Friday, December 25, 2009
Don't Worry:(Be Happy:)!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
"HT Leadership Summit":Bush expresses 'deepest condolences' for 9/11 and 26/11 victims.
Life has changed,but not my respect for India:Turning on the charm offensive, former US president George W. Bush said here Friday that he had been looking forward to coming to India and "saying namaste"."I am an old retired guy, so I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with you," Bush said in his opening remarks at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.Amid much laughter from the audience, he said about his days since retiring as US president: "I suggested Laura take up cooking, she suggested I take up washing dishes."
He said he was using his free time to write a book. "I am giving a fair number of speeches and incredibly I get paid for it.""Life has changed but some things haven't changed... like my respect for India," Bush added.Referring to the commonalities between the people of the two giant democracies, the US and India, he said: "Our nations are united by our interests, our values... We share a great appreciation for your robust and free press.""I really, really like your prime minister," Bush said about Manmohan Singh.
Obama election'was uplifting moment':Barack Obama's election as president of the US was an "uplifting moment", his predecessor and Republican rival George W. Bush said here Saturday.The election of Obama, a Democrat and the US' first African American president, "was an uplifting moment for our democracy... not my first choice, but I wish him every success", Bush said amid laughter at the HT Leadership Summit here.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
MBA employment outlook:Not as bad as expected..!
European Union unemployment has risen by 1.2% to 7.9% in April 2009, compared to 6.7% a year ago (US unemployment has risen by 3.3% in the same period).MBAs have not been insulated from this crisis, but early career service feedback suggests the percentage finding employment within three months of graduation will not be significantly different from a year ago.
An opportunity for Indian MBA graduates may be smaller companies in Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada, where the visa environment remains favourable. A benefit of the MBA qualification is that each school has a large alumni network, often working in high growth small and medium sized enterprises, and when the job market in one sector falters, many of these alumni come back to the school seeking to hire young talent whom they otherwise might not be able to attract. The USA has reduced the availability of visas, making it difficult for Indian MBAs to remain working in the country after their graduation. By contrast, these other countries have favourable working visa envornments for new Indian MBA graduates – a big benefit to smaller companies looking to hire MBAs.
Another reason MBAs are faring relatively well, despite the recession, is the continued hiring into the consulting industry, which traditionally recruits about 30% of MBA graduates. Strategy firms like AT Kearney are looking for experienced MBAs to staff a growing number of assignments looking at ‘efficiency-savings’ and ‘strategic reviews’ throughout Europe. Financial services firms traditionally hire 30-35% of international MBAs. In 2009, it is expected that the proportion will be closer to 25%, which is not bad considering over 325,000 people worldwide have been laid off in this sector in the last twelve months. Stephanie Ahrens, MBA Recruiter at Morgan Stanley explains “those of us that have seen downturns in the economy in the past know that a recruitment freeze is not the answer. MBAs are much desired in our business for building a pipeline of future leaders and innovators. We are committed to hiring MBAs in 2009 and beyond, despite current challenging market conditions.”
Sarah Crawford,Head of European MBA Recruiting at Goldman Sachs confirms that “Goldman Sachs is running an active intern and full-time MBA hiring program this year. MBAs offer a unique set of general management, leadership and communication skills.” Crawford adds “We have recently interviewed Russian, Turkish, Arabic,Danish,Dutch,German,Portuguese and Spanish speakers for our Summer MBA intern program.” To some extent the crisis is stimulating MBA demand in financial services. Fennah at Cranfield points to a big uplift in contracting opportunities for experienced MBAs, especially in finance and insurance. “Many companies have cut back too sharply and they need experienced contractors to complete projects, or fill specialist roles vacated by people who have been retired early.”
Strong domestic growth rates and renewed investor confidence since the victory of the Congress Party, is stimulating local employer demand for Indian MBAs. TopMBA.com continues to see a growing number of Indian companies recruiting MBAs, especially amongst multinational companies operating in India. Professor Prem Chandrani of S.P.Jain Institute in Mumbai confirms that local demand for Indian MBAs is strong at present. Michael Joseph of Olam International recruits many Indian MBAs because their “complete business understanding is a necessity.”
Mr. Sunil Bellara, Director of Capgemini India maintains that MBA's have always proved to be assets to the organization they join: “Today it is not just the MNC's but also the Indian pure play companies across all industries that invest in hiring MBA's. Professional management is not just a topic of seminar and panel discussions: it has become a reality in the workplace. The current slowdown may have impacted average salaries on account of skewed offers from US being less, but in real terms now is the time when industry needs these graduates the most."In addition, many MBAs – typically 5-10% - also start their own business and a recession is often a good time to plan and initiate such a project, with the domestic Indian market an attractive proposition for many budding entrepreneurs.
The message from all business school career directors is that this year MBAs have to be prepared for an intensive job search, complimented by career flexibility. But as long as global trade remains open, demand for international MBAs will remain resilient.Finally,Now We can hope for best but do prepare for worst.:)
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Kareena kapoor and Saif come together in KJ's movie "Qurbaan"..!..!
*Kareena kapoor and beau Saif Ali Khan will come together after Tashan once again in forthcoming flick Qurbaan.Marking Rensil D Silva’s directorial debut,the film revolves around the tragic episode of 9/11 in
The movie is being produced by Karan Johar and the producer who has been getting bolder and bolder with every successive film, has introduced a love-making scene between the real-life and reel-life couple in the film. Kareena and Saif, who play a married couple, are shown in an intimate love-making scene in the film, which the director insists is critical to the story plot. He is, however, aware of audience perceptions and is afraid that the love-making scene will over shadow the strong message that the film Is intended to deliver.He says,The love-making sequence, though absolutely essential to the film is explicit and honest enough to become a focal point of interest for the audience. There’s enough sexual repression in our country. A section of the audience might decide to see the film only to see the real-life couple making love on screen. It would be tragic.
Responding to questions on how difficult it was to have the scene shot among the rest of the crew, he defensively answered,The set had been cleared of the entire crew except the director and cameraman.“It was not an easy sequence to shoot.Kareena and Saif were thorough professionals and were able to do the difficult scene so smoothly because of their comfort level.It was an aesthetic experience. And I hope the audience treats it that way.
Kareena kapoor has reportedly requested the director to delete the love-making sequence as she is conscious about her image with the release of the scene and the film.The director,however,maintains that the sequence is integral to the development of the plot of the film.Now,we’ve to wait n watch…lol!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Ajay Devgn&Groups wish 'All the best' to Indian Team for CT.
*The multi starrer film,All the Best is making a lot of news these days.Here’s another piece of news for you…Apparently, the star-cast of Ajay Devgan’s All the Best came together for a special music video wishing all the luck to the Indian Cricket Team for the forthcoming Champions Trophy in South Africa beginning this week. The star cast of Ajay Devgn's ALL THE BEST has come together in a special video wishing the Indian cricket team all the best for the forthcoming Champions Trophy.
It all happened when the ESPN sports channel approached director Rohit Shetty for the music video. Ajay Devgan, an ardent cricket fan was all game and shot the video last week along with co-stars Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Fardeen Khan and Mugdha Godse.
Rohit Shetty says, "We shot the video in Filmistan.It's a special promo on cricket with the stars wearing masks of different cricketers and cheering the cricketers. The song is meant to wish the Indian cricketers before every game. It's an association between the channel and the All the Best team. They wanted to me to direct the promo for the Championship Trophy."Rohit adds,"The cast wishes the cricket team and says'Yeh Diwali Hogi Cupwali' and then they start dancing to the title track."Speaking about the video, set against the background of a cricket stadium, it is choreographed by Seemaa Desai while Pritam has given the music.
The video is currently on ESPN and news channels, where all the dancers are seen wearing the Indian cricket team's outfits.
*‘All The Best' finishes in record time:- Producer Ajay Devgan and director Rohit Shetty have finished the shoot of the film ‘All The Best - Fun Begins’ in record time.The film is all set for a Diwali release. The cast and crew, who have shot in various locales in Mumbai and Goa,just wrapped up their last schedule in
Global recession ending:-OECD
*The global recession is coming to an end faster than thought a few months ago and may already be over, but recovery will rely on massive government spending and low interest rates for some time,the OECD said on Thursday.The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development issued forecasts showing a broad return to economic expansion in the third quarter of 2009.It also said that while authorities needed to map out a strategy for withdrawal of fiscal and monetary stimulus once recovery was surer,now was no time to economies off life support.
The recovery might prove a little stronger than previously predicted, OECD chief economist Jorgen Elmeskov told Reuters in an interview where he elaborated on the forecasts for several key economies."Compared with expectations a few months ago, we now have a recovery which ... may be coming a little earlier and it may be slightly stronger because financial conditions have improved more rapidly than we assumed a few months ago," Elmeskov said.
The OECD forecasts show a third-quarter return to annualized quarter-on-quarter growth in the
The pickup that started with a "quite dramatic turnaround" in
TURNING POINT FOR G7:-While it predicted continued third-quarter contractions in Britain and Italy,and a rise followed by a fourth-quarter dip for Japan,the OECD said the broad picture for the G7 group of industrialized powers was better.
The forecasts, including information up to Sept 2, show the euro area turning positive in both of the last two quarters of 2009 after five straight quarters of contraction.Indeed,a monthly business survey on Thursday showed an index measuring activity in the euro zone manufacturing and services sectors combined now edging into expansion territory in August.
The OECD now expects 2 percent annualized growth in the euro zone in the fourth quarter, compared with its June prediction for a 0.5 percent contraction.On Thursday, the European Central Bank raised its staff projections for euro zone GDP this year and next, predicting growth in 2010 of between -0.5 percent and +0.9 percent.
The previous OECD growth forecasts for the
The global jobs crisis..!
*New reports on unemployment,poverty and hunger released this week demonstrate that the global economic crisis is being used to effect a basic restructuring of social relations characterized by long-term high unemployment and the impoverishment of the working class.
An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study released Wednesday reports that by the end of 2010,10 million jobs will
likely be lost among member states,bringing to 25 million the number of jobs eliminated in the thirty-member group of industrialized nations since the economic crisis began at the end of 2007.The OECD unemployment rate climbed to 8.3 percent in June, the highest on record dating back to World War II,and a sharp increase from the close of 2007,when unemployment stood at 5.6 percent.
Among member states,
Official unemployment in the
The OECD report singles out high unemployment among youth as a particularly dire problem.For 15-24 year-old workers,the OECD predicts that unemployment in
The trend toward impoverishment among young workers is substantiated by a report in Friday’s USA Today analyzing recent American census data. The newspaper concludes that the incomes of young and middle-aged workers “have fallen off a cliff since 2000.”
“People 54 or younger are losing ground financially at an unprecedented rate in this recession,” the article reports. It notes that “household income for people in their peak earning years—between ages 45 and 54—plunged $7,700 to $64,349 from 2000 through 2008,after adjusting for inflation.”