Irish PM launches UN backed Global e-School and Communities Initiative
Bangalore: The Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern launched the Global e-School and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), a multilateral-funded effort, founded by the UN taskforce on information and communication technology (ICT) at the city.

The initiative aims at enhancing the quality of education through widespread application of ICT. The GeSCI executive director, Stephen Nolan, signed two memoranda of understanding with the National Association of Software and Service Companies and Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology to provide for a framework for close collaboration between GeSCI and the Indian ICT industry for promoting developmental and educational goals using ICT and catalysing specific projects and programmes.

Set up in 2004, GeSCI is a catalyst at the local, national and international levels and as an overall facilitator, convening stakeholders, inducting technology and good practices for implementing comprehensive end-to-end e-schools programmes, said Nolan.

The GeSCI initiative will be coterminous with the UN's Millennium Development Goals, particularly in providing education to all by 2015.
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NCW to outline new safety norms for women in BPO sector
New Delhi: After the gruesome rape and murder of a call centre employee in Bangalore, the National Commission for Women (NCW) says it would finalise guidelines to ensure safety of women employees in the business process-outsourcing sector.

After holding consultation meetings with call centre heads from the National Capital Region, police officials and NGOs, the NCW chairperson, Girija Vyas, said that the commission would, in a week's time, come up with guidelines to be followed by the industry. It is also open to the idea of changes in the law for the safety and security of women working in call centres.

Meanwhile, the commission has asked the call centre heads to put in place certain arrangements immediately, such as setting up a complaints committee to deal with cases of sexual harassment, carrying out police verification of the drivers and sensitisation of both women and men employees.
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National Payment Corp. to be commissioned by April
Mumbai: The umbrella organisation for undertaking retail payment and settlement systems, the National Payment Corporation of India, would start operating by April 1.

Private, public and foreign banks, with no bank holding more than 10 per cent stake, would jointly own the company.

The number of branches under the real time gross settlement (RTGS) has crossed 16,000 in 700 centres and covers 85 per cent of the volume of business said RBI officials. The RBI is targeting to bring 5,000 more branches under RTGS by March and 10,000 more branches in another six months and also wants to bring rural payment systems under RTGS.

The central bank is also working on the National Settlement System, under which clearing would be done centrally. This would help improve the liquidity pool of banks. For rural customers, RBI is in talks with banks to provide low cost ATMs and smart cards.
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IIMs not to be allowed to go abroad: Arjun Singh
New Delhi: Union Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Arjun Singh has said the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), despite their autonomy, cannot function like companies or firms and set up brick-and-mortar campuses abroad.

He said though they IIMs may be autonomous but they are not companies and as government bodies, they have to abide by rules, he said.

He said there was no provision in their memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to establish brick-and-mortar campuses abroad, as of now. If this was amended, they could do so, he added.

After IIM-Bangalore announced signing an MoU with the Singapore government to set up a centre there, the HRD ministry struck down the proposal, denying IIMs the option of expanding abroad.

Singh said that the IIMs were run on MoUs and were entitled only to tie-ups for research activities.
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Delhi airport upgrade may get go ahead
New Delhi: A committee of secretaries is said to have cleared the Delhi airport upgrade for negotiation with the sole short listed bidder, GMR, and has recommended withholding formalities on Mumbai airport.

Earlier speculation was that the bidding process would be scrapped and quick re-bids be called for.

After deliberating on the recommendations of the experts committee headed by Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan, the panel, chaired by cabinet secretary BK Chaturvedi, is learnt to be against the re-bidding for the two airport projects, which is estimated to require an investment of Rs5,400 crore.

Recommending that negotiations be held with sole qualified bidder GMR, and endorsing the disqualification of Reliance, the CoS is understood to have recommended to the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) that Mumbai airport could be included in the next round of bids to be invited for Chennai and Kolkata airports.
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