Railways crack Whip on Tatkal Touts

In an attempt to crackdown on touts and illegal travel agencies, the Indian Railways on Friday came up with stricter rules and procedures for emergency and advance bookings. 

The IRCTC has decided to implement certain strict rules at the counters to act against the touts and illegal agents following the report of the Tatkal ticket booking scam. 

The Railway board officials met the IRCTC MD and discussed the serious matter. The department has decided to have separate timings for Tatkal and advance bookings. 

As per the new rule, there will be a separate counter at stations for Tatkal ticket bookings. To check the illegal acts inside railway counters, the CCTV cameras will be installed and Railway Protection Force (RPF) will be deployed at the stations. The booking clerk will not be allowed to use the mobile phone during working hours. Admitting serious lapses and negligence, the department has promised strong action and a series of solutions. 

The Railway authorities are also planning for changes in the internet bookings ensuring one that only one Tatkal booking is allowed per a computer. The ministry is also planning to get a software that will allow only one booking per IP address. 

The Railway came up with stricter rules following the media reports that showed how touts and illegal agents are booking tickets meant for emergency travel and sold them at a premium price to passengers. 

The travel agents bypass the heavy traffic to IRCTC's Tatkal booking site, log on quickly and get tickets at will. Usually Tatkal tickets are booked 24 hours before journey. But the agents are lakhs of rupees on their businesses to beat the traffic. They are following many steps to get the Tatkal tickets easily and providing them to their customers. 

The touts used to follow the simplest way by using a non-MTNL net connection. As traffic on the IRCTC site from BSNL servers are always busty, the agents through a different server can easily login to book ticket for their customers. 

If IRCTC stops usage of one IP address to book multiple tickets, the touts have another way to make the Railway fool. "Switch off your modem and turn it on again. You have a new IP address. This is because most service providers use dynamic IP addresses. If one will login using multiple IDs from different browsers, the IRCTC's efforts to restrict an access to travel agencies seem useless. 

The travel agencies used to get emergency tickets booking exactly after 8 am when the IRCTC books Tatkal tickets. The touts say that steps are all out of homework, practice and diligence to book the ticket fast.

Surjeet Singh released from Pak Jail after 31 Years

 Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh was released from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail on Thursday after staying 31 years in captivity. He reached the Wagah border of Pakistan side in the morning to come back to his home. 

Surjeet Singh was serving a life term in Pakistan jail following his arrest on charges of spying in 1980s. Pak police escorted the 69-year old to the Wagah border, where he will be handed over to Indian authorities today. 

The family members of Surjeet Singh are in a mood to celebrate after he would touch Indian soil. 

Along with him, over 300 Indian fishermen would walk free out of Pakistan after they were released on Wednesday from Karachi jail. The fishermen were in Pakistan custody for violating Pakistan's territorial water off the coast of Gujarat.

Surjeet's release could upset Sarabjit Singh's family, who had been waiting for a long time. Sarabjit Singh, another Indian prisoner, who is lodged in the same jail where Surjeet was put. 

Pakistan government played a midnight drama announcing the release of Surjeet Singh not Sarabjit Singh from the custody. The Indian media was stunned to see the development as Indian authorities had thanked their Pak counterparts for the safe release of Sarabjit, who was awarded the death sentence in 1990 Lahore serial blasts case. 

Pak government changed its decision moments after declaring the release of Sarabjit Singh. Later, Surjeet Singh's release was confirmed by the authorities.

Microsoft buys internet startup Yammer for $1.2 bn

 Software giant Microsoft is buying Internet start-up Yammer for $1.2 billion so as to bring Facebook-like sharing features to its software applications.

The deal was announced on Monday. Two weeks before, we had media reports regarding opening of negotiation by Microsoft to snap-up ‘Yammer’.

As per Microsoft, Yammer has more than 5m corporate users at 85pc of the Fortune 500 companies. The company that started in 2008 as a messaging tool for companies developed into a wider social network in a small span of time of 4 years.

Like Facebook, Yammer specializes in creating private social networks where employees of the same company can be updated on what their colleagues are doing.

However, Yammer will continue to be run from its San Francisco headquarters by its co-founder and CEO, David Sacks. It will also continue to provide its services separately from Microsoft’s offerings.

Facebook’s first major investor Peter Thiel had risen Yammer’s initial funding at the beginning who formerly worked with Mr. Sacks while they were both executives at PayPal.

World’s largest software maker Microsoft took a right step forward which can be seen as a major shift in the technology industry by owning Yammer.

Last year Microsoft had acquired Internet video chat service Skype with $8.5 billion as a major step to remain relevant which was also the largest acquisition in the company’s history.

RIM likely to split Business

Canadian Smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM), who is best known for its BlackBerry phones, is likely to split business. The company may separate its handset manufacturing division from its messaging network and transform itself into an enterprise solutions provider.

As per recent media reports RIM could either break off its handset division into a separate listed company or sell. The possible buyers in this regard may be Amazon or Facebook. RIM's messaging network is also likely to be sold or opened up to its competitors like Apple and Google to generate income. 

However, another report is also doing the rounds in the media that the Waterloo, Ontario-based company may sell only a stake to a larger technology company such as Microsoft Corp.

These planned moves of RIM are a part of its ongoing strategic review of its business and financial performance – report says. The planned restructuring under its new President and CEO Thorsten Heins has been seen as the company's latest strategy as it tries to come out with a successful new set of BlackBerry devices, called BlackBerry 10 soon.

The world can certainly save itself, but only if we recognize accurately the dangers that humanity confronts together. For that, we will have to pause from our relentless competition in order to survey the common challenges we face. 

The world's current ecological, demographic, and economic trajectory is unsustainable, meaning that if we continue with business as usual we will hit social and ecological crises with calamitous results. We face four causes for such potential crisis: 

- Human pressures on the earth's ecosystems and climate, unless mitigated substantially, will cause dangerous climate change, massive species extinctions, and the destruction of vital life support functions.

- The world' population continues to rise at a dangerously rapid pace, especially in the regions least able to absorb a rising population.

- One sixth of the world remains trapped in extreme poverty unrelieved by global economic growth, and the poverty trap poses tragic hardships for the poor themselves and great risks for the rest of the world. 

- We are paralyzed in the very process of global problem solving, weighed down by cynicism, defeatism, and outdated institutions. 

These problems will not solve themselves. A world of untrammeled market forces and competing nation-states offers no automatic solutions to the harrowing and increasing difficulties. Ecological conditions will be worsened, world unless that growth is channeled by active public policies into resource saving technologies. The transition from high to low fertility rates, necessary for lower population growth, requires concerted public action to help guide private and voluntary fertility choices. 

Market forces alone will not overcome poverty traps. And a failure of global problem solving mean that we are failing to adopt even straightforward and sensible solutions lying right before our eyes. 

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will resign on Sunday

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will resign on Sunday from his post to file his nomination papers for the President poll. The UPA nominee is currently in West Bengal seeking support of Trinamool Congress, the key ally of Congress. 

Pranab visited his homeland ahead of his resignation terming it as the last visit to his state as the Finance Minister. "This is my last visit to Kolkata as the Finance Minister because I am going to demit my office on June 24. After that I will not be able to speak anything either on government or on party matters," he said today. 

He will file his nomination papers for the Presidential election on June 28. He will file four sets of nomination papers, each having 50 proposers and seconders. The poll will be held on July 19. 

Pranab is backed by Non-UPA partners like Samjawadi Party, BSP, besides other parties like CPI (M), AIFB, JD (U), Shiv Sena. However, the TMC has denied giving its support to Pranab as the President of India.

એક અનોખી પ્રતિભા - ડો. શૈલેશ ઠાકર

માણસ પાસે જ્ઞાન, ધન, સદગુણ બધું જ હોય, પણ જો તે નમ્ર ના હોય તો, બધું જ વ્યર્થ છે. બીજાને મદદ કરતી વખતે પણ લોકોના વિવિધ દ્રષ્ટિકોણ હોય છે. કોઈ અહંકાર સાથે મદદ કરતા હોય છે તો કોઈ દયા ખાઈને, તો કોઈ સ્વાર્થ પ્રેરિત, તો કોઈ ઉદાસીન વૃતિથી, તો કોઈ મજબુરીથી, તો કોઈ ખોટી ટેવના કારણે મદદ કરતા હોય છે. કોઈ માંગવા પછી તો કોઈ માગ્યા વગર તો કોઈ નમ્રતાથી અને વળી ના છુટકે અને બીજાના કહેવાથી મદદ કરતા હોય છે. કેટલાક સામાજિક જવાબદારી સમજીને અને થોડા પુણ્યકાર્ય સમજીને મદદ કરે છે. 

આવી જ એક પ્રતિભાની હું આજે વાત કરવા માગું છું અને તે છે મેનેજમેન્ટના શ્રેષ્ઠ પાઠ ભણાવનાર શ્રી શૈલેશભાઈ ઠાકર કે જેમના વિચારો આજે વિશ્વભરમાં ફેલાયેલા છે. કોઈ પણ હોય, બાળક, યુવાન કે વૃદ્ધ દરેક માણસોને આજે જીવનમાં આગળ વધવા માટે થોડું મેનેજમેન્ટનું જ્ઞાન હોવું જરૂરી છે તે પછી સ્કુલે જવા માટેની તૈયારી, યુવાનીમાં આગળ વધવા માટેનું જોમ કે પછી જીવન જીવવાની કળા. દરેક માણસો આ વિષયથી ટેવાયેલા હોય જ છે. 

શૈલેશભાઈની સફર ચાલુ થઇ તેમના અથાગ પ્રયત્નોથી. લોકોના નકારો સંભાળવાની ટેવ આજે તેમને આ પ્રસિદ્ધિ સુધી પહોચાડ્યા છે. થોડા વર્ષો પહેલા જયારે હું શૈલેશભાઈને મળ્યો ત્યારે મારા મગજમાં તેમના વિશે બહુ ખબર ના હતી. પણ જેમ જેમ હું એમની નજીક જઈને તેમને સમજવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવા લાગ્યો ત્યારે પછી એમ થયું કે બહુ જ ઓછા લોકો આ સફળતાને પચાવી શકે છે. મેનેજમેન્ટના ગુરુ હોવું એ અભૂતપૂર્વક સન્માન છે અને સૌથી મોટી વાત તો એ કે એમને આ સન્માનથી કોઈ જ અભિમાન નથી. 

એકદમ નિખાલસ, રમુજી અને મળતાવડા સ્વભાવવાળા આ ઠાકર સાહેબને જો કોઈ કંપની એમ કહે કે સાહેબ અમારા સ્ટાફ માટે પ્રોગ્રામ કરવો છે તો ઠાકર સાહેબ માત્ર એટલું જ કહે કે "તારીખ આપો, તમારો પ્રોગ્રામ થઇ ગયો સમજો". ના પૈસાનું પૂછે, ના કેટલા માણસો છે તેનું, ક્યાં પ્રોગ્રામ કરવો છે તે પણ તેમના માટે કશું જ મહત્વ નથી. એમને માટે એમના સંબંધો જ મહત્વના છે અને ત્યારે જ આજે કોઈ પણ મોટા મોટા મેનેજમેન્ટના ગુરુઓ તેમની સાથે કામ કરવા તૈયાર છે જેમ કે ટોમ પીટર, ચાર્લ્સ સેવેજ, જી નારાયણ... લીસ્ટ ઘણું લાંબુ છે મિત્રો.

પોતાના માટે માત્ર એક જોડી કપડા, બુટ, ઘડિયાળ અને એક મોબાઈલ સાથે રાખનારા ઠાકર સાહેબ તેની ૮૦% સફળતાનો ધ્યેય એમને પત્નીને આપે છે. રમૂજમાં એમનું કહેવું છે કે જો મારી પત્નીએ મને લખવાનું કે ટ્રેનીંગ આપવાની છૂટ ના આપી હોત તો આજે મારું આ નામ ના થયું હોત. 

સાથે બેસીને કોફી પીવાની એમની ટેવ અને સાથે બીજા કરતા અલગ વિચારો કરવાની આદત આજે તેમની પ્રસિદ્ધિની એક ઝલક બની ગયી છે. હમેશા પોતાના ઘરના એક ખૂણામાં બેસીને વેબસાઈટ ઉપર ચેટ કે બ્લોગ લખવામાં વ્યસ્ત એવા ઠાકર સાહેબને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ફોન કરે તો એમનો જવાબ એટલો જ આસાનીથી આપે જેટલો સામેવાળો માણસ વાત કરતો હોય. આ તેમની એક લાક્ષણિકતા છે.

એપોઇન્ત્મેન્ત વગર જ ઠાકર સાહેબ બધાને મળે છે અને તેમને આ રીતે મળવું પસંદ છે. હમેશા પોતાના વચનને આધીન માનનારા લોકોમાં આજે તે ઓળખાય છે. તેમના માટે તેમનું કામ એટલું જ મહત્વનું છે જેટલું બીજા માટે એમનું કામ. લોકો માટે, લોકો સાથે અને લોકોના કામ માટે તેમનું જીવન સમર્પિત છે. 

Blow to Mamata as Tata wins Singur case

In a huge setback for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Calcutta High Court on Friday held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 as unconstitutional and void.

With the verdict, Industrialist Ratan Tata won the Singur case. The court favoured Tata Motors' appeal against a trial court order upholding the Act. 

The court gave the state government two months to appeal before the apex court. 

A division bench of high court on Friday held the Singur Act void saying it is unconstitutional and void. "The act is primarily made out for land acquisition which is in direct conflict with the existing Land Acquisition Act of 1894. So if a state legislature wants to enact a land acquisition act of its own. It should take permission from the Centre and Presidential accent is necessary which the State did not take. Returning land to only a portion of farmers cannot be called public purpose", the court said.

The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act was passed in 2011 when Mamata became the Chief Minister.

Put the I Back in Alliances

Strategic partnerships yield great benefits for those involved, but they are fragile entities. To ensure success, remember these eight I's when forging alliances with other organizations:

Individual Excellence: Both sides bring strengths, and neither can be expected to prop up the other.

Importance: The relationship must matter strategically to both sides.

Interdependence: You need to need each other.

Investment: Have a stake in the partner's success.

Information: Transparency strengthens the partnership, hiding information impedes trust.

Integration: Creates several points of contact across the organizations.

Institutionalization: A formal structure can aid in objectivity and ensure the partnership works for both sides.

Integrity: Trust is critical and ethics are a must.

Julian Assange seeks Asylum in Ecuador

 In a big development, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and sought asylum in that country, by complicating the matter for the British authorities. 

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said that their government led by President Rafael Correa will consider Assange's plea and take an appropriate decision.

The latest development will lead to a major diplomatic row if Assange's plea is accepted and he is given asylum in Ecuador. In that case, it would be difficult for Britain to extradite Assange to Sweden.

Assange was forced to take the other way out after Britain's Supreme Court upheld the decision to allow his extradition to Sweden to be tried over sex crimes allegations. 

Assange finds Ecuador as the right place to seek refuge, as that country has been at loggerheads with his bete noire, the United States.

Facebook acquires Facial Recognition Startup Face.com

Face.com, an Israel based facial recognition startup company has confirmed in a post of its blog on Monday that Social network giant Facebook has acquired Face.com. Facebook has been rumored to be in talks to acquire the company. However, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Face.com retains the power of apps that detect and "recognize" faces in photos. Facebook said in a prepared statement. "This transaction simply brings a world-class team and a long-time technology vendor in house."

"By working with Facebook directly, and joining their team, we'll have more opportunities to build amazing products that will be employed by consumers -- that's all we've ever wanted to do," Face.com CEO Gil Hirsch posted on the company's blog.

Last month only, Face.com had released an iPhone app called Klik, which can scan photos to develop a facial profile of people in a certain photo set, or social network.

Face.com has made its technology available to around 45,000 app developers since 2010, for use within their own programs.

How to fight against Malaria in Monsoon

Monsoon trims down the immunity of the body and makes us vulnerable to many diseases including Malaria. Hence, the best way to fight against the disease is to keep our body resistant against illness by enhancing the body-immunity. We can better do it by taking precautions against Malaria.

Methods used to prevent malaria include medications, mosquito eradication and the prevention of bites.

Tips to fight against Malaria in Monsoon:

Puddles of water formed due to rain during the monsoon become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. So, always keep the surrounding dry and clean.

Do not allow water to get accumulated around.

Keep your body warm as viruses attack immediately when body temperature goes down.

Do not enter air conditioned room with wet hair and damp cloths.

Dry your feet and webs with soft dry cloth whenever they are wet.

Wash vegetables with clean water and steam them well to kill germs.

Avoid eating uncooked foods and salads.

Drink plenty of water and keep your body well hydrated.

Do not allow kids to play in sluggish polluted water filled puddles.

Mosquito net should be covered around the bed to get rid of the mosquitoes.

One can use mosquito repellants like mats and coils.

Use mosquito repellant cream when you are away from home.

Fumigating the house with smoke of dried neem leaves in the evening hours is good to keep 

away the mosquitoes.

Pollution of drinking water during monsoon is very common but in spite of that it is very 

important to drink clean and pure water to keep away the peril. Drinking boiled water at home 

is strongly recommended. Mineral water can also be preferred.

Drugs like Chloroquine, mefloquine, doxycycline, combination of atovaquone and proguanil hydrochloride or combination of Doxycycline and the atovaquone and proguanil combination may be taken to keep away with Malaria during Monsoon.

China set to send First Woman in Space

For the first time China is sending a Woman astronaut to the space with the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft today. Major Liu Yang, a 33-year-old fighter pilot will join two other male astronauts aboard Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang for the mission.

The team will attempt a manned docking for the first time with the Tiangong (the Lab of China in the space) launched last September. The spacecraft will be blasted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China at 18:37 local time.

Liu is extremely excited for the voyage who says that she wants to experience the fantastic environment in the space and watch the beautiful Earth and her homeland from the space. She thanks her country which put confidence on her to provide a chance to go into the space.

Medical experts who selected the team have reportedly informed that a female astronaut also needs to meet the same criteria as men. Further, she should be married and preferably be a mother as radiation in the space may harm her fertility.

In an earlier occasion Liu had been praised as she could manage to land her fighter jet despite a bird strike left the cockpit glass covered with blood.

Liu is from Henan and the message of her space journey has become the top topic for discussion in China.

Rajat Gupta convicted in Insider Trading Case

Rajat Gupta, Former Goldman Director from the Wall Street was convicted by a federal jury in U.S. for the allegation of leaking inside information to hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.

Gupta was found guilty on four counts, out of six in a federal court in Manhattan of illegally providing insider information to his friend Raj about confidential market information on Friday.

Kolkata-born financial wizard Rajat Gupta is one of the most successful Indian Americans at the Wall Street who rose from a modest background and reached the pinnacle of corporate America as the managing partner of McKinsey & Co. and director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG). He can be tagged as the poster boy of Indians at the Wall Street.

Earlier Rajaratnam had been sentenced to 11 years in prison for insider trading. One of the 12 jurors of this case said Gupta led a 'story book life’. The sentence will be pronounced on October 18 in the Court.

Defense lawyer Gary Naftalis said "This was only round one of the case and we would appeal if necessary. Gupta acted with integrity and honesty and never pocketed a dishonest dime.”

Gupta was convicted on three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. He was acquitted of two counts of securities fraud.

Gupta was seen expressionless while his wife and four daughters broke down as the jury read out the sentence. As the jury left the court room, Gupta hugged his family members.

The verdict is being regarded as a major victory for US prosecutors as the government drives to stop leaking of corporate secrets to Wall Street.

અમદાવાદની આઈ આઈ એમ ઉપર ફ્લાઈ ઓવરનું સંકટ

-100 એકરમાં ફેલાયેલું છે આઈઆઈએમ અમદાવાદનું કેમ્પસ -અગાઉ મળેલી છે ધમકીઓ 

આઈઆઈએમ અમદાવાદ દેશની ટોચની બી-સ્કૂલોમાં સામેલ છે. જેનું કેમ્પસ એકસો એકરના વિસ્તારમાં ફેલાયેલું છે. હાલ ઊંચી દિવાલો અને તેના ફેંસિંગના વાયરના કારણે સુરક્ષિત છે અને લોકોની નજરથી બચેલું છે. પરંતુ હવે, તેની સુરક્ષા જોખમમાં મુકાઈ શકે છે. અગાઉ અનેક વખત આઈઆઈએમના સંદર્ભમાં આતંકવાદી ધમકીઓ મળેલી હોવાથી, તેનું મહત્વ વિશેષ વધી જાય છે. 

પાંજરાપોળથી વસ્ત્રાપુર વચ્ચેના ફ્લાઈ ઓવરથી કેમ્પસની પ્રાઈવસી અને સલામતી પર સવાલ ઊભા થશે. ઉપરાંત આઈઆઈએમના કેમ્પસ પર સંભવિત હુમલાના પ્લાનિંગ માટે પણ  માટે પણ ઉપયોગ થઈ શકે છે. જેના કારણે વસ્ત્રાપુરથી પાંજરાપોળ વચ્ચેના પરિવહનને સુગમ બનાવવા માટે ફ્લાઈ ઓવર નિર્માણના એએમસીના પ્રસ્તાવથી  આઈઆઈએમ અમદાવાદના બધા ખુશ નથી. 

આઈઆઈએમના અધિકારીઓ સલામતિની દ્રષ્ટીએ એટલી હદે ચિંતિત છે કે, તેમણે આ અંગે એક પ્રેઝન્ટેશન તૈયાર કરવાની તૈયારી હાથ ધરી છે. જે સરકારી અધિકારીઓને દર્શાવવામાં આવશે. જેમાં મુખ્યત્વે સુરક્ષાના એંગલથી રજૂઆત કરવામાં આવશે.

આઈઆઈએમના એક અધિકારીના કહેવા પ્રમાણે, હાલ કેમ્પસમાં શું ચાલી રહ્યું છે, તેની જાણ કોઈને થઈ શકતી નથી. પરંતુ જો ફ્લાઈઓવરનું નિર્માણ થશે તો કોઈ સામાન્ય શખ્સ પણ કેમ્પસમાં શું ચાલી રહ્યું છે, તેની જાણ સામાન્ય મુસાફરને પણ થઈ શેક છે. આઈઆઈએમએનું કેમ્પસ વર્લ્ડક્લાસ છે.ત્યારે ઈમારતની નજીક ફ્લાઈઓવર ઊભો કરવો, સુરક્ષાની દ્રષ્ટીએ વ્યવહારુ વિચાર નથી.''

કેમ્પસમાં વિદેશીઓનું આવાગમન

કેમ્પસમાં વિદેશથી પ્રાધ્યાપકો અને બીજા લોકો ભણાવવા માટે આવે છે. ઉપરાંત અહીં મોટી સંખ્યામાં વિદેશી વિદ્યાર્થીઓ પણ અભ્યાસ કરે છે. વધુમાં આઈઆઈએમ-એનું જૂનું કેમ્પસ વિખ્યાત આર્કિટેક્ટ લુઇસ કાન દ્વારા તૈયાર કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. જેને નિહાળવા માટે અનેક લોકો આવે છે. વર્તમાન ફ્લાઈ ઓવરની ડિઝાઈનથી કેમ્પસનું સૌંદર્ય ખતમ થઈ જશે.''

આશ્ચર્યજનક છે એએમસીનો પ્લાન

એએમસી દ્વારા પાંજરાપોળથી વસ્ત્રાપુર તરફ જતા માર્ગ માટે ફ્લાઈ ઓવર બાંધવાનો પ્રસ્તાવ મુકવામાં આવ્યો છે. જ્યારે આઈઆઈએમએના અધિકારીઓના કહેવા પ્રમાણે, ફ્લાઈ ઓવર રિંગ રોડ પર બાંધવો જોઈએ. જે મુળતઃ ટ્રાફિકની સમસ્યાનું નિરાકરણ છે. 

કેવો હશે પ્રસ્તાવિત ફ્લાઈ ઓવર

પ્રસ્તાવિત ફ્લાઈ ઓવરની લંબાઈ 520 મીટર હશે. જ્યારે તે 13.5 મીટર પહોળો હશે. પાંજરાપોળ તરફ આઈઆઈએમના જૂના કેમ્પસથી ફ્લાઈઓવર શરૂ થશે અને આઈઆઈએમ અમદાવાદના નવા કેમ્પસ પાસે વસ્ત્રાપુરની બાજુએ આ ફ્લાઈઓવર સમાપ્ત થશે. તેનાથી સલામતીનું જોખમ ઊભું થવા ઉપરાંત કેમ્પસનું સૌંદર્ય પણ હણાય જશે તેવી ઘણાને ભીતિ છે. 

Kamal Haasan ready to make Hollywood Debut

Probably, South Indian legendary actor Kamal Haasan is all set to make his Hollywood debut with Barrie M Osborne, the producer of blockbusters like ‘The Matrix’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

There is a buzz at the on-going IIFA awards in Singapore that Kamal may come with an announcement in a day or two about his association with Barrie M Osborne.

During a Press conference about ‘Viswaroopam’, to a quiz about his Hollywood plans Kamal Haasan laughed and answered, “Sure, I hope so. Once Barrie Osborne is here, we could divulge some more of our plans.”

Osborne is a fan of Kamal since last few years and so much interested to make a film with Haasan as the actor and director. Accordingly he is a co-producer in ‘Vishwaroopam’, the current big-budget film of Kamal Hassan that sees him as a FBI agent and a Kathak dancer.

It is also learned that five years back Kamal Hassan was all set to make a huge budget Hollywood movie with Walt Disney but the recession made it to cancel.

But now it seems that ‘all iz well’ for Kamal Haasan, who has never dissatisfied Indian audiences rather presented legendary films like Ek duje ke lie, Saagar and Appu Raja. It is time to wait and watch what the actor has for us in an upcoming Hollywood film.

The Little Black Book of Innovation: How It Works, How to Do It

Innovation may be the hottest discipline around today — in business circles and beyond. And for good reason. Innovation transforms companies and markets. It’s the key to solving vexing social problems. And it makes or breaks professional careers. For all the enthusiasm the topic inspires, however, the practice of innovation remains stubbornly impenetrable. 

No longer. In The Little Black Book of Innovation, longtime innovation expert Scott D. Anthony draws on stories from his research and fieldwork with companies like Procter & Gamble to demystify innovation. In his trademark conversational and lively style, Anthony presents a simple definition of innovation, breaks down the essential differences between types of innovation, and illuminates innovation’s vital role in organizational success and personal growth. 

This unique hybrid of professional memoir and business guidebook also provides a powerful 28-day program for mastering innovation’s key steps: 

- Finding insight 

- Generating ideas 

- Building businesses 

- Strengthening innovation prowess in your workforce and organization 

With its wealth of illustrative case studies and vignettes from a range of companies around the globe, this engaging and potent playbook is a must- read for anyone seeking to turn themselves or their companies into true innovation powerhouses. 

About The Author 

Scott D. Anthony is the managing director of Innosight, a global strategic innovation consulting and investment firm. He is the head of Innosight’s Asian headquarters in Singapore. 

He has worked with clients ranging from national governments to companies in industries as diverse as health care, telecommunications, consumer products, and software. He has authored The Silver Lining and co-authored Seeing What’s Next and The Innovator’s Guide to Growth.

Will Facebook disappear by 2020?

While some people think internet is Facebook, it sounds quite odd when the social media analysts believe that the popular social networking site may disappear by the year 2020. 

Analyst Eric Jackson, the founder of investment firm Ironfire Capital said at the ‘Squawk on the Street’, a business show of CNBC on Monday that he believes Facebook will disappear by 2020 as it struggles to monetize the mobile platform. 

The analyst is of the opinion that no company can always continue to be the top business earner in the internet arena as things are changing rapidly. He went further to cite the example of Yahoo, which was the giant of the internet world 12 years back. Although Yahoo is still making a huge amount of money it is merely 10 percent of the value that it was making during 2000 – he submitted. 

Likewise Facebook may also disappear from the sight within coming 5 to 8 years as the company is struggling to monetize its mobile platform despite its 900 plus million subscribers worldwide, which is also the biggest number for any social networking company. 

Eric describes about three web generations, first being the time of Yahoo and its counterparts. But with due course of time Yahoo had to surrender the global leadership to Facebook, the first growing social networking site. 

The analyst hope for an upcoming third generation period in coming 5 to 8 years when someone else will have been taken over Facebook and that time should be a time of monetizing the mobile platform. He feels that at that time Facebook will be seen to be having a hard time. 

By the way Eric also placed the example of Google to explain his statement that how even company like Google even struggled moving into social webs. He hopes an identical situation for Facebook in the coming days when the company will either jump into the mobile world or surrender.

However, it seems that Facebook is smart enough to guess all these future happenings, for which it has started to think over it. First the company acquired the mobile photo sharing app Instagram in last April. Now rumors also says that Facebook is about to push hard for a serious presence in mobile. 

Again, some sources expect that Facebook is also planning to buy Opera Mini or integrating with Apple’s iOS 6. Even some other people hope that it would come with a Facebook phone sooner or later.

Don't Shy Away from a Temporary Solution

When looking to make a change, reorganize a unit, or develop a new system, people often seek solutions that will last as long as possible. they want them to be be sustainable. But nothing lasts forever. Finding a permanent solution may be infeasible and even foolhardy. Next time you need to make a big change, come up with a temporary solution - not a final one. Most approaches are useful for a certain length of time. When that time's over, you need a new way to attack the problem, which is likely to morph.

Advani admits People disappointed with BJP

The rift within the BJP was clearly seen when senior party leader LK Advani targeted party president Nitin Gadkari over the crucial decisions taken during Uttar Pradesh elections. 

He admitted that people were disappointed with the BJP as the party has failed to take leadership when the anger was against the UPA government over various scams and issues. 

He took on Gadkari saying the campaign against corruption had been hurt due to induction of an ousted BSP leader facing graft charges.

Advani expressed his feelings in his blog writing that the mood in BJP is not upbeat. He said that the party had to taste the failure in UP when Gadkari included the tainted politicians into party, who were sacked by Mayawati from her party. 

The leader is also disappointed with Gadkari that how party handled the crisis in Jharkhand and Karnataka. He praised Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj for their performances in two Houses as Leaders of Opposition. 

However, people are disappointed with the party. If people are angry with the UPA government, they are also disappointed with BJP. He said that the situation needs to be introspected.

"When these days media is attacking the UPA government for its string of scams, but at the same time regret that the BJP led NDA is not rising to the occasion, I as a former pressman myself, feel they are reflecting public opinion correctly," he said.