India calls out riot troops to guard Bush
India on Monday began a major security drill for this week’s visit of US President George W Bush, calling out commandos and riot police for the world’s most powerful man.

Bush arrives in New Delhi on Wednesday on a three-day tour which will also take him to Hyderabad, capital of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh which is racked by Maoist insurgencies.

So much secrecy is shrouded around the visit that official advisory issued by the Ministry of External Affairs did not mention the visit of the US President but invited media persons intending to cover the event to register themselves for the “forthcoming VVIP visit”.

Indian government has also given special permission for specific arms and ammunition being flown in by the American “advance teams” for Bush’s security in the country. Some 800 personnel are coming to India. US marines were making round over Delhi VVIP skyline including parliament house through helicopters. After 9/11 and the attack on parliament house, these areas have been declared no-fly zones.

Sources here said that Americans were still to handover final programme of President Bush to either Indian or Pakistani officials. Speculations are he may not spend night in Islamabad when he flies there on March 4. He may head for Afghanistan and sleep over at Bagram airbase, besides addressing and interacting with the US soldiers there.

AFP adds: New Delhi police on Monday placed the entire force of 71,000 officers on high alert and sealed off the hotel where Bush and his entourage will stay during the trip, the second to India by a US president in six years.

Police sources told AFP that an advance team of 250 US Secret Service personnel had arrived in four aircraft which also ferried a fleet of automobiles including armoured limousines to be used by Bush and his entourage.

The United States has also sent at least four helicopters to the Indian capital for the presidential visit, which ends Saturday when Bush flies off to Pakistan, the sources said.

“It will be a three-tier security system with the Central Reserve Police Force manning the outer ring and routes to be used,” a police officer said of India’s anti-riot force.

Sources here said that Americans were still to handover final programme of President Bush to either Indian or Pakistani officials. Speculations are he may not spend night in Islamabad when he flies there on March 4. He may head for Afghanistan and sleep over at Bagram airbase, besides addressing and interacting with the US soldiers there. The Maurya Sheraton hotel reserved for Bush and his team has been declared a no-fly zone and the military has positioned batteries of anti-aircraft guns and other weaponry as a precaution against airborne attacks, defence ministry officials said.

Hyderabad to host largest Infy center as Bangalore dithers
Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second-biggest software exporter, said it may build the company’s biggest center in Hyderabad as government delays cost its hometown Bangalore 14,000 jobs.

The company is in talks with the Andhra Pradesh government for about 600 acres of land in Hyderabad, chief financial officer TV Mohandas Pai said in a February 21 interview, without disclosing the terms.

Infosys’s five-year talks with the government of Karnataka, whose capital Bangalore houses its headquarters, have been unsuccessful, he said.

Delays due to political infighting and poor infrastructure in Karnataka may prompt other investors to leave the state, whose software exports are projected to rise by a third to $8.2 billion in 2007.

Hyderabad, which Microsoft Corp picked for its largest non-US software center two years ago, is wooing companies with faster approvals, fewer regulatory hurdles and more tax breaks. “It’ll be a big loss for Bangalore because this is the time for expansion,” said Hemlata Rao, professor of economics at the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore. ‘’We need a stable government” that can make decisions quickly, she said.

Infosys expects to decide on the Hyderabad site by the end of next month, he said. He declined to say how many people would be employed at the new campus to manage computer networks.

Three AP cities to be developed to meet international standards
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today directed the urban planners to give priority to slum development, drinking water, housing, sewerage and drainage under the Urban Renewal Mission.

He said this while reviewing the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in the first state-level steering committee meeting with Minister for Home and Housing Jana Reddy, Minister for Municipal Administration K Ranga Rao, Mayors of Hyderabad and Vijayawada as well aS senior officials at the Secretariat today.

The Chief Minister suggested making Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada on par with major international cities and also directed that incorporation of plans should be done in view of the growth and needs for the next 20 to 30 years.

The Chief Minister directed the Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada Commissioners to come up with bigger plans, keeping in mind the growth in the respective cities, in the coming years.

The funding pattern under the scheme is that the Government of India extends 35 per cent of the project cost as grant support for Hyderabad and 50 per cent of grant for Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada for infrastructure and governance projects, as well as projects relating to basic services for the urban poor.

All the three cities are eligible for 50 per cent of project cost as grant.

The Government has designated Andhra Pradesh Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation as the State Level Nodal Agency for the Mission.

Senior officials of Housing, Finance and Municipal Administration Departments, City Mayor T Krishna Reddy, Vijayawada Mayor T Sakunthala, Visakhapatnam Municipal Commissioner Sreekanth and Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner Gulzar were among those present.

Hyderabad Muslim Groups Call Shutdown Against Bush’s Visit to India
Muslim political and religious organizations yesterday called for a shutdown on March 3 to protest the visit of US President George W. Bush to this southern city. “We are appealing to people in Hyderabad, its twin city Secunderabad and neighboring Mahabubnagar district to close their shops and business establishments as a mark of protest,” said Tameer-e-Millat President Maulana Rahim Qureshi.

“This is to protest against the Bush administration’s anti-Muslim and anti-Islam policies around the world.” Bush is scheduled to visit the Andhra Pradesh state capital for about five hours March 3. Since he is also likely to visit a village in Mahabubnagar, the Muslim groups called for a strike in that district.

Qureshi was speaking after the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which groups about a dozen Muslim organizations, held a meeting here to chalk out a protest program.

Another committee comprising various Muslim groups, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, had earlier decided to organize a protest rally at Indira Park March 3. The committee, which launched a signature campaign Friday, is in favor of working with left parties and other groups that are protesting against Bush’s visit.

Qureshi, the secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said: “As Muslims it is our duty to raise our voice against these policies, especially the atrocities committed in Afghanistan and Iraq and the continued support of the US to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.” “We are also protesting against America’s attempts to have its hegemony in Asia by preventing countries in the region from acquiring strategic nuclear capabilities. The pressure on India to sign the nuclear deal is part of this strategy,” he said.

The MMA meeting was presided over by prominent religious leader Maulana Hameeduddin Aqil Hussami. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) President Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, Maulana Abdul Basit Anwar, the president of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Andhra Pradesh and Orissa unit, and MIM legislators attended the meet.

As Bush’s visit will coincide with the weekly Friday prayers, the strike call is likely to evoke good response in the Muslim-majority old quarter of Hyderabad, which recently witnessed violence during protests over the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Hyderabad: Left intensifies anti-Bush visit campaign
The Left parties and their frontal organisations on Monday stepped up their campaign against US President George Bush’s impending visit to the city on March 3 by organising street demonstrations and launching a signature campaign.

Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India and two other Marxist-Leninist groups organized the demonstration at the RTC Crossroads in the city against the adverse impact of the US policies on Indian agriculture.

Prominent human rights activist and lawyer K G Kannabiran inaugurated the signature campaign. “It is the duty of every democrat and peace-loving citizen to oppose the visit by the imperialist war-monger US President George Bush,” he said.

Scores of people signed on the banner with the slogan “Imperialist Bush Go Back.” CPI-M state secretary B V Raghavulu, CPI state secretary Dr K Narayana, trade union leaders, members of frontal organisations and intellectuals participated in the signature campaign.

Complete Coverage: President Bush in India

Raghavulu and Narayana lambasted the Indian government for inviting Bush to visit the country at this juncture. Condemning the US attack on Afghanistan and Iraq, they said that the US policy of unilateral actions and attacks on the sovereign countries posed grave threat to the world peace.

“The UPA government is buckling under US pressure on the issue of nuclear program,” they said and asserted that the Left parties would not allow any deviation from the traditional Indian foreign policy.

Muslim organisations, too, continued their campaign to mobilize support for a rally on the day of Bush visit. The Joint Action Committee of Muslim organisations announced that they were coordinating with all the like-minded groups and the Left parties to create awareness among the people on the disastrous implications and consequences of US hegemonic policies.

Maulana Abdul Basith Anwar, convenor of the Joint Action Committee and state chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said that the JAC was working together with the “Anti-Bush Visit Forum” started by the Leftist groups.

“After the rally we will submit a memorandum to the state governor,” he explained.

The protest program will continue over the next four days. Demonstrations and rallies will be organized in the state on March 1 and 2 and in the state capital on Friday - March 3 - the day of Bush’s visit. Maulana Taqi Raza Abdi, an eminent religious leader of the Shia sect of Muslims, said that the Shias would join the protest demonstrations against Bush.

“We are angry with the US for what it has done in Iraq including, the attack in Samarra. We are also angry with the US for holding out threats to Iran on the nuclear issue,” he added.
The JAC includes Jamaat-e-Islami, Majlis-e-Tameer-e-Millat, Indian National League, Milli Council and Shia and Mahdavi organizations. The JAC cautioned that United States was enslaving the entire world by imposing its imperialistic designs and policies and through cultural invasion.

Thousands to protect Bush on first India visit
About 5,000 personnel including snipers, commandos and U.S. marines using helicopters, bomb detectors and electronic jammers will protect President George W. Bush during his visit to India this week, officials said on Monday.

The personnel would be part of a three-ring security cordon around the U.S. president and First Lady Laura Bush who are due to arrive in New Delhi for their maiden visit to the subcontinent on Wednesday, they said.

“He is a much-threatened VVIP. We are fully geared,” Manish Agarwal, a top Delhi police officer involved in security operations, told Reuters.

His comments came as Delhi police arrested two suspected militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Two pistols and 3 kg of the explosive material RDX were seized from them, it said.

Islamist militants are frequently arrested or killed in gun battles with police in the capital and it was not immediately known if the men arrested on Monday had anything to do with Bush’s visit.

Besides the inner-ring of security forces, an outer cordon would be deployed “as deep as possible” to thwart any attack by a rocket launcher, Agarwal said.

“A rocket launcher normally has a 1,000-metre range so we would be deployed in forests around venues,” he said. “We will have 360-degree rooftop surveillance around all the venues.”

Agarwal said precautions were also being taken to quell “snap protests” by Muslim groups and communist parties who have announced plans to demonstrate against Bush.

Bush is also due to briefly visit Hyderabad, where some Muslim groups have launched a signature campaign against his policies.

Hyderabad, which has a sizeable Muslim population, has witnessed big protests against the publication of cartoones lampooning Prophet Mohammad.

Bush would hop around the city in helicopters to take part in events scheduled for him, police said.

Bangalore rules the roost in IT salaries
Bangalore leads the way in attracting IT professionals with good pay packets. The twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad come next, according to the findings of the Cyber Media Dice ‘Salary Survey’ conducted by market research agency TNS India.

Interestingly, Gurgaon and Delhi trail behind Mumbai and Pune. The survey also points out that an advanced technical degree translates into better remuneration.

The survey studied the average salaries of IT professionals across regions and sectors and also looked at trends in job opportunities and sentiments about impact due to the anti-outsourcing backlash. The survey was conducted online among more than three thousand IT professionals who are registered with www.CyberMediaDice.com across 15 cities in India.

The average cost to company (CTC) for Bangalore stood at Rs six lakh per annum - the highest in the country, followed by Rs 4.7 lakh in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad along with Pune.

The study also noted that, for IT professionals, a management background may not hold good against post-graduation with technical background when it comes to earning the big bucks. An engineer armed with a technical masters degree garners annual average CTC of Rs 8.62 lakh per annum while an MBA candidate’s CTC stands at Rs 6.33 lakh per year.

For the Indian IT professional, the booming Indian telecom industry seems like a more attractive option compared to the Indian IT industry, with the average CTC being 6.2 lakhs and 5.0 lakhs respectively. Highest compensation for IT professionals can be found in the telecommunications sector, followed by IT and then banking, finance and insurance.

“The very encouraging results of the TNS-CyberMedia Dice salary survey underscore the fact that the IT industry is truly maturing in India. It is heartening to note that Indian MNC software companies are as attractive to prospective employees as non-Indian MNCs,” said E.Abraham Mathew, CEO, CyberMedia Dice.

Loyalty Factor

Uncertainty still looms at large when asked about the number of years they wish to spend with their current company, as more than half of the respondents were not sure about their stint with current employer in the future.

” Less than ten percent want to continue for more than three years.

” On an average the tech professionals worked for three companies;

” Professionals with more than 6 years of experience worked for on an average 4 different companies.

” Key motivators for leaving current employer or switching employers were better growth prospects and remuneration.

Fear of backlash

When asked, as to what extent would anti-outsourcing backlash adversely impact job prospects in IT and/or the ITES industry in India, 48% of the respondents admitted that it could have some adverse impact while 35 percent felt that the backlash had no impact.

Respondents in the lower income group were more apprehensive about the impact of the anti-outsourcing backlash. Interestingly it was noted that with the increase in the number of year of experience, the fear of impact was reduced across experience levels. People with specialty skills like Cisco Network Associates, Project Managers, Microsoft certified professionals, Sun Java programmers felt that there would no impact on their jobs keeping in mind the anti-outsourcing backlash.

‘While there may have been some level apprehensions expressed about the impact of the global anti-outsourcing backlash, the Indian IT professionals are less concerned about job security per se’ said A.Karimpanal, Vice President, TNS India.

High on confidence

On difficulties in finding similar employment, more than half of the respondents (69%) were confident about getting one and the opinion was similar across regions. Those respondents with an annual CTC between Rs 6 -12 lakh expressed highest confidence levels about getting similar jobs. Newcomers and experienced professionals were slightly more apprehensive about job opportunities.

Overseas beckoning

In spite of India buzzing with opportunities and most IT professionals seem to believe so, two thirds of the respondents ‘would consider’ or were ‘actively exploring’ overseas job opportunities. Those with more than 11 years of experience were among the highest number of professionals who were currently not exploring overseas jobs.

Another fact that has emerged from this survey is that when women tech professionals were quizzed about exploring job opportunities aboard, 44% of the respondents said that they prefer to work here in India as compared to only 28% of their male counterparts.

Air Deccan, Paramount opt for parking at non-metros
The Government’s attempt to decongest air traffic at the six metro airports has met with limited success. Paramount Airways and Air Deccan are the only airlines that have come forward to avail themselves of a 50 per cent reduction in night parking charges that airlines will be charged for parking their aircraft at major non-metro airports.

Official sources told Business Line that while Paramount Airways wants to park its aircraft in Coimbatore at night, Air Deccan has shown an interest in night parking at Guwahati. Besides, Air Sahara will also be parking aircraft at night in Hyderabad, but would not be entitled for the concessional rates, they said. | Railway Budget 2006 |

Similarly, the low cost airline, SpiceJet has indicated that it would take up the Government offer and park one of its aircraft in Gujarat at night. There are at least 12 scheduled airlines, including Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Alliance Airways, that could have opted for concessional parking.

When contacted, officials of various airlines said that they could look at taking up the offer later.

“An airline has to examine several things before deciding on night parking in a non-metro city. If there is not enough traffic from that non-metro city to justify an early morning flight from there, then it may not make economic sense to park the aircraft at night there,” a senior official of an airline that has not yet taken up the offer said. |Go to Sify Business Home Page|

The Government had announced that from January 1 this year, airlines parking their aircraft between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at most major non-metro airports, except those at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, would be charged half the night parking charges.

Old City tension scuttles Laura Bush trip
Less than five days before his trip to the city, the entire administration seems to be on tenterhooks with the official perception that some elements are deliberately trying to create trouble in the run up to George Bush’s visit.

Even as Bush’s secret service agents are camping in the city and analysing everything, inimical elements are trying to create tensions by not only berating Bush but also by fomenting trouble between Hindus and Muslims.

Destruction of parts of a temple on late Friday night and throwing torn pictures of holy figures on late Saturday night are being seen as evidence of this mischief making.

To be on the safe side, the US secret service has curtailed Laura Bush’s programme and as per latest information she would now stick with hubby George.

Laura was supposed to visit the University College for Women, Koti, just outside the Old City and the Freedom Foundation at Bolarum in Secunderabad.

Demand for declaring Hyderabad a free zone unfair, says Girglani
“No attempt should be made to tinker with the Presidential Order which will create emotional upheaval when the State is developing fast,” said J. M. Girglani, former IAS officer and one-man commission appointed by the previous TDP Government to study violations in the implementation of GO 610.

Days after the controversy over demand for declaring Hyderabad a “free zone” broke out, the man who submitted his report on the violation of the Presidential Order and GO 610 on September 21, 2004, termed the demand “unfair” and wanted the State leadership to clarify the position to avoid confusion.

Locals vs. non-locals

In an hour-long interview to The Hindu on Sunday, Mr. Girglani spoke extensively about the demand for free zone and the consequences it would lead to. He also explained how his report, which was accepted in toto by the Cabinet recently could be strictly implemented. If Hyderabad was declared free zone, more than 2.5 lakh posts in various corporations would have to be brought under the purview of the Presidential Order leading to reservation of posts on local and non-local basis.

On the implementation of GO 610, he said some 10,000 non-locals working in Telangana could be repatriated to their home districts.

Mr. Girglani said there was no such thing called free zone. “They are calling Hyderabad free zone because offices not under the purview of the Presidential Order (State-level offices) are located here,” he said pointing out that only institutions had been freed and not Hyderabad city. “There is vast difference between institutions and territory being freed,” he remarked.

“By declaring Hyderabad free zone, you will be taking away jobs of people of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. What sin have they committed to deserve such an action?” he queried. The whole message should be clearly put forth in Telugu rationally. The message could be made from a forum where it would be heard and stated by some persons with a voice of authority.

Now that the Government has accepted the report, Mr. Girglani suggested appointment of an implementation authority so that it could focus on the subject. To implement the report, a team of officials were needed and to redress the grievance, it would require some amount of force.

Monitoring panel

He said the implementation authority should have the backing of a powerful House committee represented by all political parties and also the Cabinet sub-committee, which should monitor the implementation.

Mr. Girglani said the Government should immediately issue an order that no more recruitments, promotions and transfers would be made deviating from the Presidential Order. Simultaneously, another order should be issued facilitating noting down the local non-local status of employees in service registers.