IT Act may be amended
New Delhi: The Government plans to amend the Information Technology Act to prevent BPOs leaking out data and information, according to the Minister for Communications and IT Mr Dayanidhi Maran. He said the government has prepared a bill to provide the framework to strengthen the provisions pertaining to data protection, privacy and unlawful disclosure of sensitive personal information.

The amendment would address new forms of crimes such as publishing of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form, video voyeurism, breach of confidentiality and leakage of data by service providers, e-Commerce frauds through impersonati on commonly known as phishing, identity theft and offensive message through communication service.

He said the Act would also 'impose duties and liabilities upon service providers including Internet service providers and intermediaries.
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Salaries in India rise the most in Asia-Pacific
New Delhi: The highest average salary increase of 13.8 per cent in the Asia Pacific region this year was reported in India, beating China at 8 per cent.

India's average salary increase was the highest in the region despite being marginally lower than 14.1 per cent in 2005, according to the annual Asia-Pacific Salary Increase Survey conducted by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources services company. In India, the survey was conducted across 169 organisations.

According to the survey, the average overall salary increase for 2007 could range between 12.3 per cent and 15 per cent.

Employees at professional, supervisor, technical level received the highest average increase of 15 per cent, and are expected to receive the same hike again next year.

Senior and top management had the highest percentage of variable pay in total cash compensation at 19.5 per cent. This is expected to rise to 20.7 per cent next year.

After India, it was the Philippines which reported the highest average overall salary increase at 8.2 per cent, while salaries in China rose by 8 per cent, down from 8.3 per cent last year.
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'GSM operators acting against BSNL/MTNL'
New Delhi: TRAI has said that private GSM operators were charging higher tariffs from customers for calls terminating in the networks of BSNL and MTNL and were at the same time accusing the BSNL of having a monopolistic attitude.

TRAI's contention came up before the tribunal TDSAT on the case over the issue of differential tariff being charged by GSM operators for calls in four networks where direct connectivity has been allowed.

Despite the fact that the Government had permitted direct connectivity between Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra, Kolkata and West Bengal, Chennai and rest of Tamil Nadu and two parts of UP (East and West), the operators were charging higher tariffs for calls terminating on BSNL's CellOne network.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the GSM industry body, had contended that since there was no direct connectivity between their networks, calls had to be routed like STD calls. This led to higher tariffs, it argued.
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Hotel room shortage peaks
New Delhi: The country is facing a shortage of 1.5 lakh hotel rooms and efforts are underway to address this issue to promote tourism, the government told the Lok Sabha today.

Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said there was a shortage of 1.5 lakh (hotel) rooms all over the country.

She said in order to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010 hotels were being built in the capital and Noida.

In Noida, she said, the hotels were being set up through public private partnership.

With regard to health tourism, she said the country was short of good hospitals that could cater to high-end foreigners, an issue which needed to be addressed.

To attract more foreign tourists to the country, the tourism ministry has already taken a number of steps which include putting up a guide on the website and introduction of 'medical visa' category for patients coming here for treatment.
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PC mart grows 24 pc in Q3
Mumbai: The domestic PC market comprising desktops and notebooks grew by 24 pc year-on-year during the third quarter of 2006-07. Hewlett Packard retained the top slot with a 21 pc market share according to research firm IDC's India Quarterly PC Market Tracker for the third quarter this year.

The number of unit shipments in the client PC market stood at over 1.4 million during the quarter.

HCL retained the second position with a share of 12 pc followed by Lenovo at 9 pc.

The top three rankings remained unchanged from the previous quarter in which HP had a market share of 20 followed by HCL at 14 pc and Lenovo at 10 pc in terms of unit shipments.
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India GDP grows 9.2 pc in Q3, 2006-07
New Delhi: The Indian economy grew at 92 pc in July-September 2006 against a 8.4 pc growth in the same period last year, according to government data released today.

Gross domestic product (GDP) at constant (1999-2000) prices for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 is estimated at Rs6,47,290 crore as against Rs5,92,652 crore in Q2 2005-06 - a growth rate of 9.2 pc over the corresponding quarter of previous year.

GDP at factor cost at current prices in Q2 of 2006-07 is estimated at Rs8,38,367 crore as against Rs7,35,461 crore in Q2 2005-06 - an increase of 14 pc.

The sectors that registered significant growth in Q2 of 2006-07 over Q2 of 2005-06 were manufacturing at 11.9 pc, construction at 9.8 pc, trade, hotels, transport and communication at 13.9 pc and financing, insurance, real estate and business services at 9.5 pc.

The agriculture sector posted a growth of 1.7 pc in the period under review, the release added.
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WB bars protests against Tata Motors project
Mumbai: The West Bengal government has barred political parties from holding meetings or processions at Singur, the site for Tata Motors' small car project, and clamped Section 144 at the project site. Earlier the Trinamool Congress party called for a 12-hour bandh in the state on Friday, December 1, in protest against the alleged assault of Mamata Banerjee by policewomen in Singur.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee denied that Banerjee was assaulted or manhandled as alleged by Banerjee and gave assurance that the land in Singur would be handed over to Tata Motors in a few days.

According to officials, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee was stopped by the police at Maitypara, some distance from Kolkata, when she was going to Singur for a march to protest the proposed handing over of land to the Tatas for the car project as there was an apprehension of breach of law and order.

Trinamool Congress supporters went on rampage in different parts of Kolkata to protest the alleged assault on Banerjee.
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Cattle biggest contributor to global warming: UN
New York: Cattle contribute the maximum to global warming and not emissions from factories and power plants, says the United Nations.

The UN report warns that the increasing world population would lead to further increase in the number of livestock as demand for meat and milk increases and that would mean emission of more greenhouse gases. It also said cattle are also a major contributor to land degradation and pollution of water.

The United Nations has called for improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions. Beyond improving animal diets, proposed remedies to the multiple problems include soil conservation methods together with controlled livestock exclusion from sensitive areas; setting up biogas plant initiatives to recycle manure; improving efficiency of irrigation systems; and introducing full-cost pricing for water together with taxes to discourage large-scale livestock concentration close to cities.
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