IBM dismisses 700 freshers in India

KOLKATA: This may literally be a bolt from Big Blue! IBM is learnt to have delivered the pink slip to a sizeable chunk of its entry-level trainee programmers (ELTPs) across major offices in India.

Most of these ELTPs, who were engineering graduates, had put in nearly a year and were working in numerous technology practice groups under IBM India’s global delivery business.

Though IBM is silent on the actual number of ELTPs dismissed, the total is likely to be in excess of 700 across company locations nationally, including 180-odd in Kolkata alone.

ELTPs, who were essentially freshers, were asked to go based on their performance in aptitude tests that were recently conducted in undisclosed IBM India locations. It is learnt that action on the ELTP front in major IBM locations was an ultra hush-hush exercise about which many senior IBM managers were in the dark.

At present, the IBM India management is reluctant to go into the details of its latest HR exercise. But in a written response to ET’s email query, an IBM spokesperson said, “IBM is driven by a high-performance culture, a place where employees are able to contribute at the upper limits of their potential and continually build market-valued skills and capabilities in both formal training and experiential learning. In support of that expectation on the part of our workforce, we are pioneering new ways for our people to certify their skill levels as both a validation of their value to clients and to reinforce the quality of our employees’ personal skill sets.”

IBM has strongly refuted any possible link in the latest action on the ELTP front, with industry speculation about IBM’s global services business suffering a cash loss in India in 2007.

“Last quarter marked IBM’s strongest revenue and profit performance in almost a decade, with a revenue of $28.9 billion and cash of $16.1 billion globally. Key to this success was IBM’s services business performance and momentum in emerging markets, including India, which represents one-third the company’s global revenue,” the spokesperson said.

“India is at the heart of IBM’s services strategy which has grown from a 53,000-employee organisation in 2006 to 73,000 in 2007. We continue to hire people with skills that meet our client needs and business demands,” the spokesperson added.

But IBM declined to respond to ET’s other query on whether the company needed to keep state governments in the loop ahead of kicking off the ELTP action.

The West Bengal government said it was clueless about the development. The state IT secretary Siddharth said, “I am not aware of these developments at IBM. But this is strictly a company decision, a matter between employer and employee. After all, when they hire people, they don’t inform us, so they are not obliged to tell us if they dismiss people. State governments usually get involved when a company decides to shut down operations.”

Under its present executive management grid, IBM India has six global delivery centres in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon and Kolkata. All location heads report to Rajesh Nambiar, vice-president (global delivery) for IBM India.

News Source : Samachar

Terror camps, Pak flags in Karnataka jungles

KALGHATGI (DHARWAD): Terrorist training camps may be closer to home than the distant mountains in Pakistan.

This chilling evidence came to light during the interrogation of three Islamist radicals arrested recently - Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse, Asadullah Abu Bakar and Mohammed Asif.

The investigators have unearthed a thick forest area bordering Dharwad and Uttara Kannada districts of Karnataka, which was used to train terrorists in the use of firearms. The three youths arrested by anti-terror police in Hubli and Davanagere a fortnight ago allegedly received weapons training in these woods which are surrounded by religious shrines.

Sources said this could well be the first time that a terrorist camp used by self-proclaimed Islamist fundamentalists has been detected in southern India, where a spate of terror attacks in the last few years, such as the ones in Hyderabad's Mecca mosque and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, have sensitized police to Islamist terrorism. It exposes a serious chink in the country's intelligence armour but also opens the door to getting answers on why and how Bangalore engineer Kafeel Ahmed transformed into the Glasgow bomber and his brother, Dr Sabeel Ahmed, joined in the UK terror plot.

Investigations led by DSP S V D'Souza revealed that the radicals were taking camping trips to the woods for "initial training as terrorists". During a raid, the officials noticed Pakistani flags flying and had them removed.

The details of the camp have been passed on to Central intelligence agencies. "The existence of the camp and the fact that the likes of prime suspect Mohammed Ghouse allegedly worked for a terror organization in Pakistan through intermediaries is of vital importance for intelligence agencies," an investigating official said.

Not only does it prove that the terrorist network is wider in southern India than imagined, it also establishes links between various terror attacks across the country, including the sensational strikes at IISc in Bangalore, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad.

Given the sensitivity of the matter, the police are keeping investigation details a secret. Sources said that investigators have spent the last few days trying to establish who was running the camp and who were the men being trained. They are also trying to establish the operation for which these people were being trained.

A local police officer said the three accused revealed that they had established base in Kalghatgi and were preparing for a jihadi strike. Ghouse and his accomplice Abu Bakar frequently visited Kalghatgi along with Asif, a MBBS student. Here they met about 20 young radicals who were being taught the use of small arms and double barrel guns.

News Source : Samachar

5 Navy men killed during exercise

Five Naval personnel were killed on Friday and three injured critically in a major tragedy during a Naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal.

The accident took place on board the Indian Navy's latest acquisition INS Jalashva while the ship was taking part in the Naval exercises between Visakhapatanam and Port Blair, the Indian Navy spokesman said.

It was not immediately known how the fatality took place. INS Jalashva, a ship landing dock previously called USS TRETON, was acquired from the US Navy just a month back.

The Navy rushed its medical ships to treat the injured and to bring back the serious cases to Port Blair.

A board of inquiry has been constituted in the incident. Defence Minister A K Antony has expressed his deep regret at the loss of lives.

News Source: Samachar

Dhoni rues irresponsible show

On a day of contrasting fortunes, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni rued a spineless batting display by his team describing it "irresponsible" while his opposite number Michael Clarke revelled in the glory of leading Australia to their maiden Twenty20 win over India.

While Dhoni could not hide his disappointment at India's batting collapse which saw them bowled out for 74 in 17.3 overs, Clarke was marvelling at his team's ruthless performance that made captaincy so much easier for him.

Dhoni said the only good thing that his Twenty20 world champion side managed in today's match was winning the toss.

"That's the only good thing that we did. There are 11 players in the side and every guy has a responsibility. But unfortunately some of our guys failed in that today," a disappointed Dhoni said after the nine-wicket thrashing handed out to his team by ODI world champions.

The Indian skipper did not want to make Yuvraj Singh's absence an excuse for the loss but admitted that the hard-hitting left-hander was crucial for the side.

"Yuvraj is important for us in Twenty20," he said.

On Sachin Tendulkar being left out for the match, Dhoni clarified that it was the master batsman's own decision to sit out of the game and take rest.

"I asked him whether he wanted to play today and get some practice ahead of the Indian Premier League but he said he wanted to rest so I said 'OK'," Dhoni revealed.

The Indian skipper rejected suggestions that the win has given Aussies a psychological edge ahead of the ODI tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka.

"This is completely different from the ODI series. Sachin will be back for that and so will be Yuvraj. We hope to start it positively next week," he said.

Clarke, who was adjudged man of the match for effecting a brilliant run out besides making unbeaten 37, was ecstatic at having finally managed to upstage India in the shortest format of the game.

"We had a look at all the Indians before the game. Our bowlers studied their batsmen and we executed all our plans well. Our guys did a fantastic job," Clarke said.

"We were up for the game and what a fantastic performance we put on," he gushed.

Retiring wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, for whom the match was a Twenty20 swan song, said he was relieved to be going out after beating India.

"It's nice that we have finally beaten India in twenty20. It's nice to finish my (T20) career with a win," he said.

Gilchrist also lavished praise on Michael Clarke for his stout leadership.

"Clarke's captaincy was fantastic. I think we are getting a glimpse what is there in the future," he said.

News Source: Samachar

Malik's 'marriage' heads for a divorce

The father of a Hyderabadi girl, whose love story involving Pakistani cricket captain Shoaib Malik went sour, contested his claim that the couple did not enter into a nikah and pressed the player to give a ''formal divorce.''

M A Siddiqui in a statement said the family will move the court if his daughter does not get divorce which was needed to help her start a ''new life.''

He was reacting to Malik's statement in Karachi on January 21 when the cricketer claimed that no nikah took place between him and Ayesha Siddiqui.

''Thenikah of my daughter (Ayesha) with Shoaib Malik took place on June 3, 2002. We also have the proof,'' said Siddiqui amid reports that the couple got 'married' through a telephone nikah on that date.

Siddiqui, a resident of posh Banjara Hills in the Andhra Pradesh capital, also challenged Malik's claims that his marriage plans with the Hyderabadi girl ended because both families could not reach an understanding on certain issues.

''Yes I had a long relationship with her and we planned to get married. But no nikah ever took place and in the end our families could not reach an understanding on various things,'' Malik had said.

Siddiqui alleged Malik wanted to end the relationship not for the reasons he had stated but ''just to gain goodwill and build his image.'' Siddiqui said his daughter is ''devastated and traumatised'' by the whole issue and claimed she was hospitalised many times.

Siddiqui claimed that his family called Malik and his family umpteen times but they ''refused to talk to us.''

''Shoaib Malik never tried to even talk to us even once. This behaviour has saddened deeply,'' he said.

On his daughter's future, he cited a media report quoting a Maulvi as saying that rightly his daughter needed a ''divorce'' in order to start a ''new life''.

Pakistani players were even feted to a grand reception by the Siddiqui family here when the team toured Indian in 2005.

News Source : Samachar