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The Indian stock exchanges, BSE, NSE will remain closed today on account of terror attack in Mumbai. It is learned that normal trade will resume tomorrow. The capital market regulator, SEBI confirmed no trading on BSE, NSE today. November expiry is also postponed till Friday. This decision comes in the wake of terror attack in Mumbai since last night, in which 80 people were killed and over 250 are injured.

On Wednesday evening, terrorists seized five-star hotels of the city- Taj and Oberoi Grand and also took over CST and three hospitals in the vicinity. Groups of terrorists launched coordinated attacks on at least 10 landmarks in Mumbai. The terrorists started firing indiscriminately and blasted their way through Taj and Oberoi hotels, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Cama Hospital.

A night long terror attack took place in several places in Mumbai. Death toll has reached 87 and almost 200 people are reported injured. First instance of shooting took place near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Station and near Cafe Leopold in Colaba

Attacks also took place at three five-stars hotels, namely the Taj Mahal Hotel, The Oberoi and at Ramada Hotel in Juhu. There was also a bomb blast at a petrol pump in Colaba. Terrorists also opened fire at the VT station and the Cama hospital. Boat with explosives was also found near the Gateway of India.

In the shootouts, two terrorists were killed in the Taj Hotel and two suspected terrorists were killed in Girgaum. Whereas, almost eleven police officers are reported dead in the attacks. Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte was shot dead in the shootout. ATS Chief Hemant Karkare died in shooting near VT station. Mumbai police’s encounter specialist Vijay Saluskar was also shot dead.

The attacks began at about 9.30 pm with firing at Cafe Leopold, a popular restaurant in the Colaba area of South Mumbai. This is a place frequented by foreigners. Shortly after, at least two men armed with AK-47 opened fire in the passenger hall of CST railway station.

Meanwhile, at least 4-5 people are killed at Cama hospital, situated close to CST. Some patients are also taken hostage. The hospital continues to be under seige. A major gunbattle also broke out near the Metro Cinema, near CST just down the road. Terrorists hijacked a police van and fired indiscriminately, injuring several people. Several hotels also came under the attack. Armed men entered the Taj Mahal hotel and took hostages. A series of loud explosions were also heard. Three members of Parliament and at least 100 tourists are also stranded inside.

Latest Report:

• COPS CLEAR CAMA HOSPITAL, TAJ BURNS
• TERROR NON-STOP: 101 killed in Mumbai attacks
• COMMANDOS ENTER TAJ, OBEROI HOTELS
• Army storms Hotel Oberoi to flush out terrorists
• 2 gunmen in Taj Hotel, 7 foreigners among 15 hostages

Citigroup Inc., the US bank with the most employees, plans to layoff 53,000 employees and cut expenses by 20%. This is the biggest cut so far by a financial institution since the economic crisis began and the biggest layoffs in the US since the automobile industry laid off almost 80,000 workers in 1980.

CEO Vikram Pandit intends to reduce headcount by about 14% to 300,000 in the ‘‘near term’’, a presentation on the firm’s website said on Monday. Pandit has already cut 23,000 jobs, leaving the New York-based bank with 352,000 employees as of September 30.

About 100,000 jobs have already been lost at the largest banks and brokerages. In the last month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc began cutting 3,200 jobs, while Morgan Stanley said it would cut 10% of the jobs in the unit housing its investment banking operations.

Also Read:

1. Layoff in IT industry, Who is next?
2. Poll - Recent Layoff in IT
3. HP cutting 24,600 jobs
4. Jet Airways layoff 800 employees Kingfisher may follow

Economic crisis seems to continue and its face is now becoming worse. The benchmark indices Nifty and BSE crashes below 10% today. The pressure in the market are coming in from the European funds. Some large Europe based funds are facing serious redemption pressure. The panic sell by the local funds are increasing the pressure in the market.

Bank, Oil, Metal, Realty slip over 10%. Among the frontliners, Suzlon Energy went down over 35%. Unitech lost 28% and Nalco crashed 24%.

Hindalco, ABB, Power Grid, PNB, Cairn India, Ranbaxy Labs, ONGC, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, DLF, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Reliance Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, SBI, Reliance Communication, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Tata Power plunged 10-20% on the Sensex. 458 shares have advanced while 2541 shares have declined. Nearly 191 shares are unchanged.

The Dow and Nasdaq Futures fell over 6% each. SGX Nifty tumbled over 12%. European markets are down 6-8%.

Current BSE Graph:

Source: NSE & BSE

Economy crisis follows largest layoffs in Indian aviation sector, Jet Airways given pink slips to more than 800 cabin crew and customer care executives. Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines had announced a cost-cutting collaboration on Monday October 13. Meanwhile, sources say that Kingfisher airlines is also likely to lay off employees.

The downturn in the world economy has severely impacted the world aviation industry. The rapid increases in and the volatility in the crude oil prices and that of aviation turbine fuel and the slowdown in economic activity has resulted in a decline in air travel both on international and domestic segments of the air travel market.

Source: MC

Update; TOI reports 1000+ layoff

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The Indian system of beliefs refers to the female aspect of divinity as Shakti - or the manifestation of energy. Worship of the mother Goddess is prevalent throughout India. The nine days festival of Navaratri, a season of rejoicing and celebration, is associated with the worship of the mother Goddess Durga, also known as Ambamata or Kaalimata. This year it started on today 30 sep.

The 9 nights festival of Navratri begins on the first day of Ashwina of the bright fortnight. Seeds are sown, sprouting is watched, the planets are consecrated, and on the 8th and 9th days, Goddess Durga, Vijayashtami and Mahanavami are worshipped.

The day after Navratri i.e. the 10th day after Ashwina, is Dussera which celebrates the victory of lord Rama over Ravana. Ravana is burnt in effigy, often giant dummies of Ravana stuffed with fireworks are shot with arrows until they blow up before a large, applauding audience.

Nine forms of durga worshipped on navaratri

Navratri sms

• Jo jata hai maa ke dwar, use milta hai Maa ka Pyar. Pyar se jo kahta JAI MATA DI use Mill hi jata hai kisi na kisi Roop me unke dedar. Jai Mata di
• Bajre ki roti,
  aam ka achar,
  suraj ki kirne, khushiyo ki bahar,
  chanda ki chandni, apano ka pyar,
  mubarak ho aapko
  ‘NAVRATRI’
  ka tyohar.
• Memories of moments celebrated together……. Moments that have been attached in my heart, forever……. Make me Miss You even more this Navratri. Hope this Navratri brings in Good Fortune & Abounding Happiness for you! HAPPY Navratri
• Long live the tradition of hindu culture and as the generations have passed by hindu culture is getting stronger and stronger lets keep it up. Best Wishes for Navratri
• May This Navratri be as bright as ever.
  May this Navratri bring joy, health and wealth to you.
  May the festival of lights brighten up you and your near and dear ones lives.
• This Navratri light the lamp of happiness, prosperity and knowledge, Happy
  Navratri!
• Today is first NAVRATRA. May GOD DURGA give prosperous to you and to your family.May her blessings be always with you. “JAI MATA DI”
• Lakshmi ka Hath ho,Saraswati ka Sath ho,Ganesh ka niwas ho,aur maa durga ke ashirwad se Aapke jeevan mai prakash hi prakash ho…. “HAPPY NAVRATRI”

Welcome to Sajjanpur – a small village in Northern India where letters are still the only mode of communication, power cuts are a part of daily life and riding a two-wheeler is like a distant dream.

An aspiring novelist Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade), earns his living by reading and writing letters for the illiterate villagers. Welcome To Sajjanpur takes you back to a hamlet that has its share of assorted characters: a letter writer, a power-hungry goon, a eunuch, a short tempered army man and his widowed daughter-in-law, a compounder, a house wife who’s husband, working in Mumbai, hasn’t showed up for four Diwalis… These are characters you’ve seen, witnessed, might even relate to.

Welcome To Sajjanpur works because of its simplicity. Expect no glitz-n-glam here. In fact, it doesn’t even have a strong plot since it’s a character-driven film. Yet, Welcome To Sajjanpur keeps your interest alive in most parts.

Director Shyam Benegal chooses to touch upon rural India’s topical issues such as widow remarriage, caste politics and superstition. But after a point he establishes just too many sub-plots in a case of biting off more than he can chew. So while you have the protagonist’s love story developing in one scene the next one shows him caught between two rival politicians. Shyam Benegal may be best known for intense films, but as you watch Welcome To Sajjanpur, it dawns upon you that he’s equally proficient when it comes to light entertainers. The character portrayed by Shreyas and his interaction with various people make the proceedings exciting.

What remains with you through and after this movie is its authentic rural setting. After a long time we have had a film set completely in the Hindi heartland (the only other recent examples being Maalamal Weekly and Omkara). In fact the dialogue is so deep rooted in the local dialect, it might require more than decent knowledge of Hindi to really enjoy the film’s humour.

Welcome to Sajjanpur totally rests upon Shreyas Talpade’s shoulders. The actor’s comic timing is getting better with each film and it’s his performance that makes up for the film’s many flaws. Seen in almost every frame of the film Shreyas is the hero of the enterprise in every sense of the word. The ’stand out’ Shreyas moment would be his spoof on SRK’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai ‘Maa’ speech. Talpade is here to stay and is far more watchable than many other overrated so called serious actors.

Amrita Rao doesn’t have much of a role but continues her coy Vivah act. And is actually very likeable. The rest of the supporting cast stay true to their characters with each actor delivering spirited performances. Kunal Kapoor seems to have become a guest appearance specialist in a cameo similar to his Bachna Ae Haseeno act as the good-natured husband.

Mahadev [Shreyas Talpade] is one of the few educated young men in Sajjanpur. His ambition is to be a novelist, but finds it easier to make a living by writing and reading letters sitting next to the post office. His ability to write persuasive letters makes him popular with the largely non-literate population of the town. Aware of this power, he soon uses his talent to manipulate people with amusing and sometimes not such amusing results.

On the flip side, the unwarranted songs in the narrative spoil the show. Ideally, the film could’ve done without any song. Besides, the length should’ve been controlled.

Please vote and express the views on the recent layoff in the IT industry. You can choose multiple answers and add any other reason in the Other field.

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Also Read:

• Layoff in IT industry, Who is next?
• HP cutting 24,600 jobs

TCS, the big IT company started it on Feb 2008 with the layoff of thousands of employee, then Wipro and Satyam. Report says wipro layoff 2500 employees and Satyam 4500 employees. All of them has given the same reason “unable to meet the performance requirements of the company”. It seems the days of pink slips have come to haunt Indian IT pros. Though all companies have termed these terminations performance-based, it is anyone’s guess that global slowdown has started hurting Indian IT cos. Some of the recent layoff are…

15th Sep 2008, After delayed appraisals and cut in payouts, India’s fourth largest IT service provider, Satyam Computer is reported to downsize its workforce by a whopping 4,500 employees. This translates to a little less than 9 per cent of the 51,000 employees that the company employs.

Company sources reveal that 1,500 employees have been put under the performance improvement plan (PIP), euphemism for employees put on watch list and asked to shape up or ship out. Apart from this, 3,000 others have not been given any increment in the last appraisal cycle, thereby indicating that their services are dispensable.

9th Sep 2008, Wipro Technologies has put about 4-5 per cent of its workforce, about 2,400-3,000 employees, under the scanner for non-performance. Company sources reveal that about 1,000 employees have been asked to leave.

While some would be given counselling to improve their performance, others would be asked to leave. Wipro’s corporate vice-president (human resources) Pratik Kumar confirmed the move. Asked how many employees had been asked to move on, he said the company did not disclose that number, but it was “significantly lower than 2,000”. “I can’t comment on a particular number,” Kumar said, when asked to comment.

In July, Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems too gave pink slips to 400 employees on grounds of non-performance. Terming it as a routine exercise and not a slowdown setback, country’s sixth-largest exporter said that it is an effort to weed out non-performers.

Rajesh Padmanabhan, vice-president and head, global HR, Patni, said, “This is an absolutely regular appraisal that is important for any performance-driven organisation. It is something standard we do every year. Employees who have got 0-1 rating on a scale of 5 typically form the basis for the first-level shortlist. These are performance-based resignations; we’ve not issued any termination letters.”

5th Feb 2008, TCS has shown the door to most of its software engineers. According to TCS official version, employees with experience of two years and above across the company who were unable to meet the performance requirements of TCS are asked to look for other jobs commensurate with their abilities. In reality TCS and others do not have new orders from US. They plan to lay off tens of thousands of employees in the next six to nine months.

Late last year, the global IT giant IBM had reportedly laid off 700 entry-level trainee programmers (ELTPs) across its offices in India. Zensar too had reportedly given pink slips to 2 per cent of it staff, again the company claimed that it was on performance basis.

Whatever the company says this is the clear indication that the US economy slowdown is pressurizing these indian IT gaints to cut the jobs and the cost… So who is going to be the next company to cut the jobs and give their employees the “Pink Slip”. Is it the start of the downfall of the IT industry as in 2001??

Update: TCS is planning more layoffs…

Also Read:

• HP cutting 24,600 jobs
• Poll - Recent Layoff in IT