Private sector EMPLOYMENT INCREASED by 192,000 jobs in January

Our Correspondent : 06 Feb. 2013
Private sector employment increased by 192,000 jobs from December to January, according to the January 'ADP National Employment Report', which is produced by ADP, a leading provider of human capital management services, in collaboration with Moody's Analytics. The report, which is derived from ASP's actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonallu adjusted basis. The December 2012 report, which reported job gains of 215,000, was revised downward by 30,000 to 185,000 jobs.

KEY FINDINGS :
-> GOODS-PRODUCING employment rose by 15,000 jobs in January which was primarily driven by an increase in construction jobs of 15,000. Meanwhile, manufacturers shed 3,000 jobs;

-> SERVICE-PROVIDING JOBS increased by 177,000. Among the service industries reported by the ADP National Employment Report, professional/business services registered the largest gain with 40,000 jobs added over the month. Trade/transportation/utilities added 33,000 jobs and financial activities added 12,000 jobs;

-> BUSINESSES with 49 or fewer employees added 115,000 jobs in January. Employment levels among medium-sized companies with 50499 employees rose by 79,000, while employment at large companies those with 500 or more employees fell by 2,000.

Some of the vital challenges of Indian businesses today include identifying new growth platforms, markert discontinuities, strategic innovation and leveraging diversity. In an exclusive event, 'Reverse Innovaton Meets Medici Effect', SHRM India and Customer Lab brought together the biggest innovation gurus, Vijay Govindarajan and Frans Johansson, to give insights on ways to address these problems.

At this event, SHAM India and CustomerLab recognised companies, who have done outstandingly well in five key areas. Chosen out of several companies exemplified innovation by taking risks and breaking new ground in:innovation strategy; innovation culture and organisation; execution excellence; innovation protfolio management and ideation and creativity management.

A rigorous assessment evaluated organisations on their performance across these five key areas. After an initial online application, the screening panel validated company data and requested for supporting documents, data, metrics and anecdotes where relevant. An eminent jury then scrutinised each application across 23 processes of innovation to come up with a list of winners.

Team Apeejay stya & Svran Group(above) and Team ICICI Bank(below) with their awards

The four companies, out of 25 competing organisations, that have made their way info 'The Medici Innovation Hall of Fame,' are;
1. Apeejay Stya & Svran Group
2. ICICI Bank
3. Tata Consultancy Services
4. WNS Global Services
The award plaques were handed to the winning organisations by Vijay Govindarajan, professor of international business, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College and Frans Johansson, founder and CEO of The Medici Group.

NAGPUR: The Nagpur University has finally cancelled admission of about 33 students of post-BSc diploma in computer science and application (PGDCS&A) who were illegally admitted by various colleges, including that of NU's own department. These illegal admissions were first exposed by TOI on October 5 citing ordinance number 24 of 2009 and followed by a series of reports. After this, pro-vice chancellor Mahesh Yenkie ordered an inquiry to verify the news contents. Subsequently, NU refused to provide them with the enrolment numbers, till the inquiry was over.

It was only in the second week of January that NU dispatched letters to four colleges conducting this course to cancel admission of ineligible students. A senior official from NU examination section confirmed that they had rushed the cancellation letters to colleges that included three from Nagpur and one from Bhandara. In fact, NU had cancelled admissions of 10 students from its own Inter-Institutional Computer Centre (IICC) who were found ineligible.

The ordinance number 24 clearly states that the students should have obtained a BSc degree of any statutory university with at least 50% marks and with mathematics and any other two of chemistry, physics, computer science, statistics, geology, electronics, environmental science, microbiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany and zoology as the subjects for the BSc or BE/BTech exams.

Head of NU's electronics department Satish Sharma, who is holding additional charge of IICC, also confirmed that he had received cancellation orders from the university. "Though we're yet to officially cancel their admission, we had conveyed to students in clear words that they can't be regularized as per rules. We've asked them to approach VC Vilas Sapkal," he said.

The pro-VC said they were contemplating to provide relief to these students by regularizing their admissions as per the verdict of the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court in the case of MCA students. Even MCA scam was exposed by TOI after which their admissions were cancelled by NU. But the students got a reprieve from the court. "We're thinking of applying this verdict as it had mentioned that university can't cancel admissions at late stages but that has to be done at the threshold only," Yenkie said.

TOI had first exposed that nearly a thousand admissions were made illegally by blatantly flouting norms just like in the case of MCA. Four of IICC students who completed PGDCS&A were admitted to Ramdeobaba Kamla Nehru College of Engineering in the MCA course. They later appeared for the third and fourth semester exams, but after the illegalities came to fore, NU cancelled their admissions.

Timeline of TOI expose on illegal PGDCS&A admission
Oct 5 TOI first exposed illegal admission made by NU colleges in PGDCS&A citing ordinance number 24 of 2009
Oct 13 Pro-VC Mahesh Yenkie ordered an inquiry to verify the news content
Oct 23 NU refused enrolment numbers to such students
Jan second week NU exam section dispatches letters to colleges asking them to cancel their admissions
Jan 30 The colleges are yet to cancel their admissions and are giving hollow assurances to students

PUNE: The district and sessions court here has dismissed the University of Pune's (UoP) appeal against the lower court's order that directed the UoP to pay interest, at the rate of 10%, to a retired deputy registrar for delaying his pension and gratuity dues.

The court of additional district and sessions judge Prachi P Kulkarni, while disposing of the appeal on January 2, also dismissed a cross-objection filed by former deputy registrar Madhav C Khanwelkar, contesting the claim amount worked out by the university.

In December 2011, the UoP had preferred a first appeal in the Bombay high court against the lower court's order and had deposited Rs 56,905 with the high court's registry for the interest payable to Khanwelkar towards the delayed post-retirement dues. The case was later transferred to the sessions court here on the issue of pecuniary jurisdiction.

"In my opinion, the appeal as well as the cross-objection carries no merit and is liable to be dismissed," judge Kulkarni stated in the 25-page order. The court also held that the August 30, 2011 order by the trial court of joint civil judge (senior division) P S Duthade was 'proper and needed no interference'. The court has allowed Khanwelkar to recover the Rs 56,095 deposited by the UoP with the Bombay high court.

Khanwelkar, who was deputy registrar (academic), retired from service on October 31, 2004. A year before his retirement, the then UoP vice-chancellor (VC) Ashok Kolaskar and registrar D D Deshmukh had passed orders reverting his posting from deputy registrar to that of an assistant registrar after Khanwelkar had proceeded on a leave preparatory to retirement without sanction from the concerned authorities.

Khanwelkar challenged this in the University and College Tribunal (UCT), which passed an order on June 20, 2005 quashing the university's move to revert him to assistant registrar's post. A subsequent review appeal by the UoP was also dismissed by the UCT. Later, the university moved the Bombay high court.

After Kolaskar's retirement in February 2006, the then acting VC Ratnakar Gaikwad got the case withdrawn from the high court on July 18, 2006 and Khanwelkar's pension and gratuity arrears were paid from the period thereafter.

Khanwelkar moved the civil court in July 2007, claiming Rs 2.25 lakh as interest, at the rate of 12%, on the pension and gratuity arrears for the period between May 2005 and October 2006 and another Rs 2 lakh as compensation for mental distress caused by the varsity officials.

Disposing of the same, joint civil judge Duthade had held that both, Kolaskar and Deshmukh, were jointly responsible for not sending Khanwelkar's pension papers in time to the government. The court held that Khanwelkar had partly proved the case for interest on delayed payment of pension arrears, which should be at the rate of 10% for the one year and five month period between May 2005 and October 2006.

The court, however, rejected Khanwelkar's claim for Rs 2 lakh compensation on the grounds that the two former officers cannot be said to be individually responsible for the delay as they were discharging their duties as statutory officers.

The UoP had challenged this order while Khanwelkar filed a cross-objection contesting the Rs 56,905 amount worked out by the university for payment of interest on delayed dues.