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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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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’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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
"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 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.
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.
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
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 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.
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."
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.
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.