India Inc on hiring spree in July-Sept

Post-slump, hiring plans of corporate India is at its best for the current July-September quarter, driven by infrastructure, manufacturing and telecom sectors, said the latest employment outlook report by recruitment firm TeamLease.

According to the study, hiring sentiment is at an 18- month high for the July-September quarter. The net employment outlook index saw a six per cent jump to 64 index points for the reviewed three- month period compared to the previous quarter.

According to the report, barring healthcare and pharma sectors, all other segments are upbeat about their hiring plans.

Hiring sentiment is highest in the infrastructure sector with a 21 per cent increase, followed by manufacturing and engineering & telecom sectors with 13 per cent and 11 per cent increases, respectively.

Among cities, Delhi has the highest hiring sentiment with a 19 per cent increase in the index, followed by Mumbai and Ahmedabad with 14 per cent increases each. However, hiring sentiments is seen in the negative zone in Chennai and Kolkata.

Interestingly, Tier-II cities have experienced a significant increase (three per cent) in hiring intent to 19 per cent, indicative of the talent supply potential of these geographies.

After being the most neglected zones by potential employers, the junior and entry-level zones are now finding favouring with employers.

Hiring at the junior and entrylevels of organisational hierarchy are set to make a strong comeback with 17 per cent and 11 per cent increases in hiring intent (respectively), which was worst hit and remained stagnant for the past 24 years, the report said.

This, however, has cut significantly into mid-and senior-level hiring and demand in this segment is seen to be decreasing.

According to the report the number of companies in the 'Not Hiring' category has dipped to a 12- month low of 12 per cent.

This is a drop of eight per cent. Sales, marketing and customer care have registered the highest increase of eight per cent among functional areas.

"We are seeing positive hiring intentions over the past few months, and are expecting this to continue. There is also a gradual increase in the intent to hire from Tier-II cities, which shows that companies are looking well beyond urban markets for tapping talent," Sangeeta Lala, vice president, TeamLease Services, said.

"This is also an indicator of consistent and steady growth across business size, sectors and geographies. The opportunities in Tier-II cities are encouraging and might be an answer to the geographic mismatch present in the country," she added.

TeamLease's Business Outlook Index also rose by five per cent to 61 index points. However, it has doubled itself over the course of four quarters.

The study, which covered 568 companies, focused on employment growth potential, business outlook and hiring forecasts in relation to location and company profile.

Mahatma Gandhi's long-forgotten diary recovered

Image via Wikipedia

Mahatma Gandhi's diary written during the year of Indian Independence and held till recently under private possession will soon be open for public viewing at the National Archives here.

The small diary handwritten by the Bapu in Gujarati is among a collection of other letters and documents handed over to the Archives by Varsha Das, former director of the Gandhi National Museum.

"We received Gandhi's diary 10 days back along with a collection of other documents from Varsha Das, the former director of the Gandhi National Museum," Rajesh Verma, Assistant Director, National Archives of India told PTI.

Meena Jain, a childhood friend of Das had handed over to her, Gandhi's diary and other documents containing letters and several diaries written by Manu Behn, the niece of Mahatma Gandhi.

"I handed over the collection to the Archives in the first week of July as we do not display the original diary and documents at the Museum. Also, the Archives has the facility of temperature control that is suitable for the preservation of the diary whose pages are in a fragile condition," Das told PTI.

The worn and yellow pages of the diary dated between April 13 to December 29, 1947 has detailed jottings by the late leader mostly in blue ink with also several entries in pencil all in Gujarati.

"The diary is a national as well as a world's treasure. By keeping it in the Archives one will get to know a little more about Mahatma Gandhi's life and work than what we know at present," says Das.

Apart from Gandhi's diary the collection received by the National Archives contains 19 diaries written by Gandhi's niece Manu Behn along with several assorted pages with bangla alphabets, pencil notes written in Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati as well as some illegible writings, a source at the National Archives said.

"The 19 diaries by Gandhi's niece contain her writings as well as several letters as old as 1944 that are addressed to her by Zakir Hussain, Indira Gandhi and other leaders and freedom fighters," adds the source.

The entire collection would be kept in ten folders in a chronological order at the Archives.

Varsha Das, who was also formerly Director, The National Book Trust says, "A lot will be revealed through these diaries." The Archives would laminate and produce a digitised version of the Gandhi's diary which is expected to benefit researchers and scholars, she adds.

Rajesh Verma says,"A specific division would be assigned to preserve these documents." The Mahatma's diary would be kept separately from those of Manu Behn, he adds.

The diary is yet to be translated from Gujarati to various languages for the benefits of researchers and scholars who are interested in reading about Gandhi.

"We are looking for a person who can translate these Gujarati documents. We will get it done as soon as possible before it is open for public use," says Verma.

"People who know Gujarati can access the diary even now. In order to facilitate greater dissemination we plan to translate it into Hindi and English too," says the Assistant director.

Besides, the personal diary, an album of Mahatma Gandhi capturing his 1925 Madras tour, highlights of his visits, addresses, arrivals, speeches and public functions along with other items including undated press clippings, a 1942 calender, telegrams and a photocopy of a few Gujarati couplets would also be showcased at the National Archives.

Zero To 1050 mph In 42 Seconds!

Believe it or not, a jet-propelled vehicle is almost set to break the land speed record, that too at an incredible 1,050 mph. A life-size replica of the Bloodhound supersonic car (Bloodhound SSC) was on display at the Farnborough International Airshow, Hampshire on Monday, July 19.

The car will be powered by both a Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine and a rocket engine, generating a combined thrust of 47,500 lb. (or 212 kN of force), the equivalent of 180 Formula One racing cars.

The Bloodhound is about 42 feet long, nine feet high and two feet wide, with a wheelbase of about 29 feet and a mass of more than 14,100 pounds.

The current land speed record is held by ThrustSSC, a twin turbofan-powered car which broke the sound barrier, reaching 763 mph at Black Rock Desert, Nevada on October 15, 1997.