aiita news december 2012

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Year-6 Vol.-12 | 10 December 2012

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PM tells voters to remove leaders practicing divisive politics Merry Christmas

VANSADA (NAVSARI): Launching a frontal attack on the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government in Gujarat, Dr. Singh said the people in Gujarat should get rid of politicians who indulge in divisive politics. Asserting that Gujarat is prospering, but only for some high-profile people, Dr. Singh said: "There are no employment opportunities, development is limited to a select few... large sections untouched by it and the benefits of Central schemes are not reaching aam aadmi especially minorities and backward community." "Just look at Gujarat... A major chunk of younger generation is unemployed... The UPA introduced Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to enhance the livelihood security of people in rural areas... MGNREGA has provided jobs to 1 crore Gujaratis since 2005," he said. "Sadly, the benefits are not reaching you... I promise that we will assure you will be benefited if you open the doors of Gujarat for Congress. The Gujarat will shine under Congress and we will show you the real development," he added. Further attacking the state's education infrastructure, Dr Singh said: "Education infrastructure is not good here, tribal children have not been granted good education due to the state government. Dr. Singh's rally comes two days after Congress President Sonia Gandhi's whirlwind tour of the state during which she had accused Modi and his BJP-led government of failing to meet the aspirations of the people of the state. "They (Modi and BJP) have no interest in poor and common people but its only interest is development of its own and a select few people. The development which was promised in a big way is nowhere to be seen in this tribal land...because what they promised were hollow and false," Sonia said. "This is a land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel who used to preach what they practiced.

Now, there are people who give big advice but do not follow them," she said taking on Modi without naming him.Gujarat will go to the polls in two phases on December 13 and 17. The counting of votes will take place on December 20.

IT industry will do 'exceedingly well' Alma International Magazine Brings out Shortly in 2013-14: Nasscom Nasscom believes the Indian IT industry will do initiatives of market development. Addressing the "exceedingly well" in 2013-14. The IT industry body ninth edition of product conclave, Nasscom President expects to meet its earlier projected estimate of 11-14 Som Mittal also said the product landscape has percent growth in the country's software exports in leapfrogged in India over the years. the current financial year at the lower-end. "And in an effort to pursue this vision, Nasscom is Nasscom believes the Indian IT making representations with industry will do "exceedingly governments across levels, well" in 2013-14. The IT industry recommending them to set up an body expects to meet its earlier National Association of Software entrepreneurship mission, change and Services Companies projected estimate of 11-14 in procurement guidelines and percent growth in the country's access to funding," he said. software exports in the current financial year at the Officials said the time for the Indian product story is lower-end. ripe as the country's IT industry moves beyond its It says the sector, which crossed USD 100 billion leadership in the services sector towards IP and mark last year, will clock at least double-digit growth products. The 'NASSCOM AWSME India Survey this year.

2012' released at the event said technology and Earlier, Nasscom said its vision for the Indian product software providers are considerably interested in the landscape is to help make India the hub of the world's Indian SME market because of the immense rise in most successful software products through multiple numbers and growth potential of this category.

Russia, China alliance wants greater govt voice in Internet oversight DUBAI: A Russia-led proposal calling for sweeping (ITU) to govern many aspects of the Internet. new governmental powers to regulate cyberspace The United States, Europe and other allies including could enable countries to block some Web locations Australia and Japan insist the treaty should continue to apply only to traditional telecommunications such as international wireline and wireless calls.

Countries can opt out of parts of the revised treaty when it emerges or refuse to sign it altogether.

"If we have no agreement it will create political tension around the Internet," said Markus Kummer, vice president for public policy at industry think tank The Internet Society. A leaked draft of the Russia-led proposals would give countries "equal rights to manage the Internet including in regard to the allotment, assignment and reclamation of Internet and wrest control of allotting Internet addresses from numbering. " This could allow governments to render a U.S.-based body. The proposal, co-signed by websites within their borders inaccessible, even via Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and the proxy servers or other countries. It also could allow United Arab Emirates, added to fears in some for multinational pacts in which countries could Western countries of a stalemate midway through a terminate access to websites at each others' request.

12-day conference in Dubai to rewrite a longstanding Such moves would undermine ICANN, a selftreaty on international communications. governing nonprofit organization under contract to Russia and its supporters, which include many the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is African and Arab states, seek to formally extend the ultimately responsible for making sure that people remit of the International Telecommunication Union trying to reach a given website actually get there.

e-newspaper

INDORE: The prestigious publication of Alma-Alma International Magazine would be brought out shortly in January 2013 including all new features and current information of Alma. This is informed by the director Shri Santosh Shukla Advocate. Shri Shukla told that it has been tradition of Alma to cater a volume of information regarding Growth, Development, Research and Development of Software and Hardware

Technologies of Alma Division, JobOriented Courses, Placement Services, Information of International Certification Courses (ICC), All round social-cultural activities across the world would be presented through glossy sheets of new magazine. He further told that the aim of publishing this magazine is just to inform people of Alma family as well as well wishers who support the cause of Alma across the world.

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10 December 2012

NEWS

Infosys, TCS, HCL extend fall on outlook worries

NEW DELHI: Shares of top technology companies such as Infosys, TCSBSE -2.22 % and WiproBSE 0.99 % extended their intraday losses for second day in a row after Cognizant Technology Solutions hinted at slower growth in 2013. At 12:30 pm, InfosysBSE 0.31 % Ltd was trading 2.4 per cent lower at Rs 2323.50. It has hit a low of Rs 2315.50 and a high of Rs 2398 in trade. Tata Consultancy ServicesBSE -2.22 % was trading 2 per cent lower at Rs 1271. It has hit a low of Rs 1268.05 and a high of Rs 1298.05 in trade today. While Wipro dropped 1.08 per cent to Rs 376.90.

HCL TechnologiesBSE 1.30 % was trading 2.9 per cent lower at Rs 620. It has hit a low of Rs 619 and a high of Rs 640.05 in trade. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, in a filing to the SEC on Tuesday, said its top executives will receive 100 percent of their performance-linked shares if the company achieves revenue of $8.5 billion next year, a 16 percent rise over its projected 2012 revenue. We have compiled views from various brokerage firms on Cognizant report and how it could impact the India IT sector in 2013: The filing implies that CY13 growth would be lower than the company's outlook for CY12. "Based on historical

trends, Cognizant's annual guidance corresponds with revenue growth corresponding to 100 percent of performance units," IDFCBSE -2.20 % said in a note.

Barclays Capital, however, feels that while Cognizant may see a slowdown, it does not pose an incremental risk to Barclays' FY14 growth forecasts of 15 percent for TCS and 13 percent for HCL Tech."Cognizant's growth premium to Indian IT vendors has diminished in the past two years due to its larger revenue and growth base," Barclays Capital said in a note.

JPMorgan is of the view that the industry demand is likely to remain stable and not falling off by any means; polarization in performance is still the order of the day. The brokerage firm feels that 2013 could be a better year for IT industry than 2012. New contract wins, rise in discretionary spending, legacy deals opening up in 2013, stability of client budgets could constitute the trigger points. If the effect of these ingredients exceeds our expectations, then reasonably valued stocks of laggards such as Infosys, Wipro and select mid-caps could give meaningful upsides. We remain neutral on TCS and overweight on HCL Technologies.

Wipro plans to build its biggest campus near Bangalore MUMBAI/BANGALORE: At a time when shaky global economic cues have pushed most companies to postpone real estate investments, India's third-largest software exporter WiproBSE 1.04 % is finalising

plans to build its largest campus that can house at least 30,000 employees in Bangalore. The new campus, whose first phase is expected to have a built up space of 2.5 million square feet, will come up on a 50-acre plot that is 4 km away from its existing 1.9 million sq ft campus in Sarjapur, on the outskirts of Bangalore.

This will be in addition to Wipro's existing campuses across the country and is not aimed at consolidating operations. Currently, the software major's headcount

stands at about 138,000 employees. "We are currently in the process of finalising the master plan for the new campus," said Hariprasad Hegde, vice-president and global head of operations at Wipro. He did not provide details on the developer of the project or how much it would cost. The Sarjapur facility -the largest for the company so far - accommodates nearly 31,000 employees. The proposal to develop an additional campus was pending for sometime due to issues with land approvals. However, these have now been sorted out and the company has received the go-ahead for the project. Wipro is currently working with architects on the master plan. Software biggies have been investing in new development centres to cater to future growth even though the current industry situation is not encouraging. In October, India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services BSE -2.20 % also announced plans to build a 1.5 million sq ft facility in Indore. For Wipro, which added 13,000 employees last fiscal, the hiring pace has slowed down this year as the employee churn has stabilised. In November, software body Nasscom said the industry's growth target for the year to March 2013 would be at the lower end of the 11-14% range it forecast earlier. Last year, the sector grew a little over 16% to touch $70 billion (about Rs 3.85 lakh crore) in exports.

Dawning of Asian Century will depend on nature of interaction between India, China: Khurshid NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said the dawning of an Asian Century will depend a lot on the nature of interaction between the two largest growing economies in Asia, India and China.

Addressing the annual convention of the Indian Association of International Studies on "The Dawning of the Asian Century: Emerging Challenges before Theory and Practices of International Relations in India," here, Khurshid said: "The dawning of an Asian Century, of course, will depend a lot on the nature of interaction between the two largest growing economies in Asia, India and China. India was the first non-communist country to set up an embassy in China following the establishment of diplomatic relations in April 1950."

"It is true that our two countries went to war in 1962.

However, and specially following the historic visit of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to China in 1988, we have focused on deepening and widening our bilateral relations despite differences over our common border.

This policy has yielded substantial results," he added.

"Whether we will see an Asian Century become a sustainable reality or not will depend greatly on how India and China manage their bilateral relations, and their positions on major issues in international affairs.

Our trade figures, projected to reach USD100 billion in the next few years, are well known," he said.

"Our investment cooperation, currently valued at

about half a billion dollars by each country in the other, is equally significant. We have a common interest in increased people-to-people contacts, which will reinvigorate the flow of ideas and trade that was the hallmark of the original Silk Road that connected India to China," he added.

Stating that the challenges before us essentially relate to how we are able to build a mutually beneficial bilateral relationship on the foundations of these building blocks, Khurshid said: "This will influence the positions that India and China take on the great issues facing the international community in the coming decades. It is our belief that we have enough opportunities to cooperate with China in the creation of an Asian Century."

Further emphasizing that the India's foreign policy is in the process of implementing a wide-ranging set of initiatives taken by us specifically in Asia, Khurshid said: " To our east, we are working towards creating an economic community that will span South, South East and East Asia through the ASEAN and East Asia Summit processes. To our south, we are proposing a new direction to create synergies among the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region." "To our north, our Connect Central Asia policy is in the process of reinvigorating the old linkages symbolized by the Silk Road. And to our west, we have underlined our interest in helping maintain peace and stability in West Asia, especially in the Gulf region, which plays a central role for our energy security and impacts directly on our economic prospects," he added.

CONGRATULATIONS...!

NEW FEATHERS ON aiita’s CAP

aiita welcomes all new members.

Pravat Mukhia Titus West Bengal

E G Satish Karnataka

Anish Vargebre Kerela

Atul Kumar Sharma Delhi

Baljinder Singh Punjab

Zakariya Ayaz Uttar Pradesh

Tulika Awasthy Uttar Pradesh

Amandeep Singh Punjab

Mohammad Shahebaaz Bashir Ahmad Mir Andhra Pradesh J&K

Ajitesh Bhaumik Tripura

Suman Kumar West Bengal

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10 December 2012

NEWS

India IT outsourcing growth seen at lower end of forecast India's USD 100 billion software and services outsourcing sector is likely to meet the lower end of the growth outlook for this fiscal year, an industry lobby group said as customers tread cautiously on technology spending due to global economic uncertainty.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) had in February forecast IT exports to grow 11-14 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2013.

"For FY2013, a year marked by significantly varied trends, the industry is expected to meet the lower-end of its growth guidance and at least achieve a double-digit growth," Nasscom said in a statement on Monday.

Industry export revenues are estimated at USD 75 billion to USD 77 billion for the year, it said. The pace of growth slowed in the recent quarters for India's top outsourcing companies, including Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd , as western clients curbed spending in a difficult business environment. With customers such as Citigroup , Wal-Mart Stores , BP Plc and Volkswagen AG , the Indian outsourcing sector relies on the United States and Europe for three quarters of its revenue.

TRAI takes action Infosys management says company against COS for may miss FY13 guidance unwanted call on mobiles NEW DELHI: 'TRAI got 47000 complaints per month before imposed the new guidelines of TRAI to companies for promotional SMS in last month, now it has reduced to monthly 5000', Shri Milind Deora, Telecom Minister said recently.

According to Minister shri deora, there would be more disciplinary action against such companies those harassing customers despite having Do Not Disturb (DND) status. INFORMATION In view of scenario, DESK President of All India IT Association (aiita) expressed thanks and suggested people who are suffering from such

minace. He told that how to complaint through SMS. For unwanted call no. 9xxxxxxxxx time 19.40, about loan, credit card this dummy sms send to 1909.

Shri Shukla further told that your complaints would help others in preventing harassment of unwanted promotional calls. In India there are over 2830 Telemarketer are registered in TRAI. If your mobile number is registered on DND then they can not call you.

Software major Infosys' top management has told analysts in the last few days that the company may miss its organic growth guidance of 5% for the current year because of delays in decision-making, ramp-downs in certain projects and also the impact of Hurricane Sandy, particularly in the manufacturing space.

Reports from brokerages such as UBS, Nomura and Barclays say that there is a risk to the company's organic growth guidance based on recent conversations with InfosysBSE 0.30 % CEO SD Shibulal and CFO Rajiv Bansal. This is likely to add to the overall pessimism around Infosys, which has been struggling to grow revenues in the last year. The company gave out an initial guidance of 8-10% for FY 13, revised this downwards to 5% after their first quarter results, as it struggled to generate demand in a volatile environment. It also suspended giving quarterly guidance after the first quarter. The 5% guidance is way lower than the Nasscom estimate for the industry, which is currently the lower end of 11-14%. The guidance also doesn't include the revenues from Lodestone, the Swiss consulting firm that it recently acquired.

The UBS note says, "He (Shibulal) noted that the dollar revenue guidance of 5% in FY13 could be under threat due to customer deferrals, ramp downs in a few large projects, delays in large deal closures and longer than expected client shutdowns due to Hurricane Sandy, especially in

the manufacturing sector. At present, the company thinks that FY13 remains challenging." At the same time, Nomura and Barclays have said that factors such as shutdown impacts in manufacturing, challenges in BFSI vertical and delays in decision-making could push the company to miss its FY13 guidance.

While the management is sticking to the 5% guidance as of now, more clarity will emerge when it announces its third quarter results next month. Infosys, India's second-largest software firm, which has long been a darling of the markets has been struggling to grow business in the last couple of years. In 2011, SD Shibulal, the last of the co-founders took charge as CEO and the company also came out with the Infosys 3.0 strategy, through which it plans to grow revenues in a non-linear way. Infosys' struggle also comes at a time when rivals such as TCSBSE -2.30 % and Cognizant have grown at a fast pace, prompting question on whether its pain is more company-specific rather than an industry issue.' dollar revenue growth outlook of 5 per cent for the year ending March 2013 could be under threat, Chief Executive S.D. Shibulal was attributed as saying by UBS in an investor meet.

Customer deferrals, ramp-downs in a few large projects, delays in large deal closures and longerthan-expected client shutdowns due to Hurricane Sandy, especially in the manufacturing sector, may cause threat to outlook, says a UBS note.

Face-To-Face H.S. Nagabhushan (Alma's D.O.) Bangluru, Karnataka

Learning Makes an Individual Confident and Growth Oriented

By Dr. Dilip N. Pandit Learning is the basic instinctive biological process has been gifted to human being by omnipotent God. Human beings are supreme in logical thinking along with leanring potential compare to rest of living being on this planet.

Learning makes an individual confident and growth-oriented in his/her faculty. Learning could be triggered by any motivational and thought or necessity to survive are getting better job oriented opportunities. These influential and thought provoking views are of dynamic personality of Bangluru and Alma's Development officer of Karnataka State-Shri H.S. Nagabhushan.

Alma has put grave responsibility of leadership along with expansion and development of Karanataka State over Shri Nagabhushan's brave and potential shoulder to achieve mesmeric results in promotion of job-oriented computer courses along with international certification courses from global brands like IIML (International Informatics Mauritius Limited) and ICAL (International Certification Australia Limited) to motivate student community and franchise network.

On expressing his views over franchise network and leadership in computer education sector, Shri

Nagabhushan thinks that the core values to promote expansion and development are just motivation and encouragement that keep student community thinking at goal oriented target and

get better job opportunities. The way of your positive explanation keeps them concentrated.

Being a scholar of Sanskrit and his multi lingual personalty makes him moving encyclopedia of ken and spiritual scriptures. Decades of marketing experience and multi tasking of promotional products has had unique quality to summarize his potential in the nut shell.

Shri Nagabhushan keeps trying providing model of marketing strategy in expansion operations

through positive thinking and motivational explanation of products and services to his prospects. According to him motivation is are of those important tools that work to patch up target oriented results. Surely, he has been a great disciple of Swami Vivekanand and Sages of Indian Philosophers to gyrate positive thought process. His philosophy is of serving humanity with motivating and promoting through learning.

He says that medicine keeps okay to our physical bodies but meditation keeps okay our mind and soul Spiritually. In making those experts of thinking are really powerful and result oriented for him over the career of move than two decade span. Shri Nagabhushan floats the positive motto as “Be happy and make others also happy”, by keeping such motto he could serve the society far better. Highly educated and qualified Shri Nagabhushan did his MA, PGMM from Bangalore University, Karnataka and apart from these, he did courses of technical education from an institute of repute. He got three national award for excellent performance over social work segment to serve the society in various dimension. Alma is proud to have such dynamic personality in its ever growing and expanding family.

PRESIDENT VIEW

Santosh Shukla, Advocate president@aiita.org

The Trap of Goal Setting Why do some people who really desire success and work tirelessly fail to achieve it? Why is it that sometimes in spite of careful planning and vigorous efforts things still don't happen?

Sometimes it seems like people who are very clear about what they want and have very clearly outlined goals still fail to achieve worthwhile success. This in turn leads to frustration, which causes a cycle of defeat that ends up doing a lot of damage to their enthusiasm and belief in themselves. There have been many people who have tried and followed good advice on goal setting and achieving their dreams and have only ended up disappointed because, although they did everything they were told to do but they did not get the results they expected to get. Many people have read lots of books on how to succeed, how to make money, how to set and achieve goals and a dozen other promising titles. In spite of this, progress seems to be very slow if at all.

What is missing? What are they doing wrong? One possible answer is that they would be spending too much time on goal setting and goal checklists. Dr. John Elliot, author of “When Goals Fall Flat!” wrote about a man who was very successful outwardly, earning millions of dollars, but he was neither happy nor satisfied with his life as a top salesman.

He said of the man “As we talked at greater length, I discovered that Henry had fallen into the trap of relying on goal setting to navigate his career and define his success to define him.” He says he has seen many cases of such people who “get caught up creating and checking off to-do lists for all of their personal and professional responsibilities.” Whilst such people often are rewarded greatly for their efforts, it is often at the great expense of lost time with their families and lost time for themselves. Most of all, these people do not feel fulfilled with their lives. They are held captive by the perfectionism of goal setting.

There is clearly a danger in being too meticulous and planning everything to the last detail. I remember meeting a colleague one evening who told me that he enjoys reading the articles I write, but he felt that they were always so serious and made it seem like life had to always be so well planned and thought out. To him, they took the fun out of life. I told him that wasn't the idea and that I totally agreed that life should not be an affair totally full of goals, study and all with no spontaneity. There has to be room for fun, spontaneity and the unexpected to happen. It is for these reasons that I shun books or programs that have page after page of goal setting exercises and daily checklists and benchmarks. It is like the 200 page “how to study for an exam” books that I often came across whilst studying. If you spend your time reading such a book and mastering what it says, when are you going to have the time to study? It is the same with goals. If you spend all your time writing, analysing and perfecting goals and ticking checklists, when are you going to have the time to actually achieve anything?

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10 December 2012

NEWS

M E M O R A B L E S N A P S See IT sector growth closer to 11% in FY13: NASSCOM

President Shri Santosh Shukla, Advocate inaugurating new centre at Dehradun.

Som Mittal, president, NASSCOM says he expects IT sector growth in double digits. "We had given a guidance that we will have a growth of 11-14 percent this year. Our review, after six months, is that we will still be in double digits. We will still be in double digits and probably closer to the lower end of our guidance, 11 percent," he adds.

Domestic business is positive. The domestic business would grow faster than the export business.

Q: You are expecting a growth of around 9-11 percent.

Can you give us the likely trends that you are seeing at this point in time within the IT space? Where do you expect growth to close up in FY13?

A: We had given a guidance that we will have a growth of 11-14 percent this year. Our review, after six months, is that we will still be in double digits. So, it is not 9-11 percent. We will still be in double digits and probably closer to the lower end of our guidance, 11 percent.

It is clear that the economies continue to be uncertain.

There is turmoil. The visibility is less, but there are some factors which continue to drive growth. One, it is clear

that companies are looking at transforming their business models. As they do that, technology is the centerpiece of that transformation because that is what will drive the changes that they are making.

Second, we have drivers like convergence of mobile, social media, cloud coming in together. I think that is also driving business for us. In the first two quarters, we have seen many companies do extremely well in terms of getting both new clients and increasing their penetration in the existing and new customers.

Q: What about billing? Even if you get volume-wise business growth of about 11 percent, will it mean in revenue terms a little lower?

A: This is not by effort, this is by dollar revenue. In this, we embedded the fact that we have about 20 percent of our business that comes from what we call Global In-house Centers (GICs). In many of those corporations, there has been a worldwide freeze. Infact we were probably expecting a lower growth rate, sub-10 percent growth rate in the GICs, which is bringing it down.

But in dollar terms, we will continue to see growth. The outlook for 2013, as we see right now, the trend seems positive. I think the pipeline is good. We are seeing some large contracts coming in. I think that should augur well for the industry.

Madhur Bhandarkar: I don't 'Online security must be taken seriously' have any friends in the industry MUMBAI: The cyber police have been

Sr. BJP Leader Pt. Vishnu Prasad Shukla with Shri Rajeev Dubey and President Shri Shukla.

On the occasion of social function, President Shri Shukla along with others.

M a d h u r Bhandarkar is finding himself in a relaxed state.

He is finally through with HEROINE, a dream that he had carried for last 3-4 years and moreover he has also been relieved of the court case that was plaguing him for years.

Meanwhile he has taken a mini break of sorts and while he is currently in Cairo Film Festival as a jury member, he isn't looking at getting back to active work before next year.

While one would expect that this time period of minimal action on the work front would have resulted in him getting into an introspection mode and realise who his true friends and acquaintances are, especially from the industry, Madhur denies that the series of events have acted as a learning curve in his personal as well as

professional life.

'See one thing is there that I would be very honest and precise about. I have never tried to sit down and analyse who is there with me or not.

Industry equations keep changing all the time. When I started my career, my first film TRISHAKTI was a disaster. It just came and went with a whimper. My whole perspective changed there and then. I don't have any friends in the industry and I am absolutely in my own world. I have created my own brand of cinema and am very happy with it.' He stays on to be social as ever though.

'I talk to other filmmakers, meet them and if I like their movie, I speak to them. I don't feel that way ki ye bada actor hai ya chota filmmaker toh I have to speak to him anyway differently. My nature has always been that of an extrovert and I like it this way to be very down to earth and fun loving. I enjoy meeting people and don't take my failure or success to heart. I am floating well and like the way that I am going,'' he says.

seeing cases where cyber criminals change their victims' SIM card to ensure that they don't get bank alerts for more than a year now. Cyber expert Vijay Mukhi said most customers in such cases are "sitting ducks". "Cyber criminals know it is easy to get a person's details and they have begun exploiting it. Banks and

service providers need to take the issue of security very seriously. If this trend continues, the government will have to come up with some stringent legislation to prevent it." Officers at the cyber cell at of BKC police station said criminals are known to change their modus operandi frequently, to be a step ahead of security procedures, and started deactivating their victims' SIM cards as more and more banks started sending text alerts to their customers about bank transactions.

100% stock options to employees on meeting target: Cognizant

President Shri Shukla along with Shri Saurabh Upadhyay.

President Shri Shukla honoring to Dr. Brahmadev Tripathi and Dr. Varundev Tripathi.

NEW YORK: Nasdaq-listed IT firm Cognizant today said it will pay its senior executives 100 per cent performancelinked stock options if the company's revenues touch $8.51 billion in fiscal year 2013. In a filing to US regulator SEC, Cognizant said it will "award performance units to certain executive officers of the company subject to attainment of certain performance milestones as well as certain continued service requirements".

Fifty per cent of the performance units would be given upon achieving the target of $8.22 billion in 2013. No such award would be given if the company's revenue in 2013 is less than $8.22 billion. The senior executives would be eligible for 100 per cent of the performance units if the company achieves revenue of $8.515 billion and 200 per cent in case it touches $9.175 billion. However, if Cognizant meets the target of $8.515 billion revenue, it would translate into a growth of 16 per cent, lower than its expected growth this year. These executives include CEO Francisco D'Souza (93,113 performance units), President Gordon J Coburn (49,758), Group Chief Executive Industries and Markets Rajeev Mehta (43,063), Group Chief Executive Technology and Operations Ramakrishnan Chandrasekaran (31,980), CFO Karen McLoughlin (18,590) and Senior VP, General Counsel and Secretary Steven Schwartz (9,376). One-third of such performance units shall be issued 18 months from December 3 (provided the grantee remains in service). The remaining units will be issued 36 month from the date of grant. Cognizant, which follows January-December fiscal, has guided its revenue in 2012 to be at least $7.34 billion (up at least 20 per cent compared to 2011). This was

a downward revision from earlier in the year, when the company had hoped to grow at 23 per cent. Cognizant's revenue in 2011 stood at $6.12 billion. Cognizant has been growing faster than its some Indian counterparts over the last few quarters and a lower growth target may come as a dampener for Indian IT sector, which is already seeing flat

IT budgets and increased cost of operations. In the year to March 2013, industry body Nasscom expects Indian IT services exports to growt by at least 11 per cent from earlier expectation of 11-14 per cent growth during AprilMarch 2013. Some of the larger companies including InfosysBSE 0.38 % and WiproBSE 0.88 % Infosys are expected to grow much slower during the same period.

However, Tata Consultancy servicesBSE -2.37 % and HCL TechnologiesBSE 1.26 % are expected to be sector growth leaders during the year. Cognizant has also granted restricted stock units to D'Souza (50,138), Coburn (26,793), Mehta (23,188), Chandrasekaran (17,220), McLoughlin (10,010) and Schwartz (5,049).

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10 December 2012

NEWS

Apex court issues notice on Section 66A of IT Act NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the central government and four states on a petition challenging the constitutional validity of legal provisions for trying those who post annoying or inconvenient comments on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites.

A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J.Chelameswar issued the notice - also to Maharashtra, West Bengal, Puducherry and Delhi - during the hearing of a public interest litigation plea field by Shreya Singhal.

Earlier, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati told the court that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act has been grossly abused.

Vahanvati welcomed the court's intervention.

However, he said that per se there was nothing wrong with the section 66A and defended it. He told the court to "examine Section 66A of the IT Act and I will assist the court."

Vahanvati told the court about the guidelines

issued by the telecommunication ministry which provide for prior nod of the director general of police and inspector general of police in rural area and metros for trying a person under Section 66A. While directing the Maharashtra government to

explain the circumstances under which two girls - Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Srinivasan - were arrested for posting comments critical of Mumbai bandh in the wake of Shiv Sena

supremo Bal Thackeray's death, the court asked the state government to tell it what steps it has taken.

The bench asked the Maharashtra government to file its response within four weeks. As Vahanvati urged the court to examine Section 66A, senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi told the court to direct that no action would be taken across the country under the impugned provision.

Rohtagi, who appeared for petitioner Shreya Singhal, told the court that since law and order was a state subject, without the apex court's direction police action under Section 66A may not stop.

Singhal has moved the Supreme Court seeking the striking down of Section 66A which was resorted to by authorities to arrest two young girls: Dhanda, 21, who had questioned the Mumbai shutdown after Thackeray's death Nov 17, and her friend, Srinivasan who had 'liked' the comment on Facebook.

SECRETARY VIEW

Dr. Rajeev Shrivastav info@aiita.org

Now, robots can deceive each Priyanka Chopra is Most Swiss spy agency warns U.S., other like squirrels Popular Female in Asia Britain about huge data leak and birds

Priyanka Chopra on a new social format has been voted with the tag of being the M o s t Popular Female in Asia.

After Dalai Lama and Aamir khan, Priyanka stands third in the position.

With this Priyanka becomes the first female ever to have achieved this tag of being the Most Popular Female celebrity in Asia.

Dalai Lama stands first followed by our very own Aamir Khan, and now, Priyanka joins them too.

This year has been great for Priyanka, as her movie BARFI!! did phenomenally well at the Box office which led the film to get nominated at Oscars. Not only this her brilliant performance also gathered many accolades for her.

Not forgetting, her music album 'In My City' also received brilliant appreciation, making her an allrounder in our film industry.

With all this, it's clear that Priyanka truly deserves this tag of being the Most Popular Female in Asia. Spokesperson confirms "She has topped the Asian list. She is first among the women."

ZURICH: Secret information on counterterrorism shared by foreign governments may have been compromised by a massive data theft by a senior IT technician for the NDB, Switzerland's intelligence service, European national security sources said.

Intelligence agencies in the United States and Britain are among those who were warned by Swiss authorities that their data could have been put in jeopardy, said one of the sources, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information. Swiss authorities arrested the technician suspected in the data theft last summer amid signs he was acting suspiciously. He later was released from prison while a criminal investigation by the office of Switzerland's Federal Attorney General continues, according to two sources familiar with the case. The suspect's name was not made public. Swiss authorities believe he intended to sell the stolen data to foreign officials or commercial buyers. A European security source said investigators now believe the suspect became disgruntled because he felt he was being ignored and his advice on operating the data systems was not being taken seriously. Swiss news reports and the sources close to the investigation said that investigators believe the technician downloaded terrabytes, running into hundreds of thousands or even millions of printed pages, of classified material from the Swiss intelligence service's servers onto portable hard drives. He then carried them out of government buildings in a backpack. One of the

sources familiar with the investigation said that intelligence services like the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, routinely shared data on counter-terrorism and other issues with the NDB. Swiss authorities informed U.S. and British agencies that such data could have

been compromised, the source said. News of the theft of intelligence data surfaced with Switzerland's reputation for secrecy and discretion in government and financial affairs already under assault. Swiss authorities have been investigating, and in some cases have charged, whistleblowers and some European government officials for using criminal methods to acquire confidential financial data about suspected tax evaders from Switzerland's traditionally secretive banks. The suspect in the spy data theft worked for the NDB, or Federal Intelligence Service, which is part of Switzerland's Defense Ministry, for about eight years.

Drawing inspiration from the deceptive behaviours of squirrels and birds, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed robots that are able to deceive each other.

The research is funded by the Office of Naval Research and is led by Professor Ronald Arkin, who suggests the applications could be implemented by the military in the future.

Arkin and his team learned by reviewing biological research results that squirrels gather acorns and store them in specific locations. The animal then patrols the hidden caches, routinely going back and forth to check on them. When another squirrel shows up, hoping to raid the hiding spots, the hoarding squirrel changes its behaviour. Instead of checking on the true locations, it visits empty cache sites, trying to deceive the predator. Arkin and his Ph.D. student Jaeeun Shim implemented the same strategy into a robotic model and demonstration. The deceptive behaviours worked. The deceiving robot lured the "predator" robot to the false locations, delaying the discovery of the protected resources. "This application could be used by robots guarding ammunition or supplies on the battlefield," said Arkin, a Regents Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing. "If an enemy were present, the robot could change its patrolling strategies to deceive humans or another intelligent machine, buying time until reinforcements are able to arrive," he explained. Arkin and his student Justin Davis have also created a simulation and demo based on birds that might bluff their way to safety. In Israel, Arabian babblers in danger of being attacked will sometimes join other birds and harass their predator. This mobbing process causes such a commotion that the predator will eventually give up the attack and leave. Arkin's team investigated whether a simulated babbler is more likely to survive if it fakes or feigns strength when it doesn't exist. The team's simulations, based on biological models of dishonesty and the handicap principle, show that deception is the best strategy when the addition of deceitful agents pushes the size of the group to the minimum level required to frustrate the predator enough for it to flee. He said the reward for deceit in a few of the agents sometimes outweighs the risk of being caught.

"In military operations, a robot that is threatened might feign the ability to combat adversaries without actually being able to effectively protect itself.

Being honest about the robot's abilities risks capture or destruction. Deception, if used at the right time in the right way, could possibly eliminate or minimize the threat," said Arkin.

The research is highlighted in the November/December 2012 edition of IEEE Intelligent Systems.

6

10 December 2012

NEWS

ASSOCIATION PROFILE

All India Information Technology Association

www.aiita.org

Espousing the cause of Computer Education and Literacy INTRODUCTION: In the national scenario of Information Technology sector some leading societies, organizations and associations are there to stimulate working and steering of increasing growth.

NASSCOM is one the leading organization that involves number of IT companies and ITES. Apart from this, Computer Society of India that works for computer based associations, institutes and academies so that advanced technologies in computer science could carve the niche among global ambience.

All India IT Association has been working from last five years to provide a huge platform for Indians in IT & ITES Companies, Computer Institutes, Academies, IT Professionals, Software & Hardware Engineers and other people those are committed to work for IT sector, aiita is a non – profit organization formulated to provide a common platform for IT and ITES industries. It is a forum where companies and individuals engaged in IT business combine and share their knowledge and experiences. aiita closely interacts with the government agencies on policy matters concerning IT & ITES industry. aiita facilitates Research & Development in the field of IT through active participation of institutes, corporates, professionals, industries, entrepreneurs and students at national level.

NATURE OF ASSOCIATION: The nature of the association broadens with philanthropic interests of people in general and youth in IT sector in particular.

The association works for the benefit and betterment of the society through computer education and IT awareness among people. The nature of the association is to become a huge platform for IT professional and safe guard their rights.

Establishment: In the year 2007 a initiative to espouse the cause of computer education & computer literacy among rural & tribal areas by professional computer engineers & expertise people. Their willpower did materialize to form a strong platform for doing such philanthropic exercise under the guidance in presence of the then Governor of Himachal Pradesh Justice V.S. Kokje & IT Minister of M.P. Govt. Shri Bala Bachchan. This platform has been known as All India IT Association (aiita). The beginning of aiita saw the witness of more than 2000 IT professional gathering and their pledge to devote the very cause of promoting Computer Literacy and Computer Education across the country in the presence of honorable guests.

OBJECTIVES: All India information technology association (aiita) concentrates and moves to achieve the target through following objectives : i) To provide strong platform for IT professionals, academicians and students for enhancing their potential. ii) To safeguard constitutional rights and legal securities by expertise panel and settle their disputes in an amicable manner. iii) To mobilize IT education through tailor made job oriented computer courses for youth in rural to

urban areas at a nominal fee structure. iv) The basic objective of aiita is to promote and gear up computer literacy through its tailor made computer courses. iv) aiita's sole objective is to follow the basic guidelines of ministry of IT and support the policies

Gandhi in every respect in promoting computer literacy among people. The vision of aiita is to develop basic computer skills in people that helps them in getting desirable employment.

MISSION: The mission of aiita is as plain as its vision. The mission of aiita is to enhance the capability

and awareness campaigns. v) To give proper & strong platform to computer centres, institutes & computer professionals across the country. vi) To provide job oriented computer courses in minimum affordable fee to students and laymen of the society. vii) To give importance of energy conservation and empowering women and girl child through computer literacy movement across the country. ix) To promote computer literacy among physically disabled youth to make them economically independent in terms of employment. x) To promote awareness of computer literacy and job oriented computer courses through seminars, workshops, conferences, inviting expertise people of IT sector. xi) To provide free computer education to the blind, deaf or orphans, physically challenged people of society. xii) To generate awareness among students and youth about computer education policies of IT ministry of state and central government.

VISION: India is the country of great minds, potentials, intellectuals, philosophers and full of energetic youth. Since centuries, Indians have had a great impact over philosophy, science and technology.

Our former prime minister Shri Rajeev Gandhi took great initiative to start computer education among students & youth. His dream has been visualized by many people and institutes and even abroad. aiita's vision is in alignment with the dream of Shri Rajeev

of computer skills in youth of rural and urban areas.

Special attention has been given to youth of country's tribal belt. To fulfil the mission and the vision, aiita paves the way through awareness of computer education and computer literacy campaigns. aiita is known for philanthropic approach among youth, offering them all computer courses in nominal feestructure. It provides a collaborative learning environment that weaves technology and management in everyday life.

Our innovative academic programs incorporate a tradition of academic excellence and experimental learning with an emphasis on team-work. The institute's environment instills the skills needed to succeed in a competitive global environment. We imbibe capabilities of working in diversified fields with creativity, imagination and perseverance in our students. We actively explore and develop new methodo -logies such as alternative teaching techniques and learning approaches that promote thinking skills and lifelong learning habits.

REGISTRATION: All India IT Association (aiita) is recognized and registered association under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) with the status of Company Act 1956 Section 25 for doing philanthropic and social work as non-profitable organization. aiita is also registered under the Trust Act with the Government of India and Certified with ISO status. aiita has rated as Three Star Grading from Australia in Excellence Performance. The month piece of aiitaaiita news is registered under the RNI coding from Govt. of India.

Board of aiita: The board of All India IT Association works under the guidance and patronage of prominent personalities. The board of aiita includes : Shri Rajeev Shukla (Central Minister, Govt. of India), Justice V.S. Kokje (Former Governor, H.P.), Shri Bhaiyu Maharaj (Rastra Sant), Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya (Minister of Comm. & IT, M.P. Govt.), Shri Rajendra Shukla (Minister of M.P. Govt.), Shri Balendu Shukla (Former Minister M.P. Govt.), Justice Shambhu Singh (M.P. High Court), Pt. Vishnu Prasad Shukla (Senior BJP Leader & Chairman of Alma), Shri Bala Bachchan (Former Minister, Govt. of M.P.), Shri Santosh Shukla, Advocate (President), Dr. Dilip N Pandit (Vice President), Dr. Rajeev Shrivastav (Secretary). Apart from this, Strong team with the joint secretaries makes the association strong and united.

Membership: aiita offers following membership : 1. Individual Membership : For IT Professional, IT Faculty, Data Operator, Programmer, Software Engineers etc.

2. Institutional Membership [Non – Academic] : For Computer Centre , Cyber Cafe , IT Institution, BPO Call Centre Training etc.

3. Authorised Study Centre : For All the Institutions those are interested in providing Computer & Technical Education .

COURSES: For the promotion of Computer Education and the cause of computer literacy, aiita runs job-oriented computer courses through its members and their study centres across the country. aiita runs more than 40 courses.

COURSE APPROVAL: All India IT Association (aiita) offers a number of job oriented and vocational computer courses to run by its respective members. aiita has a well framed computer education courses approval committee for framing and constitute new courses that are applicable and comprehensive for teaching and training purpose of students. aiita course committee could approve some new courses that are proposed by centre's in well formed modules and objectives along with applicability to students.

PUBLICATION: To dissiminate members information and their activites, the association publishes the monthly publication-aiita news. The motive behind it is to share views, reviews and latest information of IT sector in the country and abroad.

Apart from this, aiita publishes computer books and souvenir.

ACHIEVEMENTS: The association is committed to do many activities for the benefit of members. It has well associated with National and International IT Association such as iitaa (IT Association of America), Newfoundland and Labrador Association of technology Industries (NATE) and other reputed organization of the country.

AWARDS: aiita felicitates those working in IT Profession, Sofware Development, Hardware Technology and Innovative Technology through National Excellence IT awards.

Government to set up independent coal regulator NEW DELHI: The union government is planning to set up an independent regulator for the coal sector, Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the minister said the proposed regulator would ensure more optimal development and conservation of coal resources, rational pricing and better distribution of coal, evolution of a more competitive market and a level playing field for new entrants in the sector.

Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal last month said that the group of ministers (GoM) deliberating the appointment of a coal regulator is likely to give its final recommendations soon. The union cabinet in May 2012 asked the GoM, headed by Finance M i n i s t e r P. C h i d a m b a r a m , t o m a k e recommendations about the proposed coal regulator's powers and functions.Independent regulation of the coal sector is considered important for competitiveness of e-auction, fixing guidelines for price revision in supply pacts, fixing trading margins and increasing transparency in allocation of reserves. A coal regulator was recommended in the Integrated Energy Policy as well as by the T.L. Shankar Committee on the coal sector reforms.

'Super-intelligent' technology could 'threaten human existence', say experts LONDON: Academics at Cambridge University have suggested that super-intelligent technology could 'threaten our own existence,' says a report. Huw Price, Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, who planning to launch a research centre next year, teaming up with Cambridge professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees and Jann Tallinn, one of the founders of Skype, wants to bring more attention to a future in which mankind might be at the mercy of 'machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us.'

"In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a

reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," the Independent quoted Price, as saying.

Acknowledging that many people believe his concerns are far-fetched, Professor Price said, 'it tends to be regarded as a flaky concern, but given that we don't know how serious the risks are, that we don't know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous.'

According to the paper, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability.

7

10 December 2012

NEWS

Delhi to launch food Not bothered by criticism, security scheme Dec 15 says Dhoni N E W DELHI: T h e Delhi governm ent will launch a f o o d security scheme Dec 15 to benefit two lakh poor families in the capital, an official said here.

Under Dilli Annashree Yojana, a monthly deposit of Rs.600 will be made in the bank account of the eldest woman member in the household.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has requested United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to inaugurate the scheme, the official said.

The beneficiaries of the scheme need not be below poverty line (BPL) or Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders. However, they must hold an Aadhaar Unique Identification (UID) card, the official added.

A total of Rs.4,800 will be deposited per account, as the scheme, which was announced in city's budget 2012-13, will be effective from April 1, 2012.

The government has tied up with the six major banks to implement the scheme.

"The Delhi government has facilitated opening of bank accounts by presenting a copy of the Aadhaar card. There will be no other requirement, such as address proof, for opening the account," an official statement from the chief minister said.

E−court fee system starts in Delhi High Court NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Tuesday inaugurated the e−court fee system at the Delhi High Court, the first in the country, an official statement

said.

"It is a major step forward towards developing a modern judicial system and an e−governed state. I hope that this new system would soon be implemented in all the district courts as early as possible," said Dikshit, while addressing reporters on the occasion.

"The Delhi government's revenue department, the computer committee, the Delhi High Court and the Stock Holding Corporation of India

Ltd. have worked in tandem to develop a foolproof system to make the things easy in the court. This would go a long way in making the court paperless, fast, result−oriented a n d hassle−free," the chief minister added.

"The new system would overcome all the difficulties and delays in getting court fee," said Chief Justice D .

Murugesan, who was also present on the occasion.

The salient features of the new system include a web−based secure system, easy accessibility, faster processing, single court fee receipt of exact denomination irrespective of amount, unique e−court fee receipt number with bar code to ensure security of transactions, verification and locking facility available to the court officials.

SOMSHUVRA LAHA: It's expected of Alastair Cook to lead from the front with the bat. But the same possibly can't be said about MS Dhoni.

Entrusted with the most difficult job in the cricket world, he has in the past found ways to back himself as player and captain and often gambled to glory.

Yet the same instinct, which gave India a World Cup and a World Twenty20 title, seems to have deserted Dhoni. Though only four Tests old, Cook has led from the front till now. As captain he has walked the Michael Clarke talk, averaging a staggering 116.50. "Maybe the added responsibility makes you more accountable. As captain you always want a good start with the bat, prove you can cope with the demands," Cook said.

In the spotlight Dhoni said pressure makes a difference when you are in the spotlight for a long time. "If you are leading a side for the last 3-4 years, then

you will be in a situation where you will be under pressure more often."

Dhoni however feels for a wicketkeeper, captaincy comes with the territory. "The good thing about wicketkeepers is that right from the start you are like the vicecaptain. It's not official but they set the field and captains give them that liberty.

Wicketkeepers are more used to captaincy," he said. On the back-foot after the 0-8 drubbing abroad, Dhoni has of late been inflexible with a team that can no longer fall back on the experience of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and is under pressure to bounce back after the routs in England and Australia.

England's dogged second innings of 406, where Cook and Matt Prior played the spinners with relative ease, and the purchase Graeme Swann got should have set the alarm bells ringing despite the huge win in Ahmedabad.

Dhoni instead crammed in three spinners in Mumbai but often didn't give them enough attacking fields. Zaheer Khan was under-used and despite early signs, Dhoni did little to plug easy singles to Kevin Pietersen and Cook. It allowed them to build a 206-run partnership.

Wary of cyber security laws, UK eyes softly-softly approach LONDON: Britain will try to get companies to beef up cyber security by encouraging investors and shareholders to hold them to account on the issue, but will reject U.S.-style mandatory reporting of online attacks, government officials say.

Britain has made tackling the theft of intellectual property on the Internet and the protection of critical infrastructure from hostile cyber assault top national security issues, setting aside 650 million pounds ($1 billion) over four years to address the problems.

More than nine in 10 British companies have suffered a cyber breach in the past year and intellectual property is being stolen on an "industrial scale", government officials said in a briefing ahead of a government update on Monday on its year-old cyber security strategy. But despite the fact that more and more trade secrets are being purloined via the Internet, officials said they favored a softly-softly approach.

That would involve professional auditing and governance bodies and shareholders and analysts pressuring company directors to explain what they were doing to thwart cyber threats, they said.

"The government does want to see more disclosures. But we don't think the right way of approaching that is to pass laws to force people to do it in those areas where they are not already obliged," one official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of security issues.

"Rather than forcing companies to disclose it, we think it is best to encourage analysts, investors, shareholders, insurers, to ask for that information," he said. "A PERVERSE INCENTIVE" Unlike their U.S. peers, British companies aren't required to report cyber attacks, an obligation that supporters of such legislation believe keeps directors on their toes and helps ensure cyber defenses are up to scratch because of the fear of reputational damage.

NASA aims to launch Mars rover twin in 2020 SAN FRANCISCO: NASA plans to follow up its Mars rover Curiosity mission with a duplicate rover that could collect and store samples for return to Earth, the agency's lead scientist said on Tuesday.

The new rover will use spare parts and engineering models developed for Curiosity, which is four months into a planned $2.5 billion mission on Mars to look for habitats that could have supported microbial life.

Replicating the rover's chassis, sky-crane landing system and other gear will enable NASA to cut the cost of the new mission to about $1.5 billion including launch costs, John Grunsfeld, the U.S. space agency's associate administrator for science, said at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco.

Budget shortfalls forced NASA to pull out of a series of joint missions with Europe, designed to return rock and soil samples from Mars in the 2020s. Europe instead will partner with Russia for the launch vehicle and other equipment that was to have been provided by NASA. Grunsfeld said NASA will provide a key organics experiment for Europe's ExoMars rover, as well as engineering and mission support under the agency's proposed budget for the year beginning October 1, 2013. T he United States also will

provide the radio communications equipment for a planned European orbiter slated to launch in 2016.

Details about what science instruments would be included on the new rover, whether or not it would have a cache for samples, and the landing

site have not yet been determined.

NASA plans to set up a team of scientists to refine plans for the rover and issue a solicitation next summer.

The National Academy of Sciences last year ranked a Mars sample return mission as its top priority in planetary science for the next decade.

"The (science) community already has come forward with a very clear message about what the

content of the next Mars surface mission should be, and that is to cache the samples that will come back to Earth," said Steve Squyres with Cornell University.

"That's really a necessary part of having this mission," he said.

HUMANS MISSIONS TO MARS NASA had considered flying an orbiter in 2018, but decided instead to provide equipment for the European probes, extend its ongoing Mars missions and develop the Curiosity twin rover for launch in 2020. "We could have come up with something in 2018, but with the budget that we're in we would not have had such a full program. It would have been a down-scaled orbiter of some kind," Grunsfeld said.

Under the revamped Mars plan, Curiosity's two-year mission would be extended to five years.

The new rover also would help NASA prepare for eventual human missions to Mars, a longterm objective of the U.S. space program.

"If we think of the 2030s as the potential for human exploration, I think this 2020 rover and the other things we might be able to do in the 2020s as a synergistic collaboration between science and human spaceflight. There are a lot of cool things we can do," Grunsfeld said. (Editing

by Tom Brown and Eric Walsh)

EDITOR CHOICE

Dr. Dilip N. Pandit editor@aiita.org

Neanderthals may have sailed to Mediterranean islands A study has provided new evidence which suggests that Neanderthals, or even older Homo erectus ("Upright Man") might have sailed around the Mediterranean, stopping at islands such as Crete and Cyprus.

The evidence indicted that these hominid species had cognitive skills to build boats and navigate them.

"They had to have had boats of some sort; unlikely they swam," Discovery News quoted Alan Simmons, lead author of a study about the find, as writing in this week's Science.

"Many of the islands had no landbridges, thus they must have had the cognitive ability to both build boats and know how to navigate them," he added.

Simmons, a professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, added that there is no direct evidence for boats dating back to over 100,000 years ago.

If they were built then, the wood or other natural materials likely eroded.

However, other clues hint that modern humans may not have been the first to set foot on Mediterranean islands.

On Crete, for example, tools such as quartz hand-axes, picks and cleavers are associated with deposits that may date to 170,000 years ago.

Excavations at an Akrotiri site on Cyprus have turned up ancient thumbnail scrapers and other tools dating to beyond 9,000 years ago. There is also a huge assembly of fossils for a dwarf pygmy hippopotamus, which might have been a good food for the earlier islanders. It's possible they hunted the small, plump animal to extinction.

"Conventional wisdom used to be that none of these islands had too much settlement prior to the Neolithic because the islands were too impoverished to have supported permanent occupation. This likely is untrue. Hunters and gatherers can be pretty creative," Simmons said.

Other evidence outside of the Mediterranean supports that preNeolithic humans could sail. Simmons, for instance, pointed out that these individuals "must have been able to cross substantial expanses of sea to reach Australia by at least 50,000 years ago."

"Additionally," he continued, "findings from the Indonesian Wallacea islands suggest the presence of hominins as early as 1.1 million years ago on Flores Island."

Thomas Strasser, an associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Providence College, told Discovery that he believes "future research will confirm recent discoveries that hominids reached the Mediterranean islands when they first left Africa. I believe the Homo erectus radiation out of Africa was both terrestrial and maritime."

8

10 December 2012

NEWS

Now you can request 'Aadhaar' Obama says no deal on fiscal cliff profile updates online unless GOP agrees to raise taxes on rich

NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is executing the "Aadhaar" scheme pan-India, launched a new facility to enable people update t h e i r demographic profile by post or by way of an o n l i n e application.

The authority said in a statement that update requests can be submitted online through the self-service update portal, which will accept requests for changes in name, gender, date of birth, address and mobile number.

This apart, residents can send their request for update on these five fields by post to any of the six regional offices of UIDAI based on the local language in which they were enrolled, the statement

added.

Earlier, the update option was available at the enrolment or update centres alone.

"UIDAI recognises the need for facilitating residents to update their demographic and b i o m e t r i c information upto-date using m u l t i p l e channels. The facility is one such service made available for the convenience of residents," the statement said.

The new facility was launched by UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani, which allows residents to log on to www.uidai.gov.in and submit requests along with relevant documents. this portal also enables the residents to check the status of their update requests.

U.S. launches new project to develop electric-vehicle batteries WA S H I N G T O N : T h e O b a m a administration launched a fresh $120million research project, aimed at developing cheaper batteries for electric vehicles, a sector that has

faltered despite billions of dollars of prior government investment.

The Energy Department will dole out the money over five years to establish a research hub for batteries and energy storage, backed by five national laboratories, five Midwestern universities and four private firms.

The four companies joining the project are Dow Chemical Co, Applied Materials Inc, Johnson Controls Inc and Clean Energy Trust. During the Obama administration's first term, jumpstarting advanced battery manufacturing was a major national initiative, which saw the Energy Department plow $2 billion of grants

aiita Monthly Seminar Series-III

into 29 battery makers to build or update plants. But the industry was hobbled by overcapacity, limp demand for electric vehicles and high-profile bankruptcies, including the collapse of government-backed battery maker A123. Still, the government defended its efforts, saying that despite some failures, most of its investments were successful and helped double renewable-energy output from wind and solar.

"Not every company succeeds," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a news conference announcing the new project. "Never should the United States say because one company didn't succeed as much as others, we should get out of the game."

Led by the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, the new research hub will combine several independent research programs into a single coordinated effort "to push the limits on battery advances," the department said.

Besides working on batteries for electric vehicles, the project will also tackle energy storage for the electric grid, officials said.

"The secretary of state (for culture and media) made very clear that no change is not an option and we would have to go back and look at other options laid out by Leveson."

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has they were under former President Bill Clinton. declared that there would be no deal to avert the "I recognize I'm not going to get 100 percent," Obama looming fiscal cliff unless Republicans agree to raise said, adding: "But what I'm not going to do is to agree to a plan in which we have some revenue that is vague and potentially comes out of the pockets of middleclass families in exchange for some very specific and tough entitlement cuts that would affect seniors or other folks who are vulnerable."

"That's not the kind of balanced plan that I think would be good for growth, good for the economy, or good for the American people," he said.

According to the report, the day after House Republicans sent the president a 2.2 trillion dollars offer, the president said that "unfortunately, the Speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance." taxes on wealthy.

Obama said a comprehensive reform package will not "If we're going to raise revenues that are sufficient to be agreed on in the next two weeks, but expressed balance with the very tough cuts that we've already confidence a deal can be reached on the middle-class made and the further reforms in entitlements that I'm tax cuts, the report added. prepared to make, that we're going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up. And we're not going to be able to get a deal without it," he told Bloomberg INDORE: In the wake of proper administrative News in his first interview since the election.

"It's not me being stubborn. It's not me being partisan. services and facilities, aiita will hold Quarterly Audit System for reviewing the student's registrations and It's just a matter of math," he added. performances of center heads of all centers. This is According to ABC News, Obama did, however, signal informed by the President, Shri Santosh Shukla, some flexibility on his campaign pledge to return tax Advocate. rates on the top earners to 39.6 percent, which is what

QAS Starts from Jan. 2013

LMS topic ignites student community all over

INDORE: aiita monthly seminar series started by aiita for last 3 months has been getting a huge response across the country with exiting zest of centre heads and their faculties to conduct it.

This is informed by the President of aiita Shri Santosh Shukla, Advocate.

Shri Shukla further told that the seminar on LMS got positive response from student community as well as faculties. aiita got number of snaps and reports of conducting LMS seminar across the

c o u n t r y.

This series would be continued with new topics and advanced technologi es that matter a lot in respect o f academic scenario.

S h r i Shukla expressed gratitude to all centre heads and their faculties to cooprate the ongoing series with oodles of oomph and verve. aiita Monthly Seminar Series and motive behind is to educate student community with current technologies. aiita has long been active to inspire student community in general and youth in particular for their career opportunities through promotion of computer education.

Published from All India Information Technology Association, 18/3, Pardeshipura, Near Bhandari Hospital, Indore, (M.P) and printed at Compac Printers Pvt. Ltd., 3/54, Press Complex, A.B. Road, Indore by Rajesh Shukla on behalf of aiita.

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