General management

Thousands of employees at Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel are looking out, after the telecom companies posted unprecedented losses and stare at huge statutory dues, recruiters said. Despite some relief from the government and tariff hikes, employees are still seeking other opportunities, the recruiters added. Take the case of an area sales manager at one of the telecom companies, who has approached a Bengaluru-based search firm. “I have to leave because I was not sure what the future of the company and sector will be in the coming years. I was advised to take a 25% raise at the very minimum but am so eager to leave that I can (go) for a 10-12% hike,” the employee said. Kamal Karanth, cofounder of specialist staffing company Xpheno, said that over the last few weeks, some 7,000 profiles of Vodafone Idea and around 5,000 at rival Bharti Airtel’s have been out in the market. Xpheno aggregated data from candidate resumes that were updated or added on job portals, social … [Read more...] about Unsure of future, telco staff seek opportunity elsewhere

NEW DELHI: As the railways looks to increase earnings, senior officers have come up with new ideas to augment revenue like permitting 24x7 convenience stores at stations on the lines of petrol pumps, besides focus on transport of small parcels, e-commerce players and perishable goods segment. At the recently held two-day brainstorming session ‘Parivartan Sangosthi’, officers from across the country gave suggestions on issues including productivity enhancement, increasing speed of trains and reviewing benefits that office holders of railway unions enjoy. The session took place barely weeks after the Prime Minister’s Office issued a series of directions to railways on how to improve its functioning and increase revenue, particularly in the non-fare segment. Sources said the railways has shortlisted the suggestions and a roadmap based on the best and actionable suggestions would be out soon. Officers suggested monetising land and around 4,000 diesel locomotives which … [Read more...] about Railways eyes 24×7 stores, e-commerce to boost revenue

Satellite photos have exposed the rapid construction of a vast network of prison-like facilities across China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang. The West calls them internment camps. China calls them vocational education facilities. So, what’s in a name? When it comes to the Uighur population at the heart of the project, it’s a matter of life or death. Beijing’s assertion that these are benevolent training facilities is crumbling in the face of photos and footage of high-walled, barbed-wire covered, security-tower festooned facilities. Not to mention recent footage showing 400 bound and blindfolded Uighur prisoners being loaded into railway carts. Dr Michael Clarke of the Australian National University’s National Security College says Australia must take a stand. “The CCP’s ideological framing of the ‘re-education’ camps amounts to a racialised politics of exclusion that seeks to isolate and then ‘transform’ Uighurs, … [Read more...] about ‘Are they sick? Are they dead?’: What really happened to China’s missing Uighur people

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the negotiating stand of India at the forthcoming 25th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The meet is scheduled to be held in Madrid, Spain (under the Presidency of Chile) from December 2-13. India will look to engage in negotiations with a constructive and positive outlook and work towards protecting its long-term development interests. India has been ambitious in its actions and has emphasised that developed countries should take lead in undertaking ambitious actions and fulfil their climate finance commitments of mobilising $ 100 billion per annum by 2020 and progressively and substantially scale up their financial support to inform parties for future action through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). India will further stress upon need for fulfilling pre-2020 commitments by developed countries and that pre-2020 … [Read more...] about Climate change: Cabinet clears India’s stance at UNFCCC

Madrid: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that global warming could reach a "point of no return" and that efforts to curb the consequences of the climate crisis so far had been inadequate. "The point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and hurtling toward us," Guterres told reporters on Sunday ahead of the COP25 climate conference, which opens in Madrid on Monday. Delegations from some 200 countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, NGOs, representatives from the scientific community and business world and activists will meet in the Spanish capital to finalise rules of the 2015 Paris Agreement, Efe news reported. "I expect a clear demonstration of increased Climate Action ambition and commitment out of COP25. "Leaders of all countries need to show accountability and responsibility. "Anything less would be a betrayal of our entire human family and all generations to come," Guterres said. High on the agenda for the conference is the … [Read more...] about Climate crisis reaching a point from where return is impossible: UN chief