All municipal schools to stay shut for a day

NEW DELHI: In a first, all municipal corporation-run schools will be shut on Saturday due to smog. The 1,747 schools teaching around 8.75 lakh students will be the only public institutions to be closed due to pollution this season.



Schools across the city are changing the way they function to protect children from the noxious smog. Although the air was clearer on Friday, some schools stayed closed. Others rescheduled sports and other outdoor activities. Some will decide whether to open on Sunday evening. South Corporation has postponed its second parent-teacher meeting next week, which was earlier scheduled on Saturday.

"The government orders us to close when it's too cold or too hot. Although ours is an air-conditioned school, we follow. This, too, is an extreme situation. We will check the levels on Sunday evening and take a call on whether to open on Monday," says Neena Kaul, principal, The Heritage School, Rohini. The school has a substantial number of children who are asthmatic and Kaul herself suffers from allergies. All Heritage Schools remained shut on Friday, as did Modern School, Barakhamba Road.

Those schools where classes were held, schedules have been changed and parents sent advisories. Springdales, Pusa Road, and Vasant Vihar's Tagore Internationalhave both suspended all sports coaching till conditions improve. The latter has suspended assemblies for the rest of the month. They'll decide on whether to resume in December. The municipal schools have been told to stop holding assemblies and outdoor activities too. Additionally, children who need medical assistance will get it. However, teachers don't get Saturday off.

"School is on but all outside activities have been cancelled. Attendance was good and some kids have come to school with masks. They are either asthmatic or were taking precautions," says Tania Joshi, principal, The Indian School.

Amity International School, Mayur Vihar, stopped all sports the day after Diwali, expecting poor air-quality. They organised activities for the smaller children in their auditorium. The school moves classes to the afternoon for the winter months in any case but this time principal Priyanka Mehta has told teachers and students to also look out for the sun. "If it is bright and sunny outside, go out. If it isn't, don't."

Why people stay in jobs they hate

Prisoners. That's term of art for those stuck in a job they hate but can't se em to leave, according to an Aon Hewitt survey based on data from 500,000 workers. It seems about 8% of the global workforce have no interest in their jobs and no motivation to quit them. Thus did these inert, unhappy workers earn their name, a slightly aggressive term for gainfully employed people suffering from ennui.

Having no motivation at work does make it a slog and that seeps into the rest of your life. "If you're that disengaged and you feel that stuck, what kind of spouse, or partner, or friend, or life do you have outside of work? It's not a great place to be," said Ken Oehler of Aon Hewitt. "We feel for these people."

So why don't they do something about it? Why don't they try to change their circumstances, especially given the improving labour market? How annoying.


One reason: They're shackled to their desks by an elegant pair of golden handcuffs. Prisoners, by Aon Hewitt's definition, aren't people who can't find work. They're people who don't even want to look. And that's because they're often overpaid. Aon Hewitt's research found that more than 60% of prisoners make above-market wages, compared to around 48% of nonprisoners.

"They are getting paid higher than they could maybe find externally out in the mar ket," Oehler said. "Then you get this feedback loop, because they're not getting performance management."

Then inertia sets in. The longer you stay with a company, the likelier you are to feel stuck in that job, the research found. "You have people that have been with the company longer and feel like they've been through a lot with the company ," he said.

The burden of achieving happiness (or "engagement," to use the buzzy term favoured by HR folks) shouldn't fall entirely on the employee, Oehler said. "Engagement is something that organisations owe to employees," he said. Of course, as prisoners know all too well, many companies just aren't going to provide it. In that case, the imprisoned can act. "There is a choice in this matter," Oehler said. "We would suggest people are more empowered than perhaps they think." Ask for what you want.And if that doesn't work, now's a pretty good time to start looking for a new job.

India revives project to acquire Japanese US-2i amphibious aircraft worth Rs 10,000 crore

NEW DELHI: India has revived the stalled project to acquire a dozen Japanese US-2i amphibious aircraft, worth around Rs 10,000 crore, ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to Tokyo on November 11-12 to further cement the bilateral strategic partnership.

While the inking of a civil nuclear cooperation agreement is likely to be the centrepiece of the meeting between Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, sources say the declaration of India's intention to acquire the US-2i aircraft is also going to be a major highlight of the summit.

The US-2i project, with six of the huge amphibious planes each for the Navy and Coast Guard, is also slated to be taken up by the defence acquisitions council (DAC) meeting to be chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday. "The DAC will take up the... inking of a bilateral MoU between the two countries for the procurement of the 12 aircraft," said a source.

Powered by four big turbo-props, the US-2i is capable of short take-offs from land as well as water. While basically meant for search and rescue operations, the US-2i can also rapidly transport 30 combat-ready soldiers to "hot zones" in an emergency.

Though the Navy has much more critical operational requirements ranging from submarines to multirole helicopters, the proposed US-2i deal is intended to send a strong signal to an increasingly belligerent China in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both India and Japan are wary of the China's aggressive territorial claims. India has till now ruled out joining the quadrilateral security dialogue proposed by the US, with Japan and Australia being the other members. But Japan since 2014 has become a regular participant of the annual Malabar naval exercise between India and the US, which has riled China.

Negotiations for the US-2i aircraft deal, which will be the first-ever purchase of military equipment from Japan since it ended its five-decade old self-imposed embargo to export military hardware, have been underway since 2013 but were stalled on the high costs involved.

Japan has now agreed to somewhat reduce the price, which was earlier pegged at $1.6 billion or Rs 10,720 crore for the 12 aircraft, to clinch the deal and expand its strategic partnership with India.

Pakistan army personnel replacing Rangers as border heat escalates

R S PURA/SAMBA (JAMMU)/NEW DELHI: In what seems to be a sign of escalating tensions, Pakistan army personnel are being increasingly deployed along the 190km international border in Jammu at border outposts and camps usually manned by thePakistan Rangers.

The change in deployment has been noted by the Border Security Force and is seen as a clear departure from the practice of specialized paramilitaries, instead of armies, guarding the borders in Jammu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bengal.

Top sources in BSF and the government confirmed that the Pakistani army had deployed soldiers and weaponry at the Rangers' posts, placing regular Pakistan troops face to face with the BSF. "It's difficult to say if the Pakistani army has taken control of the Rangers' posts at IB but there is certainly a lot of movement, with many vehicles regularly bringing soldiers and arms. This has been going on for the past 8-9 days," said a senior official.

There is no intelligence input on what the Pakistani army is doing exactly, but the intent seems to be to beef up military presence along the international border.

The change ties in with New Delhi's assessment that the Pakistani army will continue to provoke hostilities until the end of the month, when chief General Raheel Sharif is due to retire. "General Sharif may be hoping to leverage the tension he has created on the border to determine the choice of his successor," said a senior government functionary in Delhi. The Indian Army is in charge along the line of control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir, where the boundary does not have official recognition and is disputed.

The BSF has gathered information on the rank and number of Pakistani regulars, and is linking their presence to the firing and shelling directed at Indian civiliansalong border areas.

According to sources, the sector commander of Chenab Rangers (part of Pakistan Rangers) in Jammu is Brigadier Amzad Hussain, an army officer. "There seems a high probability that Pakistan's army is directing attacks on civilians in contrast to the Indian Army," said a BSF official.

The sector opposite the Indian sector hit worst last week — Samba, with eight civilian deathstoo has an army officer, believed to be Lt Col Hashim Bhatti, commanding the 24 Chenab Rangers.

Similarly, opposite India's Chicken Neck sector, Pakistani army's Lt Col Tariq is understood to be in charge of the 21 Chenab Rangers, which oversees 30-odd border outposts in Head Marala. Lt Col I A Khan looks after 12, Wing in Langay Manjkay across India's R S Pura sector.

Jayalalithaa controls doctors and nurses, Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Reddy says

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa has completely recovered and she understands what is going on around her, said Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy on Friday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the hospital here to launch a text book of medicine, Dr Reddy said: "She [Jayalalithaa] is now aware of what is happening around her. She asks and demands what she wants. We are happy to tell you she is well."

Replying to a question, he said: "When to go home is now a small thing. The decision will be made by her. The most important part of the treatment is that it is over and very successful."

"She is under control. She controls the doctors and nurses [when it comes to] what she and they should do... You know her nature very well. She understands herself very well. She will ask us very soon 'when I am going home.' It must be on top of her mind. It will not be too long before she sees you all," Dr Reddy said.

"It's a contribution not just by doctors, but nurses as well. It was a team work. We have given her word's best treatment," said Dr Reddy.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on September 22 with complaints of fever and dehydration. She was later put on respiratory support and treated with antibiotics for her infection and lung congestion. She was given passive physiotherapy.

A team of doctors from the UK and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, joined the team of doctors at the Apollo Hospitals to treat her.

Tata Sons makes organisational changes; Padmanabhan to head HR

MUMBAI: Over a week after Cyrus Mistry was ousted as Chairman, Tata Sons on Friday announced organisational changes bringing in S Padmanabhan as the group human resources head.

Besides, the former Tata brand custodian under Mistry's regime Mukund Rajan has been given the responsibility of overseeing operations of the overseas representative offices of Tata Sons in the USA, Singapore, Dubai and China.

This is in addition to his existing responsibility of ethics and sustainability.

Harish Bhat, who is responsible for marketing and customer centricity, will henceforth also be responsible for managing the Tata Brand, Tata Sons said in a statement.

"In the interim, he will oversee the functions of Strategy and Business Development," it added.

Padmanabhan has been given the responsibility of Group Human Resources in addition to his existing role of leading the Tata Business Excellence Group.

Tata Sons further said Gopichand Katragadda will continue to be the Group Chief Technology Officer, while Sanjay Singh will oversee the Public Affairs function out of the Delhi office.

Three members of the now-disbanded Group Executive Council set up by Mistry -- Nirmalya Kumar, N S Rajan and Madhu Kannan -- have already quit.

They have decided to explore options outside Tata Sons and have left the services of the company, the statement added.

On October 24, Tata Sons board had replaced Mistry as Chairman and appointed Ratan Tata as interim Chairman. The company had said it would find a new Chairman in four months.Since then, a war of words has been going on between the Tatas and Mistry, who alleged that he was pushed into a position of "lame duck" chairman and changes in decision making process created alternate power centres in Tata Group.

Tata retorted saying Mistry's removal was "absolutely necessary" for the future success of the Tata Group and insisted that the decision was a well-considered and serious one for its board members.

UK announces new visa crackdown on non-EU nationals

Non-EU nationals will also be affected by new English language requirements.

LONDON: In a crackdown to curb its soaring immigration figures, the UK government has announced changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals, which will affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals.

Under the new visa rules announced Thursday evening by the UK Home Office, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds.

The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.

The changes come just days before British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India on Sunday for her three-day visit.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

Besides the Tier 2 ICT salary threshold hike, the other changes announced include increasing the Tier 2 (General) salary threshold for experienced workers to 25,000 pounds, with some exemptions; reducing the Tier 2 (ICT) graduate trainee salary threshold to 23,000 pounds and increasing the number of places to 20 per company per year; and closing the Tier 2 (ICT) skills transfer sub-category.

A number of changes have also been announced for the Tier 4 category, which covers maintenance requirements for the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

Nationals outside the European Union, including Indians, will also be affected by new English language requirements when applying for settlement as a family member after two and a half years in the UK on a five-year route to residency settlement in the UK.

The new requirement will apply to partners and parents whose current leave to remain in the UK under the family immigration rules is due to expire on or after May 1, 2017.

The changes follow advice by the MAC earlier this year to curb the Tier 2 ICT route and reduce reliance on foreign workers.

"(Immigration) is not serving to increase the incentive to employers to train and upskill the UK workforce. Ready access to a pool of skilled IT professionals in India is an example of this," the MAC report had said in its findings.

"We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staff are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India," it noted.