IN INDIA, YOU STILL GET JOBS

'In India, you'll still get a job'

James JoseSun, Jan 18 10:53 AM

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The 'India Shining' story may be under stress by the ongoing economic crisis, but some sectors and career options still hold promise for job seekers this year, according to human resource experts.

Leading advisory Boston Consulting Group says India will have a demand for 85-90 million people across various sectors, and the majority of the demand will come from high-growth industries like IT, outsourcing, banking, retail and healthcare.

Similarly, a survey by HR consultancy Manpower projects hiring to rise steadily by around 18 percent from this quarter in many sectors, signifying that jobs in India may not be entirely affected by the financial turmoil in rich nations.

'India poses a far more positive outlook as compared to what has been happening across the world,' said Cherian Kuruvila, director operations, Manpower India, adding that seven percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the country showed that the economy remained healthy.

'Employers in the mining and construction industries as also services sector are especially looking to scale up,' Kuruvila told IANS, but added that new jobs won't be distributed evenly through all regions and industries.

India has a work force of 484 million people, of which 273 million work in rural areas, 61 million in manufacturing and about 150 million in services, says the Boston Consulting Group that recently conducted a study on the country's services sector.

'Going forward, the Indian economy is likely to be overwhelmingly dependent on the growth of services. More than 70 percent of India's incremental GDP and 60 percent of new jobs over the next five years are expected to be generated by services.'

A survey across the Asia-Pacific region by TNS, a market research and business analysis firm, with Gallup International, a global human resource consulting firm, also threw up interesting findings.

Sixty-two percent of the Indians polled felt they would be able to hold on to their jobs in 2009 and the 57 percent who expected unemployment to rise did not not consider they would be the ones affected.

'It seems, despite the slowdowns and reports of downsizing, there is an overall confidence among the employed in India that 'My job is secure! Difficulties, if any, are for others, not me',' said TNS India executive director Chhavi Bhargava.

Experts concede that the present financial meltdown has raised doubts over the performance of some industries and its impact on salaries and perks, but hope Indian businesses will come out of the slump earlier than their counterparts overseas.

'The impact on salary was felt in 2008 and it may continue till some time. The payouts were significantly lower than the 15-200 percent bonus payouts in 2007,' said Absolute HR Services chief executive Kunal Banerji.

'Gone are the days of experimentation with jobs. I would advise employees not to be adventurous checking different jobs. Stability is the mantra,' said Confiar Consultants managing director Vivek Ahuja.

Apart from advising employees to keep their jobs this year, HR consultants also feel these are also the times when people will turn to age old values and ethics and play by the book.

'The old adages like no substitute for hard work and no short-cuts to success are back in vogue,' Banerji told IANS. 'Stay hungry for work or stay hungry is the mantra for corporate India.'

IPL vs ICL Why the first mover came last and a Business Man's Guide to IPL

I was pleasantly surprised to see that SOLUS, a magazine brought out by the Advertising Club of Mumbai,had carried my article on the relative performance of the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League.This was initially published in June 2008.
Given that the next season the Indian Premier League is due this summer, it may make for an interesting read. The ICL had its second season this winter and the results could be evaluated against this backdrop.

CLICK HERE

The full article on the IPL which is a "Guide to the Businessman" is available on clicking this link

CLICK HERE

Vinod Natesan
Mayan Consultants International
natesanvinod@rediffmail.com

QUICK PROFILE:
Mr. Vinod Natesan, Proprietor of Mayan Consultants International, is a post graduate of the Institute of Rural Management Anand. In the 19 years in the industry, he has been associated as a marketing consultant with the World Bank and NDDB, has serviced ITC, Procter & Gamble Unilever and Telco accounts while working for FCB, Lowe and Leo Burnett. He headed the Mumbai branch of PSL McCann Erickson, winning numerous creative awards like the Clio for work done on the Guestline Hotels and the Mahindra brands. In 2000, he joined, JWT as Assoc Vice President & Strategy Planning Director on the De Beers account and was part of the team that won the Effies and the Subash Ghoshal trophy for the Nakshatra launch. In 2002, he shifted to the Middle East and has been handling marketing assignments with retail groups like the Landmark Group, with Tourism promotion bodies in Tunisia and with tourism related authorities in Kerala. His last stint was with the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah, where he set up the Tourism Office and the Media City and left it as the Head of Operations, RAK Investment Authority. He has also been a visiting faculty in most of the management institutes in Mumbai since 1996. He currently operates out of Mumbai and is involved with projects in Trivandrum, Hamburg, Jharkhand and Mumbai. These include project feasibility and appraisal studies, advisories on market entry into India, tourism infrastructure related surveys and diagnostics and also advertising and marketing strategy related assignments.
PUBLICATIONS:
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http://www.adclubbombay.com/index.php/solus/511-why-the-first-mover-came-last

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WEB SITE

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KANAI KUNHIRAMAN -Splendour in Stone

Splendour in Stone

Kanai Kunhiraman is one of the celebrated sculptors in Kerala, India. I had the good fortune to receive an award for “creative writing” from him in the late 70’s. This was when Kanai was a Professor at the Fine Arts College for a while.
Kanai's Oeuvre:
“Yakshi” ( a fairy, or a female extra terrestrial being) : Done in 1969, it was made of concrete. It depicts a woman in a seated posture,her legs spread leaving her womb exposed, almost as if she is giving birth. The statue is gigantic in proportions and is placed in the Malampuzha gardens near the famous dam. Behind the sculpture, the peaks of the Western Ghats rise in quiet majesty carpeted by lush green forests. The river that has been harnessed by man with the dam, completes the backdrop. It is nature at its majestic best and the sculpture captures the beauty and the power of nature to provide life and nurture it. Given that the female form in all its voluptuousness was in the nude, it became a controversy. However, wiser counsel prevailed and the statue was not clothed!! Kanai mentioned that nature had to be shown it in natural form and he like many, conceive it as a female life giving form.

“Kadal Kanyaka” (Mermaid): Done subsequently and placed at Shanghumugham beach in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), this depicts the sea and therefore the female form is shown as reclining. Kanai explains that the Mermaid was postured as horizontal,in harmony with the Ocean, unlike the “Yakshi” ,which was vertical, since the backdrop there was the mountains.

“Shanghu" (The Conch):is at the Tourist Village in Veli near Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). It denotes wealth from the natural elements, which is what the tourism effort is all about. Once again, the setting is natural with the "conch" being placed between water and land.

Kanai holds that nature is the mother of man and that all ‘art’ in turn, is created by man. To signify the connection therefore, his sculptures are kept unfettered in the open, where man can access it without any barriers. He does not want his sculptures to be "caged like animals in a zoo" within the confines of museums.

He has done may bronze sculptures, including the famed one of EMS Namputhiripad (The first elected Communist Chief Minister in a democratic India). He mentions "Mookola Perumal" as a favourite. Here he used three pillars to denote the three stages of time and a globe to represent earth(If I am right). On another occasion, he used “fertility” as a symbol while designing the frontal landscaping for a building belonging to a fertilizer company(details not available currently).

Kanai mentions his visits to Europe as extremely educative and counts Professor Butler and Henry Moore as great influences. He also rates Raja Ravi Varma, the painter very highly. He believes that art has to reflect the culture and nature around us and should be simple. He does not follow any “movements” like post- modernism, etc for the sake of it.

Those of you who follow Malayalam can click on the link below to view a very interesting interview with the man himself.

http://video.webindia123.com/interviews/sculptors/kanaikunchiraman/index.htm

Dubai flooded with labour complaints, cancels work permits and visas

ANI
Thu, Jan 15 10:40 AM

Nicosia, Jan 15 (ANI): The Dubai Ministry of Labour has been flooded with thousands of labour complaints, as a very big number of workers and employees have been laid off, or have been made redundant in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The majority of these workers are Indians. Furthermore, it is estimated that about 1,500 work permits and visas are being canceled in Dubai each day.

Feeling the pinch of global slowdown many companies, mainly in the construction sector, have stopped all new employment and most of them have already laid off hundreds of workers.

What is more worrying, however, is the fact some companies is flagrantly violating labour laws by not paying workers their wages, or by forcing them to take unpaid leave.

Dozens of companies have given redundant employees a grace period of two to three months to look for alternative work. Jobs are, however, rare to find with most companies freezing recruitment.

According to unofficial estimates, the Ministry of Labour cancels on average 1500 working permits and visas a day.

At the same time, the Ministry has to examine an unprecedented number of complaints from workers.

The complaints have to be processed before the working permit is cancelled.(ANI)