleries for a feel of historical artefacts.

A new lease of life has been injected to the museum founded by the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur wayback in 1930. The artefacts are on display along with descriptions in many languages including Arabic, Persian, Telugu and English. Speaking after the inauguration, Andhra Pradesh Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde said that the general public, NGOs and different people’s organisations should come forward to preserve their culture and traditions.

Asian Rowing Championship

The picturesque Hussain Sagar lake is gearing up to host the 11th Asian Rowing Championship to be held here from October 18 to 23. Sailors from over 22 countries are expected to participate in as many as 18 events will be held in eight boat classes for both men and women.

President of Indian Rowing Federation today told reporters here that world class rowers from China, Japan, Korea, Taipei, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other Asian countries will take part in the blue riband event. All races will be rowed on a six-lane marked course.

A grandstand at People's Plaza is coming up and the recing will be conducted alongside the necklace road. Hyderabad had faced tough bids from Pune and Chandigarh. The national team having many international medallists and national champions is expected to perform well during the championship. It is already training in Hyderabad. India ranks second among Asian countries in rowing.

AppLabs Tech's new facility

AppLabs Technologies, a global software testing and development services company, announced the opening of its new facility, AppLabs Global Engineering Centre, here on Wednesday. The new facility at Hyderabad can house around 1000 software professionals.

The six-floored facility is equipped with the state-of-the-art modular work spaces, secure high-speed connectivity, a learning centre, gaming room, spacious cafeteria and a gymnasium. AppLabs at present has a headcount of 600 at its offshore technology centre here.

Backed by WestBridge Capital Partners of Philadelphia, AppLabs maintains testing centers in London, Utah and Hyderabad.

New ITsecretary

"I would like to see Andhra Pradesh make rapid strides in information technology (IT) and occupy No 1 position in the country" said K Ratna Prabha, who has taken charge as the secretary of the Information Technology department on Wednesday.

Ratna Prabha, who happens to be the first woman officer heading the IT department in the State, said: "I am very happy and excited. Information technology is the subject of my heart. I will do my best."

A 1981-batch IAS officer, Ratna Prabha said that her focus would be on promoting investments in information technology sector in the State and also taking IT to rural areas. Ratna Prabha said that she would concentrate on promoting IT in cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati, Warangal and Nellore.

She pointed out that several Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and multinational companies were evincing interest in investing in IT in the State. "They could be motivated to set up their IT offices in the these cities and utilise the services of the young IT professionals coming out of engineering colleges. This would help in generating employment locally," she observed. Stating that she has put in 23 years of government service so far, Ratna Prabha said: "Whichever department I worked, I put my heart and soul into it."

She has last served as the officer on special duty, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (APIIC), Visakhapatnam. Thanking the Government for having faith in her and picking her to head the IT department, Ratna Prabha said that she would work to do justice to the challenging assignment.

Samsung targets Rs 250 cr business

The Samsung India Electronics Limited (SMIEL) has fixed itself a business target of Rs 250 crore in Andhra Pradesh during the current financial year 2005-2006. Company's Deputy Managing Director Ravindra Zutshi said this includes Rs 125 crore from the coastal region. The coastal Andhra region was developing fast and the people preferred to buy modern gadgets.

He said the company had registered 70 per cent growth rate in business in the coastal region, in the last four years. He said the company would soon open a big digital showroom each in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam. Samsung has come up with 31 models of refrigerators and 14 models of air-conditioners, he said.

BMI may fly to Hyderabad

Open skies has led to clenched fists among airlines. Adding to about 60 non stop flights a week between India and London. British Midland Airways or BMI has announced four more flights between Mumbai and London. BMI is offering economy tickets between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 and business class fares at around Rs 96,000. The airline says it would also like to fly to cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore and is hoping that it would get government permission soon. The company also hopes to break even very soon.

Urban governance to get a boost

Sanjay Jaju on Tuesday assumed charge as the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH). He succeeds Chitra Ramachandran who has been appointed Secretary for Youth Services and Sports.

He said he would strive for the all-round development of Hyderabad and sought the support of people, elected representatives and officials to his endeavour. Top priority would be given to citizen-friendly initiatives, IT and urban governance, he said. Jaju said he would take the people, elected representatives and officials into confidence before taking any major decisions on administrative matters.

The MCH Commissioner said he would work in co-ordination with the HMWS&SB, HUDA, CPDCL, APSRTC, police and other departments in implementing development schemes.

Jaju who worked as the Municipal Commissioner of Visakhapatnam earlier, has got good experience in urban governance. After giving a farewell to outgoing Commissioner Chitra Ramachandran, the commissioner met Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy in the latter’s chamber and discussed various development schemes.

Heat increases snow park popularity

With the mercury touching 43 degrees centigrade in Hyderabad, everyone is flocking to a snow park in the middle of the city. For Rs 250, one can spend an hour at Snow World, which is Asia's biggest snow park. The park has been built over 17000 square feet at a cost of Rs 13 crore. With artificial snow to play with and temperature at -4 degrees, it is like being trans-located to Switzerland. "We came to do sightseeing in Hyderabad and after coming here, I have forgotten about the heat outside. It is so cold here," said a visitor.

Hit among tourists

Upto 300 people can play volleyball, take joy rides or simply feel the snow on the back at any given time. The country's only snow park is already a hit among the tourists. "Due to this hot summer, people are not venturing out. That is the problem. Weekends are very good. Even after 3:30 pm, sessions are very good," said M Krishna Gupta, Executive Director, Snow World. Going to an air-conditioned cinema hall in Hyderabad to beat the heat is passé. In the Snow World, you have a polar bear and penguins for company and summer blues are the last thing on your mind.

Radio City looks at Hyderabad

Radio City will bid for the licence of 20-25 stations in the second phase of privatisation. In an exclusive interview with agencyfaqs!, Amber Basu, vice-president, finance and marketing, Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd., which runs Radio City, says, "We are waiting for the second phase of privatisation, which will open up around 300 more markets for radio channels."

The second phase of licensing will probably happen by end-September 2005, Basu says. For Radio City, the metros will be the priority. As Basu says, "We plan to expand to other cities such as Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad." At present, Radio City has stations in four cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Lucknow.

In the second phase of privatisation, the industry is looking forward to a revenue sharing model and not a fixed license fees. He says, "Depending on the government's decision on license fees, we will have to look at the viability of the business model. One also needs to look at the investment required for the infrastructure. After considering all these aspects, we will decide on the markets and the number of cities."

Satyam bags $1-million deal

Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services Limited, a global consulting and IT services provider, has announced that it has bagged a $ 1-million Oracle e-business suite deal from Jordan's third largest GSM operator, Umniah Mobile Company (UMC).

Satyam will implement a customer relationship management (CRM) solution with a point-of-sale (POS) system for UMC’s customer contact centre, a press release said.

This will be integrated with Oracle financials, procurement and inventory modules in the back office. These systems will further be integrated with UMC's mediation, provisioning, billing systems and intelligent network (IN).

Ajith Menon, head of Satyam’s Middle East operations, said, “With this development, we will be contributing to Umniah Mobile Company's growth strategy by offering a CRM solution, application design and development on a global scale.”

“We were looking for a technology partner with expertise in the telecom domain and a strong track record in implementing Oracle applications for new GSM operators. Satyam met our requirements beyond expectations,” Michael Douglas, partner and chief executive officer of UMC, said.

BSNL, Oxigen partnership

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has joined hands with Oxigen, a private pre-paid services company, to offer e-Pin, an electronically deliverable recharge facility.

The facility, launched in Hyderabad, India, recently would let CellOne prepaid customers get their accounts recharged using Andhra Bank ATMs, AP Online and thousands of retail outlets hooked onto the Oxigen server.

Cartosat II launch by year-end

India's second satellite for detailed town mapping, Cartosat II, will be launched by the end of this year, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said today. Addressing a press conference here this evening, Nair described as "highly satisfying" the twin launch of Cartosat I and Hamsat from the new launch pad at Sriharikota, witnessed by President A P J Abdul Kalam, on May five.

Both the satellites had started functioning, with Cartosat I sending detailed images of the entire Amritsar town in Punjab and parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan within 24 hours of the launch. Hamsat, meant for amateur radio communication, had also been well received by users worldwide as it was the only fully functional satellite of its kind now.

About Cartosat II, the ISRO chief said it was being integrated and would be ready for launch within six months. The launch would also see India testing its dual launch capability with two payloads of equal weight being sent into space. Besides Cartosat II, a recoverable module would also be launched. Each would weigh 250 kg.

The country would also see its first commercial launch of a foreign satellite early next year, when an Italian satellite "Agile" would be launched aboard a PSLV, he said. Stating that Antrix, the commercial corporation under ISRO, had netted Rs 300 crore in revenue last year through sale of data, launch services and sale of sub-systems, Nair said it was expecting a 25 per cent increase in revenues this year.

The Chandrayan-1 Moon Mission, Oceansat and Astrosat were some of the other major missions, which the ISRO was presently working on, and which would be ready for launch during 2007-07, Nair said. In the near future, the premier space agency would be launching INSAT 4A in August and INSAT 4C next year, he added.

ISRO had reached an understanding with the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) to manufacture a 34 meter dish antenna, to be located near Bangalore, as part of the deep space tracking network to be set up by ISRO for the Chandrayan mission.

Describing the Chandrayan mission as an ambitious project of ISRO, Nair said the organisation would have to fabricate a number of new scientific instruments for it. Besides ISRO's own payload, three Euorpean payloads had been cleared to ride "piggyback" aboard the mission. Clearance was still awaited for two US payloads, he added.

Referring to Cartosat II, Nair said it would be equipped with added features, which would enable it to map different regions during its daily "pass" over the country. "There are 160 towns in the country, which need to be mapped in detail. These two satellites, providing 3-D images, would come in very handy for the purpose" An international space law conference would be held at Bangalore from June 27 to 29, he said.

In reply to a query on the tsunami early warning system, Nair said ISRO would help the Department of Ocean Development (DOD) in the development of ocean bed sensors and the transmission of signals from the sea to the ground.

Intelligroup plans two more facilities

US-based Intelligroup Inc, a strategic IT consulting service provider that operates through its wholly-owned subsidiary Intelligroup Asia Private Limited in India, is planning to add two new facilities in India within the next three months.

While one of them is slated to be in Hyderabad, the second is likely to come up in Bangalore. Ranjit Prithviraj, chief operations officer, Intelligroup Asia Private Limited, said, "Within the next three months, we will be setting up two new facilities, one each in Hyderabad and Bangalore. This will take our total number of facilities in India to four." Intelligroup currently has two facilities in India and both of them are in Hyderabad.

The company's total global headcount is 2,000 with around 1,400 being in India. It is expecting a year-on-year growth of 40 per cent in its workforce.

Besides, although the company''s major revenues at present come from abroad, it is planning to increase its presence in the Indian market as well.

Lucent to recruit 400 more

New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies, a global leader in system, service and software development for next-generation communications network, is expanding its software development processes in India. Lucent has plans to recruit 400 more techies at its Indian software development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Lucent currently has a total headcount of 1,400 people in these two R&D units. “We will add another 400 people by end of the year. It is part of the regular process of expansion in India. In fact, we have added 300 people over the last one year in these two units,” C S Rao, president & CEO, Lucent Technologies Hindustan, told newspersons on the sidelines of a corporate social responsibility project.

The two Indian development centres of the company are currently engaged in development of software packages for use by telecom companies. Lucent is eyeing India for conducting basic research in the software area as well. “We are hopeful that we will get some breakthroughs and patents out of India,” he said.

Hyderabad Utsav Mela

Variety of products ranging from textiles, dress materials, suits, Bengal cotton sarees, Lucknow chicken dresses and many more are for the taking at the Hyderabad Utsav Mela - 2005 which is on at Necklace Road.

Moreover, there are heavy discounts for different products. There are also 20 varieties of amusement rides apart from food items, a magic show and dog show. The exhibition will conclude on May 18, according to a press release.

Matrix's plans for $200m global offering

Matrix Laboratories Ltd is currently on the verge of finalising a global offering to the tune of $200-million for meeting its growth objectives.

A senior Matrix Lab official told Business Line that the company has decided to go in for the global offering also to fund the capital expenditure needs for the increased business opportunities and to tap opportunities emerging in the global markets.

The company proposes to raise funds from the international capital markets by offering American Depository Receipts (ADRs), Global Depository Receipts (GDRs), foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) or international bonds, the official said.

Five-day week?

The State government is considering the idea of a five-day week for its employees. To begin with, the proposal is being limited to the staff working in the city. According to government sources, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy sounded positively when some senior bureaucrats, who were tasked with suggesting administrative reforms, suggested the idea with him recently. "However, the chief minister wanted a larger debate on the idea, before implementing it," a senior officer involved in the process said. The government is also proposing to have a discussion with the representatives of the gazetted and non-gazetted officers associations on the five-day week job. "In the new system, office hours can be from 9 am to 5.30 pm," the officer said.

The Hyderabad Dream

First off thanks guys... Its really interesting to know what we Hyderabadis want, we want Hyderabad to be the place on earth where you can have everything. Search queries which lead you guys here tell me what you are looking for and it feels good, and tells me what Hyderabadis online look for about their city...

Top queries
1) International Airport Hyderabad
2) Hyderabad Map
3) Flight Schedules
4) Jobs in satyam or cognizant
5) Real estate in Shamshabad
6) Outer Ring Road

So all we want is our city to be developed and be as those cities in the first world. But that package comes with lot of bonuses like, crime, fraud, greed and a more unnawabi lifestyle which we already feel happening, do we really want it? I and most of us want a sustained growth, real growth and result oriented growth. Where everyone benefits out of it, not only those who are educated and living the true Hyderabadi dream living in Hyderabad or abroad, but also those who are on the streets dreaming to be one of them.

The news is that this site has a new mirror. A mirror with a proper domain name www.cyberabadtimes.net , if the traffic peaks in here you will be redirected to the exact location on its mirror. So improved performance! And a most detailed Map coming soon! Please enjoy your stay, Happy browsing.

New cosmos at planetarium

B.M. Birla Planetarium has introduced a new astronomical sky show, The new cosmos, that takes viewers through an exciting journey of galaxies and dramatic and revolutionary changes in the universe.

B.G. Siddharth, Director of the planetarium, on Sunday said the show would highlight the recent scientific findings that dark energy permeates all space leading to expansion of the universe unlike the earlier belief that it consisted of dark matter, and that it would collapse.

Easy visa process for US-bound students

Indian students heading to USA for higher studies are likely to face less hurdles in obtaining visas if the US Government takes a serious view of the report published by its National Research Council (NRC) recently.

The report released a few days ago, says foreign students played a vital role in American graduate education in the sciences, but numerous U.S. policies were failing to help colleges enrol them in a big way. It recommended various steps including easy visa procedures, change of visa status and fellowships to attract the best talent that was heading to other countries in view of the strict visa regulations.

Largest group

Indian students form the largest group of foreign students in the US universities with more than 70,000 taking fresh admissions this year.

Till last year, China was sending more number of students than any other country.

The NRC, which is a part of the National Academies comprising the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine indicated in its report that since the September 11 attacks and the subsequent tightening of U.S. visa regulations it was becoming more difficult for foreign students to get enrolment into American institutions.

The report also notes that this change has taken place at a time when many other countries were expanding their technological and educational capacities and creating more opportunities for participation by international students.

The report reminds that international students have advanced the US Sciences and engineering arenas and the number of patents, publications and Nobel prizes only indicate that. A substantial number of people in the Science and Engineering research were from other countries and their role has been increasing over the years.

For example, one third of US Nobel laureates are foreign-born and 59 per cent of post-doctorals in the US now are also foreign-born.

"If the human resource flow is reduced it would have a cumulative effect on hiring in the universities, industry and Government," the report said.

"If the US is to maintain overall leadership in Science and Engineering, visa and immigration policies should provide clear procedures. For this better coordination between the Departments of State (DOS) and Homeland Security (DHS) and research institutions was must," the report argued.

Funds for old city

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday urged Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to allocate more funds for development of the Old City.

Congratulating Rajasekhara Reddy on completing one year in office, Owaisi appealed to him to take measures to see that Godavari river waters were brought to the city on a permanent basis to cater to the drinking water requirements of the people.

In a statement here, Owaisi asked the Congress Government to seriously explore ways to restart talks with the Naxalites. The government should prevent fake encounters, he said.

Stating that enhancing the budget for minority welfare to Rs 49 crore was encouraging, he pointed out that there was a need to further increase the allocation taking into consideration the socio-economic backwardness of the minorities in particular the Muslim minorities.

Tsunami warning centre at Hyderabad

The Tsunami Warning Centre, planned for India, will be almost equal in technology deployment when compared with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre set up by 26 member countries.

This centre will be called Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting Centre, says Tsunami, a book recently published by the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR). The book was released on the World Technology Day (May 11).

The Tsunami Warning Centre is likely to be set up by September 2007 at an estimated investment of Rs 125 crore. The main station will be located in Hyderabad.

The system will have 12 seafloor sensors as compared to six in the Pacific network. The seafloor pressure sensors, tidal gauges and a three-dimensional digital model of the Indian Ocean will be heart of such a system, said the book published by NISCAIR.

Explaining the working of the system, the book said geophysicists would use the computer model to stimulate fluid flow in ocean basin to assess tsunami risk for coastal communities once details of the undersea earthquakewere fed into the model.

However, currently a model for the Indian Ocean does not exist. It has to be developed using detailed topography of the seafloor, the book said.

The Pacific network consists of hundreds of seismic-monitoring stations worldwide as well as coastal tide guages, besides sophisticated deep-ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis (DART) buoys in the Pacific basin.

Prajay's Rs 500-crore plan

Hyderabad-based realtor Prajay Engineers Syndicate Limited is planning to get into the hospitality business in a big way. By the end of 2008-09, the company plans to operate at least 500 three-star and five-star hotel rooms under its banner in Hyderabad and Bangalore. For this, it has outlined an investment of up to Rs 500 crore.

PESL got approvals to set up a 60-room three-star hotel on its club premises at Shamirpet. The three-star hotel would later be developed into a five-star one with 120 rooms. The work on the hotel is slated to start in the second week of July and is likely to be completed within 15 months after that. The company would be investing between Rs 10 crore and Rs 18 crore for the said purpose.

PESL has Celebrity Club (recreation centre) besides a number of commercial complexes, independent houses and housing colonies to its credit. They are also in the process of finalising land at Shamshabad and Hitech City to set up either three-star or five-star hotels. This apart, they are also scouting for lands in Banjara Hills and Bangalore for the same purpose. PESL is also bidding for a four-acre property of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) at Shilparamam to set up a five-star hotel. The company, may even tie-up with an existing hotel chain to manage its hotels. For all this, PESL would require a minimum amount of Rs 350 crore. As the costs escalate in future, the company expects its investment to go up to even Rs 500 crore.

The company is also setting up a 180-hole PGA class golf course in an extent of 130 acres on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The land has been taken on a BOT basis from APTDC for a period of 33 years. The ground-breaking ceremony is expected to be done in August this year and the golf course is expected to be operational in 18 months from then.

Virtusa receives BS 7799 Certification

The Hyderabad Advance Technology Center of Virtusa Corp, has received the BS 7799 Certification, a global standard for an Information Security Management System, from the British Standards Institution (BSI).

The certification covers the management of Information Security in the design, testing and maintenance of software and organization-specific software platform.

BS 7799 certification provides independent verification of an organization's compliance with specific standards and procedures concerning the protection and management of sensitive customer information. BS 7799 contains a number of control objectives including Security policy, Organizational security, Asset classification and control, Personnel security, Physical and environmental security, Communications and operations management, Access control, System development and maintenance, Business continuity management and Compliance.

Too much for rededication

The Government's 'rededication' function shows how dedicated are politicians to make our life misarable.

courtesy : The Hindu

PCB acquires two new facilities

Mobile air quality monitoring station also suggests necessary action
Hazardous waste laboratory helps generate data for policy measures

The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) has acquired two new facilities, a mobile online ambient air quality monitoring station and hazardous waste laboratory, which were inaugurated by the Chief Secretary, Mohan Kanda here on Saturday.

The mobile laboratory monitors the air quality at a site and assesses air pollution caused by sources including industries and exhaust gas from automobiles. It will help determine whether the air quality at a particular site meets the environmental standardsand also in establishing grounds for necessary measures.

The laboratory has gas analysers and meteorological sensors to assess air quality and will help generate data needed for policy measures for corrective action on environment front, PCB officials observed.

The hazardous waste laboratory has been equipped with an apparatus to measure the flash point of volatile liquids based on which the ignitability could be assessed and bomb calorimeter to measure the calorific value of the organic substances. It also has TCLP extractor, TOC analyser and a pH meter.

International Women's Film Festival

Here's something directed exclusively by women. Hyderabad is known for it's woman power. Now its going to be given food for expression in a Women's International Film Festival to be held at Hyderabad Film Club, between May 20 and 25.

Its called Made by Women. The movies will be screened in the evening, between 6 and 9 pm. The film fest is being organised in collaboration with Point of View, Mumbai. The first day is scheduled to screen an animation film called Harlequin. It's a snippet from Lotte Reiniger's body of work, the first director to make an animated feature film. She has a unique silhouette animation style. There are two other award-winning documentary movies slated for the very first day.

Margreth Olin's My Body, from Norway, is about a woman's self-conscious reflections on her body's imperfections. Her search for identity resonates with the women across all walks of life. It's not all about only women; Underground Orchestra by Heddy Honigman is a documentary film about the refugees in exile in Paris, who perform in subways for survival. The Day I Became a Woman, Marziyeh Meshkini's debut film from Iran, which won Best Film award at the Venice Film Festival, is a surreal feature film about three different women in three episodes.

Mona Lisa Descending A Staircase, by Joan Gratz, from USA, is an animation film, which won the Oscar Award for best short film in 1993. It traces the development of modern art from Van Gogh to Warhol, through clay painting. The only Indian entry is Ligy Pullapally's Sancharam (Journey), a feature film of 107 minutes. It has a lesbian theme. Set in Kerela, it explores the relationship between a christian and a Nair girl. The film won the Best film award at Chicago International Film Festival, 2004.

Other movies to be screened are a feature film called, How I killed my father, by Anne Fontaine from France, a documentary film called Purity from Israel.

Construction cost up in Hyderabad

Construction cost index recorded a 1.17 percent rise during the fourth quarter of last fiscal, mainly due to increase in basic prices inputs for cement and steel, said Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC). The index, on an average, rose 0.39 percent every month during the fourth quarter, a CIDC official said quoting its category-wise updates on Construction Cost Indices (CCI).

The highest construction cost increase was registered in Mumbai at 1.9 percent, followed by Hyderabad (1.53 percent), Delhi (1.48 percent) during the fourth quarter review period. Kolkata recorded an increase of 1.47 percent and Chennai clocked a 1.43 percent while the construction cost increased the lowest at 1.35 percent in Bangalore.

However, the cost index with respect to its base period January, 1998 till the same month this year rose the highest for building construction in Hyderabad by 5.64 percent while the lowest rise was recorded in Chennai at 2.82 percent. Hyderabad was followed by Kolkata at 4.83 percent, Mumbai (4.6 percent), Delhi (3.4 percent), Bangalore (3.03 percent).

In the important road construction category, the cost rose the maximum in Kolkata at 4.97 percent while the minimum rise was recorded in Chennai at 3.08 percent. Road construction increased 4.86 percent in Hyderabad, 4.41 percent in Mumbai, 4.4 percent in Bangalore and 4.26 percent in Delhi.

Geeta Reddy visits UAE

Reddy, who was in Dubai to attend the recently-concluded Arabian Travel Market (ATM), met with Dr Mohammed Al Banna, Regional Manager - Asia, Jafza, where they discussed the possibility of companies involved in the IT and health care sectors in Andhra Pradesh setting up operations in the South Zone.

"The fact that Jafza offers 100 per cent ownership and a tax-free environment, not to mention the convenience of a port within the zone, is a major incentive for investment. Also, the infrastructure of Jafza, as well as the facilities it offers, is excellent," Dr Geeta Reddy said.

Reddy's visit is aimed mainly at preparing the ground for a trip to Dubai by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy which could lead to greater cooperation between the State and the Government of Dubai.

Dr Mohammed Al Banna said, "The visit by Dr Reddy is in keeping with the close business relations Dubai has traditionally shared with Andhra Pradesh. Besides being strategically located between Asia and Europe, Dubai is the commercial and industrial hub of the region, and the investment opportunities it offers is nowhere more exemplified than in Jafza."

The South Zone is being built to meet the unremitting demand for space in Jafza. The zone is divided into 8 clusters, each dedicated to a particular sector.

CARTOSAT-1 Initial Image , Amritsar

Unisys plans second unit

Unisys Corp is firming up plans to set up its second centre in India by the year-end. The choices for locating the facility have been narrowed down to Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. The Managing Director of Unisys Global Services-India, Mukul Agrawal, told Business Line that the focus of this second unit would be IT and the BPO (business processes outsourcing).

It plans to invest about $50 million. By June-July, the decision on where to locate the facility would be taken. About 1,000 people are to be employed in the Centre. The company's expansion would also take care of the bulk of activity that is proposed to be moved out of the US into India. Banking, insurance and airlines have been the strong sectors for Unisys traditionally. Offshore work for US companies through call centres, BPO and remote operations are the major thrust. In India, it is banking on the growing airlines, telecom, banking (payment processing) areas to source significant contracts. It wants to offer end-to-end solutions in the proposed BPO centre. In software, the stress would be on technical skills, he said.

MCH launches cleanliness drive

The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) launched an intensive 20-day ‘debris cleaning drive’ from today. In this connection, Deputy Mayor Subash Chanderji and Standing Committee chairman D Mohan flagged off 30 vehicles at Dhobighat in Saidabad.

This website’s newspaper had carried a four-part series focussing garbage problem in the city. The MCH is now involving officers in the seven municipal circles in the city for monitoring the drive.

About 30 vehicles will be pressed into service for the purpose of clearing garbage. Each vehicle would have to make three trips a day to shift the garbage to the dumps.

Assistant Medical Officer Health (AMOH) will supervise the removal of garbage. Chief Transport Officer (CTO) will make surprise inspections and monitor day-to-day work.

Krishna water pipeline finalised

With the water levels in Singoor Reservoir receding, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has decided to lay a 42-45 km-long pipeline from Saheb Nagar to Lingampally in two weeks to bring Krishna waters to the new city. In this connection, the Water Board has already finalised the tenders and work orders will be issued in a day or two. Speaking to this website’s newspaper, HMWS&SB director (Projects) D Ramakrishna said that just 2.6 tmcft was present in the Singoor reservoir as against the storage capacity of 30 tmcft.

The HMWS&SB, to meet the water demands in the peak summer, had begun pumping water from the dead-storage of Singoor reservoir, main source of drinking water for the twin cities and surrounding municipalities, from Thursday. Presently, about 90 to 100 million gallons per day (MGD) water is supplied. The companies will start the work after receiving the letter of intents from the Water Board. City-based Koya Company will lay a 16 km pipeline from Saheb Nagar to Mailardevpally.

While another city-based Vishwa company will lay 4 km pipeline from Mialardevpally to Shaikpet. About 16 km pipeline from Shaikpet to Prashashan Nagar was divided into four components of 4 km each, which would be laid by Vishwa Company, L&T, IVRCL and Mega Engineering. Another 12 km pipeline from Prashashan Nagar to Lingampally would again be done by Vishwa.

Foreign newspapers are here

Foreign newspaper companies wanting to print their international editions in India will be allowed to set up fully owned subsidiaries in the country. According to senior government functionaries, this has been proposed by the group of ministers (GoM) on print media to the Union Cabinet. However, the foreign papers wanting to print in the country will have to take a prior permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Moreover, the newspaper titles will have to be registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI) before these can be brought out in the country. Foreign newspapers wanting to print their international editions will also have to set up a registered office in India. "This will be a regulatory requirement as such an office will be the point of contact for the government," said the official.

The GoM is also expected to recommend that the Indian editions of the international newspapers should not have content and advertisements generated in the country. The move by the government to set up the GoM in September 2004 was prompted by the printing of the International Herald Tribune in India by the Hyderabad-based Midram Publications by registering the newspaper as an Indian publication. If the GoM proposal is accepted by the Cabinet, it would legitimises the printing of International Herald Tribune in India.

Sources also said that the GoM also considered amendments to certain sections of the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, 1867, and also took note of the resolution adopted by the cabinet in 1955 which did not permit publication of foreign magazines and newspapers in India. The decision to allow FDI in print media was taken by the Vajpayee government in 2002. Subsequent to which, two investments in Indian newspapers, 17 Indian editions of foreign non-news and no–current affairs magazines and 13 foreign investments by international publications in various Indian non-news and non-current affairs publications were cleared by the government.

Citicorp divests in IVRCL

Citicorp International Finance Corporation has sold 31,20,416 equity shares aggregating to 15.47 per cent of the share capital of IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd during this week. The company has sold 23 lakh shares on May 9 and 8,20,416 shares on May 10. Following this sale, the shareholding of Citicorp International in IVRCL Infrastructures now stands nil, the company informed stock exchanges on Friday.

Oman air to fly high

Oman Air has obtained approval from aviation authorities to operate direct flights to Delhi and Hyderabad and obtain addition seats on its current flights to other destinations in India. The company will start its flights to the new destinations at the start of June.

Following negotiations held with the Indian side, Oman Air seats to India were increased from 3,700 to 5,275 per week. Oman Air will operate seven flights to Cairo per week during the coming period after the Gulf Air conceded its flights on the Muscat-Cairo route to it.

The company transported 317,747 passengers during the first four months of this year, compared to 302,970 during the same period last year.

Existing airport to be closed

The government will close the existing Hyderabad airport for civil operations once the new international airport is constructed, parliament was informed Thursday.

Citing the government's commitment to the Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) to close the existing airport, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said going back on its word would amount to "default" and "may invite payment of compensation to HIAL".

Further, there was no scope for expanding the existing airport, as there were "severe limitations" because of natural and manmade obstructions like hills and a railway over-bridge, a factory chimney and a building.

But the sole comforting factor was that HIAL had assured the government of considering taking on deputation/absorption basis, the employees of the Airports Authority of India at the existing airport.

"The government is also considering the options available under Concession Agreement to take up the issues relating to the employees at the existing Bangalore airport with Bangalore International Airport Ltd.," Patel said.

The minister's statement came as he made a statement on the action taken on the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on transport, which had urged the government against closing the existing airports.

Multiplexes to multiply

Hyderabad is set to witness a boom in multiplexes.Next time when you go to a cinema, you can return after finishing your shopping. When you are at the theatre, you can relax at the eatery.

Residents of Hyderabad are already enjoying the pleasure of ‘all at one place’ malls. Now, provision for recreational facilities in malls is an added attraction.

With Prasads multiplex becoming a hit with Hyderabadis, several firms are showing interest in setting up multiplex-cum-shopping malls in the city. A few reputed companies in the multiplex business in the country, including Adlabs, Essel, Shringar and PVR groups, have reportedly evinced interest in setting up entertainment plazas in the city.

The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) hopes that five new multiplex projects may materialise soon. The multiplexes are likely to come up at Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Park, Road No: 1, Banjara Hills, Ameerpet and near Yatrinivas. Hyderabad Central at Punjagutta is likely to have facilities for film shows soon.

Industry experts say that the changing lifestyles and busy daily schedules are the main reasons for the growth in multiplexes where one can eat, shop and enjoy with family and friends.

Prajay to set up 5-Star hotel

Prajay Engineers Syndicate Ltd on Thursday said that, it has received the necessary approvals from the authorities to set up a 5 Star hotel near Hyderabad. The company has further said that, it had already acquired the required land for the project. It plans to set up a 60 room 3-Star hotel which shall be subsequently upgraded to a 120 room 5-Star hotel. The project size would be to the tune of Rs100mn Rs180mn.

Air France plans for Hyderabad

Detailing the expansion plans of the airlines, Gass said that Air France would start service to Bangalore from October 31. There would be five flights a week to and from Bangalore, he said, adding that it would be upgraded to daily flights by April next year. "Air France will add 26 more flights in the sector. Plans are on to operate a service to Hyderabad by next year."

Gass further said that the airline would be introducing in November, "step by step", a new product called ‘nouvel espace du voyage’, which is actually a change of seating to make winter travel more comfortable.

Eco-tourism at Vanasthali Park

The Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park at Vanasthalipuram offers cool environs to beat the scorching summer heat. The eco-tourism centre at the park will be open to the public from May 18.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation (APFDC) Eco-Tourism Director P Madhusudhan Rao said the execution of the Rs 50 lakh project took about 18 months.

The project promoted by the Mahavir Nischal Van Eco-Tourism Centre will be inaugurated by Environment Minister S Vijayarama Raju. The park spreads over an area of 3,605 acres. The Palm House, Bamboo House, Log House and Balakrishna Smruthi Sadan built as part of the project have an ethnic look.

State in grip of heat wave

The highest day temperature in the recorded history of the State was 48.8 degree C in Gannavaram on May 11, 2002. Hyderabad recorded 41 degree C on Tuesday, a far cry from 45.5 degrees C registered on June 2, 1966. Mercury has shot up at a number of places in the State, bringing in sweltering weather.

This is due to heat wave conditions that enveloped the State following north-westerly winds sweeping across the peninsula. Day temperatures in Andhra Pradesh would have been much higher but for the relatively cool weather prevailing in the North-West region of the country, the source of these surface winds.

Reports reaching here from the districts suggest that many places in the State were suffering from furnace-like weather forcing people to stay indoors. Coastal areas were the worst affected having a higher humidity due to the proximity to the sea which caused people to sweat profusely.

On Tuesday, Hanamkonda became the hottest place by recording 45 degree Celsius.The average day temperature at other places was around 40 degrees C -- two degrees higher than normal. Details received by the Met Office showed that Nandyal emerged as another hotspot with 44 degree C while Kavali, Ongole, Bhadrachalam, Nalgonda and Nizamabad recorded temperatures above 43 degree C.