NRI ( Page 76 of 83 )

Bidve murder accused Kiaran Stapleton due in crown court January 03, 2012 13:38

The man accused of the Boxing Day murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve will appear in court later. Kiaran Stapleton, 20, from Salford, is due to appear before a judge at Manchester Crown Court - his second court appearance in 24 hours. At magistrates' court on Monday he referred to himself as "Psycho Stapleton" when asked his name. Mr Bidve, a 23-year-old micro-electronics student, was shot in the head at close range. He had been studying at Lancaster University and was visiting friends in Greater Manchester over Christmas. As they walked along Ordsall Lane, Salford, at about 01:30 GMT on Boxing Day, Mr Bidve was shot. He died later in hospital. Mr Stapleton appeared at City of Manchester Magistrates' Court following his arrest last Thursday. Mr Bidve's father, Subhash, described Anuj as a "loving son, a super-caring brother and first and forever a friend for many". He was critical of the way British and Indian authorities initially handled the case after learning of his son's death on the social networking site, Facebook. 'Pay our respects' Two senior officers from Greater Manchester Police flew out to India to meet the family in their home town of Pune in India. Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley, of Greater Manchester Police, said it was important "to make personal contact with the family and offer them every support". "We need to explain to them in person where we are up to in the investigation and what we are doing to ensure Anuj's body is released to them as soon as possible," she added. On Monday evening a crowd of about 200 people gathered in Ordsall Lane, Salford, to hold a candle-lit vigil for Mr Bidve. Organiser Vikrant Gupta said "a lot people have turned out and mainly the local community has come out and they're showing their support". The student's death was "an incident which has happened out of the blue" and the only thing they could now do was to "support the family back in India and pay our respects".

Indian student shot dead in Canada January 03, 2012 13:22

An Indian student, working part time at a convenience store, was shot dead in the western Canadian city of Surrey, in a shocking Christmas Day attack. Alok Gupta, 27, had volunteered to work the afternoon…

4000 Patients Benefited With Free Health Camp in Parkal December 28, 2011 13:11

The North American Telugu Association (NATA) has flagged off a ten-day ‘Seva Days' in Andhra Pradesh, as part of its run up to its bi-annual convention scheduled in Houston Texas on June 29. The service week included a two-day health camp in Nidiguntapelem village, where over 650 villagers were given free consultation by specialist doctors and free medicine, and Guntur where 1,400 patients were covered. Another health camp was held in Parkal in Warangal district, where 4,000 patients were given Rs 12 lakh worth medicines. “More than 45 doctors, 40 pharmacist and 150 volunteers participated in the camp, where 4,000 patients were treated in a single day,” Mr A.V.N. Reddy, President NATA, said. He said the association has also joined hands with the Rotary Club of Hyderabad to fight the incidence of flurosis in Nalagonda district. The programme will culminate with a medical seminar on December 29 in Hyderabad.

NRI couple loses kids to foster homes over 'emotional disconnect' December 28, 2011 12:52

India has taken up with Norway the issue of an NRI couple whose children have been placed under foster parental care by the local authorities there on grounds of an “emotional disconnect” between the children and their parents. On May 11, two-and-a-half-year-old Abhigyan and four-month-old Aishwarya were taken away from their parents — Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya — by Norway’s child selfare services, Barnevarne. A local court on November 30 ordered that the two children be put in separate foster homes till they reach the age of 18. The court permitted the couple to meet the children twice a year, for one hour at a time. The ministry of external affairs, in a statement, said, “Indian embassy in Oslo has been in contact with both the couple and the Norwegian authorities. The ministry of foreign affairs of Norway has been sensitized about the matter informally.” The MEA has also taken up the matter with the Norwegian embassy in New Delhi. The MEA said it has advised legal recourse to the couple. It said the embassy in Oslo would continue to extend possible consular assistance to the couple. The Norwegian authorities claimed Sagarika was incapable of taking care of her children. The evidence cited by them, the couple claim, is that their four-month-old child looked at the faces of other people around her instead of her mother, and that Abhigyan didn’t mix up with other children in kindergarten. The local authorities, the father reportedly claimed, also objected to the fact that they were sleeping in the same bed with the children.

Indian student killed in UK in 'unprovoked attack' December 28, 2011 12:38

A 23-year-old Indian post graduate student enrolled at Lancaster University in the UK was killed after he was shot in an "unprovoked attack" by two white men, police said. Anuj Bidve was studying a micro-electronics…

Atlanta NRI-TDP organized a MEET & GREET with Paritala Sunita December 24, 2011 12:22

Paritala Ravi well wishers and NRI-TDP patrons of Atlanta have organized a meet and greet with Raptadu MLA , Smt. Paritala Sunita and Paritala Sree Ram(S/o of Late M.L.A and minister Paritala Ravi) . The…

Aussie teen sentenced to 13 years jail for Nitin Garg murder December 24, 2011 12:06

An Australian court today sentenced a Melbourne teenager to 13 years in jail for murdering Indian student Nitin Garg, a crime which outraged public opinion in India and put the bilateral relations under stress. The…

U.S. Call Center Bill worries Indian BPOs December 23, 2011 19:44

India is currently going through a phase of challenges. Inflation, economic slowdown, rupee depreciation and now adding to the pressure, is the U.S. Federal bill for call centers. A major chunk of India's revenue comes from the IT -BPO Industry and a bill to cut back its growth is a serious concern for the Indian IT industry. However, many such bills had been proposed by U.S. in the past as well. But it hardly sparked any fear then. Industry experts say, it is just another bill to add to the list of the previous ones but this time it is come with a warning. On December 7, Rep Timothy Bishop and three others introduced the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act which seeks "to bar corporations that sent U.S. call center jobs overseas from receiving federal grants and loans," the solon said in a statement. Genpact, one of the top 10 BPOs in India said that it was in tune with NASSCOM and NASSCOM had stated that "We have seen attempts to present such bills in the past. However, the bill has only been introduced in the House, there is a long way for this to become legislation and for it to become law the possibility is very low. But it indicates the mindset of a certain set of policymakers and could set the tone for the next year, especially it being an election year.""It is indeed disappointing to see U.S. adopting 'protectionist' measures like these that restrict free trade and are discriminatory trade practices. U.S. lawmakers seem to have developed the practice of unfairly taxing companies working overseas, to pay for domestic issues. In case this bill is passed, not only will it see objection from India but Latin America, Ireland, Philippines and Canada. Companies operating on a global sourcing model, building efficiencies, benefits of this get passed to the common citizen. Laws such as these will increase the cost of service and will see a rejection from common citizens." Keshav R. Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS said, "WNS has a diversified portfolio of clients that are located across the globe. In addition, WNS, being a global player, has been aggressively ramping up and opening delivery centers all around the world in order to mitigate the risks from legislation that could affect location of clients / delivery centers in a single country. WNS has also been evaluating opening of a delivery center in the United States to cater to the onshore outsourcing requirements of its clients. Notwithstanding the above, we believe that legislations such as the one recently introduced, could ultimately impact the competitiveness of American businesses." Mphasis Spokesperson said "The new U.S. Bill seems to be a protectionist bill in with a view of the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections. At Mphasis we do not see an immediate impact in the near term. We will respond as more details emerge." Home grown outsourcing companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro have laid their foot print across the globe for servicing and many small startups are following their footsteps. The Indian IT Industry has given thumbs down for the U.S. call center bill. Presently the Indian BPO is coping as the slowdown in U.S. market is curbing its growth. "Most of the BPOs do not take any federal loans or aid. So I don't think this would create an impact on the industry," said S Nagarajan, Founder and Chief People Officer 24/7 Customer.

Doctors fly abroad; India's Healthcare deteriorates December 23, 2011 13:47

It’s reported that over 70 percent of rural population in Andhra Pradesh depend on unqualified doctors for health checkups. The demand for more medical professionals is increasing on a daily basis while the glamour of the profession is said to be decreasing in the country. It’s reported that there are over 40,000 Indian physicians in UK while U.S. has over 50,000 doctors. Nearly 20 percent of physicians practicing in Australia have received their basic education in India and one out of 10 doctors in Canada has some Indian connections. The sad stories about poor health conditions and facilities are heard across the nation. It’s reported that over 70 percent of rural population in Andhra Pradesh depend on unqualified doctors for health checkups. The demand for more medical professionals is increasing on a daily basis while the glamour of the profession is said to be decreasing in the country One doctor for every 2000 people in the country – and yet we hope for better health system in the country, aren’t we expecting too much? As the doctor-population ratio hits an all time low of 1:2000, the blame goes back to our age-old sad story of brain drain and it seems that we can do nothing but to lament over the thousands of trained physicians flying to the green pastures – the Western Countries. The global doctor-population ratio is 1.5:1,000. While Somalia has one of the worst ratios with one doctor for 10,000 people, Germany, U.S. and U.K. fared well in the list with 1:296, 1:350 and 1:469 respectively. Thailand’s doctor-population ratio is at 1:500, while Japan has a healthy ratio at 1:606. According to the latest data, there are only six lakh active allopathic practitioners in India whereas it’s found that 8, 56,065 allopathic doctors have been registered in the country as of July 31, 2011. The curse of brain drain is crippling the Indian medical system. The Medical Council of India (MCI) reveals that over 767 physicians have left the country in search of foreign meadows by the first half of 2011. Many have reportedly asked for Good Standing Certificates (GSC), a certificate mandatory for doctors to work abroad, issued by MCI and the medical council reportedly issues thousands of GSCs every year. GSC gives a rough estimate of how many physicians go abroad each year, although it doesn’t give the absolute numbers.

Indian Banks Hike Rates to Lure NRI Deposits December 22, 2011 12:26

Interest rates paid by Indian banks on NRE savings, term deposits and ordinary non-resident (NRO) savings accounts were deregulated by RBI. As stated by Central Bank, rates on non-resident deposits cannot go higher than the rates paid on term deposits of same maturities. The revised deposit rates are said to be applied only to latest deposits and on renewal of maturing deposits. To strengthen their non-resident bases, mid-size private banks are looking forward to offer higher rates on deposits followed by deregulation of interest rate on these deposits by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). A rise of 268-324 basis points has been announced by Federal Bank and South Indian Bank in their Non-resident (External) Rupee (NRE) term deposits. Other private banks are expected soon to follow this. An interest of 6.5 percent on NRE term deposits with one year maturity period will be offered by Kochi-based Federal Bank, compared to 3.82 percent previously. On the other hand, South Indian Bank increased NRE deposit rates from 1 to 10 years to 6.75 percent for maturities. Previously, the rate offered on these deposits was 3.51 to 3.82 across maturities. N. Kamakodi, Managing Director and Chief Executive, City Union Bank, said, "We will be increasing our rates in a week's time. The rates would be closer to domestic deposit rates. The rise is most likely to happen in a one-year bracket." Interest rates paid by Indian banks on NRE savings, term deposits and ordinary non-resident (NRO) savings accounts were deregulated by RBI. As stated by Central Bank, rates on non-resident deposits cannot go higher than the rates paid on term deposits of same maturities. The revised deposit rates are said to be applied only to latest deposits and on renewal of maturing deposits. Banks are supposed to offer uniform rates at all their branches. According to the Central Bank, the banks might take approval of their respective boards or asset liability committees, while fixing interest rates on such deposits. External liabilities arising due to deregulation have to be monitored by bank as directed by the banking regulators and asset-liability compatibility from a systemic risk point of view also needs to be ensured. P. R. Somasundaram, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Laxmi Vilas Bank, said, "We have a small base of non-resident deposits right now. But it would be one of our focus areas. We would take a decision on raising rates on these deposits soon. Our asset-liability committee would meet shortly to decide on this." According to Bipin Kabra, Chief Financial Officer, Dhanlaxmi Bank, the deregulation of non-resident deposit rates has allowed banks to attract non-resident Indians to park their deposits with Indian lenders. The bank's asset-liability committee would soon meet to revise the non-resident deposit rates.The state run lenders are unsure about increasing those rates aggressively or not. Having a major foreign presence, Bank of India is still waiting others to revise their rates. A senior official of Bank of Baroda said, "No firm view has been taken so far. I cannot give a timeline as to when these rates will be revised." Officials at State Bank of India are expecting a rise of 200-300 basis points in non-resident deposits rates. They also added that they are yet to decide the effectiveness of rise in rates. Whereas, State Bank of Travancore can increase the deposit rates before SBI does, because the bank is competing hard with mid-sized private banks in Kerela. In a data revealed by RBI, outstanding deposits in NRE accounts stood at $25 billion and NRO accounts stood at $11 billion at the end of October.

Jagan's birthday celebrations held in Dallas December 22, 2011 12:07

Hundreds of enthusiastic YSR Congress party associates attended the birthday celebrations of Y.S.Jaganmohan Reddy with a difference! The Dallas YSR Congress party associates chose to serve the poor by donating/serving the food at a homeless…

ATA expressed condolences to Komatireddy December 22, 2011 10:22

American Telugu Association (ATA) expressed condolences to former minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy for the loss of his son Pratik Reddy and two others who died in a tragic road accident on the Outer Ring Road…