Netaji's driver claims he can't have died in plane crash

Despite the numerous books published and committees established to solve the mystery of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a living witness and close companion of his claims to have never been contacted by anyone. Nizamuddin, a 107-year-old man who says he was Netaji's driver in the Azad Hind Fauj (AHF), resides in Islampura, Bilariyaganj, in Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. He asserts that he spent four years with Netaji after joining the AHF in 1942. Recently, volunteers from a local organization went to his home to honor him, and TOI had also visited him previously.

Nizamuddin is convinced that Netaji was not killed in the 1945 plane crash. He states that he dropped Netaji off by car on the banks of the Sitangpur river near the border of Burma and Thailand about three to four months after the crash. He insists that he pleaded with Netaji to let him accompany him, but Netaji ordered him to return, promising to meet again in Independent India. Nizamuddin has no knowledge of what occurred after he left Netaji on the riverbank.

However, he does recall a meeting with Swami, a close associate of Netaji, over ten years ago. Swami was in regular contact with Netaji. According to the repatriation certificate given to Nizamuddin, Swami (full name SV Swami) was the chairman of the Relief and Repatriation Council, Ex Azad Hind Fauj and Allied Organisation, Rangoon. This is the only document Nizamuddin has that proves his association with the AHF.

In 1969, Nizamuddin returned to India with his family and settled in his ancestral home in Dhakwa village. Later, he moved to Islampura.

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My Wake Up Call alarm clock provides motivational messages

While Gizmag has covered quite a number of alarm clocks in the past, the My Wake Up Call motivating messaging system certainly stands out as a unique way to rise and shine. There is no denying the sincerity and inspiring nature of the messages which the creator/inventor - fitness trainer and former Broadway star Robin Palmer - claims will give listeners a positive outlook, helping to set the tone for the rest of the day. Over a dozen themed messages are available that promise to help listeners reach their goals, from workout inspiration and wealth creation, to weight loss and grief counseling. Presented by wellness experts, the messages are downloaded to smartphones and iPods, or are available on CD.

"I now have a family, with a typical, hectic lifestyle", explains Robin. "I kept wishing for an affordable personal trainer to motivate me to wake up and work out in the morning, before the day's schedule started. I knew the importance of starting my day right, and wanted an inspiring coach to wake me up positively."

The five to ten minute messages are available to purchase in one month (US$19.95) or two month ($29.95) sets of daily messages, to keep each morning's message new and fresh. The whole series of themed messages are available in an annual subscription for $99.95. The My Wake Up Call website also carries an iPod dock or CD alarm clock for $49.95, which includes a month of messages. There is also a free iPhone app on the iTunes Store.

Waking up to a motivational speaker with positive affirmations on issues in your life could be one person's idea of self-help Heaven while another person's (likely your partner next to you) idea of an annoying Hell. Personally, after listening to the samples on the My Wake Up Call website, I must say I think it overly cheerful and optimistic for my self-deprecating tendencies. For many, however, the motivational messages could be exactly what they need.

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TCS, Infosys, HCL and other Indian IT cos to suffer as angry America wants its jobs back

Some American corporations are retaining a small, but highly-prized slice of software jobs at home, mindful of the record unemployment levels and the anger among locals who see work being shipped overseas.

For Indian software providers such as TCS, Infosys and HCL, such a development - it is not expected to become a mainstream trend - could chip away a fraction of new jobs that could have been offshored to them. In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Charlene Begley, chief information technology officer of GE, said his company was rethinking the strategy of outsourcing more than half of its IT work.

Already, GE has announced plans to add 15,000 jobs in the US over three years, 1,100 of which will be at the Detroit IT centre. Walmart has also decided to drive the development and design of its ecommerce platform from a new centre in Brisbane, California.

Walmart puts off Bangalore centreWalmart will not open its own captive technology centre in Bangalore, a person familiar with the retailer's decision said last week. In the latest job posting on its website, Walmart has advertised nearly 150 new technology jobs in Bentonville, Arkansas. "Some of this, let's say at least a quarter of these, could have easily been managed out of a captive centre Walmart was evaluating to open in India," the person said.

At least a dozen executives at US-based firms and local American authorities said more companies would shift highend technology jobs as they are under pressure from their local constituencies to create jobs. "Companies like GE are under social pressure to demonstrate they care by creating local jobs. They have been practising economic sense for years and reaped enough profits," said a senior executive at one of the top US tech firms. He requested anonymity because his company counts GE among its top customers.

In January, GE Chairman & CEO Jeffrey R Immelt was named the head of US President Barack Obama's panel on jobs and competitiveness, which also includes the leaders of America's biggest firms, including Xerox and Intel.

"There is pressure to create jobs in the marketplace, as well as demands on technology to create revenue impact in the front office. Both these trends actually play to create jobs in onsite locations - the former as a good corporate citizen, and the latter in recognition of the new levels and roles that IT has to play in these days of mobility, social networks and advanced analytics," said Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies.

He declined comment on GE's outsourcing strategy but said customers are increasingly asking vendors to play a role. "For instance, if you were to look at what has been happening in HCL, the cosourcing deals we do with customers have already brought 9,000 employees who were with customers into HCL ranks," Nayar added.

Co-sourcing involves the transfer of a client's workforce to the payroll of the vendor, a switch which ensures job security to local workers who would then become part of multi-year outsourcing contracts. Experts say creation of more local jobs in the US is not likely to have any material impact on India's $60-billion outsourcing sector.

"The costs of switching out of outsourcing relationships are too high for most, but I think you can expect to see more companies finding ways to create jobs in the US," said Esteban Herrera, COO of US-based HfS Research, which advises customers on outsourcing.

"But it is likely GE will be sending less high-end work to India based on this strategy; meaning growth, and especially growth in complex processes and services, will likely decrease or stop altogether." While GE has been outsourcing to India for over three decades, Walmart started its offshoring pilot with Infosys only last year.

GE currently outsources nearly $1 billion of software development and backoffice projects to Indian companies such as TCS, Wipro, Genpact, Patni Computer and MindTree. TCS is GE's largest Indian IT vendor, accounting for about $200 million of business a year. Genpact, originally a GE back-office captive, currently gets almost 40%, or around $450 million, of its revenues from the company.

"As a percentage, the jobs moving back are very small. For example, if 500 out of 60,000 jobs move back it is a drop in the ocean. The kinds of jobs that are moving back are select, niche jobs such as design. Politics is a factor, but it is not the only factor why this is happening," said Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGate, which counts GE among its top customers.

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The First park in Guinness World Record having Largest Number of Hanging Flower Baskets

Al Ain: The Oasis city has once again set a new world record by displaying hanging baskets with millions of flowers, in the shape of a huge pyramid.

Al Ain Paradise, as it is known, has found its way in the Guinness Book of World Records — which has recognised it as the world's largest garden — for the second time.

Many visitors said it was a unique experience to see millions of flowers in different colours, types, and settings — in a city known for its desert dunes and an arid environment.

The garden was originally created in March last year, making an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for having 2,500 baskets full of colourful flowers arranged in a fabulous manner.

Some unruly visitors, however — in just a few months — destroyed the garden and stole plants from it too.

This resulted in a huge loss for the 7,000 square feet orchard, located in the Zakhir district.

Akar Landscaping, its creators, were eventually forced to shut the garden down for repair work.

The garden now occupies an area of 21,000 square metres — including the corridors and walkways of the internal length of 2,400 metres approximately — more than double its earlier size.

Attractions

It now has 2,965 flower baskets, instead of the previous 2,500 baskets, in addition to the flower pyramids. A theatre and a meeting area have also been added to the park.

A miniature Eiffel Tower, with a height of 12 metres and equipped with sophisticated lighting, has been erected to add more aesthetic value to the park. Al Ain Paradise also contains a 95 metre-long water stream.

It has been designed in the form of a natural rock dam where the water flows through in a circular course.

Some 300 engineers, technicians and workers took part in the rebuilding of the park.

Beauty in the details

"We have now made security arrangements to prevent any destruction to the garden," said Abdul Nasser Rahhal, General Manager of Akar Landscaping.

He said vertical landscaping technologies have been used to create the flower pyramid that has a variety of flowers from America, Europe, Japan, Germany and Italy. Akar added that brochures — detailing the various types of flowers — have been published to educate people on the dos and don'ts when visiting the park.

Shaikh Tahnoun Bin Mohammad Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region, inaugurated the garden in a ceremony that was attended by members of the Royal Family, Shaikhs, and a number of other government dignitaries.

Jack Brockbank, Official Adjudicator of the Guinness Book of World Records, said he was amazed to such the garden. "Some 1,500 pots have been used in the making of flower pyramid… it's incredible," he said.

He said it was the world's largest garden with hanging baskets and people should visit it for an incredible experience. He also presented Shaikh Tahnoun with a certificate of recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Al Ain, which is known as the oasis city of the UAE, has twice won the second position in the Nations in Bloom contest — an international competition that selects leading cities from around the globe for good landscape management and environmental practices.

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Zero balance in a/c need not worry you anymore

The high court on Tuesday observed that banks recovering penal charges from customers not maintaining minimum balance in their accounts might have to pay back the amount with penal interest once the RBI comes out with its decision.

The court's observation came following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by T S Muthukrishnan. The petitioner contended that in the name of non-maintenance of minimum balance, banks levy hefty penal charges. The petitioner said it is obvious that only the poor man, who struggles to make "both ends meet", doesn't maintain minimum balance. A division bench presided by Chief Justice J S Khehar, while disposing of the PIL, said: "The final determination will only emerge after objections from the stakeholders. It is apparent from the recommendations in the Damodaran Committee report that the final determination may relate to levy of penal charges. The issue has financial indications.

The banks concerned would be advised not to levy penal charges till Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lays down parameters."

The RBI counsel informed the court that objections have been invited from the customers and the banks concerned and a final decision will be taken after that.

The court observed that since the issue of maintaining minimum balance and penal charges also finds mention in the Damodaran Committee report, the RBI would take a decision.

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Britain on boil: Another day of rioting, looting in London and several other cities

After three nights of violence in London and several other cities, which left authorities stunned and the people hunkered down, questions about the way Britain is handling its ethnic minorities have again come to fore. With nearly 5 million non-Whites , that is, about 8% of the population, the image of multiculturism has taken a severe beating as the current round of proteststurning-into-general criminal violence plays itself out.

Many are calling this the worst ever, arguably, even more severe than riots that engulfed Britain in the early 1980's when Margaret Thatcher was in power and the economy was being rebooted.

In 1981, violence had first exploded in Brixton and later spread to several other cities. In a damning indictment of the racial policy of the government , Lord Scarman's enquiry report said that the violence was "essentially an outburst of anger and resentment by young black people against the police" .

Similar findings were presented by a host of reports following riots and violence in subsequent years, especially in 1985 and as recently as the 2001 Oldham riots.

Fifteen years of rule by New Labor, elected in reaction to the conservative policies of Thatcher appear to have left the inequalities untouched. In 2009, the Equality and Human Rights Commission released a report called 'How Fair Is Britain'.

Speaking of the poor and ethnic minorities, Trevor Phillips, its chairman said, "Gateways to opportunity that appear permanently closed, no matter how hard they try; while others seem to have been issued with an 'access all areas' pass at birth" .

People of Asian origin, mainly Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis comprise about half, while Blacks make up a quarter, of the ethnic minorities in Britain.

Unemployment rates among Black Caribbean, Black African, Bangladeshi and Mixed ethnic groups (between 13 and 14 %) were around three times the rates for White British (5 %), according to an Office of National Statistics study of 2004.

According to UK's Department of Works and Pensions study, two fifths of the ethnic minorities live in low-income households, defined as 60% or less than the median British income. This is twice the rate for White households.

Among families with at least one member working, around 65% of Bangladeshis, 50% of Pakistanis and 30% of Black Africans are in low-income households, much higher than the 10-20 % for Whites, Indians and Black Caribbeans.

Criminality has become endemic among poorer communities - there are seven times more Blacks in British jails than Whites. Cuts in social welfare have meant local councils and police no longer have contact with the people.

Protesters are using Blackberry for mobilizing and coordinating . The last recession hit the poor badly in Britain. With another one looming, the fires of discontent are being stoked - Tottenham may just be the beginning.

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