Tamil actress Vasundhara Kashyap sleazy selfies leaked online

Vasundhara Kashyap may not be a popular name in the Indian Entertainment sector, but she has now reached the heights of popularity in the internet due to her leaked images with her boyfriend.

As per reports, the Instagram account of the actress is hacked, and this has resulted in the leakage of various intimate pictures.

As per Times of India, almost 8-10 images are fluttering all over the internet, and most of them are very intimate selfies taken with her boy friend. The actress has now deactivated her Instagram profile.

The 25 year old actress started her acting career through the 2006 movie “Vattaram”. The film had Arya in the lead role, and it was an average grosser in the Box Office.

Later, she worked in movies like “Peranmai’’, “Jayamkondaan”, “Kalaipaani” and “Porali”. Her acting in “Peranmai” fetched positive reviews from all corners.

Her portrayal of ‘Maari’ in ‘Porali’ fetched her Edison Award for Best Supporting Actress and Vijay Award Best Supporting Actress Nomination.

Her last movie was, “Chithirayil Nilachoru” which got released in 2013. The movie didn’t fare well in the Box Office, and from then the actress failed to fetch more offers.

The leakage of compromising photos has garnered mixed reactions from the general public.

Many people consider it as a very unfortunate incident, but for some others, this is nothing but mere publicity stunt to fetch offers.

In the meantime, many reports claim that a video of the actress has also been leaked online.

Prices May Not Come Down

 

The Indian real estate sector continues to be a favoured destination for global investors. The urban population will surge in the coming years, which, coupled with growth in employment, education and health care, will push the demand for residential and commercial space.

Urbanisation has been rapid in the past few years, with 'upwardly-mobile' buyers keen to invest and reap dividends from the real estate market growth. Increasing migration to the cities will drive this demand. Also anticipate a rise in sales of housing property following the recent stock market rally and a slew of optimistic RBI rules to allow foreign banks into the country's protected banking ecosystem. Steady housing demand will be a big constant for the Indian economy this year, and the industry will focus on meeting this demand.

However, the real estate sector is burdened with high costs because of which there is little possibility of reduction in home prices in most micromarkets. Construction cost has increased by 40% in two years, while government taxes and premiums have also gone up substantially. This eliminates any scope for reduced prices, despite the weak market. Banks' reluctance to lend to real estate companies has led to increased cost of borrowing, adding to the overall cost. In fact, these factors will also result in an increase in prices in improved market conditions. The housing industry will revive at a faster pace if a stable government is formed after the general elections in 2014.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) has identified demand from tier-II and tier-III cities as an impetus for better real estate solutions. With rapid land and infrastructure development in smaller cities and towns, assisted by bank loans, higher earnings and improved standards of living, housing and construction demand will increase here.

The recent move to introduce Reits, or Real Estate Investment Trusts, is a progressive one as well. Reits are a great instrument to tap cash flow into the Indian economy, and help smaller investors access income-generating real estate assets. It will help both developers and investors, through better financing and investment options. This will give the Indian real estate market more depth. Providing tax incentives to REITs for investment in housing, especially the affordable housing sector, will increase chances of its success.

Delhi student tops CAT, first girl since 2009 to score 100 percentile

Delhi girl tops Common Admission test 2014 becoming the first girl since 2009 to score a 100 percentile. Neha Manglik is also the only girl among the 16 candidates who scored 100 percentile in the entrance exam for admission to India's premier Indian Institutes of Management and 70 other top B-schools in the Country.

The CAT 2014 results for admission to 19 Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) including six new ones and other business schools for the year 2014 was announced on Saturday. CAT 2014 convenor Dr Rohit Kapoor told TOI that 16 people including a girl had scored 100 percentile this year. "While we are still to confirm how many of those who scored 100 percentile are from IITs, atleast 3-4 must be from these institutes."

Last year eight students had managed to score 100 percentile. Also, ten people had scored in 99.99 percentile bracket, including a girl. On Neha's performance Kapoor said: "We want to congratulate her for the achievement. It's a rare distinction for girls on CAT. She has done remarkable well in both the sections of the test and we like to wish her success as we need women leaders. IIMs has in the recent years are trying to make the campuses more inclusive and in at least last three years more girls are scoring high in the test."

Neha, a student of chemical engineering from BITS, Pilani has completed her schooling from Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar, Delhi before joining engineering. "I had worked hard for this but 100 percentile is something one can never be sure of."

Speaking about her preparation, Neha said: "I had been doing mathematics and logical puzzle thanks to my father since my school days and so my basic preparation has been done there. For the final test I have been preparing for a year."

An aspirant to IIM, Ahmedabad, Neha said: "Right now my aim to go to a good college and learn the management principles which will come handy in all walks of life."

Giving credit to her alma mater and the importance of co-curricular activities Neha said: "My schooling have been very good. Most important thing they taught me is the along with academics even my co-curricular activities are equally important and that has really helped me develop my personality. Similarly for BITS, they have zero attendance policy and encourage us to do well in other fields which helped me."

To fellow female aspirants Neha's advice is "Girls are as good as boys and always remember one who wins is the one who things we can. The moment they believe they can do there is no stopping them. They have to change their perception on themselves."

Even as the results were announced, the students could not log on to see their scores since the total hits crossed one lakh, crashing the site.

This year some 1.68 lakh candidates had appeared for the CAT exam, a drop from the previous year. CAT registrations have steadily declined for the last couple of years.

This year the exam was held on two days, November 16 and 22.

In Naples, Gift of Coffee to Strangers Never Seen

NAPLES, Italy — One azure morning in December, Laura Cozzolino arrived at her corner cafe in central Naples and ordered her usual: a dense espresso, which arrived steaming hot on the dark marble counter.

She lingered over the aroma, then knocked it back in two quick sips. But instead of paying for one coffee, she paid for two, leaving the receipt for the other — a caffè sospeso, or suspended coffee — with the bartender for a stranger to enjoy.

“It’s a simple, anonymous act of generosity,” said Ms. Cozzolino, 37, an employee of a medical device company. “As a Neapolitan who tries to restrict herself to four coffees a day, I understand that coffee is important. It’s a small treat that no one should miss.”

The suspended coffee is a Neapolitan tradition that boomed during World War II and has found a revival in recent years during hard economic times.

From Naples, by word of mouth and via the Internet, the gesture has spread throughout Italy and around the world, to coffee bars as far-flung as Sweden and Brazil. In some places in Italy, the generosity now extends to the suspended pizza or sandwich, or even books.

Receipts are left to be claimed by those who are unable to afford a cup of coffee. Credit Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

Naples is a city well known for its grit, beauty, chaos and crime. Despite those things, or perhaps because of them, its people are also famous for their solidarity in the face of hardship.

No one here seems to know precisely when or how the suspended coffee began. But that it started here speaks to the small kindnesses that Italians are known for — and also of the special place that coffee occupies in the culture.

In a time of hardship, Italians can lack many things, but their coffee is not one of them. So it may be the most common item left at many cafes, as a gift, for people too poor to pay.

More than 90 percent of Italian families drink coffee at home, and there is one coffee bar for every 490 Italians, according to Illy, one of Italy’s leading coffee producers, and a local organization that studies food and drinks. Espresso comes in seemingly infinite forms: ristretto (strong), lungo (more water), macchiato or schiumato (with a bit of milk or milk foam), or corretto (a kick of liquor added).

Drinking one is an act rigorously performed standing at the counter for a few quick minutes. It naturally sets the passing hours of the day. It is both an intimate and a public ritual.

Many bartenders attribute a soul to the coffee-making process and take pride in knowing their customers’ preferences, even before they lay an elbow on the counter and start talking about the sun — or lack thereof — or complaining about the government.

“Coffee consumption predated the unification of Italy by more than 200 years, so the rituals and traditions around it are very ancient,” Andrea Illy, chairman of Illy, said in a phone interview. “In Naples, coffee is a world in itself, both culturally and socially. Coffee is a ritual carried out in solidarity.”

That solidarity is spreading. In 2010, an ensemble of small Italian cultural festivals gave form to the tradition of generosity by creating the Suspended Coffee Network.

The purpose was to weather the severe cuts to the state cultural budgets by organizing and promoting their own activities together. But it also started solidarity initiatives for those in need. Encouraging a donated coffee was one of them.

Now, across Italy, the bars that have joined the network display the suspended coffee label — a black and brown sticker with a white espresso cup — in their windows.

In participating coffee bars, customers might toss receipts in an unused coffee pot on the counter, where the needy can pull them out and use them. In others, customers pay in advance for an extra coffee, and the cafe keeps a list or hangs the receipts in the shop window.

As the most vulnerable increasingly feel the pinch of Italy’s long economic crisis, bars in some southern towns have started inviting customers to pay for a sandwich — or more — for those in need.

Coffee at Storico Gran Caffè Gambrinus in Naples, Italy. Credit Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

This year, Feltrinelli, a large bookstore, encouraged clients to buy a book and leave it for destitute readers who could then go and collect it.

Likewise, in 2012, a pizzeria in Naples, Da Concettina ai Tre Santi, created the suspended pizza logo and printed it on its paper tablecloths. Each week, it manages to deliver around 15 free pizzas for the poor.

But in Naples, with its rich diversity of neighborhoods, coffee bars hold a special place as gathering points for all: senators, families with grandchildren, street artists, businessmen and beggars.

“Coffee in Naples is an excuse to dialogue, to tell stories, not like in other more hectic Italian cities,” said Bruno La Mura, one of the owners of the Spazio Nea art gallery, exhibition room and coffee shop, which has offered suspended coffees since it opened in 2012.

“Here we don’t drink coffee, we ‘take’ it, as a medicine,” echoed his business partner, Luigi Solito. “To me, the philosophy of the suspended coffee is that you are happy today, and you give a coffee to the world, as a present.”

Even before joining the Suspended Coffee Network, some Neapolitan cafes embellished the tradition on their own.

At Gran Caffè Gambrinus, a 154-year-old cafe in Naples, in 2009 the managers began displaying an old, oversize Neapolitan coffee pot, a local version of the kind in almost all Italian homes.

They leave the lid open, with explanations in six languages — and in Neapolitan — of what a suspended coffee is and how clients can contribute one by dropping a receipt inside.

Of more than 1,500 espressos it serves on average every day, about 10 are left suspended by customers, said Sergio Arturo, one of the owners. About five people come every day and stick their hands in the coffee pot and take a receipt, a number that has increased in the past year or two, he said.

Almost everybody in Naples seems to know what a suspended coffee is, though not all bartenders have served one.

In Naples’s old quarter, an area heavily visited by tourists, Caffè 7Bello serves about 1,000 suspended coffees a year, mostly to older people, migrants and the Roma, the owner, Pino De Stasio, said.

It is in the building where the 20th-century thinker Benedetto Croce once lived, on a street that is today lined with souvenir shops and pitchmen selling lucky horns made in China for a euro. That is where Ms. Cozzolino left her suspended coffee.

“I didn’t know about the suspended coffee,” said another customer that day, a mother of four from Bucharest, Romania, in flip-flops, socks and a light winter jacket, who panhandles nearby. “I just came by once, and they gave it to me, so I come back. We like coffee, too.”

Japan Unveils $29 Billion Stimulus Package

Japan’s government approved on Saturday stimulus spending worth $29 billion aimed at helping the country’s lagging regions and households through steps like subsidies and merchandise vouchers, but analysts are skeptical about how much the government can spur growth.

The package, worth 3.5 trillion yen (about $29 billion) was unveiled two weeks after a huge election victory by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition gave him a fresh mandate to push through his stimulus policies, known as Abenomics. The government said it expected the stimulus plan to increase Japan’s gross domestic product 0.7 percent.

Given Japan’s dire public finances, the government will avoid issuing fresh debt and will finance the package with unspent money from previous budgets and with tax revenues that have exceeded budget forecasts because of economic recovery.

With nationwide local elections planned in April, which Abe’s ruling bloc must win to cement his grip on power, the package centers on subsidies to regional governments to stimulate private consumption and support small firms.

Of the total, ¥1.8 trillion will be spent on measures such as distributing coupons to buy merchandise, providing low-income households with subsidies for fuel purchases, supporting funding at small firms and reviving regional economies.

The remaining ¥1.7 trillion will be used for disaster prevention and rebuilding disaster-hit areas, including those affected by the March 2011 tsunami. Tokyo will also seek to bolster the housing market by lowering the mortgage rates offered by a government home-loan agency.

“It’s better than doing nothing, but I don’t think this stimulus will have a big impact on boosting the economy,” said Masaki Kuwahara, a senior economist at Nomura Securities. "This package directly targets households and regions left behind by Abenomics, so it may work favorably to Abe’s ruling coalition in the nationwide local elections.”

Mr. Kuwahara said the stimulus was unlikely to spur consumer spending while uncertainty remained over the economic outlook, adding that it could push up G.D.P. about 0.2 percent.

With little room left for Japan to resort to big fiscal spending, analysts say the government must pin its hopes on wage increases by big companies to play a greater role in bolstering the economy and pulling Japan out of deflation.

The stimulus highlights a tough balance Mr. Abe must strike between lifting the economy and curbing runaway debt, which is more than twice the size of the country’s G.D.P.

AirAsia plane with 162 aboard missing in Indonesia

An AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard lost contact with ground control on Sunday after takeoff from Surabaya in Indonesia on the way to Singapore. Courtesy: Google Maps

An AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard lost contact with ground control on Sunday after takeoff from Indonesia on the way to Singapore, and search and rescue operations were underway. 

The plane lost communication with Jakarta’s air traffic control at 7.24 a.m., about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The contact was lost about 42 minutes after takeoff from Indonesia’s Surabaya airport, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia’s MetroTV. 

AirAsia said in a statement that the plane was an Airbus A320-200 and that search and rescue operations were in progress. 

Mr. Mustofa said the plane had seven crew and 155 passengers, and lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands. 

The Singapore aviation authority said it was informed about the missing plane by Jakarta ground control about half an hour after the contact was lost. 

“Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities,” it said, adding that the Singapore Air Force and the Navy also were activated with two C-130 planes.

Curbs on gold imports drive smuggling: Centre

The Union government has said restrictions imposed on gold imports to stem the pressure on the Current Account Deficit (CAD) are likely to have led to a substantial increase in smuggling. From April to September this year, there was a more than four-fold increase in the seizure of smuggled gold, to 2,289 kg, against 522 kg seized during the same period last year.

Giving the information in a reply to a written question in Parliament last Friday, Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Jayant Sinha said: “…there had been a substantial increase in the seizure of smuggled gold as well as in the gold imports.”

Twelve Lok Sabha members had raised questions about gold imports.

“The increase in seizures of smuggled gold this year, compared to last year, may partly be attributed to the fluctuations in the price of gold, the restrictions imposed on the import of gold and customs duty rates,” Mr. Sinha said.

To stem the pressure on the CAD, the government and the Reserve Bank of India had taken measures to moderate the demand for the precious metal. These included an increase in customs duty on imports and prohibition of gold in the form of coins and medallions. Nominated banks and other entities were told to make available at least 20 per cent of every lot of gold import as input for export. The obligation to export was on star or premier trading houses and refineries. Also, gold import to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Oriented Units (EOUs) was permitted for the sole purpose of export.

As the CAD situation improved and the quantum of gold imported reduced significantly, at November-end, the Centre withdrew the stipulation of a minimum export of 20 per cent of every lot of import.

In response to another question on the seizure of smuggled gold at Delhi International Airport, Mr. Sinha said field formations had been suitably alerted and surveillance enhanced. The number of seizure of smuggled gold had risen from 1 during 2011-12 to 294 from April to November 14 this year, he said. The quantity of gold seized was also up from 2 kg to 447 kg. As against one person arrested during 2011-12, 144 people were arrested this year.

China readies sea-based nuclear deterrent against U.S.

 

China is set to reinforce its nuclear second-strike capability by mounting on some of its submarines long-range ballistic missiles, which could target the U.S. 

So far, China could strike the U.S. only with land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. But with western advancements in surveillance that could track their location and movements, these weapons had become vulnerable to a U.S. first strike, gravely undermining Beijing’s nuclear deterrence. 

However, China is on the verge of a course correction, says a report submitted in November to Congress by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The commission has concluded that the Chinese are set to acquire a reliable, hard-to-destroy sea-based deterrent. A cluster of 12 JL-2 missiles, with a strike range of around 7,350 km, are being mounted on its JIN class of submarines. 

China has three JIN-class nuclear-powered submarines, which began entering service in 2007. Despite their fairly high noise level, their lethality has now multiplied, following the integration of the new missiles, giving China a credible second-strike capability. 

Alaska within reach

The JL-2 missiles will have an array of strike options, depending on whether the submarine chooses to fire its weapons close to Chinese shores or from areas deeper in the sea. 

Alaska will fall within their ambit if the missiles are fired from waters near China. Hawaii can be targeted if these weapons are launched from waters south of Japan. Western continental U.S. and all the 50 U.S. states are endangered if waters west or east of Hawaii are chosen as the launch pads.

The impending addition of a third dimension of deterrence by China is a vast improvement over the past. The Chinese deterrent had so far depended on the liquid-fuelled DF-5A missiles, which can be fired from fixed silos. 

However, China’s nuclear armoury was beefed up in 2007, when the mobile, solid-fuelled D-31A missiles were inducted into its arsenal. But both these weapons have their limitations.

The DF-5A is vulnerable in its pre-launch phase because it takes a lot of time to fuel its liquid engines, giving ample scope for detection and consequent destruction. The induction of the D-31A was a significant improvement over its predecessor, but with breakthroughs in surveillance, including the arrival of RQ-4 Global Hawk drones, hiding them has become more difficult, notwithstanding their mobility. 

China’s anxieties are fuelled by the presence of 3,60,000 personnel in the theatre under the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). Besides, PACOM has positioned 200 ships, which include five aircraft carrier strike groups, concentrating enormous capacity to project power in the region, with China and North Korea as the prime concerns. Nearly 60 per cent of U.S. forces will deploy under the PACOM’s wings, as the “Asia Pivot” unfolds. 

In their response to the amassing of forces on its periphery, China is locking in weapons that can strike U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups. 

In 2010, China became the first country to develop an anti-ship ballistic missile. The DF-21D’s range of 1,500 km and enhanced lethality imparted by its manoeuvrable warhead makes it ideal for attacking U.S. aircraft carriers east of Taiwan. 

The Chinese have also invested heavily in the CJ-10 land attack cruise missiles, capable of striking U.S. forces in South Korea and Japan. 

But the Americans can still block the sea lanes radiating towards the Strait of Malacca, which are China’s economic and energy lifelines. Consequently, the Chinese, under President Xi Jinping, are relentlessly pursuing the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt — a land corridor that would establish trade linkages with Europe — to lessen dependence on the more vulnerable sea routes. 

Many Chinese scholars are of the view that the acquisition of a sea-based deterrent has finally insulated China from a U.S. nuclear strike. Despite going up the nuclear ladder, analysts point out, the Chinese doctrinal orientation remains essentially defensive, and its accelerated weaponisation is largely a response to Washington’s “Asia Pivot” strategy — a move that Beijing resents and interprets as an expression of Washington’s China-containment policy.

Honours shared on opening day

Opening batsman Chris Rogers and Shane Watson raised their half-centuries soon after lunch but were both out within minutes of each other.

Smith holds Australia’s innings together with an unbeaten 72

Steven Smith’s technique complemented his flair. The Indian pacemen bowled with some fire. And R. Ashwin kept one end up with tight off-spin. 

The fare on view at the MCG on Boxing Day was hard and competitive. The surface had some pace and bounce, and the cricket was engaging. 

The honours were largely even. Australia might perhaps even hold a slight advantage since India would have to bat last. 

The host was 259 for five at stumps on day one of third Test in the Border-Gavaskar series. 

Smith was unbeaten with 72; an innings that once again underlined his character. In the cauldron, his focus was unwavering. 

India had its moments on a tense day but could have had greater success had its ground fielding on a large arena been better. Fielding lapses ease pressure on the opposition. 

For most part, a crowd of 69,993 had its fill. It was not one of those days when runs came at a hectic pace. They had to be earned. 

The last hour summed up the day. The Indian pacers had their tails up, with two strikes after tea.

The left-handed Shaun Marsh, looking fluent till that point, nicked a Mohammed Shami delivery that left him from back of a length. 

Then debutant Joe Burns under-edged a pull off an Umesh Yadav short ball. He worked up good pace, extracted lift. 

Brad Haddin, looking distinctly uncomfortable, was peppered with short-pitched bowling from the pace bowlers. The wicketkeeper-batsman was even struck on the body by one that climbed from Yadav. 

The second new ball was taken but Haddin hung on. 

The Indian pace attack wore a different look, with Varun Aaron being replaced with Shami. Aaron will fly to India to attend his grandfather’s funeral, and will join the squad in time for the fourth Test.

Shami, bowling a better length and achieving some deviation, operated with some spirit but Smith negotiated him capably. 

He briefly left the field owing to a niggle in his thigh but returned to bowl again. 

Smith batted with the kind of confidence that has highlighted his batting in this series. The right-hander is such a natural timer of the ball. 

He waltzed down to smash Ashwin over long-off for a six on this huge ground. When Ishant Sharma strayed in line, he was whipped past mid-wicket. 

This was also an innings where he worked the ball around cleverly. Given his strength off either foot, it is hard to find a chink in Smith’s batsmanship. 

Big scalp

The Indians struck early in the morning after Australia opted to bat. It was a big scalp too as David Warner, unable to keep a Yadav lifter down, was well held by Shikhar Dhawan in the slips. 

Chris Rogers and Shane Watson then strung together a 115-run second-wicket partnership. 

Rogers’s game is marked by an economy of movement; this does not mean his footwork is limited. The left-hander’s back-lift is short but his timing is good. Rogers gets himself into good positions, particularly for strokes between point and covers. 

And, like most Australian batsmen, his horizontal bat shots are punishing. When Shami pitched short outside off, the southpaw ruthlessly cut him past the fence. 

When the Indians bowled fuller and straighter, they were punch-driven down the ground. 

The opener was looking good for more when Shami got one to angle across him; the length invited a drive and Rogers nicked to Dhoni. His place on the line, Watson was positive with his methods. While he looked good in defence, the all-rounder also cut Shami past the fence and pulled Ishant. Watson was fortunate, though, on 37. He edged a length delivery on the off stump from Shami, but a diving Dhawan spilled the offering. 

Watson, like Rogers, got his half-century but could not press on. He missed a sweep off Ashwin to be adjudged leg-before. Ashwin held one end up while the luckless Ishant toiled away. 

India included debutant K.L. Rahul (for Rohit Sharma) ahead of Suresh Raina.

Hand over Dawood, India tells Pakistan

Underworld don and most-wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, whose custody India has been seeking from Pakistan for many years since the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai.

"Pakistan should now act and hand him over to us," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters in New Delhi.

India on Saturday asked Pakistan to hand over underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, saying enough evidence had been given to it on the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said India’s stand had been very clear for a long time — that Dawood was in Pakistan and was living in Karachi. “We have been asking Pakistan to hand him over for a long time. Already, enough evidence had been given to Pakistan. “Pakistan should now act and hand him over to us,” he told reporters here. 

Mr. Rijiju said Pakistan should cooperate with India in fight against terrorism. “We want it to act on evidence,” he said. 

Web portal NewsMobile had, based on tapes received from western diplomatic sources, said “Dawood has been tracked in Karachi, alive and kicking, and is heard expanding his real estate business.” 

“This clearly proves that the underworld don is blatantly running his terror supermarket from Pakistan and his real estate interests are helping him generate enough funds to expand his operations,” said its editor-in-chief Saurabh Shukla.

IIT-Indore student gets Rs 1.7 crore job offer from Google

Prior to joining IIT-Indore, Agrawal had offers from older IITs in branches other than computer science.

Breaking the myth that established IITs fare better in job placements, a final-year computer science graduate of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Indore bagged a job with Google at an annual package of Rs 1.7 crore per annum.

IIT-Indore's Gaurav Agrawal, a native of Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, is now rubbing shoulders with IIT-BHU student who fetched an annual package of Rs 2.03 crore from Oracle and IIT-Bombay girl who got a job offer of Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) from social networking site, Facebook. This offer is highest package received by any IIT-Indore student in past three years of placement seasons.

"We were told Google was conducting a test online. I appeared for the test. After being shortlisted we were called for on-site interview session at Gurgaon. Further interviews were held at Bangalore. Questions were asked related to programming structure and algorithms. I have received offer letter to join as software engineer in US," said Agrawal. His joining date is yet to come.


File photo of IIT Indore (TOI photo)

Agrawal joined computer science branch at IIT-Indore in 2011 after passing out class X and XII with 90% marks. Earlier this year, he participated in finals of world Informatics Olympiad - ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) held in Russia where team 'Paradigm Shift' of IIT-Indore beat 15 top IITs and even brushed aside challenge from Stanford University, California. IIT-I team bagged the top ranking among all Indian universities at 38th Programming Olympiad. The team was ranked 42nd in the world.

"Preparations and debate with the programming experts from different institutes of the world helped me in interview sessions held for the job. I did not put extra effort for interview. Above all, my interest in computers gave me leverage in taking questions," said Agarwal.



Prior to joining IIT-Indore, Agrawal had offers from older IITs in branches other than computer science. However, he chose computer science branch at IIT-Indore. "The institute was new but since I was interested in computers, I chose IIT-I," he said.

Mass hiring made easier with tech solutions

Employers planning to hire in large numbers from smaller towns and cities this season are snapping up tech-enabled solutions.

Employers planning to hire in large numbers from smaller towns and cities this season are snapping up tech-enabled solutions, developed by startups that help corporations manage such mass hiring processes.

Video Recruit, founded in 2010, helps companies conduct asynchronous interviews with remote candidates. Extending this further, two-year-old startup Talview (former Interview Master) has come up with an interviewing platform that is accessible even in areas with intermittent internet, making it a preferred choice for companies looking to hire in emerging markets and tier-2 cities.

Meanwhile, LetsCareerUp is an integrated system that brings students, employers and academic institutions together into one linked career ecosystem, helping bridge the gap between talent supply and demand.

"It has taken a bit of time for clients to get used to something very innovative, but once they start using it, it really saves a lot of time and money," said Jaideep Venugopal, India director of Prague-based Video Recruit, which has conducted 8,000 interviews for Indian companies such as HCL Technologies and Bajaj since entering the local market two years ago. Video Recruit raised a total of 3 million euros (Rs 235 crore) in 2012.

Asynchronous interviews emerge as a favourable solution to the hiring process, where interviewers can quickly determine whether a candidate is eligible within a few minutes, but traditionally have to spend time completing the entire interview. Using these new technologies, companies simply input questions to be asked of candidates, who submit video responses in real time settings.

"In the US, large companies may have to interview 6,000 candidates a year, but in India, companies may have to interview 6,000 a week," said Sanjoe Jose, 29, co-founder of Talview, which has conducted over 10,000 video interviews for over 500 clients, 60% of which are based in India."With faster hiring, enterprises no longer have to lag be hind filling positions."

"It's a tool that has helped us standardize our interview and given clarity to our evaluation process," said Sweta Jain, head of HR for domestic business and emerging markets for biotechnology company Wockhardt, which has screened over 1,000 candidates to fill 300 positions across 25 Indian cities using Talview. "I would recommend it to organizations who work in retail and which have virtual operations."

"Hiring is proving to be an enormous pain, particularly in an emerging market like India," commented Nikhil Khattau, managing partner of Mayfield Advisors, an investor in Talview. According to his observations, companies using such recruitment services have improved efficiency by 50-80%. "You're in hyper-growth mode where you're staffing up very significantly because business volume is growing — this means you are virtually rebuilding the aircraft while it is flying."

How to get a job at Facebook

"You actually have multiple chances to convince Facebook hiring managers that they are making a huge mistake if they let you go," Nicolas Spiegelberg, an engineering manager at Facebook, says.

Thanks to its famously easy-going culture and fabulous perks, Facebook is one of the most in-demand places to work -- and getting a job there is no easy feat.

To get a better sense of what it takes to land a highly coveted position with the social media giant, we recently spoke to one employee who walked us through his interview process and shared what it's really like to work for the company.

Nicolas Spiegelberg earned a Masters in Computer Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2006.

After graduating with a 4.0 GPA, he worked for a telecommunications company in Alabama for a few years -- but had a serious interest in the "greatly unrealized potential of online social networking."

Spiegelberg, 32, tells us he was "hooked on the idea of working for Facebook from the start."

In 2009, "Facebook had fun programming puzzles that you could solve and get your performance evaluated online," he says. "I solved a variant of the 'Stable Marriage Problem' and submitted the answer. Turns out Facebook recruiting saw the results, and I got an interview request from a recruiter as a result."

The first step was a 45-minute phone screening. "Most of the interview was spent on a coding problem but there was a decent chunk of time at the end where I could ask the engineer questions about their job and what motivates them to work at Facebook."

Spiegelberg was invited to California to meet with hiring managers in person. He went through a total of four interviews with a quick break in the middle.

"It was refreshing from some of the other 10-plus hour interview slogs that I've been through in the past," he says. "I feel like they got a good assessment of my skills while not spending so much time that I was too drained to perform well at the end."

Spiegelberg says if you're flying a long distance, Facebook normally gives you an extra day to rest before your interview. "I strongly recommend taking it so you can relax, freshen up, and give it your 100% the next day."

He says two of his in-person interviews focused on coding and algorithms. "They give you problems that require you to take the common programming structures (lists, graphs, caches) and combine them together to solve a single problem," he explains. "The problems are a little contrived, but definitely mirror the sort of problems you encounter on a day-to-day basis here."

Another interview focused on work philosophy. "The interviewer had me walk through tough problems I had solved in the past and various lessons I learned from it," says Spiegelberg. "Facebook wants to make sure that you want to constantly improve and can use lessons from the past to apply to current challenges."

And the final interview focused on system design. "I believe my particular question was to design a traffic light system," he recalls. "Facebook doesn't ask this anymore -- but the basic gist was to see if I could take a complicated problem and break it into parts. Nowadays, we focus more on designing some of the basic products that comprise Facebook."

Spiegelberg says he wasn't a shoo-in after that round.

"It turned out, my packet created a big argument during candidate review. One person really didn't want me hired. However, a couple different interviewers thought that Facebook would be making a mistake by letting me go. The people who fought for me were able to convince management to reassess me on the criticisms of the negative interviewer and I had two follow-up phone screens."

Spiegelberg has seen candidates demoralized because they didn't do well in their interview and they just give up. "What they don't realize is that Facebook values somebody who will go to bat for you. That's why you need to give it 100%. You actually have multiple chances to convince Facebook hiring managers that they are making a huge mistake if they let you go."

He did just that and eventually won over the skeptics.

In November 2009, he landed a job as a software engineer in Facebook's California headquarters, and in January 2012, he relocated to Facebook's New York office, where he was promoted two years later to engineering manager.

"I love it here," he says. "There is so much opportunity for personal and professional growth. I started by joining a brand new team that created Facebook Messenger, scaled their storage system to billions of users, open sourced my work, and traveled all over the world to share my experience at conferences."

"Then, I moved to New York to help start an office," he continues. "A year ago, I moved to Mobile Infrastructure and am learning how to scale out a completely new set of challenges. There are always new, unexplored growth opportunities for engineers here."

Facebook is always at the top of workplace rankings, including Glassdoor's list of the best companies to work for. Spiegelberg says Facebook's mission, culture, and values are what make it such a great place to work. "Making the world more open and connected for billions of users is a high impact and personally rewarding mission. Friends and family are constantly sharing how Facebook helped them connect with people they care about."

Internally, he explains, the Facebook culture is also very open and connected. "You can learn about any area of Facebook, even it's not immediately related to what you do." If you don't fully understand how Facebook's News Feed works, for instance, you can go watch an internal presentation. "If you're wondering what Zuck (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg) thinks about Occulus, ask him this Friday at the company Q&A."

Spiegelberg says Facebook values building products that people love by moving fast and being bold. "As an engineer, this means that you're empowered to fix problems instead of resign yourself to them. Engineers are constantly trying to move faster and make a better experience."

Another important thing to know, especially if you're interested in working for Facebook: it's imperative that you study up before you apply for a job.

"Facebook attracts people that want to make an impact," he says. "Our interview process might be tough, but you know that your co-workers are individuals with the same perseverance that you demonstrate," he explains.

"One of my favourite quotes, echoed by multiple Facebook engineers, is an ancient Latin proverb: 'Fortune favours the bold.' Maybe you're a great fit for Facebook; maybe it's something else. You'll never know if you don't try," he says. "The act of being bold and putting your all into preparing for your dream job can only end well."

Google+ now enhances your videos automatically

Google has introduced a new feature to its Google+ web app that allows users to enhance videos they upload online.

Google has introduced a new feature to its Google+ web app that allows users to enhance videos they upload online.

However, the enhancement will not be automatic. Google will ask users through a banner if they want to preview the potential changes. Google engineer Tim St. Clair said that the new Google+ feature will be able to automatically enhance lighting, color and stability, reported TechCrunch.

He also said that a new feature that is coming soon would enhance speech in videos as well. The new feature is available in Google+ on Mac, Windows and ChromeOS.

Google's announcement came a few days after Facebook launched its new feature of auto-enhancing images that its users upload to its servers.

Too many Facebook friends? Raising money will be a problem

People with fewer friends on Facebook raise more money for charity than those with lots of connections on the social networking site.

 People with fewer friends on Facebook raise more money for charity than those with lots of connections on the social networking site, a new study has found.

Professor Kimberley Scharf at the University of Warwick found a negative correlation between the size of a group and the amount of money given by each donor — with the average contribution by each person dropping by two pence for every extra connection someone had on Facebook.

The research, which analysed data from JustGiving.com, builds on and supports earlier findings, published in the International Economic Review by Scharf, that said large social groups are less likely to share information about charitable causes when compared to those who are part of smaller circles — and that this results in less fundraising success.

In that paper, the phenomenon of 'free-riding' on information sharing is the main driver behind the findings — when people are part of a larger social group, they feel less of a need to share information about well performing charities because they're expecting other friends to share the information.

This concept of free-riding also extends to giving in social groups — friends expect other friends to stump up most of the cash and so they don't bother themselves, Scharf said.

"The problem is that everyone thinks the same thing and therefore the actual amount of money that's donated is less than it would have been had fewer friends been asked in the first place," Scharf said.

Scharf also discovered that the amount a person can raise doesn't only depend on the number of friends they have online — those who complete tougher fundraising activities generate more cash.

"Whilst running is by far the most popular event on JustGiving, it is in fact individuals who complete triathlons that typically attract the largest number of donations and raise the most money in total," she added.

"So doing something physically demanding and asking a small group of friends for their support is much more effective than relying on donations from lots of people for what would be perceived as a relatively less exerting activity," said Scharf.

The research supports the idea that motives for giving in online platforms, such as JustGiving.com, could be driven by "relational warm-glow," that is, people are motivated by the idea of helping their friends achieve their fundraising goals — it makes the fundraiser feel good and this in turn impacts on the people who've made the donations.

It is possible that donors have a more intense warm glow experience when the fundraiser exerts more effort, such as could happen when he or she fundraises by taking part in a triathlon instead of by taking a leisurely stroll, and this could then transpire into larger donations.

Cyberattacks to cost India Inc over $5 billion in 2014

India companies lost around $4 billion due to cyberattacks in 2013 and the amount is set for a 30% jump this year.

  Vadodara-based, BSE-listed Deepak Nitrite was surprised that one of its old customers didn't pay even after receiving its consignment. It transpired that the client had received an email just a few days informing it of a change in account details. The client then made the payment to this new account in Malaysia. The Vadodara cybercell registered a complaint in this regard on August 12 and investigations are currently underway .

Cyber fraudsters are increasingly targeting businesses, not just individuals.

According to industry trackers, the number of cyberattacks targeting companies increased by around 30% in last 12 months. Police say the bank accounts where the amounts are diverted are also hacked, as it was in Deepak Nitrite's case in Malaysia. So even the account holder is not a beneficiary but a victim of such a fraud.

"There has been a tremendous jump in the number of cases where Indian companies are targeted. Often the account holders in the Nigerian fraud cases are unaware of these frauds and in most of the cases are themselves victims of fraud," said Sadanand Date, joint commissioner of police, crime, Mumbai.

He's using the short-hand commonly used for such fraud, which usually involves an email seeking help in extracting money out of Nigeria for a huge share in the booty.

Investigators say that fraudsters mimic email accounts of company officials to convince customers or bankers. In another case registered with the Mumbai police, Memon Exports, a small trading firm got cheated of Rs 38 crore in a similar manner. But the fraud is not just limited to money. Recently, a Bengaluru-based IT company came to know that information related to around 1,000 of its employees had been stolen.

Specialists say that Indian companies are simply not prepared to tackle the cyberthreat. "Firms are still using older legacy systems which are simply not equipped to deal with the sophistication of attacks we are seeing today. The cybercrime cost to India was $4 billion in 2013," said Anil Bhasin, managing director, India and Saarc for Palo Alto Networks, an American network security company Investigators say scamsters know exactly when transactions are supposed to happen.

"What is really worrying is that there exists a market where hackers can sell stolen information. The buyers could be fraudsters who want to make a quick buck, competitors or the company whose data was stolen or sometimes some telemarketing companies," said Reshmi Khurana, managing director, Kroll India, a corporate investigations and risk consulting firm.

Industry trackers say that often the email accounts of employees are stolen after extremely personalized emails are sent to them. In one instance, a CEO of a company was sent an email mentioning cancellation of tickets to Europe, where he was travelling. When the CEO clicked on the email, his account was hacked without his knowledge. The next day an email was sent to the finance department to immediately transfer a sum of Rs 20 crore to an account in South Africa.

"Larger companies, due to their larger assets, will always be a more attractive target. However, we are also seeing cases where smaller companies were targeted to get access to larger companies, as was the case of the Standard Chartered breach this time last year," said Bhasin. In December last year, Standard Chartered said that "hackers and thieves" stole confidential information of its "wealthy clients."

Wipro spending $200 million on building next generation platforms

Wipro is spending more than $200 million annually on building next generation platforms that focus on disruptive technologies including cognitive technologies.

 Wipro is spending more than $200 million annually on building next generation platforms that focus on disruptive technologies including cognitive technologies, automation and machine-to-machine learning as the country's third-largest software firm seeks to edge out competition in winning large deals.

Over the past two years, the company has ploughed $400 million in developing about ten intelligent solutions, some of which it has started using internally and a few it is using for customers, said a senior executive. "Wipro has significantly stepped up its funding of the R&D projects in the last couple of years," said chief technology officer RK Sanjiv.

"This is to not just ensure that we become the next generation services firm of future, but also to be future-ready for our customers," said Sanjiv, declining to put a number. But he said the company invests more than the industry average in these initiatives.

This focus on building intelligent platforms coincides with the stint of Rishad Premji, son of chairman Azim Premji, as head of strategy, making some believe the younger Premji could be potentially driving this change at the Bengaluru based company.

Incidentally, it was Azim Premji who brought Tata Consultancy Services veteran Satishchandra Doreswamy, now chief business operations officer at Wipro, in 2011 to help transform the company by putting together a team of engineers to focus on these technological platforms. Wipro's thrust on building internal intellectual property-led platforms comes at a time when cross-town rival Infosys, under new chief executive Vishal Sikka, too is aggressively talking about building platforms.

Homegrown technology companies invest on an average 2-3% of revenue on building platforms. Wipro's revenue for the fiscal through March 2014 was $6.7 billion, and if it invests more than the industry average, it is putting in $200 million every year in new solutions.

Wipro is now a team of "hundreds of engineers and research scien tists", according to Sanjiv. His mandate is to focus on three key themes: cognitive technology, machine-to-machine learning and in building smart devices.

According to some experts, information technology companies are investing internally in building these solutions because of the desire to win large outsourcing deals as every customer is looking to its IT vendor to bring in more valuegeneration business rather than merely maintaining the back-end technology infrastructure.

Doreswamy last month told ET that Wipro's energy and utilities vertical managed to bag its $1.2 billion, 10-year outsourcing deal with Canadian utilities firm ATCO on account of the "transformational benefits" it could help offer.

"(Two other) examples of Wipro's solutions are Base and Fixomatic suite of tools," said Tom Reuner of London-based IT research firm Ovum. "The direction of this journey is to protect margins by automating low-level tasks while hiring and retaining talent for value-creating activities."

Reuner and other experts said the focus of software exporters on intelligent solutions is also driven by their desire to increase revenue without increasing headcount.

In September, ET reported about Wipro's plans to start with its most ambitious reorganization exercise, under which it aims to become a leaner 1,00,000-strong company from the current levels of 1,52,000 in three years.

The company plans to do this without resorting to mass layoffs but by "selectively filling" in roles of executives who leave.

As Wipro seeks to embrace automation and artificial intelligence, the company can do away with engineers who are currently doing basic-level repetitive work. Already, Wipro has started using, internally, a cognitive platform for its help desk system, thereby simplifying work process for employees. One other intelligent technology platform which the company has started work on for its retail clients is "Wipro Sight."

Accenture wants a radical change in software designs

Accenture is advising clients to radically change the way they design, build and use software applications.

 

Accenture is advising clients to radically change the way they design, build and use software applications, Bhaskar Ghosh, the $30-billion company's management committee member and group chief executive of technology delivery, said.

Ghosh, who spoke exclusively to TOI, his first media interaction since he was appointed to the management committee in July this year, said change was becoming critical in today's high-velocity, software-driven world. "We are telling clients, if you want to be a disrupter in the market, you have to change to move fast and create value," he said.

Three changes are seen to be vital. The first is in the way software code is written. Traditionally, monolithic applications have often been built from the ground up. These are slow to implement — sometimes taking years — and slow to change.

"What's needed today is a more liquid way to write applications, write them in a modular structure, with reusable components — sourced internally and externally. This allows for the rapid assembly of applications in support of dynamic business needs," said Ghosh, who was with Infosys before joining Accenture in 2003. This, he said, also requires an open architecture since different components have to be quickly linked together.

Accenture notes that when firms like OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation system, and Uber want to add new application functionality such as messaging customers when their table or car is ready, they don't build it themselves. Instead, they tap into cloud providers like Twilio, which offer the functionality as part of a prebuilt platform. In turn, both OpenTable and Uber share their application components with other developers from firms as varied as Starbucks and TripAdvisor.

Ghosh said companies building liquid applications should do so with a cloud-first, mobile-first mindset. Applications need to be engineered to operate and scale in the cloud, since that may become inevitable even if the initial deployment is on premise. They must also be engineered for mobile devices since that's how customers and employees increasingly interact with software.

Ghosh's second key recommendation is to infuse intelligence in all applications. This is made possible by advances in data science such as natural language processing, machine learning and cognitive computing. So now, applications can automate routine tasks, can do integrated analytics (using data across the organization and outside it), and also self-learn and, with that knowledge, self-heal when a problem occurs.

The third recommendation is to allow business partner and customer ecosystems, as well as the internet-of-things environment, to easily connect to your applications. This would allow the community to quickly build value-adding solutions on top of your platform.

John Deere, manufacturer of tractors and other industrial equipment, introduced an open, online platform called MyJohnDeere in 2012 to help agricultural producers manage all the data related to their equipment and operations. DuPont Pioneer, for instance, delivers near real-time, field-level data via this platform, and this data helps farmers and dealers make important revenue-generating decisions about seed, fertilizer and purchasing. The platform has thus enabled John Deere to expand from being a provider of agricultural equipment to a provider of data-based agricultural services.

12 Beards of Christmas: Good Excuse Not to Trim Your Movember Beard

Some guys are taking Decembeard to a whole new level, adorning their beards with festive decorations for Christmas. We've got a man-elf, a very imposing Rudolph, a Christmas tree, some stocking stuffers, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

The 12 Beards of Christmas is a photo project by Stephanie Jarstad: she dressed up the beards of various so-called "lumbersexuals" in an impressive Christmas-themed series.

(Photo : Stephanie Jarstad) Stephanie Jarstad's 12 Beards of Christmas celebrates the holiday spirit and brings awareness to men's cancer and leukemia at the same time.

 

What is a lumbersexual, exactly? Unlike a metrosexual, a lumbersexual is a man who revels in the manliness of his full-grown beard. He epitomizes the pure virility of a man in the wilderness. Red flannel jacket and tree chopping axe are a big bonus to the package.

However, unlike a normal lumberjack, a lumbersexual will never have a whisker out of place and will meticulously groom his beard and will never have stains from a nature trek on his well-polished boots.

Jarstad came up with the idea to decorate her friends' beards in November to help with fund-raising for "Movember" -- a worldwide movement that aims to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer.

According to reports, Jarstad lost her friend Huston Holbrook to leukemia, and part of the proceeds from the sales of her prints will go toward a fund set up in his memory and to encourage supporters to get on the Bone Marrow Registry.

Jarstad wanted to make something memorable.

“Rather than just photographing bearded men, I wanted to do something quirky and fun,” she said.

The prints of the photos are for sale on her Etsy site, with all 12 men showing off their very festive beards for a cause.

It makes you wonder what she has in store for "Manuary."

Two arrested for raping Aurobindo Ashram evictee

File photo of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry.

Police on Monday arrested two persons for allegedly raping a woman, one of the sisters who jumped into sea after they were evicted from Sri Aurobindo Ashram recently.

A day after five sisters were evicted from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram-run apartments, on a Supreme Court order, two of the sisters and their mother ended their lives on Wednesday in an alleged family suicide bid by drowning themselves in the sea.

The father and three other sisters were rescued by fishermen and they were admitted to the Government General Hospital. One of the surviving sisters alleged that two unknown persons raped her when she was lying on the beach after being washed ashore.

N. Ravikumar, Superintendent of Police (North), said following a complaint from the victim, we arrested the two persons on Monday morning.

During the interrogation, the accused - K. Viji alias Vijayakumar (30) and S. Raji (35) of Pillaihchavadi, admitted the offence. According to their confessional statements, they gave arrack to the victim when she asked for water and she spat. After sexually assaulting her, they also robbed her rings and fled.

They were produced before a judicial magistrate court and remanded to judicial custody.

Woman who tried to drown herself is' raped by two fisherman at Pondy

Indian woman who tried to drown herself in the sea alongside her parents and four sisters in mass suicide attempt washes up on beach alive… only to be raped by fishermen who find her.

A woman who was washed ashore alive after attempting to drown herself alongside her parents and four sisters claims she was raped by two fisherman who found her lying unconscious on the beach.

The victim and her family had attempted a mass suicide on December 18 after they were evicted from their home in Puducherry, India.

Two of the sisters and the mother drowned while the two other sisters, the victim and the father were washed ashore at different locations along the coast.

Scene: A woman who attempted to commit suicide by drowning herself in the sea claims she was raped by two fisherman who found her washed up on the shore near Puducherry, India (pictured)

The victim, who was found around a kilometre from the scene of the suicide attempt, says she was raped while lying unconscious on the shore.

Police reviewed security camera recordings from hotels and guesthouses in the area and noticed two men acting suspiciously at the time of the attack.

The two suspects, identified as crabcatchers S Raja, 35 and his relative K Vijaykumar, 32, from Pillaichavadi, Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, were arrested the next day.

Senior superintendent of police V J Chandran c;laims they have confessed to raping the woman.

The family had been living in an ashram, a type of small monastery that are common across India, when they were evicted following a Supreme Court order.

India is fighting an endemic rape culture which first came to international attention brought in 2012 by the shocking case of a woman who died after being gang raped in New Delhi.

Indian protesters hold banners and wear black ribbons during a rally in New Delhi following the cremation of a gangrape victim in the Indian capital 

The country brought in tougher laws last year against sexual offenders after the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012, but they have failed to stem the tide of violence against women.

A survey published last week said 91 per cent of women also saw no improvements in safety despite a slew of measures rolled out in the aftermath of the attack including improved policing, women's helplines and fast-track courts as well as the new law.

The survey by the Hindustan Times newspaper of 2,557 women also found that 97 percent had been victims themselves of some kind of sexual harassment.