It’s his third world chess title, but the relief at winning this one is palpable and the joy is unbridled. ”I’m just exhausted, man,” Vishwanathan Anand told the Times of India, speaking on his cell phone from Bonn on the way back to his hotel to stash away his trophy before heading out for a Mexican dinner.

It’s been so bad, he said, that he’s not even followed the world financial crisis, let alone the Obamania that’s sweeping America – something unusual for a guy who likes to stay on top of news and current events. But the preparation has been bruising, and his team of seconds is so overjoyed that everything panned out well that they are already out roistering, well before Anand and his wife Aruna can join them.

”I might surprise you guys this time,” Anand joked, when asked if he would join them for a tipple.

But the man who is said to drink nothing stronger than tomato juice has sent the country’s spirits soaring with a performance that will sparkle in the annals of sporting history that is getting richer by the year. It’s not every day or every year that the Soviet/Russian/Central Asian chess dominance is challenged, and Vishwanathan Anand is starting to make it a habit.

The victory over Kramnik, a consummate artist, was especially sweet (Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers called it a battle between the painter and the philistine, so well-regarded is the Russian’s sense of aesthetic play). But Anand is a stylist in his own right, and one of his fabulous win among the three in this series is set to go down as one of the great games in the chronicles of world championships.

”Kramnik does not lose three games in a year, forget three games in a series,” Anand mused, ”So in that sense, I guess it was a comprehensive win.” The fact that it finished one game ahead of the scheduled 12 means, Anand and Aruna can actually advance their plans to visit India, where doubtless a hero’s welcome awaits him.

Asked to choose which was his favourite between the three world titles, Anand said they were all special. For us, too.

India’s ranking in the index, which scales prosperity of the whole society, is down by 8 notches to 77th

position among 141 countries

in 2006, with uneven pattern of economic reforms widening gap between the rich and the poor, a latest report says.

However, India fared better among the BRIC countries where China was ranked at 93, Brazil (96) and Russia (101).

Hong Kong bagged the first position scoring 8.94, followed by Singapore (8.57), New Zealand (8.28), Switzerland (8.20) and UK (8.07).

The annual report called Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) released by Centre for Civil Society (CCS), compares the level of accesses to sound money in 141 countries. It measures the money growth in the country, the rate of inflation and freedom to own foreign currency.

Although, India is better post 1991 economic liberalisation when it was ranked 80, India’s position is continuously sliding from 69 in 2005 and 60 in 2004 to the 77 in 2006.

“Rich are getting richer and poor are becoming poorer! is now a common refrain in India in any discussion on economic reforms. Since 1991, India has undergone a great deal of liberalisation internally and externally. Many feel that the gains of this liberalisation and globalisation have not accrued to the poor,” CCS said in its release.

“Unequal distribution of Economic Freedom is at the basis of India’s uneven development. The reason is simple, the areas in which the middle and upper classes make their living have seen the highest degree of liberalisation, while the areas in which the poor earn their livelihood have seen the fewest reforms,” it said. The rating on a scale of 10 declined from 6.6 to 6.59.

As a global index, it measures the degree to which policies and institutions of these countries are supportive of economic freedom, which includes elements like personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete and security of privately-owned property.

Among the five components of the EFW index, the largest decline for India is in ‘Sound Money’ where its score decreased to 6.70 in 2006, with the country ranking at the 113th position, from 7.0 in 2005.

The other four criteria for measuring the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom are size of the government, legal structures, freedom of trade internationally and regulation of credit.

“Countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity and greater individual freedoms. Countries at the bottom of the index are often mired in poverty, and governed by totalitarian regimes and have few individual rights or freedoms,” the report stated.

It further shows that 8 of the 11 worst performers in economic freedom are African countries, where people continue to suffer from poverty.

The report indicates that there is a strong connection between economic freedom and common well-being. Countries with higher economic freedom have higher average per-capita GDP and average per-capita economic growth.

“As the higher level of economic freedom is sustained and the more rapid growth persists, poverty rates will fall …,” the report added.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance industries  has made it to the annual list of world’s 100 most respected

companies compiled by

the Wall Street Journal , topped by US-based healthcare products major Johnson & Johnson.

Ranked 83rd, RIL is the only Indian company on the list, although there are three more companies led by persons of Indian origin – PepsiCo, ArcelorMittal and Citigroup.

J&J is followed by FMCG giant Procter & Gamble, Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor, legendary investor Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway and technology giant Apple in the top five positions.

While Berkshire has slipped from its first position last year, J&J has moved up from its second place in 2007 list. Toyota has retained its third place, while Apple and P&G have improved on their previous year rankings.

Besides, Google (6th), Wal-Mart (7th), Coca-Cola (8th), PepsiCo (9th) and Nestle (10th) also figure among the top- ranked companies.

As part of the fourth annual survey, Wall Street Journal asked money managers to indicate the degree to which they respect or don’t the 100 largest publicly traded companies, as measured by total market value.

According to the survey, 74 per cent respondents said they ‘highly respect’ J&J, 23 per cent said they ‘respect’, 3 per cent said ‘respect somewhat’ but none said they ‘don’t respect’ the company making it top-ranked company.

About RIL, 4 per cent considered the company as highly respected, 17 per cent said they ‘respect’ it, 46 per cent responded saying they ‘respect somewhat’, while 11 per cent said they ‘don’t respect’ the firm.

The publication said it assigned a point each to the four categories highly respect, respect, respect somewhat and don’t respect to determine mean scores, using the percentage of highly respect to break ties.

Telecom giant Vodafone Group (UK) has been ranked at the 66th spot.

Beverages major Pepsico headed by India-origin Indra Nooyi has gone up three places to the ninth position from the previous year’s ranking.

However, arch rival Coca-Cola is one place ahead of PepsiCo at the eighth spot.

Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-led ArcelorMittal (France) has moved up 33 spots to corner the 60th rank. In last year’s ranking, the company was placed at the 93rd position.

Further, banking behemoth Citigroup has dropped in its ranking to the 99th spot from the previous year’s 53rd place.

With the baby-boomer population in the US reaching retirement and the average age increasing in most of the western countries, global

corporates are looking at India to get the right talent, experts say.

Companies based in nations like the US, France and Germany believe that the south Asian country has a talent pool matching the global standards, they said.

“India is topmost on the list of preferred destinations  for countries facing an internal talent crunch situation,” global management consultancy firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) partner and director James V Abraham said.

Chinese workforce which comes next in the list is mostly preferred for China-specific operations of the western companies as opposed to people in India, who are being tapped for functioning in any country, he added.

“The Indian workforce is witnessing a 100 year peak, the talent pool is vast, skilled up to international standards and the most sought after by the Western Countries,” international accounting and consultancy major KPMG’s Melbourne-based partner Bernard Salt said. He was in the city to attend a conference.

Although regions like South East Asia and Middle East have a workforce to offer in terms of numbers, rigid social setups and lack of international quality in terms of technology brings in the ‘India advantage’, he added.

The US-based magazine BusinessWeek recently came out with a list of best American companies to launch a career and nine out of the top ten firms on the list have a major India exposure in terms of employee strength.

As part of its expansion plans in Europe, leading software major Satyam

Computer Services is mulling acquisitions in France, a top
company official said.

“We see fairly large opportunities and are looking at acquisitions of French companies to expand our operations,” Satyam’s Continental Europe Head, Peter Heij, told visiting journalists at the company’s Wiesbaden facility near Frankfurt recently.

The company is also mulling an expansion in Germany, the largest economy in Europe, he said.

Satyam has recently sealed a few acquisitions, those of Nitor Global Solutions and Citisoft Plc in the UK and S&V Management Consultants in Belgium.

“Our vision is to have 30 per cent of our global revenue emanating out of Europe by FY’10. To enter some of the European countries, we have to hire local people and acquire companies. We need to have an office in France,” Heij said.

In the current business scenario, European markets are evolving as a major IT park for software development. These markets are demanding greater knowledge and understanding of country-specific issues, EU directives and resolutions, he said.

France preferred to undertake sourcing of IT services in its own language and with local firms. Major international firms are well represented in France with providers like AtosOrigin, Sopra, Sogeti & Thales capitalising on the advantage of “being French”.

Source TOI

India’s IT industry does not need to worry about the current economic

downturn as “we have a strong knowledge base” and the est
ablished market players
here would not be affected, a top industry body official said.

“We need not worry about the slowdown in the US economy. It is all a temporary phase and very soon, the US dollar will reach a stable position,” said Ganesh Natarajan, chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

Addressing a chief executives’ meeting here, he said despite the global meltdown, the Indian software business is growing at the rate of 21-24 per cent every year.

He, however, urged the IT industry leaders to look beyond the US market. “Plenty of opportunities are available in Latin America, Japan, China, Europe and also in some African nations,” Natarajan said.

“By 2020, India can alone fulfil the need of technical talent of the whole world. By that time the whole world would need 43 billion technocrats while India will have 47 billion surplus technocrats,” he said.

He added that huge investments have to be made to train the available talent.

According to Natarajan, the estate and retail business would feel the heat of the economic downturn. “But our IT sector is safe and would continue to grow,” he said.

Source TOI

Indra K. Nooyi, India-born chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, has been named the winner of the Chicago United 2008 Bridge Award honouring exemplary leadership in support of advancing diversity and inclusion. Nooyi will be presented the National Bridge Award at Chicago United’s Fifth Annual Changing Colour of Leadership Conference and 40th Anniversary Gala on Dec 4, the membership organisation promoting corporate diversity announced Monday. A committee of corporate and non-profit executives, entrepreneurs and academicians selected Nooyi as the Bridge Awardee based on an examination of publicly-available data along with select qualitative attributes of the company, such as supplier and workforce diversity, it said in a media release. “I am extremely honoured to be recognised as Chicago United’s National Bridge Award recipient,” said Nooyi. “At PepsiCo we strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment that encourages every associate to bring his or her whole self to work – not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because diversity in the workplace unleashes creativity and the power of innovation. “Having people with different backgrounds and experiences gives us marketplace insights that enable us to serve our consumers, retail customers and communities. Diversity and inclusion are essential to PepsiCo’s growth and are a strategic priority for our business,” she added. “PepsiCo exhibits the strategic value that resonates with Chicago United’s mission to promote competitiveness through the use of corporate diversity and inclusion,” said Gloria Castillo, president of Chicago United. “We applaud Ms. Nooyi and PepsiCo for leading by example and being champions of a new benchmark for diversity in management, and business partnerships. “Their investment in diversity and inclusion helps to foster innovative approaches to sustain continuous growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” she said. The Bridge Award represents the first national award that honours a CEO who is an advocate for multiracial diversity in corporate governance and executive level management. It honours the exemplary practices of a Fortune 100 corporation,the organisation said. In keeping with the spirit of Chicago United’s advocacy for the development of multiracial leadership at all levels in business, this award brings visibility to those who have driven change and inspire others to follow. Chicago United, the catalyst driving business leaders to maximise economic impact for all races, celebrates its milestone year under the theme “Torchbearers of the Dream: Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future”, it said. The Fifth Annual Changing Colour of Leadership Conference will feature a series of six workshop sessions that will provide participants with in-depth insights of diversity and inclusion practices that are crucial to the success of an organization. Nationally recognised experts in the field of diversity will highlight current trends, best practices, and strategies for minority business enterprises to grow their businesses and for corporate professionals to develop multiracial leadership in their organisations. Created in 1968, Chicago United was the first group to bring together racially diverse CEOs with a common goal of creating a stronger social and economic climate for everyone in Chicago. Source TOI

Bihar will seek the help of Bollywood actors and filmmakers hailing from the

state to set up a film city on public-private partnership
basis.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Tuesday that the government plans to establish a film city as “part of Bihar’s development agenda to attract investments”.

He said the government will revive the State Film Corporation to give concrete shape to the plan, adding that officials have been asked to identify places in Patna, Gaya and Rajgir in Nalanda district.

‘Bihari Babu’ Shatrughan Sinha, Manoj Bajpai, Shekhar Suman, Manoj Tiwari and Prakash Jha are some of the Bollywood actors and filmmakers from whom help will be sought to develop the film city.

The move is expected to fulfil the long-awaited dream of people as well as actors and filmmakers from the state.

Early this month, Manoj Tiwari, a leading actor-cum-producer of Bhojpuri film industry, met Nitish Kumar and took initiative for setting up the film city.

Shatrughan Sinha had submitted a proposal for establishing the film city in Patna nearly three years ago. He said about 25 reminders have been sent to the state government but no response has been sought. “My project for investment has been gathering dust for nearly three years.”

Nitish Kumar said the move is not aimed to protect the Bhojpuri film industry, which is under threat in Mumbai. “It has nothing to do with developments in Maharashtra,” he added.

Source TOI

It was the best farewell that Sourav Ganguly could’ve asked for. In his final Test match,

India crushed Australia by 172 runs and sealed an
emphatic 2-0 series victory.

And as India was wrapping up the series in Nagpur, Ganguly was handed the captaincy by MS Dhoni for the final moments of the match. It couldn’t have been a more appropriate gesture.

After all it was Ganguly who, after taking over as captain in 2000 in the post-match-fixing scandal era, led India to some of its greatest cricketing triumphs.

And it was under him that the India-Australia rivalry became the biggest contest in world cricket. Bigger than the Ashes; bigger than India versus Pakistan.

Many of Ganguly’s finest moments as captain are associated with Australia. In his first series as captain against Australia in 2000-01, he faced Steve Waugh’s ‘invincibles’. Not only didn’t he flinch, he took the battle to the Aussie skipper.

The story of how Ganguly kept Waugh waiting for the toss during that series has now become part of cricket folklore. The newfound aggression paid immediate dividends with India winning the series.

Ganguly would also jettison the parochialism that had been the bane of Indian cricket. He instinctively backed talented, young cricketers irrespective of where they came from.

Under Ganguly, the Indian team shook off the image of being tigers at home and pushovers overseas. He led India to the 2003 World Cup final in South Africa, a 1-1 draw with Australia in the 2003-04 away series and a 2-1 victory in Pakistan in 2004.

In doing so, Ganguly became the most successful Indian captain. If his leadership qualities are rightly praised, he was also a great batsman. Otherwise he wouldn’t have commanded respect in a dressing room that had some of the best batsmen ever to have played for India.

In ODIs, he amassed a phenomenal 11,363 runs, behind only Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya. In Tests, Ganguly finished his career as the fourth-highest run-getter ever for India with a batting average of 42.

There was always a sense of unpredictability and drama about Ganguly that made him so popular with cricket fans. He began his Test career in 1986 with a century at Lord’s studded with off-side boundaries that were his trademark throughout his career.

He ended with a golden duck. But before that he had done his bit to set up the Indian win in Nagpur by scoring a flawless 85 in the first innings.

The Indian team is now capable of taking on and beating the best in the world. Ganguly must take some of
the credit for that.

Source TOI