Niira Radia tapes leaked due to corporate rivalry: Ratan Tata...........!!!!!!!

Niira Radia tapes leaked due to corporate rivalry: Ratan Tata to Supreme Court
PTI | New Delhi | Updated: Oct 26 2013, 08:21 IST
Former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata today told the Supreme Court that the tapped telephonic conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and top politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, including himself, were leaked to the media because of corporate rivalry.
"This order for tapping was passed because of extraneous reasons. If corporate battle had not happend, this would not have come out in public," senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Tata, said adding "I do not have any doubt that the original leak happened because of corporate rivalry".Salve told an apex court bench that Tata Telecommunication itself gets around 10,000 to 15,100 requests from the government every year for interception of calls and questioned the Centre for not finding out who leaked the tapped conversation.
"Tata Telecom itself gets around 10 to 15 thousand requests per year for interception of call. The total number of such requests must be around 60-70 thousand per year for all telecom companies," Salve told the bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi.The bench, also comprising justice V Gopala Gowda, said that "in the instant case, recording was done at the instance of the income tax department and at the same time by some service provider at the risk of losing the licence".
Salve submitted there is no proper mechanism to go through tapped conversations to find out the relevant information and destroy those parts which are private in nature. Salve also raised question on the probe agency saying "the investigating agency used the media, which is a very dangerous trend"."We don't know why it (Radia tape) was leaked and to embarrass whom," he submitted.
"The government should keep the relevant portion (of the tape) with itself but should have destroyed rest of them. It is not allowed to keep the entire tapped conversation. People's right to privacy has to be protected," he said. Salve said the review committee is overloaded and it is not possible for it to go through the entire process for all intercepted calls."There are many like the present one which have not come into light. Who is looking at all these cases? Are we allowing the dynamite to be used at different times by not destroying the tapped conversation which is of no use for the government authorities"? he said.
He pleaded an inquiry be done by the Centre into the leak which is completely of "exculpating nature" and there is inconsistency in the affidavit filed by the government "Government has thrown up its hand. Media and petitioners are not above law. RTI is there and governemnt authority is to decide whether the tapped conversation is to be made public or not. We have now RTI structure to bring transparency," he said while submitting that the tapped conversation be not made public.
"Media has the right to probe public affairs matters and law also protects them to an extent. But publication cannot be done on the basis of mere suspicion. Media must do its own follow-up investigation to prove the authenticity of a gossip before publishing it," he said.Salve said the media's justifying the publication of the transcripts annexed with the petition and affidavits in the apex court cannot be sustained.
The documents placed in the courts cannot be inferred to be in the public domain. "What I challenge is the assertion made by a newsmagazine that if something is placed in the Supreme Court, it is in the public domain and there is a right to publish," the senior advocate said.At this submission the bench also said "who took the stand that since it (transcript) is a part of the Supreme Court record, it is in public domain and can be published"."Do they say they got it from the Supreme Court"? The bench said.Responding to the query, Salve said "nowhere" they said like that.
He also said that though the court has ordered a preliminary inquiry by CBI into certain issues arising out of the tapped conversations, it could turn out to be a conversation making out no case.The conversations were recorded as part of surveillance of Radia's phone on a complaint to the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007 alleging that within a span of nine years she had built up a business empire worth Rs 300 crore.The government had recorded 180 days of Radia's conversations--first from August 20, 2008 for 60 days and then from October 19 for another 60 days. Later, on May 11, 2009, her phone was again put on surveillance for another 60 days following a fresh order given on May 8.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/niira-radia-tapes-leaked-due-to-corporate-rivalry-ratan-tata-to-supreme-court/1187218/0

CSR to make available 50,000 more jobs in the sector: Experts

By PTI | 13 Oct, 2013, 11.18AM IST
NEW DELHI: Compulsory corporate social responsibility is likely to increase the demand for professionals in this field by as much as 50 per cent in the coming years and the industry is likely to see at least 50,000 more job opportunities in the CSR sector, experts say. 
Around 8,000 companies would fall under the Companies Act's ambit and this in turn would open a host of new job opportunities for individuals looking to work in the social development field. At present, the CSR work of a company is mostly done by corporate communications team but with this law, many firms would have to build a strong team of around five-six people for the purpose. 
According to leading executive search firm GlobalHunt MD Sunil Goel, "the demand for CSR professionals will surge 50-60 per cent and we may have to train fresh hands to fulfil this need of the industry". 
Echoing similar sentiments, DLF Foundation CEO Rajender Singh said, "some of the demand for CSR professionals is likely to be filled with internal placement. However, the industry is likely to see at least 50,000 more job opportunities in the CSR sector".
According to experts, the social sector is already a popular option and has low entry barriers and going forward, a lot of people could explore CSR as a career option. 
"CSR should see a spurt in career opportunities. But the real growth would be in effective CSR management agencies which would require a combination of management and CSR experts," Ashwajit Singh, Chairman and MD, IPE Global, a management consultancy company for development sector, said. 
According to Changeyourboss.com CEO Bhupender Mehta: "Big or small, every company makes efforts towards corporate social responsibility with intention of giving something back to the society and with this law, the number of people exploring CSR as a career option will go up for sure." 

Select companies would have spend two per cent of their average profit over the last three years for CSR. 

This would be applicable to firms having turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more, or with net worth of Rs 500 crore and above, or entities having net profit of Rs 5 crore and more. 
Experts, however, believe that NGO's may not be the target to build the CSR team, and many institutes such as TISS and XISS have trained talent that can be hired through campus placements for the purpose. 
They say people with experience in projects management in organisations like UNDP can also be invited to join the teams. 
"For the companies who will be honestly getting into this for the first time will not poach employees from NGOs, but may look at some sort of tie-ups to avoid the hassles of making the numbers," Prisma Global Executive Director and COO Amitabh Roy Chowdhury said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/csr-to-make-available-50000-more-jobs-in-the-sector-experts/articleshow/24082365.cms

Tulip Telecom ...salary dues..????

Tulip Telecom staff intensify protest over salary dues

ADITH CHARLIE

MUMBAI, OCT.10:  

Employees of Tulip Telecom have intensified protests against the company for not paying salaries due for nearly a year.

A section of staffers told Business Line that more than 100 of them have been congregating outside Tulip’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.A company spokesperson did not comment on the protests but admitted that it has been facing difficulties in making payments. However, she reiterated that a part of the dues have already been paid.

“Tulip signed the master restructuring agreement under the corporate debt restructuring process a few months back but is still awaiting release of funds. While the company continues to clear part salaries, it expects to clear about two-month salaries after release of bank funds,” the spokesperson said in an email response.Tulip had approached 13 of its lenders during October-December last year for recasting its debt of nearly Rs 3,000 crore. The lenders approved of the package and the company will now have to clear the loans over the next 12 years.

In August, Hardeep Singh Bedi, Chairman and Managing Director, said the company would begin the process of clearing the dues of its 4,500-odd employees. Despite operational troubles, Tulip says it ‘remains committed to its employees and values the employee interests.’Over the last few years, the company has been accumulating short-term debt due to heavy investments in data centres coupled with working capital requirements. However, these investments did not bring in the expected revenues, say analysts.

Tulip had defaulted on redemption of foreign currency convertible bonds worth $140 million due in August last year, apart from delaying salaries. Ultimately, it used proceeds from the sale of its stake in the joint venture with Qualcomm to repay this debt.

(This article was published on October 10, 2013)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/tulip-telecom-staff-intensify-protest-over-salary-dues/article5222000.ece