aiita news november 2012

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Year-6 Vol.-11 | 10 November 2012

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MP receives investment proposals worth Rs 4.31 lakh cr Global investment summit has become an epitome of success for attracting futuristic projects and investments in the State INDORE: Madhya Pradesh has received investment proposals worth Rs 4,31,555 crore during the two-day Global Investors Summit which concluded today at Indore. They would create direct and indirect employment for 24 lakh people. The state had received investment proposals of Rs 2,35,736 crore in the similar summit held in 2010 at Khajuraho.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said a high level committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary will monitor the progress of these investments on a weekly/regular basis. He also mentioned that an Investor Relationship Management System would be created to maintain a constant connect with the investors and ensure that the needed support is given to the industry.

He assured the investors that he would personally supervise all approvals from the government side for all investment proposals received during Global Investment Summit. Every month he would hold an exclusive review of these proposals for speedy approvals along with the concerned Ministers. Every investor will be assigned a 'relationship officer' from the Government side who will act as the single point of contact for the investors.

Global investment summit has become an epitome of success for attracting futuristic projects and investments in the State. the summit saw participation from over 15 countries and with over 2200 delegates. The ten sectoral seminars were attended by over 1500 delegates. The Global Investors Summit Exhibition saw the participation of over 50 exhibitors over an area of 20,000 sq ft with a representation from Quebec, Canada and companies such as Cadbury, Daulat Ram, Case New Holland, Liu Gong, Bharat Oman and many more.

NASSCOM-DSCI announces Annual LinkedIn beats expectations, raises full-year rev view Information Security Summit 2012 The summit will provide guidance on contemporary and evolving approaches to security challenges faced by cloud, mobility and Big Data deployments Information Week NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India (DSCI) for focused discussions with government leaders announced that the Annual Information Security along with experts – national and global - who will Summit 2012 will be held on 11-12 December at Taj talk about the security concerns and solutions. It will Lands End, Mumbai. This Annual Summit is the provide guidance on contemporary and evolving flagship event of DSCI, aimed at bringing security approaches to security challenges faced by Cloud, professionals from across industry Mobility and Big Data deployments. verticals and government at one It will also run parallel discussions, place to exchange ideas, share in the form of round tables, on knowledge, discuss and deliberate National Association of Software several areas of Internet. Special and Services Companies on common issues faced by the features such as celebrating the Security community. With organizations becoming success of women leaders in the field of security, more dependent on network connectivity through Workshop on IT Act and release of DSCI assessment emerging platforms that include mobile systems frameworks will also be part of the event. On the among others, security of operations is critical for sidelines of the summit, DSCI will also host business and delivery of services. The growing important discussions on IT leadership in the complexity of organizational operations, numerous Mumbai region with key government leaders who applications, global architecture and all pervasive are engaged in national cyber security initiatives. nature of threats make security more difficult. Every The summit will also include DSCI Excellence year at NASSCOM-DSCI Information Security Awards 2012 with special categories that includes Summit, organized by DSCI, global thought leaders Security in Banks, Telecom, IT- Services- Large, IT and experts, come and share their experiences with Services- SME, BPO-Global, BPO-Captive, ethe delegates, on the latest trends, security Governance, Privacy and Emerging Security technologies, solutions, frameworks and Product Company for Corporate, and Law approaches. The summit will provide an opportunity Enforcement Agencies (LEAs).

All India IT Association Wishes Happy Diwali NEW DELHI: On the occasion of Diwali festival Govt. of M.P.), Shri Balendu Shukla (Ex. Minister aiita family wishes to all those who are from across Govt. of M.P.), Shri Balkrishna Shukla (Member of the country and abroad and those who have long been Parliament), Justice Shambhu Singh, Pt. Vishnu associated as centres, Prasad Shukla (Sr. BJP Leader), development officers, Shri Bala Bachchan (Former Students and well wishers.

Minister, M.P.), Shri Santosh The patronage of aiita family Shukla, Advocate (President), including Shri Rajeev Shukla Dr. Dilip N Pandit (Vice (Union Minister), Justice P r e s i d e n t ) , D r. R a j e e v V. S . K o k j e ( F o r m e r Shrivastav (Secretary), Shri Governor), Shri Bhaiyyu Ravikant Sharma (Joint Maharaj (Rashtra Sant), , Secretary), Dr. Monika Nagori Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya (Joint Secretary), Dr. Priyanka (Minister of M.P.), Shri Shukla (Treasurer) wished all Rajendra Shukla (Minister for peace and prosperity.

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Professional social network trading on Thursday, as the LinkedIn Corp topped Wall company extended its streak Street's third-quarter profit of beating analyst and revenue targets, as expectations every quarter advertising rates increased since its May 2011 initial and sales from its hiring services nearly public offering. "They seem to be firing on doubled. Shares of LinkedIn gained all cylinders," said Macquarie Research nearly 8 percent to $115.15 in after-hours analyst Tom White. www.aiita.org

Shri Kapil Sibal

Shri Sachin Pilot

Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya

Union Minister IT Govt. of India

MOS, Corporate Affairs Govt. of India

Commerce & IT Minister Govt. of M.P.

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Happy Diwali

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10 November 2012

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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 CMS got peppy response from student community as well as faculties. aiita got number of snaps and reports of conducting CMS seminar across the country. This series would be continued with new topics and advanced technologies that matter a lot in respect of academic scenario. Shri INDORE: aiita monthly seminar series started by Shukla expressed gratitude aiita for last 2 months has been getting a huge response to all centre heads and their faculties to co-oprate the across the country with high octant potential of centre ongoing series with oodles of oomph and verve.

RTI curbs shelved NEW DELHI: The government has at least for now shelved a set of controversial amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, gladdening activists who feared the changes would dilute the law.

The amendment bill was to be placed before the cabinet for approval today but was eventually withdrawn from the agenda because of opposition from RTI activists and the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council, a senior Union minister told The Telegraph.

"While I welcome the move, I must say it was a political requirement for (the government). Just before the elections, they could not have angered their constituencies," senior RTI activist Lokesh Batra said.

Citizens can now seek information under the act on file notings except on issues of national security, but the proposed amendments sought to restrict filenoting disclosures exclusively to social and development issues. The amendments also sought to limit the act's scope in order to protect privacy and commercial interests.

Another proposal was to exempt the exam selection process from the act's ambit, which would have ruled out disclosures about public examinations and candidates' evaluation for government jobs.

The amendments were mooted in 2009, three years after the act came into effect, but are yet to be

introduced in Parliament. National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy had led the campaign against the amendments.

Batra said: "The department of personnel and training has been trying to get the act amended since 2006 to exclude file notings, except for the social and development sectors, from its ambit. It is thanks to the persistent efforts by activists that the move has been dropped."

He added: "Now, at least till the elections, the

government will not tinker with the act."

Nikhil Dey, RTI activist and member of the National Advisory Council, said: "It is an important decision.

The amendments would have killed the RTI Act and there would have been no transparency in governance."

India's youngest RTI activist, 18-year-old Mobashir Sharwar, was "extremely happy".

"It is something we have been fighting against for the past six years. Why introduce the RTI Act if you want to curb citizens' rights over what they can access? I hope the government does not touch the act any more," Sharwar said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said last month that the RTI Act could not be used to violate the privacy of individuals and suggested that citizens' right to know might have to be "circumscribed".

Chidambaram seeks all parties support to contain fiscal, current account deficit NEW DELHI: Asserting that the debt of a country must be sustainable, and within the limits, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has sought the backing of all political parties in strengthening the government's efforts to contain both fiscal and current account deficits.

"No country can live beyond its means. The countries, which have accumulated unsustainable level of debt, are facing economic and financial problems," Chidambaram said while addressing here yesterday the 4thMeeting of the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry on the issue of "The Economic Impact of Internal and External Debt".

He said that the best efforts would be made to contain fiscal deficit at 5.3 percent, during the current financial year even though the Kelkar Committee has stated that as per the current economic trends, it could be 6.1 percent. Emphasising that said though the target of 5.3 percent is challenging one, yet it is doable, Chidambaram said that the strategy to achieve the target would be to maximize revenue collections and control expenditure.

Chidambaram further said that serious efforts would

also be made to bridge the gap in the Current Account Deficit (CAD), which presently stood at 70.3 billiion dolars. He said there are mainly three major heads to do the same i.e. through FDI, FIIs and ECBs (External Commercial Borrowings). In this regard, he mentioned that capital inflows through FDI and FIIs are vital in meeting the current account deficit.

He said that the FDI is not an option, but an imperative, failing which we will have to rely on borrowings to meet the current account deficit.

The members of the Consultative Committee representing different political parties participated in the discussion and gave various suggestions including following the credible path of fiscal consolidation, framing of debt and fiscal management policy, and keeping debt to GDP ratio at a low level among others.

Some of the members suggested that while following the path of fiscal consolidation, the interests of the common man (aam admi) should not be compromised. Some Members suggested continuation of the various subsidies including fertilizer subsidy for farmers.

Many members suggested that there was a need to review the functioning of various Central Sponsored Schemes (CSS) which are not able to deliver the benefits.

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10 November 2012

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US seeks patriotic Cabinet is a combination of computer geeks for youth and experience: PM help in cyber crisis BOSTON: The Department of Homeland Security is considering setting up a "Cyber Reserve" of computer security experts who could be called upon in the event of a crippling cyber attack.

The idea came from a task force the agency set up to address what has long been a weak spot recruiting and retaining skilled cyber professionals who feel they can get better jobs and earn higher salaries, in the private sector.

"The status quo is not acceptable," DHS Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute told Reuters in a recent interview. "We are not standing around. There is a lot to do in cyber security."

Lute said she hopes to have a working model for a Cyber Reserve within a year, with the first members drawn from retired government employees now working for private companies.

The reserve corps might later look to experts outside of government. The United States has become increasingly vocal about the need to beef up cyber defenses as Iranian hackers have repeatedly attacked the nation's three biggest banks over the past year, raising the stakes in a longrunning battle to protect private companies from digital attacks.

The detonation of a cyber "time bomb" at Saudi Arabia's stateowned oil company in August caused unprecedented damage at a private company, pulling 30,000 PCs out of service and raising concerns that similar attacks could occur in the United

States. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on October 11 that the country faces a potential "cyber Pearl Harbor" and that foreign groups have gained access to computer systems that control critical U.S. infrastructure, such as chemical, electricity and water plants. The Department of Homeland Security has had trouble attracting and retaining top cyber talent since it was created after 9/11 in a massive merger of 22 agencies in 2002. In its early days, the DHS farmed out cyber work to contractors so it could quickly get systems running to improve national security.As a result, the agency tends to award the most coveted cyber jobs to outside contractors. Those positions include forensics investigators, posts on "flyaway teams" that probe suspected cyber attacks and intelligence liaisons.

"It's not the money that makes people go to the contractors. It's the cool jobs," said Alan Paller, co-chair of the DHS task force.

"People want the excitement."

The task force advised the DHS to give more exciting cyber work to government workers to help with retention.

NSA VS DHS Over the past decade, only 3 percent of students who won scholarships through a prestigious government-funded program known as CyberCorps have taken jobs with DHS. In contrast, nearly a third chose the National Security Agency, according to the task force.

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Please send back the hard copy of your agreement which is signed (photocopy) to aiita head office as soon as possible. So that your legal documentation is processed.

Dr. Rajeev Shrivastav Secretary

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday said the new cabinet is a combination of youth and experience and hoped it would be the last one before the next general election scheduled in 2014. "It is a combination of youth and experience," Manmohan Singh told reporters after the swearing

ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

When asked about ministers who quit giving way for others, the prime minister said: "The party needs men and women of experience to strengthen it. They will be equally productive in the party." On his priorities in the next few months, Manmohan Singh said: "The road ahead is full of challenges." The prime minister was hopeful that this was the last reshuffle before the 2014 general elections.

He ruled out early election saying they will be held in due course of time.

PRESIDENT VIEW

Santosh Shukla, Advocate president@aiita.org

Apple rolls out iPad mini in Happy Diwali to you Asia to shorter lines and Family SYDNEY: Apple fans lined up in several Asian cities to get their hands on the iPad mini on Friday, but the device, priced above rival gadgets from Google and Amazon.com, attracted smaller crowds than at the company's previous global rollouts.

Apple Inc's global gadget rollouts are typically high-energy affairs drawing droves of buyers who stand in line for hours. But a proliferation of comparable rival devices may have sapped some interest.

About 50 people waited for the Apple store in Sydney, Australia, to open, where in the past the line had stretched for several blocks when the company debuted new iPhones.

At the head of Friday's line was Patrick Li, who had been waiting since 4:30 am and was keen to get his hands on the 7.9-inch slate. "It's light, easy to handle, and I'll use it to read books. It's better than the original iPad," Li said.

There were queues of 100 or more outside Apple stores in Tokyo and Seoul when the device went on sale, but when the company's flagship Hong Kong store opened staff appeared to outnumber those waiting in line.

The iPad mini marks Apple's first foray into the smaller-tablet segment, and the latest salvo in a global mobiledevice war that has engulfed combatants from Internet search leader Google Inc to Web retailer

Amazon.com Inc and software giant Microsoft Corp .

Microsoft's 10-inch Surface tablet, powered by the just-launched Windows 8 software, went on sale in October, while Google and Amazon now dominate sales of smaller, 7-inch multimedia tablets.

POSITIVE REVIEWS Unveiled last week, the iPad mini has won mostly positive reviews, with criticism centring on a screen considered inferior to rivals' and a lofty price tag. The new tablet essentially replicates most of the features of its full-sized sibling, but in a smaller package.

"Well, first of all it's so thin and light and very cute - so cute!" said iPad mini customer Ten Ebihara at the Apple store in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district.

At $329 for a Wi-Fi only model, the iPad mini is a little costlier than predicted but some analysts see that as Apple's attempt to retain premium positioning.

wipro ups IT revenue guidance on growth signs BANGALORE: Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd Friday projected higher revenue, albeit marginally, from its flagship IT services business for the third quarter (October-December) of this fiscal (2012-13) on signs of growth in the technology space.

"We expect revenue from our IT services business to be in the range of $1.56-1.59 billion or an average of $1.57 billion for this quarter (Q3)," the global software major said in a statement here.

In contrast to the flat growth the company projected and posted during the last twothree quarters, the outlook for the third quarter is 2.2 percent higher sequentially from $1.54 billion in second quarter (July-September) of this fiscal under International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).

"We have delivered revenue in line with our guidance and are continuing to see consistent improvement in our engagement with customers and employees," Wipro IT business chief executive T.K. Kurien said in the statement.

The company, however, does not give annual revenue guidance or for its non-IT business, which is being hived off into a separate entity from this fiscal.

In a regulatory filing earlier in the day, Wipro notified that it posted net profit of Rs.1,611 crore (Rs.16.11 billion) for second quarter (Q2) of this fiscal (FY 2013), registering 24 percent growth

year-on-year (YoY) and two percent sequentially.

Similarly, total revenue rose 17 percent YoY to Rs.10,657 crore (Rs.106.57 billion) for the quarter under review, but remained flat sequentially from previous or first quarter (April-June) under the Indian accounting standard.

Under IFRS, net income is $304 million, up seven percent sequentially and total revenue $2.01 billion, up m a rg i n a l l y 4 . 7 p e r c e n t sequentially.

The IT business revenue, however, increased marginally to $1.54 billion, registering 4.6 percent YoY and 1.7 percent sequentially under IFRS and 23 percent YoY and marginal sequentially (0.7 percent) to Rs.8,373 crore (Rs.83.73 billion) under Indian accounting standard. "Our focus on driving significant operational improvements has helped us mitigate the incremental impact of wage increases and currency volatility during the quarter," Wipro executive director and chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Earnings from IT business before interest and tax (Ebit) is up 27 percent YoY to Rs.1,731 crore (Rs.17.31 billion/$327 million).

Operating margin for IT services is up 20.7 percent YoY, but incrementally lower sequentially from 21 percent in first quarter.

The IT services business added 53 clients during second quarter as against 37 in first quarter and 44 the same quarter year ago.

It's the precious moment to congratulate you and your family member on the auspicious occasion of Deepawali Parva. The festival of light, happiness, gratitude, respect and blessing for well being. The festival of light teaches us everthing about life, business, education and real meaning of happiness. Alma has, since its inception, long been devoted to serve the great cause of serving humanity through education and enlighten youth with oozing out self confidence to get job opportunities. Alma has always supported the youth and student community in guiding proper way of employment through its joboriented computer education, vocational training and IT education based courses across the country and across the continents.

Truly, Alma is proud to be associated with your good self as centre head, students, faculties, entrepreneurs being family members. Lighting of lamp is really nice thing to be done and it must be continued for years and philanthropic attitude of being human. It is really pleasure moment to inform you all that Alma has offered a Seasonal Bonanza offer to get avail of more brands and profits from them and much reduced fee. Alma feel happy to associate more people, youth, entrepreneur through this Bonanza offer and would support in their business growth, expansion of objectives and career to be a leader in business community in years to come.

Once again, allow me to wish you happy deepawali- Keep enlighting lamp and enjoy happiness.

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10 November 2012

NEWS

M E M O R A B L E S N A P S 'India has worked closely with her IORARC partners to deepen cooperation': Khurshid

Shri Rajeev Dubey being honored by Pt. Vishnu Prasad Shukla with President Santosh Shukla, Advocate and Devesh Vajpai

GURGAON: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said India has worked closely with her Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IORARC) partners to further deepen and consolidate the cooperation in pursuit of the shared objectives.

"This is the second and last meeting of the Council of Ministers under India's current Chairmanship of our Association. Over the last year, since we assumed the Chair at Bengaluru last November, India has worked closely with her IORARC partners to further deepen and consolidate our cooperation in pursuit of our shared objectives," said Khurshid in his opening remarks at the 12th IOR-ARC Council of Ministers Meeting.

Khurshid said that a number of activities have been successfully concluded in each of the six priority areas identified for IORARC at Bengaluru, namely maritime security and safety, disaster risk reduction, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, academic and S and T cooperation, and tourism and cultural exchanges. "It gives me pleasure to report that several programmes were undertaken under these priority areas.

These include a professional course for diplomats from IORARC countries, a workshop on coastal zone management, a meeting of Heads of National Archives of our countries, a mobile exhibition of archival documents

from IORARC countries and a separate IORARC segment in the forthcoming International Film Festival of India in Goa this month," said Khurshid.

"The first meeting of the Core Group on Cultural Cooperation, the 13thMeeting of the Working Group of Heads of Mission and a meeting to finalize the Draft Constitution of the University Mobility in the Indian Ocean Region were held in South Africa earlier this year.

The Regional Centre for Science and Technology Transfer hosted a number of useful programmes to further our cooperation in the arena of Science and Technology," he added. Khurshid said that the IORARC Report on Trade and Investment prepared by the Indian think-tank 'Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries' (RIS) was released followed by two very useful workshops on Trade Facilitation and Customs Harmonization, and on Trade Policy, held in India and Australia earlier this year. "The active participation by member countries in all these programmes is a reaffirmation of our collective commitment to our Association. These initiatives have helped further consolidation of the cooperative agenda," said Khurshid.

"A mid-term meeting of Committee of Senior Officials was held in Mauritius in May this year under India's Chairmanship to take stock of the progress in our cooperation. India has made the payment of US$ 1 million towards the Special Fund as was committed by us at Bengaluru in November 2011," he added.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Panel rings in Helping the world understand spectrum solution India's foreign policy NEW DELHI: Mobile operators can retain 2.5 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum in

Shri Advocate Indradev Tripathi is being honored by President Shri Shukla.

Ms. Yashika Mahajan being honored at Farewell Party

Our fellow citizens are much concerned today with domestic issues, but a small segment of citizenry spends its waking hours thinking largely about India's role in international affairs.

Government officials apart, such people are mostly in the nongovernmental domain.

Academics, defence experts, media commentators, former diplomats and business leaders constitute what is known as the 'strategic community.' This group has been gaining salience, a sign that foreign policy intellectuals have come of age. Corresponding to the diversification in India's external relations, activities of its think tanks have been expanding. This was not always so.

Before independence, knowledge and interest in foreign affairs were highly limited. As the Second World War raged, a team of visionary intellectuals led by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru took a historic initiative. In 1943, they created a pioneering institution devoted to t h e s t u d y, r e s e a r c h a n d dissemination of knowledge on foreign affairs. Aptly named as the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), it has since contributed

immensely to a specialized field. the efficient 900 MHz band by paying a ICWA received inspiration from market-determined price at the time of Jawaharlal Nehru who believed licence renewals.

Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone India and BSNL each hold around 5 MHz of radio waves in the 900 MHz band in various circles. If they agree to retain half of this, the remaining 2.5 MHz will be substituted by frequencies from the 1800 MHz band, the empowered group of ministers on telecom decided. Telecom permits of most of these companies will come up for renewal in 2014.The telecom that scholars should help in the department plans to auction radio waves in making of foreign policy. 'The the 900 MHz band, ahead of it being returned by operators, in the first quarter of government alone', he said, "could 2013. The 900 MHz band is almost 30-40 not discharge its international per cent more efficient than the 1800 MHz obligations unless well-informed spectrum. The market price for 2.5 MHz public opinion supported it or spectrum that can be held by operators criticized it, whenever necessary." would be finalised at a later date, probably He made a personal donation for after the auction of spectrum in the 1800 construction of a home for ICWA, MHz band and closer to the sale of 900 MHz radio waves, said telecom ministry Sapru House.

As independence approached, sources. Mobile firms can surrender the India hosted the Asian Relations entire 5 MHz of spectrum, if they so desire, Conference in 1947. ICWA though few if any would be willing to do accomplished the task admirably. so, officials said. The GSM industry has The conference was presided over been opposing refarming or substitution of their more efficient 900 MHz airwaves

by Sarojini Naidu, a prominent with 1800 MHz band spectrum as it would leader of freedom struggle; cost the sector more than Rs 1,00,000 crore Mahatma Gandhi addressed it. to buy replacement airwaves in an auction Another historic conference was and to also build more mobile towers and organised in 1949 to advocate replace some of the existing gears to Indonesia's independence. continue services.

Start-ups plan new ways to deal with future disasters Shri Sanjeev being honored by Pt. Vishnu Prasad Shukla

Shri Atul Kumar Sharma of New Delhi being honored by Staff

SAN FRANCISCO: Floating robots to gather storm data, fuel cells for power outages, and tools to choose evacuation routes and help responders stay connected to the Internet are among the innovations that increasingly will help responders deal with future disasters, start-up companies say.

These tools are helping track weather patterns and measure their strength, soften their impact and speed recovery. Many are already proving their worth, not just in massive storm Sandy but in other weather disasters such as Hurricane Isaac and this summer's extreme drought in the U.S. Midwest.

VantagePoint-backed LiquidRobotics, for example, deploys floating robots to measure vast amounts of ocean data. Unlike passive buoys, its robots - called wave gliders - can be sent towards an oncoming storm. Unlike weather-tracking airplanes, the robots measure conditions at the ocean's surface, providing key information about a storm's future track and strength.

The wave gliders provide real-time information of tectonic plate movement, helping scientists determine if earthquakes will trigger tsunamis, for example.

LiquidRobotics equipment is already deployed in some areas around the Pacific, including Indonesia and Japan, for this purpose. Currently, LiquidRobotics works with some branches of the U.S. National Atmospheric and

Oceanic Administration, including the agency's tsunami warning center and buoy center. But there is room for more government business, said Francois Leroy, senior vice president for science and international sales at the Sunnyvale, California-based company.

While he believes it is too early to approach officials in

areas affected by Sandy to market the gliders, the company is planning its approach for a few weeks' time.

"We are collecting the data, preparing the case in terms of what we have done, and can do," Leroy says.

Another data-intensive company that helps customers deal with weather conditions is San Francisco-based Climate Corp, backed by Index Ventures, Google Ventures and others. It uses myriad weather data points to price crop insurance.

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10 November 2012

NEWS

SkyPrep Introduces an Affordable, User-Friendly SaaS Based LMS for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses LAS VEGAS: SkyPrep officially launches its their material, design tests and build unique there that allows you to start with a single user, online training software at the 2012 Las Vegas courses to meet their needs. Reporting tools are which can easily scale up to thousands. Basically DevLearn convention. This user-friendly pay as you grow." A training platform can learning management system (LMS) start as low as $5 (US) a month with provides small-to-medium sized businesses a prepayment discount options of 20 percent. better tool to train and certify their SkyPrep currently manages over 1,000 employees. accounts, servicing more than 20,000 users.

Users can register for a 30 day free trial With this release, SkyPrep exits the beta period that lets them explore the many phase and launches into general availably features of SkyPrep. "This a very exciting which can still be accessed through a free trial day for us as we've been working on this period at http://www.skyprep.com platform for over two years, trying to About SkyPrep: incorporate the needs of our users and closing Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, SkyPrep some of the gaps in the e-learning industry," is a tech-firm which provides a web based says Babak Barkhodaei, CEO of SkyPrep, training platform for companies and also included to help track the progress of each with enthusiasm. user, group, or course. Barkhodaei boasts, "our educators. Since its inception in 2010, SkyPrep Creating a training program happens within clients really appreciate how straightforward the has been developing private eLearning software, minutes of using the software. Users have the app is, not to mention the affordable pricing and has recently expanded into the cloud-based flexibility to add content, index and organize structure. We are one of the only platforms out training ecosystem for public use.

Russia's Mail.Ru to launch global expansion with online games

MOSCOW: Russian email-tosocial networking group Mail.Ru is targeting online gamers as it prepares to launch services in foreign markets under the 'my.com' name.

"Games is what we can begin to enter new markets with," Dmitry Grishin, the chief executive officer of Mail.Ru Group, told reporters on Tuesday.

The company, part-owned by metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov, did not elaborate on its international plans, saying only that it has been testing various products in foreign markets for more than six months.

It has previously focused on the domestic, Russian-language

market.

Rival internet group Yandex has already expanded to Turkey and Czech Republic and said recently it would take the fight against Google in other emerging markets to offset the inroads made by the U.S. giant in its home market. Mail.Ru operates two of the three largest Russian language social networks, Odnoklassniki and Moi Mir, instant messaging networks Mail.Ru Agent and ICQ and email service Mail.ru.

It also has a 1.17 percent stake in U.S. game maker Zynga, a 0.75 percent stake in social networking site Facebook and 4.12 percent of shares in daily deal website Groupon.

SECRETARY VIEW

Dr. Rajeev Shrivastav info@aiita.org

Is talent crunch hurting India Inc?

Rupees depreciation India has abundance of resources against US dollar leads and the industry too has developed a strong will to compete with the to rise in crude oil prices best in the globe. But the biggest NEW DELHI: The international crude oil prices for Indian Basket increased to US$107.65 per barrel on Tuesday.

This was higher than US$ 107.29/bbl on the previous trading day's figures of October 29.

In rupee terms also, crude oil price increased to Rs 5831.40 per bbl on October 30 as compared to Rs 5773.27 per bbl on October 29.

This was due to price increase in dollar terms and rupee depreciation with rupee-dollar exchange rate on October 30 at Rs 54.17 /US$ against Rs 53.81 /US$ on October 29.

The rupee fell by 19 paise to 54.17 rupees against the US dollar in the late morning trade on month-end dollar demand from importers

despite weak dollar overseas.

The rupee resumed slightly higher at 53.96 a dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.

However, it declined immediately to 54.23 before quoting at 54.17

when reports last came in.

According to a Forex Dealer fresh month-end dollar demand from importers, mainly oil companies, affected the rupee's value against the dollar.

dilemma of our times is that despite having a youthful population, we just don't have the rightly skilled people to catapult India to new economic heights.

This paucity of skilled work-force is beginning to hurt India Inc. The talent shortage is only going to get worse over the coming years. According to Randstad India's global Workmonitor Survey 2012, Indian employers have trouble finding highly qualified people and this trend is set to continue for the next three years as the economy is showing signs of reforms. India Inc is finding it hard to fill in key positions in research, sales and IT. With the opening up of new sectors, the situation will accentuate further. The main reason for such supply shortage is the lack of training and the required experience for the positions which are in very high demand by the industry.

Apart from finding right people for the right job, another problem is retaining them. With 35% of the county's workforce having tenures of less than two years, Indian organisations lag behind their Asia -Pacific and western counterparts in retaining their people.

Retention, especially of an organization's high performing employees, continues to be a challenge in India.

Talent constraints are imposing tangible costs on companies. A look at the impact of talent constraints in India suggests that businesses have lost out in terms of cancelling or delaying key strategic initiatives. Skill shortages exist across many segments of the industry and economy of the country. We have in fact moved from a position where not only the technically qualified professionals in various streams are in short supply but there also exists an acute shortage of shop floor workers. Hence both the government and industry must take immediate corrective action and focus on building effective resources to address the issue.

6

10 November 2012 CORPORATE PROFILE

INTRODUCTION: Alma is globally well known brand in computer education and international certification. In India it works as Alma Limited (India) and promoting the cause of computer education, vocational training programs in rural and urban area of the countries. Alma has tied-up with UK, Australia, Mauritius and African Countries to offer job oriented computer education courses. Alma is associated with Nasscom, All India IT Association (aiita), IIML, ICAL, ISO Certification and the three star award certification from Australia.

VISION: Alma has broad vision to promote computer education across the world and in India specially in the rural and urban areas. To pave the way for IT Education for youth across the country, Alma broadens its vision as well.

MISSION: The mission of Alma is to promote and aware of government policies of IT Education through computer education in minimum fee structure.

REGISTRATION: Alma is recognized and registered company under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in Government of India.

Apart from this, Alma NGO works to promote the welfare activities in Social, Cultural and Health spheres. Alma works welfare activities under the works of Ministry of HRD, Ministry of IT and Ministry of Social Justice (Govt. of India). It is certified by ISO 9001:2008, 14001:2004 along with it Alma is associated with world IT federation, aiita and other global organization of IT Sector.

NATURE OF COMPANY: The nature of company is to promote computer education through job oriented computer courses, vocational training program and computer literacy projects for increasing employment opportunities.

COURSES: Alma offers more than 200 job

NEWS

Alma – The leading brand in computer education www.alma.in oriented computer education and technical education vocational training courses. Apart from this, Alma offers many International Certification Courses and Management Streams.

ESTABLISHMENT: The leading brand in educational sector – Alma is established in year 1999 with philanthropic objectives in

Parliament), Justice V.S. Kokje (Former Governor of H.P.), Acharya Dr. Prabhakar Mishra (Former Vice Chancellor), Sr. BJP Leader and Chairman Pt. Vishnu Prasad Shukla, Vice Chairman Professor Dr. Rajeev Sharma (Prominent Educationist), Director Santosh Shukla Advocate, High Court, Dr. Suchita Shukla and Dr. Dilip N Pandit. Alma

promoting educational cause. In the year 2006, it got the status of Alma Limited with Corporate Identity Number (CIN) – U72200MP2006PLCO18620 under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India.

MANAGEMENT: Alma keeps the guidance and patronage of Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi (Former HRD Minister, Govt. of India), Shri Rajeev Shukla (Central Minister, Govt. of India), Shri Balkrishna Shukla (Member of

gets strengthened from the support of more than 50,000 people across the world.

PUBLICATION: Alma publishes monthly Newspaper Alma Times and the overseas magazine ALMA. Apart from these, Alma News- A web portal for information and awareness has started recently.

PLACEMENT: Alma helps student through the placement cell that guides students and job seekers in getting right opportunities through

the job portal- www.almajobs.com. Besides, Alma has tied-up with NVS Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. to make better opportunities in getting employment. Apart from this, the guidance for jobs would be given through www.monster.com and www.naukri.com in forwarding resumes.

C O R P O R A T E S O C I A L RESPONSIBILITY: Alma is one of those leading corporate companies, which goes parallel to corporate social responsibility through NGO services along with company affairs. Being NGO player, Alma imparts various youth-oriented, motivational, health awareness activities to serve the mankind.

Contextually, Alma conducts blood donation camp, computer literacy projects and orphanage activities for motivational purposes and so on to mark its corporate social responsibilities enthusiastically.

GROWTH RATE: Alma has lucrative optimum annual growth rate to meet its mission and under its further expansion to open public issues in corporate activities. The growth rate of Alma since 1999 to June 2012 has been Indexed double digit which is leading in the educational Industries.

PROJECTS: Computer Education, Software & Hardware, Technical Education, Vocational Training Program, Management Program, Teachers Training Program, School Project, Play School, College Project DREAM PROJECT: One of the dream projects is to establish Alma University in India, to facilitate quality education among growing generation across the world. Apart from this, Alma dreams to reshape an International Organization to boost up the universal fraternity in education sector and support in works of United Nation Projects of Education and Health.

Patiala aiita Centre organizes Kids Competition vk;Vk ds lÒh lEekuuh; lnL;ksa dks nhikoyh dh gkfnZd 'kqHkdkeuk,sa

Sh. Rajeev Shukla

Justice V.S. Kokje

Shri Bhaiyu Maharaj Ji

Sh. Kailash Vijayvargiya

(Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs- Govt. of India Patron

Former Governor, H.P. Patron

Rashtra Sant Patron

(Minister Govt. of M.P.) Patron

Sh. Rajendra Shukla

Sh. Balendu Shukla

Sh. Bal Krishna Shukla

Justice Shambhu Singh

(Minister Govt. of M.P.) Patron

(Ex. Minister Govt. of M.P.) Patron

(Member of Parliament) Patron

M.P. High Court Patron

Pt. Vishnu Prasad Shukla

Sh. Bala Bachchan

Santosh Shukla

Dr. Dilip N Pandit

Sr. BJP Leader Chairman, aiita

Ex. IT Minister, Govt. of M.P. Vice Chairman, aiita

Advocate, High Court President, aiita

Vice President aiita

Dr. Rajeev Shrivastav

Ravikant Sharma

Dr. Monika Nagori

Dr. Priyanka Shukla

Secretary

Joint Secretary

Joint Secretary

Treasurer

PATIALA: A local Ram Nagar based institute ACT Education Academy has introduced some Science Exhibition, Calligraphy competition & other cultural activities amongst their students Maheer, Ashiti, Drishiti, Varun, Dinkal, Harleen, Harmanpreet, Jasmeet, Abhay, Prince, Pawanparteek, Dhiren, Lovpreet, Sumit etc. of 6th to 9th class.

A Science fair was organized by the students of ACT Education Academy on 27th October 2012 in which working and attractive models were made by the children. All the students & their parents worked hard and took

complete Interest to make this program a success.

After the completion of the program all the winners were encouraged with trophies and certificate The prize distribution ceremony was done by the ACT Centre Head. Shri Vijay Kumar He appreciated the work done by students and promises for many more such events in future. He gave a two minutes speech to encourage the students of ACT Education Academy to help them in their future. He said that he will introduced many new methodologies of teaching likeshortcuts of math's, learning by playing etc.

Sibal launches much-hyped optical fibre scheme

NEW DELHI: Union Telecom Minister, Kapil Sibal on Friday announced the launch of the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) in New Delhi that would connect 250,000 villages across the country.

Sibal was addressing an audience at Rashtrapati Bhawan during the presentation of the second annual report of the National Innovation Council (NIC) to President Pranab Mukherjee.

"The second initiative is the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN). To accelerate the reach of connectivity, to enhance development and innovation at the grassroots, NOFN will provide optic fibre base broadband connectivity to 250,000 village councils in the country. I dare

say that perhaps this one of the most innovative projects launched anywhere in the world and perhaps the largest. And the government has set apart 20,000 crores (200 billion rupees) for this project," said Sibal.

The NIC was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2010 to help implement strategies for inclusive innovation in India and preparing a roadmap for Innovation in 20102020.

The National Innovation Council is focused on encouraging and facilitating the creation of an Indian Model of Innovation by looking at five key parameters: Platform, Inclusion, Ecosystem, Drivers and Discourse.

The core idea is to innovate to produce affordable and qualitative solutions that address the needs of people at the Bottom of the Pyramid, eliminate disparity and focus on an inclusive growth model.

The initiatives of the National Innovation Council are also aimed at fostering an innovation ecosystem across domains and sectors to strengthen entrepreneurship and growth, to facilitate the birth of new ideas and enhance collaboration.

7

10 November 2012

NEWS

Fireflies provide flash of RBI to announce cut in interest inspiration for cheaper rate to support growth MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India is global trade.

LED lamps all set to cut interest rate despite high It said sustaining the reform initiatives of HONG KONG: South Korean scientists have copied the structure of a firefly's underbelly to create what they say is an improved and cheaper LED lens that they hope will one day be used in smartphones, televisions and

other devices.

In a paper published on Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, the scientists described how they were inspired by the firefly, a bright and efficient source of natural light.

"We made a new LED lens

(copying) the nanostructure of the firefly lantern," said lead author Ki-Hun Jeong, associate professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science of Technology's department of bio and brain engineering.

By copying the structure of the firefly's three-layered lower abdomen, Jeong and colleagues managed to do away with an expensive component in existing LED (light-emitting diode) lamps.

Fireflies produce light from the lower abdomen to attract mates and prey.

"By having this structure, it is comparable to the conventional anti-reflection coating of existing LED lights which is very expensive," Jeong said.

"Our lens has a curvature, which is very similar to the anti-reflection coating, so we can minimise the lens price."

inflation in order to support growth in the half- yearly review of monetary policy which will be unveiled.

The RBI said the Survey of Professional

Forecasters has lowered the GDP growth projection to 5.7 per cent from 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal.

Average wholesale price based inflation forecast is revised upwards to 7.7 per cent from 7.3 per cent.

It said the global growth prospects, both in advanced and emerging economies, have weakened and the euro zone troubles have affected business confidence and caused deceleration in

the government would be the precursor for a turnaround in economic activity.

Earlier on Monday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had unveiled a five-year road map for fiscal consolidation to promote investments, contain inflation and reduce fiscal deficit to about three percent to take India onto the high growth trajectory.

Chidamabaram said that the government will continue its efforts to restrict fiscal deficit in the current financial year to 5.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reduce it to three percent by 2016-17.The fiscal deficit was 5.8 percent in 2011-12. Economic growth slipped to nine-year low of 6.5 percent in 2011-12 and it is expected to fall further this fiscal.

Referring to fiscal consolidation in 201213, Chidambaram expressed the confidence that government would be able to raise Rs 30,000 crore from disinvestment and Rs. 40,000 crore from sale of spectrum.

Mobile computing wars pose tough Google, US publishers settle choices for Internet publishers long running battle over 'right to digitise books'

LONDON: Google and US publishing firms have settled a long-running copyright case over books and journals digitized by the Internet search giant. The American Association of Publishers (AAP) said the Google Library Project will now receive access to in-copyright books from its members.

As per the agreement, publishers will have the right to remove their books from Google Library if they choose, the Telegraph reports.Those publishers who choose to make their books available to Google's Library Project will receive a digital copy of the book that they can use to produce their own ebooks.The paper quoted Tom Allen, president and chief executive of the AAP, as saying that they

are 'pleased that this settlement addresses the issues that led to the litigation.' "It shows that digital services can provide innovative means to discover content while still respecting the rights of copyrightholders," Allen added.Five AAP publishers, the McGrawHill Companies, Pearson Education, Penguin Group, John Wiley and Sons and Simon and Schuster, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google in October 2005 over the search engine's plans to create the world's largest digital library. According to the paper, Google has already scanned more than 20 million books for its digital library without obtaining prior permission from the authors and publishers.

SEATTLE: For Microsoft Corp, and Amazon.com, and the clutch of other companies that hope to carve out a big slice of a mobile computing business currently dominated by Apple Inc, the future depends on people like Scott Porad.

As chief technology officer of Cheezburger Network, a popular publisher of humor websites, Porad has to make the tough calls on which mobile devices merit the development of special software, or apps, that will make the company's content shine. Developing apps for the hot-selling iPhone might be a no-brainer, but that's not the case when it comes to apps for Microsoft's new Windows 8 software, or for the various versions of Google Inc's Android mobile operating system, or for Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry devices. "We are a small company and we don't have unlimited resources," said Porad "We cannot afford to do it all, that's for sure."

Cheezburger, an independent publisher with 85 employees and about 16 million unique visitors a month worldwide, ultimately decided to go ahead with a Windows 8 app while passing on BlackBerry and some other platforms.

But many other developers are taking a

wait-and-see approach. The caution extends not only to Windows, but also increasingly to Android as that software evolves in different ways on different vendors' platforms. A Kindle Fire app is quite different from one built for, say, the Samsung Galaxy, even though both devices are based on Google's Android.

Indeed, the explosion of competition in

the tablet and smartphone markets may be providing consumers with plenty of choice, but it's a decidedly mixed blessing for Internet content companies.

They now have to develop as many as six different apps if they want to reach all their mobile customers, with each development project costing tens of thousands of dollars at a minimum, and far more to update the apps over their lifetime.

Infrastructure, IT hardware, defence Facebook crosses billion threshold, high on India-South Korea talks on quest for growth SEOUL: Infrastructure, energy, IT hardware, small and medium enterprises as well as defence are some of the most promising areas of cooperation in an expanded relationship between South Korea and India.

The 11th Korea-India Dialogue on 'Deepening Partnership for the 21st Century' concluded here Wednesday, according to an embassy press statement.

Sponsored by the Korea Foundation and Korean steel giant POSCO, the dialogue was coorganized by Seoul Forum for International Affairs (SFIA) and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

The Korean side was led by SFIA president Ku-

Hyun JUNG and the Indian side was led by Member of Parliament Baijayant Panda. The participants brainstormed over two days to identify ways and means to further deepen cooperation between the two countries.

SFIA chairman and former prime minister HongKoo Lee expressed satisfaction at the steady expansion and strengthening of India-South Korea ties. He noted that the India-Korea Dialogue series, initiated in 1996, had emerged as an important platform for exchange of views on enhancing bilateral synergies.

Ambassador Vishnu Prakash spoke about the "strategic convergence of interests" between both countries and the "bipartisan political consensus" for the close bilateral relations.

He said there was no conflict of interest and that the relationship had entered a transformative phase. He identified security and defence, infrastructure, energy, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), IT hardware and thirdcountry projects as some of the most promising areas of cooperation.

The forum would submit its recommendations to their respective governments.

The 12th Dialogue would take place in the latter part of 2013 in India.

NEW YORK/SAN F R A N C I S C O : Facebook Inc passed the 1 billion user mark, a level of global penetration that is a remarkable achievement for an 8year-old social network and a heightened challenge to its quest for sustained growth.

Facebook, which has endured a bruising four months in the stock market since a haphazard May 18 initial public offering, has acknowledged that a slowdown in new-user acquisition is inevitable as its worldwide reach expands. But doubts over whether the company can squeeze more and more dollars out of each network member - given well-publicized struggles to monetize the growing ranks of users who access Facebook from mobile devices - have shaved more than 40 percent off Facebook's value since its IPO, although shares still trade at a lofty 45 times projected 2012 earnings. Facebook crossed the billion threshold on September 14 confirmed expectations on Wall Street that growth is actually trailing off. The latest quarter's growth appeared likely to come in lower in raw numbers, let alone by percentage, than the April-June quarter's 54 million new users.

EDITOR CHOICE

Dr. Dilip N. Pandit editor@aiita.org

Gigantic planetary collision may have led to depletion of zinc on moon By examining lunar rocks gathered by Apollo mission, astronauts have shed new insights about the moon's chemical makeup as well as clues about the giant impacts that may have shaped the early beginnings of Earth and the moon.Geochemist James Day of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and colleagues Randal Paniello and Frederic Moynier at Washington University in St. Louis used advanced technological instrumentation to probe the chemical signatures of moon rocks obtained during four lunar missions and meteorites collected from the Antarctic.

The data revealed new findings about elements known as volatiles, which offer key information about how planets may have formed and evolved.

The researchers discovered that the volatile element zinc, which they call "a powerful tracer of the volatile histories of planets," is severely depleted on the moon, along with most other similar elements.

This led them to conclude that a "planetary-scale" evaporation event occurred in the moon's history, rather than regional evaporation events on smaller scales.

"This is compelling evidence of extreme volatile depletion of the moon. How do you remove all of the volatiles from a planet, or in this case a planetary body?

You require some kind of wholesale melting event of the moon to provide the heat necessary to evaporate the zinc," said Day. According to Day, a gigantic planetary collision resulting in global transformations might be responsible for eradicating such elements.

Day recently led a study in the journal Nature Geoscience that showed how such a collision might have brought precious metals such as gold and platinum to Earth, likely just after the solar system formed.For the new study, the researchers employed a mass spectrometer device, an advanced instrument that precisely measures the ratios of isotopes of a particular chemical element, which Day said revealed information not accessible even five years ago. Comparing the zinc composition of moon rocks with rocks from Earth and Mars revealed severe depletions in the lunar samples.

The researchers argue in the paper that such a disparity points to a large-scale evaporation of zinc, "most likely in the aftermath of the Moon-forming event, rather than small-scale processes during volcanic processes."The next stage of this research, Day said, is to investigate why Earth is not similarly depleted of zinc and similar volatile elements, a line of exploration which could lead to answers about how and why the earth is mostly covered by water."Where did all the water on Earth come from?" asked Day. "This is a very important question because if we are looking for life on other planets we have to recognize that similar conditions are probably required. So understanding how planets obtain such conditions is critical for understanding how life ultimately occurs on a planet," he stated.

The results are published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

8

10 November 2012

NEWS

Apple loses tablet copyright appeal against Samsung LONDON: Apple has lost its appeal against a ruling that cleared rival Samsung <005930.KS> of copying its registered designs for tablet computers, in a decision which could end the two firms' legal dispute on the subject across Europe.

The world's two leading smartphone makers are fighting over patents, both for smartphones and for tablets like Apple's iPad, in courts around the world.

Britain's Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the country's High Court judgment that, despite some similarities, Samsung's Galaxy tablet

did not infringe Apple's designs, in part because its products were "not as cool".

The decision is valid throughout Europe and should prohibit further legal disputes between the two companies over the design of tablets in the region.

South Korea's Samsung welcomed the decision saying in a statement: "We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners". Apple declined to comment on the decision. The U.S. company has been instructed to run advertisements saying Samsung did not copy its registered tablet designs, both on its website and in selected newspapers.

Apple can appeal to the Supreme Court.

"I expect this will be the end of the line.

An appeal to the Supreme Court is in principle possible but there has been no indication so far that Apple plan such an appeal", Darren Smyth partner at EIP, a specialist intellectual property law firm, told Reuters.

"For the design of tablets in Europe this should be the final word."

Government plans Rs.40,000 cr. fund for rural development The fund will be available to states from the next financial year till the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in March 2017.

NEW DELHI: The government is planning to set up a Rs.40,000crore flexi-fund to help states address specific rural development needs.

The fund will be available to states from the next financial year till the end of the 12th FiveYear Plan in March 2017. The central government will have a 70 per cent share in the fund.

"For the first time, we are putting together a flexi-fund of Rs.40,000 crore that will be available to all states to spend on rural development scheme," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said at a joint press conference with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The minister said the fund would ensure better targeting of state-specific projects."The fund will ensure better targeting and the states will be free to use funds as per their requirements," Ramesh said. The fund would be available as an additional amount that can be spent either on existing centrally-sponsored schemes of the rural development ministry and the drinking water and sanitation ministry. The 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) has proposed an allocation of Rs.490,000 crore to the rural development ministry and Rs.100,000 crore to the drinking water and sanitation ministry. holds a four point advantage over Ahluwalia said there is a need for a restructuring of the Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the contest for Ohio's much-foughtover 18 electoral votes.

Fifty-percent of likely voters questioned in the poll say they are backing the president, with 46% supporting the former Massachusetts g o v e r n o r. O b a m a ' s f o u r- p o i n t advantage is within the survey's sampling error.

The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International from October 23-25, with 1,009 Ohio adults, including 896 registered voters and 741 likely voters, questioned by telephone.

Obama up 4 percentage points over Romney ATLANTA: A new CNN/ORC poll of likely voters shows President Barack

Obama leading Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the crucial state of Ohio with less than two weeks before Election Day: According to a CNN/ORC International survey released, President Barack Obama

Face 2 Face

existing rural development ministry schemes, saying that those "need to be made more flexible".

"We are taking a fresh look at social sector schemes," he said.Different states face different development challenges and Ramesh had spoken against "too much centralisation" in the programmes. "The biggest problem today is that all rural development work is based on national guidelines that cannot take care of the specific problems of states," reports had quoted him as saying earlier. His ministry believes the setting

up of the flexi-fund would send a powerful signal about the government's commitment to cooperative federalism. The fund proposal would be placed before the cabinet for approval.

Shri Atul Kumar Sharma aiita Study Centre, New Delhi

Computer knowledge get mandatory in educational ambience

INDORE: Knowledge and technologies have always been pioneer in reshaping society and civilization irrespective of utilities. Nowadays, Computer knowledge and technologies in different aspects ruling the roost. To cope up with changes, computer knowledge has become mandatory in educational ambience and not even that, lay man should have a bit of internet experience to deal with their requirement in different walks of live. These powerful thoughts expressed by Shri Atul Kumar Sharma the centre head of aiita student centre of New Delhi. He shared many topics with expertise vision and gravity.

Shri Sharma has started aiita Study Centre (ASC) in mayur vihar, New Delhi to educate students and youth in computer education with dedication. According to Shri Sharma, it is high time to educate people and especially students community in computer and IT sector with proper training so that they could get basic skills in advanced technologies because knowledge of computer is getting essential nowadays in every field of life. Highly educated Shri Sharma started aiita study centre to support students and youth of deprived sectors of society. He stressed on computer education with proper guidance. His centre is conducting many joboriented computer and technical courses in minimum fee structure. According to him the youth of country must focus on their target through proper education and technical skills.We must motivate them in this regard. He expressed the views over career guidance and employment opportunities through aiita student centre.

SHRI MANISH TIWARI MOS, Information & Broadcasting Government of India

aiita Family Congratulates on being Inducted as

Union Minister

Santosh Shukla President, aiita

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.

Editor : Dilip N. Pandit, Email : editor@aiita.org, Layout Designer : Sanjay Panjwani, Ph. : 0731-4222242, 4222251, www.aiitanews.com, www.aiita.org