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Since , UniCredit has cut about 20, jobs. UniCredit to cut 6, jobs and shut down branches in Italy Italian global banking and financial services company, UniCredit, is cutting down 6, jobs and closing branches in Italy as CEO Jean Pierre Mustier sets his three year-efficiency plan in motion.

According to a letter sent to unions, the reductions and closures will take place through The terminations are part of. When annualized, this is equivalent to 0. Of the 2,40, direct jobs, around 1,57, will be in digital and technologyrelated roles such as data scientists, product managers, engineering, design, user experience, and infrastructure management jobs with cloud service providers, IT service providers and across industry verticals.

Additionally, the public cloud deployment will create another 83, direct roles that will be related to core business functions across industry verticals.

In January, 4. Survey results released last month by ManpowerGroup indicated that 69 percent of US employers cannot find the people they want, well above the global average of 54 percent; comparing this number to historical data, the skills shortage is over three times more acute than it was a decade ago. Meanwhile, US unemployment rates have remained at 3. Public cloud computing Workforce participation can create 2. Healthcare benefit costs to rise by 7.

Some markets such as: China 9. About 66 percent of the insurers predict that behavioral and mental health conditions will turn into one of the most costly medical conditions over the next five years. However, about 50 percent of the employers are still excluding mental health coverage from the policy plans. MARCH The virus has shown that it can slow down businesses worldwide —and right now it seems to be winning. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow.

It can grow to define or destroy you. It started with a 14 day shutdown in Wuhan, with many Chinese factories and businesses still on an extended break, travel bans to China with many countries suspending their flights to China, travel and tourism taking a hit in Singapore, Thailand and Southeast. In a highly interconnected and globalized world, a small virus has shown us the downside of relying on one country to supply so many things Asian countries which are much dependent on the influx of Chinese travelers, and many industries such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, automobiles, steel, and mobiles, across countries bracing for a big impact in the coming days.

Think of it. China is one of the major auto parts suppliers in the world. Similarly, automakers in countries such as India are working on a plan B to secure auto parts they need to keep their own operations going. Apple has already announced it will be missing its quarterly revenue forecast and stocks in Asia continue to tumble amid expectations of a slowdown.

In a highly interconnected and globalized world, a small virus has shown us the downside of relying on one country to supply so many things. There is no doubt that the Chinese government will pump in more money to revive the economy, with many corporations such as Alibaba, Tencent, UBS, among others also pitching in huge amounts to tackle the outbreak. But it is highly unfortunate that the outbreak came at a challenging time for the Chinese economy, which has been reeling amid a trade war with the United States.

Magow had been leading the India business of the online travel giant and would now be leading the entire business. The year-old Italian will take up the role on July 1, the French carmaker said in a statement. Ducati India appoints new Managing Director Luxury motorcycle brand Ducati has announced a change in its management structure.

After working with the company for 1. Noblis appoints new Chief People Officer Noblis, a leading provider of science, technology and strategy services to the federal government has named Deborah Drake as Vice President and Chief People Officer. Drake will lead the Noblis human resources and organizational development organizations which includes responsibility for talent recruitment, the total rewards system, professional and organizational development, and employee engagement.

Galloway is a seasoned human resources executive who brings nearly two decades of leadership and human resources experience. Godwin had been leading the people agenda for the company as Human Resources Director for two years. In her new position, she will now be responsible for talent management along with employee learning and development. Create more leaders, who lead-by example — followers will support your vision but leaders will help you take that vision a notch higher.

One step that you are taking to develop a leadership culture in your organization? Workplace How the future of work will look like A look at how workplaces will change in the next ten years. Video technology will reduce the need to travel while ensuring connectivity Video communication technology in the past decade has evolved from the conventional video conferencing to holographic 3-D technology, enabling a face-to-face interaction that negates the actual need for physical presence.

These advancements will facilitate the ability of an individual to communicate, collaborate, contribute and deliver results remotely. There is also a scope of virtual reality to further enhance work-productivity by imitating the required environment.

Thanks to high-speed internet connections, wide-scale interaction via video-connectivity is no more a buffering game, which will further heighten work efficiency as well as productivity. The traditional office setup will cease to exist within the next five to ten years.

Laptops, smartphones, and tablets will become redundant and will give way to voice-activated assistants; the Internet of Things IoT will play an important role here.

No more one-size-fits-all approach. Moreover, the data provided by these devices will also personalize the furnishing as per the individual requirement. Workspaces, too, will see a change based on specific conditions like brainstorming, meetings, and corporate sessions, networking or leisure time. With constant technological advancements, the future will bring an interconnected ecosystem.

With the IoT analyzing the data received from all the public and private infrastructure in real-time, it will aid in understanding the individual preferences and factors important to the well-being of the people.

The real-time analyzed data will allow workspaces to transform, adapt, and react to users instantaneously with health and safety being the centerpieces of infrastructure design and execution. Even the idle time for spaces such as desks, conference rooms, and training areas can drop to zero, ensuring optimized usage of space and asset deployment that can help shrink the real estate cost per square foot.

Naturally, we will also witness artificial intelligence become more accurate and automate repetitive, mundane tasks. Automation of these tasks will ensure better utilization of time and resources by directing it to more meaningful tasks and outcomes. These will drive business organizations to move away from traditional workspace solutions that offer much lower productivity in the congested, far from home, and one-size-fitsall workspace model.

Over time, we will witness the workspace solution providers transition from being organization-driven to individual-driven, thus changing the fundamental concept of working. Modern technology has made it possible for the workforce to work from anywhere, thereby reducing the necessity of physical work-desk. This, coupled with the swelling real estate prices across the globe, is compelling large corporations to rethink their workspace strategy.

The conventional idea of what constitutes work will continue changing and with Gen Z set to join the workforce, it becomes crucial for the existing workspaces to transform and cater to the requirements of the new-age workforce. We will witness a host of changes to create favorable work practices to suit their work style, their social conscientiousness and work-life balance. Young employees want to work with organizations that provide them with smart solutions, know their unique preference and requirements.

Amongst all the factors, technology will play a pivotal role in shaping the workplace culture in the coming decade. Technology will be more focused on providing experience and augmenting interactive employee engagement; in turn, creating an ecosystem of enhanced productivity, creativity, and culture.

While it is impossible to predict the future with certainty, here are my two cents on how the workplace of will look like:. Any savings made by paying a lower tax will likely be offset by the additional tax paid on taxable income under the new regime, which was deductable in the old one. Since many people make investments to claim deductions in Section 80C, and others, experts also expect a dip in such investments in the future, as the taxsaving benefits of such investments will no longer be available3.

Changes in taxes The new tax regime divides existing tax slabs into narrower ranges1. Incomes up to Rs. However, incomes from Rs. Earlier, there were just two rates for those earning more than Rs. Taxpayers will have a choice to pay taxes as per the old rates or opt for the new and lower rates, but give up existing deductions.

While the government expects people to move to the new regime to simplify the calculation of their taxes,. The two possible ways to compute taxes will naturally mean more work and calculation from employees, but even more so, from office administration and HR. Depending on the choice made by the employee, organizations will have to compute taxes as per the applicable tax rate and do so within this financial year. This means that employers will have to calculate the taxes differently for each employee, and take into account the deductions for HRA, LTA, and 80C only for employees who wish to continue with the existing tax structure.

Organizations might even have to assist their employees in making a choice that helps them save more tax by explaining how the changes will impact them and answering queries that will naturally come up. The fact that one cannot go back to the old tax structure once they opt for the new one means that the choice must be made after due consideration.

By giving people a choice to continue with existing tax rates or opting for lower ones, in place of deductions, the government hopes to simplify tax assessment and filing. The government says that since 92 percent of those filing IT returns avail exemptions of less than Rs. The Finance Minister has also said that the government intends to do away with all I-T exemptions in the long run5. On the day of the budget, the stock market nosedived and recorded the biggest loss after a budget since ; however, it recovered in the following days.

Similarly, a lack of focused incentives for the struggling real estate, auto, and telecom sectors was considered another disappointment8. The budget refrained from launching any new nation-wide project or program and was clear in its message of exercising fiscal prudence until stability is restored in the economy. Companies will additionally get an extra incentive for hiring mid-career workers in their 40s and 50s through reskilling programs.

Recovering at-risk jobs through reskilling As hinted in earlier statements, the government will also give additional support to sectors that are particularly hard hit by the novel coronavirus, specifically tourism, aviation, retail, food services. Because workers in these sectors are considered at higher risk of losing their jobs, the government intends to give them extra help in finding new positions: workers who reskill can currently get funding for up to three months, but the time limit will be extended to six months for these four specific sectors.

An estimated , workers will benefit. On top of these measures, the government is pushing harder for Singaporean. Diversity and inclusivity initiatives often play an important role in rooting ideas of equality of genders, races, cultures, etc into tangible business goals. But how effective have such programs been? Especially when it comes to creating a gender-balanced workforce. This puts it in the company of some of the worst-performing nations on the issue of the gender gap.

According to the India Skills Report, the economic participation of women in the workforce has fallen from 32 percent in to 23 percent in The formal job participation level among women has also fallen. According to the India Skills Report, the economic participation of women in the workforce has fallen from 32 percent in to 23 percent in This is in contrast to the fact that employability within both men and women, according to the report, stood at similar levels; 47 percent for women while 46 percent for men.

Yet men form 77 percent of the workforce employed in a formal setting. Such data points indicate a major problem in how companies aim to. Investments have been rising and CEOs are more serious about having impactful diversity programs. But this had done little to translate into on-ground efficiency and companies still face major challenges when it comes to executing a well-planned initiative. Corporate training plays an important role in how companies improve grasp over skills and bring about behavioral change within their employees.

When it comes to diversity, training has been used to a similar extent. Although most diversity training is aimed at addressing biases and creating an inclusive work culture, an ill-thought-out training program can do more harm than good.

Questioning people to assess their biases does little as an HBR report notes that while people are easily taught to respond correctly to a questionnaire about bias, they soon forget the right answers. Nonetheless, there. Resistance within the organization, for example, could be caused by several different things: employees not believing that actual changes can be made, employees feeling victimized, or managers being forced to hire someone only to meet the numbers.

A major cause of concern regarding diversity programs arises in their implementation stage. From taking a tokenistic approach to not having stakeholder support, implementation of diversity programs has the potential to be marred by a host of reasons.

Failures in both galvanizing support and investments reflect itself in the form of a superficial effort to deal with a severe problem that impacts large portions of Indian businesses. Resistance from employees, managers, senior leaders, both explicit and subtle, can hamper the eventual success of such initiatives. While it is relevant to note that many such initiatives strive to bring about more than just procedural changes within functions like recruitment, training, and other aspects of employee life-cycle, faulty implementation brings it down to the level of tick-in-thebox activity.

To create an impact is to aim for a mindset change and that requires all stakeholders to be on-board. Resistance within the organization, for example, could be caused by several different things: employees not believing that actual changes can be made, employees feel victimized, or managers being forced to hire someone only to meet the numbers.

To create better ways of bringing about change, the conversation on diversity has been inclusionary without it being forcefully fed across the length and breadth of the organization. There are better ways to promote diversity by engaging managers and staff in a positive holistic way. Hiring, for example, can be improved by involving managers in the various college recruitment programs targeted to women and minorities directly.

Using technology effectively to create channels of communication can also develop mindsets positively. Managers, in this example, would take their campus visits more seriously as they look to find the best minority candidates among the students.

Formal mentoring too has proven beneficial as it helps women and minorities with professional advancement as well. Reports show the benefits of a formal corporate program increase when mentors with proteges connect, break barriers and biases more holistically.

Contact between groups, social accountability, and diversity managers are other ways researchers have found that better promotes diversity in the workplace. Fighting for four Charting the rapidly-rising demand for four-day workweeks and anticipating what to expect in the future By Manav Seth.

In , auto plant workers in General Motors protested against poor working conditions that did not allow bathroom breaks, no benefits, sick pay, or safety standards. But, that was more than 80 years ago, and businesses, workplaces, management models, and workforce priorities have undergone a monumental shift since. These changes have raised questions regarding the need to rely on outdated work schedules and models, notably when technology has simplified and automated several manual and time-consuming tasks.

The rising demand for a four-day workweek The concept of the four-day workweek has been around for more than a decade, at least. The state government of Utah started working ten-hour a day from Monday to Thursday in ; however, the practice was ended in Public schools in Hawaii also tried non-working Fridays in for a limited duration, and government officials in the Gambia were also given leave on Fridays between and although the working hours were 8.

Even the World Economic Forum has thrown its weight behind the new work model3. Unlike the four-day workweek experiment that Microsoft conducted explained in detail in the previous edition , Perpetual Guardian let its employees decide which day of the week they want to take off or even work all five days, but with fewer hours every day.

Barnes says that fewer working days will have other benefits too, lower energy consumption, and manageable traffic on roads. In the last couple of years, the concept has spread like wildfire; presidential candidates in the USA have endorsed it5, labor unions in the UK have.

Several small establishments in the UK were reportedly trying the four-day workweek in early as well8.

In January , American fast-food joint Shake Shack rolled out the four-day workweek at a third of its location, primarily to attract and retain quality talent9. Earlier this year, it was falsely reported that the Finnish Prime Minister wants to make four-day workweeks and six-hour workdays a reality.

Later, it was revealed that she had merely expressed support of the idea during a party meeting in August, well before she was elected as the Prime Minister and that there are plans in the near future to make the four-day workweek a norm in Finland.

Lastly, experts suggest that a four-day workweek might force employees to prioritize on the most-critical tasks they need to do, and lose sight of other essential tasks that are not as high on the priority list; for instance, training and career development One of the biggest critiques against the fourday week model is that it does not apply to all industries.

Only white-collared workers having typical 9-to-5 jobs are most likely to benefits from it as employees in sectors like retail, manufacturing, or construction are needed at their place of work every day.

And this is particularly true in a country like India where an overwhelming majority of the workforce is employed in the informal sector. Furthermore, the culture of working hard.

While no leading global organization has embraced the four-day workweek model yet, experts think that bigger and established organizations like.

Google and Facebook will be able to adopt it much better than smaller businesses This is because employees in small organizations are likely already to be working their full capacity, and a full workday off might induce more stress to finish the same work in lesser time.

Experts also believe that employers need to offer creative and flexible work solutions to attract skilled people and incentivize employees to stay.

So, it might just be a matter of time until one or two industry leaders start the practice, and others follow suit to remain competitive.

HR will, however, need sophisticated tools and resources to balance employee productivity and business deliveries alongside flexible working hours to ensure continued progress and growth. Similarly, employers will need to measure and track the impact of these changes meticulously to decide if there is a need to revert back or not. However, some obvious landmines would need attention before the concept is applied.

Barnes says that a top-down approach would be counterproductive, and employees must have the flexibility to change how they work. In other words, they should choose if they want a fixed day off, choose. In a country where working for six, or even seven, days of the week is the norm, the conversation around the four-day workweek is unsurprisingly muted. It is also important to note that several global business leaders and entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk and Jack Ma, are advocates of longer workweeks and have expressed their disapproval for hour workweeks.

Or is the four-day workweek a passing trend that will fade into oblivion in a few months? Depending on who is answering the question, the answer might be starkly different. Social entrepreneurship: Can it curb unemployment? World Employment and Social Outlook Trends report further emphasizes that unemployment rates were anticipated to fall further to 4.

The number of jobless in real terms is estimated to rise from million to million in that time as the labor market expands. As economies across the globe look to curb the unemployment crisis, there are two areas to focus On one side economies need a more skilled and job-ready workforce, on the other they need to create relevant job opportunities for this population of employable workforce. While there are many ways in which the unemployment crisis could be dealt with, from constructing relevant policies around skill development to fueling various sectors with funds, boosting the social entrepreneurship sector or building the social economy is also one of the effective mediums.

Besides assisting in overcoming poverty and achieving social integration, social entrepreneurship can also help in creating productive employment. With social entrepreneurship, many birds can be hit with one stone. It empowers individuals to utilize their potential and work for a better livelihood, and improve the lives of the consumers from all socio economic backgrounds and all of this is done keeping in mind the greater good of the entire environment.

Hence, social entrepreneurship benefits many stakeholders of the ecosystem and eventually the whole ecosystem at large. As WEF puts is, social entrepreneurship, as an organizational expression of social innovation, is the demonstration of alternative working models as we face the current challenges to our planet, our societies and our economies. With the role of HR evolving and the scope of its function going beyond the people of the organization to the community at large, it is important for HR leaders to understand the opportunities of this emerging sector and what it could mean for them.

Asian countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia also made it to the top list of the countries with the best environment for social entrepreneurs. In fact, as per another report, compared to other regions, young entrepreneurs in South and East Asia have the highest percentage of businesses creating between one to four jobs, and roughly half of the youth businesses providing no additional jobs.

Here are some initiatives that have accelerated the growth of social entrepreneurship in some of the countries in Asia: Philippines: Youth Entrepreneurship Program YEP , a nationwide program by the National Youth Commission to help young Filipinos develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Hong Kong, SAR China: Young Entrepreneurs YE aims to foster entrepreneurship globally and to connect entrepreneurs with global markets, in business, capital, education and services. All of these initiatives directly or indirectly empower the talent in countries to utilize their. In the latest survey done, it was identified that Bangladeshi social enterprises have created an increasing number of jobs over the past years, and expect job creation to continue.

In terms of anticipated job creation, a majority of the surveyed social enter-. Social entrepreneurs have proven how employees, customers, suppliers, local communities and the environment can benefit MARCH Chakraborty believes that social entrepreneurship provides a unique opportunity to focus on specific challenges while remaining relevant and sustainable in the longrun.

The good part is that the government is also interested in promoting these, through funding options, advisory services and making the sector more regulated. She highlighted how the Skill India program, with an allocation of Rs. A number of such programs are being pursued and an active private sector participation could help scale social enterprises. Chakraborty agrees that social enterprises are uniquely positioned to help improve the employ-.

Having identified the benefits of social enterprises and the value it can create for the entire society and economies at large, companies like Shell and PwC have extended foundations working for the cause. Through either funding or knowledge sharing there are some companies working along with social enterprises and empowering them to further create an impact.

Tanya Kothari, Program Manager, Shell Foundation shared that all of their portfolio companies so far have created cumulatively 3. This however varies across countries and depends on the size of the enterprise. Lack of access to support and advisory services, lack of finance and funding, lack of technical skills and social enterprise awareness are some of the barriers to growth.

What do the social entrepreneurs think? It is no longer enough for them to hire someone with specific skills and hope those. Firms would need to scale up, work together and collaborate with the government to make noteworthy impact.

Kothari from Shell Foundation, in an interaction with us had also highlighted the importance of having social enterprises with ideas that can scale and impact billions and not only millions.

Lack of access to support and advisory services, lack of finance and funding, lack of technical skills. Social entrepreneurship, as a sector, has contributed towards employment generation and skill development for jobs; and has a long way to be a major driver of improving employment status nationwide and social enterprise awareness are some of the barriers to growth for social enterprises.

Private sector partnerships can serve as important tools to catalyze the development of the sector. Whilst there is much more to be done, the trends are pointing in the right direction but will need the sustained support of government, the private sector, and the social sector.

If you are already making efforts in this direction, then do share your story with us. As a people leader, would you be willing to contribute towards promoting Social Entrepreneurship? Write to me at drishti. Most of the social entrepreneurs we interacted with shared the same concern.

While the future for social entrepreneurship majorly looks promising, there are many roadblocks to its growth as well. She also highlights how important it is for the leaders of today to have a diverse and inclusive mindset By Yasmin Taj. She has spent 14 of these years based in Asia Beijing, Sydney, and Singapore. Elisa, who split time growing up between Miami, Florida, and Athens, Greece, has lived in multiple countries in four continents and is passionate about leading with an inclusive and global mindset.

In her role,. While global organizations continue to look to Asia for growth, there is a stark need for leaders who deeply understand the region to not only execute a local growth stratgegy but also to have a strategic and influential point of view within the top team on what it will really take to win in Asia As Asia becomes the center of the world, what are the skill and mindsets that leaders must possess to accelerate success and create positive impact not only in their own country and region, but across the world.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:. Your career trajectory is very extensive and interesting. In Asia, the pace of that rapid change has been far more acute.

There are many examples of technological advances in Asia that have skipped many steps that other markets had to go through, leapfrogging ahead. Asian laders driving and adapting to these types of transformations have had to further develop and demonstrate high levels of agility and resilience along the way. Another aspect of the significant increase in leadership maturity over the last two decades in Asia comes with the increased movement, mobility and diversification that has taken place.

Accross China, India and SE Asia, increasing numbers of Asian professionals have been relocating to different cities, gaining more regional exposure and experience. These leaders have become more culturally savvy and globally-minded. Moving forward Asian leaders aspiring for global careers need to further develop a level of comfort with disruption.

They also need to step out of their comfort zone to develop global relationships and credibility with key stakeholders within and outside the organization. What are some of the stark highlights that you have noticed come out of the report?

What traits do you see in the global Asian leader? While global organizations continue to look to Asia for growth, there is a stark need for leaders who deeply understand the region to not only execute a local growth stratgegy but also to have a strategic and influential point of view within the top team on what it will really take to win in Asia. The Global Asian Leader research systematically identifies the obstacles leaders face in their transition to global roles, and the roadblocks organizations need to overcome to build a robust talent pipeline from Asia.

One significant insight coming from the study is that while organizations facing a leadership crunch almost instantly start evaluating capability gaps of Asian leaders, the root cause of inadequate global Asian leadership often resides elsewhere. Our Global Asian Leader research identifies multiple root-causes, including: the organizational roadblocks, roadblocks at the country level, as well as roadblocks coming from the individual leader that include but are not limited to capability gaps.

Country level infrastructure to equip talent with the skills that are needed and unwillingness of the individual to go out and get more exposure themselves are two common limiting factors. So what is the common recipe for success when it comes to global and regional roles? Developed from the interviews in the study, the global Asian leader capability model provides a common recipe for success and the skills required, which include: Curiosity, Courage, Trust, Strategic Thinking, and Influencing.

It is about the ability of the leader to influence others who are people who are very different from him or herself and being able to do that across multiple countries. What are some of the similarities and differences that you have noticed across Asia Pacific when it comes to leadership skills? While there are significant and valuable differences in the culture and accepted practices of doing business across Asian countries, our research identifies five common leadership traits of Asian Leaders.

Collectivist approach — Asia scores low on individualism 2. Forcusing on harmony — Non-confrontational attitude at work 3. Better understanding Leadership Development through an Asian lens, in terms of how it manifests today, is critical for future success of most global organizations. Dependencies on networks and relationships — Friendships, family ties, or social strata 5. Having a pervasive sense of hierarchy — Caringautocrat attitude.

Could you tell us more about your focus areas? Over the last 50 years the study and practice of leadership development has been influenced mainly from academic institutions and organizations in the Western world. What are the key traits of inclusive leadership and what do they do differently? How do leaders become more inclusive? When my husband and I announced to all our family and friends in that we were moving to.

Beijing, we heard two words repeatedly: difficult and different. Of course there were many difficulties and it was very different from London, where we lived at the time. What at first looked difficult, quickly became much easier thanks primarily to the people who helped us relate to, understand and come to love the many unsaid and important things about living in China.

Having the curiosity to see the world through their eyes and feel and understand their reality was the driving force to form stronger and deeper connections. The mentors and leaders in Asia who influenced and impressed me the most over the last two decades have been leaders who have demonstrated that curiosity and courage.

Inclusive leadership is becoming more and more important at a global level for organizational and societal success. We need leaders who can rise above differences and readily recognize our common humanity, especially in a digital era.

We see technology outpacing what people, organizations and countries can keep up with. As we continue the digital transformation journey, we need to make sure we are not leaving large pockets of people behind. Inclusive leadership is the key and inclusive leadership also fosters developing the right understanding, products and solutions to win across many markets. The global Asian leaders who have the maturity and selfawareness to relate to people from all walks of life, will be instrumental not only in solving for their region, but also in solving for the world.

Interestingly the Asian returnee and the local expat face similar levels of experience when it comes to exposure to different cultures, strength of relationships in headquarters and how embedded they are in the enterprise strategy. Recognizing, celebrating and championing these leadership traits is an important part of supporting Asian leaders to reach their full potential.

At the same time we know that practices and behaviors that make leaders successful in one country may, in fact, set them up for failure elsewhere.

Asia is very diverse. Depending on the types of experience leaders have, regions they grow-up in, their ethnicity and other factors; they may look and behave very differently. This Asian diversity is extremely valuable and is also becoming more complex. Through the research interviews we see that Asian leaders come in four different flavours. Here are five such roles we think HR might play in the future.

From an administrative function to a support function to a business enabler, the importance and relevance of the role for organizations has only grown and matured with time. Over the past decade HR leaders have earned the seat at the table and their perspective to every business decision has become critical. CEOs have in fact started to look at every macro decision with people at the center.

The advent and advancement of technology and analytics contributed greatly to the growth of HR function. Now as HR leaders gear up for a new decade and newer challenges and opportunities it brings, their role further needs to evolve. In a new decade of a growing gig workforce, the possibility of man and machine working together, and disruption in every corner, there are many new roles the HR leaders would have to take. Here are five such roles we think HR might take in the future, as far as we can predict and understand it:.

Chief Experience Officer While the discussions over employee experience have been around for a while now, creating an ideal Although the onus of creating a great employee experience lies with each and every people leader, the responsibility to drive it would be with the HR leaders.

With better people insights gathered by leveraging data and tech, the HR leaders can proactively create relevant talent strate-. The technology will only make the task easier, through behaviors and conversations HR leaders along with business leaders would have to ensure a great employee experience for employees who will be significantly impacting the business bottomline with their intrinsic willingness to serve the company and its customers.

All of this together constitutes employee experience. From framing a recruitment strategy to deciding the compensation and benefits policy to designing the career roadmap for employees, HR leaders need to think and work like an engineer. As the ecosystem demands the businesses to constantly transform, enabling change will be a focus area for most of the organizations.

As disruption in business is preceded by disruption in the way people engage, interact, and work, HR leaders become the custodian of talent and the ones to drive such a change across the organization. They have to lead the change management strategy for the entire business and empower everyone from C-Suite leaders to front line representatives to speak the same language of agility. HR leaders of and beyond have to be as well as develop agile leaders and create change-ready organizations.

Technology is no longer just a nice to have tool for HR. It is increasingly being integrated across the various facets of talent management.

Be it recruitment, assessment, selection, salary advice, learning, career management and collaboration, technology is being leveraged across the function. And although some might argue that this technological transformation be driven by the IT leaders, it is now the HR who has to be the one to take this responsibility as well.

Surely, the expertise would come from the IT professionals and experts, however, HR leaders would be the one to be able to integrate technology with the relevant talent needs for business. HR leaders have to work on integrating technology not only with their own function but have to enable the entire organiza-. They are driven by purpose and whether or not the purpose aligns with their employer is an important criterion for them.

The HR leaders of today and tomorrow have to be a part of this purpose-driven workforce. The scope of their role will go beyond the boundaries of their departments and companies. They would be responsible for the entire community. They have to represent and voice the needs of talent and drive change for them at a macro level. HR leaders would have to be influencers beyond the organization, shaping policies, regulations and laws that support the new world of work.

Community Activist In a recent report it was highlighted that majority of the respondents 80 percent would rather have a boss who cared about them finding meaning and success in work than receive a 20 percent pay increase.

People today are willing to put their efforts more. Moving ahead, as the technology gets more advanced, HR leaders have to ensure that the entire workforce is prepared to take on the challenges and make the most of the opportunities. They not only have to help technology, automation and human contributions collaborate but also forecast skills for the future and enable the workforce to build them. In the new world of work, HR leaders are the architect and the engineers of the new organizational culture and structure As HR has already moved beyond being an administrative or support function, the way they approach each talent decision and take people decisions to drive business outcomes has also changed.

In the last decade, there were a lot of conversations around bringing in the concepts of design thinking while making talent decisions. In the new world of work, HR leaders are the architects and the engineers of the new organizational culture and structure. They have to think like engineers and product teams, help cross-functional teams organize, continuously iterate and deliver compelling employee experience.

Businesses today require well engineered talent strategies for driving their growth. A lot of thought, research,. The firm appointed one of its partners, Elizabeth Faber, to the position, with a clear mandate: create a more diverse and inclusive culture across APAC. Faber, who has spent her entire career in various roles and geographies with Deloitte, is a long-time advocate of diversity and inclusion and has hit the ground running in the new role.

One of her earliest initiatives as Chief Talent Officer was to create an AP Talent strategy to enable one of the key firmwide strategic priorities to create a culture of inclusion and growth. Here are some excerpts from the conversation. How has it evolved over the years, and are things where they should reasonably be? When I think about the evolution of an inclusive strategy, I see it as having moved from an approach that is more compliancebased, to one that is more HR-led, and finally to a leader-driven strategic focus.

Across the region, firms will be at different levels on that continuum. Some are more HR-led: their initiatives and projects to create diversity are driven mainly by the talent function. Deloitte Asia Pacific is more on the leader-driven end of the continuum, where we have recognized diversity as a strategic imperative. Do you factor in an inclusive mindset when you do your hiring: is it something that people are ready for?

We are very focused on helping our existing employees and partners develop an inclusive mindset. We make broad efforts to help them understand what we mean by an inclusive mindset: we have training, workshops, initiatives to educate them about the concept. Certainly, we would not hire someone who does align with our culture and values, so in that sense, it is a dealbreaker.

It is playing out very well. Our leaders across AP have signed off on this initiative: we have the signatures of executives and board members from different geographies, committing to adhere to the targets, and that is making a difference to the numbers internally. For one conference, the topic revolved around the future of the financial services sector and the accounting profession, and the speakers were all male. I respectfully challenged them on that: how can you credibly talk about the future without having representation of the people who will actually be part of the future?

It goes two ways. At another conference, on women in leadership, all the speakers were women. The point around having gender representation, or really any kind of representation, is that there is a business case for it.

We track promotion pipelines, especially for manager and director roles, as these lead directly to our longer-term goal for the percentage of women partners. All these metrics and others go into a scorecard that we match up with our goals every six months at a global level starting from the top.

When we first began measuring diversity and inclusion metrics, we calculated, based on the practices then in place, how long it would take for Deloitte to achieve gender parity at partner level. And the number was just not acceptable.

After that, we launched a global strategy called ALL IN, which focuses on growing women leadership, and the timeline has become much better.

I am a fan of starting small, testing and learning before scaling. Starting small can also mean starting with the biggest population, because scalability varies. We, at Deloitte, look at the overall percentage of women in leadership roles including executives and board members, and we track the gender balance of our intake at different levels: new recruits, experienced hires, and partner hires Most leaders respond well to the language of the business case; they see the benefit of having more diverse voices.

Deloitte is a partnership, so one of our key metrics is the percentage of women partners. We also look at the overall percentage of women in leadership roles including executives and board members,.

This is so important, because if you do not have diversity of thought, you will not have diversity of discussion, of dialogue, of debate. When you look at the Asia Pacific, there are so many different diversity profiles across the geographies: some groups are more relevant in some markets than others. There are definitely other under-represented groups that have a higher priority in different markets, be it cultural diversity, LGBTI, or other aspects.

But something like cultural diversity is more difficult to scale globally. This is why we focus on women: gender diversity applies to all the markets, and improving gender diversity can pave the way for other under-represented groups to follow.

Can we think of our current processes and systems that can be made future-ready to help our business grow? In the world of Artificial Intelligence, there is an opportunity to relook at our current data matrix to make it more relevant to our existing business requirements. What if we can predict the exact names of people who are going to leave the organization in the next 3- 6 months? Or be able to identify the percentage of women who can be promoted in the next year, and therefore, how many positions do we need to still hire from outside?

And can we identify the triggers of disengagement before they lead people to exit? Can our data on performance, compensation, time employees spend in the organization show any trends towards attrition?

And can it help us. Annual engagement surveys to real-time engagement data, what makes real business sense on the ground, and how can save costs for the organization? There are a few areas that can be made futureready: 1: Predictive attrition: For several years, we have been working on creating different kinds of analysis on attrition.

Can we try and link our hire to retire strategy on this data along with proactive retention? The question to ask is whether we can leverage past data and predict attrition, not by percentage, but the actual names of people who may be at risk of attrition in the organization?

Now convert these patterns into actual themes and identify the people who fall in these patterns. This will give you a list of people, now keep analyzing this data every month for the next months, and you will arrive at the people likely to leave. What to do with this data: Speak to respective business heads, show them the analysis on why an employee may be at risk of attrition. Ask which of your employees we need to retain and jointly create a retention strategy for them.

You will see a more valuable conversation with your business and CFO on Talent strategy as you now move from reactive to proactive retention strategy. Enter data around the movement of people over the last few years. One can also leverage this data for diversity to understand how many associates are getting ready for the future. What kind of developmental interventions do we need to run for our senior leaders that will help them grow?

Early signs of disengagement: We often ask questions during the exit interview to gauge the disengagement reasons of an individual. What if we can proactively identify the key trends that are part of attrition data like growth, compensation, promotion, learning, culture, work-life balance, location, etc.

Based on the response, one can create a map of people who may be identified as being on high risk, low risk, and medium risk. This data can trigger conversations around people at risk, what can be done to change the situation, being prepared for any exit. It can also lead to organization level decisions on culture, creating awareness about polices, providing flexibility, or creating a learning charter for the team.

This heat map of people of each team can be a part of your HR quarterly business reviews. The talent review data of. Happiness meter: Do we remember the annual engagement survey that we ask everyone to fill, and then we share results and create action plans for the next year? With the latest technology and diverse workforce we have, we need to think about a survey that can be quick and share instant results rather than waiting for one full year.

Think about three questions that can be a popup every week to associates and keep analyzing data cues by location, manager, role, tenure. You will soon gather insights on the pockets that are disengaged and can speak to people to get more insights.

This will help in improving the engagement levels rather than annual surveys. About the author. In his almost 25 years of journey in HR, he has worked in diverse industries including financial, telecommunications, aerospace, engineering and insurance.

Beyond HR, he is also engaged in strategic business initiatives, and has even contributed to its business by leading the acquisition of a new distribution channel for the company. A strong advocate of digitalization in HR, Sudari has led several digital innovation initiatives and implemented robotics and artificial intelligence in HR. Here are the excerpts of the interview. According to you, what is the one key trend that will shape the talent strategies of organizations in ?

How are you preparing for this trend? I think the element of human experience will continue to be the priority for leaders as they develop talent strategies within the organization. Our main focus this year is to create a sustainable talent experience to drive organizational growth and workforce transformation.

We strongly believe that by keeping the human element at the center of everything we do, we can build a remarkable, meaningful journey for our people employees. In order for us to achieve sustainable talent experience, we also continuously seek enhancement in efficiency and simplicity, where Robotic Process Automation RPA is adopted as part of our daily work to save time and focus on meaningful, value added activities. What are your thoughts on the digital future of HR?

How far do you think have the companies in Asia come in terms of HR tech adoption? The foundation lies in having an accelerated mindset that aligns with the core values of the company. It is important to have an end goal in mind and do the right thing that meets the business needs and expectations.

We take charge and position things right at the development stage, work closely with the expert team to employ best practices while staying detailed and specific. It is always important to have the courage to try new things and apply the rule, where 80 percent is good enough to take decisions, and continuously build trust with your targeted audi-. We strongly believe that by keeping the human element at the center of everything we do, we can build a remarkable meaningful journey for our people employees ence via various action plans.

This has been and will continue to be our approach. By leveraging on technology and automation across various HR functions, our people can focus on more meaningful and valueadded activities instead of repetitive administrative tasks.

This gives more job satisfaction to the team, helping them to develop their personal and professional growth and enhancing their employee experience to a truly human experience. We are very proud to begin our RPA journey in and were among the pioneers to have actively engaged our people to work hand-in-hand with virtual workforce to improve agility and efficiency at work. In , we begin to see more companies in Asia starting to embrace technology and introduce robotics, AI, blockchain to ease some roles and jobs.

I think this will soon become business as usual. Sky is always the limit in terms of where and how people can grow through continuous reskilling and upskilling. Mann here. He alleged that Mr. Sandhu s fight is just to grab power. When Mr. She left a suicide note with a few lines scribbled on it. Her husband, who is also a government officer, is posted in Chandigarh. Police said on Tuesday that the reason for suicide was being investigated.

After the post mortem of the body, the suicide note was sent for forensic examination. Since the note reportedly indicated that Ms. Sharma had trouble in her marital life, the police were not ruling out the possibility of harassment by her in laws. When she did not come out of her room for dinner, her mother checked on her and found the door bolted from inside. Police reached the spot on being informed and found her hanging. Suicide prevention helpline: Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health, Telephone: , Monday-Saturday, 10 am pm Khaira was in the Congress, why did he never demand autonomy from the Congress’s central leadership, he asked.

Legal action Rejecting the announcement by the duo to reconstitute the organisation in the State, Mr. Mann warned that the party will take legal action in case Mr.

Sandhu continue to violate party guidelines. Khaira hit back, saying Mr. Mann was acting as a mouthpiece of the Congress and that the national leadership of the AAP had forged a secret alliance with the Congress.

He said the allegations levelled by Mr. Mann were not only false but that he was appalled to see the “cheap theatrics by an elected Member of Parliament”. The Khaira camp also announced its eight member ad hoc political affairs committee for Punjab.

The ad hoc PAC will monitor and supervise the reconstitution of the entire political structure of the party’s State unit, including the appointment of the State president convener. Once the State unit’s political structure is in place, the ad hoc PAC and ad hoc State executive will stand dissolved. A new executive and PAC would be constituted, said Mr. Rijiju seeks probe into death of youth Arunachal resident was aboard a train Press trust of india Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government and the Ministry of Railways to conduct a proper investigation into the death of a youth from Arunachal Pradesh while travelling in a train.

Upon hearing about the death of Tage Dule, the Minister immediately took up the matter with the offices of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the Railway Minister with the request to investigate the incident to ascertain the facts and circumstances leading to the death of the youth, an official statement said.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju. Rijiju sought action against the culprits and a probe to find out whether there was any malafide intent in the youth s death. Economic benefits could be derived from these properties as an alternative to paying for their upkeep on a regular basis. Gupta said Scene of tragedy: The washroom wall that collapsed at the Patna railway station on Tuesday. He was to catch a train from Patna to Kolkata.

Eyewitnesses said he was sitting inside the waiting room before going to the washroom. Suddenly, a wall of the toilet fell on him and he succumbed to his injuries. Some other passengers too are believed to have been injured in the incident. The rail authorities have not confirmed any injuries yet.

According to railway officials, renovation work going on inside the toilet and a display board reading under repair was put up outside. The toilet at the secondclass waiting hall had been closed for use owing to the repair work that began on Sunday. The doors of the washroom were removed to prevent people from using it. It is shocking that the victim tried to use the washroom despite the warnings displayed outside, said Sanjay Prasad, here that the demolition of heritage buildings would contribute to global warming.

He said an exercise had been launched for mapping of natural heritage in Thar desert with the participation of local communities for modern planning. Public Relations officer, Danapur railway division. JE suspended He later told journalists that the railway department has put junior engineer Ashok Kumar under suspension following the wall collapse incident.

A probe has been initiated into the incident and the railway department has decided to provide an ex gratia of 15, to the deceased s family, he added. Gupta said the trust was working for protection of natural heritage, geoheritage, water bodies, stepwells, sacred groves, wall paintings and rock paintings. The mapping of natural heritage in the Thar desert area will build up the capacity of local communities.

Since they have a better knowledge of their resources, their techniques should be documented and implemented for modern planning, Maj.

Gupta said. They also covered the Biswa Bangla logo with a Jharkhand one, media reports said. A senior official of the Irrigation Department and District Magistrates of Birbhum and Dumka would meet to find out a solution to the issue, Mr.

Mahapatra said. At the moment there is no problem here. There will be a meeting tomorrow regarding the issue and hopefully it will be resolved, Mr. Mahapatra added. The Minister had earlier asserted that the dam was maintained by his government, and nobody had any right to stop its workers from the carrying out the work. Heavy rain disrupts life in coastal Odisha Tea garden workers go on strike Staff Reporter Kolkata Nearly four lakh workers of about tea gardens in north Bengal went on a three day long strike on Tuesday demanding higher minimum wages.

The strike began after a tripartite meeting between the Labour Department officials, tea garden owners and leaders of the Joint Forum of Trade Unions fell through. The State government officials walked out of the meeting after we rejected their offer of fixing the minimum daily wage for tea garden workers at Even if only the daily expenditure for food is taken into consideration, the daily minimum wage should be , said Zia ul Alam, convenor of Joint Forum of Trade Unions.

Open hospital wards for poor: OHRC Staff Reporter Bhubaneswar The Odisha Human Rights Commission has asked the State government to consider opening dedicated wards for destitute people and make all services available to them in all medical college hospitals. Mishra and Director Investigation S. Narvane came across destitute patients lying unattended in the verandah. On seeing Justice Mishra and Mr. Narvane on campus, some attendants volunteered to show the pathetic healthcare facilities for the poor at the hospital.

During the visit, as many as 15 destitute female patients and eight destitute male patients were found lying in the verandah, said Justice Mishra. Vehicles with their headlights switched on at an overpass in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Anticipatory bail plea of M. Raju, husband of Ms. Ghosh, has been rejected by the Calcutta High Court. He has been taken in custody, a CID officer said. The pilgrimage town of Puri was worst affected, recording rainfall of more than mm over a span of 24 hours.

All 11 blocks recording over mm rainfall during this period are from Cuttack and Khordha districts. Incessant rain forced the Khordha and Cuttack district administrations to shut down schools.

University examinations were also postponed. Train services were hit due to waterlogging and flooding at Puri Railway Station Yard. Trains were either cancelled or rescheduled. Appeal to youth Morcha coordinators from across the State will meet in Aurangabad on Wednesday to decide on the nature of the shutdown, said sources.

Shantaram Kunjir, one of the coordinators, said that the meeting would impress upon the agitating youth to desist from taking the law into their hands. Through appeals and exhortations, we are trying to ensure that the August 9 bandh is a peaceful one. There has already been much destruction of property during the agitation especially in Chakan, Solapur and Aurangabad, Mr.

Kunjir told The Hindu. Need to demonstrate Underscoring the need for a demonstration without road blockades, he said the Morcha leaders would be urging protestors to stay within limits as several cases had already been lodged against a number of agitators in the past weeks. There is no question of calling off the bandh as we have already announced it.

We will be requesting all establishments and the public to cooperate during the shutdown. Both leaders have announced their firm backing for the quota agitation. Chavan s wife, Ameeta Chavan, joined the protestors clamouring for immediate reservation for the Maratha community. Despite declarations of support for the quota issue, Mr. Chavan has faced flak from Morcha activists who have accused him of proving ineffectual over the reservation question when the Congress NCP coalition was in power and Mr.

Chavan was the Chief Minister. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday requested Maratha agitators to desist from resorting to violence and ending their life till the time the issue of reservation is decided as it is sub judice.

It also directed the State government to decide on the matter expeditiously. Senior counsel Ravi Kadam, appearing for the State, informed a Division Bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai that the Maharashtra State Commission for On the boil: Maratha Kranti Morcha activists had stopped traffic, indulged in arson and stonepelting during their State wide bandh in their demand for reservation. FILE PHOTO Don t resort to violence, HC tells Marathas Says reservation issue is sub judice, directs State to decide expeditiously Mumbai Backward Classes had completed the collection of data related to the community s socio economic status from government agencies, village panchayats and educational institutes.

The commission had constituted a three member panel to analyse the data. The panel is likely to submit its report by September 5, Mr. Kadam said. Thereafter the commission would require three months to submit its recommendations to the State, he added. Due process is being followed by the commission and the State and members of the community must remember this, the court said.

In November , the State government had appointed retired Justice M. Gaikwad as chairman of the commission. On November 29, , it was decided to conduct a sample survey under the supervision of its members about the social and educational backwardness of the community.

This was done with the assistance of gramsevaks, talathies, sarpanchs, village kotwals and teachers. The commission had also called for information from universities across the State, relating to college students at all levels. The commission also collected information from Maharashtra Public Service Commission about candidates from the community who had been selected for different posts in the last three years.

On February 9, the commission had conducted a survey by appointing five agencies and organising public hearings. Meanwhile, the Bench directed the State to file a progress report and adjourned the matter to September With inputs from PTI Governor concerned at drugs on Goa campus But happy with dip in ragging cases Prakash Kamat Panaji Goa Governor Mridula Sinha on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over reports of almost no ragging cases in educational institutions in the State but raised concern over reports of students consuming drugs on college campuses and an increase in road accidents.

Rawat, who was in Nagpur on Tuesday to deliver a lecture on Questions on the Electoral process: Apprehensions and Solutions, claimed that the EVMs did not witness any malfunction and its failure rate was 0.

Today, many political parties are raising apprehensions about the EVMs. When the ballot papers were being used, lakhs of votes would get invalidated because of some small reason and at times, the victory margin would be less than the invalidated votes. Election by ballot paper involved many dangers and risks of manipulation. Our two in the programmes of educational institutions. He said that nowadays the nature of ragging is changing and asked institutions to be more vigilant. Sinha also appreciated the steps taken by Goa Directorate of Education for including civic sense subjects such as Road Safety, Hygiene and Garbage Cleaning in the current syllabus.

But in both these countries, largescale complaints are being received. Now you don t witness [EVM] failures like the previous elections. Despite all this, some political parties are going to demand election by ballot paper. A Division Bench of Justices A. Rawat in Nagpur on Tuesday.

Rawat said. Posing a counter question to those who raise doubts over the EVMs, Mr. Rawat said, Common people, political parties, and the election commission have to decide [on the EVM]. If you can do transactions involving crore of rupees by electronic means, why do you want to go the other way [in terms of voting]? Blaming the nonseriousness of some polling officials while taking training for EVM snags, Mr.

Rawat said that some polling officials miss out on important details during training which causes EVM snags but the blame goes to the EVM. Terming the media management, including social media, and money management during elections as a worry for the Election Commission, Mr.

Rawat said he was concerned over the misuse of money and public data during elections. Nadig, 83, passed away on Tuesday after a brief illness. He is survived by wife, son and two daughters. He was a close associate of poet Gopalakrishna Adiga, a tall figure in the modernist tradition Navya in Kannada literature, and was deeply influenced by him.

Nadig published 11 collections of poetry, the last one being Jade Mattu Chetana. He has to his credit nine collections of literary criticism, four collections of short stories, and eight works of children s literature. According to information, Dr. Shilpa, who married Rupesh Kumar five years ago, had been living in Piler for some time. The Coastal police in Fort Kochi are in the process of identifying the missing persons. The boat was operating from the Munambam harbour.

The helmsman of the fishing boat, Edwin, in a statement, told the Munambam sub inspector that all on board, except him, were sleeping. The ship rammed the boat from the rear, breaking it into two, throwing the fishermen into the sea.

The vessel made a brief halt and resumed its journey without bothering to undertake any rescue operations. Edwin and Narain Sarkar stayed afloat for about four hours before being rescued, the sub inspector said. The Coastal police registered a case under IPC a for causing death by negligence, for rash navigation of vessel, and other relevant sections, including IPC and A Coastal police team rushed to the spot in a fishing vessel but had to return halfway due to rough sea conditions.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the merchant vessel was Indian registered oil tanker MV Desh Shakti. The officials said further investigation would be required for a confirmation. Tragedy in mid-sea Three persons were killed and two injured in the mid-sea collision 27 nm north west of Chettuva barmouth All three deceased persons are from Tamil Nadu while one of the missing persons is a Keralite Out of the 14 men aboard, 11 were from Tamil Nadu, two from West Bengal and one from Kerala Those responsible for the maritime accident off Thrissur will be tried under the Indian Penal Code IPC as the accident took place in the Exclusive Economic Zone EEZ of the country.

Moreover, the ship was flying an Indian flag and the fishing vessel was registered in Kerala. Since the two vessels were registered in India and the accident took place in the EEZ of the country, the offence will be tried under Indian laws February Italian marines on board Enrica Lexie shot dead 2 fishermen An official said the ship involved in the accident Moreover, no foreign element was involved in the incident, said V.

Shyamkumar, a lawyer specialising in maritime law. The criminal case will be Graphics: Satheesh Vellinezhi would be taken into custody and proceedings would be instituted according to law. The Directorate was coordinating the inquiry in cooperation with the Navy and the Coast Guard. I was losing hope and started thinking of giving up when a boat emerged out of the waves. I waved at them, though it seemed they had already seen me, he said.

A native of West Bengal, Narain was inside the Oceanic when he heard a loud thud in the rear of the fishing boat. Before I could figure out anything, I was thrown into the water, going deep down instantly and bouncing back at once he said.

Unable to recover from the shock of his life, Narain began swimming until he found a piece of wood. Manjumatha, the boat which came to the rescue saved both Narain and Edwin, who was also floating around in the same area.

The Munambam fishing harbour witnessed some anxious moments after the news of the mid sea collision broke out. People began to throng the harbour from the morning and they refused to disperse even after three bodies were brought to the shore. Mohammed Jahidul Islam alias Kausar was picked up from his rented house near Ramanagara area.

Actor Mohanlal, president of the association, said that a special general body meeting would be convened soon to discuss the issues raised by its three members actors Revathy, Padmapriya and Parvathy.

The discussions will continue. But there are no issues that could not be resolved among us. We have decided to amend the bylaws of the of the house.

It was on his directions that his close associate Mustafizur Rehman alias Shahin had arranged and assembled the bombs that were found on January 20 when the Dalai Lama was on a visit to the pilgrimage town. The bombs were later deactivated.

Islam was produced before the special court for NIA cases here, which granted five days transit remand. Revathy said that they had attended the meeting not as representatives of the collective, but as lifetime members of AMMA.

We had a healthy discussion, said Ms. However, the three WCC members declined to comment on whether the executive committee accepted their position that the issue of reinstating actor Dileep, a key accused in an actor abduction case, into the association was not included on the agenda of the general body meet held on June Addressing a seminar on Gender Sensitisation here, Mr.

Deb said the country where people respect their mother is the best country in the world. PTI U. Singh 54 was rushed to a hospital here where the doctors performed angioplasty and inserted three stents, a release said.

All the passengers and crew were safe, they said. A representative of Supreme Airlines, which operates the flight service, said the pilot could not land properly due to the presence of birds on the airstrip and the plane overshot it. Raja Owais, who was going to appear in the firstterm examination, drowned in Chinyass nullah stream in the Bhalessa area on Tuesday morning. PTI Kathua case: SC to hear plea Witness reports cruel torture in custody of Jammu and Kashmir police Krishnadas Rajagopal The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to urgently hear a plea by the family of key Kathua rape case witness and social activist Talib Hussain that he has been framed in a rape case and cruelly tortured in custody by the police in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under Governor s rule since June Hussain, for hearing on Wednesday.

Dismissing a review petition filed by Numaligarh Refinery Limited, a Bench headed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel said, The counsel for the review petitioner submits that the entire wall need not be demolished as the same is not a part of the Deopahar Reserve Forest. We are of the view that in view of categorical finding already recorded by the tribunal, that the area where the wall came up and the area where proposed township is to come up is a the police should produce Mr.

Hussain in the Supreme Court and produce his medical records while he was in custody. Bakharwal community Mr. Hussain, who belonged to the Bakharwal community as the minor victim of rape and murder in Kathua, is one of the prominent voices of justice for her. Talib Hussain, who played a crusading role as a social activist in highlighting the unfortunate rape and murder of the minor girl from Kathua, has been implicated with false charges and has been in custody under an FIR dated July 28, at Samba police station in part of the Deopahar Reserve Forest, rehearing on merits is not permissible.

The NGT gave its order after hearing a plea filed by Assambased green activist Rohit Choudhury, who had sought directions to demolish the 2. Based on an earlier petition by Mr. Choudhury, the NGT had in August asked NRL to demolish the wall around an extended part of its township acquired for residential complexes. Hussain has been subjected to third degree torture of the worst kind, the petition said. The petition said that his custody and alleged torture was in blatant violation of his fundamental right to life and violative of the Supreme Court s landmark D.

The Supreme Court had hectares and destruction of forest. Close to National Park The refinery, close to Kaziranga National Park and about km east of Guwahati, was expected to demolish the wall within a month.

It wasn t until March this year the Golaghat district administration and forest department demolished about metres of the wall. But the refinery filed the review petition saying that the tribunal had not taken into account the clearance of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority for the project.

Noting the death of 12 elephants due to the barbedwire and razor s edge fencing atop the boundary wall, the tribunal said it was clear that earlier intervened to provide justice in the Kathua case.

On May 7, the apex court had transferred the trial in the case from Kathua to Pathankot district in Punjab in anticipation of a fair trial.

The petition points out that on June 26, Mr. Hussain s estranged wife lodged an FIR against him, alleging demand of dowry and money from her.

She had accused him of physical abuse. A month later, a second FIR was registered on the complaint of a woman at the Samba police station. She accused him of rape. The NRL had in acquired bighas hectares of land for its old township and secured it with a boundary wall. It acquired another 67 bighas 9. The talk of referendum is nothing but terrorism through other means, Joginder Dayal, member of the CPI national council, said in a statement here.

Condemning the move, Mr. Dayal said extraneous elements were clearly at work to disturb the peace in Punjab. Both Ottawa and London are most welcome to carve out a Khalistan in any shape, form or fashion if they want to, since they are sovereign countries.

As far as India is concerned, there is no traction for such a demand, added Mr. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues and monuments. NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death. Life sentence to teacher for molesting student KORAPUT A school teacher has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Odisha s Rayagada district for sexually abusing an eightyear old student.

Additional district judge Debdutta Das Mohapatra imposed a fine of 3 lakh on the teacher. PTI Smuggling racket: CBI probing security concerns The CBI is looking into possible security implications of a smuggling racket that it has busted at Tiruchy airport with the arrest of 19 persons, including six officials.

Among those booked are three Sri Lankan nationals. From to July this year, 1, personnel died due to heart attacks and depression or committed suicide, compared to 85 who died in Left Wing Extremism related operations. According to data, last year CRPF personnel died due to heart attack, six due to malaria and dengue, 38 because of depression and suicide and due to other non operational reasons.

Similarly, the data for reveals that 92 troops of the force died due to heart attack, five due to dengue or malaria, 26 because of depression and suicides while lost their lives due to other reasons.

Scrub typhus is key encephalitis cause in eastern U. This finding is important, given that scrub typhus can be treated easily if detected early. But there was much scepticism about this hypothesis then. In the following years, however, other researchers reported similar findings. The findings were Bihar Cabinet hikes legislator s fund Increased to 3 crore p. These findings were published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal in As many as 6 out of 10 babies born in the country are not able to begin breastfeeding within one hour of birth despite an improvement in institutional deliveries due to a lack of supportive work environment, inadequate skills of health care providers as well as caesarean deliveries, according to a new report made public on Tuesday.

May this year. They Foreigners no longer need a Restricted Areas Permit to visit 29 inhabited islands in the Andaman and Nicobar chain. The Union Home Ministry decided on Tuesday to lift restrictions as the government intends to boost tourism. An official said 11 other uninhabited islands will also be thrown open to foreigners. Area permits The 29 inhabited islands have been excluded from the restricted area permit RAP notified under the Foreigners Restricted Areas Order, , till December 31, , found that the mites carried Orientia tsutsugumashi, the bacterium which causes scrub typhus.

This explains why scrub typhus incidence peaks during monsoon, he said. Access to Andamans eased Foreigners can visit 29 inhabited islands without Restricted Areas Permit First milk Mother s breast milk within one hour of birth ensures that the infant receives the colostrum or first milk, which is rich in protective factors. The WHO and UN ICEF also recommend exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to the age of six months and thereafter complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.

The Centre is planning to boost tourism in the islands. However, citizens of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan and foreign nationals having their origin in these countries would continue to The 5th Report of Assessment of India s Policy and Programmes on Breastfeeding and Infant and Young Child Feeding in also gives India a score of 45 out of on 10 parameters under the category of policy and programmes. However, India performs better in terms of infant and young child feeding practices scoring 34 out of 50 on five parameters.

Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth is For visiting Mayabunder and Diglipur, citizens of Myanmar will continue to require RAP, which shall be issued only with the prior approval of the ministry.

To ensure preservation of natural and marine resources, including marine parks and environment, of the Union Territory without affecting tourism and business at large, it should be ensured by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration that the guidelines issued by the Environment and Forests Ministry are strictly adhered to, said the official. Separate approvals of the competent authority would be required for visiting reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and tribal reserves, the official said.

The report lays onus on breastfeeding newborns within the first hour of their birth. Tolerance is the essence of democracy: Jaipal Reddy Manmohan launches Jaipal Reddy s book The Bihar Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to increase the legislators developmental fund to 3 crore annually from existing 2 crore.

Giving its nod to a proposal of the Planning and Development Department, the Cabinet sanctioned crore for the purpose to be spent in the current financial year of , Cabinet Secretariat Principal Secretary Arun Kumar Singh told reporters here during a post Cabinet briefing. The decision was taken in view of the increase in the cost of construction material and other items, he said. The Cabinet also gave its nod to the amendments in various sections and subsections of the Bihar Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, , read with Bihar Finance Act , , and , Mr.

Singh said. Manmohan Singh, left, with S. Jaipal Reddy in on Tuesday. Singh said the book, which offers a rich perspective on human history, shows that while religion, castes, colours are products of history, they cannot be accepted as a holistic reading of history. The book has brought out oneness in history, he added. Reddy said tolerance is the essence of democracy, and called upon people to critically and unsparingly review his book.

In the book, Mr. Reddy has discussed 10 major ideologies that have shaped the world: nationalism, democracy, liberalism, capitalism, evolutionary socialism, revolutionary socialism, feminism, environmentalism, nuclear pacifism and globalism. This hasn t kept pace with the stark increase in institutional deliveries which more than doubled during the same period, from Karunanidhi, 94 His passing marks the end of an era in Tamil Nadu s politics, and leaves a political void The life story of Muthuvel Karunanidhi is also a history of Tamil Nadu politics.

A five time Chief Minister, and the longest serving legislator, winning 13 terms in the Assembly and not losing even once, Karunanidhi was the engineer of many of the progressive measures adopted by the State since Independence. As the leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, an offshoot of the rationalist social reform movement, the Dravidar Kazhagam, he was an influential figure at both State and national levels, whether in or out of power.

He excelled as both administrator and organiser, adopting different styles, but always displaying a clinical efficiency while interacting with bureaucrats and party workers. Although his administrative acumen was often contrasted with the welfarism of his political rival, M.

Ramachandran, Karunanidhi was not beyond the draw of populism. Extending the Public Distribution System and increasing food subsidies were coupled with efforts at generating employment and encouraging industrial investment.

Towards the latter part of his political career, he emulated his political opponents, MGR and Jayalalithaa, in handing out freebies indiscriminately to every household, rich or poor. He was a crusader for federalism, often standing up to the Centre for the State s rights. He was one of the foremost opponents of the Emergency. In and , his governments were dismissed by the Centre, the first time citing corruption charges, and the second time citing support to the terror outfit, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

In his home State, he ran the DMK with an iron hand; at the same time, he provided some space for the second rung, even indulging the odd dissenter now and then, as long as there was no threat to his leadership.

District secretaries and ministers had a long reign under him. His longevity permitted him the leeway to promote his immediate family members to positions of power within the party and the government.

His designated successor, his younger son M. Stalin, had to work his way up the party ladder from ordinary worker and youth wing leader before being accommodated in the top rungs of the party and government. But elder son M. Alagiri and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran were rewarded with Cabinet berths in their very first terms in the Lok Sabha.

Karunanidhi will be remembered for being an astute politician, one with a quick wit and ready repartee; an able administrator with an uncanny eye for detail and a keen sense of the occasion; and as an elder statesman who could take the long term view of events and issues.

He straddled different generations and contrasting worlds with a reflexive ease. With his passing, less than two years after his rival Jayalalithaa succumbed to illness, Tamil Nadu is staring at a huge political void, one that that will be very hard to fill.

However, this time it refrained from further rate rejigs. While the new indirect tax regime has expanded India s tax base and brought more firms into the formal economy, revenues have slipped somewhat after peaking at 1. The first three months of this financial year have yielded 94, crore, 95, crore and 96, crore, respectively this is well short of the 1.

This is marginal at best, and could be offset by stronger consumption led growth and better tax compliance. But it is in this context of revenue concerns that the Council s dedicated focus at its latest meeting on issues facing micro, small and medium enterprises MSMEs is a creditable move. Setting up a ministerial group to look into the problems faced by MSMEs since India moved to the GST regime last July is a signal that the government is not brushing aside the implementation issues that still trouble smaller players.

At its previous meeting, the Council had decided that such businesses need no longer file cumbersome returns every month, but only on a quarterly basis. There may be more room for the ministerial panel to recommend further easing of compliance for micro firms with turnover far below 5 crore and enhancing the 50, threshold for mandatory use of e way bills to track movement of taxable goods. A deeper dive to understand why 1. The Council meeting has also, wisely, returned to a consensual approach on decisions.

While a few States had reservations about the rate cuts at the last meeting, this time their concerns on a proposal to push digital payments by offering a cash back to consumers using RuPay cards or the UPI platform have been incorporated.

Now, States will volunteer to run a pilot on these lines and a final decision will be taken after a detailed system wide evaluation of such incentives. This indicates the Centre s keenness to retain a cooperative approach with States that has generally marked the Council s functioning.

End of an epoch M. Karunanidhi will be remembered for his passion for Tamil and uncompromising secularism Gopalkrishna Gandhi irunga, he said in Tamil, over which his Jakkirathaiya command was legendary. Take care is how the phrase would translate. But in the way he said it, laying stress on the double kk, I could see he meant to say, Take every care. Karunanidhi would have been on the wish list and task list of any Indian envoy on her or his way to Sri Lanka.

But, for me, this was not just about protocol. It was about plain common sense, sheer self interest. There was no way I would present letters of credence in Colombo without finding out what Tamil Nadu s senior most and completely wide awake leader thought about the island nation s travails, the present and future state of its Tamil population and that of the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam s supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

To go to Colombo without the input to use a crassly opportunistic expression of a veteran of Tamil Nadu s political chemistry would be absurd. What I needed and was to get from him was the insight, as knowledgeable as it was detached, of one who knew. The hinterland of any Confrontation in Dhaka The Bangladesh government clamps down on dissent and democratic challenges Vijay Prashad Students in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have long worried about their journey to school.

Dangerous driving cost the lives of two students in the last week of July they were run over by a bus which triggered mass rallies of students across the centre of the capital. The students wanted the government to act finally to protect them. This was an opportunity for the government to do something following a simple plea by the students. But it did not. Documenting violence Instead, ruffians went along the avenues, threatening and beating protesting students. Photographs of the violence were quick to reach social media.

The award winning Bangladeshi photographer and activist, Shahidul Alam, documented the protests and also the violence with his camera. On social media, he published his pictures of what appeared to be the organisers of M.

Karunanidhi, was a mass leader who held sway over Tamil Nadu with his magnetic personality for decades. As a rationalist and an iconoclast, he did ruffle a few feathers. As a political leader, he was in a league of his own. The scripts he penned with felicity sowed the seeds of social change. He was a fine political orator who held audiences spellbound. His speeches were spiced with witticisms and semantically related words. It is no wonder that people flocked to hear him speak.

His advocacy of State autonomy reflected his concern about safeguarding regional interests. He was also a rare political leader who accepted his party s election defeats with equanimity. Nevertheless, outpourings of praise for foreign policy is ground knowledge of the roots of that policy in the soil of its origin. It was not easy, even for one on relevant official duty, to get an appointment with the Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa meant being alert 24×7; where running a government of which he was the alpha and the omega meant working harder than the mind and body could take.

And where, to make matters more complex for him, explaining to the people of Tamil Nadu how and why India Sri Lankan relations were a foreign policy matter and foreign policy was the prerogative of the Union government was just about impossible. He was on the cusp of India s federal dilemmas. A lesser politician could have played politics on that fluid crest, just to remain on top. But, as the direct successor in office to C.

The Chief Minister was seated in the sitting room on the first floor of his Gopalapuram residence in Chennai. He half rose to greet me, a gesture that neither his age he was 76 at the time nor his high office necessitated. Sir sir Please do not get up, I protested. Sitting back, he commenced what was for me a lesson on the limitations of diplomacy and of politics. He said I was going to a highly troubled land at a highly incendiary time.

Ranil Wickremesinghe [now Prime Minister of Sri Lanka] met me the other day, he said, and we spoke for more than an hour. He is a visionary He wants the violence meeting with ruffians, who were then set out to attack the students. This did not go down well with the establishment. Alam had received a request from the media outlet, Al Jazeera, to appear on the channel and talk about the protests. He went on air and pointed out that the protests, while about traffic safety, also indicated a far wider set of concerns the looting of banks, the gagging of the media, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, bribery, corruption.

What he narrated was of little surprise to the people of Bangladesh. Protests are a constant feature of life, both in the past and in the present, in the country over electricity supply in Kansat; over open pit coal mining in Phulbari; against a coal plant at the rim of the Sundarbans; against stock market scandals that defrauded millions of small investors; and against quotas in government jobs for the descendants of freedom fighters in the war.

Alam, who had been following the protests and the crackdown, also reported on social media: Today, the police specifically asked for help from armed goons to combat unarmed students demanding safe roads. This struck him as an important departure for the great leader should not hold us back from conceding some of the spots that took a bit of the shine off his long, illustrious career.

Karunanidhi marks the end of an era. The beacon for the poor and the downtrodden has put down his sails and oars. It is a great loss not only for Tamil Nadu but also for the rest of India. Tharcius S. From free electricity to farmers to reservation for women in government services, he led the way. His electoral success was remarkable. The multifaceted leader s contribution in the fields of politics, literature and theatre will always shine.

Bharath, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu K. Then followed an analysis of the ethnic problem on the island which for its crisp pragmatism could not have been equalled, let alone bettered. Nobody knows Prabhakaran s mind, he said. Nobody from our side is in touch with him Nobody can be We used to know his deputies Amirthalingam Now they are all dead assassinated.

But militancy is no solution Secession will never be countenanced by Sri Lanka And it will never be given up by Prabhakaran We grope in the dark. And then doing a fast forward: Yet, we have to keep trying for our Tamil kin s urimai rights there. The insights continued for some 10 more minutes and then he rose to conclude the call, saying, as if in a summing up: Prabhakaran will never have a change of heart. As I thanked him and prepared to leave, he gave the advice I started this tribute with, very softly, Jakkirathaiya irunga.

The government has miscalculated. It thought that fear and repression would be enough, but you cannot tame an entire nation in this manner, he added.

On August 5, a group of men arrived at Mr. Alam s home in Dhaka s Dhanmondi area and took him into custody. It is said that the men taped over CCTV cameras in the area and forbade taking any photographs of his arrest. Rahnuma Ahmed, a journalist and Mr. Alam s partner, said she rushed to the local police station but it turned out that Mr.

Alam had been taken away by the Detective Branch. A police officer later said, We are interrogating him for giving false information to different media and for provocative comments. Alam s lawyer has said that the police only registered the Tamil Nadu, and India in general, has lost a towering political icon. Tamil Nadu and Dravidian politics without M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa will not be the same again. Nagarajan, Secunderabad M. Karunanidhi was a leader of the masses, a seasoned politician and a statesman.

He will be remembered as the architect of a number of welfare schemes. He will be noted as a multifaceted personality, an orator par excellence, a great playwright and a poet of all times. He was a leader who was committed to the uplift of the poor and the downtrodden.

Rangarajan, Chennai In the passing of M. Karunanidhi, one of the greatest chapters in Indian politics has come to an end. As a key player in State politics, he was noted for his political acumen. He was an outstanding intellectual as orator, author, script and dialogue writer and humorist. He used his wit and charm to make an impact in politics and cinema.

His sharing of political space with several politicians is unparalleled. He managed to emerge phoenix like in many a political conflict. Sivakumar, Chennai Tamil Nadu has lost a titanic leader. His achievements in the fields of cinema, literature and politics cannot be matched. He leaves behind big shoes that cannot be filled easily. He will be remembered for his social reforms. He was perhaps one of the last links to the Dravidian movement which ushered in the rise of the backward classes.

Albert Devakaram, Chennai The passing of the veteran politician, statesman and reformer has left a void in I had received briefings, each very helpful, very skilled, from officials, ministers, politicians, military leaders, strategists. But the one I got at Gopalapuram that afternoon covered every facet of the Sri Lankan scene in brief sentences, replete with historical, geopolitical and diplomatic nuances, topped with an intuitive sense of urimai being the long shot aim and jakkirithai an immediate concern.

There was no appetite in the Bureau to follow common procedure. Not only did he dedicate his life to the uplift of Tamil Nadu but his determination also led to many firsts in Indian politics.

One hopes that his party, the DMK, is able to carry forward his ideals. Karunanidhi was a politician who changed political trends.

He has left an indelible mark on politics in the State. His era will be noted for his drive to alleviate the sufferings of the poor. There is a lot to learn from his ideology. Another meeting Seventeen years later, last year, I was to see him again, in the same room. He was seated on a wheelchair. And this time he did not could not get up. His son, M. Stalin, and his daughter, Kanimozhi, who were beside him, gave him the caller s name.

The 93 year old looked long and steadily at me. No sign of recognition appeared on his face. There was no immediate response, but a few seconds later, when everyone present was waiting for a response, a wisp of a halfsmile played across his face for but a fleeting moment.

I will not presume to imagine he recognised me. But that was not really necessary. Kalaignar Karunanidhi was now a legend, an icon of the old mould, but without the patina of obsolescence on its form or features. He was a living legend, an icon of the here and now as a symbol of aspirational politics negotiating electoral quicksands.

In his case the aspirational politics was Dravida self esteem combined with social radicalism, derived from Periyar and C. Annadurai CNA.

And the quicksands were Tamil Nadu s political uncertainties, with his mentors having become history and rivals from a different stage scripting a very new, very glitzy theatre. Here was an idealism being taunted by reality to be pragmatic, a pragmatism being haunted by history to be idealistic.

Some predicaments are cruel. And yet, he emerged from it, un bowed, the see saw of electoral results being another matter. He will be long remembered for three outstanding accomplishments his passion for Tamil as a language and a metaphor for the dignity of its users; his refusal to be bullied by political hubris during the national emergency; and his uncompromising secularism.

Such a long journey CNA was in office for far too little for the dust of any controversy to settle on him. The Kalaignar was in office for far too long for that dust to stay away. Did he shake it off? Did the flatterer and the talecarrier manage to reach ear distance?

Was the sponger spurned, the money spinner, the corrupter, family splitter, the party breaker turned away? Was the fear instiller, the superstition planter, the suspicion sower shown the door?

Equally, was the caring critic, the daring dissenter, the worried warner given welcome? Was the frank friend, the bold biographer shown in, given time, consideration? Only his family would know. On it all generations of it falls the privilege and the challenge now to stay and work together, to take the legacy of this extraordinary statesman further afield and make it a force for Tamil Nadu s redemption from localism, myopia and the power of floating cash.

And beyond that, a force for India s federal intelligence, her plural wisdom and, above all, her Constitution enshrined mandate for justice social, economic and political. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is a former administrator, diplomat and Governor Action and reaction Mr. Alam was arrested after being charged under Section 57 2 of the Information and Communication Technology Act for spreading imaginary propaganda against the government.

The Act is often used as a broad brush tool to muzzle journalists. As he was taken from the court, Mr. Alam said, I was hit in custody. They washed my blood stained Punjabi [kurta] and then made me wear it again.

Alam, a recipient of the Shilpakala Padak, one of Bangladesh s prestigious awards, was now on a seven day remand.. On Tuesday, the High Court ordered that the remand be suspended and that Mr.

Whether the case against him will be pursued and whether this will send a message against such abductions in the future is to be seen.

The United Nations has said that it is deeply concerned about the reports of violence during the protests for road safety in Bangladesh and has appealed for calm.

Dhaka s streets remain tense. Some students have braved the crackdown, but the mood is sombre. It appears that the government is unwilling to negotiate with the students. Alam s experience suggests that it is even unwilling to accept that there is a problem here one that is bigger than road safety. Human rights groups and PEN International a worldwide association of writers have condemned his arrest.

This is an election year for Bangladesh. The crackdown on the students sends a very strong message that the government will tolerate neither dissent nor democratic challenges. It is fitting to recall that in the mass protests in Bangladesh in , the longest running military junta led by General Ershad was affected after an army truck ran over a group of protesting students. When he came to power in , there had been a conflagration over buses and students.

It is no wonder then that the government is so sensitive to protests around the traffic. These institutions are the backbone of a skilled India and can contribute to the spirit of Make In India. It is the lack of an institutional framework and an outdated syllabus that has led to the descent. The health departments should hold health camps at regular intervals.

Awareness camps for young people on the dangers of unprotected intimacy and unsafe drug use practices can have a significant impact. It is the Securities and Exchange Board of India. She didn t say there is a civil war. She said that if a situation like this continues, it could lead to a civil war. People are twisting her words. The entire issue is a dirty, devious political plan of the BJP.

It is not about Assam alone. It is a national issue. The BJP wants to polarise India. Indian citizens cannot be refugees in their own country. Unfortunately, the BJP is [indulging] in doublespeak. At one end, you have the Home Minister telling Parliament that it is only a draft list and that it will be revisited. And then you have senior BJP leaders, including the party president, thumping their chests and calling the ones excluded in the NRC list as ghuspetiya or illegal.

The reason all this happening is because the BJP knows that its time is up. It s looking at using all these issues for its own devious political gains.

This is not about legacy data. No State government was consulted. How do they explain leaving out Army personnel, educationists, bureaucrats? It is an issue that needs to be dealt with very tactfully. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament that some on social media are trying to stoke communal passion. He is right. Who is stoking communal passion? During her recent visit to Delhi, Ms. Banerjee said that the BJP will be finished in What is your party s confidence based on?

Our confidence is based on only one thing: the people of India. I am absolutely certain that the people of India will know that they gave this Prime Minister a great chance in The BJP was brilliant and still is when it comes to advertising, marketing and propagating fake news. But it has failed on delivery. There is a great advertising guru, David Ogilvy, who said that the easiest thing to do is to sell somebody a product.

So the BJP sold this achhe din concept in Ogilvy also said that what is more difficult is to make a person purchase the The BJP is [indulging] in doublespeak. It is the same issue with the BJP. They sold achhe din in and everyone believed them. We don t have to wait till ; the people of India have already made up their minds.

As a student of politics, I think the BJP will only manage [seats]. The BJP has been asking Modi versus who in Will a collective Opposition leadership be the answer to the party s presidential style campaign?

The last time I checked the Constitution, it was a parliamentary democracy, so where is this presidential form coming from? For their own convenience, they [the BJP] may want to pitch it as any form of government, from dictatorship to presidential.

I think leaders of my party and many other parties have made it clear that the Prime Minister will be decided after the elections end. All these like minded parties will do very well and we can decide once the BJP and Mr.

Modi are removed. For us, the common agenda is to take up people s issues. We want to bring back the India we love. Not a divisive India, not an India where promises are not delivered. It is not about who will win the election. India must win in Ms. Banerjee has taken the lead in the campaign against the Modi government on various issues and has made frequent trips to the capital. Is she positioning herself as a prime ministerial candidate? With her 25 years of experience as an MP, twice as Chief Minister, with her experience as a Cabinet Minister, and 40 years of struggle, Mamata di doesn t need to roam around in Delhi with her CV.

Her track record, experience, acceptability with everybody, and ability to manage relationships will play an important role. If its institutions are under threat, we are in real danger. The squirrel does a lot of work and is indispensable for the garden. We are not chair hunting. Do you see Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the driver s seat in an Opposition alliance? What will be the Congress s role in ? It is not about individuals.